In this article, Part 1 of a two-part series about the state of the public’s “right to know” in Nova Scotia, the focus is on what happened when the Halifax Examiner submitted a Freedom of Information (FOIPOP) request to the province about whether it would agree to protect the French River watershed — the water […]
Going to the candidates’ debate
The Nova Scotia leaders' debate was debate as spectacle instead of substance. But even the spectacle wasn't very spectacular.
Laugh about it, shout about it When you’ve got to choose Every way you look at this you lose. — With thanks and apologies to Paul Simon If elections are no time to discuss important issues, then leaders’ debates are no place to reach meaningful conclusions about political leadership. Which is why, on the...
Paper Excellence’s very big deal
Northern Pulp’s parent company is set to acquire the North American pulp and paper giant Domtar. While the acquisition is getting very little media attention in Canada, around the world many people are worried about it — for many good reasons.
It is a Very Big Deal. At 10am on Thursday, July 29, at a special virtual meeting, shareholders of Domtar, a giant in the North American pulp and paper industry, will vote on whether to accept the sale of all the corporation’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock to Paper Excellence for US$55.50 per […]
Paper Excellence holds a media show and piles on the PR
Northern Pulp’s owner is working on a $350 million “complete transformation” for the mill in Pictou County, but doesn’t say whether any of that money will be public, or why Nova Scotians should trust them.
On the morning of July 15, Iris Communications’ Sean Lewis sent out a press release on behalf of Paper Excellence. It was chockablock with carefully calibrated and curated PR, informing us that Northern Pulp’s 54-year-old pulp mill in Pictou County was set to become “a “best-in-class operation” and “one of the world’s cleanest, most environmentally […]
How the financialization of housing hurts renters and boosts profits
Morning File, Tuesday, June 15, 2021
News 1. Could cheap repurposed drugs help provide a way out of the pandemic? The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Please help us continue this coverage by subscribing. One phenomenon I was not aware of before the pandemic was people being fans of specific drugs. My attitude towards pharmaceuticals generally involves listening […]
The Oblates ignored the stories and abuse at residential schools
Morning File, Wednesday, June 9, 2021
News 1. Gold and silver awards for Examiner contributors at the Atlantic Journalism Awards Congratulations to the members of the Examiner team who won gold and silver at yesterday’s Atlantic Journalism Awards. Rather than being held in-person, of course, the event was online, with winners announced via YouTube videos. Yvette d’Entremont won gold in the […]
Bill C-10 and the future of Canadian content in broadcasting, on the internet
Television screenwriters worry about what will happen to their stories if the new Broadcasting Act dies, while critics of C-10 say it overreaches, threatens free speech, and limits choices.
Maureen Parker has put in a dozen years of “prep and work and lobbying and money, and sweat and tears” in an effort to get the federal government to regulate streaming services and ensure they help fund Canadian content. And now she’s worried that goal may slip away. Parker is the long-time executive director of...
Atlantic Gold’s imaginary conservation land
In 2008, Atlantic Gold was given provincial approval for the gigantic Touquoy open pit gold mine with the condition that within 4 years the company buy and give the province nearby land for conservation purposes. 13 years later, that condition is still unmet, and the province is making no real effort to enforce it.
Atlantic Gold has just announced that in “late spring/early summer 2021” it will be undertaking a new Class 1 Environmental Assessment for modifications to its open pit Touquoy gold mine in Moose River. Among other things, the company wants to expand its waste rock storage area that is already sky-high, prepare to store tailings in […]
Atlantic Gold’s lobbying blitz
The company is now in court on charges of harming the environment, regulators are casting a wary eye at its plans for future environmental protection, and investors are getting worried, so Atlantic Gold has hired a lobbyist to fast track federal approval of its Nova Scotia projects.
Last year it was a propaganda blitz. For several weeks in the spring of 2020, Atlantic Gold, which operates an open pit gold mine in Moose River in the Halifax Regional Municipality and wants to open three more along the Eastern Shore, bombarded people in Nova Scotia with its PR. Atlantic Gold’s owner, Australia’s St […]
Tara Thorne and the tweet that trumped 20 years of exemplary arts coverage
How do we balance Tara Thorne’s history of supporting artists and culture in Halifax with what even one of her supporters described as 'a hurtful and very bad joke tweet'? These days, it seems, we don't.
I will confess off the top I don’t know the specifics of what freelance arts journalist Tara Thorne tweeted about the premier’s son, but — based on what I read about the now-deleted tweet — I don’t have any interest in seeking it out. What I do know is that Thorne apologized for the tweet...