N.S. government might not proclaim Coastal Protection Act this mandate

Nova Scotia Environment Minister Tim Halman will not commit to proclaiming the Coastal Protection Act — a piece of legislation passed with all-party support in 2019 — before the end of his government's mandate in 2025.

"At this juncture I'm certainly committed to ongoing consultations with Nova Scotians on the Coastal Protection Act," Halman said when pressed during an interview on Monday.

It's the most declarative indication so far that the Tory government is backing away from the legislation, which was passed under the former Liberal government four years ago with the intention of better protecting salt marshes and dunes, and outlining where people can build along the coastline so they are less vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

About a year ago, Halman said he hoped to proclaim the act in the first half of 2023. But in March, the minister backed away from that timeline. He said he was concerned too many coastal property owners do not know about the act and its potential implications, so he wanted a third round of public consultation for the regulations before the legislation comes into force.

As he has in the past, on Monday Halman could not say when the consultation would happen or how it would look.

Nova Scotia experienced fatal flooding more than a week ago that put communities under water in a matter of hours and claimed the lives of four people. But as Premier Tim Houston did last week, Halman said another round of consultation "is absolutely key" before he can think about proclaiming the act.

Halman's department is hiring two new positions to focus on flooding and storm water management based on recommendations from a climate change assessment for the province.

Marla MacLeod, the director of programs at the Ecology Action Centre, said it's imperative that the government proclaim the act as soon as possible given extreme weather events are expected to continue and intensify on account of climate change.

"We've already had extensive public consultations on this," MacLeod said in an interview.

"It's been in the works for four years now and it just needs to get done. We cannot continue to build like we have been building. We cannot build houses that we know are at risk of rising sea levels."

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Halman suggested that protection for the coast can be achieved through other means, such as changes to municipal building codes and zoning rules. He pointed to several municipalities which are doing just that, although places such as the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg are acting because of the delay in changes at the provincial level.

"We don't have time to keep revisiting things that we've already decided on," said MacLeod. "We know this is the right thing to do. Let's do it."

But Halman said the provincial government needs to be "very cautious" about "pushing their way and imposing their way."

"Certainly there's many different avenues we can go down for coastal protection. Is coastal protection necessary? The premier and I certainly believe it is," he said.

"We want to make sure, however, we get the buy in. We want to make sure we get the understanding and we want to make sure we get the right levels — whether it's provincial or municipal — implementing this to protect our coastlines."