On June 3, 2020, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society released an unremarkably remarkable statement. It happened 10 days after cellphone cameras captured white police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota gruesomely killing an unarmed Black man named George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. His death had triggered protests in cities across North America and prompted a...
Jen Powley: Turn the convention centre into affordable housing
Quebec was granted $1.4 billion for affordable housing. Quebec City, Montreal, and Gatineau came together to make the ask. Nova Scotia should ask for $160 million based on a per capita equivalent. The mayors of Sydney, HRM, Bridgewater, Kentville, Yarmouth, Truro, and Wolfville could get together and make a similar coordinated bid. HRM’s portion of […]
The more things change, the more nothing changes
How is that real estate developers get to do what they want without real consequences? Oh, right. Nothing new to see here, folks.
In mid-April 1999, a Halifax city planner named Gary Porter returned from his vacation to a surprise. He noticed there was now one more storey than the city had approved on an under-construction office building on Brunswick Street. The developer, George Ramia, had been granted a permit to build a 40-foot-high building on the lot...
When is $15 million really $10 million, but actually only $5 million?
Welcome to the world of higher education in which "gift" and "gift commitment" can be parsed so billionaires can claim to give what they haven't, and dictate whatever they want.
On this Makeover Monday, let us pretend — because there will be more than a little smoke-and-mirrors pretend in this column — that it is actually the morning of Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. On that day, according to Dalhousie News, the official public relations organ of Dalhousie University, this happened: Though it was pouring rain...
Miscommunication: how government’s PR gatekeepers are increasingly controlling the message
Unbeknownst to many people — and definitely unbeknownst to me before I returned to Nova Scotia after many years of working overseas and resumed reporting here in 2016 — journalists do not have quite the same rights that other citizens do in this province. Apparently we journalists are not supposed to try to get into […]
Paper Excellence in France: different country, same game plan
“A Canadian-owned paper pulp company went on trial on Wednesday for flouting emissions rules at its mill in southern France, the country’s biggest,” reports Agence France Presse (AFP). AFP says that the company has been charged with “emitting polluting substances,” including heavy metals and nitrogen oxide gas, from the mill that is south of Avignon, […]
Would you buy a used government from one of these guys?
Don't worry. You don't have to choose. Liberal delegates will pick your next premier for you. All you have to do is live with him... for a while.
Welcome to 2021! In addition to figuring out the appropriate trash folder into which to dump all of 2020 (along with last week’s plethora of pleading emails — Last chance to take advantage of 2020 savings… Last chance in 2020 to donate to this worthy cause… First chance to take advantage of 2021 savings… First...
A tip of the hat to racial inclusion in brewing
Nearly a decade into writing a book that had been contracted for four years, I began to exhibit signs of mental distress — crying fits, panic attacks, and terrifying nightmares. The latter included an episode during which I was stalked by a snarling herd of beasts (picture supersize Komodo Dragons). Just as the animals were […]
Donald Trump, Stephen McNeil, and democracy in decline
If you want to know just how quickly a flawed but functioning democracy can descend into anti-democratic demagoguery, may I direct your attention south of our border. If you want to know how close to (or far from) that less than ideal we already are in Nova Scotia, may I direct your attention to the proceedings of the Second Session of the 63rd Assembly of our own House of Assembly on Friday, December 18.
If you want to know just how quickly a flawed but functioning democracy can descend into anti-democratic demagoguery, may I direct your attention south of our border. Yes, there. If you want to know — and even if you don’t — how close to (or far from) that less than ideal we already are in […]
Mark Furey isn’t in a conflict, Donald Trump won by a landslide, and other tales from the alternate universe
My questions: Is there a problem with the province’s Conflict of Interest Act? Or with Justice Kennedy’s interpretation of it?
So, let me see if I have this straight. Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey, a 32-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, had no conflict of interest, real or perceived, while overseeing the provincial government’s response to Canada’s worst modern day mass murder. This is so, despite the reality RCMP actions — and...
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