NEO SCOTIA
Nova Scotia’s population passed the one-million-mark in December and the province is riding a high, with the government announcing a plan to double the population by 2060 through a skilled trades recruitment campaign.
“Nova Scotia is no longer a ‘best-kept secret’—people are realizing this is one of the best places on earth to live and work,” said Premier Tim Houston.
“Our population is growing at record rates. We want healthcare workers and skilled tradespeople to know there’s both a great life and a great job waiting for them. I invite them to come to Nova Scotia and see for themselves.”
Houston’s plan aims to bring 25,000 new Nova Scotians to the province by returning provincial taxes on the first $50,000 of income for workers aged 30 years and under in designated trades.
A MOVING GESTURE
The fine people at Collision Clinic in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, are yet again giving the gift of mobility to celebrate the 2021 holiday season, surprising Faith Ann Vokey and her son, Ashton, with a newly refurbished 2018 Kia Rio.
Vokey works evenings at a downtown St. John’s hotel, must rely on taxis for transportation, and frequently finds herself waiting for up to an hour for a cab with a car seat. She is looking forward to starting school next year, and this gift is sure to help drive her and Ashton to success. This marks the 18th year running that Sharon Wells and her team at Collision Clinic have given away a vehicle to a family in their community as part of the “Enriching Lives Car Giveaway Program.”
“Christmas really begins for us building up to this day,” said Wells, general manager at Collision Clinic. “It is such a rewarding day for all of us and we look forward to it every year.”
The facility also gifted Vokey free insurance for a year and a swag bag of goodies.
RUBBER, REUSED
Andrew MacDonald, president of Maritime Auto Parts, is taking recycled tires to a new level—ground-level, that is.
Since 1996, Nova Scotia’s tires have been processed and recycled by Divert Nova Scotia (Divert NS). According to the organization, more than one million used tires are diverted from the province’s landfills every year and 70 percent of those go to Halifax C&D Recycling to be recycled into a tire-derived aggregate (TDA) for construction or engineering applications.
“We have a lot of soft soils in Nova Scotia that you cannot readily build on because they are too weak to support infrastructure,” Dr. Hany El Naggar, associate professor and graduate studies coordinator with the Department of Civil and Resource Engineering at Dalhousie University. “But when you use a TDA-soil mixture for the backfill, you have something that is lightweight but significantly reinforces the strength of the foundation soil. Now, you can build the structure you want on that soil, doing it economically without any risk that it will fail.”
When building his new commercial property, MacDonald learned of the TDA’s construction applications. As an obvious advocate for the circular economy, MacDonald couldn’t say no to the idea.
“They sell different TDA varieties depending on your application,” he said. “I did my homework, learned about the adhesion properties, how lightweight it is compared to gravel, and I was sold.”
“I’m sure some of my tires are under there somewhere,” he laughed.
Andrew Macdonald is taking advantage of Nova Scotia’s circular economy push by using tire-derived aggregate in his latest construction project.
