Bryan Tait is an award-winning journalist based in New Brunswick. He’s a 2008 graduate of St. Thomas University’s journalism program, and a 2021 graduate of the University of New Brunswick’s law program. Contact Bryan at taitb@radioabl.ca.
A shipping container filled with cannabis was stopped at the Port of Saint John in September.
A press release issued Friday by the Canada Border Services Agency said border services officers in Saint John received information from the agency’s export team in Halifax.
On Sept. 16, officers conducted an examination of a marine container destined for a business in the United Kingdom.
The contents of the shipment had been falsely declared as empty plastic bottles.
During their examination, officers found 16 large cardboard boxes filled with suspected cannabis.
In all, 399 packages of vacuum-sealed cannabis were seized, weighing 218 kilograms.
The cannabis and all evidence were transferred to the RCMP for further investigation.
Although legal in Canada, illicit cross-border movement of cannabis is a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years in prison under the Customs Act and up to 14 years under the Cannabis Act.
Ball hockey enthusiasts in Saint John will have a new place to play next spring.
A new facility is currently under construction in the McAllister Industrial Park in east Saint John.
The Knapper Center will feature a pair of state-of-the-art playing surfaces for four-on-four ball hockey, one indoor and one outdoor.
The facility will also feature a small pub and spaces built to host leagues, tournaments, youth programs and community events.
Between 30 and 40 jobs are anticipated to be created to staff the facility.
Gary Crossman, a longtime part of Saint John’s ball hockey community, said it’s something special to seeing such an investment in the city.
“As someone who has dedicated years to hockey at the local, provincial, national, international level, today’s announcement has been something I’ve dreamt about for years,” Crossman said.
“This centre will become a place where kids discover the love of the game, where teams grow stronger and where players push themselves to next levels, performance and confidence.”
Crossman said the facility will enable Saint John to host high-level competition and strengthen the city’s reputation as a destination for the sport.
“This sends a clear message to the national and international ball hockey community,” he said. “Saint John is stepping forward, embracing the future and positioning itself as a leader in the sport.”
Mayor Donna Noade Reardon said the facility puts Saint John on the map for recreation and sports.
“It puts us on the map for tournaments,” she said. “It puts on the map for being a city that’s growing and that’s really changing.”
The mayor said in a time when people can work from home more than ever, it’s facilities like the Knapper Center that can entice people to move to a new community.
“It’s not just about the paycheque anymore,” she said. “This helps us to build that critical mass that will attract and keep our population here in Saint John.”
An artist’s rendering of the new Knapper Center in east Saint John. Image: Courtesy of Knapper
The project is coming together thanks to Knapper, a Canadian company that specializes in high-performance ball hockey equipment, sport innovation and facility management.
“Today is a big day for Knapper and a big day for the sport of ball hockey,” said Patrick Bazinet, president of Knapper Partners Investment Fund.
Bazinet said the company is fully dedicated to ball hockey and achieves that through two divisions.
The first is the design and manufacture of high-end ball hockey equipment.
“The second division is the Knapper Partners Investment Fund which builds and invests in sports facilities across Canada,” he said.
The Knapper Center will be the company’s first venture into Atlantic Canada.
“And it’s the first one that Knapper is building from the ground up,” Bazinet said.
A release from Knapper said the Saint John facility is the company’s most significant infrastructure investment to date.
They’re collaborating with local schools, community partners and tournament organizers to create long-term programming and new opportunities for youth, adults and high-performance players.
An 18-year veteran of the Saint John Police Force is facing a criminal charge after an investigation.
According to a release, the investigation was conducted by the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force after a public complaint.
The detective constable has been charged with breach of public trust under the Criminal Code.
The release said the officer is scheduled to appear in provincial court Dec. 2.
The officer has been suspended with pay pending the criminal proceedings.
An investigation under the New Brunswick Police Act will follow.
The release said the investigation did not meet the mandate of the Serious Incident Response Team.
SiRT is responsible for investigating all matters that involve death, serious injury, sexual assault and intimate partner violence or other matters of a public interest to be investigated that may have arisen from the actions of any police officer, on or off duty, in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
Saint John police Chief Robert Bruce said the public’s trust and confidence are paramount to the force.
“We will continue to hold our members to the highest standard of accountability while being transparent,” Bruce said in a release.
Bruce said there would be no further comment while the matter is in front of the courts.
A non-profit organization giving underprivileged kids a chance to play hockey is having some financial trouble.
Top Corner Hockey was founded in 2012 by Chris Green.
Green spoke to Saint John council last week to explain the situation the organization is facing.
“The main thing I wanted to show here was our budget differences from 2012 to 2025,” Green said. “Our first year’s operating budget was about $5,000, which is bumped up to $30,000 last year.”
Green said the number of kids in the program has gone from 25 the first year to 60 to 70 now.
“None of our kids in our program pay a dime to be there,” Green said.
Green said costs for ice time have increased dramatically over the years, going from $1,600 the first year to $13,000 now.
“There are different factors in there,” he said. “We are renting more ice, fees have gone up.”
But Green said the grants the program relies on have not increased over time.
“The GNB grant in 2013 that was $5,000 is still $5,000 today,” he said. “So when we have an 800 per cent increase in our expenses over the last 13 years, the grants have not gone up.
“So, we are kind of, I don’t want to use the word at risk, but Top Corner is in trouble if this keeps climbing.”
Green said to run a bare-bones program, he needs $22,000.
“That just gets the kids to step on the ice,” he said. “That’s ice fees and insurance. That’s it. That’s not skate sharpening, that’s not hockey laces, that’s bare bones.”
He said along with the grants not increasing over time, some sponsors have started to move on.
Coun. Barry Ogden praised the work Green and the other volunteers have done.
“Anything we can do from my point of view, I would gladly help because you’re really answering a great need and sport is just so important to physical and mental health,” Ogden said.
Coun. Brent Harris asked about the possibility of fundraisers, but Green said there’s a problem with that avenue because of the family situations of some of the kids involved in the program.
“Right from the get-go I said I’m not going to march these kids around town fundraising,” he said. “That was out of the question.”
Green said any business or people interested in helping out should contact the Boys and Girls Club or reach out through Top Corner’s Facebook page.
Green’s presentation included an important comparison between this program and the traditional minor hockey programs in the city.
“I coach minor hockey as well,” he said. “And I will tell you this. The kids on my minor hockey team don’t run into the rink like they do on Saturday at Top Corner.
“The excitement is the same, it’s just a little bit of a different level. They get off the bus and they’re running.”
Two of Horizon Health Network’s hospitals have received national recognition for their efforts to strengthen Canada’s blood supply.
The Saint John Regional Hospital (SJRH) and the Moncton Hospital (TMH) were recently designated “Using Blood Wisely” hospitals, joining more than 180 sites across Canada trying to reduce unnecessary red blood cell transfusions.
The program is a partnership between Choosing Wisely Canada and Canadian Blood Services.
“We are thrilled that our efforts to ensure blood is used for the right purpose have been recognized as part of this national campaign,” said Clare Wright, the manager of transfusion medicine and stem cell laboratories at the SJRH. “Helping to conserve this critically important resource that saves lives and protects health is a priority for us.”
To receive the designation, facilities must meet or exceed national benchmarks and maintain the standards.
The initiative comes at a critical time, with demand for blood projected to increase by nearly 10 per cent over the next five years, according to Canadian Blood Services.
Horizon’s vice-president of professional services Jeff Carter said initiatives like this support the health network’s strategic pillar of delivery excellence in hospital care across New Brunswick.
Moncton is preparing to celebrate Canada’s national sport with an exciting lineup of activities and events for Hockey Day in Canada.
Tickets went on sale Friday for a variety of events around the city beginning Jan. 14.
“It’s going to be just an amazing three or four days,” said Marty Kingston, a city councillor and play-by-play voice of the Moncton Wildcats who emceed the announcement of the schedule.
“We’re going to be brought up to speed on just how extensive our hockey tradition is in the great city of Moncton,” he said. “It will unfold here for the entire country. It’s going to be a celebration, really, of hockey.”
The main event will be the Sportsnet broadcast on Saturday, Jan. 17, as all seven Canadian NHL teams hit the ice. The Hockey Night in Canada panel of Ron MacLean, Kelly Hrudey, Jennifer Botterill, Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa will be at the Avenir Centre.
But there will be plenty of other things around the city, as the U de M Aigles Bleues take on Dalhousie and the Wildcats face Chicoutimi at the Avenir Centre.
The Timbits U7 Jamboree will be at the Byron Dobson Memorial Arena in Riverview, the Eastern Regional Blind Hockey Tournament will take place at the Coliseum, and a ball hockey tournament for kids age eight to 10 will be on Main Street near the Avenir Centre.
Jan. 16 will feature an exhibition game with NHL alumni, including Wendel Clark, Adam Graves, Jon Sim and Andrew Ference joining Sportsnet broadcasters and local celebrities like Wildcats GM Taylor MacDougall, Simon Richard of the Canadian National Blind Hockey Team and Kelsey Tessier of the Wildcats player development staff.
“It’s going to be great for the city,” Kingston said. “Good for everybody and just a celebration of our national sport.”
A new physician services agreement between the province and New Brunswick Medical Society is intended to improve access to primary care.
Premier Susan Holt called the agreement a “major milestone” in the government’s efforts to deliver on the Liberal health plan.
“By caring for the people who care for New Brunswickers, we are strengthening team-based family health care, improving access to services closer to home and making our province a place where doctors want to build their careers,” Holt said.
Members of the New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS) voted in favour of a four-year agreement worth about $270 million.
The agreement covers all doctors working in the public health system and includes general economic increases of up to 12.5 per cent over the four years.
It also includes new compensation models that reward physicians for patient attachment, timely access and participation in team-based practice.
The largest increases in remuneration will be available for doctors who choose to work in a collaborative care model.
Health Minister John Dornan said the collaborative approach is being incentivized because it’s been proven to deliver more co-ordinated, timely and reliable access to primary care.
The collaborative care approach involves multiple health-care professionals working together to address patient needs.
“Communities across New Brunswick need more health-care workers,” Dornan said. “This new agreement makes significant, necessary investments in pay and support for physicians, which will position the province to be competitive on a national level.”
NBMS president Dr. Lise Babin said the agreement represents a landmark investment that will improve the province’s capacity to support physicians and their patients.
“This agreement will transform primary health care in New Brunswick through innovative payment models for physicians, targeted investments in support of collaborative care clinics, and clear accountability frameworks that will help ensure the increased funding is tied to patient attachment and timely access to care,” Babin said.
Further details will be shared once the agreement has been signed.
The New Brunswick government is asking for public input on a program to divert organic waste from landfills.
It’s part of the Department of Environment and Local Government’s strategic action plan for solid waste management.
Environment Minister Gilles LePage said a comprehensive organic waste program would improve the province’s capacity to reduce emissions, conserve resources and ensure a more sustainable province.
“Progress is built on collaboration,” the minister said in a news release. “When we work together, our shared efforts create lasting change.”
The department estimated about 30 per cent of all waste in New Brunswick landfills is organic waste from the residential, industrial, commercial and institutional sectors.
According to the department, diverting that waste can help extend the lifespan of landfills and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Background information and instructions on how to participate in the consultations can be found here.
Written submissions will be accepted by email until Dec. 19.
