Via Rail issues

Via Rail has temporarily suspended sales of its Canada 150 Youth Pass as it works on some technical issues with its online booking engine.

The high demand for the pass, which went on sale Tuesday; is causing technical difficulties.

The 150-dollar pass offers travellers between the ages of 12 and 25 unlimited travel across Canada in July, or students 26 and older with a valid student I-D.

CBRM property assessments

Property assessments are fairly stable in CBRM.

The total assessed values for 60,000 residential and 3,400 commercial properties if about $4.9 billion.

Total residential assessments are up 1.87% and commercial properties slightly over 2%, but the assessors point out much of that increase is due to new construction and development.