By Andrew Macdonald
Lloyd Hines’ name appears in 330 articles in The Macdonald Notebook, which has published 8,300 stories since its founding in 2017.
A larger-than-life politician, Hines died a year ago this week at the young age of 72, following a very brief illness which sent him to the Halifax Infirmary.
I first met Hines in June 1989, when I began my reporting career as a cub reporter in the Strait of Canso.
Hines at that time had been on Guysborough county council for a year. His political career began when he was 31 and elected to the former Guysborough school board. He would later go on to become warden of Guysborough County.
I had a trusted newsman relationship since 1989 with Hines. He always took or returned my call, and some calls came on weekends, and at night after his regular work hours.
While I would never name a living news source, Hines was one of my top news sources over the last three decades, providing vital inside information. Hines devoured political biographies and had a fine news sense, and sometimes Hines would mentor me on journalism — helpful when I was 21 on my first media job in Cape Breton.
Lloyd Hines was a ‘people’s politician’ and the most active Highways Minister the province has ever known with his multi-year, multi-billion dollar highway twinning program.
In this article, on the year anniversary of Hines’ demise, we look back at the legendary ‘people’s politician’ whose greatest political legacy is modernizing and twinning death trap highways.
In 2013, he was elected as Liberal MLA for Guysborough, and was appointed to cabinet in 2015 as Natural Resources minister. He later became one of the province’s most active Highways ministers, and it was where his political legacies were many.
He twinned the 40-km route between New Glasgow and Antigonish, a $700M project, and twinned a section of 103 HWY, which this fall will open to traffic to Hubbards, and he paved the way for twinning of 101 HWY through to Wolfville.
Lloyd Hines’s eternal resting spot, a graveyard in his hometown of Guysborough. Contributed
Hines called his multi-year, multi-billion twinning program, Gemini II, and handed out baseball caps branded with the name. He gave me one of those hats, now a Nova Scotia collector’s item.
In 2020, he moved to allow car ride-sharing programs like Uber to operate in the province.
And as Infrastructure minister, he signed a 99-year land lease with Halifax apartment developer Louie Lawen to build a massive residential rental project and retain the facade of the downtown Dennis Building. The site had sat vacant since 1995 when the old Birks building was knocked down by the developer, the late Bob Stapells. The Birks site is near Nova Scotia’s historic Legislature building.
Lloyd Hines’ tombstone in a Guysborough cemetery. Contributed
Hines, an old-school politico, went against bureaucrats and delivered a new ferry at Country Harbour in his riding.
I have re-published stories on those political legacies in the past.
Lloyd Hines was a political ‘man in motion’ and a big champion of rural Nova Scotia. The Notebook photo
In this edition we look at some of the more significant policies Lloyd Hines delivered, including his aggressive road twinning program to save lives.
The crest of the Nova Scotia Legislature is engraved on the tombstone of Lloyd Hines, who died a year ago this week. He was a People’s Politician. Contributed
During his tenure as Highways minister, a bonding agency out of New York City paid attention, describing a “multi-billion dollar twinning program over multi-years”.
Twinning: Highways 103 & 104: Lloyd Hines Explained His Aggressive Road-Building Policy
By Andrew Macdonald
Twinning work on the 103 HWY that cuts through the South Shore will open to the motoring public this fall. There is still work to do, including the last work of adding guard rails.
Last year, Dexter Construction, owned by Chester’s Carl Potter, was the sole bidder on paving an 11-kilometre stretch of the highway from Ingramport to Hubbards. The bid was $26 million for the double highway, and the paving contract covers 22 kilometres of blacktop.
The twinned highway on the South Shore’s 103 is a $90M project.
The New Glasgow-Antigonish section of 104 HWY, nearly 40 kilometres, opened as a twinned highway in 2023.
It has been constructed by a historic partnership between Dexter Construction and Donald Chisholm’s Nova Construction.
The cost of twinning 104 HWY was $364M, but the two road-building firms will manage the highway over a 20-year agreement so with the road budget and the management contract, the total value of the contract is $700M.
The opening of the twinned sections of highways 103 and 104 is a legacy of former Liberal premier Stephen McNeil who had tasked his Highways minister Lloyd Hines with carrying out the ambitious twinning program.
Hines oversaw the road project that drew the attention of Moody’s a New York City bond rating agency.
In July of 2023, months before he would die, the former Guysborough MLA explained to The Macdonald Notebook why he and McNeil ushered in the most ambitious road-building projects in the history of the province and they remain his greatest political legacy.
I have referred to Hines as one of the province’s most active Highways ministers in Nova Scotia’s history, along with such stalwarts as Richie Mann, Ike Smith and A.S. MacMillian. Former NDP minister Moe Smith of Antigonish, also oversaw a lot of twinning in the Darrell Dexter government.
Lloyd Hines was one of Nova Scotia’s most active highways ministers ever. Nova Scotia Government photo
Hines worked with former federal minister Scott Brison to get pivotal funds from Ottawa for cost-shared twinning.
While Premier Tim Houston did not campaign on doing more twinning beyond the projects of Hines and McNeil, the Tory premier is now a Johnny-come-lately to the need to twin more two-lane deathtraps. His highways minister Kim Masland plans to twin to Chester on the South Shore, and to Afton in Antigonish County, but not unless they get elected again, as Houston has declared twinning will take place between 2025-2030.
But the Tory government does not plan to do its own twinning until the election year of 2025, well into its second term government. And will Houston win a second term? It’s called old-style politics of pavement in Nova Scotia.
This new 11-kilometre twinning project on HWY 103. Lloyd Hines was highways minister when the job was completed. Nova Scotia Government photo
Hines refrained from commenting on the Houston plan or whether it is purely and simply a vote-getting measure. Now, that he is out of politics, he did not want to get drawn back into partisan politics. But in July 2023, he talked about his reasons for twinned highways and admitted it was “disappointing, really, too bad, too bad,” the Houston government was not twinning all the way to Bridgewater and all the way to Cape Breton.
“I am reserving any (political) comment on that now”, he said last summer when asked about Houston’s policy to begin twinning in the election year 2025. “I did my 35 years in politics. I don’t want to sort of be dragged back into it.”
Former Liberal premier Iain Rankin had a plan to twin all the way to Bridgewater and all the way to Cape Breton’s Canso causeway, announcing that plan during the 2021 election campaign. Progressive Conservative candidates in Antigonish-Guysborough-Lunenburg called the announcement ‘old-style politics.’
“The infallible truth about highways is that they are an extremely essential part of our society, and they contribute to the community, contribute to the family, contribute to tourism, they contribute to the economy…and it has always been that way,” Hines told The Macdonald Notebook.
“If you look at the evolution of transport, especially in a place like Nova Scotia, where it used to be all by water, and the build-up of population centres in coastal communities, and bigger populations coming in there because the highway was the ocean…which later became irrelevant with transportation like railroads,” he adds.
“Given that, highways are not going anywhere very soon, whether it is internal combustion engines (gas) or electric cars, highways will still remain essential. Therefore it is in the public good to make those thoroughfares as safe as possible. Twinned highways reduce accidents and save lives.
“I noticed (last spring), and I kind of shook my head, there was another fatality in Havre Boucher. A 24-year-old individual lost his life due to a head-on collision. That section in particular is quite dangerous. There’s a lot of accidents in that area.”
That section won’t be twinned under the new Houston announcement.
A roundabout on the 104 HWY which opened in 2023. Dexter-Nova Alliance photo
“It seems to me that government has to prioritize what they are going to do with the treasury. It would seem the old adage, ‘How do you eat an elephant — one bite at a time. We should be taking a bite out of twinned highways in Nova Scotia constantly. It should be a prevailing ongoing program where there is twinning done each year to make the highways safer for Nova Scotians.”
Hines said any government needs good management when it comes to an aspirational goal to improve safety in Nova Scotia by twinning highways. There should be a standing program to twin, “which is what we had, swallowing the tremendous amount of twinning during our eight years in office.”
Hines, who became a resident of Metro Halifax after political life, had driven over the new portion of the 104 HWY that opened, doing the tour just months before he died last September.
“It is great. It took a lot of people to twin, not just me. It certainly took the government, the cabinet and the commitment of the premier (McNeil). But, I was very fortunate to be involved at the ground level to get it done.”
Hines as minister dubbed the massive twinning the Gemini Project and gave out ball caps with the Latin word for twinning embroidered on the hats.
“The issue there for me…was to do things that are good for the people. And that twinning on the 104 is undeniably good for the people, and for all Atlantic Canadians including Newfoundland and good for the people in Guysborough, who have a safer drive to the city of Halifax, and it is good for the folk commuting between New Glasgow and Antigonish. The twinning is just a great public good.”
Is Twinning McNeil’s Greatest Legacy?
The Liberal McNeil government not only twinned deathtrap two-lane highways, but it also balanced budgets, so I asked Lloyd Hines what he thinks is the greatest legacy, the government’s crowning achievement, of the eight-year-old regime he participated in.
Specifically, I asked Hines if twinning is the key legacy of the McNeil regime.
“Well, I will tell you it’s an important piece. You also have to realize at that time we were delivering balanced budgets — consecutively — after picking up a $700M operating deficit from the NDP,” he said.
“But, I will tell you, this may surprise you, but what I am very proud of being a part of, is putting the four-year-olds in school. I think that is one of the crowning achievements of our government during that time, along with the twinning. But getting those kids into a classroom setting, where they would socialize and take advantage of the fact kids are such big sponges when they are young, I think that was one of the greatest long term accomplishments of the government, which added $70M to the education budget every year, but worth every cent of it,” says Hines.
New Twinned Highway 104 Will Save Lives: Lloyd Hines
By Andrew Macdonald
My road-building dad would say there is “No hope in Marshy’s Hope.”
The epicentre of fatalities, Marshy’s Hope has long been the site of a curving two-lane section of the Trans-Canada Highway, near Barney’s River.
A significant portion of the 104 HWY twinning is the new stretch of highway, a 10-kilometre twinned section going over Weaver’s Mountain. The new route also bypasses the red-coloured Barney’s River Fire Hall, an area landmark.
The new section bypasses Marshy’s Hope, the epicentre of fatalities on the old 104 HWY route.
The challenge presented on Hwy. 104 was determining how to twin from Barney’s River and Marshy Hope. On one side of the highway there is a rail cut, and on the other side is a river, which has an optical illusion with water appearing to run upstream.
Three decades ago, veteran journalist Parker Donham pondered what would happen to the charming optical illusion presented by the river if the route was twinned.
“Everyone says the river runs upstream. I also often felt that but I never mentioned it to anyone because people would think I was crazy,” said former Highways Minister Lloyd Hines, the man responsible under Premier Stephen McNeil for twinning parts of Highways 104, 103 and 101.
The illusion of a river running upstream is created because of the existing road grade which offers the impression to motorists of a river running uphill.
In 2017, I asked if the twinned road would go over the Marshy Hope mountains. Hines said, “No. What we have to do is challenge the assumption that we can’t get through Marshy Hope. We need to empirically evaluate that, and that study has not occurred.”
Hines travels the two-lane Marshy Hope section frequently to get from Halifax to his home in the shire town of Guysborough, so he knew the route well.
A 10 kilometre twinned section of the 104 HWY over Weaver Mountain bypasses Barney’s River and Marshy Hope. Contributed photo
More than 20 folks have died on the highway between New Glasgow and Antigonish since 2007. As I reported in 2024 Hines took a drive on the newly opened twinned 12 km section in July 2023. He would die in Sept 2023.
His thoughts?
“Outstanding.
“As minister, I laboured with the Department of Transportation for three months to find a way to twin through the existing route at Marshy Hope. I liked the autumn views and thought it might be cheaper, but relocating the railway tracks and avoiding the river would be too entangling and add delay,” said Hines.
“We had a huge senior staff meeting where I finally chose Weaver’s Mountain and engineering staff were ecstatic and we moved forward. The department staff and engineers were the best.
“I love the vistas on the new route and the fall colours will be excellent. More importantly, lives will be saved,” said Hines.
MacPolitics: Tory Premier Tim Houston Pays Tribute to Departed Liberal Cabinet Minister Lloyd Hines & So Does Zach Churchill
Lloyd Hines died a year ago this week, after a very brief illness.
While Hines was a Liberal politico, Tory Premier Tim Houston naturally paid tribute to the late MLA and member of the Executive Council.
For the record, here is Premier Houston’s statement on Hines’ passing on Sept. 10:
“I was sorry to hear about Lloyd’s passing,” said Premier Houston. “He was a dedicated community leader, public servant and a distinguished Nova Scotian. Guysborough and Nova Scotia are better because of his service.”
Mr. Hines began his career in public service when he was elected in 1982 to the first Guysborough County District School Board, before being elected as councillor for the Municipality of the District of Guysborough in 1988. He subsequently served the municipality as warden.
In 2013, Mr. Hines was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as MLA for Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie. During his time as MLA, he also served as minister of Natural Resources and minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.
“My deepest condolences go to Patricia and their children, Shannon, Sarah, Victoria and Regan, and all of Lloyd’s family and close friends,” said Premier Houston.
Current Liberal leader Zach Churchill also issued a statement a year ago on Hines’ demise.
Today (Sept 2023), in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, a great man was laid to rest. The Hon. Lloyd P. Hines had a long career in elected office, reflecting his deep commitment to public service. He knew how important rural Nova Scotia was to the future of our province, and fought constantly to make sure those community voices were heard. His deft stewardship of the province’s highway twinning and hospital infrastructure programs will pay dividends for generations. As a student of Nova Scotian history, he always had a story to share that would enrich our understanding of how we got here, and where we need to go.
Along with many of our members past and present, I was able to visit Guysborough and speak directly with his family to offer my condolences in person, and to let them know just how much it meant to our party and our province to have him as part of our team. He had a passion for making our province better – one that we can all draw inspiration from.
Rest in peace, Lloyd – you will be deeply missed.\
Then Transportation minister Lloyd Hines, with former Premier Stephen McNeil.
MacPolitics: Former Premier Stephen McNeil Says Lloyd Hines’ Twinning Legacy Lives On
By Andrew Macdonald
Speaking in the spring of 2024, just hours before two separate highway crashes left two dead on untwinned portions of 104 HWY, former Premier Stephen McNeil said, “Lloyd Hines’ twinning legacy lives on.”
Hines was one of the most active highways ministers in Nova Scotia in several generations, and he oversaw multi-year twinning with multi-billions of dollars on the 100-Series highways 104, 103 and 101.
I spoke with McNeil last spring, just hours before the two separate accidents on 104 HWY at Afton and Havre Boucher left two dead, and others injured on the deathtrap highway where the road is not twinned.
Hines saw fit to twin the 40-kilometre section from New Glasgow’s outskirts to Antigonish. It opened to the motoring public last summer.
Hines also twinned a 22 km stretch of Hwy. 103 between Hubbards and Tantallon and the 101 twinning is soon to open in the Annapolis Valley.
The Progressive Conservative government led by Tim Houston has not initiated any new twinning since it came to power. Instead, Houston says twinning will be done between 2025 and 2030 in the next term of government. If Houston wins the next election, he promises to twin to Afton on Hwy. 104, the site of last spring’s deadly crash, and to twin to Chester on the Hwy. 103.
Three hundred people attended a roast for Scott Brison last Oct. 6. From left are Brison, with Kings-Hants MP Kody Blois and Stephen McNeil who was premier from 2013 to 2021. McNeil, Brison and former highways minister Lloyd Hines were responsible for major highway twinning projects in Nova Scotia. Photo by Jason Malloy, Saltwire Network
In my news chat with McNeil, he said twinning work will be a lasting legacy of Hines, who died young at age 71 last September, a year ago.
The Antigonish twinning was done in partnership with Nova Scotia firms Dexter Construction and Nova Construction, respectively owned by Chester’s Carl Potter and Antigonish’s Donald Chisholm. The two partnered as Dexter Nova Alliance, and in 2018 bested bids from global road-building giants in Spain and France.
I told McNeil I had driven over the twinned route to Antigonish.
“Isn’t that something,” McNeil said. “That highway was built by two Nova Scotia companies. We should be proud of that.”
McNeil said when he drives over the Antigonish route, he says, “It is hard to see where the two highways (old and new) join together. It is such a great job of continuation. Isn’t it something? It is just amazing.”
Before Hines died last September, he also got to drive on the Antigonish route.
“Lloyd was a great guy. He was a big supporter of that project and very proud of it,” said McNeil, who added that Hines pushed forward a public-private (P3) model for the Antigonish twinning. The P3 model gives the Dexter Nova Alliance a 30-year road maintenance contract valued at $714 million. The actual road-building contract was valued at $364M.
“People complain about P3 projects,” said McNeil, “but the project was built on time and on budget, and any money managed over its life of it is being collected and spun around (by Dexter-Nova). It’s a huge success story.
“It’s a well-done project. It tells you what can happen when the public-private sector joins together.” McNeil tells The Macdonald Notebook.
The former premier credited Barney’s River Fire Chief Joe MacDonald for being a big promoter of that project, and there have been no fatalities on the twinned Antigonish portions since the route opened last summer.
“We used to hear all the time of accidents (and) more often than not there was a fatality. And, we now hear people arriving safely. That was a big part (of the reason to twin),” adds McNeil.
On the twinning of 104, 103 and 101 highways, “You go back and look at those tenders (in 2018-19), and Lloyd signed those tenders out the door. That work is now being finished by projects he committed to as minister.
“Lloyd may be gone, but his legacy is still being built and happening here. I hope his family is proud of the accomplishments he made, building safer highways and saving lives, and contributing to the economy of Nova Scotia. He passed on, but his work is still being done.”
The former premier said Hines had a knack for finding the money “somewhere” for twinning projects, having successfully lobbied federal minister Scott Brison for co-twinning funds.
“When Scott was minister and Lloyd was here” they got the funding. “They are still building off of those funds. It is a great tribute to Lloyd.”
