Latest news with #IslandMorning
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Community invited to take 1st look at vision for transformed Eastlink Centre next week
People on P.E.I. will get a peek next week at proposed changes to Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre that the general manager hopes will allow the centre to eventually book "that next level of entertainment that we think the Island deserves." The centre, which is more than three decades old now, is hosting an open house on June 26 to showcase design concepts for proposed renovations to make it into a modern, multi-use venue. The upgrades are expected to take place over a three-year period. General manager John Abbott said the centre, formerly known as the Charlottetown Civic Centre and originally built in 1990 to support the 1991 Canada Games, is beginning to show its age. If the centre wants to remain competitive and attract top-tier events, he said, it needs more than just a spruce up. "It's important to us… to get into that next level of entertainment that we think that the Island deserves, that the city deserves," Abbott told CBC's Island Morning. The current arena has around 3,700 seats, but major events such as the Brier require at least 5,000. Abbott said this gap in capacity limits the centre's eligibility to host high-profile competitions. He also noted that while most modern arenas use a top-loading design to enhance safety, with spectators entering from the top concourse, the Eastlink Centre uses a bottom-loading design where people enter from the bottom of the arena. "We need to protect our artists," he said. "These days, the artists want to make sure that they're not accessible to the fans, and right now they are." Back in March, Charlottetown city council approved capital and operating budgets for 2025-26, including about $3 million earmarked for upgrades to the Eastlink Centre. Part of this fund has let the centre work with architecture firm Coles Associates to develop design and engineering plans, which will be unveiled at the open house. The proposal includes a second-floor concourse, which improves security and could also accommodate amenities like a walking track, new concession stands and upstairs washrooms. Abbott said these ideas were developed after a lot of consultation with Coles Associates, user groups and key stakeholders. Now, the Eastlink Centre is ready to present the vision to the public and invite feedback. A full list of proposed features is available on the centre's website. Abbott said all the new structures will be built outside the existing centre to minimize disruption to the facility's current operations. Once that phase is complete, the walls will be removed and the newly constructed elements will be moved inside. He said throughout the three-year process, tenants will not be required to move out. "It is a huge project, no question," he said. We'll get into hard numbers in the next few months, when we get a little more finalized on our details and what we need to see what the building's going to look like. — General manager John Abbott A similar renovation was considered in 2003 and estimated to cost around $7 million, but the project was not pursued at the time, Abbott said. Many elements of that earlier proposal have been incorporated into the current plan. While an initial cost estimate of $38 million was presented to the city, Abbott said the final price tag will become clearer in the coming months. "We'll get into hard numbers in the next few months, when we get a little more finalized on our details and what we need to see what the building's going to look like."
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A year in, teachers' union says phone ban boosts students' focus, but more action needed
It's been nearly a full school year since Prince Edward Island introduced restrictions on cellphone use for students, and teachers say they're seeing positive results. Andy Doran, president of the P.E.I. Teachers' Federation, said the changes have helped students focus better in class. "They were more engaged. There was better work being done. Students were asking more questions, and [there was] an overall improvement in the engagement of the students," Doran told CBC's Island Morning. But he believes the policy is just the beginning when it comes to addressing the larger issue of screen time. Under the policy, students in grades K-6 must have their phones silenced and out of sight while they are at school unless they are given specific permission from a teacher. Students in grades 7-12 are allowed to use their phones during lunch and other breaks but must follow restrictions during class time. While there have been some rule violations, Doran said that's expected. He added that younger students, in particular, have adapted well. "The pressure was off to have to constantly respond to social media and constantly respond to friend groups and [what] helped with the implementation of the whole thing is that the students bought into it, and their parents certainly did too," he said. Doran said school cellphone policies are only one piece of a bigger puzzle. "When I say screen time, I'm talking about not just school. I'm talking about 24 hours a day, the issue that our young people and younger adults are spending way too much time on screens, and not enough time in conversation or social interaction with others," he said. He said teachers are seeing the effects of excessive screen use outside of school, particularly when it comes to attendance. Some students who stay up late playing video games or using social media can struggle to attend or fully participate in school the next day. "We're seeing a lot of our attendance is attached to screen time," he said. That's why Doran believes education around responsible screen use should become part of the school curriculum in the coming years. While schools and teachers play a role, families must also take responsibility, he said. "We only have the students for six hours… But what I'm talking about is the other 18 hours a day, the other 150 days a year when the students aren't in school," he said. "Those guidelines have to come into play at home. The parents have to take the initiative to make sure screen time is limited outside school." They were more engaged. There was better work being done. Students were asking more questions. — Andy Doran, president of the P.E.I. Teachers' Federation As summer approaches, Doran is encouraging families to plan ahead and help children spend more time outdoors to avoid slipping back into unhealthy habits. "At our teachers convention last fall, a speaker got up and said that in the past, 'We'd think nothing of letting our kids walk down the street. Now, we don't let [our] kids walk down the street, but we allow them to go into their rooms with a cellphone and close the door,'" Doran said. "That got me thinking. That's so true, how much danger there is in a cellphone when it's unsupervised. So if I was advising parents: Continue to supervise their cellphone use, continue to limit their screen time use, and have a great summer."
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
P.E.I. pitches 7 'nation-building' projects to Ottawa at first ministers' conference
P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz is pitching seven so-called "nation-building" projects at the first ministers' conference in Saskatoon on Monday. Lantz is meeting with other provincial and territorial leaders and Prime Minister Mark Carney for the first time since the April 28 federal election. Carney told CBC's Power & Politics last week that "major projects" are the top priority of the meeting. He described them as "nation-building projects" that will unite the country, diversify the economy, boost exports and move the economy forward. Each province was asked to bring a list of ideas. At the top of Lantz's list is a regional project to increase electrical capacity on the Island. "This concept that we're bringing forward here in Saskatoon would strengthen the transmission across Atlantic Canada, and connect the region to the national grid, open up regional generation opportunities," Lantz told CBC's Island Morning on Sunday. "It would trigger billions of dollars, not just in infrastructure investment, but also economic development opportunities. We're running up against capacity issues in Prince Edward Island, and it could be difficult to develop any large industrial or agricultural enterprises here in the province, unless we really deal with our energy future and secure our energy future." Power reliability has been a major topic this year on the Island after the City of Summerside, which operates its own utility, faced a series of power disruptions this winter. Summerside Electric generates about 60 per cent of its electricity through renewable sources like solar and wind, but it still relies on Maritime Electric's transmission grid for power that the smaller utility buys from New Brunswick. A failure at Maritime Electric's Sherbrooke substation, located just north of the city, led to significant power challenges in February. As a result, residents were asked to conserve electricity and a mobile transformer had to be brought in from Newfoundland to stabilize the system. Lantz noted P.E.I. depends on New Brunswick for additional electricity, delivered through underwater cables. He said the province may need to look at other solutions, for example another undersea cable to Nova Scotia, as part of the energy pitch. Ahead of the first ministers' meeting, P.E.I. and Ontario signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sunday to cut down on trade barriers and ease the flow of trade and labour across the two provincial borders. Lantz said it came together as a direct result of P.E.I. Interprovincial Trade and Mobility Act. "We're the second province in the country to pass [an] internal trade and labour mobility act in the legislature this spring, and so we are in a position to start making deals with other provinces. Ontario has been very active in that front," he said. The MOU says the two provinces agree on six points, including encouraging other provinces to join P.E.I. and Ontario in their agreement, looking for ways to align regulated professions and creating a direct-to-consumer alcohol sales agreement, among other priorities. The annual value of trade in goods and services between Ontario and P.E.I. is more than $1.5 billion, the P.E.I. government said in a release. An external analysis by the Montreal Economic Institute suggests a deal like this between P.E.I. and Ontario could contribute $1.1 billion to the Canadian economy. In addition to the energy proposal, Lantz is pitching six other infrastructure projects. One of them is building another road into West Prince. The issue has raised concerns in the past by Liberal MLA for Tignish-Palmer Road Hal Perry, who warned the region relies on a single road in and out, which is a stretch of Route 2 between Portage and New Devon, and what would happen in the event of an emergency or if that road were closed. Other proposed projects include developing a shipping port, expanding air cargo capacity at Charlottetown Airport, and establishing a year-round connection to Nova Scotia, potentially through a bridge or ferry. The premier is also calling for an expansion of three-phased power, improved cell service. "The prime minister has been very vocal that he wants the provinces to be very ambitious on these projects," Lantz said. "So we're pitching everything we can that we can think of that would rise to that threshold of a nation-building project." The regional energy initiative stands out among the seven proposals as it "approaches a nation building-threshold better than those other projects and very much needed in the region," he said. Lantz says he does not know how many — if any — of these projects will be approved or whether the province would have to pay a portion of the cost. The province's financial capacity is already under pressure. A report by the auditor general in November flagged rising debt levels. P.E.I.'s net debt increased by 26 per cent over the past decade, reaching $2.65 billion as of March 31, 2024. The most recent provincial budget projects a $183.9-million deficit, with the debt expected to climb to about $4.2 billion by March 31, 2028. When asked whether P.E.I. can afford to invest in such large infrastructure, Lantz said: "We need to invest in order to grow."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New immigration minister must address low Atlantic Canada retention rates, expert says
An economist in New Brunswick says Canada's new immigration minister needs to consider how to keep immigrants in Atlantic Canada, a region that has historically struggled to convince newcomers they should stay for more than a year or two. Lena Metlege Diab, a member of Parliament from Nova Scotia, was recently appointed as Canada's minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship. Herb Emery, who holds the Vaughan Chair in regional economics at the University of New Brunswick, said Diab's Atlantic roots mean she is likely to have a better understanding of the challenges the region faces, especially its difficulty retaining immigrants. Atlantic Canada has lower retention rates for immigrants than the rest of the country, with a Statistics Canada report in December 2024 noting: "Immigrants who left their intended Atlantic provinces were increasingly likely to settle in Ontario." P.E.I. specifically has the lowest retention rate in Canada, though the situation is slightly improving, according to the province's population framework released last year. The three-year retention rate for immigrants to P.E.I. rose from 33.3 per cent in 2017 to 43 per cent in 2021. Emery said the solution to improving these numbers is straightforward: create better economic opportunities. "You need to provide opportunities to earn a good living. When you look at the wages and median incomes of newcomers, they're quite low in the region," Emery told CBC's Island Morning. "What we've tried to prioritize is filling the lower-wage jobs that Canadians don't want to fill, and if you want to be a professional after a couple of years, the opportunities to integrate are better in other provinces, where they have better resources for settlement, they have more opportunities for working in your profession." He said the region has relied on immigration to address immediate labour shortages, particularly due to its aging population and high youth out-migration to other provinces like Alberta and Ontario, but it hasn't focused enough on building a long-term sustainable workforce. "A lot of that reflects the industries we have in the region, which is seasonal, and in a lot of cases, they don't have high margins and they are labour-intensive." Emery added that during the pandemic, there was "a complete lack of control" over the number of immigrants coming into the country. "We weren't doing a good job of integrating the newcomers into our labour market and our wider society," he said. That's why he thinks more effort should be placed on supporting immigrants who are already in the region by helping them get their credentials recognized, so they can work in their professions. He also mentioned the idea of tax policies designed to encourage long-term settlement. "Do you give them a bonus tax break if they remain in that region for longer? "Now, if you put them in low-skilled jobs, there's no advantages to tax breaks. If you create the conditions that somebody can work as a physician, and they start earning a high income, you may give them an advantage to staying if you give them some kind of credit if they remain in the region for five, six, seven years," Emery said. The Atlantic provinces should also focus on keeping international students in the region after they graduate, he said. As Canada explores ways to strengthen its economy in the face of U.S. tariff threats, there's been growing discussion around removing interprovincial trade barriers. But Emery cautioned that when it comes to immigration and economic growth, eliminating these barriers could be "a dangerous gamble for a small region." He said the barriers exist in part to give smaller provinces like those in Atlantic Canada an incentive for businesses to locate there, countering the "economic gravity" that naturally pulls enterprise toward larger provinces. As we start to drop those trade barriers, there's two ways this can go. One is we're really competitive, and we get more jobs and more GDP. The other is, it hollows us out, and we wind up with a health-care system and an education system and not much else. — Economist Herb Emery "When you have thicker labour markets, like in Ontario, it's much easier for an employer that's manufacturing to set up there than in our region, where it may be a tough thing to bring in more labour to fill those jobs that are hard to do," he said. "So as we start to drop those trade barriers, there's two ways this can go. One is we're really competitive, and we get more jobs and more GDP. The other is, it hollows us out, and we wind up with a health-care system and an education system and not much else."
CBC
03-05-2025
- CBC
Beloved beach and park at P.E.I.'s Basin Head voted one of Canada's best 10 vacation spots
When Ottawa resident Lana Gauthier visited P.E.I. last summer with her family, she was told she had to check out the beach at Basin Head Provincial Park. "We went on a Monday, and we loved it so much, we went again on the Friday," Gauthier told CBC's Island Morning. "We tracked the tide, so we knew the tides would be high on the Monday and low on the Friday. And each time was totally different." Gauthier was so taken with the park that she recommended it to CBC's The Current, which was building a Canadian travel guide based on listeners' recommendations. More than 2,000 suggestions poured in from across the country. With nearly 50,000 votes, Basin Head landed on the list of the top 10 destinations. For Gauthier, one of the beach's most unique features is its Singing Sands — a nickname based on the high silica content in the sand, which makes the beach squeak when you walk on it. "Even just the fact that the sand makes noise when you step on it is just, in itself, an amazing thing. We sat on the sandbars and just let the waves touch us. The water was so warm," she said. "We looked for rocks. We walked along an expansive stretch of beach, and we saw the shipwreck with crabs on it. Our dog got to swim in the ocean at Basin Head. We took great family photos with the red cliffs behind us. We got ice cream." More than just a beach The park is also home to the Basin Head Fisheries Museum, which shares the story of P.E.I.'s inshore fishing industry. The museum includes the original building of a historic fish cannery and has displays and exhibits that bring the past to life. Matthew McRae, executive director of the P.E.I. Museum and Heritage Foundation, said the museum is the second-most visited in the foundation's network of seven sites. Together with its gift shop, it draws more than 20,000 visitors each year, out of the 60,000 to 70,000 who visit the provincial park every summer, he said. McRae said the foundation is working with federal and provincial governments on a new interpretive plan that will tell a more comprehensive story of the site. "The Basin Head museum is 50 years old now, so how do we tell the story — since a lot has happened in 50 years, to the fisheries, to Basin Head, to everything?" he said. "We want to make sure that we're linking up those different stories, the Singing Sands, the beach, the cannery that is down there on the waterfront, which was an operating cannery in the 20th century." A crucial part of that story is the park's marine protected area — one of only 14 in Canada, and one of the few accessible by land. "It has a unique ecosystem that doesn't exist anywhere else on P.E.I. or the world, and that includes a special species of Irish moss that's only found in the basin at Basin Head," McRae said. As part of the new interpretive plan, the foundation has worked with several partners, including the Souris and Area Branch of the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation, the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association, and members of P.E.I.'s Indigenous communities. "We're just in the stages of preparing that interpretive plan report that we'll hopefully use then to start making changes to the site," McRae said. This summer, the museum will offer special guided tours that take visitors from the basin to the beach to the museum. The Mi'kmaq Heritage Actors will also return to perform.
