Beware of rats in Bedford: Morning File, Thursday, October 5, 2017

News

1. Transit Priority Lanes on Bayers Road and Gottingen Street

“Consulting engineers WSP have proposed three options for Bayers Road, the most ambitious of which calls for road widening to allow for two new dedicated bus lanes running from Windsor Street to just past Romans Avenue,” writes Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler:

The most surprising part of WSP’s ‘high investment’ option is a new section of road and overpass connecting Connaught Avenue to the Halifax Shopping Centre driveway. The new section of road passes through the lot at Connaught and Bayers, the same lot that was recently listed by Halifax Transit as a candidate site for a terminal to replace the Mumford Terminal.

Click here to read “Halifax Transit rolls out designs for Transit Priority Lanes on Bayers Road and Gottingen Street.”

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2. Bill 148

The McNeil government announced yesterday that it is asking the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to review the constitutionality of the entire Public Services Sustainability Act, more commonly known as Bill 148.

You’ll recall that when the government first asked to court to review Bill 148, it omitted the sections of the act dealing with the long-term service awards from the request.

3. IWK

“Former IWK Health Centre CEO Tracy Kitch has repaid $9,720.39 in outstanding personal expenses charged to the Halifax children’s hospital,” reports the CBC. “The payment comes just two days after the hospital said it would pursue legal action against her to get the money.”

There’s no word if Kitch has found a new job with the city of Charlottetown.

4. Lunenburg sewage

“A Nova Scotia marine ecologist says the level of sewage contamination in the Lunenburg harbour has reached Third World-like conditions, and he’s calling on the federal government to take action,” reports Andrew Rankin for the Chronicle Herald:

“There’s no place to have a harbour with those kinds of counts of bacteria, but it’s particularly egregious in a world heritage site,” said Bruce Hatcher, who’s chair of Marine Ecosystem Research at Cape Breton University.

Beyond that, he said, the state of the town’s historic harbour flies in the face of the responsibility the Canadian government accepted when it signed the treaty with the United Nations, giving Lunenburg world heritage designation.

“The Canadian government undertook a responsibility to maintain the attributes of a world heritage site. I don’t think there’s anything more important to what the Lunenburg world heritage site is than its harbour.

“The harbour is what defines Lunenburg. It’s an ancient, famous harbour, from which tens of thousands of fishermen sailed to the Grand Banks and built a community in the early days of colonization.”

5. Reparations

“A coalition of African-Nova Scotian groups is urging the province and Canadian government to make reparations to blacks for the enslavement of African people between the 16th and 19th centuries,” reports Sherri Borden Colley for the CBC:

Lynn Jones, the chair of the Nova Scotia chapter of the international non-governmental network Global Afrikan Congress, said her organization is seeking to address the “crime against humanity that occurred to African people.”

“Part of the reparations, too, is the formal apology because the Canadian government, generally, has not acknowledged what happened to us,” she said. “I think that is very much the first step.”

The group has not yet determined how much it believes should be paid in reparations.

6. Bedford rats

“Coun. Tim Outhit said he’s astonished by what his Bedford residents have been telling him lately,” reports Spencer Osberg for Metro:

“‘Tim, I have just killed the 15th rat in my backyard,’ ‘Tim I just took the pellet gun to the 20th rat in my tree,’” Outhit said Tuesday during regional council, quoting his constituents during a discussion around a report on wildlife feeding.

This place is getting lousy with rats:

7. Saint John Tuberculosis Hospital

“Skeletal remains have been discovered on the grounds of an old tuberculosis hospital in Saint John, N.B.,” reports the Canadian Press:

Saint John police Insp. Tanya LeBlanc says the bones were discovered during digging at the old Willett Foods property in the city’s east end on Monday.

She says due to the bones’ condition, it is believed the remains are connected to the Saint John Tuberculosis Hospital previously situated on the property.

It’s odd, given the fetishization of graves in our time, how institutions in the early 20th century seemed to bury the bodies of their dead willy-nilly around their properties.

8. Porta-potty

A porta-potty rented for the Maritime Race Weekend in Eastern Passage was stolen, reports Rebecca Lau for Global. But:

… a local hunter was going through the woods recently when he came upon the big blue portable toilet sitting on a gravel spot with an ATV track leading up to it.

It was found about a kilometer off the Shearwater Flyer Trail.

[…]

Within an hour, a group of local volunteer firefighters were on hand.

“They came with their own rope. They were a tactical team, ready to lasso it,” [race organizer Michelle Kempton] said.

They were able to pull the porta-potty out of the woods and the organization will be able to return it to Royal Flush. The hunter who originally found the toilet wants to remain anonymous and has asked that his cash reward be given to the local school breakfast programs instead.

Ah, a good news story. Too often, these things don’t end so well:

Views

1. Cranky letter of the day

To The Coast:

Nova Scotia’s got no love for the arts. It’s a fact that’s made me sick since that farce of an election we had in the spring, where somehow the majority of Nova Scotians decided a reign of tyranny against the working class, unions and artists was what they wanted. I moved to Halifax two years ago full of film industry dreams, and within a week I was working on TV shows and films. Yes, the film tax credit had just been axed and I spent my time on the street protesting, but I still hustled every single day and got some good roles and background work.

This year, the rumour of the industry crawling back is floating around, but it’s a bold-faced lie. There’s not as much work at all, and actors who have been in the industry for 10 years are competing for the same roles as me.

Arts and culture is sooo important to society, yet we’ve let the money hungry politicians of Nova Scotia sell out everything beautiful we do. Everybody is so busy scrambling to make ends meet they can’t pay attention to these slimy bastards taking away art from us.

I don’t know what happened. So many people seemed to be against McNeil before the election, yet he gets back in. That basically said to me that Nova Scotians don’t care if I have a job or sell a painting. But move away and make a name for yourself and they’ll say they’ve always loved you. Bullshit on a massive level.

Here’s one artist who spent his whole life in Nova Scotia only to be told by the people of the province: No, we don’t want art and culture here, just rich business and retirement homes. I can’t say I feel bad for the exodus of art from NS, because you voted for it. And me? Sorry my beloved Nova Scotia, but after 40-plus years here I’m looking to move to Vancouver or Toronto as well.

Dr. Dave Maybe Not, Halifax

Government

City

Thursday

Harbour East-Marine Drive Community Council (Thursday, 6pm, Alderney Gate) — here’s the agenda.

Halifax Peninsula Planning Advisory Committee Public Meeting – Case 20267 (Thursday, 7pm, Maritime Hall, Halifax Forum) — WM Fares wants to build a five-storey apartment building at 6482 Chebucto Road, which is that old service station lot pictured above.

Friday

No public meetings.

Province

Thursday

Legislature sits (Thursday, 1pm, Province House)

Friday

Legislature sits (Friday, 9am, Province House)

On campus

Dalhousie

Thursday

Infant Pain (Thursday, 9am, Cineplex OE Smith Theatre, Children’s Building, IWK Health Centre) — PhD Candidate Britney Benoit will present “Forging New Discoveries Toward Infant Pain Assessment and Management.”

The Climate-Security Nexus (Thursday, 7pm, Ondaatje Auditorium, McCain Building) — Maria Banda from the University of Toronto will speak about the implications for climate change on worldwide security, human rights, and the growing global refugee crisis.

“Cuba’s Gay Revolution” (Thursday, 7pm, Halifax Central Library) — Emily J. Kirk will launch her book, which explores Cuba’s unique health-based approach to improving LGBTQ rights.

After Spring Comes Fall (Thursday, 7pm, Room 1009, Kenneth Rowe Building) — German film with English subtitles about the life of a Syrian refugee in Berlin.

Friday

Patronage (Friday, 3:30pm, Room 1170, Marion McCain Building) — T. Stephen Henderson from Acadia University will speak on “The Rules and Uses of Patronage at Confederation: The Memoirs of P.S. Hamilton.”

Saint Mary’s

Friday

Cannabis Industry (Friday, 3pm, Room 225 in the building named after a grocery store) — Donna Davies, Andrew Laughlin and Paul Pedersen will “investigate venture and entrepreneurial opportunities as the [cannabis] industry and its value chain begin to unfold in a new legislative landscape.” From the event listing:

Cannabis raconteur and film producer, Donna Davies, will join industry participants Andrew Laughlin, a medicinal retailer in Halifax, and Paul Pedersen, a manufacturer and leaser of cannabis oil extraction equipment from British Columbia, for a discussion of industry trends and opportunities.

We will investigate venture and entrepreneurial opportunities as the industry and its value chain begin to unfold in a new legislative landscape.

In the harbour

6am: Skogafoss, container ship, arrives at Pier 42 from Argentia, Newfoundland

6:45am: Insignia, cruise ship with up to 800 passengers, arrives at Pier 23 from Sydney

7am: Rotterdam, cruise ship, with up to 1,685 passengers, arrives at Pier 20 from Sydney
11am: Skogafoss, container ship, sails from Pier 42 for sea
12:45pm: Regal Princess, cruise ship with up to 4,271 passengers, arrives at Pier 22 from Saint John
3:30pm: Insignia, cruise ship, sails from Pier 23 for Saint John
3:30pm: Rotterdam, cruise ship, sails from Pier 20 for Bar Harbor
11:30pm: Regal Princess, cruise ship, sails from Pier 22 for New York

Footnotes

We’re recording Examineradio today.