Bridgewater Collaborative Health Centre On Track

Construction on Bridgewater's new Collaborative Health Centre remains on track. A meeting was held Monday morning for LaHave Investments to provide an update on the project. The group's president says the foundation and plumbing work are complete and crews are working towards pouring the concrete flooring. South Shore Health spokesperson Theresa Hawkesworth says they're aggressively recruiting doctors for the centre.



Hawkesworth says they hope to have a handful of doctors recruited by the time the new health care facility opens. The project is expected to be complete sometime in the fall.

Lunenburg: Long-Time Politician Passes Away

A long-time councillor and deputy mayor in Lunenburg has passed away. David Dauphinee died Sunday at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater.  He was 76-years-old. Dauphinee spent 30 years on council starting in 1982 when he was first elected. He spent 17 years as the town's deputy mayor. Former mayor Laurence Mawhinney says Dauphinee will be missed by many.



Mawhinney says his fondest memory of Dauphinee was traveling together to Ottawa roughly 15 years ago to lobby the federal government for support to clean up the town's wastewater system. Dauphinee is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Liberal Leader Accuses Dexter Government Of Downplaying Importance of 103 Twinning

Nova Scotia Liberal leader Stephen McNeil suggests the Dexter government doesn't consider twinning the 103 from exit 5 to 13 a priority.  He says its even removed the roadway from the 5 year provincial highway improvement plan.  McNeil questions suggestions from local NDP MLA's Pam Birdsall and Gary Ramey for motorists to stick to the speed limit and pull over to use their cell phones to make the highway safer. McNeil says that is not the end of it.



The Liberal leader says his party applauded the government a few years ago for establishing the 5 year plan. However, McNeil says to remove the 103 from the list now is disappointing and troubling!  He believes its a move by the Dexter government to downplay a potential "hot" election issue.

Turtle Santuary Created In Queens County

Conservationists are celebrating the creation of a turtle sanctuary in Queens County.  The Nova Scotia Nature Trust has bought land around McGowan Lake to protect a primary habitat of the endangered Blanding's turtle.  The sanctuary contains more than five kilometers of undeveloped shoreline, ideal nesting ground for the turtles.  It's been estimated there are only 350 Blanding's turtles left in the wild in Nova Scotia.

Patience Needed With Highway 103 Twinning: MLAs

A pair of Lunenburg County MLAs are preaching patience when it comes to the topic of twinning Highway 103. Pam Birdsall and Gary Ramey say the issue has been front and centre since the NDP formed government in 2009. However, the twinning project isn't listed in this year's edition of the province's Five-Year Highway Improvement Plan. Birdsall says the issue takes time.




The government website says the project is at the Environmental Assessment stage. Both MLA's encourage people to drive the posted speed limit and pull over if there is a need to use a cell-phone. A petition has been circulating online for the last week and has garnered more than 6,100 signatures in favour of twinning Highway 103.