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Small dam, big controversy

How the contentious aboiteau at the Windsor Causeway could generate a national conversation about fish passage.

December 8, 2020 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

The Mi’kmaq call the Avon River “Tooetunook,” which means “flowing square into the sea,” or more specifically, into the Minas Basin in the upper Bay of Fundy. Since 1970, when the Windsor causeway was constructed across the Avon, the river hasn’t exactly been able to “flow square” at all. That’s because the aboiteau — the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: aboiteau, Acadian settlers, Annapolis Valley First Nation, Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, Atlantic salmon, Avon River Causeway, Avon River Heritage Society, Bay of Fundy, Bernadette Jordan, Chief Gerald Toney, Dan Davis, Darren Porter, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, dyke, Ecology Action Centre, fish kills, Fisheries Act, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, Friends of the Avon River, Gaspereau, herring, Innder Bay of Fundy salmon, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), Lake Pisiquid, Lake Pisiquid Canoe Club, Mi'kmaq, Mi'kmaw Conservation Group, Minas Basin, ministerial order, moderate livelihood fishery, Nikki-Marie Lloyd, Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Power, Oceans North, Petitcodiac River, Pisiquid, Sheldon Hope, Sipekne'katik First Nation, Ski Martock, Sonja Elizabeth Wood, Species at Risk Act, St. Croix River, St. Mary's Bay, Susanna Fuller, Treaty Truckhouse, Victor Oulton, water keepers, Windsor, Windsor causeway

Healthy Bays Network: Fish farms are not just a rural issue; people in Halifax should be concerned

May 27, 2020 By Yvette d'Entremont

A group of community organizations opposed to open-net finfish farms in Nova Scotia have pooled their resources and formed a new organization they say will amplify their voice. In a media release Monday, the newly created Healthy Bays Network (HBN) said Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture regulations have been written for industry, and the voices...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Association for the Preservation of the Eastern Shore (APES), Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), Bayswater, Cermaq, Cooke Aquaculture, Ecology Action Centre, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), fish farms, Geoff Le Boutillier, Healthy Bays Network (HBN), Joel Richardson, Kelly Cove Salmon, Liverpool Bay, marine aquaculture, Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA), Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA), Protect Liverpool Bay, St. Mary’s Bay Protectors, Twin Bays Coalition

Nova Scotia government doubles down on gold mining

October 25, 2019 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

There were moments during last week’s “Water Not Gold” rally outside the Alt Hotel at the Halifax airport where the “Gold Show” was in progress, when I was reminded of a video from 2011 during Occupy Wall Street. That footage shows protestors marching along Wall Street, calling out money barons, greed, and the neoliberal system […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Billy Lewis, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Donald James, East Coast Environmental Law, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Ecology Action Centre, Energy Minister Derek Mombourqeuette, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Gary Andrea, Gold Show, Jacinda Mack, Joan Kuyek, Jor Richman, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Prospectors Association, Perry MacKinnon, Peter Lund, Portia Clark, Ray Plourde, Sean Kirby, Sierra Club, St. Mary’s River Association, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia, Transition Metals Corp., Water Not Gold

Stories of the dead at Camp Hill Cemetery

Morning File, Tuesday, October 8, 2019

October 8, 2019 By Suzanne Rent 12 Comments

News 1. Seven councillors voting against Austin’s motion Councillor Sam Austin will put a motion before council today to ditch a staff review into the stadium proposal, but at least seven other councillors won’t support it, reports Anjuli Patil with CBC. Steve Streatch, David Hendsbee, Tony Mancini, Russell Walker, Matt Whitman, Steve Adams and Lisa […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aaron Carter, Access Nova Scotia, Andrew Rankin, Anjuli Patil, Anne Irwin, Barbara Darby and feelings, bridge protest, Camp Hill Cemetery, Canadian Plastics industry Association, city support for stadium, Colleen Cosgrove, Councillor Sam Austin, councillor Steve Streatch, Craig Ferguson, David Maher, Dead in Halifax, Eat Pray Love, Ecology Action Centre, Elizabeth Gilbert, Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia, Graeme Benjamin, Jesse Thomas, Joe Hruska, leaders debate, license plate, Maggie-Jane Spray, Make Big Magic Weekend, Mark Butler, plastic bag ban, Shaina Luck, Waye Mason

The climate emergency: Why it’s time to ditch the language of economic growth

September 26, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 2 Comments

This is the first in a 4-part series exploring climate change and economic growth, green or otherwise. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel set in a near-future totalitarian state, the women are subjugated in various horrific ways including that they are allowed to move around anywhere within town but are unaware that […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured Tagged With: carbon laundering, climate emergency, consumption-based accounting, Ecology Action Centre, economic growth, Gardner Pinfold, GDP, greenhouse gas emissions, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Paris Agreement, production-based accounting, Stephen Thomas

Oil industry-friendly politician objects to proposed strengthened environmental assessment rules

April 25, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson

A federal bill to change the way environmental assessments of large projects are handled met with strong and mixed reaction at a Senate Committee hearing held in Halifax yesterday. Environmentalists like the fact assessments of new projects must include “climate change” as one factor. “The Bill is not perfect but it is a balanced and...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Andrea Paul, Bill C-69, Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB), Ches Crosbie, climate change, Dennis Patterson, Deputy Energy Minister Simon D’Entremont, East Coast Environmental Law, EcoJustice, Ecology Action Centre, Gretchen Fitzgerald, Impact Assessment Agency, Karen Hutt, Mark Butler, Minister Derek Mombourquette, Sarah MacDonald, Yuen Pao Woo

Environment Minister Margaret Miller isn’t talking about Northern Pulp’s much-criticized environmental assessment

Morning File, Friday, March 15, 2019

March 15, 2019 By Tim Bousquet and Jennifer Henderson 9 Comments

News 1. Spill at Moose River gold mine “Atlantic Gold’s manager of environment and permitting, James Millard, calls it a ‘spill’ or a ‘loss of control’ caused by a ‘gasket failure,’” reports Joan Baxter: By whatever name, the event happened on the night of January 3, 2019, at the company’s open pit gold mine at […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Adele Poirier, Biodiversity Act, Biodiversity Council, Boat Harbour, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Service, Chris Miller, David Pugliese, Dillon Consulting, Duncan Reid, Ecology Action Centre, Extinction Rebellion, George Farmer, Irving Shipbuilding, Joan Baxter, Justice Jamie Campbell, Kevin McCoy, Matthew Halliday, Minister Iain Rankin, Minister Margaret Miller, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Postmedia, Ray Plourde, Stephen Archibald and the CSTF drill shed, Tim wonders about a thing, violations of privacy laws

By Any Other Name: Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry just made “Clearcuts” disappear

February 16, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 2 Comments

Nova Scotians who signed up to receive proposed harvest plans on Crown land might have noticed some disturbing changes recently. As of a few days ago the maps no longer specify whether a proposed cut is a “clearcut” or not. The word was removed from the legend and the list of harvest prescription types. This […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Bruce Nunn, Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, clearcut, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Ecological Forestry of Southwest Nova, Ecology Action Centre, Forest Management Guide, Hardwood Hill, Harvest Plan Map Viewer (HPMV), Interim Retention Guide, Jamie Simpson, Krista Higdon, Minister Lloyd Hines, National Forestry Database (NFD), Premier Darrell Dexter, Ray Plourde, William Lahey

Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?

A review of the new film that illuminates Nova Scotia's failed biomass policies

December 3, 2018 By Linda Pannozzo 3 Comments

In the opening scene of the documentary Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?, Jeff Turner patrols the dark, tannin-stained waters of the Blackwater and Nottoway River system in Southampton County, Virginia. He’s a “river keeper” and has been doing this for nearly two decades, keeping an eye on threats to the health of the rivers […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Alan Dater, Bas Eickhout, biomass, Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?, Danny George, Ecology Action Centre, Environmental Paper Network (EPN), Jeff Turner, Linda Pannozzo, Lisa Merton, Mary Booth, National Forestry Database, Nova Scotia Power (NSP), Partnership for Policy Integrity, Richard Houghton, Timothy Searchinger, wood pellet production

Stephen McNeil announces his complicated carbon plan

October 24, 2018 By Jennifer Henderson

Nova Scotians will pay more for electricity, gasoline, and home-heating  over the next four years as part of the province’s plan to reduce its carbon footprint and avoid a carbon tax Ottawa announced it will impose on four other provinces beginning this January. But Premier Stephen McNeil insists Nova Scotia consumers will pay much less...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: carbon tax, climate change, Department of Environment, Ecology Action Centre, Heritage Gas, Irving Oil, Jason Hollett, Jennifer Henderson, LaFarge Canada, Meghan McMorris, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Power, Premier Stephen McNeil

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

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.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • The cops who shot up the Onslow Fire Hall committed no crime, rules SIRT March 3, 2021
  • Greenwashing the goldfields March 3, 2021
  • Here’s when you can expect to be vaccinated March 2, 2021
  • Public health on life support: underfunded and underappreciated March 2, 2021
  • Who’s zooming who? March 2, 2021

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