• Black Nova Scotia
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
    • COVID
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Labour
  • Policing
  • Politics
    • City Hall
    • Elections
    • Province House
  • Profiles
  • Transit
  • Women
  • Morning File
  • Commentary
  • PRICED OUT
  • @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
    • Gift Subscriptions
  • Donate
  • Swag
  • Receipts
  • Manage your account: update card / change level / cancel
You are here: Home / Featured / The elephant in the room: Morning File, Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The elephant in the room: Morning File, Tuesday, May 26, 2015

May 26, 2015 By Tim Bousquet 10 Comments

News
Views
Government
In the harbour
Footnotes


News

1. Never forgotten because it’s so damn ugly

The proposed Never Forgotten monument.

The proposed Never Forgotten monument.

The Never Forgotten monument proposed for Green Cove in Cape Breton Highlands National Park is gaudy, monstrously oversized for its delicate placement, campy in all the wrong ways, and vile in its political intent.

And Parks Canada wants to hear what you think of it.

You know what would honour Canadians who have died in war? Stop having wars.

2. McCluskey and Doucette

I spent the day yesterday writing “How and why Gloria McCluskey stepped on a citizen’s right to due process.”

This article is behind the Examiner paywall and so available only to paid subscribers. To purchase a subscription, click here.

It’s unrelated to the Richard Doucette story, but in the process of researching the story I learned of the bust of McCluskey that developer Francis Fares had commissioned, and which now sits in the head office of Fares’ King’s Wharf development on the Dartmouth waterfront:

Photo: Halifax Examiner

Photo: Halifax Examiner

McCluskey bust plaque

As a piece of art, I kind of like the bust. There’s a pensiveness and uncertainty in the image of McCluskey that one rarely, if ever, sees in the person of McCluskey, and yet it conveys something like wisdom, or at least world weariness.

But who are we kidding? This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Developers aren’t supposed to be making and displaying busts of politicians, and especially not when they’ve got billion-dollar developments that are working their way through the city bureaucracy and will be voted upon by the very same politician.

It says something that the plaque on the bust doesn’t name the artist. This isn’t about the art — it’s about the relationship between Frances Fares and Gloria McCluskey, period. In that sense, the bust reminds me of Tony Soprano’s painting of Pie-O-My, Ralph Cifaretto’s racehorse:

Pie-O-My

The horse plays a central role in the drama between Tony and Ralph. Ralph is the equivalent of an old school developer, who crassly and rudely achieves his riches with brute force: “tell that midget not to be shy with the whip” he tells the horse’s trainer, referring to the jockey. Tony, however, is the new school developer. He loves the horse, wants it treated kindly, dotes over it. He calls the horse “our girl.” When Pie-O-My takes ill, Tony sits in the stable all night, lovingly stroking the horse’s neck, telling her everything will be all right. And because Tony’s love is pure, is sophisticated and worldly, he thinks he deserves an ever-greater share of the horse’s winnings.

The new ways are better than the old ways, and more profitable.

When Pie-O-My dies — in a stable fire, possibly set by Ralph for the insurance money (so old school) —Tony and Ralph come to blows. “The fight culminates with Tony shouting at Ralph as he strangles him and bashes his head against the kitchen floor until he finally dies,” explains the Soprano Wiki. “‘She was a beautiful, innocent creature!’ was yelled by Tony as he was bashing Ralph’s head.”

It is the perfect TV moment.

The painting would go on to feature in a future Soprano episode, but I’ve stretched this analogy as far as time allows this morning.

3. No joke

Former Mayor Peter Kelly is the subject of a NSCAD student's art project.. Photo: Tim Bousquet

Former Mayor Peter Kelly is the subject of a NSCAD student’s art project.. Photo: Tim Bousquet

The “Draft Kelly” campaign is not a joke, says CBC.

Of course it’s not a joke. It’s an art project.

4. Wild Kingdom

“Biologists say there’s new hope for struggling bat populations in Canada following laboratory and field trials that treated white-nose syndrome with a common North American bacteria,” reports the CBC:

Researchers at Georgia State University started using the bacteria Rhodococcus rhodochrousin in laboratories to inhibit the growth of fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in 2012, The Nature Conservancy said in a news release. 

I learned how to read with the help of a book called The King, the Mice and the Cheese. The exciting premise of the book was that a king loved cheese, and so had various cheeses stored all about his castle. But then mice came and started eating the cheese, so the king got cats to scare away the mice, but then the cats got up to their mischievous ways so he brings in dogs to get rid of the cats. I forget the sequence, but we go through a bunch more of these ever-bigger animals to get rid of the previous animals — lions are in there somewhere — until we end up with elephants rampaging around the castle, which clearly won’t do. In the end, the king realizes he didn’t have it quite so bad with the mice, so he invites them back to scare away the elephants and agrees to share the cheese with them.

king

The book is the bedrock of my scientific understanding of ecology. The Australians should’ve read it before shipping in all those giant toads, and the Americans before importing Kudzu.

I fear Rhodococcus rhodochrousin is the cat of the cave world, the start of a never-ending and fatal human tweaking of the natural cave environment.

I also learned some unflattering things about kings from that book.


Views

1. Martello Towers

Prince of Whales Tower

The Prince of Wales Tower in Point Pleasant Park was just one of five Martello Towers built in the Halifax area, explains Peter Ziobrowski, who gives exacting architectural details and the history of each. The others were at Fort Clarence (later the site of the Imperial Oil terminal in Dartmouth), York Redoubt, Georges Island, and Maughers Beach on McNabs Island.

2. Maps of early Halifax

Writes David Jones:

Throughout the last few years, I have spent tens and tens (and probably hundreds) of hours pouring over the beautiful digitized historic maps of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, looking for pre-Deportation Acadian villages, colonial frontier fortifications, portage routes, you name it… A few months ago, a large swath of portefeuille 133 du Service hydrographique de la marine was put online, of special interest to those of us studying 17th and 18th century Nova Scotia.

Jones posted several images from the collection showing the Sawmill River in Dartmouth, including this one:

old map

3. Spryfield

John DeMont is a fan.


Government

City

City Council (10am, City Hall)—there’s a lot on the agenda today. I may be a bit late to the meeting, as I’ve got something to research related to the meeting. But when I get there I’ll be live-blogging via the Examiner’s Twitter account, @hfxExaminer.

It’s hard to observe the meeting and write long articles at the same time, but that’s my hope for today’s meeting. If I can manage it (big if), I’ll have a post up early this evening.

Province

Human Resources (10am, Room 233A, Johnston Building)—Sandra McKenzie, the deputy minister in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, will talk about the Schools Bus Program.


In the harbour

The seas around Nova Scotia, 8:15 Tuesday. Map: marinetraffic.com

The seas around Nova Scotia, 8:15 Tuesday. Map: marinetraffic.com

Oceanex Sanderling, cargo, arrived at Pier 41 from St. John’s this morning, will sail back to St. John’s this afternoon
Atlantic Cartier, ro-ro cargo, arrived at Fairview Cove this morning, will sail to sea this afternoon
APL Belgium, container ship, Damietta, Egypt to Fairview Cove West
Torino, car carrier, Fawley, England to Autoport, then sails to sea


Footnotes

I haven’t forgotten about your emails. I’m just ignoring them.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Morning File

About Tim Bousquet

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

Comments

  1. Jeff Pinhey says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:32 am

    So…. Gloria is a racehorse?

    Log in to Reply
  2. Tim Covell says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:32 am

    The King, the Mice, and the Cheese was an early favourite of mine. Never forgotten the story, or some of the illustrations, but I had forgotten the title. Thanks for the memory jog.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Parker Donham says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:12 am

    I hope Examiner readers will take the trouble to respond to Park’s Canada’s call for public comments on the monstrous Never Forgotten monstrosity proposed for Green Cove in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Unless people protest, this wretched blight will go ahead.

    1. Download the Draft Impact Statement:
    http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ns/cbreton/plan/~/media/pn-np/ns/cbreton/pdf/draft_dia_may_13.ashx

    2. Fill out the brief comment survey:
    http://pc.sondages-surveys.ca/surveys/sondage-survey/never-forgotten-national-memorial-foundation/

    The impact statement, prepared by Stantec, is a shockingly unprofessional whitewash that glosses over the massive flaws in the concept and design of the project. Angry denunciations of the proposal at public meetings are largely ignored, and to the scant extent the objections are noted, they are brushed aside with vapid generalities.

    The main criticism–that a beautiful National Park is a terrible setting for such a garish monstrosity–is dismissed with the explanation that the site “had to be” at the same latitude as the Mother Canada statue at Vimy. Except, it’s isn’t. Vimy is roughly on the same latitude as the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.

    You can read my critique of the monument on Contrarian here:
    http://contrarian.ca/2014/11/12/whats-wrong-with-the-colossal-monument-at-green-cove/

    You can read comments from Contrarian readers here:
    http://contrarian.ca/2014/11/12/that-colossal-monument-contrarian-readers-react/

    Thanks,
    Parker Donham

    Log in to Reply
    • Tony Walsh says

      May 26, 2015 at 12:57 pm

      Done. And thanks for the links.

      Log in to Reply
    • William Matheson says

      May 26, 2015 at 11:26 pm

      Oh gawd. It includes a “Commemorative Ring of True Patriot Love”, and a “With Glowing Hearts Sanctuary”. Canada as self-parody.

      “Phase 5 may involve construction of a Gratitude Pavilion.”

      Log in to Reply
  4. sigs says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:16 am

    As a rule, biological intervention to already biological (or ecological) problems is a downward spiral, including the case of the cane toads. There are however, a few exceptions to that and biologists are increasingly careful about the associated risks. My guess would be that the introduction of a voracious predator would be the most risky way to do it, whereas introducing a bacterium might be a bit more predictable. In a case somewhere in the middle of those two options, a small beetle was introduced to reduce populations of Purple Loosestrife and it seems to have worked reasonably well.
    Bats are an extremely important group of species and make up about half of the global biodiversity of mammals. The bats in North America are in dire straights and you know, desperate times…
    Hopefully this a problem that can be solved, but in all likelihood it will not be humans who solve it. More likely everything will adapt and get used to a new norm.

    There is a great documentary about the Cane Toads that is quirky and funny (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InmI4fQKYns). They say that the fastest, strongest and most aggressive toads always lead the pack and are at the edge of the invading line of toads. Because these toads are able to mate with each other, their offspring become super toads and can invade even faster. The phenomenon is called the Olympic Village Effect, which I think is hilarious.

    Log in to Reply
  5. c says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:21 am

    You have valid concerns about the use of the bacterium to control the white-nose fungus. However if it is indeed a common bacterium that is already found in the same locations and habitats as the bat colonies (as the linked article suggests), then it would not be a situation analogous to the cane toads etc. Hopefully it is a bacterium that has naturally protected that tiny fraction of the populations that survived in the wild, and the researchers are simply able to magnify and accelerate the protection it provides.

    https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/news/recent-research-may-help-future-treatment-bats-white-nose-syndrome

    Log in to Reply
  6. WerdnaYatlor says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:48 am

    Tim, you may have done the impossible: Created a forum where the comments are actually worth reading! Great work 🙂

    Log in to Reply
  7. gordohfx says

    May 26, 2015 at 11:07 am

    Just a horse.

    Log in to Reply
  8. BillSwan says

    May 26, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    Also review the Wise Men of Chelm:
    http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Wise_Men_of_Chelm

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

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.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification when we publish new Morning Files and Weekend Files. Note: signing up for this email is NOT the same as subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • Last week tied the record for weekly COVID deaths in Nova Scotia May 20, 2022
  • National study to assess pandemic’s health impacts, potential long-term effects of COVID-19 May 19, 2022
  • NSTU president concerned about conflict as province announces end to mask mandate in schools May 19, 2022
  • Royal flush: the monarchy’s role in reconciliation and Canada today May 19, 2022
  • Dartmouth man charged with wilful promotion of hatred May 19, 2022

Commenting policy

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

Copyright © 2022