Cape Breton businesses receive money from Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund a year-and-a-half after storm

It's been nearly a year and a half since post-tropical storm Fiona ripped through Cape Breton, but there are businesses and community organizations that are still recovering from the damage.

"We were directly hit by the impact of the water, the force of the water, which created a lot of the undermining of the piers and docks," said Tony Kennedy, president and co-owner of Canadian Maritime Engineering in reference to the company’s North Sydney, N.S. shipyard.

CME received more than $4.8 million in federal funding Tuesday to rebuild its breakwater, wharf, and piers from damage suffered during the September, 2022, post-tropical storm.

The shipyard’s biggest clients include the Canadian Navy, Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Atlantic ferries to and from Newfoundland.

However, the damage they suffered meant ships couldn't berth at their dock, which cost the company business.

"So we lost a number of contracts simply because we couldn't take the vessels at the time, so that reduced our manpower at the shipyard. It reduced our number of total jobs in the area," Kennedy said.

The $6.4 million total announced Tuesday by Sydney-Victoria MP, Jaime Battiste, comes from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), and what's been dubbed the Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund.

It also happened that other major storms, including the roughly 150 centimeters of snow the Island got about a month ago, weren't far from people's minds during the funding announcement either.

"It's three times I've had to call the minister of emergency preparedness, and at this point what happens is we realize there is a disaster taking place, the province creates the plan, but up to 90 per cent of what the province pays out, the federal government reimburses them for," Battiste said.

More than $1 million is being spent on a warming center at Cape Breton's largest arena.

The municipality also plans to establish a coordination center at Centre 200 to support first responders during future storms.

"During Fiona, the large generator failed," said Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Amanda McDougall-Merrill, when talking about the need for such improvements. "These are all things that municipalities typically had not been, I guess you can say, investing in because we'd rely on the province. Now we know, with the frequency and severity of these types of emergency situations, we have to be prepared."

Also receiving Fiona repair money on Tuesday were the Baille Ard Recreation Association, where its Sydney trails had hundreds of trees fall or weaken, and Harness Racing Cape Breton, which had the wind take out its scoreboard.

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