By Richard Bell

The FOIPOP Act was passed in 1993, and there have been calls ever since for strengthening it. The Act’s fundamental weakness if that the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) for Nova Scotia cannot order the government to do anything if the Commissioner (or Review Officer) finds that the government is violating the Act. Suppose you file a FOIPOP, and the government denies your request. You have the right to appeal to the Commissioner. But if the Commissioner finds in your favour, the government can simply ignore the Commissioner’s finding.  

By Richard Bell 

When you’re dealing with a government that likes to operate in secrecy as much as the Liberals have since they took power back in 2013, it can be difficult to understand just how much contempt our elected officials actually have for the people of Nova Scotia

By Richard Bell 

Shortly after Education Minister Zach Churchill announced the replacement of Eastern Shore District High (with no mention of Gaetz Brook) in March of 2018, Churchill said that he would be replacing the site selection rules. Under the new rules, he said the primary driver would be ““technical evaluations” of prospective sites. There was no definition of what measures such a “technical evaluation” might consist of.  

In this issue, we are confronting a single problem that corrupts the politics of the province: our Liberal government’s insidious, systematic refusal to allow the citizens of Nova Scotia to participate in making major government policy decisions. 

By Lindsay Lee 

[Editor’s Note: The following piece first appeared on the Save Owls Head website last fall. In our editorial this week, we review a major new global review of more than 150 studies of the critical need to stop the accelerating destruction of our planet’s biodiversity, while simultaneously stopping global warming.

To the Editor:

The McNeil/Rankin  “Sweetheart Deal for Owls Head” (Cooperator, December 2020) is an insult to all Nova Scotians, starting with Little Harbour residents like me.

Welcome to Cooperator’s first issue of 2021. For 8 years now, a growing community of people have cooperated month after month to put together a publication that aims to deepen our understanding and love for the wonderful place we are so blessed to live in, the Eastern Shore.  

By Gordon Hammond 

First my apologies to Peter, Paul and Mary “borrowing” their lyrics - “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing” - but the album was titled “Magic Bus”! 

In a video on the Eastern Shore Cooperator's Facebook page, MLA Kevin Murphy mounts a vigorous defense of the controversial decision by the provincial government to remove Owls Head Provincial Park from a list of protected areas in order to sell it to a very wealthy American couple who want to build as many as three golf courses there. [We apologize for the loud typing in the background.] This video is from the Musquodoboit Harbour Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Old School in Musquodoboit Harbour on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

By Martine Panzica 

October 31, 2020 at the Deanery Project was a Halloween like no other. As part of the DP’s on-going efforts to get people into nature during Covid 19, they hosted an “All Souls Day” Open House in collaboration with the Young Naturalists Club for a spooky scavenger hunt on their trails.

By Edyth Shuman 

Sometime during late 2011, my mother was a patient at Twin Oaks which lasted a few months. At 96, she was very aware of her surroundings as well as the many people who visited her. I tried to visit two or three times a day.  

By Brenda Hattie-Longmire 

That’s what I like to call my restoration project – a Magnificent Obsession!  

By Richard Bell

Opening a new restaurant in the age of social media is different.

Just ask Will Gilligan and Amanda Russell, who announced  on Facebook at 10:30 pm on November 18 that they hoped to have the Old No.7 Restaurant and Sports Bar in the Head of  Jeddore shopping centre open by mid- to late-January.

“I  have to say, I’m overwhelmed today,” Gilligan told the Cooperator in a phone interview. “We put out a little social media teaser, and it’s just blown up. I’ve been on Facebook for hours today. The response from the community has been great! Electricians, carpenters, people offering to come in and help clean. Everyone’s very excited. We are so grateful.”

Gilligan worked in the restaurant business for 20 years, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up to chef, and Russell said that she worked for several summers at restaurants in Sheet Harbour. The site started off years ago as Captain Todd’s, then Toddy’s , and most recently, Marcus and Willy's.

“We want to build a real community-based restaurant,” Gilligan said. “The bar will be very Eastern Shore-themed. We’re collecting vintage jerseys from local teams to display.”

Gilligan said that they would be doing a Kickstarter campaign in a few weeks. “The kitchen was in rough shape. We’ve having to gut it and clean it and bring in all new equipment.” He said he’ll be acting as a general manager. “Rob Andrews will be running the kitchen. He’s been with me on and off since he was 16. He’s 38 now, practically a member of the family.”

Russell is working out the details for the front end of the restaurant. “We’re still picking colours and buying new fixtures,” Russell said. “Will just scrapped a bunch of kitchen equipment today. I’m expecting the next 4 to 6 weeks to be really rapid fire.”

Russell said she estimated they would eventually have a staff of about 20. “I know we’ve been getting people in area asking us are we hiring servers, kitchen staff,” she said. “We both have ties to Eastern Shore, and we’d like the Eastern Shore to benefit with new local jobs and use local products. Once we’re in there, we’ll use social media to post what positions we want to fill.”

The couple have a soon-to-be 4-year old whom her mother describes as “our in-house food critic, a real foodie. She’s not shy about letting us know when something’s too salty, or too sweet.”

Gilligan said he was especially touched by an email congratulating them from the owner of the Porters Lake Pub. “We’re friends and he knows it’s something I’ve wanted to do all my life. But hearing from him says a lot about the people where we live.”

They have a back-up plan in the event that the tightening up of Covid restrictions makes it impossible to open for in-house eating in January. “We’re hoping that people have an appetite to keep us going through take-out. And we’ll probably look at delivery too.”

By Richard Bell 

Akoma Holdings is in the process of seeking a rezoning of the property of the former Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children (NSHCC) along Highway 7 in Westphal. The company acquired the 320-acre parcel in 2014, making it the largest black landowner organization in the country. 

By Richard Bell 

Advocates and opponents of open-net fish farms are about to find out how the province’s newest scheme for regulating the controversial industry works, with the first meeting of the new Aquaculture Review Board in late October to consider three applications for shellfish licenses and leases.  

By David Shuman 

Former Gaetz Brook Junior High student Jakob Besaw says he was shocked when he learned that one of the water fountains he was drinking from back in 2016 had more than 900 times the legal limit of lead.  

By Richard Bell 

In her second run in District 1, Cathy Deagle Gammon upset long-time incumbent Steve Streatch by 74 votes in the official count, 3,062 to 2,953. Stephen Kamperman received 1,006 votes, and Arthur Wamback got 206 votes.  

Renowned local artist Joe Purcell passed away on October 16, 2020. In his memory, our cover this month is one of his family’s favorite prints, Chezzetcook The Land of My People. This cover is not Joe’s first time on our cover