After at least two Nova Scotia municipalities voted in favour of asking the provincial government to slow down on its uranium exploration plans, their offices received several-page-long letters from Premier Tim Houston saying the province needs the industry to keep funding municipalities.
Letters sent to the chief administrative officers of West Hants Regional Municipality and Municipality of Pictou County list 90 and 115 projects, respectively, the province has funded in each region.
The letters signed by Houston say Nova Scotia has given Pictou more than $293 million and West Hants more than $227 million since he first formed government in 2021.
“These are just a few of the investments and I have no doubt that your Council has many more wants and needs. We would love to be able to meet every ask, but to do that, we need the resources to move forward,” both letters read.
“We would hope that we’re not treated any differently from any other municipality when it comes to funding projects,” said Abraham Zebian, the mayor of West Hants Regional Municipality, in an interview Tuesday.
Robert Parker, warden of the Municipality of Pictou County, said the letter made it apparent the premier was disappointed their council voted earlier this month in favour of asking the province to pause before granting leases for uranium projects.
“There was frustration coming through in the letter that perhaps we hadn’t stood strongly enough behind this effort to get uranium exploration started in our county,” Parker said in an interview Tuesday.
“But our job as a municipality isn’t necessarily always to agree with the province. Our job is to represent the voices of the people in our rural county here.”
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Parker said council was presented with concerns from residents who were worried about potential health and environmental issues and were seeking more information about uranium exploration and the province’s plans.
“The decision of the council had nothing to do with whether we were pro or against uranium (exploration). It was just to give us a pause,” Parker said.
Houston’s letters start by saying he is aware of the recent vote, and that he appreciates the concern surrounding protecting Nova Scotia’s land, air and water, and “I’m sure you know that as a Nova Scotian, my government would never do anything to intentionally put our environment at risk.”
The letters go on to say the province remains committed to “thoughtfully and safely” moving ahead on all natural resource projects, because the province is in need of the economic boost.
“Over time, as a society we started to listen to groups that used loud voices and fear to shut down jobs and opportunities. They often don’t want development in our province. They are happy with this status quo,” he said.
The premier said the province will get “both sides of the story,” gather facts on uranium, and hold discussions on a project-by-project basis.
Parker said residents need more information about the province’s plans in order to get on board.
“Not everybody is against all this, but they want to be consulted,” he said.
Zebian agreed, saying his constituents are open minded and ready to learn more about the issue — “but you have to show them what the plan is and have an open conversation on this, what the intention of the government is… and the safeguards that will be put in place.”
West Hants council voted in favour of asking the province to pause on uranium bids until the municipalities can learn more about it on the evening of June 10, and Zebian said the letter arrived the following morning.
“It was surprising to receive. That’s never happened to me in all my years of municipal government,” he said. The mayor has been in municipal government for 10 years.
Parker said while the letter, which his office received on June 6, was surprising — “there’s a bit more history here.” The warden said in February, Houston’s minister of municipal affairs, John Lohr, sent the municipality a letter asking them to publicly voice their support for the province’s natural resource plans.
“That letter very much asked for us to either sign the letter (in support) and send it back or to hold a press conference announcing that we were fully on side with the government’s resource exploration plan. We as a council didn’t respond to that,” Parker said.
The warden said signing that letter or voicing support at that stage would have been akin to “giving them a blank cheque, saying whatever you’re going to do, we’re fine with.”
Not responding to the February letter and voting in favour of asking to slow down on uranium do not mean the municipality is opposed to economic activity and progress on natural resources, Parker said.
“(Houston) wants to take the ‘no’ out of Nova Scotia. Well, the best way to do that is by educating people and informing people before the decisions made, not after the decision.”
The premier’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The provincial government added uranium to its list of priority critical minerals May 14, and it issued a request for exploration proposals for three sites with known deposits of the heavy metal. Interested companies had until June 11 to submit their proposals. On June 12, the premier told reporters there had been no bids, but he affirmed that he is committed to movement on natural resources exploration.
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