Coastal Protection Act delays ‘recklessly irresponsible,’ Ecology Action Centre says

Delaying the full implementation of the Coastal Protection Act is both irresponsible and dangerous, the Ecology Action Centre says.

“The process for adapting our communities to changing climate is complex and time-consuming,” Marla MacLeod, director of programs with the EAC, said at a news conference at the harbour stairs at Queens Landing wharf on the Halifax waterfront on Tuesday morning.

“Fortunately, there is a straightforward first step, implement the Coastal Protection Act regulations and stop building in known risk areas,” MacLeod said.

Standing with Patricia Manuel, a retired professor at the Dalhousie School of Planning, and Jane Alexander, a conservationist and coastal property owner in Lockeport, as the harbour water lapped at their heels, MacLeod said the climate crisis has become very real for Nova Scotians. 

“In the last year alone, we’ve experienced increasingly severe hurricanes, unprecedented fires and devastating floods,” MacLeod said.

“During hurricane Fiona, we lost huge sections of our coastline on the northern shore of Nova Scotia and in Cape Breton and sea levels are set to rise by at least a metre by 2100,” MacLeod said. “Continuing to stall solutions and plan only in the short term is recklessly irresponsible and represents a complete disregard for the safety of Nova Scotians and their families.

“These stairs leading into the ocean are a fitting metaphor of why we are here today. By continuing to delay the Coastal Protection Act, this government is practically inviting the ocean into our homes.”

The coastal protection legislation passed with full support of all Nova Scotia political parties in 2019 and the majority Progressive Conservative government, which came to power in August 2021, had promised to implement the regulations by the end of this year. The government, however, announced this past August that the regulations will be delayed until at least July 2025.

Consultations

“Now, we are in the third set of consultations,” MacLeod said. “We believe that public consultation is very important but enough is enough. Four years of work have gone into developing regulations. Civil servants, civil society organizations and the public have all put in extensive thought, care and time. We can’t keep starting over. The moment for action is now.”

MacLeod said cutting carbon emissions is no longer enough to save Nova Scotians and the globe.

“Our survival is fundamentally connected to the survival of critical ecosystems, like wetlands, old growth forest and dunes. We must protect what is left of these living systems because they are what protects us. A coastal protection act is a key step in this effort.”

Environment and Climate Change Minister Tim Halman said the government is listening, not stalling.

“The two previous consultations, we met with municipalities, experts, specialists and that’s feedback we appreciate but we don’t have the clarity from coastal property owners, so this round of consultation is very targeted, to 40,000 coastal property residents and the public is free to participate in this as well,” Halman said.

“The consultation is ongoing and will end Nov. 7,” he said, at which point the feedback will be analyzed and turned into a clear direction for coastal protection within the following few months.

Halman said the government wants to respect the diverse coastline of the province while ensuring that the people most directly affected by the legislation are having their say.

“Listening is important, listening is good, that’s what we’re doing now,” he said.

Not concerned

The minister dismissed accusations that the government lacks an appetite to upset landowners and developers and he said he’s not concerned that the continued delay will incentivize residential building on sites that may be prohibited from such a build after the legislation is implemented.

“I am not too concerned because I think Nova Scotians have a lot of common sense, I think Nova Scotians know not to build in a hazardous area and in many cases, if they are not sure, they can reach to organizations like ClimeAtlantic, they can reach to out my department,” he said.

“It’s really important that with a piece of climate adaptation policy like this that Nova Scotians understand what it’s all about and that’s what this round of consultation entails.”

Manuel said Halman put the brakes on developing the regulations on March 28.

“Consultation is essential, especially open, public consultation,” she said. “Three years of excellent, thorough, province-wide, boot-on-the-ground type of consultation brought us to these regulations. They are not one size fits all. They are sensitive to regional and site conditions but it’s time to release and educate.”

Manuel said not following through on coastal management has been the province’s approach to coastal management since 1994 or earlier, with strategies forged by one government and abandoned by the next.

‘Gotten worse’

“Things have only gotten worse, more development pressures, stronger, more frequent storms, sea level rise and increasingly damaging impacts of flooding and erosion,” Manuel said, adding it’s “hard to imagine” a reason for the delay until 2025.

The opposition leaders agreed.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the current government cares a lot about what certain individuals think and “there may be people that have plans who don’t want them (government) to do this.”

“I can’t think of any other reason why they would be delaying this,” Churchill said. “After all, they promised to get it done by 2023. This is a commitment so this is another broken election promise and I think they need to be upfront and tell people why.”

Churchill said the delay could be consequential.

“We’ve seen footage of houses getting washed into the sea that are in dangerous areas,” he said. “We’ve got a Coastal Protection Act that’s ready to be proclaimed that can protect people from building in dangerous areas and it can help us avoid catastrophe long term. … We can’t wait on this anymore.”

‘Urgent import’

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the delay is an embarrassment.

“We have a bill that was passed by all members of this House,” Chender said. “It’s of urgent import. We’ve had emergency debates on climate change on the floor of this House, those debates by definition mean that urgent action is required and yet this government came in and told us in no uncertain terms that this bill would not become law until after the next election. Why in the world would that be?”

Chender said sea level rise is real, calling the Ecology Action Centre’s harbourside news conference very compelling.

“I don’t think that this government can say that they take climate change seriously if they won’t enact this bill.”

Alexander, the great-granddaughter of a Lunenburg ship captain, said she learned the ways of water by living beside the ocean or other bodies of water all her life.

“My late husband and I moved to Nova Scotia, back to my homeland, 25 years ago and went to a beautiful place in Lockeport, right on the ocean, and within 10 years we had to put in rocks and a breakwater to prevent the ocean from damaging the foundations of the home and the (1840s) barn.”

Alexander said post-tropical storm Lee heaved up cantaloupe-sized rocks onto the walkway near her house and barn.

“I can’t move my house but I don’t want other people to have to go through this. … I respect the ocean greatly, I love her but water will find a way to come in … and she’s not stopping. We have to manage this now and we have to manage it together.”