I have no reason to doubt Catherine Tully when she told the subscriber-based business website allnovascotia.com last week she would have retired from her job as the province’s information and privacy commissioner this summer even if Premier Stephen McNeil had offered to extend her five-year term. She didn’t ask his plans before announcing her own....
Afua Cooper: “We need to smash those [racist] stereotypes and see the humanity in each and every one of us”
Morning File, Wednesday, May 22, 2019
News 1. Bank of Canada acknowledges that climate change will impact the economy “For the first time ever, the Bank of Canada has released a report examining the threat climate change poses to the country’s financial system,” reports Karina Roman for the CBC. The report in question is the Bank’s annual Fiscal System Review, which […]
PC lawsuit seeking Yarmouth ferry financial numbers advances; judge rules against Bay Ferries’ attempt to get lawsuit thrown out on technicality
Progressive Conservative caucus: 1. Bay Ferries: 0. In a court decision released today, Justice Peter Rosinski has rejected all of Bay Ferries’ arguments that a lawsuit filed by the Progressive Conservative ferry related to provincial financing of the Yarmouth ferry should be thrown out of court. I explained the background of this issue earlier this […]
How Vaportecture is used to obscure Canada Land’s untendered sale of land for a Shannon Park stadium
Morning File, Tuesday, April 2, 2019
News 1. Joan Baxter and Jennifer Henderson on Northern Pulp This evening at 7pm, Joan Baxter will be interviewed by Jennifer Henderson on stage at the St. Margaret’s Centre in Tantallon. From the Facebook event page: Incisive, no nonsense, take no prisoners. Joan Baxter’s brilliant exposé “The Mill – Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest” […]
Bobbleheaded Zach joins the Public Accounts follies
Education Minister Zach Churchill was just filling in on the Public Accounts Committee last week, filling in Liberal-interest spin in the usual please-the-premier way. And so it went. Funny, but...
I’m almost certain Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill is not really a Bobblehead. He was just playing one in the legislature’s Public Accounts Committee last week. Last week, Churchill joined the Fangless Five and the Insensate Seven as he moved his head up and down in time with his premier on the issue of...
Gnawing away at the vitals of this community, since 1970
Morning File, Friday, January 18, 2019
This is Erica Butler, filling in for Tim. News 1. Council defers capital budget approval As we know from last December when it first appeared on council’s agenda, Halifax’s proposed capital budget leaves A LOT out, especially just about anything to do with the city’s approved Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP), and the final years’ implementation […]
SageCrowd, Ogden Pond, and alleged corporate crime
Morning File, Tuesday, January 15, 2019
News 1. FOIPOP security failure This morning both the privacy commissioner and the auditor general released their reports on the FOIPOP website security failure. I don’t have time right now to give a thorough review of each document, but my quick scan reveals a couple of things of note. First, privacy commissioner Catherine Tully tells us […]
Taxi drivers should be demanding stepped-up regulation and inspection
Morning File, Thursday, January 10, 2019
News 1. Spring Garden Road Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler walks us through the three options presented for the reconstruction of Spring Garden Road. Click here to read “Making room for pedestrians on Spring Garden Road.” This article is for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. Butler suspects merchants along the street will push back against the […]
Trails association wants to ban off-highway vehicles
Morning File, Wednesday, December 19, 2018
News 1. Northern Pulp Mill wins temporary injunction “A setback for the ‘No Pipe’ movement and a victory for the Pictou County pulp mill yesterday,” reports Jennifer Henderson. “Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge Denise Boudreau granted Northern Pulp a temporary injunction to prevent local fishermen from continuing with blockades she ruled interfered with a vessel […]
Saint Mary’s University’s problematic relationship with the Confucius Institute
Morning File, Tuesday, December 18, 2018
News 1. Weather There’s weather. 2. Reasonable grounds “Police officers who lawfully pull over a driver no longer need reasonable grounds to demand a sample of their breath,” reports Kaitlyn Swan for the CBC: New changes in the Criminal Code that take effect Tuesday give officers more authority when screening drivers for alcohol in hopes of reducing impaired […]