Premier Tim Houston announced Thursday that Lake Pisiquid in Windsor, N.S., will remain filled with water, renewing an emergency order first placed on June 1.
“It’s an absolute no-brainer to me that that should be full, that lake will remain full,” Houston said in a media availability.
The premier was quick to show his support for the renewal, citing access to water for fire safety as his main concern.
“It’s still forest fire season,” he said. “And I don’t think it makes sense to drain it and fill it every time the risk changes.
“The lake will remain full because that’s in the interest of public safety. And that’s just the way it is.”
Both Houston and EMO Minister John Lohr mentioned “evolving knowledge” of the use of Lake Pisiquid in a 2016 fire leading to their decision.
Houston says the man-made lake should have been full for the past two years that it wasn’t — and questions why local officials hadn’t acted.
“Where was the mayor two years ago? I think the mayor should be aware of that fire that happened in 2016,” said Houston.
For provincial opposition leaders, the use of an emergency order in this capacity is concerning.
N.S. Liberal Leader Zach Churchill responded to Houston’s comments on a lack of action by the municipal council as “false.”
“I think calling the municipal council and the fire chief negligent is false, saying that they had a request from the fire chief when they didn’t to do this has been false,” Churchill said.
“And I think, at the very least, when they’re pursuing a solution to this they have a responsibility to be honest with people about what they’re doing and why.”
N.S. NDP Leader Claudia Chender called the use of an emergency order at Lake Pisiquid “political opportunism at its worst.”
“I think that what we have heard is a premier trying to save an electoral seat,” said Chender.
“To now use, abuse the emergency order powers that he has to fill that lake is something all Nova Scotians should be concerned about. Because what’s the next emergency going to be?”
Churchill acknowledged how serious a step it is to use the Emergency Measures Act.
“It gives great power to the provincial government and it really should only be used when there’s actually an emergency,” said Churchill. “It’s a really, I think, dangerous precedent to set when this emergency power can be used outside of an emergency situation.”
The use of the power in this situation is exactly what local fisherman Darren Porter looks to challenge next Tuesday as he takes the province to the Supreme Court for a judicial review of the order.
“The whole reason for the supreme court judicial review is to keep these people that create these issues in check, for democracy,” said Porter.
“If you don’t challenge this as a citizen or a people, what’s next?”
Houston says the province will continue with two-week renewals of the emergency for now, with every intention of keeping the lake full.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the federal department that had been issuing a Ministerial Order on a bi-weekly basis since March 2021 to ensure free passage of fish and protection of fish and fish habitat on the Avon River, let its order expire on June 10, 2023.
In an email statement from the department, “In respect of the provincial State of Emergency and Emergency Order, the Ministerial Order has not been reissued. Any Minister Order has provisions based on public safety and emergencies, and the Province of Nova Scotia declared a State of Emergency.”