NEWS
1. MCC recommendations are falling by the wayside
Stephen Kimber gives a run-down on everything that’s going wrong with the committee that is supposed to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the Mass Casualty Commission.
Click or tap here to read “Monitoring implementation of the Mass Casualty Report’s recommendations. So far, so bad …”
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2. Herald pension plan
“The trustees of the pension plan representing the editorial and press room staff at the Chronicle Herald have filed an order against the Halifax Herald Ltd. alleging the company owes the plan more than $70,000,” reports Suzanne Rent.
This is the smallest dollar value claim against the Herald and/or SaltWire of several that are now playing out.
As I reported on Jan. 5, the SaltWire lawsuit against Transcontinental Media seems to be coming to a head next month, as Transcon is asking the court for a pretrial judgement for security costs of a half-million dollars. That comes on top of a SaltWire debt to the CRA for either just over $3 million (as Transcon claims ) or for ‘just’ $1.8 million (as SaltWire claims).
And those contested debts come on top of whatever portion of the $23,325,000 SaltWire still owes to a Quebec-based private debt fund for the purchase of the former Transcontinental papers in Atlantic Canada.
In a court file, SaltWire in essence argues that it can weather the financial crises it is facing thanks to the federal government’s payroll tax rebate for reporters of about $1 million annually, and additionally through an estimated $2.5 million SaltWire hopes to receive through the upcoming Google deal with Canadian publications. (Disclosure: the Halifax Examiner also receives the tax rebate, of less than $30,000 last year. I have no idea what if anything the Examiner will receive from Google.)
Maybe. The high stakes financial mechanisms are far beyond anything I could understand, much less navigate.
I can’t know what will happen if SaltWire is ordered to pay Transcontinental a half-million dollars next month. But my guess is that the pension plan wants a court judgment on that relatively low-dollar $70,000 because it fears SaltWire may soon seek bankruptcy protection and the pension plan wants to be a court-recognized creditor.
Bankruptcy protection wouldn’t necessarily be the end of SaltWire, but it would, I think, be the beginning of the end. The private debt fund has title to various pieces of SaltWire’s real estate, and in the event of bankruptcy protection would likely begin selling that off. That would be a further hit to SaltWire, because as I understand it, the printing side of the business (and the related flyer business) is the most profitable part of SaltWire’s operations, and losing those printing plants would probably be a death knell.
None of this is good for local journalism. The SaltWire papers and the CBC provide the bulk of reporting in Nova Scotia, with the commercial TV and radio stations picking up the scraps and a handful of independents like the Halifax Examiner trying to fill in where we can. But SaltWire faces potential imminent financial collapse. The CBC has announced significant cutbacks, and Pierre Poilievre promises if elected to defund the CBC completely.
Um, please subscribe?
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3. Respiratory illnesses and children
Last week, Yvette d’Entremont interviewed Dr. Jason Emsley, an IWK Health Centre emergency physician, and came away with two articles that give Emsley’s understanding of the threat respiratory illnesses pose to children.
My shorthand take-away is this: for children in Halifax, the immediate and riskiest threat is RSV, and not long COVID.
We’ve already gotten pushback on social media for daring to suggest that long COVID is not a profound threat to children, but two points: 1) I’ve always argued that we need more data on COVID, including with long COVID, so that we can get a better understanding of exactly what’s going on, and I’ve criticized officials for obscuring that data. And, 2) Emsley and his team are clearly concerned about the health of children, have no reason to be a part of some supposed COVID coverup, and are in fact collecting data through the long-term study of thousands of children.
Anyway, click or tap here to read “ER doc: Halifax is ‘epicentre’ of RSV.”
And click or tap here to read “Study: Very few children infected with COVID-19 develop long COVID.”
If you actually read the articles, you’ll see that as scientists do, there are plenty of qualifiers and unknowns, and no one is downplaying the risk of COVID — especially to the older and more vulnerable people that COVID-infected children can come in contact with.
But it’s good news that children don’t appear to be at high risk of long COVID, and it’s bad news that right now a lot of children are being hospitalized with RSV.
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4. Pedestrians keep getting hit on Gottingen Street
A Halifax police release from yesterday:
Halifax Regional Police investigated a vehicle pedestrian collision that occurred this [Sunday] morning in Halifax.
At approximately 9:35 a.m. officers responded to a report of an injured pedestrian at the intersection of Gottingen Street and Charles Street. A vehicle travelling south on Gottingen Street hit a 23-year-old woman that was crossing Gottingen Street in a marked crosswalk.
The pedestrian was taken to hospital by EHS for treatment of life-threatening injuries.
Pedestrians are getting struck by drivers with alarming regularity on this stretch of Gottingen Street. Some recent incidents include:
• In July 2023, a child was struck by a a 35-year-old woman driving a van while crossing Gottingen Street in a crosswalk. Police and media reports don’t say if the woman was ever charged.
• In March 2023, Damien Tomsett, who “uses cochlear implants for a hearing impairment and also has limited peripheral vision” was struck by an 89-year-old man travelling south in an SUV. Tomsett had pressed the light button and was in the marked crosswalk at Buddy Daye Street, but before all the facts came out, many people were quick to blame Tomsett for the incident.
• In December 2019, Willard Comeau was killed while walking across the street in an unmarked crosswalk at Prince William Street. (I knew Willard.) A 46-year-old man was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
• In February 2018, an 18-year-old man was struck by a driver at the corner of Gottingen and North Streets. The driver was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
I’m certain there have been other incidents that I can’t find this morning.
It’s a problem of street design, I think. Travelling through the intersection of Gottingen and North streets is almost always a hassle — there’s the bridge traffic to contend with, and you typically have to wait two or three light cycles. But then, there’s a long stretch of Gottingen Street towards downtown without any traffic lights until Nora Bernard Street (formerly Cornwallis Street). The temptation is to drive fast — too fast — and there are no visual cues telling you not to.
With just three push button-activated crossing lights, pedestrians are contending with those fast-moving and therefore inattentive drivers. Maybe those pedestrians are residents of the nearby senior housing, or like Tomsett have disabilities. Some are kids.
There should be a physical means of slowing down drivers. I don’t know if that’s a full stop light at Buddy Daye or Uniacke streets, or a major street narrowing, or rumble strips in the pavement. Somebody smarter than me can figure out the exact engineering changes required, but given the repeated maiming and killing of pedestrians, something must be done.
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5. Gambling our way to prosperity
People are getting excited about the Chase the Ace in Petit-Rocher, New Brunswick, reports the CBC:
It’s the 47th week of the community’s Chase the Ace lottery, with the jackpot now estimated at $7.3 million.
…
This latest Chase the Ace has brought the biggest jackpot of its kind to the region, with hopeful players now driving to New Brunswick from all over the Maritimes, and beyond, to get tickets that must be bought in person.
Last week, more than half a million tickets were purchased.
…
[René] Beaudet said the gas station on Ramsay Street in Campbellton is getting swarms of people coming in from Quebec.
“They’re getting everybody from Gaspé,” Beaudet said. He said some players drove more than seven hours from Sherbrooke, Que., spending at least $3,000 on tickets.
He said others have made the drive up from the United States.
“Half of the money from ticket sales will be used to upgrade and maintain ATV trails between Campbellton and Miramichi, N.B., and fund health care in New Brunswick,” says the CBC.
Huh. If only there was some other way to fund health care.
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NOTICED
I’ve never been to hell, but I’ve been to the Newark Airport
In Friday’s Morning File, Philip Moscovitch wrote this as his footnote: “Five years ago, I was spending the morning in the Newark airport, which is a place best avoided.”
Understand that his Morning File had all sorts of fantastic stuff — read his discussion of ‘news avoiders,’ for example — but it was this throw-away line about the Newark airport that blew up on social media and in the comments. Most agreed with Moscovitch, but there was blowback; “I don’t really get the Newark hate, beyond airports being unpleasant in general,” wrote reader EPC.
Well, let me tell you, EPC, the Newark airport sucks.
For many years, it was the hub airport for flights connecting Halifax to Norfolk, where the American side of my family lives, so I’ve switched planes there dozens of times. Never once was it a good experience.
The airport decided back in circa 1999 to have one terminal go entirely tablet — they must’ve made a deal with Microsoft or some such, but there are tablets at every seat, and the restaurants all require you to order via the tablets, you can’t just tell a server what you want. And they don’t work. They break down all the time. Annoying.
The main terminal where the Norfolk flights depart from is a disgusting mess, built probably in the 1950s, it handles 50 times the flights it was designed for. It’s a circular building with a store in the middle, where you can in fact buy toothpaste because your mouth is a Great War trench from waiting so long, but the toothpaste that is sold only comes in gigantic family size tubes for like $15 or something, far more than you need for one airport usage. And in any event, you go to the toilet to brush up, and it’s so disgusting that you refuse to open your mouth.
It’s literally the only time I ever say, ‘I’ll wait to use the toilet on the plane.’
Once, partly in a bid to save money on flights, but really as an excuse to avoid Newark, I found a discounted flight from Bangor to Norfolk, routed through JFK instead of Newark. This had to be better, right?
So I drove down to Bangor and left my car there. Weirdly, when I was at the Bangor airport a flight carrying soldiers returning home from Afghanistan arrived, and they all dutifully lined up at the one bar in the airport. I bought a guy a beer, because why not, but he didn’t have much to say, just was kinda shellshocked and wanted to see his family. So that was already dispiriting.
I caught my flight, but by that time the weather had turned, so I missed my connecting flight at JFK. The next flight was leaving at 6am. I didn’t have the money for a hotel, and it would’ve been rushed in any event, so I just slept on the floor. Except, the damn TVs were blaring CNN all night, no way to turn them off. And the big news was that an airplane had crashed in Buffalo, killing all on board. This was the flight with the co-pilot who worked at Starbucks and was super tired. I, person who has what well politely term flight hesitancy, learned all the details of the flaming deaths of 150 people as their plane crashed into a suburban neighbourhood. Sleepless, and properly elucidated about the near-certainty of death by air travel, I got on my connecting flight.
The point of that trip was to surprise my mom on her 80th birthday. I joined the clan at a fancy downtown restaurant. It was nice. Mom was glad to see me. I didn’t tell her about my harrowing death-adjacent airport experience, because you don’t talk about near-death experiences with an 80-year-old woman if you can help it. We talked about my childhood and such instead.
The return flight was in itself unremarkable, but then I had to drive from Bangor back to Halifax. Regular travellers will know that you have to decide whether to take the two-lane Highway 9 up to Calais and St. Stephen, or Interstate 95, a four-lane divided highway, up to Houlton and Woodstock. As the weather was turning again, I chose the latter, thinking the interstate and the Transcanada Highway through Fredericton would be better plowed and therefore safer.
Bad decision. It seemed that some days before, a murderous Canadian madman had stopped at the US border in Houlton with a bloody chainsaw, and somehow or other the border authorities let the whole bloody chainsaw thing slide, and so the Canadian border authorities at Woodstock were on the lookout for a potentially murderous madman travelling alone, as I was. They spent an hour or so pulling my Honda apart, finding neither bloody chainsaws nor untaxed booze or cigarettes, but they delayed me enough such that I was driving through New Brunswick in a full blizzard. Around Gagetown, I found myself in unnerving stop and go traffic in icy whiteout conditions when I looked to my side, and there, sitting atop the snowbank, was a giant bald eagle. Have you even been two feet away from a bald eagle? The thing was huge, felt bigger than the Honda, and his big old eye, like a foot across and black as death, was staring right into the depth of my soul. “Maybe you should’ve gone through Newark,” he seemed to be saying. It kinda makes a guy think.
Over the next 10 years, I probably made another two dozen trips to Norfolk. Sometimes I drove all the way, as sitting in the car for two days each way was better than defying all sense of gravity and good sense. But given time constraints I mostly flew, and that meant connecting through Newark with its tablets that don’t work, its over-crowded circular terminal, its $15 tubes of toothpaste, and its disgusting bathrooms.
In January 2020, I flew to the United States three times, going through the Newark airport six times. One of those trips was to Florida to conduct an interview for the Dead Wrong podcast, and the next two were to Norfolk, first to hold the hand of my then 90-year-old mother as she lay dying, and then again a week later to bury her. I still don’t know exactly why Mom died, what the cause of death was; I guess just being 90 was reason enough, but I gathered that she had a foreboding sense of terrible things on the horizon, and she wanted to check out before then. Regardless, Mom’s death was beautiful; it is the most profoundly beautiful moment of my life, and to experience that with her was worth whatever time, money, and discomfort I expended.
So it was with a deep sense of loss and a new appreciation of life that I returned home from the funeral, going through the Newark airport. As usual, it was crowded, expensive, and disgustingly filthy, but such indignities mattered little to me as I was lost in a sea of emotion and thought. Still, I couldn’t help but note that many of the travellers in the airport — maybe 10%, and most of those appeared to be Asian — were wearing masks. I had previously been vaguely aware of the new coronavirus, but I had more pressing and personally urgent matters to attend to, so hadn’t paid it much heed. At the Newark airport, however, I noticed.
Two months later, the pandemic reached Nova Scotia, resulting in lockdowns and travel bans. Then, a few weeks later, an evil man killed 22 of my fellow citizens. None of this was about me, but my life became a blur for the next year or so.
When I finally caught my breath and thought about travelling south to visit with my siblings, I found that the old Halifax-to-Newark flight had been discontinued. I think I flew through Philadelphia, but maybe it was Boston; whatever it was, it was a thankfully nondescript banal airport on the lower end of the crowded-expensive-filthy spectrum. Last American Thanksgiving, I drove down, preferring to risk my life on the New Jersey Turnpike than to almost certainly die at 35,000 feet.
All of which is to say I haven’t been in the Newark airport since that return flight from Mom’s funeral. If I can manage it, I want that to be my last memory of the place.
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Government
City
Today
Grants Committee (Monday, 9am, online) — agenda
Accessible Advisory Committee (Monday, 4pm, online) — agenda
Public Open House – Case 2023-00991 (Monday, 6pm, The Sanctuary Arts Centre, Dartmouth) — application to enter into a heritage development agreement on the registered property at 86 Ochterloney Street. The proposed development also includes 61 Queen Street (building), and 39 (vacant lot) and 43-45 Dundas Street (building). The existing building at 43-45 Dundas Street is proposed to be demolished and replaced with a 13-storey mixed-use building.
North West Community Council (Monday, 7pm, online) — agenda
Tomorrow
Halifax and West Community Council (Tuesday, 6pm, City Hall and online) — agenda
Province
Today
No meetings
Tomorrow
Veterans Affairs (Tuesday, 2pm, One Government Place and online) — True Patriot Love: Veterans Virtual Hub / Veteran Volunteerism; with a representative from the True Patriot Love Foundation
On campus
Dalhousie
Today
Future of Canadian Development Cooperation in an Era of Uncertainty (Monday, 11:30am, Room 141, Hick Building) — roundtable discussion with Gabrielle Bardall, David Black, Stephen Brown, John Cameron, and Liam Swiss
Noon Hour Recital: Strings (Monday, 11:45, Strug Concert Hall) — featuring FSPA students
Tomorrow
Generative A.I. and Assessment Design (Tuesday, 11:30am, online) — workshop on generative artificial intelligence (like ChatGPT) and assessments
NSCAD
94 Calls to Action Community collaborative project (Monday, Treaty Space Gallery) — audio-visual exhibition, open to February 2
Opening receptions (Monday, 5:30pm, Anna Leonowens Gallery) — exhibitions by Jingwen Shen, Printed Matter, and Abigail Clapper
In the harbour
Halifax
12:30: Tropic Lissette, cargo ship, sails from Pier 42 for San Juan
13:00: Atlantic Sea, ro-ro container, sails from Fairview Cove for sea
16:00: MSC Leigh, container ship, arrives at Pier 42 from Sines, Portugal
21:30: One Crane, container ship, sails from Pier 41 for sea
23:30 AlgoScotia, oil tanker, arrives at Pier 9B from Sydney
Cape Breton
23:00: CSL Tacoma, bulker, sails from NSP for sea
Footnotes
I flew through Newark last April. The transfer bus taking me to the next terminal stopped at the back door basement level. There were two flights of stairs from the dark dingy basement to the departure level. No other options for someone who may not have been able to hike up the stairs. The departure area was dingy and overcrowded. I walked to find the gate area. There was an announcement saying “Security to Gate #”. Three or four guys dressed in military type green uniforms emerged out of nowhere. They all carried long guns; people just carried on as if nothing was happening. 🇺🇸 No more Newark for me.
When you get around to write your book of essays/memoirs, this essay on the Newark Airport deserves space. What an excellently evocative piece!
I flew into and out of Newark Airport last week. The Halifax flight is served by the new Terminal A which is an immense improvement over the old one. Bright, spacious and clean, it’s a real game changer.
RE: the Gottingen Street pedestrian accident on Sunday morning.
I drove down the street toward downtown before the collision happened. The sun was bright as it rose above Citadel Hill, there was very little traffic, and there were pedestrians out on the sidewalks. The sun was also casting shadows on the sidewalk and onto the street from the buildings so it was VERY hard to see if a pedestrian would have been stepping off a sidewalk anywhere from Buddy Daye Street to Cunard Street.
And I was driving UNDER the speed limit!
So maybe the speed limit is too high on Gottingen Street.
There was a man who did step out of the shadows onto the street to cross (not at a crosswalk), but I did see him and I stopped.
But we can’t deny this is also a problem on Gottingen Street (as it is with plenty of other streets.) I’ve driven down the street many times and people literally hop off the curb right in front of me.
Both drivers and pedestrians have a role to play with respect to safety.
It’s widely forgotten that the speed limit is the maximum permitted speed, and not necessarily the safe or appropriate speed for the conditions. If visibility is poor due to sun (or anything else), drivers need to slow down. If there are pedestrians about, drivers need to slow down.
You were driving under the speed limit, and thus were able to spot a shadowed pedestrian stepping out in front of you. That’s how urban driving is supposed to work.
Too often, we think of speed limits as the minimum or normal speed, and too many drivers are aggressive towards drivers who feel a slower than maximum speed is appropriate (or vehicles such as bicycles that normally operate at slower speeds).
Newark Airport: Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Totally agree, but I feel the same about T/O.
Gimme Charlotte or Atlanta any day.
Better yet, Rte 9.
Dennis Doyon
Re Pedestrians keep getting hit on Gottingen Street: Everyone agrees that pedestrian safety is a complex issue, involving street design, vehicle design, cultural issues, and more. But we do have the option of a crude, quick, and simple fix: Get police to enforce existing traffic laws.
Of those laws, the speed limit is easiest to enforce. The limit is clearly posted and cars have speedometers. People driving over the limit either don’t know what the limit is, don’t know how fast they are driving, or don’t care what the speed limit is. Regardless, these drivers are hazards (and the arguments in favour of ignoring speed limits on highways make no sense on urban streets). Police could also enforce laws against using phones while driving – stand at any downtown intersection and you’ll quickly see multiple drivers on their phones.
Enforcement of traffic laws seems non-existent, save the weekly report of drivers not slowing down at the end of the 102. I live on a “slow” street with multiple 40 k signs. The speed limit is frequently ignored, and has never been enforced. Cycling and driving around town, it’s not unusual to see red light runners.
Given that enforcement of traffic laws could be started this afternoon, why hasn’t it happened? Maybe that’s only a bandaid solution, but bandaids are useful.
I NEVER want to go through Newark airport again. Or Atlanta. My fave airport is Deer Lake, NL. So there.
I once spent 13 hours in Newark airport. I left Ottawa, spent the time in Newark, and then returned to Ottawa when my connecting flight was cancelled. It was awful.
Lived in Hoboken for several years, and I’ve flown out of Newark, La Guardia and JFK to come back to Halifax. Been in Toronto, Montreal, Phili….
If you’re looking for cleanliness and food options, agreed, Terminal A in Newark is bad (I think JFK is worst to be fair…). But never got stuck waiting on the tarmac for almost an hour because Air Canada didn’t have staff to let us off. Never had to go through customs for a 2nd time. Never had to run clear across the bloody airport to get a connecting flight. And Newark is the only place I have ever seen an American TSA agent tap dancing and singing.
But Montreal?? Yeah, that’s the worst airport for logistics. Might be able to get a good sandwich and a clean bathroom, but I’ve been screwed over in there so many times I refuse to ever go back. (Oh and every time Air Canada has screwed it up, refused to comp or fix any of the issues.)
Tim, the only good thing that ever happened at Liberty (Newark) was the discovery of Yuengling beer during a 24 hour delay (food truck dinged our plane). We found it, not at the almost bar-lees airport, but at the gift shop in a nearby hotel.
You forgot to mention the Earl of Sandwich, the old EWR Terminal A location of being what has to be the worst food in the universe.
The good news is the brand new – well, 1 year old – Term A already seems old and tired and crowded. Best thing I can say is: it is technically an airport terminal.
Everyday I wake up and am thankful that I have never had to travel through Newark airport in all my travels over the years.
Hmmm, I’ve never had a bad experience at Newark.
I was there in December. Arrived, walked out of the terminal door where a $1.65 New Jersey Transit bus was waiting to take me to Newark Penn Station and a PATH train onto the Occulus in Manhattan.
If only Halifax had such a public transit system.