Government reverses stance on dredging two N.B. harbours
Fishermen say the channels at Tabustintac and Pointe-Sapin are dangerous
After previously postponing the dredging of two harbours in northeastern New Brunswick, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has announced it will now go ahead with the projects.
A statement from DFO said that Acadie-Bathurst MP Serge Cormier was in Tabusintac to announce the government's decision to dredge at MacEachern's Point and Pointe-Sapin.
"This is critical infrastructure to local economies and we need to repair, maintain or build new infrastructure to make it more efficient," Cormier said in the statement.
"By dredging the wharves at MacEachern's Point (Tabusintac) and Pointe-Sapin, we are ensuring the safety of fish harvesters and their crew members."
The government says the project will start this year and take three years to complete.
Acadie-Bathurst MP Serge Cormier was in Tabusintac on Monday to announce the decision to dredge the harbours. (Radio-Canada)
The decision comes after local fishermen has complained and staged protests over DFO's previous decision to postpone the project.
Fishermen said the channels needed to be dredged because they are dangerous. Three fishermen died off MacEachern's Point in 2013 after their boat ran into a sandbar and sank in rough seas.
At the time of their deaths, local fishermen had been advocating for the harbour to be dredged.
DFO started dredging the harbour after that tragedy, but announced last week it would postpone operations in Tabusintac and Pointe-Sapin until another year.
MacEachern's Point Harbour, at Tabusintac, is home to 39 commercial boats and Pointe-Sapin has 82, the DFO release said.
Local fishermen relieved
Luc LeBlanc, of the Maritime Fishermen's Union, said members welcome the news and have been worried about going a season without dredging.
"In one word, I would say it's relief," LeBlanc said in an interview with CBC's Shift program.
He added that fishermen will be watching to make sure the work happens quickly, but are still disappointed they had to put up a fight for it to happen.
"This is work that's [been] done annually, since the '60s at least," LeBlanc said.
"I would compare it to snow cleaning on our roadways in New Brunswick — it has to happen every year. There are years that are worse than others, but in no case can we just not do the work."
Luc LeBlanc, with the Maritime Fishermen's Union, said local fishermen are relieved the harbour will be dredged after all. (Olivier Lefebvre/Radio-Canada)
Lobster season opens April 30, and LeBlanc said it's a race against the clock for the work to be done beforehand. While he estimates the Pointe-Sapin harbour could be dredged in about two days, Tabusintac could take about a week due to the large size of it.
But the minimum work could be completed first before the season starts and then work could resume through the season to slowly widen it, he said.
"So we're pretty optimistic that it could be done before Tuesday [April 30]," he said.
Fishermen will also continue to put pressure on DFO to fix the partially broken wharf, he added.
LeBlanc thinks DFO changed its decision on postponing the dredging because so many fishermen spoke out against it.
"It's a mystery why this work wasn't scheduled to be done — especially in Tabusintac, which has a history of problems with the navigation channel."
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As I expected, I heard nothing from those who usually can't get through a day without expressing outrage at our ruling party.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau says family life with PM post-separation 'gets messy,' but they have each other's back
New book, Closer Together, explores building 'emotional literacy' in difficult times
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau's new book isn't going to have the "gossip" that some people may be seeking about the end of her marriage to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"I've met enough humans in my life to know that, yes, some will be trying to sniff out the gossip … [but] there's not much to sniff out, to be honest," Grégoire Trudeau told The Current.
"I'm in a family and I'm raising my kids, and I've had, you know, a partner where sincerity, open conversations, difficult conversations, are at the core of who we are as a family.
"I feel that this space of calm inside me, most people sense it. And the ones who don't, well, it's OK. I can't control that."
Grégoire Trudeau and the prime minister announced their separation last August, after 18 years of marriage.
Canada does not have an official role of First Lady in the way that countries like the U.S. do, but nonetheless she became the spouse of a world leader when Trudeau's Liberals were elected in 2015.
It's not a role that she significantly identifies with.
"People were asking me, 'How is it to be the wife of a prime minister?'" she said.
"And I was like, 'What are you talking about?' Like, I'm just Sophie G. in the house. I'm staying the same person."
Book explores emotional literacy
Her new book, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other, came out Tuesday.
Part memoir, part self-help guide, the book's press release says it invites readers on a "deeply personal journey toward self-knowledge, acceptance and empowerment." It's the first of a two-part book deal with publisher Penguin Random House. The second one will be a children's book, expected next year.
Grégoire Trudeau said the book was finished and submitted before the split was announced, and she wasn't tempted to update the manuscript with any details.
The former couple have three children, Xavier, 16, Ella-Grace, 15, and Hadrien, 10. Grégoire Trudeau said the separation has been a learning process for them as a family, but she believes you "don't have to slay a relationship in order to restructure it."
"We are still bound by respect and love, and we have each other's backs and minds and hearts," she said.
"Sometimes it gets messy, like, you know, in all family life. And it should be, because it kind of makes us appreciate the better times."
Grégoire Trudeau started her career as a reporter and TV host in Quebec, and in recent years has worked as a public speaker and mental health advocate. She founded her own communications company, Under Your Light Communications, in 2022.
She interviews a range of experts in the book, from addictions and stress specialist Dr. Gabor Maté to Canada's Governor General Mary Simon. One of the topics she explores is emotional literacy, which she described as "emotional leadership."
"It means being aware of why we feel the way we do, how we can intervene on our own emotions and how we can cope better with stress and anxiety."
She acknowledged that finding that emotional equilibrium can be difficult when people are facing major crises, from climate change to political polarization to economic inequity.
But she added that she meets people every day who are working hard to address those problems, well outside the political realm.
"[They make] sacrifices in their own family, devotion to service, to helping each other to create more justice in this world," she said.
Anger directed at PM Trudeau
The prime minister spoke with The Current earlier this month, and was asked about the polarization that has become apparent in Canadian politics — particularly in flags and stickers bearing the words "F--k Trudeau."
The Liberal leader said there's "a level of polarization and toxicity" that is visible in both social media and real life these days, but it doesn't represent all Canadians.
In the book, Grégoire Trudeau writes that her children have seen those slogans, as well as posters of their dad standing on a gallows in front of an executioner. She also writes about attempts to physically harm the prime minister, and that it's hard "to think that your kids might not be or feel secure in the midst of all of this."
She told The Current that the rhetoric saddens her.
"It makes me sad to see that people, you know, have so much anger and fear, and that we have been taught in many ways to direct that anger and that fear at one person."
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Audio produced by Alison Masemann
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