ANTIGONISH: The town has a new taxi rate.
During the police and licensing committee report, at the Oct. 17, regular monthly town council meeting, Deputy Mayor Willie Cormier tabled the slightly adjusted taxi rates.
“Currently, what we have is a base rate. It’s $8, doesn’t matter what time of day, doesn’t matter how many people. Talking to people, finding a cab late at night is very difficult,” Cormier told council. “And in order to keep the taxi industry viable, part of the reason why it was difficult was that it was only $8.”
He suggested the new fare structure, in consultation with the taxi industry and individuals, between the hours of 4 a.m. and 9 p.m., for one or two passengers the $8 rate would remain in place, but noted that additional passengers increases the rate.
Cormier explained that after 9 p.m. and before 4 a.m., four passengers would cost $12.
“So we’re trying to incentivize the taxi industry,” he said. “And they’re very happy with this change.”
Another change coming to the taxi rate policy is adding a charge of $1.50 for additional stops on route.
“It’s making it a little more lucrative for the taxi industry, but we want to keep the taxi industry viable,” Cormier said. “One passenger (after) 9 p.m., is only 50 cents more, so $8.50.”
Mayor Laurie Boucher advised council that when they initially increased the rate, they received a lot of push back from people on low incomes, but noted that if they didn’t keep up with the price of gas and insurance, it wasn’t viable for the taxi’s to go out.
“That service declined and wasn’t available,” Boucher said. “That hurts our people even more, so it is kind of finding a balance where it’s affordable and it’s available.”
Councillor Mary Farrell suggested in the summer it was almost impossible to find a taxi in Antigonish in the evenings because it wasn’t worthwhile for them being open.
Following the meeting, the mayor suggested the taxi rate increase started approximately two years ago, when COVID-19 was the reason for increasing fuel costs.
“And at one point, the industry came to us and asked if we could raise the rates. We kept putting deadlines on it, but we just never had the time so we kept extending that date,” Boucher said. “Very happy now that it finally came to pass, that we do have more substantial fare rates. It didn’t take use long to notice this is a service that is absolutely necessary within the town.”
Councillors gave second reading to a proposed development agreement located at 23 Main Street, with Paradis Investment Ltd.
The motion that was read into council noted the developer was looking to construct a mixed-use retail and professional office building that would be located at a former well-known pit stop along the east end of Main Street.
During a public hearing on Aug. 18, that only saw one community member in attendance who spoke in favour of the project, there was no opposition from council or anyone within the community.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Council also discussed the St. James United Church Social Justice Committee and a guaranteed livable basic income for Canadians.
Mayor Laurie Boucher advised senior staff have been doing research on the matter, and have brought it back to council with a recommendation of sending a letter in support.
Deputy Mayor Willie Cormier said a guaranteed livable basic income sounds like a great idea but felt he needed more information like how it gets funded.
During a vote on the motion, Cormier was the lone nay vote and the motion was carried.
Councillors also passed a motion unanimously in relation to providing additional support during pregnancy or parental leave.
The purpose of the policy is to provide for top-up during a portion of an employee’s pregnancy or parental leave. The policy also specifies how the top-up will be calculated and capped.
The top-up will be paid for two time periods, for eligible employees. There will be a paid leave of up to five consecutive days and then a top-up for part of the time that an employee is receiving employment insurance (EI) pregnancy or parental leave benefits.
The town will provide a top-up payment to eligible employees for up to 16 weeks. This top-up will be 40 per cent of the employee’s maximum EI rate.
“As an example, if the employee earns $52,000-a-year and otherwise qualifies for EI benefits, the town will pay a top-up of approximately $400 for up to 16 weeks,” Meaghan Barkhouse, director of corporate services said. “While the employee is receiving EI pregnancy or parental leave benefits, which is 55 per cent mixed with the 40 per cent, to get 95 per cent of the maximum amount that they would normally.”
The policy will apply to births that occur or adoptions in which the child is placed in the employee’s home on, or after Oct. 1, 2022.
The Town of Antigonish recently purchased two speed radar signs, one is located on Brookland Street and the other is on Arbour Drive.
The town receives data on what time the vehicle drives by, along with the vehicle’s speed information.
Diane Roberts highlighted she teamed up with a StFX student and his dog to welcome StFX students to Antigonish at their residence.
The long-time councillor suggested the students were very happy to see them, and after having a brief chat with them, she advised she left them her business card.
Providing a quick report of the town’s Accessibility Plan, Donnie MacInnis indicated UPLAND, the company putting the plan together, hosted an open house at the People’s Place Library on Sept. 13.
He said they had a number of people stop in, reviewed the plan and made some great suggestions, the councillor reported.
The company is now finalizing the report, and once it is finished, it’ll come back to council for final approval, MacInnis added.