New Brunswick is making changes to this year’s wild turkey hunting season in an effort to boost the economy and attract more non-resident hunters.
In a press release on Thursday, the province announced is adding an extra week to the season and allowing Canadian Forces and RCMP members born in New Brunswick but living elsewhere to apply for the resident wild turkey draw.
The season will now begin the first Monday of May and run for three weeks
John Herron, Natural Resources Minister, said the press release the expansion of the season will “contribute to local econonomies” through tourism, licence sales, and outfitting and guiding services.
The non-resident licence draw deadline will also move to the last Friday of November in the year prior to the hunting season to support earlier promotion efforts at hunting and fishing trade shows.
According to the release, the annual hunt began in 2021 to manage the growing population.
It was expanded in 2023 to include non-resident licences and expanded again in 2024 to include youth aged 12 and older.
A snowfall warning remains in effect for a significant portion of the region including Thunder Bay, Ignace, and Atikokan with the heaviest of the snow expected to end Sunday morning.
The Town of Fort Frances is declaring a Significant Weather Event as heavy snowfall is expected to continue throughout Saturday and into Sunday morning.
Town crews will be maintaining the roadways and walkways as required to keep residents as safe as possible.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided when it becomes available.
Just another day for drivers across New Brunswick as the Energy and Utilities Board pushed gas prices even higher.
The interrupter clause was used Friday night, just 24 hours after the regular weekly adjustment.
The maximum price of regular self-serve gas is up 7.6 cents to more than $1.94 per litre, while diesel is up 6.5 cents to $2.57 per litre.
Furnace oil is up 6.5 cents to a maximum of $2.49.
Propane remained static at $1.18.
In Nova Scotia, regular self-serve ranges from about $1.89 to $1.91 per litre while diesel is selling for between $2.46 and $2.48 per litre.
On Prince Edward Island, the maximum prices are just over $1.99 a litre for regular self-serve, more than $2.57 per litre for diesel and $1.93 per litre for home heating oil.
Premier Tim Houston is slamming protestors for blocking a few Nova Scotia highways late last week after a cannabis raid in a Cape Breton First Nation.
In a lengthy post on social media, Saturday, Houston said blocking highways is unacceptable and RCMP are doing their job to uphold the law and keep Nova Scotians safe.
“They deserve respect, not confrontation,” said Houston.
“The unlawful obstruction of others is not peaceful. It undermines public safety, respect for law enforcement and the rule of law itself. Our roadways are our lifebood.”
He says that at any given time people could be travelling to medical appointments, hospital, work or caring for their families.
Houston adds, the province wants to work together on the drug crisis and not accept the “status quo”.
RCMP say it was around 7:30 a.m., Thursday, when officers searched an illegal storefront on Highway 4. Two men were arrested.
In response to this, protestors blocked access to Highway 4 in Potlotek.
Officers then left the scene on foot leaving behind their cruisers.
Seven RCMP vehicles left in Potlotek were damaged. RCMP say they had “broken windows, dents, deflated tires, removed tires, and urine-soaked interior surfaces.”
Several RCMP cars parked outside of a cannabis store along Highway 4 in Potlotek First Nation on Thursday. PHOTO: ACADIA BROADCASTING
In a statement, Potlotek First Nation said it’s not a matter of enforcement but rather, jurisdiction.
“Time and time again Mi’kmaq are forced to respond when provincial laws and enforcement actions are imposed on our communities without respect to our rights, our leadership or our authority.”
One protestor told our newsroom officers took fridges, shelves and signs.
Two other highways were blocked in solidarity – highway 105 in Whycocomagh and 102 in Shubenacadie.
Crackdown
It was in December when the province ordered a cannabis crackdown.
In a post on social media, Chief of Sipekne’katik First Nation Michelle Glasgow says it’s not about “weed shops” getting raided. “It’s about the government asserting jurisdiction over Our Communities and over Our Unceded Mik’maq Lands.”
“If we allow this to continue then we are allowing the assimilation of Mi’kmaq into a society that was meant to destroy us.”
At this time, no arrests have been made related to the protests.
All of New Brunswick and most of Nova Scotia are under yellow weather alerts Friday, as wintry weather continues to pass through the region.
Environment Canada has issued yellow-level snowfall warnings for some northern areas of New Brunswick, with yellow-level freezing rain warnings for the other northern regions and the southeastern part of the province.
Freezing rain warnings in the southwest were lifted late Friday afternoon.
It’s much the same for Nova Scotia, with yellow-level freezing rain warnings in effect everywhere except the southwestern part of the province.
Precipitation is expected to change to rain in the afternoon or evening, depending on the location.
