ANTIGONISH COUNTY: The Municipality of the County of Antigonish will commit $73,696 in the 2023-24 fiscal year to support a funding application for a multi-use path connecting Bethany Gardens to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital as part of the Community Active Transportation Network.
The motion passed unanimously.
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Councillors voted to donate $5,000 to Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation to support their 2023 powwow.
The Pow Wow is being held at StFX University on April 1 and 2, and the public is encouraged to attend.
Warden Owen McCarron told reporters following the regular monthly council meeting on March 14 that they’ve seen how successful the Pow Wow has been at Paqtnkek.
“They’re wanting to expand it to create a more inclusive opportunity for our whole community,” he said. “And bringing it into the university is a great first step in building that bond of friendship and trust.”
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A recommendation coming out of the Feb. 28, Committee of the Whole meeting asked for the community navigation and physician retention inter-municipal agreement be extended for an additional three years.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Following the meeting on March 14, McCarron advised that the county, along with the Town of Antigonish and St. Martha’s Hospital Foundation entered into an agreement three years ago.
“We hired a physician retention person and that person we had hired, left and went on to another position,” McCarron told reporters. “So we renewed that commitment for three more years and we will be going out to advertise the new position to fill that vacancy.”
The warden suggested that council feels the role is a crucial piece of the puzzle in attracting and retaining physicians to the Antigonish area.
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The municipality plans to write to the provincial minister of public works, copying the local MLA, the department’s area manager and district director regarding the condition of Seabright Road.
Seabright Road is an historic right-of-way that beaks off from Highway 337 and runs towards the mouth of Antigonish Harbour. The dirt road leads to Town Point, a peninsula near the mouth of the harbour.