Small But Vocal Crowd Leaves Strait Area For Halifax Anti-Mandate Protest

STRAIT AREA - This week's edition of TELILE 24/7 examines several different angles of the latest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We begin at the two-minute mark with a review of the eased restrictions that came into effect across Nova Scotia just after midnight on Monday morning. Highlights include the raising of household gathering limits from 10 to 25, the restoration of 100 per cent capacity for retail outlets and shopping centres, and increased capacity for everything from restaurants and licensed establishments to faith gatherings, sports games and arts and culture performances. 

An on-location report at 6:30 takes us to Auld's Cove, the local departure point for Saturday's anti-vaccine-mandate protest in Halifax. An estimated 300 people held a demonstration in the city on Saturday afternoon, including 13 vehicles' worth of demonstrators from around Cape Breton and northeastern Nova Scotia that left from the Irving Big Stop parking lot hours earlier. 

At 16:46, Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette drops by to discuss the difficulties the municipality has had in crafting a vaccination policy for its municipal employees. After several false starts over the past two months, a final draft is expected to come to a vote at the regular council meeting slated for February 28.

An interview with Medicine Shoppe Port Hawkesbury owner-operator Michael Hatt follows at 22:49, as the veteran pharmacist discusses the recent milestone of 12,000 COVID-19 vaccinations that he and his Reeves Street colleagues reached earlier this month.

The remainder of the show, beginning at 36:56, takes a closer look at an emergency meeting held by Richmond Municipal Council last week with regards to the public's participation in the meetings of council committees. Culminating with a follow-up interview with Warden Amanda Mombourquette, this segment includes footage from the emergency meeting's main discussion, which centered on the proper advertisement of committee meetings, the availability of meeting minutes, and the public's right to see draft policies developed at this meetings before they come to a final vote at regular monthly council sessions.