Proposed Halifax national urban park moves closer to reality as it enters planning phase
CBC
Halifax is officially a step closer to getting the country's second national urban park, but ongoing development pressure in the area is concerning advocates.
The federal government shared details Tuesday of more than $2.1 million investment from Parks Canada for the planning phase of Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes.
"I feel like the snowball crested the hill and it's now gaining momentum down the other side," Mary Ann McGrath, chair of Friends of Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes, told reporters after the announcement at the Maskwa Aquatic Club.
The funds — mostly going to the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and about $600,000 to the province and Nova Scotia Nature Trust — will be used to study species at risk, for public consultation, and the design of trails, access points and park borders.
McGrath and the Friends have been pushing for the Blue Mountain area to become a park for years, and Halifax had started planning to have the area made a regional park when the national process came along.
"The faster Halifax grows, the more space it needs for peace and quiet," McGrath said. "I think that's an amazing gift to give to the city of Halifax and to the province of Nova Scotia."
Darren Fisher, Liberal MP for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, told the crowd this is a "generational opportunity" he has also been lobbying for in Ottawa for years.
"I know we're not at the finish line yet but I really feel like screaming, 'We did it,'" Fisher said.
The area for the proposed national urban park in Halifax includes 2,304 hectares centred around the Blue Mountain wilderness area, and lands managed by the city and Nature Trust, dubbed the "partnership lands." Mi'kmaw representatives from Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMK) and Sipekne'katik First Nation are also part of the planning process.
But McGrath said while she's excited to see things moving along, more land is needed along the edges of the current planned area to "keep the thing environmentally sound and safe."
A big piece of neighbouring private land that park supporters would like to see protected is a 390-hectare block owned by the Annapolis Group. That group is currently taking Halifax to court after years of the city refusing to approve developments on their lands in that area.
"It's a constant concern," McGrath said about the future of the Annapolis lands around Susie's, Quarry and Birch Cove lakes.
McGrath said the Friends are still "hopeful" there could be some resolution with Annapolis, and are also regularly meeting with other surrounding landowners. She said their message is that appropriate development could still happen nearby while preserving a "wonderful legacy" in the proposed park.
"I love living at the edge of this thing. All kinds of people love living at the edge of this thing. There's a way to do anything — but you have to all talk and you have to all listen," McGrath said.
As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.
CBC Quebec has launched its Make the Season Kind campaign. It's our annual campaign that focuses on food insecurity, while also celebrating kindness, generosity and community spirit around the province.
Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba will hold a public inquiry as soon as 2026 into the former Progressive Conservative government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for sand-mining company Sio Silica.
Premier Scott Moe has led the Saskatchewan Party through two straight elections, winning majority governments each time.
Eight weeks after adding a GM BrightDrop van to the fleet of his plumbing and heating business, Marty Salliss has no complaints, only praise.
Nearly half of Alberta’s Grade 6 students failed the provincewide math test in 2024, three years after the province started rolling out its new elementary school curriculum.
Toronto could get new cars on the road whose drivers will never get frustrated by gridlock — because the cars would be driving themselves.
Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, some London-area organizations say they have noticed a decline in donations this holiday season.
Prominent northern leaders have been touting the Arctic economic and security corridor as a "nation-building" project that will bring economic benefits to the two territories it straddles, but others are split on how much good will come out of it.
When the federal government tabled its 2025 budget last month, it included a proposal that tax fraud experts say is long overdue — if also a belated acknowledgement that the Canada Revenue Agency has been repeatedly duped into paying out untold millions in bogus tax refunds to scammers.
Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study.
While some are writing wishlists for Santa Claus, a group of Newfoundland and Labrador youth are writing their wishlist for the provincial government.
A horse owner near Stewiacke, N.S., says the current shortage of hay in the province is putting pressure on her financially.