LITTLE HARBOUR - This small community in eastern Richmond County is looking for answers from three levels of government, as they seek the necessary funding and political will to clean up a local pond that once featured all kinds of wildlife and pristine waters that encouraged recreational fishing and several other activities in the area.

The Little Harbour Pond is now clogged with silt, seaweed and similar run-off materials as the result of an organic berm that was installed in 2016 by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Small Craft Harbours division to accommodate the outflow from a breakwater that took shape under the guidance of the community's harbour authority eight years earlier. 

As a result, according to local activists Mardi Hoover and Theresa Clements, the pond now emits a stench that can be detected from hundreds of metres, impacting the area's tourism prospects and the daily life of its community members.

The pair began working on rectifying the issue two years ago, and had Cape Breton-Canso Liberal MP Mike Kelloway visit the community this past spring to see if he could secure the estimated $191,000 that Small Craft Harbours officials have determined as a necessary expenditure to clean up the pond. While Kelloway stated at the time that he would do what he could to secure the funding through DFO and several other government departments, no such funding was available in the 2021 federal budget, which received parliamentary approval in June. 

Reached on Thursday afternoon in-between campaign stops in urban Cape Breton, Kelloway told TELILE 24/7's Adam Cooke that he was now negotiating with Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette and municipal councillor Brent Samson, as well as officials on the federal and provincial levels, to secure the funding necessary to clean up the Little Harbour pond.