Business View Magazine - October 2018

234 235 REGION OF QUEENS MUNICIPALITY, ties and available sites, drives economic develop- ment. The area was blessed with electricity early, around the end of the 1800s. A major employer, Bowater Mersey Paper Company, started in 1929, during the Depression, and resulted in several hydro dams being built around the local Mersey River – the largest river in Nova Scotia. Pres- ently, there are six hydro dams on that system, controlling water levels, eliminating flooding, and generating green energy. Nova Scotia Power is the beneficiary and owner of those facilities. Plans are on tap to renew all the plants in the next 10 years.The project, estimated at $600 million, is expected to go before the Utility ReviewBoard next year for approval. According to Mayor David Dagley,“The Bowater effort increased economic prosperity at a time when every other community in the area was suffering. It also brought infrastructure to Queens from 1895 until 1930.Today, those 120-year-old water pipes are still in use and need to be replaced.We spend two to three million dollars every year on new infrastructure and upgrades to existing infrastruc- ture, principally,water and sewer, along with street paving, renewal, and maintenance.” When the Bowater Mersey Paper Company closed in 2012, after merging with Abitibi and moving to Quebec, it had a huge impact on the Region of Queens as well as all of southwest Nova Scotia. Many employees found work else- where and relocated. Some found local jobs and ever-resourceful Queens has been on the WHAT: Regional community of 10,300 people WHERE: Southwest shore of the province of Nova Scotia WEBSITE: www.regionofqueens.com AT A GLANCE REGION OF QUEENS MUNICIPALITY, NOVA SCOTIA