Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia – Today, The Future of Nova Scotia’s Coastline: The Plan to Protect People, Homes and Nature from Climate Change Along Our Coast was released by the province, and the Ecology Action Centre is calling the plan a “failure of leadership.” The EAC has long advocated for legislation to protect Nova Scotia’s coastlines from climate change, and see the new plan as another attempt to pass responsibility on to municipalities and individual citizens.
“This is truly absurd,” says Marla MacLeod, director of programs with the EAC. “We’re in a climate emergency and the Houston government’s inaction is putting homes, ecosystems and lives at risk. Nova Scotians have been waiting for meaningful coastal protection for over a decade, and after repeated stalling and fumbling of the issue, the province has left us with an utterly toothless plan that lacks any concrete regulations and passes off all responsibility to municipalities and homeowners. Frankly, this is a complete failure of leadership.”
After receiving Royal Assent in 2019, regulations for the Costal Protection Act (CPA) were expected to come into effect late in 2023, but the Houston government unexpectedly put an indefinite pause on implementing the act, citing concerns from the public. Shortly thereafter, a Freedom of Information request from local media revealed not only that the vast majority of the over 1,000 emails sent to the province regarding the CPA were in favor of implementation, but also that the province had lost hundreds of emails supporting the CPA in their junk folder.
“This plan fails Nova Scotians and their families at the most fundamental level,” says MacLeod. “We’re well past the point of outreach and educational pieces. With increasingly severe climate impacts already affecting our coastal communities and costing the province millions, we need provincial regulations. Instead, this announcement is the opposite.”
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