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Resort Municipality councillors reject mail in voting for seasonal residents
By Jim Brown
Donald Trump and the Resort Municipality of Cavendish have something in common – they both oppose mail in voting. Councillors at a recent meeting rejected mail in voting for municipal elections, largely because of the expense and how cumbersome the process is.
CAO Brenda MacDonald had talked to Elections PEI officials to learn the true cost of that form of voting and the numbers she got back were jaw dropping.
The cost for a provincial election ballot can range from $23 to $360 per person (a property owner who lived in Thailand), according to Elections PEI. That’s because the ballot, sent by FedEx, may have to be mailed anywhere in the world. FedEx also will not deliver to certain countries because of safety issues.
“They even had one person on a cruise ship who said he was going to be in a certain destination in Fort Lauderdale for seven hours so they had to mail it to him (in Fort Lauderdale) within that timeline. It’s very cumbersome. There are three envelopes required for every package,” said Brenda MacDonald.
Is it really worth the cost, she asked, especially since no municipality on the Island is interested and Elections PEI wants nothing to do with mail in voting at the municipal level.
In provincial elections Elections PEI have to assign a staff person just for mail in balloting and it’s a very exacting, time consuming process since they have to check every envelope and every signature.
“I don’t think we’re going to waste our time,” said Mayor Matthew Jelley.
Brenda said seasonal residents in the Resort Municipality who would be eligible for mail in voting live as far away as the Virgin Islands and Great Britain.
“So our $6,000 election reserve would disappear pretty quick,” said Mayor Jelley.
“It’s nice that Elections PEI doesn’t want anything to do with elections that take place on PEI,” quipped a councillor.
A surprisingly large number of residents only live in the Resort Municipality for a few weeks a year, during the
summer, some for as little as a week.
Inside Columbia
By Jim Brown
On March 12 I was able to get inside the 30 ft by 120 ft Columbia space shuttle replica, close to Cavendish, which had seen its best days many years ago.
It had been shuttered and falling into disrepair over a period of decades. One of the new owners of the shuttle and the 48 acre property it rests upon took me on a guided tour of Columbia’s underbelly, with entry through a hole in the side. At times I felt as if it were haunted. It was dark and cramped inside, with much of the original shuttle features removed.
Space Shuttle Columbia’s final flight on Feb. 1, 2003 ended in disaster with the spacecraft disintegrating on re-entry and all seven passengers perishing. CNN premiered its series on the Columbia disaster, Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight, at 10 pm ADT (Part 1) and 11pm ADT (Part 2) on April 7.
Adam Hickey and I spent much of our time inside crouching and trying to avoid beams and other obstructions. It was quite an adventure.
Big pools of water had frozen on the floor, making any movement tricky and Adam provided the necessary illumination with a flashlight he brought with him. It was an intriguing visit and definitely not what I expected going in.
Very grateful to Adam Hickey and Matthew Jelley for allowing me to satisfy my decades long curiosity.
Resort Municipality getting new bylaw enforcement officer, for half a day a week
By Jim Brown
Is your lawn grass a little long? Is the edge of your home a little too close to the property line? Is your dog a
little too ‘bitey’ for the neighbours’ preferences? Should you really have that derelict car on your property or that temporary trailer filled with family members and friends all summer long? Then you might be worried about the impending arrival of a bylaw control officer in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, ticket book in hand.
At the Feb 27 Council meeting councillors agreed a new bylaw control officer was needed to keep the shine on the Resort Municipality and bring scofflaws to justice. They will approach a bylaw control officer soon to begin patrols.
“Our primary thing was to do with the zoning and subdivision bylaw…, but I guess we could apply it to signage or to unsightly premises (violations) as well,” said Mayor Matthew Jelley.
Council recently conducted a survey of municipalities across the province and a common theme, according to Mayor
Jelley, was a one day a week bylaw control officer.
In the Resort Municipality, with only a few hundred full time residents, a half day a week should be enough, with
the possibility of more work during busy stretches of the tourist season.
Many bylaw control officers don’t go to court and don’t do any actual enforcement beyond leaving notices at the scofflaw’s door, as well as doing their patrols, taking photos and preparing documents filled with possible infractions.
“They just drop a letter and leave,” said CAO Brenda MacDonald.
One bylaw control officer generally works in several communities, working one day a week in each one.
Although they don’t go to court, they have to prepare an affidavit for use in court, describing the infractions they noticed.
Current practise is for the municipality to contact lawbreaking residents to resolve outstanding issues before things escalate to the point where a court date is necessary.
Preserving our Healthcare: A Call for Sustainable Solutions
By Alesia Napier
As someone deeply immersed in the healthcare landscape for close to three decades, from frontline roles to navigating the intricacies of capital equipment sales, I find myself compelled to discuss a matter of utmost urgency: the impending physician crisis that looms over our beloved Prince Edward Island.
The numbers speak for themselves – a projected shortage of 44,000 physicians nationwide by 2028 is a daunting reality that demands immediate attention. Currently, Canada graduates about 2,900 students per year from 17 medical schools. Increasing seats at existing medical schools is imperative but there are limitations in how far this solution can be pushed. It’s crucial to recognize that the root causes of this crisis extend beyond mere statistics. Factors such as increased population, compounded by the ongoing pandemic, have placed unprecedented strain on our healthcare system.
UPEI Proposed Medical School
While the proposal to recruit physicians from abroad or encourage the return of Canadians trained overseas offers a seemingly quick fix, ethical considerations loom large. It is essential to question the morality of draining physicians from countries that have heavily invested in training their medical professionals. Moreover, acknowledging the global nature of the physician shortage emphasizes the need for a comprehensive, long term, homegrown solution.
The heart of my advocacy lies in increasing the number of physicians trained within our borders. The reality of reallocating clinical hours from practicing physicians for training purposes is undoubtedly challenging. Striking a balance between immediate needs and maintaining the quality of medical education is a delicate task that requires collaboration between stakeholders. Unfortunately, we are decades past our ability to have this balance as our primary focus. The harsh reality is that to train new doctors our current physicians must reduce the clinical hours they practice. In order to have a viable long term healthcare system our access to healthcare is going to get much worse before it can get marginally better. We can rage and point fingers all we want, but a crisis of this magnitude cannot be repaired without further decreasing access to healthcare for the greater good of all of our collective futures.
Turning our attention to PEI’s proposed medical school, concerns about physician retention and the limited patient pool for diverse clinical experiences are valid. However, I firmly believe in the potential positive impact it could have on the nationwide physician shortage. Even if most graduates choose not to practice in PEI, their contribution to the broader Canadian physician pool is invaluable. This decentralized approach to medical education will be key to addressing regional imbalances in physician distribution.
In conclusion, as we stand at this pivotal moment, decisions made today will shape the future of healthcare on our Island. The establishment of medical schools, including the one proposed for PEI, will play an invaluable role in securing the long-term health and stability of our province. Let us engage in informed and thoughtful discussions, ensuring that our actions resonate with the values of sustainability, ethics, and the preservation of the heartbeat of healthcare, not only in Prince Edward Island, but all of Canada.
Alesia Napier, who has an extensive background in health care, lives in the Greater Charlottetown area.
North Shore News and Views is proud to announce a new feature for the website – The First Chapter Club. We are excited about the possibilities of this bold new venture and the many delightful places it could take our readers and aspiring authors.
Jim Brown, a Stanley Bridge resident and the website’s editor, kicks off The First Chapter Club with his submission, A Dangerous Obsession, below. We are confident there are many more writers in our coverage area ready to share their works of fiction with our readers. Your First Chapter could be the one to replace his.
The First Chapter Club What is The First Chapter Club?
It is said we all have at least one book in us. Sadly, that isn’t true. If we are brutally honest with ourselves we have to admit we will NOT be the next David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, Sara Paretsky or Patricia Cornwell. The vast majority of us will fail – either spectacularly or meekly. After a promising start our beloved characters will inevitably vanish into a dark void.
But anything is possible in that first line, the first paragraph, the first page of our novel. No human in the world could match Usain Bolt in the 100-yard dash when he was setting world records. But perhaps we can match him in the first yard before he gets his full stride. That’s the premise of The First Chapter Club.
We can’t all be world class sprinters, but perhaps we can run that first yard as well as anyone.
If you can get to the end of the first chapter you’ve really accomplished something, which could even provide the springboard needed to finish your work of fiction.
Show us a glimpse of your potential as an author. We will supply the art, which includes an AI generated image of your main character. You will maintain full ownership of the copyright, but the AI image will be in the public domain.
Jim Brown said he was astonished at how close the AI generated image came to matching his vision of his main character, Eleanor Blake. It was if the image was plucked directly from his imagination. “Almost like the AI feature read my mind,” he said.
Send us your first chapter, perhaps you can experience that same feeling that anything is possible. Become a member of an exclusive new club, The First Chapter Club.
Join The First Chapter Club.
Send your submission to Jim Brown, editor of the North Shore News and Views, at peijim@hotmail.com. North Shore News and Views reserves the right to reject submissions that don’t meet community and website standards.
A Dangerous Obsession
By Jim Brown, Stanley Bridge
AI Generated Image
Slashing rain sent rivulets of cold water down Rob Gore’s thin jacket and his hair was a ruffled bird’s nest. He couldn’t have looked any worse for his first day on the job if he had tried.
Rob’s crisp white shirt was soaked right through and his trousers were also water logged.
He wondered as he opened the door to the building if the power would go out in such a fierce downpour. Sure enough the lights flickered.
A young female reporter, who couldn’t hide her shock at his disheveled appearance, greeted him. The name on her lanyard was Emily. She might have been 25 or maybe 30, nice looking but not in a flashy way.
Emily took his jacket and hung it up on rack near the door. She asked if he wanted some coffee and Rob mumbled yes.
Sooner or later everything gets recycled in this world – work experiences, relationships, even human beings.
That would explain why Rob was standing at the managing editor’s door about to start a new job after a prolonged absence from journalism. Rob was about to start his first day with the Hampton Mirror and he couldn’t imagine anything more depressing.
Rob thought he had made a clean break with the past, leaving a dead-end editor’s job in a backwater community newspaper with a sharply falling readership.
He saw the writing on wall years earlier and found a lifeline about the same time. A friend had recommended a FAANG index fund and he plunged his entire $10,000 worth of savings into it. That proved to be the only good move he made in the past decade. That small investment in a basket of tech-heavy stocks turned into $700,000. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google proved to be the perfect retirement fund.
That was until he cashed out his position and bought a small community paper he thought he could turn around. Only it failed, just like nearly everything he tried since he left the Lancaster, Oregon News.
Rob had worked for eight years at the News, starting at the lowest possible rung as a summer reporter and eventually earning the top editing post when the previous editor died of a heart attack at 58.
Whenever he thought of his Lancaster News days he was shocked at how little actually came to mind.
Except for one bright, incandescent memory, still fresh these many years later.
Eleanor.
Twenty-one, maybe 22 years old and a cub reporter. Soft auburn hair falling like a waterfall over her shoulders. Green, piercing eyes. Alabaster skin, bright red lipstick on heart-shaped lips.
Yep, that Eleanor. Rob was her editor and eight years her senior, and smitten at first sight. But it didn’t take long for the bloom to fade.
You see, Eleanor Blake was obsessed with serial killers. That’s all she talked about, probably dreamed about. She was their fangirl. She read exhaustively, knew every one of the “legends”. There were times when she was as giddy as a love-struck boy band groupie.
Rob would send her to boring sewer commission meetings and inevitably get a call back from a distraught councillor threatening to ban the News from future meetings.
Eleanor actually talked about sending notes to the producers of Dexter. She felt the medical examiner/serial killer series had a problem with authenticity.
Of course she was a natural for the courts and she didn’t have much competition for it. None of the other four staffers at the News wanted to cover that parade of human misery and depravity.
But Eleanor was in her element. Her eyes shone brightly when she saw her name on the assignment sheet for county court. She always left for the courthouse with a spring in her step. Eleanor often wore a green blouse with the first three buttons always free. The creases were very sharp. Rob could imagine them drawing blood.
She loved the job and saw its potential. She would sidle up to offenders, ask them blunt, shocking questions about their motivations, how they felt about the pain and distress they caused their devastated victims. Rob saw her in action several times and his heart almost stopped each time.
Once he overheard Eleanor asking a hardened bike gang member why he didn’t”close the deal” against a rival biker when he had him on the floor, with a broken beer bottle to this throat. It must have been very frustrating to her that Lancaster hadn’t seen an actual homicide in decades.
She would visit those poor dregs of society in their lock ups and in the nearby prison. Rob was never there with her, but he had to read her copy. She was a perceptive writer, a master at her craft. And absolutely chilling.
Why did Eleanor settle on the Lancaster News and not some larger paper, in a mid-sized city at least, where there was a medical examiner to share macabre war stories with? Where murders actually occurred? Rob asked her that question and she smiled indulgently.
“They said I needed seasoning. I told them I’m not a fucking pork roast,” she said. Then she hesitated for a beat, as if waiting for exactly the right moment to go in for the kill.
“Have I ever told you what a pruning knife can do when it’s thrust into a groin?”
She also offered to show Rob her deck of collectible serial killer cards, the ones banned nearly everywhere. She told him she had a secret supplier and kept adding to her collection.
And then she mentioned she was into canning. “Peaches, apples, blueberries…It’s amazing what you can put into a mason jar,” she said, her eyes glinting with a fierce intensity.
Eleanor often joined the staff for lunch at the nearby Chinese restaurant. She frightened everyone there, too. Servers were reluctant to approach their table.
She once made a reference to Jeffrey Dahmer’s dietary quirks when Rob was tucking into a sweet and sour chicken ball. He couldn’t get to the washroom fast enough.
Eleanor took her obsession to new highs, and lows, every day.
Rob really wanted to fire her, but he left instead.
Ah, Eleanor. Rob was certain she was still trolling for serial killers, somewhere, terrifying some other editor.
Rob took a deep breath, slicked back his hair, adjusted his glasses.
He finally knocked on the editor’s door. The plate read E. Stewart.
“Hello,” said Eleanor, the serial killer fangirl.
“Really, really great to see you again! We have so much to catch up on,” she said with an inviting smile, bending the page on her Hillside Strangler book.
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Why not grow with us? To find out more you can email us at peijim@hotmail.com or contact the website’s editor, Jim Brown, at 902-886-2363 or 902-856-1870.
Proposal to build a liquid manure holding tank goes to public meeting
By Jim Brown
“What do we get for smells from something like this? Not being a farmer I have no idea,” stated a member at the Feb. 21 regular monthly meeting of the Resort Municipality of Cavendish’s planning board.
Members were discussing an application to construct a 110′ by 110′ ft liquid manure holding tank (13 feet deep) on
a farm property on the Cavendish Road within 200 feet of several cottages and also close to residential subdivisions. The application was submitted by Parkview Farms Inc.
At least a couple of members stressed the liquid manure would be generated by cattle and not hogs, so the smell factor
would be reduced.
The strongest smells would be generated when the tank is being emptied and when large machines are used to haul the
liquid manure away. Odours would be much less of an issue during day to day operations.
“I think the community might want to have a say,” said a planning board member.
“But is this is a structure that is allowable in that zoning and if so why are we debating the lovely odours of a
manure tank? If it needs it (public meeting), it needs it,” said a member.
After a 10 minute discussion members passed a resolution recommending to council that a public meeting be held on
the application. It was later approved by council at the Feb. 26 monthly meeting but not without some some discussion about whether it was a big enough development to go to a public meeting.
“Why would you go to a public meeting?” asked a councillor at one point.
“We don’t have a latent ability to put just anything to a public meeting, do we?” mused Mayor Matthew Jelley.
Mayor Jelley went on to say council had to declare the project a major development to fulfill the requirement to
call a public meeting.
“A major development is any new additional commercial space which is a commercial facility in excess of 10,000 sq.
feet. This is barely 12,100 sq. feet but it’s not a commercial facility in any reasonable definition,” he said.
Also, a major development requiring a public meeting is any new development which may adversely affect the environment
or adjacent property.
Council eventually rescinded planning board’s original motion, instead declaring the project a major development
requiring an environmental impact statement and a public meeting.
Resort Municipality councillors struggle with mail in voting
By Jim Brown
Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are not fans of mail in voting. Now it appears Resort Municipality of Cavendish councillors are worried about the challenges they will face implementing this new voting system, the first of its kind on PEI.
Considering the options.
There are just 350 or so full time residents, with that number quadrupling during the summer months. Seasonal residents descend on Cavendish from throughout PEI, the rest of Canada and the US.
So councillors agreed mail in voting offered the best way to ensure the largest number of residents could vote in municipal elections.
But it won’t be a cakewalk.
Municipalities implementing this form of voting have to administer the process themselves. Elections PEI would not be involved and the municipality would be stuck with the tab. Brenda would be the returning officer, with another staffer serving as deputy returning officer.
There’s “lots of issues” with mail in voting and that’s likely why no other Island municipality has implemented it, said Brenda, at the Jan. 15 monthly meeting of Council.
Brenda advised councillors that residents who want to vote by mail could be disqualified for any number of reasons.
They include, “not bringing the right information in or not having the right addresses,” she said.
Even without mail in voting the last election was a big headache for the municipality with a lawyer having to be brought in.
“That’s why we had our lawyer here all day with us, because of information being incorrect,” said Brenda.
And mail in voting could be even more challenging.
“When it (ballot) comes in the mail they have no opportunity to vote if their information doesn’t come in correctly. They’re done,” said Brenda.
“Once you check off the box that you’re voting by mail you can’t show up in person to vote if your paperwork’s not done right. It’s not allowed.”
Brenda went on to say if mail arrives after the deadline, even if the ballot is mailed earlier, the person sending in the ballot will be out of luck.
Meeting the deadline.
“If the cut off is 12 o’clock for the mail and the mailman doesn’t deliver the mail until 4 pm then your vote doesn’t get counted.”
The Resort Municipality is unique among Island municipalities since many residents only live in the municipality for a few weeks a year, some for only one week. They can still vote, if they own land, but they also must have a building on that land.
The Resort Municipality’s elections are held at different time of the year from the rest of the province. They are not held in the fall, but in August, when the majority of people are still in the municipality.
Councillors will address mail in ballot concerns in their March meeting.
The next election is two and a half years from now so there certainly enough time to “figure it out” councillors agreed.
Coun. Ryan Simpson said because the Resort Municipality will be the first municipality to launch mail in voting “it will be extra hard for us because of the weird intricacies of how this place works.”
Last year’s municipal election drew the largest turnout in the Resort Municipality’s history.
Could a dog park be in the cards for 2024?
By Jim Brown
If everything goes according to plan residents in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish could shortly be approached to offer land for a much needed dog park. Could 2024 be the year canines will finally have a special place in the Resort Municipality they can call their own?
Councillor Chris Robinson sure hopes so.
“We have identified a number of strategic priorities coming out of the recent official plan process, which is now completed. But a lot of those strategic priorities require some land in order to build structures or to realize some of the lofty objectives that we have in our vision,” said Chris.
“I’ve been in contact with some other municipalities and learned a little bit from their lessons in land acquisition, so I’ve helped draft an RFP (request for proposals) – essentially getting some expert advice on how to proceed in these matters.”
Chris went on to say, “For instance, with the dog park, some people want to start thinking big and see a dog park the size of a hockey rink and others might see a 12 ft by 12 ft mini dog park that can be positioned anywhere.”
Chris doesn’t know what the contours of the new dog park will be, but he believes a trail system could work effectively.
“When I was living in Ottawa there was a trail system you could take your dog on. It’s the Conroy Pit and it’s free to use.”
But the final design would have to emerge from public input, he stressed.
Chris added it’s not just dog parks that are being considered in the new year. Vacant land could also be needed for sports venues.
The big challenge is that there isn’t a lot of vacant land available for that purpose, which could include tennis courts and pickle ball courts.
“There’s a two prong objective – one to improve tourism businesses and the other is to develop opportunities for year round residents. For example, how do we extend our tourism season?”
Snowshoe and cross country ski trails are on the table, said Chris, but the right kind of land is needed.
Are marauding dogs a serious issue?
“I have more concern with coyotes than dogs frankly. When the moon is full I can hear the coyotes a couple of hundred yards away. I’m not worried so much about somebody’s Pekinese,” he said.
Chris believes it’s time the focus was on other forms of development in the Resort Municipality that don’t carry a large environmental footprint.
“We seem to be very good at converting farmland and woodland into cottage subdivisions for personal, private profit.”
But more work is needed creating recreational opportunities and green spaces for dogs and for people.
“That is a gap in our tourism offerings. It was one of the planks I had in my election platform when I was running for council. That and preserving scenic viewscapes and also supporting farmers. If we had a dog park that people could take their dogs to, that would allow dogs to burn off energy and be less yappy and probably be better citizens,” said Chris.
“Council will be meeting in early new year to begin brainstorming about strategic priorities and how we can move those forward. I expect this RFP will front and centre in some of those discussions, or at least I hope it will.”
Time to ditch the GST and provincial taxes on cat and dog food/veterinary bills
By Jim Brown – Opinion
As I contemplate the cost of upkeep for the single, healthy cat I own, it suddenly occurred to me that can be a significant expense for Canadians on modest and lower incomes. Just feeding a cat and providing kitty litter can cost thousands and a dog even more. Then there is the cost of veterinary care for regular checkups/vaccines. Canadian dog and cat owners pay an average of $2,000 to $3,000 a year. And the tab can soar by thousands more if the beloved pet falls ill and needs expensive treatments, including surgerical procedures.
Many people who aren’t pet owners consider a cat or dog an unnecessary extravagance, but those animals are also essential for their owner’s health and emotional well being. Imagine how much more difficult prolonged periods of isolation from family and friends during the pandemic might have been without pets. In fact, many Canadians rushed to animal shelters for feline and canine companions. Now many of those pets have been surrendered back to those shelters or released into the wild because their owners can no longer afford them.
When the pandemic faded away, costs for pet food, litter and veterinarian bills, in lockstep with many other necessities, rose by staggering amounts.
Studies have repeatedly shown the health benefits of owning a pet, so I believe Ottawa should look at eliminating the GST for dog and cat owners, with provinces, including the PEI government, following suit. Canadians on modest and low incomes would see an immediate benefit in having more money available to cover skyrocketing rents/mortgages and heating costs, etc. I’m quite frankly surprised no one has suggested exempting house pets from the GST. It just makes sense to me, on so many levels. It would be a compassionate thing for Trudeau to do and it might even improve his odds of winning another term in office.
New London Community Complex faced difficult year but prospects are looking up for 2024
By Jim Brown
It’s been a challenging year at the New London Community Complex (NLCC), but things are looking better for 2024. That’s what close to 20 people attending the Nov. 29 annual general meeting at the NLCC heard.
As a measure of the challenges faced by the board, the NLCC started the year with 13 members on the board of directors and before the meeting had six.
Katelyn Curley, financial director, stated 2023 total revenues for the NLCC were $290,363, with expenses of $325,908, for a net loss of $35,545, compared to 2022 when total revenues were $167,831 and total expenses were $186,557 for a net loss of $18,725.
“This is partially due to the tumultuous spring and summer the complex had trying to retain staff,” said Katelyn.
She said the spring and summer months were typically the lucrative months for the NLCC with strong revenues from the bakery and weddings, but that didn’t materialize this year.
“Unfortunately, this year due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control we operated at a loss each month. The staff we did have worked very hard to try to stock the shelves but it just wasn’t enough to make a profit. We were also unable to book as many weddings as is typical for the complex…”
Curley compared August of 2022 with the same month last year.
Total revenue for August, 2023 was $30,237 while total expenses were $37,060 for a net loss of $6,822. In 2022 total revenues for the month were $35,740, with expenses of $22,160, with a net income of $13,579.
But things are on the mend at the NLCC with great hope for the coming fiscal year thanks to new ideas, new and growing numbers of volunteers, new programs and events and sources of funding, as well as improving staff levels.
Curley said the start of the new fiscal year was off to a promising start with the October income statement looking ‘very positive’. She NLCC staff levels were stabilizing and there were more bookings in the main hall. The NLCC also secured important PEI government grants.
Total revenue for October was $31,600, while total expenses were $23,800 for a net income of $7,861.
President Tammy Campbell, who read last year’s AGM minutes, said in 2022 its operations ran year-round for the first time in the NLCC’s history.
Resort Municipality facing growth pains as Official Plan unveiled
By Jim Brown
New subdivisions are sprouting up like mushrooms in the Resort Municipality. Everywhere you travel fields are being levelled, roads and lanes are being gouged into the bright red soil and homes and cottages are in various stages of construction.
The Cavendish area is growing and if planners and residents aren’t careful that growth could lead to serious problems.
More than 60 local residents attended a recent public meeting in North Rustico to hear about the proposed 2023 Official Plan, which will set the resort municipality’s future over the next two decades or longer.
The Resort Municipality takes in 9,400 acres of which one third is still involved in agricultural production.
Anne of Green Gables, agriculture, fishing, cottages, restaurants and souvenirs are what draw visitors. And more recently, concerts. There are two now, with the Cavendish Beach Music Festival and the newly launched SOMMO folk music and culinary festival, on the same grounds. There have been hushed rumours of as many as six planned for only a few years down the road.
Are residents ready for that? At most there are 12 weeks available on the calendar for the sun tan, thong and Anne folks. Will their visit be ruined by non-stop partying over a half dozen or more weekends? Will the quiet beach and cottage experience be shattered by a new kind of tourist, younger, more adventurous, more prone to alcohol use?
A Cavendish area land owner who owns a four season home said he was astonished at how much vacant housing is available in the Resort Municipality when the tourists leave. He said he would like to utilize his home for more than a few weeks during the tourist season but is reluctant to take the plunge because of fears prospective tenants would not pay their rent, refuse to leave after the lease expires or cause extensive damage. He wants assurances that landlords would be as well treated as tenants under the law, and won’t consider opening this property to others unless he can have those assurances. In his letter to the Resort Municipality he said many others share his views.
That’s the problem in the Resort Municipality. Too many cottages and other seasonal developments and too few full season residences. According to Statistics Canada there were 240 private dwellings in 2006 – and in 2021 that figure rose to 330. It’s probably much higher after the post pandemic boom.
Cottages clustered along the shoreline, many of them unoccupied during the off season.
But again, how much is permanent housing?
The Resort Municipality is facing an identity crisis. Does it want to continue on its trajectory towards a Martha’s Vineyard form of tourist destination or does it want to move towards a sustainable type of development that supports full time jobs, quality health care, educational opportunities and all the lifestyle amenities Canadians take for granted in more prosperous centres?
There are no hospitals in the Resort Municipality, with the closest medical clinic in the Town of North Rustico. There are no ambulances stationed in the Resort Municipality either. Should that be allowed to continue when the population continues to grow? Let’s not forget much of that influx is made up of largely retirement age people who will be placing greater demands on a buckling health care system.
Close to 30 per cent of the Resort Municipality is wooded. Is that a good or bad thing? Should residents be worried about the threat of wildfires? Parks Canada is responsible for looking after much of the forest cover – should they be more engaged in tree trimming/clearing operations to reduce the risk of fires? Many in the municipality seem to think so.
Other questions: Should property owners be allowed to park trailers/mobile homes on their lots for extended periods of time, either to charge rent to visitors or to provide temporary housing for visiting families? Do we want to look like a Florida trailer park, with blaring music and loud TVs heard at all hours? Do we want to have to face mounting sewage and water demands?
How about so called ‘tiny homes’ – many barely larger than the dollhouses children used to play in?
And what standards should be set?
I think Resort Municipality residents should banish any thought they can keep their little piece of paradise intact for much longer. There are too many pressures building, too much money to be made developing formerly unspoiled landscapes.
From the 2023 Official Plan document:
“Community members do not want to lose the rural charm to a cluttered landscape, while valuing flexibility, choice and enhanced supports for residents and environmental protection. Some of the previous emphasis on a strictly controlled agricultural and design environment no longer reflect local needs and concerns…”
Reflect on those words, they essentially give the game away.
The Resort Municipality is changing and so is the way people get to work and to do shopping and other errands leading to some serious challenges.
From the 2023 Official Plan:
“Given the nature of community and the fact that most residents drive outside the community for work and shopping, and while the City Beach Express offers some alternative transportation options during the summer months, the Resort Municipality remains heavily dependent on fossil-fuel powered vehicles for transportation.”
Tourism will always be a driving force in the municipality’s growth, but can we continue to rely on it to sustain the Cavendish-area economy? The Official Plan document allows for necessary strategic ambiguity on the subject.
Kayaks at Inn at the Pier.
From the document:
“As the tourism season has expanded and year-round population increased, there is a growing need to encourage commercial operators to extend their season and in some cases, remain open year-round (i.e. service station, food stores, bank machines, post office, etc.), although stakeholder engagement reveals that this continues to represent a chicken and egg scenario, without the critical mass of permanent residents needed at present to present a business case for many commercial operations to remain open year-round.”
Sandspit Amusement Park is a go-to destination for many Cavendish visitors during the summer.
The environment was also well represented in the document and access to traditional wild areas, that was closed off with Park’s Canada’s purchase of properties in the Resort Municipality decades ago. This has been a source of frustration ever since.
Dunes in Cavendish National Park
“The purchase of parkland by the federal government marked a significant shift in the Resort Municipality’s relationship to the coast as well as inland natural landscapes. Some residents note that the limited access to this wilderness has caused a disconnect with the land and traditional practises such as cranberry picking have been lost since the Park’s founding…”
Lots of decisions lie ahead for the Resort Municipality and its full and part-time residents. Will they be the right ones?
It shouldn’t take long to find out…
Parks Canada staff present fire reduction strategy to residents
By Jim Brown
The Visitor Information Centre in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish is a jewel set in a thickly wooded area, unfortunately filled with dying and toppled trees from post tropical storm Fiona, which struck in September. On May 30 six Parks Canada officials gave a half hour presentation (“Fire Management and Wildfire Risk Reduction in PEI National Park: An opportunity for collaboration”) on the fire risks faced by Islanders living near the PEI National Park and the many steps taken to reduce those risks, especially in light of serious wildfires in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that have forced the evacuation of thousands of homes. Could it happen here and how fast could Cavendish area residents be evacuated? That was the question on everyone’s mind at the meeting.
One woman said she was sad to see so many beautiful trees smashed and ruined by Fiona and described the effort needed to reduce the threat as necessary, even as the transformed landscape was “butt ugly.”
Deputy Mayor Linda Lowther said Parks Canada staffers and Resort Municipality officials were involved in a table top exercise the day before to study preparedness for evacuations and fire suppression if the Cavendish area was threatened by wildfires.
Parks Canada is in the midst of a 10 year plan to build resilience into the woodland ecosystem including planting species of trees that are less likely to burn such as red maple, yellow birch and white pine, while ‘thinning out’ and removing more vulnerable species such as white spruce, which will decline as temperatures continue to heat up. Parks Canada hopes to plant about 4,000 trees this year in the area, a figure considered too low by some residents.
Mayor Matthew Jelley asked whether Parks Canada was missing “a generational opportunity” by not planting more fire and climate change resistant trees.
One woman received assurances Parks Canada staff, if contacted, would visit her property near the national park to offer an assessment of the potential fire threat and possible solutions.
“We are surrounded by fallen trees and I’m hosing them down every day and I’m really concerned,” she said.
Resort Municipality councillors grapple over ‘tiny home’ definition
By Jim Brown
So how ‘tiny’ do homes have to be if they are to be considered tiny homes in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish? It was a thorny issue that consumed much of May 15 council meeting, and it stumped several councillors who were at a loss as to where to draw the line.
Councillors were flailing around trying to find a definition that would satisfy provincial regulators and fit within the Resort Municipality’s Official Plan.
If someone builds a permanent structure that is under 200 sq. feet would that run afoul of planning regulations, asked one councillor.
“Without knowing what we’re talking about, how big we’re talking about, it’s kind of hard to make a motion on something,” said Coun. Linda Lowther.
“Without nailing down every exact specification of a tiny home I believe all of us have a rough idea of the dimensions at least in principle of what a tiny home could be. Something that would fit on the back of a trailer, I suppose, and could be moved around,” said Coun. Chris Robinson.
But other councillors responded that anything that could be towed on wheels was not allowed under the current bylaw.
Mayor Matthew Jelley broke the impasse by suggesting Council adopt The International Residential Code (IRC) definition for tiny houses, which sets the maximum dimension of those homes at 37 sq metres or 400 sq. feet.
Anything 100 to 400 sq feet in size would be legal.
Councillors eventually voted to adopt the IRC definition, but a public meeting will be held in June on the issue to bring local residents up to speed.
Condo, duplex development gets warm reception at public meeting
By Jim Brown
It was smooth sailing at a May 2 public meeting for a proposed new condo, duplex and residential development on 44 acres in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish. The development, Eagles Landing Estates, is located off Cavendish Road at Eagles Glenn Boulevard. Applicant Roger Birt received solid support from the dozen or so people in attendance and from three others who submitted emails before the meeting.
One of the supporting emails came from long-time summer residents Murdock and Connie Morrison, on April 28.
“After reading about this project on the Roger Birt property in Cavendish we feel that such a development should be allowed to be approved by the Resort Municipality as it has been proposed many years ago but never carried forward by Roger at that time. We feel that this is the kind of development that would allow Cavendish to grow into a resort-type community that would support local business and create new opportunities for growth in the resort municipality,” they wrote.
“We definitely need this type of development and we encourage residents to voice their approval.”
Year round resident Brian Lowther, who attended the meeting, gave his enthusiastic backing to the proposal.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said.
Sandy MacKay, a business owner and resident in Stanley Bridge, wrote in an email:
“I want to fully support this development, which will enhance our community. It’s great to see non-agricultural land being used and saving agricultural land for the purpose of growing food. It’s also great to see what hopefully will be more year round residents, which will further enhance small business to open longer.”
The final date for written submissions is midnight, May 8.
Resort Municipality councillor sticks to his masking guns
By Jim Brown
In a crowded room Chris Robinson stands out. He’s often the only person who wears a mask. Chris, a councillor with the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, was once again the only person among attendees at a May 2 public meeting on a proposed development to be seen with a mask on.
“I have relatives, senior parents, who I am still seeing who are vulnerable and somewhat immuno-compromised so I wear a mask to protect others,” he said.
“Public health has made a point that it’s up to each of us to make our own decisions (on masking). There is no public health guidance.
“I think people have been sold a lie of sorts that COVID is over and that COVID is mild and neither of those things are true. We still have, I believe, 10 per cent of people who are tested who are positive with COVID and just last week, I think it was, there were four Islanders who died. So, if you look at the total number of people dying from COVID it still four or five times the number of motor-vehicle accident victims, to give it some sense of proportion,” said Chris.
“It’s not a trivial disease and it’s not the flu, it’s something that has real serious consequences for people who are elderly or immuno-compromised particularly, so I wear a mask not just for myself but for other people as well.”
Can we make a dent in our housing crisis by turning cottages into homes?
By Jim Brown
I was driving through the Resort Municipality of Cavendish to North Rustico recently and caught a segment on CBC Radio’s The Cost of Living on Canada’s looming housing catastrophe. We’re going to need millions of new housing units to keep up with demand or prices will skyrocket even further and many more Canadians will find themselves with nowhere to live and little hope of a home of their own.
As I was listening to this disquieting story I couldn’t help but notice dozens, perhaps hundreds, of empty cottages along the way. And then I remembered every time I went to a planning board meeting there were always new developments seeking approval – many of them for new cottages. We keep building cottages here, there and everywhere on the Island and across Canada and millions of Canadians cannot find secure housing. Does that make sense, especially since cottages are only used during the summer months and seasonal owners with several cottages in their development rent them out to families for only a few weeks or less during the busy tourist season?
Isn’t the solution right in front of our eyes, or at least a partial solution? Convert many of those cottages, here and across Canada, into permanent homes at modest prices. The federal government could even buy them at market prices from seasonal operators and then make some structural changes to turn them into permanent homes.
Granted, there are lots of cottages that can’t be converted to permanent housing, since they are on private roads that are never plowed in the winter and lack access to basic services. But there are also many cottages in the Resort Municipality, for instance, that are on otherwise vacant lands, far from water, connecting to the main highway. It wouldn’t be difficult to hook them up to power and other services and plowing would not be a problem, any more than it is for many permanent homes.
Do we really need that many cottages and many more? When will it stop? When every last piece of property in the Resort Municipality has a cottage subdivision? I sure hope it doesn’t get to that point.
Are dogs a threat in Seawood Estates?
By Jim Brown
Roaming and sometimes aggressive dogs in Seawood Estates were on councillors minds at January’s Resort Municipality of Cavendish regular monthly meeting.
One councillor related how his wife was recently attacked by a dog that had slipped its leash as she was walking.
“My wife and I were out for a walk last week and a dog attacked my wife. Fortunately, she didn’t get hurt, but her coat got ripped,” said Coun. Lee Brammer.
“I don’t know if the dog was over-excited or aggressive or what it was. But it calmed right down.”
Another dog attack was reported by a planning board member at a planning board meeting a few days earlier.
There have several incidents of dogs roaming freely and menacing residents.
“Fun fact – Montreal’s dog bylaw requires dogs to understand commands in two languages,” said Mayor Matthew Jelley, in a lighter moment.
Councillors debated several ways to control roaming dogs including hiring bylaw control officers, utilizing the province’s Dog Act, which was originally drafted to protect livestock, and contacting the Federation of PEI Municipalities for advice.
“Have I ever had a dog loose in the community before? Yes,” said Mayor Jelley. “Did she ever hurt anybody, no…”
Other councillors suggested contacting neighbouring communities such as Kensington to find out how they control aggressive dogs.
People who are victims of dog attacks are reluctant to report those attacks to municipal officials, according to at least one councillor.
Enforcement can be expensive if a charge has be brought and then carried to court, rising to thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
And there are other challenges: “If we have a bylaw how are we going to enforce it? We’ve talked about partnering with neighbouring communities on bylaw enforcement,” said Mayor Jelley.
What if officers have to be hired? Is the cost worth it, asked councillors.
Planning Board Chair George Clark-Dunning said victims of dog attacks have to report to create a ‘case file’ and that many don’t want the hassle.
Without the provincial government intervening the municipality would need “a dog catcher, or we’d have to have a police force,” said Coun. Ryan Simpson.
Coun. Chris Robinson raised the possibility of hiring an off-duty RCMP officer to issue fines.
Coun. Simpson said Kensington charged an $8 fee for a permit to help cover the costs of dog control, but fellow councillors seemed cool to the idea.
Mayor Jelley explained there would be big challenges with licensing because of “seasonal and transient residents.”
The Resort Municipality’s population of less than 350 year round residents swells well into the thousands during the busy tourism season.
“Predictably, we’ve gone to the dogs,” Mayor Jelley said at the meeting’s conclusion.
No decisions were made at the end of the discussion other than to include information about dog control and who to contact with a complaint in the municipality’s newsletter.
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