News 1. John Risley’s South African Adventure Out from behind the paywall: Tim’s epic piece on how Nova Scotia billionaire John Risley wound up in bed with an arms dealer suing the South African government over an apartheid-era contract. The short version: After his racing career, Portuguese Formula 1 driver Jorge Pinhol became an arms […]
The CODCO comedy troupe is criminally under-recognized
Morning File, Thursday, March 14, 2019
News 1. Lung transplant news Carolyn Ray has written an excellent series of stories for CBC on Nova Scotia lung transplant patients. Lungs are the only organs not transplanted in the province, and patients have to travel to Toronto for the procedure. The trouble is that lungs do not last long outside the body and […]
Poverty mentality… poverty reality
Morning File, Thursday, February 28, 2019
News 1. Poor kids On Tuesday, Statistics Canada released its most recent Canadian income survey, covering 2017. The agency uses two tools to calculate poverty, the Low Income Measure (“defines an individual as having low income if their adjusted after-tax income falls below 50% of the median adjusted after-tax income”) and the Market Basket Measure […]
Not feeling the love
Morning File, Thursday, February 14, 2019
News 1. Can we even discuss improving snow-clearing standards? In her latest column, Erica Butler looks at how implementation of the city’s Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP) keeps sliding down the list of priorities. Butler takes as an example Councillor Shawn Cleary’s seemingly reasonable request “for a report assessing the costs and benefits of tightening up […]
More Photos of Buildings and Food
Morning File, Thursday, January 17, 2019
I’m Philip Moscovitch, taking a break from the book I’m writing on Nova Scotia fermented foods and drinks to bring you today’s Morning File. News 1. Northern Pulp and us The Chronicle Herald begins a four-part series by Aaron Beswick on Northern Pulp today. The series looks at “what a permanent closure of the Northern […]
What’s a little unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine among friends?
Morning File, Wednesday, August 29
I’m Philip Moscovitch, filling in for Tim Bousquet this morning. Tim is editing from a diner at an undisclosed location. News 1. Spaceport concerns Last month, Maritime Launch Services — the people who say they want to run a spaceport out of Canso —submitted a 159-page environmental assessment for the project. Federal and provincial government staffers […]
Lands, forests, oceans, and more
Morning File, Wednesday, August 22, 2018
I’m Philip Moscovitch filling in for Tim, who was sitting by a campfire last night. On Twitter I’m @PhilMoscovitch. News 1. Forestry Review Bill Lahey released his much-anticipated review of forestry practices in the province late yesterday morning. Jennifer Henderson reports for the Halifax Examiner: Bill Lahey’s prescription was sweeping: “We need a new paradigm […]
Feeling the heat: proud boys, old-fashioned attitudes, and yes, the weather
Morning File, Thursday, June 28, 2018
This is freelance writer Philip Moscovitch filling in for Tim. After living here for 20 years, I almost referred to myself as a Nova Scotian the other day. On Twitter I am @PhilMoscovitch. News 1. Shots in Dartmouth Halifax Regional Police arrested two men in north Dartmouth last night after they heard shots. From the […]
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 sailing trip with her husband. “We sailed into St. Margaret’s Bay on our honeymoon, and decided we wanted to stay here,” she told a group of people...
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 vet clinic and a small strip mall across the road — to the spot where Joe Arab proposes building a 112-unit development. “It’s going to go over there,” he says. “Behind there. I...