• City Hall
  • Province House
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Commentary
  • @Tim_Bousquet
  • Log In

Halifax Examiner

An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Commenting policy
  • Archives
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Manage your account
  • Swag
You are here: Home / Featured / 166 years of governing responsibly: Morning File, Monday, February 2, 2015

166 years of governing responsibly: Morning File, Monday, February 2, 2015

February 2, 2015 By Tim Bousquet 3 Comments

News
Views
Government
On campus
Noticed
In the harbour
Footnotes


News

1. Jail

Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility

Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility

“The number of assaults at Nova Scotia’s largest jail nearly doubled in the first six months of last year compared to the same period in 2013,” reports the Canadian Press’ Michael Tutton. “Incident reports released to The Canadian Press through freedom of information legislation detail one case where feces was thrown, others where guards were spat on and brawls that included the use of handmade weapons at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. There were 70 assaults between offenders, 32 assaults on staff and three fights in the first six months of 2014.”

The jail, incidentally, was a P3 project. In fact, the jail was celebrated by the Canadian Precast Prestressed Concrete Institute as the “project of the month” back in August 2001:

The project began when the Province recognized their need for a new facility. They prepared a Request For Proposals that sought a Developer to build a suitable facility that would be leased to, and operated by, the Province for at least 25 years.

The successful proponent was Reid Management who brought to the table a highly functional design, an experienced contractor, and favourable financial arrangements. The design was required to be economical without any compromise to the safety and security needed for the staff, offenders, and the public.

2. Fish tale

The Poseidon Princess. Photo: inshore.ca

The Poseidon Princess. Photo: inshore.ca

Four men on board the fishing boat Poseidon Princess had to abandon the vessel about 100 kilometres off Yarmouth, just after midnight Saturday morning. “Three managed to make it to the lift raft. The fourth was knocked back by the waves and remained in the water,” reports Yarmouth Vanguard’s Tina Comeau. Fortunately, the crews of two other fishing boats, the Atlantic Destiny and the Chief Blair, responded to a mayday call and were able to rescue all four men.

3. Meningitis

An unidentified student at Acadia University is suspected to have died from meningitis. If so, this is the second recent death of a young person from the disease in Nova Scotia, following last week’s death of Sackville high school student Rylee Sears.

4. Winter

Don’t slip and fall, says Frankie.


Views

1. Mike Savage

 Photo: Halifax Examiner

Photo: Halifax Examiner

In the second of his two-part series interviewing Halifax’s mayor, Stephen Kimber finds that Mike Savage is most proud of his social initiatives —  on “issues like housing, health, immigration and the arts.”

2. Payday loans

“The provincial government should be shining a light on the plight of people who resort to the stiff terms offered by payday lenders,” says Rachel Brighton. “Instead, Service Nova Scotia is keeping from public view key data describing lending trends in the payday loan industry.”

Compared to other consumer loans, the total dollar amounts borrowed from payday outlets are relatively low, Brighton continues, but the interest rates are much, much higher. “It is precisely the people turning to payday lenders who typically can’t access mainstream bank credit and who will not benefit from low interest rates.”

3. Cranky letter of the day

A clever and insightful letter to the Cape Breton Post (or possibly just an Examiner reader):

In “Plutarch’s Lives” Theseus slew the minotaur in the labyrinth, thus becoming a hero to the Athenians.

So they preserved Theseus’s ship as a monument. Over time it began to decay, so they began replacing the rotting planks one at a time until every last plank was replaced.

Then the question was: Was it still Theseus’s ship? Sound familiar?

Simon Gillis, Sydney


Government

City

No public meetings.

Province

No public meetings.

James Boyle Uniacke

James Boyle Uniacke

On this date in 1848, James Boyle Uniacke became the leader of the Executive Council of Nova Scotia and effectively the first premier of a Responsible Government in the British empire. We’ve been governed responsibly ever since.


On campus

Dalhousie

Today

Planning in the Caribbean (Monday, noon, Room 8007, LSC)—Part of International Development Week, “This presentation will discuss recent efforts in Colombia and Cuba to use integrated planning to better manage the coastal zone, by connecting land use planning, coastal management and the management of marine use and space.”

Child Soldiers (Monday, 12:30pm, Mona Campbell 1107)—another IDW event, Josh Boyte and Sam Holland from the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, will explore “the ongoing use of children in modern conflict and the multiple roles they play outside of being frontline soldiers.”

Zooplankton (Monday, 3:30pm, Room 3655, LSC)—Tetjana Ross will show a video about “Plankton and microstructure profiler for the exploration of in situ connections between zooplankton and turbulence.” Drinks after.

Tuesday

camp_thiaroye

Camp de Thiaroye (Tuesday, 5pm, Dalhousie Art Gallery)— Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene “tells an epic story of French African Colonial troops and how they were treated during and after World War Two. (In French and Wolof with English subtitles.)”

First Nations children (Tuesday, 7:30pm, Scotia Bank Auditorium, Marion McCain Building)—The event is titled “Discrimination: government funding policies and implications for the health of First Nations children.” Much more information here.

Museum of Natural History

The Shipwrecks of Halifax Harbour and Approaches (Monday, 7:30pm, Museum of Natural History)—”During mapping of Halifax Harbour and approaches by the Geological Survey of Canada at BIO, numerous shipwrecks were discovered. Only a few were previously known and the discoveries opened a new chapter in the history of the Harbour. With assistance from the Maritime Museum and local divers, Gordon Fader was able to piece together the stories of their demise. Additionally, knowledge of the seabed using modern high resolution mapping technology has revealed detailed characteristics of the vessels and what has happened to them since their sinking. The stories of the shipwrecks will be elaborated against a background of the seabed of the Harbour.”


Noticed

We humans do stuff like this.

test sites

Source.


In the harbour

The seas around Nova Scotia, 7:15am Monday. Map: marinetraffic.ca

The seas around Nova Scotia, 7:15am Monday. Map: marinetraffic.com

Maersk Penang, container ship, Montreal to Pier 41, then sails for Rotterdam
Ocean Crescent, general cargo, Progresso, Mexico to Pier 9c
Verige sails from Imperial Oil
Neerlandia sails for Rotterdam
Singapore Express sails for Southampton


Footnotes

Lots of new stuff will get published on the home page today. Come back and check it out.

Filed Under: Featured

About Tim Bousquet

Tim Bousquet is the editor and publisher of the Halifax Examiner. email: [email protected]; Twitter

Comments

  1. Michael Colborne says

    February 2, 2015 at 9:29 am

    HI Tim:
    Readers might be confused about the location of the talk tonight on shipwrecks in Halifax Harbour. It’s taking place at the Museum of Natural History, not the Maritime Museum.
    Michael

    Log in to Reply
  2. gordohfx says

    February 2, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    It’s an amazing thing those payday loan outfits. It’s also amazing how much money can be made off the backs of the working poor. Payday loans, dollar stores, second hand clothing.

    Who said capitalists don’t fill market needs. If there’s an entrepreneur with the right business plan there’s no limit to the exploitation.

    Log in to Reply
    • Matthieu Cormier says

      February 2, 2015 at 8:51 pm

      We took a walk on the MacDonald bridge last Natal day. They close the bridge to cars so pedestrians can walk down the middle of it. It was a nice day out, some cool cats were playing jazz near the middle of the bridge. When we got to the Dartmouth end of the bridge, along with the scheduled Natal events there were lots of people working for one of those payday companies, I don’t recall which one. It made me sick to my stomach, it just felt wrong. Totally legal, but I wish that socially we wouldn’t allow that type of marketing. Winning hearts and mind of the underprivileged with chintzy balloons or some other gaudy gimmick.

      Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification of new posts on the Halifax Examiner. Note: signing up for email notification of new posts is NOT subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • 4 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Jan. 27 January 27, 2021
  • From Atlantic Gold to the Rockies, it’s a Mining Morning File today January 27, 2021
  • Halifax council awards $75.9 million in waste collection contracts with no living wage requirements January 27, 2021
  • Atlantic Gold paid $0 in taxes in 2019 January 27, 2021
  • Halifax Convention Centre won’t be used as homeless shelter, says top city staffer January 26, 2021

Commenting policy

All comments on the Halifax Examiner are subject to our commenting policy. You can view our commenting policy here.

Copyright © 2021