Talk to an average American basketball fan and I’d wager that he (or she) hasn’t a clue about the game’s Canadian bona fides. As it happened, Ontario native James Naismith took a job, in December 1891, at a YMCA in Massachusetts. Then age 30, he reportedly invented the indoor sport to chill out rambunctious youths […]
Dal students and faculty oppose higher tuition fees
A proposal by Dalhousie’s Budget Advisory Committee to raise tuition next fall for the seventh year in a row drew criticism during a budget presentation to the Dalhousie Senate this week. “You can’t put all the burden on students because we just can’t take it anymore,” said Senator Masuma Khan, vice-president for Dal Student Union. […]
Davie and Irving shipyards are in the midst of a lobbying blitz in Ottawa
Morning File, Thursday, October 18, 2018
News 1. Davie v Irving In recent days, Unifor Marine Workers Federation Local 1, which represents Irving Shipyard workers, has been conducting a “Ships Stay Here” campaign that included getting Halifax council to support its efforts. The union fears that some of the shipbuilding work contracted to Irving will be shifted to Davie Shipyard in […]
Three men say they were sexually abused as teenagers at the Nova Scotia Youth Training Centre
Morning File, Friday, September 7, 2018
News 1. Child sex abuse Three men allege that they were sexually abused as teenagers when they were housed at the Nova Scotia Youth Training Centre in Bible Hill. The Nova Scotia Youth Training Centre was an institution for young people with mental disabilities. I’m withholding the men’s full names until and unless they want to be […]
Cooke Aquaculture is eligible for $4 million in “loan forgiveness” to fund a university research chair named after the company
Morning File, Tuesday, April 3, 2018
1. We’re giving Cooke Aquaculture a free research chair Perennia Food & Agriculture Inc., which is the nonprofit funded by the province and housed at the Bestest Nova Scotian Evah! Ray Ivany campus on the Nova Scotia Community College and which shills for the food industry, has issued a Request for Quotes for a firm […]
Will the next government finally end the 15-year persecution of Dr. Gabrielle Horne? Time to ask…
What is the one, otherwise unlikely-to-be-the-subject-of-official-party-platform-or-public-pronouncement issue you would like to ask your candidate to respond to. I know what mine is.
Elections offer opportunities. If you have a question, or concern, or if there is some specific issue bugging the hell out of you, the upcoming election gives you the chance to raise it, face-to-doorstep, so to speak, or email-to-email, with the candidate of your choice, and have a reasonable expectation the candidate will respond —...
Proposed university gift policy draws ire from Dalhousie profs
The policy was initiated in the wake of criticism of the university's deal with Shell Oil, but the Dal administration refused to let university senators have a say in drafting the policy, and now refuses to make that draft public (but we got it anyway).
Two years ago, a Dalhousie engineering student named Stephen Thomas started noticing the Shell Oil logo popping up all over campus, and so submitted a Freedom of Information request seeking the details of a $600,000 grant from the oil company to university. Thomas sent me a copy of the 2011 agreement; you can read it here. Some […]
People are really upset about this Armco thing: Tuesday, March 21, 2017
It'll be a heated council meeting today
This is Katie Toth, GIF queen and gal-about-town. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and send me your best memes. News 1. How many people of colour go to Dal? The school can’t say. A CBC investigation has found that many universities in Canada don’t collect information on students’ race, which can be a problem if schools […]
The politics of spectacle
Former MP Megan Leslie: the best antidote to the normalization of Trump-like behaviour is an engaged citizenry
Former Halifax MP Megan Leslie gave a lecture to warm and sustained applause from a couple hundred Dalhousie University students last night. Her topic was “Civic Engagement: Why Activism, Politics and Community Matter more than ever,” and she delivered a blistering speech in response to an invitation that arrived six days after the election of...