N.S. minister: Coast protection shifts to homeowners, municipalities [Video]

HALIFAX –

Nova Scotia’s new plan to protect the province’s 13,000 kilometres of coastline is an abdication of the government’s responsibility, the opposition and environmental activists said Monday.

The strong criticism came swiftly after Environment Minister Tim Halman announced the strategy and confirmed that the Progressive Conservative government would not put into force the Coastal Protection Act, which was passed in 2019 by the Liberals with support from all parties in the legislature.

The act would have offered more protection to coastal areas such as dunes and salt marshes, and would have restricted development along parts of the coastline at risk of heavy erosion.

Instead, the government’s new plan shifts much of the responsibility for coastal protection to individual property owners and municipalities.

“They’ve abdicated their responsibility to Nova Scotians on the issue of coastal protection,” said Liberal critic Braedon Clark. “They’ve downloaded this responsibility to municipalities and they’ve given them very little resources …