(Above, the February 20, 2014 WSP "Health and Welness Campus Concept Plan")
Introduction
The recent FOIPOP-ordered release of a long-supressed document filled in one of the many missing gaps in the history of the decision to replace Eastern Shore District High and Gaetz Brook Junior High with a consolidated school in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park in East Chezzetcook. Both the McNeil Liberals and then Houston’s PC fought hard against FOIPOPs requesting some of the material discussed below.
We know that there are gaps in this chronology that we hope to fill. If you have any documents or other information that would produce a more complete record, please get them to the Cooperator. We are happy to observe requests for anonymity.
Email: [email protected].
Mail or hand delivery: 11 East Petpeswick Road/Musquodoboit Harbour, NS B0J 2L0.
Phone: 902-889-2331
1980
Province starts planning to build the Eastern Shore Industrial Park on land that will be taken by eminent domain on a site adjacent to plans to build an extension of Highway 107.
1982
Province opens Eastern Shore Industrial Park in East Chezzetcook after assembling land by eminent domain. Most of the seized land comes from long narrow holdings that run from East Chezzetcook Road eastward to Petpeswick Lake, including a parcel from land belonging to the Colford family. Industrial Estates Ltd. is the company that owns the land on behalf of the provinc
1999
Industrial Estates Ltd. fails to attract many tenants. To improve management and get more tenants at the Industrial Park, the province sets up the Nova Scotia Business Development Corporation, which buys the land from Industrial Estates Ltd.
2008
June 2008
HRM publishes “HRM Business Parks Function Plan: Part 1” in which three consulting firms review the state of industrial parks in HRM. Of the Eastern Shore Industrial Park’s 126 acres, only 13.5 acres had been sold to tenants, “with the majority of the site used for municipal infrastructure (e.g., sewage treatment, roads, easements, borrow pits, etc.”
There are problems with water and sewer: “Although the park has municipal sewer and water, both are problematic. Due to the small amount of development in the park, there is not enough sewage to warrant operating the sewage treatment plant on a continuous basis; this has created concerns about its future viability. In addition, water supply is an on-site non-potable water system, which is not satisfactory to some possible tenants.”
What is now called Motts Drive is also insufficient. Citing a previous consulting study, the estimate for fixing up the road is “approximately $1.3 million ($55,000 per acre), which would create access to 17 lots totalling 22.3 acres.”
The report also found that “Residential Development is Not Compatible with Industrial Land Use. Given the short supply in the industrial land reserve, the difficulty in finding good quality serviced land for industrial development, and the potential for incompatibilities, HRM should not promote residential development in or around industrial land uses.”
2013
October 8, 2013--Kevin Murphy elected MLA
Jean McKenna is the Registered Agent for Murphy’s campaign
Jim Colford becomes Murphy’s legislative assistant.
2014
February 20, 2014
A still unknown client pays for the consulting firm WSP to produce a map entitled, “Health and Wellness Campus Concept Plan,” “Version 1.0.” The existence of this WSP map, dated February 20, 2014, did not become public until 2022. The WSP map shows a cluster of buildings that includes a cluster of buildings fitting MLA Murphy’s 2014 “campus” plan (see June 8, 2014 below).
June 8, 2014
At a meeting of the Musquodoboit Harbour and Area Community Association at the Petpeswick Yacht Club in Musquodoboit Harbour, MLA Kevin Murphy proposes his “Eastern Shore Health and Wellness Campus” plan for moving the high school, the Birches, and the rink from Musquodoboit Harbour to the Eastern Shore Industrial Park in East Chezzetcook. Attendees are stunned at the thought of losing these core community assets.
June 19, 2014
At a presentation at the Musquodoboit Harbour rink arranged by HRM Councillor David Hendsbee, Halifax Senior Planner Marcus Garnet stated that Murphy’s “campus” proposal on June 8 was “abhorrent to the regional plan.” HRM developed the Regional Plan to guide development across a public consultation process that thousands of people participated in.
Early Fall, 2014
MLA Kevin Murphy, faced with significant opposition to his “campus” plan, convenes a meeting of people who are supportive of his plan. This meeting becomes the nucleus for the creation in 2015 (see below) of the Community Campus Vision Association, headed by Jean McKenna, the Registered Agent for Murphy’s 2013 campaign.
October 2014
The latest version of HRM’s Regional Municipal Planning Strategy goes into effect. HRM has invested millions of dollars since amalgamation to develop and update this plan, with extensive public consultations. Porters Lake and Musquodoboit Harbour are identified in this plan as rural district growth centres, to concentrate rural development and reduce sprawl. The word “Chezzetcook” does not occur in this 123-page document.
2015
March 12, 2015
Jean McKenna, former registered agent for MLA Kevin Murphy’s 2013 campaign, sets up Community Campus Vision Association (CCVA) as a Society, which is dedicated to realizing Murphy’s “campus” plan. McKenna is the chair of the organization.
October 28, 2015
CCVA holds public meeting pushing Murphy’s “campus” concept. The power point presentation uses a map showing the arrangement of the “campus” facilities. Not until 2022 do we learn that this CCVA slide is almost identical with a map prepared in 2014 by the consulting firm WSP entitled, “Health and Wellness Campus Concept Plan.” (See February 20, 2014 above).
The CCVA map is also almost identical to a map discussed by a TIR official on May 24, 2018 (see below).
2016
October 6, 2016
Jean McKenna tells a CCVA community meeting at École des Beaux-Marais that CCVA has decided to drop its support for the “campus” concept. McKenna explained, “We’ve recognized the practicalities. While it’s a great concept, it’s impractical. You’d have to involve bringing together, in the same tent, the Department of Health, the municipality, the Department of Education, and the School Board for those four separate items. You can’t do that. It would not work. It would delay everything. And so we are now focused on the school.”
2017
January 2017
In a Letter to the Editor in the January/February 2017 issue of the Cooperator, Jean McKenna noted that CCVA now believes that instead of just replacing ESDH, the province should combine ESDH with Gaetz Brook Junior High School, which is also aging badly.
Early March 2017
MLA Kevin Murphy sent out a letter in early March asking for comments about replacing three schools, Eastern Shore District High, Gaetz Brook Elementary, and École des Beaux-Marais. Murphy wrote:
“Over the past few weeks, the opportunity has emerged to examine the possibility of including Gaetz Brook Junior High School and École des Beaux-Marais (along with ESDH) in the infrastructure replacement conversation. As MLA, I have heard from plenty of parents and students from all three schools who are in favour of this. I am supportive of investigating the possibilities of replacing all three schools at once with a goal of getting the biggest bang for our educational infrastructure buck.”
2018
January 24, 2018
Education Minister Zach Churchill announces that the Province will be eliminating the seven elected regional school boards and consolidating into a single provincial advisory committee whose members would be chosen by the Education Minister
April 30, 2018
Churchill announces that the Province will be building a replacement for Eastern Shore District High.
May 7, 2018
Churchill makes a public appearance to address the new school after his April 30, 2018 announcement at a community meeting at the East Chezzetcook Lions Hall. Churchill says that the department is revising the site selection process to eliminate any possibility that public participation would delay construction. He explained, “There will be a public input component to the site selection progress, but we’re not going to do it in a way that’s going to prolong it.” [Cooperator italics]. He hedged about whether the new process would include community meetings.
May 24, 2018
In an email exchange not revealed until the following year through a FOIPOP ((2019-08873-TIR), Philip Cox from Efficiency Nova Scotia and TIR’s Darrell MacDonald discuss a map labeled “Health Wellness Campus WSP.pdf: Eastern Shore District High School.” The map was done by the consulting firm WSP showing a layout containing the facilities in Murphy’s “campus” concept. Commenting on the map, Cox wrote, “Site planning already done for this one!” MacDonald then replied, “Yup. I had some info on all of this from a couple of years ago.” As mentioned above, an almost identical version of this map showed up in a CCVA power point presentation on October 28, 2015 (see above)
June 7, 2018
GBJH Student Advisory Committee sends a letter to Minister Churchll and MLA Kevin Murphy "to show our support for the including of Gaetz Brook Junior High in the new school development....I hope this is takn into serious consideration as financially it makes sense to combine the construction of two aged schools into one modern facility.
July 20, 2018
In a statement to the Cooperator on July 20, Education Department media advisor Heather Fairbairn explained the role of “technical evaluation” in the department’s plans for a new site selection process:
“We are currently redesigning the school site selection process to ensure it is based around the technical evaluation of potential sites. This will reduce delays in site selections – by identifying technically unsuitable locations earlier in the process - and helping to get schools into communities sooner.
“The technical evaluation portion of the site selection process will look at a variety of parameters such as environmental suitability, soil composition, walkability, access to transportation, the availability of electrical, water and sewage services.”
October 22, 2018
Musquodoboit Harbor & Area Chamber of Commerce & Civic Affairs (MHACCCA) releases a detailed report recommending siting the new high school in Musquodoboit Harbour: “Eastern Shore High School Site Selection—A Business Case for Building the New School in Musquodoboit Harbour.” (In collaboration with the Musquodoboit Harbour & Area Community Association, The Old School Community Gathering Place, and community members.) The report highlights the wide range of resources and opportunities within walking distance of the current high school site—including already built facilities contained in the hypothetical facilities in Murphy’s “campus” plan.
October 29, 2018
CCVA holds a meeting at the Porters Lake Community Centre, chaired by CCVA’s Jean McKenna. McKenna insisted that the province had already decided that the new site would have to be at least 80-100 acres.Questioned about the source of this 80–100-acre number, McKenna insisted it had come up in conversations she had had with the Minister, and with MLA Kevin Murphy, and that Murphy could back her up. Murphy acknowledged that this number had come up in conversations, but he contradicted McKenna’s claim that the province had already made this land decision.
2019
In 2019, the School Advisory Committee for Gaetz Brook Junior High expressed an interest in having their students included in the new building.
Mid-May, 201
Musquodoboit Harbour & Area Chamber of Commerce and Civic Association chair Kent Smith meets with Education Minister Zach Churchill, Deputy Education Minister Cathy Montreuil, MLA Kevin Murphy, and other department officials. Reporting on this meeting to the following MHACCCA monthly meeting, Smith said that Montreuil said that the new site selection process would begin with a technical review of the existing site. If the site passed the technical review, then the new school would be built on the existing site.
Smith said he asked if there was a 50-acre requirement for the new site: “The answer was no.” Two landowners have offered free land for sites in Musquodoboit Harbour. “Both the Minister and the Deputy Minister thought that getting donated land was amazing,” Smith said. “The Minister even said it was ‘cool.’”
June 25, 2019
Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) announces the new school site selection rules, issuing a press release titled “School Site Selection Process Reduces Time to Open New Schools.” In this release, EECD states that the department will first look at the existing school site before looking at other sites. Here’s the exact language from the press release:
June 25, 2019
Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) announces the new school site selection rules, issuing a press release titled “School Site Selection Process Reduces Time to Open New Schools.” In this release, EECD states that the department will first look at the existing school site before looking at other sites. Here’s the exact language from the press release:
"As part of the new site selection process, the school community will continue to have input on school design. This process also requires the following:
-
in the case of a replacement school, the existing school site will be considered first, before looking for a new site [Cooperator emphasis]
- engineers will conduct a technical site review to first ensure the site is appropriate, considering things like access to power, water, sewage, transportation, proximity to the community it will serve and other criteria"
But the press release failed to mention that in changing the law, the Liberals inserted a provision which Education Ministers could then use to tailor the process to get a previously selected outcome. This section [Section 14B (1) (a) (ii)] requires the school-building ministry (DTIR in the regulations) to “determine the requirements for the school building site, considering all of the following…[including] any requirements set by the Minister.” [Cooperator emphasis] There is no limitation in the regulations as to what “requirements” the Minister may add. There is no public documentation that any Minister had promulgated any such “requirements” until March 23, 2021 (see below)
2020
March 20, 2020
DTIR produces a “high level evaluation” of two sites for the new high school dated March 20, 2020. However, the McNeil administration hides this report from the public. The very existence of this report does not become known until the release of a heavily redacted FOIPOP on January 14, 2021. DTIR deleted every single word in the text of this 6-page report, including the names of the two sites it considered. The cover sentence says that DTIR looked at two sites. But the withholding of the entire text makes it impossible to know what sites DTIR looked at, much less what it found. (See December 15, 2022 for release of the unredacted report.)
September 30, 2020
EECD Minister approves a “Consultation Plan,” run by HRCE. The purpose of this plan, according to HRCE’s final report on December 15, 2020, is “to gather input on expanding this capital project to include the consolidation of ESDH and GBJH.”
October 8, 2020
HRCE launches the consultation process “with an announcement to the SACs of Eastern
Shore District High (ESDH), Gaetz Brook Junior High (GBJH), O’Connell Drive Elementary School (ODES) and Porter’s Lake Elementary School (PLES).”
In the “Proposed Consolidation Plan,” HRCE wrote that the “Essential Question” was:
“In 2018, a new high school was announced for the Eastern Shore area. The SAC at Gaetz Brook Junior High requested the new school include their students when it opens. As the HRCE studies future capital needs, this is an important question to consider. We are looking for the members of the school community and wider public to provide us with feedback on the consolidation of these two schools.”
But there was a fundamental flaw in this “public consultation” process: HRCE did not ask for input from the SAC of Oyster Pond Academy, or the parents of OPA students, even though OPA graduates would be attending the proposed school. This omission meant that whatever conclusions HRCE reached from this consultation process would not include the opinions of the families of the 418 students at OPA in 2020.
According to the report, a total of 1,254 students were attending Eastern Shore District High, Gaetz Brook Junior High, O’Connell Drive Elementary, and Porters Lake Elementary. Including the OPA students gives a total of 1,672 students.
So this “consultation” did not contain the opinions of 25% of the families whose children will be attending the consolidated school (418/1,672=25%) In the submitted comments, some non-OPA parents asked why OPA was not included. There is no explanation in the final report explaining why OPA parents were intentionally excluded from this survey.
This survey did not ask where people want this proposed combined school to be located, and there were no statistics on school location in the final report.
December 15, 2020
HRCE releases “Capital Planning: Consolidation Consultation
Eastern Shore District High & Gaetz Brook Junior High, Final Report to the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.” The final recommendation: “It is recommended that Eastern Shore District High School and Gaetz Brook Junior High School be consolidated in the new school to be built in the community of Eastern Shore.”
2021
January 14, 2021
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure releases FOIPOP 2020-20456-TIR “concerning site selection/technical evaluation of possible site or sites for a replacement for Eastern Shore District High School.” The applicant asked for a copy of the following records:
"A report/correspondence from Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, as referred to in correspondence from Gerard Jessome dated April 15, 2020, concerning site selection/technical evaluation of a possible site or sites for a replacement for Eastern Shore District High School (copy correspondence from Jessome to named individual attached.)"
But DTIR chose to delete every word in the text of the 6-page document except for the title, “Eastern Shore District HS/Campus Site Options—DTIR High Level Analysis,” and this one sentence description, “We have performed a high level review of two sites as possible locations of the new Eastern Shore District High School, described below.” There are headlines for the 7 sections of the otherwise empty document. DTIR claimed that every single word in the text was exempt, either as 14(1) “advice by or for a public body or Minister,” or 17(1), “information the release of which would have a detrimental or economic impact on NS.”
[Editor’s Note: A subsequent FOIPOP request for this same document finally forced Houston’s DTIR to release the full text of the document, after Information and Privacy Commissioner Tricia Ralph recommended the release of the entire document after DTIR rejected the recommendation of OPIC Investigator See entries starting with October 27, 2021 to track this FOIPOP through two rejections by Houston’s DTIR, before finally releasing the document after IPC Ralph’s recommendation on November 1, 2022.]
February 2, 2021
The School Plan Capital Updated states, “The province confirmed a decision by HRCE to consolidate GBJH and ESDH into one building following an extensive consultation process. The new school will be built on industrial land in East Chezzetcook which will allow for future development in the area including a community hub of recreational services.”
[Editor’s note: The Cooperator is unaware of any other Provincial documents in which locating and funding a “community hub of recreational services” at the Eastern Shore Industrial Park is discussed.]
February 9, 2021
HRM Regional Council unanimously passes a motion from Councillor David Hendsbee requesting the Mayor “send a letter to the Minister of Education on behalf of Halifax Regional Council to reconsider the proposed location of the new consolidated Junior High/High School for the Eastern Shore and to further consult with HRM and the public on other potential location(s) that better align with HRM’s objective to plan and build healthy, livable and sustainable communities.”
March 12, 2021
Eastern Shore residents Leanne Wrathall, Matthew Randell, and Wallace Stephen file a request with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court for a Judicial Review challenging the decision by the Nova Scotia Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Nova Scotia Minister of Transportation to locate the proposed school combining Eastern Shore District High and Gaetz Brook Junior High in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park in East Chezzetcook.
In their request, they assert that the Ministers involved have breached “procedural fairness” in the decision-making process. They also argued that the decision by EECD Minister Zack Churchill was “unreasonable because he had fettered himself to a single outcome in the decision-making process for the school site selection” Decision-makers are supposed to exercise independent judgement in reaching their decisions. The “fettering of discretion” happens when a decision-maker has already decided on an outcome before the decision-making process gets underway.
March 18, 2021
The Education Department puts out a press release announcing that Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Derek Mombourquette had “set aside the previous decision” locating the new school in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park. Before making a final decision, “The province will seek feedback from the community on the location of the new Eastern Shore Consolidated School in Halifax Regional Municipality.”
March 23, 2021
In a letter dated March 23, 2021, Education Minister Derek Mombourquette adds an additional requirement to the site selection decision-making process:
“Any proposed site must be able to accommodate not only the new consolidated school but also allow for the potential inclusion of future co-located government facilities and community growth and development at the site.”
[Editor’s note: Throughout this entire timeline, going back to 1980, the Cooperator is unaware of any public documents in which any of the various administrations discussed funding any other Provincial buildings or facilities in the Industrial Park, except the high school.]
March 23, 2021
The Department of Infrastructure & Housing/Building Project Services division (IAH) issues a public document entitled, “Eastern Shore District 7-12: Site Options Comparison—Technical Overview.” The document summarizes “technical reviews of two sites and a high-level review of another.” They conclude that although both the ESDH site and the GBJH could accommodate a new junior/senior school, the only site that meets the Minister’s requirement (announced the same day that the report was released) is the Industrial Park.
[Editor’s note: as noted above for March 20, 2020, Churchill’s new site selection rules give the Minister the right to insert whatever “requirements” the Minister desires. But since this “Technical Overview” was released on the same day that Mombourquette issued his “requirements” letter, the authors of the report were already using this requirement in their analysis and recommendation, before Mombourquette made it public.]
March 25, 2021
Following on Mombourquette’s March 23 announcement that he was putting the site selection decision on hold pending a new public consultation, HRCE announces a 2nd round of public consultation, except that HRCE does not ask about the site location at all.
Here’s the question:
“Considering the future of children that will attend the new Eastern Shore Consolidated School, what kinds of educational opportunities would you like to see now and in the future at this school?”
In its final report, HRCE chose to present a set of misleading statistics about preferences for the site location, despite having never asked people a question about site selection. Since there were no questions about site selection, the fact that some respondents happened to include a mention of a site is not a statistically sound method for determining what the community believes.
Here’s the quote from the HRCE report:
"For those that indicated a specific preference for a particular site, the majority of responses indicated a preference for the East Chezzetcook site (45%) with a smaller percentage indicated support for the existing site or a site in the same general area (23%). About 6% of response specifically stated they did not want the school built in East Chezzetcook, with about 1%, indicating specifically that it should not be built on the existing site, or that general area. About 11% indicated support for a site that was part of a community setting and 5% wanted to see the school build in an area where there was room to expand and add other facilities. A central location was mentioned in 9% of the feedback comments."
June 3, 2021
Education Minister Mombourquette announces that the combined school would be in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park. Speaking about the results of the survey, in which there was no question about site location, in a press release Mombourquette said, “I appreciate the comprehensive feedback from the community. People in the community are engaged and wanted their voices heard…. After careful review, I have concluded that the Motts Drive site in East Chezzetcook is the right location for this new school."
September 27, 2021
New FOIPOP (2021-01772-DPW) filed for the March 20, 2020 technical review. The McNeil administration had released a heavily redacted version of this document on January 14, 2021, deleting every word in the text.
October 27, 2021
The newly elected Houston administration, despite Premier Houston’s campaign promise to reform the FOIPOP process to require the government to accept OIPC recommendations releases the same heavily redacted version of the March 20, 2020 technical review in response to FOIPOP (2021-01772-DPW)
November 3, 2021
Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner receives appeal of October 27, 2021 FOIPOP (2021-01772-DPW) asking for the release of the redacted material in the March 20, 2020 technical review. OPIC says that they are currently processing appeals from 2017, but that OPIC sometimes agrees to requests for an expedited review if the applicant can show that there is some “urgency” in terms of the potential impact of the requested information on public policy.
December 16, 2021
Janet L. Burt-Gerrans, Director of Investigations for OIPC approves request to expedite the review of the November 3, 2021, appeal.
“After a preliminary review of the records and the applicant’s submissions, I am of the view that this application meets the OIPC criteria to expedite the review. The applicant has established that there is urgency with regard to the decision-making at stake because the new school has not been built yet but construction is expected in 2022. Public discussion about the school siting process and decision are timely and current. The applicant has submitted her view that the failure to disclose the information at issue has already harmed the community’s ability to participate. The precise information at issue does shed light on the attributes of each of the sites considered which may assist members of the public engaging on the issue if it were to be disclosed. In order to ensure that delays from the OIPC review process do not cause additional harm, I have decided to expedite this request. [Cooperator emphasis].
2022
February 7, 2022
Nova Scotia Business Incorporated sells the Eastern Shore Industrial Park to the Crown.
March 15, 2022
OIPC Investigator Jason Mighton issues his “Investigator’s Opinion” on the November 3, 2021 appeal to release the redacted text of the March 20, 2020 technical report. His suggestion for resolution: “Disclose the information in full to the applicant.”
[Editor’s note: the Province’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Act does not require the government to follow recommendations from OIPC staff, or recommendations from the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Houston campaigned on a promise to correct this fundamental flaw in the Act and to require the government to obey OIPC findings. Houston has not filed such legislation as of February 1, 2023.]
April 1, 2022
The Houston administrations refuses to accept the “Investigator’s Recommendation” to release all the March 20,2020 document, moving the appeal to Information and Privacy Commissioner Tricia Ralph, who then conducts her own separate investigation.
November 1, 2022
Information and Privacy Commissioner Tricia Ralph recommends that DPW “disclose the information” within 45 dates of her report.
December 15, 2022
DPW releases the full, unredacted text of the March 20, 2020 technical report. The two sites reviewed turned out to be the Eastern Shore Industrial Park and an offer of land from Seven Lakes Developments Limited in Porters Lake. One of the key site selection criteria in this report is whether a site would “support a ‘campus’ concept,” a direct reference to MLA Murphy’s 2014 “campus” proposal.
The repeated use of this “campus concept” in this 2020 report is striking because as far as the Cooperator knows, there is no public record of previous Education Minister Zach Churchill having ever formally added this requirement as required under the new regulations that he wrote. The Cooperator will be investigating why DTIR used the “campus concept” in the absence of any public declaration by the Minister of “requirements” under Section 14B (1) (a) (ii). And as noted above, the March 23, 2021 report used this “campus” criteria, even though it was released on the same day as Education Minister’s Mombourquette’s letter requiring the use of the “campus” concept.
2023
January 31, 2023
HRCE sends out a notice that the opening of the consolidated junior/senior high school under construction in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park has been delayed until at least September of 2024. The previous opening date was September of 2023. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“We previously communicated that the plan for school opening was September 2023. An update to the project schedule has been provided to us and based on a variety of factors, we are now working toward a September 2024 opening date. Like many construction projects worldwide, shortages of material, equipment and labour are impacting completion dates.” [Editor’s note: the phrase “working toward a September 2024 opening date” is not a solid commitment that the school will be open by September 2024.]
If the Province is successful in meeting a September 2024 opening day, more than six-and-a-half years will have passed since Education Minister Zack Churchill’s announcement of the replacement on April 30, 2018 (see above). On May 7, 2018, Churchill told a public meeting that he was planning to eliminate any possibility for meaningful public participation in the site selection process. (See above).
On June 25, 2019, more than a year later, Churchill finally issued the five pages of the new site selection rules that did eliminate public participation in the site selection process.
In releasing these rules, Churchill deplored the time delays he said were caused by the old rules with public participation, time delays that could run as long as six years!
Here’s what Churchill said about his speedy new process:
“Getting a new school is very exciting for communities, but often, under the old process, lengthy delays meant some schools took up to six years to complete. The new, simplified process can significantly reduce this time so families don’t have to wait longer than necessary to benefit from a new school.” [Cooperator emphasis]
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NOTE: As mentioned earlier, we know that there are gaps in this chronology that we hope to fill. If you have any documents or other information that would produce a more complete record, please get them to the Cooperator. We are happy to observe requests for anonymity.
Email: [email protected].
Mail or hand delivery: 11 East Petpeswick Road/Musquodoboit Harbour, NS B0J 2L0.
Phone: 902-889-2331
