Last month Forest Nova Scotia, an industry group representing the most powerful shapers of forestry policy in this province, spearheaded a propaganda campaign against the Biodiversity Act, which the Liberal government of Iain Rankin had introduced on March 11, calling it legislation that would “preserve and protect Nova Scotia’s unique ecosystems, wild animals, plants, lakes...
We’re watching Mark Lever destroy journalism in Nova Scotia
Morning File, Thursday, May 31, 2018
News 1. Fool’s Gold, Part 3 We’ve published the third instalment of Joan Baxter’s “Fool’s Gold” series. Part 3 looks at the provincial Department of Natural Resource’s efforts to open the Cobequid Hills up to gold production, and the effect prospecting and potential mining would have on the French River, which is the source of […]
Now that we’ve taken a bath on the convention centre, let’s do a stadium
Morning File, Monday, April 16, 2018
1. The Securities windfall “A $77.1 million windfall helps balance the books in this year’s provincial budget,” reports Jennifer Henderson: That’s the amount the federal government is paying Nova Scotia as incentive to disband the provincial Security Commission and join a national securities regulator. But that one-time payment comes at the cost of $15 million […]
An obscure shift in Securities regulations will cost Nova Scotia down the road
A $77.1 million windfall helps balance the books in this year's provincial budget. That's the amount the federal government is paying Nova Scotia as incentive to disband the provincial Security Commission and join a national securities regulator. But that one-time payment comes at the cost of $15 million in revenue generated by the provincial commission annually, year after year. Because of the change, the province will be a net loser in just five years.
A scan of the provincial government’s Budget Estimates suggests the claim of a balanced budget and $29 million surplus is dependent on two future events. The first is $20 million collected from the tax on cannabis sales which has been delayed until late summer — has been dutifully noted. The second — a “one- time...
We need to start planning for the advent of autonomous vehicles
The details are nebulous, but the more you read about autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, the more one message comes through loud and clear: The development and widespread use of AV is not an “if’,” but a “when,” and most importantly, a “how.” The when of course depends on what you mean by autonomous vehicles. CEOs...
Policing and 6-foot fences: Five years in, city and province still make Open Streets too costly
“When you look at any city from the air, the biggest public space is the streets. And the streets belong to everybody.” That’s Gil Penalosa, formers parks commissioner of Bogota, Columbia, where he helped pioneer Ciclovia, a weekly event that sees 121 kilometres of city streets closed every Sunday morning to vehicle traffic, and opened […]
Making highways safer without twinning
With the newly re-elected Liberals promising to twin 70 more kilometres of 100 series highways despite the enormous financial costs and the ensuing increase in number of vehicles on our highways (which is proportional to increased numbers of injuries and deaths), it seems worthwhile talking about what else we might be doing to improve safety on our...
The problem with the new Bridgetown School: It’s not just the school
Construction of an access road to the new Bridgetown school is more than $2 million over its original $1.3 million dollar budget. A friend of Stephen McNeil's is the beneficiary of the work, and has been fined for illegally building a boat ramp on nearby public land.
One of the first orders of business for the newly elected Liberal government in 2013 was to announce the construction of new schools in Bridgetown and Tatamagouche, in the ridings of Premier Stephen McNeil and Education Minister Karen Casey respectively. The two schools jumped from #26 and #28 on the new school construction list to be included among 10 school […]
Yet again, the province sticks it to city planners
Last Thursday the Nova Scotia government announced the site of a new outpatient centre designed to replace some of the services currently offered at the Victoria General Hospital, which is slated for demolition by 2022. The new centre will be built in Bayers Lake, a retail business park known for inaccessible design and traffic congestion....
The Grafton Street Glory Hole and other obscenities: Morning File, Wednesday, October 5, 2016
News Views Noticed Government On campus In the harbour Footnotes News 1. Convention centre opening delayed… again The Halifax Convention Centre will not open as scheduled on April 1. A new opening date has not yet been established, but Trade Centre Limited is rescheduling conventions booked through the end of June; seven national and international conventions […]