Michael Gorman · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 03, 2025 3:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 3

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston on Friday tried to assure a group of people concerned about potential natural resource development that they will be consulted if a project is proposed.

His reassurances came on the same day a petition with 7,000 signatures was tabled in the legislature calling for the reinstatement of a ban on uranium mining and exploration.

One of the people who helped gather those signatures over four months said the petition was the result of frustration that the Progressive Conservatives passed legislation earlier this year to remove the ban without any community consultation.

Sarah Trask-Duggan contrasted the approach by the current government with the extensive consultation and scientific review that took place when the ban was introduced in the early 1980s.

"It wasn't that hard to get 7,000 signatures," she told reporters at Province House.

"Nobody wants this."

No response to call for bids

When the government passed the legislation to remove the ban earlier this year, officials said it was to allow conversations to take place and drive economic development.

But so far, that development has not manifested. No companies responded to a call for proposals earlier this year and Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton confirmed Thursday that that remains the case.

Even the premier's bullishness on the idea seemed to soften when in June he told a news radio talk show that the push for uranium "was kind of toast right now."

"I'm really moving on," he told host Sheldon MacLeod.

On Friday, after speaking with Trask-Duggan and several other people who travelled to Province House, the premier told reporters that it's OK for people to have concerns.

Look for development elsewhere

But he also reaffirmed that if there were a proposed project — and right now there is not — there would be "fulsome consultation" and scientific review before a decision is made.

"We're just not there right now," he said.

Trask-Duggan, whose Annapolis Valley property is near one of the areas that was designated for the call for proposals, said that as long as the ban is lifted, there remains a concern among people about the potential of development and the negative implications it could have for property values and water supply health if something were to go wrong.

If the government wants to expand economic development and job opportunities, she said officials should look at strengthening existing industries such as tourism, fishing and agriculture.

"Of course we want jobs, but can we look a little further than uranium mining?"

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it's important for Houston to recognize that the voices speaking out are not special interest groups, as the government suggested when it was removing the ban, but simply people who have questions that need to be answered and a desire to be consulted before there are changes.

Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said the ban should have remained in place while the government mapped resources to determine if it even makes sense to open up calls for exploration.