Premier 'open' to giving Cape Breton municipality more autonomy

The Liberals appear to be on the verge of granting a long-standing request by Cape Breton Regional Municipality for a city charter, giving it more economic freedom.

"There are ongoing discussions to make it happen," Premier Stephen McNeil told Information Morning Cape Breton. "There are a number of decisions [CBRM] council made that are contingent on achieving that charter and we will not be in the way of them being able to meet those obligations."

On Monday, councillors voted 9-4 to extend an agreement with Sydney Harbour Investment Partners that will give it exclusive rights to market the port. Part of the deal includes the option to lease 205 hectares of port land for 99 years or to sell it outright for $10 million.

Under the province's Municipal Act, CBRM would have to get permission from the province to offer that option.

Mayor Cecil Clarke wants the municipality to be given a city charter, such as the one extended to Halifax in 2008, that gives it more autonomy to make decisions.

More municipal powers

McNeil agrees there is a need to give the municipality power to make certain decisions involving its port.

"I think we should be optimistic about the fact there are people showing tremendous interest in our ports," he said

"We want to make sure we provide our municipal partners with the flexibility to be able to sign those kind of contracts that will generate employment and economic opportunities."

Right now, Halifax is the only municipality in the Nova Scotia that has special charter rights.

Charter has to meet community needs

Under its charter, Halifax is able to: 

• Expand its planning powers.
• Provide supplementary funding to school boards.
• Enter into taxation agreements with sites such as Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
• Add to the types of services for which infrastructure charges may be collected.
• Adopt election finance regulations.

The premier warned that any charter that is negotiated with CBRM won't mirror that of Halifax.

"They will have their charter but it has to be one that meets the needs of CBRM and each time we do this arrangement with a municipality, we need to make sure it reflects the interests of that municipality," McNeil said.

"So it's not a cookie-cutter approach to this."

Right now, the focus is to "make sure a CBRM charter reflects the ability the desires of Cape Bretoners to be able to make some of the decisions [involving the port]," he said.