Nova Scotia moves forward with plan to force municipalities to protect coastlines – Halifax [Video]

The Nova Scotia government is offering municipalities a blueprint on how they can protect the province’s 13,000 kilometres of coastline.

Environment Minister Tim Halman was in Sydney, N.S., Tuesday where he announced a new website link with examples of bylaws and other regulations municipalities can use to prevent coastal erosion.

It follows the Progressive Conservatives’ refusal to put into force a 2019 law adopted by the previous Liberal government that would have required the provincial government to manage coastal protection.

The government’s choice last year to abandon the legislation has drawn criticism from some property owners, environmentalists and some smaller municipalities who say they don’t have the resources to deal with coastal issues on their own.

Still, the government wants the province’s municipalities to draft their own bylaws that define where coastal regulations would apply, set minimum building elevation, and create buffer zones to protect infrastructure from erosion.

The minister …