News 1. You can have the right to strike; just don’t try to use it. Yesterday, the provincial government showed its continued labour relations finesse — this time in its negotiations with crown attorneys. The crowns want a 17% pay increase over four years. The province is offering 7%. Yesterday, while most of the prosecutors […]
Journalmalism 101: This week, Halifax lost four very good Canadian Press reporters; in return we got… Christie Blatchford
Morning File, Friday, March 29, 2019
News 1. Street checks Yesterday, I wrote: This is how it goes. Every now and then something happens — a Black man with the resources and gumption to do something about it stands up to the harassment, the results of a CBC Freedom of Information request are published — that make it temporarily impossible for […]
The only thing that can save journalism: “Subscribe Somewhere”
Morning File, Monday, February 11, 2019
News 1. Canadian Press layoffs On Friday, the Canadian Press notified its staff that at the end of March it will be laying off six reporters nationwide, four of whom are in its Atlantic bureau in Halifax. The four Halifax reporters are Brett Bundale, Aly Thomson, Keith Doucette, and Alex Cooke. All are excellent reporters. […]
Here’s the stadium lie: it will pay for itself
Morning File, Wednesday, February 6, 2019
News 1. Here’s the stadium lie: it will pay for itself There’s a big long Canadian Press article written by reporter Dan Ralph that quotes Anthony Leblanc at length about all things Atlantic Schooners, but mostly about his plans to play in Moncton while he strong-arms Halifax into building him a stadium. Then Ralph gets […]
Bullshitter of the day: Jacques Dubé
Morning File, Thursday, November 1, 2018
November subscription drive It’s time for our annual November subscription drive, so all month I’ll be banging the subscription drum a bit more frequently and a bit louder. The Halifax Examiner is just over four years old. As owner, I run this business very conservatively. The Examiner is financially sound, there’s zero debt, all taxes […]
A man was killed in a 1998 explosion at the Irving refinery; afterwards, a safety report made recommendations that would “prevent a similar occurrence,” but 20 years later the refinery exploded again
Morning File, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
News 1. Refinery explosion Canadian Press reporters Holly McKenzie-Sutter and Brett Bundale interviewed Jonathan Wright, an American contractor who was working just 25 metres from the site of the explosion at the Irving Oil refinery Monday: First, Jonathan Wright heard a loud hissing. Then he was thrown to the ground and turned to see a wall of […]
Tidal energy investors and fish: the Minas Basin is full of sharks
Morning File, Wednesday, September 5, 2018
News 1. Nursing home legislation An NDP proposal would legislate minimum nursing home staffing levels and make public inspection reports, reports Jennifer Henderson. 2. Damage control at Cape Sharp Tidal Yesterday, Cape Sharp Tidal and Stacy Pineau of Emera issued the following statement: Cape Sharp Tidal continues to take positive steps in the process to establish ongoing […]
Poo in the water, and other calamities
Morning File, Friday, August 24, 2018
Good morning, folks. Erica Butler here at the Morningfile keyboard today. News 1. Burnside jail “The prisoner protest at the Burnside jail is in part sparked by the move to the direct supervision model,” reports El Jones: Both staff and prisoners say that the change to new day rooms has been disorganized, that there is […]
We could have given every person in Inverness $12,000 in financing; instead we gave $17 million in financing to one rich guy
Morning File, Monday, June 4, 2018
News 1. Public Accounts Writes Stephen Kimber: The Gormless Gang of the Fang-less Five Liberal members of the Public Accounts committee — the Liberal MLA/space-filler members of the committee are Gordon Wilson, Suzanne Lohnes-Croft, Ben Jessome, Brendan Maguire, and Hugh MacKay — would rather play reliable cheerleader for Premier Stephen McNeil than do their job. […]
The “breach of privacy” arrest looks like an exercise in misdirection
Morning File, Thursday, April 12, 2018
News 1. “Breach of privacy” Yesterday, the province announced that the Freedom of Information site had been “breached”: Government is working with Halifax Regional Police to investigate a breach of information on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) website. Of the documents that were inappropriately accessed, less than four per cent, about […]