Government ups relocation funds
Town of Little Bay Islands in middle of contemplating move
It doesn’t matter to the town clerk of Little Bay Islands how much the provincial government offers people to resettle. The 63year-old said Tuesday she and her husband will be leaving their beloved home in a few years regardless.
“Right now I can’t give you a decision,” Maxine Oxford said when she was asked if she’d be willing to leave the Notre Dame Bay community sooner rather than later.
“But my husband will be 70, and I will be 64 and in five years we will be moving anyway,” she said.
The community of Little Bay Islands, with a population of fewer than 100, is looking into resettling, a fact mentioned by Municipal Affairs Minister Kevin O’Brien Tuesday as the provincial government brought down its 2013 budget.
The government increased the maximum payout under the province’s voluntary relocation policy to $250,000 from $100,000.
O’Brien told reporters the increase will provide families in communities that have made the decision to relocate with realistic funding to make a fresh start elsewhere in the province to buy homes at current market values.
“We’re not trying to relocate families. It has to be a community-driven initiative and a large number of households who want to relocate,” said the minister adding it takes 90 per cent of the community or more for it to relocate.
“We review policies from time to time, and this policy hasn’t been visited over a decade or more and wasn’t reflective of what was going on in the market. It’s not like they’re selling their homes and moving,” O’Brien said in response to questions from reporters.
NDP municipal affairs critic George Murphy said he has mixed feelings about the government’s initiative.
“It’s kind of sad to see the change in the money that would go to anybody moving out of their communities. To be fair, it probably reflects the increase in property cost, but at the same time it’s a little disturbing to see that there’s an initiative there almost to close up some communities, so it’s a bit of a sad day to see that,” said the MHA for St. John’s East.
Unfortunately, Murphy said it may be a reflection of a new reality in the province, and it’s difficult to say if it’s a positive or a negative initiative on behalf of the government.
The minister reiterated the increase is not meant to shut down rural communities, only to address the financial needs of residents who want to relocate.
“There has to be a savings over a 20-year period, and if not there won’t be a relocation unless it’s a benefit to government and the community. That is the reality,” said O’Brien.
He said the department hasn’t been officially contacted by Little Bay Islands with a formal request to relocate, and it takes more than a year to make the move, but in the end it is up to the community.
Oxford said only time will tell what is going happen to the town.
“It’s just as well to look at it with a sensible head on your shoulders. It’s a beautiful place I love it. But regardless, if resettlement funding was offered or not, in five years’ time my husband and I would be resettling. He’s up in age now and not able to do what needs to be done around the property. I mean this town is full of seniors. There’s not too many young families here and that’s the way it is,” she said.