Recommendations on housing, transit and recreation in CBRM on hold until fall

Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s task forces on social inclusion took too long to report their findings and the mayor says their recommendations will now have to be considered by the next council after this fall’s general elections.

The municipality created task forces on housing, transit and recreation last summer and gave them six months to report back to council. 

The findings were presented Tuesday, about 11 months after they were approved by councillors.

Mayor Amanda McDougall said the task forces got started late and their recommendations were not ready in time for this year’s budget.

However, she said rushing them would lead to poor policy recommendations.

“Having additional time for these task forces to get together, to do research, that’s a good thing,” McDougall said.

The mayor, who has already announced that she will not be running for a second term, said she does not regret being unable to implement the recommendations.

“I won’t be able to as mayor, but I get to be a citizen and get involved in that way, so I’m very excited to see this through as a citizen now,” she said.

Some of the recommendations are already underway, such as the creation of affordable housing incentives and making website improvements.

Others that will have to wait until after the October elections include making everyone pay a transit tax, creating a youth recreation committee and helping citizens address energy poverty.

The reports and recommendations are included in the agenda from Tuesday’s council meeting starting on page 79.

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