“We need to go forward, but progress isn’t always a straight line or a smooth path.” Barack Obama victory speech, November 7, 2012 How to explain our current political whipsaw? You go to sleep one night knowing 6,000 delegates to this weekend’s federal Liberal party convention will debate progressive resolutions to de-criminalize possession of small amounts of all … [Read More...]
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Birds of prey and the meaning of life, Shearwater edition
1. St. Margaret’s Bay development Last week, Philip Moscovitch reviewed the largest residential development ever proposed for St. Margaret's Bay — and the … [Read More...]
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Talking in circles: Lots of questions, few answers at open house on St. Margaret’s Bay development proposal
Michelle Dolbec has one of those storybook too-good-to-be true stories about why she moved to Nova Scotia. She was living in Ottawa, then got married and took a … [Read More...]
Featured Stories
The Cogswell redesign’s transit failure
The Cogswell Lands plans have toured around the city for the past two weeks in an effort to get some public input on the greenspaces that will be part of the plan. (Not where the greenspaces are, mind you, but what might go in them. You can check out … [Read More...]
The politics of resentment at Province House
News 1. Audits "The municipality has failed to completely implement more than half of the recommendations made by its auditor general between 2014 and 2016, and it’s unclear what percentage of the recommendations made before that were … [Read More...]
Nova Scotian forests: the Scottish model
News 1. The McNeils and the information non-breach scandal Robin McNeil. Photo: HRPD Stephen McNeil. Photo: Halifax Examiner Chris McNeil. Photo: CBC It's anyone's guess what caused the over-the-top police … [Read More...]
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Fifteen cops showed up to arrest a teenager for using the internet
1. Fifteen cops showed up to arrest a teenager for using the internet CBC reporter Jack Julian interviewed the 19 year … [Read More...]
Now that we’ve taken a bath on the convention centre, let’s do a stadium
1. The Securities windfall "A $77.1 million windfall helps balance the books in this year's provincial budget," reports … [Read More...]
An obscure shift in Securities regulations will cost Nova Scotia down the road
A scan of the provincial government’s Budget Estimates suggests the claim of a balanced budget and $29 million surplus is … [Read More...]
United Way poverty report: “the system needs to change”
Halifax’s United Way has done it again. Traditionally, the do-good organization has been best known for turning your $5.4 … [Read More...]
Examineradio 154: Convention centre problems? Halifax, you were warned!
Urban studies prof Heywood Sanders, an expert on convention centres, weighs in on ours. Sanders came to Halifax in November … [Read More...]
The largest residential development ever proposed for Saint Margaret’s Bay leaves community struggling to define itself
Bill Brooks stands on the deck of the new St. Margaret’s Bay Community Enterprise Centre and points past two parking lots, a … [Read More...]
How the same perverse government policies led to both the convention centre disaster and the breach of information
News 1. The Unisys contract The contract between the province and the contractor hired to support the software used in … [Read More...]
The “breach of privacy” arrest looks like an exercise in misdirection
News 1. "Breach of privacy" Yesterday, the province announced that the Freedom of Information site had been … [Read More...]
Polishing a turd: Mayor Mike Savage says the fiscal disaster of the convention centre is a “good news story”
News 1. Densely calculated density In a Herculean reporting effort, Jennifer Henderson dives deep into the Centre Plan … [Read More...]
Densely calculated density
If public meetings to discuss the municipality’s Centre Plan were episodes of Sesame Street, they would be “brought to you by … [Read More...]
Bureaucratic oversight and other misdemeanours
I'm Erica Butler, your Examiner transportation columnist, sitting in on Morning File today. News 1. Randy Riley … [Read More...]
The Randy Riley trial: how news media are falling down on the job
Last Tuesday, there was dramatic moment in Supreme Court, worthy of its own Law & Order episode. In the course of its … [Read More...]
BP is about to start a deep-water well off Nova Scotia; what could possibly go wrong?
News 1. Weather There was weather. 2. The new convention centre is already a financial disaster for the city I … [Read More...]
The judge and the complaints: finding the balance between judicial independence and public confidence
“In the Matter of Complaints Against Judge Gregory Lenehan, made pursuant to the Provincial Court Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 238 … [Read More...]
Examineradio 153: lawyer Ben Perryman wants Abdoul Abdi to stay in Canada
Lawyer Ben Perryman walks us through the fight to stop Abdoul Abdi’s deportation. Plus, we discuss why the judge who said … [Read More...]
White-washing the Boer War
Yesterday, Tim wrote an item about the monument to the Boer War on the grounds of Province House: I don’t care about the … [Read More...]
The new convention centre is already a financial disaster for the city
The city expected to have a $1.8 million deficit on its Halifax Convention Centre account this year, but that figure has … [Read More...]
McNeil government is moving slow with greenhouse gas reduction plan
Nova Scotia continues to resist a sales pitch from Ottawa to sign on to its system for reducing emissions starting in January … [Read More...]
Everything that’s wrong with the world captured by one statue
News 1. Cap-and-trade "Nova Scotia continues to resist a sales pitch from Ottawa to sign on to its system for reducing … [Read More...]
“I Am Queen Mary”: a story of Black liberation, art, and dental intervention
As a Black woman who marks a dental visit in Denmark as a milestone in my life, I was thrilled to learn that the country now … [Read More...]