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Dalhousie University’s decision to source “sustainable biomass” from J.D. Irving and Wagner a “piss-off”

News that Emera’s Brooklyn biomass plant is out of commission is making waves in Nova Scotia, while Dal’s biomass facility in Truro garners little publicity.

March 1, 2022 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

In May 2021, Dalhousie University issued a tender for “sustainable biomass” to feed the bioenergy plant on its agricultural campus in Truro. At the end of July 2021, the university quietly awarded the contract — worth $1,318,187.50 — to J.D. Irving and Wagner Forest NS. This marked a departure for Dalhousie’s biomass plant, which for […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: agricultural campus, Anne McInerney, Atlantic Star Forestry Ltd, Bermuda, Biodiversity Act, biomass, biomass energy, biomass facility, Brooklyn Energy, Bruce Livesey, carbon accounting, CBC, clearcutting, climate change, climate crisis, Colchester County, Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) Program, Cumberland County, Dal News, Dalhousie University, David Patriquin, ecological forestry, greenhouse gas accounting, greenhouse gas emissions, Greg Watson, Independent Review of Forest Practices In Nova Scotia, JD Irving, Jennifer Henderson, KC Irving, Lahey report, Michael Gorman, National Observer, Neenah Paper, New Brunswick, North Nova Forest Owners Co-operative, Nova Scotia Forest Notes, Nova Star Forestry Ltd, pulp mill, renewable energy, Rochelle Owen, sawmill residue, Scott Maritimes, soil carbon, Sproule Lumber, Stephanie Rogers, tax haven, Tom Miller, triad model, Truro, Wagner Forest Management, Wagner Forest NS, William Lahey

Anaconda joins the gold rush on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

Part 2. Anaconda aims to avoid a federal impact assessment for its proposed open pit gold mine, but some say the whole regulatory process in Canada is “rigged”

February 11, 2022 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Gold exploration and mining companies are lining up to get at Nova Scotia’s gold, as the province undergoes a fourth gold rush. In 2017, Atlantic Gold opened the province’s first-ever open pit gold mine in Moose River, with plans to open three more along the Eastern Shore, in what it described to potential investors as […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Abbé Jean-Louis LaLoutre, Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Aurelius Minerals, Barbara Markovits, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, Cape Breton Spectator, Class I environmenal assessment, Class II environmental assessment, clearcutting, Cochrane Hill, corporate capture, DDV Gold, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Donna Ashamock, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, environmental assessment, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, gold mine, gold rush, Goldboro, Goldboro mine project, green economy, Health Canada, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), Iris Communications, Joel Bakan, John Perkins, Kevin Bullock, Kirby McVicar, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), lobbyist, Mainland Moose, Margaret Miller, Mary Campbell, Meguma Gold, Mi'kmaq, Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative, Mi’kmaw Ecological Knowledge, Mining Association of Canada, MiningWatch Canada, Moose River, Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries an Aquaculture, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), One WIndow Regulatory process, open pit gold mine, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), regulatory capture, Seamus O'Regan, St Barbara Ltd, Stephen McNeil, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings, tailings facility, The Corporation, Touquoy gold mine, Ugo Lapointe, Vernon Pitts, watersheds, Western Mining Action Network

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.

July 16, 2021 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: AP&P, Asia Pulp & Paper, Boat Harbour, CBC, Chief Andrea Paul, Class I, Class II, clearcutting, Companies" Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Dale Paterson, Darrell Dexter, Domtar, Effluent Treatment Facility, Eldorado Brasil Celulose, environmental assessment, Environmental Liaison Committee, Fibre Excellence, forestry, France, Graham Kissack, herbicide, Iris Communications, Lahey report, Mi'kmaq, Michael Gorman, no pipe, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Environment, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence B.V., Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Pictou, Pictou County, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing First Nation, pulp mill, Sean Lewis, Sinar Mas, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Widjaja family

Public engagement, future of the forestry, and the Harvest Plans Map Viewer

Activists says the online tool where Nova Scotians can submit feedback on what happens to the forests on public lands is inaccessible and lacks historical data.

June 10, 2021 By Joan Baxter 11 Comments

In December 2020, Mike Lancaster was invited to attend an online meeting of the Western Region Stakeholder Interaction Committee, which he describes as a venue for those holding forestry licences on Crown land and “other key stakeholders to engage with the Department of Lands and Forestry on forestry and planning issues for the western region […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: accountability, Annapolis Royal & Area Environment & Ecology, Bev Wigney, Bowater, Bowater Mersey, clearcuts, clearcutting, Crown land, Crown land licensee, Darrell Dexter, Deborah Bayer, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Department of Natural Resources (DNR), facebook, forestry, forestry industry, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Freeman Lumber, Harvest Plan Map Viewer (HPMV), Harvest Plans Map Viewer (HPMV), Healthy Forest Coalition, individal tree selection, internet, internet access, Lahey report, Lahey Report on Forestry, Linda Pannozzo, Marcus Zwicker, Medway Community Forest Cooperative, Mike Lancaster, Natural Resources Strategy, NDP, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, NS NDP, old growth trees, overstory removal, Port Hawkesbury Paper, Resolute Forest Products, The Path We Share, transparency, variable retention, Washington Post, Western Region Stakeholder Interaction Committee, WestFor

Save our forests? Not now. We’re too busy destroying them

A lawyer for logging contractors says there's a time and place to discuss concerns about forest harvesting practices. But the courtroom isn't either. Which begs a few questions. What is the time? Where is the place?

January 31, 2021 By Stephen Kimber

A protester in Santa costume at the Nova Scotia forestry blockade. (Facebook) “There is a time and place to debate [the validity of protestors’ concerns about forest harvesting practices], and this courtroom is not it.” Ian Dunbar Lawyer for WestFor Forest Management January 26, 2021 *** If you met Sandra Phinney, the last words that...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: clearcutting, Endangered Species Act, forestry, Lahey Report on Forestry

The criminal destruction of evidence in the Assoun case by cops should scare the hell out of all of us

Morning File, Friday, September 18, 2020

September 18, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 2 Comments

News 1. Premier calls for criminal investigation of cops “Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil wants police acts in the Glen Assoun wrongful conviction case referred to the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) for a possible criminal investigation,” I reported yesterday: At a post-cabinet meeting scrum with reporters [Thursday], I had the following exchange with McNeil: […]

Filed Under: Featured, Morning File, Policing Tagged With: Annapolis County Extinction Rebellion, Cheverie, clearcutting, Cliff Seruntine, COVID-19, David Patriquin, defund the police, Glen Assoun evidence, Halifax Board of Police Commissioners, herbicide spraying, Hurricane Teddy, Jonathan Erdman, Kejimkujik National Park (KNP), Lawrence Powell, London Ontario, Mary Campbell, Nina Newington, Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Marconi Campus, Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), Stephen Archibald and camera obscura, Sydney, Timothy Habinski, Western University outbreak

Keep the travel restrictions

Morning File, Tuesday, September 15, 2020

September 15, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 8 Comments

News 1. Forest health Linda Pannozzo writes: Instead of improving the state of the province’s forests, the Nova Scotia government conducts a survey about improving The State of the Forest reporting. The Halifax Examiner takes the survey. Pannozzo methodically walks us through why it’s wrong to repeatedly ask the public to take part in surveys […]

Filed Under: COVID, Featured, Morning File Tagged With: Atlantic bubble, clearcutting, coronavirus, COVID-19, cruise ship industry, David Patriquin, Elvis Presley, Epic Stream TV, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Forensic Accounting Management Group (FAMG), forestry, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), John Cunningham, Kayla Thomeh, Leland Anthony, Linda Pannozzo, Mary Campbell, Michael Gorman, Municipality of the District of Yarmouth, Operation Hotwire, pandemic, Premier Stephen McNeil, quarantine, RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC), Riad Thomeh, self-isolation, Sydney, television program piracy, Tomás Pueyo, travel restrictions

Clear as mud: How the government’s reports on Nova Scotia forests obfuscate and confuse the data

Instead of improving the state of the province’s forests, the Nova Scotia government conducts a survey about improving The State of the Forest reporting. The Halifax Examiner takes the survey.

September 14, 2020 By Linda Pannozzo

In recent days you might have received an email from the Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF) inviting you to answer a survey about its State of the Forest report (SOF), first published in 2008, and updated in 2016. Using data collected by the DLF, the document purportedly describes the changing condition of the forest,...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: clearcutting, David Patriquin, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), forestry, forestry survey, Heidi Higgins, Independent Review of Forest Practices, Lahey Report on Forestry, Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI), National Forestry Database (NFD), Nova Scotia Forest Notes, Permanent Sample Plot data (PSP), State of the Forest report (SOF)

The Borealization of Acadia

Due to climate change, warm weather-friendly trees should be dominating our forests; instead, cold-weather species are taking over. We now understand why — thanks to a phone call from the Irving company to lean on a professor's dean.

July 2, 2020 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

A new study shows that since European settlement, the rich mix of deciduous and conifer trees in the temperate forest — known by settlers as “Acadian” forest — of the Maritimes, New England, and southeastern Quebec has undergone “borealization,” meaning there has been “widespread replacement of temperate tree species by boreal species,” which are common […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation Tagged With: Acadian Forest Region, anthropogenic fire, boreal, borealization, clearcutting, climate change, Donna Crossland, ecological forestry, facebook, Faculty of Forestry and Enviornmental Management, forestry, global warming, Greg Watson, high production forestry, high-grading, industrial forestry, Jason Limongelli, JD Irving, JDI, Joshua Noseworthy, Lahey report, logging, North Nova Forest Owners Co-operative, temperate forest, Tom Beckley, University of New Brunswick, Van Lantz

The Archaeology of Loss

How industrial logging in the Mi’kmaq heartland is destroying a lot more than trees 

June 14, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 1 Comment

“We were in wonderful moose country now.” At least this is how Albert Bigelow Paine described the Nova Scotia landscape he and three others journeyed through in his 1908 book The Tent Dwellers. The book tells the true story of a June trout fishing trip led by two guides, Charlie Charlton and Del Thomas, who […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Alain Belliveau, Albert Bigelow Paine, Alces alces Americana, archaeological site, Black ash, Blomidon Naturalists Society, Bob Bancroft, Boreas Heritage, chain pickerel, Charlie Charlton, clearcutting, Dawn Makarowski, Del Thomas, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Donna Crossland, East Coast Environmental Law (ECELaw), eastern ribbon snake, Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists, Forest Act, Forest and Range Practices Act, Forest Planning and Practice Regulations, Halifax Field Naturalists, Heritage Conservation Act, Indian Gardens, Jamie Simpson, Jeff Purdy, Jonathan Porter, Kejimkujik Lake, Kejimkujik National Park, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), Lisa Jarrett, Little Tobeatic Lake, Lord Dunraven, Mainland Moose, Mersey paper Company, Mersey River, Mi’kmaq archaeology, Mi’kmaq artifacts, Mi’kmaq reserves, Minister Iain Rankin, Netukulimk, Northern Parula, Ogômgigiag, Provincial Wilderness Areas, Randy Milton, Rossignol Lake, Sam Glode, Sara Beanlands, Special Places Protection Act, Thomas Millette, Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area, WestFor, wildlife sanctuaries, William Lahey

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PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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Recent posts

  • RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather is being investigated concerning decision to not alert the public about the mass murderer’s fake police car May 17, 2022
  • City camping: Toronto teaches Halifax another lesson about tents, parks, and homelessness May 17, 2022
  • Halifax police board moving slowly on defunding report recommendations May 16, 2022
  • There’s no meaning in mass murder May 16, 2022
  • Tech issues bedevilled the RCMP response to the mass murders of 2020 May 16, 2022

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