Want to Think Bigger? Work Together! – The story of Port Hawkesbury and Richmond County, Nova Scotia

By Eric Duivenvoorden

Across Canada, small municipalities struggle universally with capacity issues that make it difficult to be ambitious, especially when it comes to sustainability and green energy project implementation. Limited resources mean that new ideas bring risk, uncertainty, and trade-offs. Managing pressing political, social and natural landscape concerns can make long-term planning difficult, if not almost impossible.

Always having to think about the present means that the best possible options for the future are often out of reach, and municipal creativity is pushed out of the process. To make matters worse, municipalities are constantly in competition with each other for both government funding and outside investment in their communities.

Today even the most motivated municipal leaders, administrators, and staff can struggle to make any change at their level. There are hard limits to how much a town or county’s workforce can absorb, and local concern and passion are simply not enough.

Richmond County and the Town of Port Hawkesbury, on Cape Breton Island in eastern Nova Scotia are working to overcome these obstacles in truly remarkable ways – positioning themselves at the centre of a regional green energy boom with the potential to contribute to untold local prosperity.

Sustained mutual trust

Located on the Strait of Canso – with a combined population of less than 15,000 – the two municipalities have a long history of finding common ground, strengthened over generations. Their willingness to collaborate has been cultivated across countless municipal governments, for so long that the origins of their sustained mutual trust have faded from civic memory.

Sharing sports facilities, emergency services, a water utility, an airport, and industrial park, their partnership capitalises on the significant natural overlap in interests while it maximises joint resources and expands their capacities to pursue more ambitious projects.

Beyond the day to day, they have also jointly coordinated federal and provincial funding applications and work together to attract mutually beneficial economic investments.

Thinking bigger – together

When it comes to keeping such a partnership healthy, the leaders of both municipalities point to a shared commitment to good faith that spans generations.

“Not keeping score is key to collaboration, especially in the budgetary sense,” says Lois Landry, Warden of Richmond County. “There are times when it makes sense for each to take the lead depending on the project and depending on their traits.”

“Becoming more than the sum of our parts,” she shares, “is about recognising opportunities to collaborate.”

A unique piece of the town and county’s partnership is Martin Thomsen, Manager of Energy Sector Development jointly employed by the two municipalities to coordinate energy projects and harmonise their overlapping interests.

Since both municipalities have an interest in developing the local energy sector, collaborating and sharing costs on human resources makes the portfolio easier to manage and allows them to pursue energy transition projects the scale of which would otherwise be out of reach. Martin is the first point of contact for investors, helping to remove uncertainty surrounding new and innovative energy transition projects that bring prosperity and economic growth.

Cycles of mutual benefit

Having this shared resource of dedicated policy and economic expertise is proving to grow the pie for both communities and create cycles of mutual benefit. Where the communities might otherwise be competing for federal and provincial funding for energy sector development, Martin is in place to coordinate the presentation of a shared strategy that mobilises both resource bases.

Amongst Port Hawkesbury and Richmond County’s many shared portfolios, is working alongside the provincial government to develop the enormous potential for renewable energy production in the Strait of Canso, including clean fuels and offshore wind power.

A world opening up

While there are many cases where it makes sense for a municipality to proceed independently, here there’s commonality. “Martin’s role doesn’t replace our collaboration, but he certainly makes it work better,” says Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, Mayor of Port Hawkesbury. “When we work together, we don’t just grow—we transform. And that’s the real power behind everything happening here.”

Construction has yet to commence, but once this new power generation capacity is established a surplus of green energy will allow the region to pursue cost-effective green hydrogen development.

And, while a market has not yet been established in North America, there is an emerging European demand created by both recent world events and a pre-existing system of government incentives. Getting in on the ground floor of this cutting-edge energy industry will provide Nova Scotia a stable new revenue stream and further revolutionise the dynamics of the regional economy.

When asked if the scale of these projects is at all intimidating, Lois simply replies: “When it comes to green energy? You need to move past fear.” Pooling their expertise, she says has allowed both municipalities to think now on a global scale – and expand their view of themselves, and their potential for something vastly more than the sum of each of their community’s parts.

“Martin takes our collaboration to the next level in everything he does,” adds Brenda. Continuing, “I couldn’t imagine doing this work separately. It wouldn’t make sense at all.”

Always room for improvements

Still, despite the breadth of their shared achievements, Port Hawkesbury and Richmond County elected officials and (shared) staff acknowledge there is always room for improvements to their dynamic.

“It’s about balance. Recognising shared opportunities and where our history aligns while being cognoscente of hard lines,” Lois concludes. “We’re not interested in seeing lost opportunities go elsewhere because we couldn’t get our acts together and collaborate.”

As a model for other communities across Canada, small and large, there is much to learn from the shared energy project development dynamic happening today in southwestern Cape Breton Island. Imagine the potential if such ambition, creativity, and spirit of trust and good-faith collaboration were adopted more widely.

About QUEST Canada

QUEST Canada is a registered Canadian charity that supports communities in Canada on their pathway to net-zero. Since 2007, we’ve been facilitating connections, empowering community champions and advising decision-makers to implement energy use and emissions reduction solutions that best meet community needs and maximize local opportunities. We develop tools and resources, convene stakeholders and rights holders, and advise decision-makers — all with the goal of encouraging, assisting and enabling communities to contribute to Canada’s net-zero goals.