A citizens’ group opposed to the burning of tires for fuel at the Lafarge cement plant in Brookfield is asking a court to consider a report from a toxicology expert as part of its judicial review of the Nova Scotia Environment Minister’s decision to approve a one-year pilot project. Douglas J. Hallett (M.Sc and Ph.D...
How much would you pay for what remains of Stephen McNeil’s dignity? Morning File, Friday, October 13, 2017
News 1. $750 “Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil bristled Thursday under NDP questioning about a Liberal fundraising club that will hold an event this weekend at the governing party’s annual general meeting,” reports the Canadian Press: During the legislature’s question period, NDP Leader Gary Burrill asked McNeil whether paying the $750 yearly fee to attend the […]
NDP re-introduces same tire-burning ban bill introduced — and passed — by the Liberals in 2008
Talk about déjà vu. NDP Environment critic Lenore Zann has resurrected a bill that Liberal MLA Keith Colwell introduced 10 years ago to ban tire-burning in Nova Scotia. All three political parties passed it in 2008 but the law was never proclaimed. Don’t expect the Liberals to pass a carbon copy of their previous bill...
The Ceramic Cartel must be brought to its knees: Morning File, Monday, June 5, 2017
News 1. Beatrice Hunter “Police have taken an Inuk woman into custody in Happy Valley-Goose Bay after she refused to promise a Supreme Court of N.L. judge she would stay away from the Muskrat Falls construction site in Central Labrador,” reports Justin Brake for the Newfoundland and Labrador Independent: Beatrice Hunter, a mother, grandmother and land […]
Four more years… What might have been
Just as Stephen McNeil walked on to the stage to acknowledge his new minority government reality, CBC news announcer Sandy Smith cut in. There’d been yet another change in the party standings, he said, and Stephen McNeil’s Liberals were now in “majority territory.”
For me, the sweetest, saddest moment of last Tuesday’s election night lasted not much more than a moment. And it didn’t happen until the tail end of the first hour of Wednesday morning. Sometime after midnight, I gave up on the TV broadcast. At that point, the CBC decision desk still couldn’t say for certain...
Might, In Fact, Get Fooled Again: Examineradio, episode #114
Nova Scotia had an election, eh? The end result is the Liberals have a few fewer seats, the PCs and NDP have a few more, and Gary Burrill no longer has to holler questions from the press gallery. One striking upset was the defeat of cabinet minister Joanne Bernard at the hands of NDP newcomer […]
Since none of the above is not on the ballot…
During last week’s CTV leaders’ roundtable, Jamie Baillie issued a direct appeal to voters: “For those people who are undecided or leaning to the NDP, I am asking them to take a look at us because we share the same goal.” The same goal, yes… The same values?
Who would you like to see win tomorrow’s provincial general election? Who should win tomorrow’s provincial general election? If you answered none of the above to either — or both — of the above, welcome to the club. And perhaps welcome too to that more select group — the none-of-the-above-but-definitely-not-Stephen-McNeil club — which Progressive Conservative...
30-Day Festival Of Concentrated Bullshit: Examineradio, episode #113
Three candidates, three debates. Why are we having an election, again? Former NDP Minister of Finance and CBC commentator Graham Steele joins us for the hour to unpack the parties, the policies, the leaders, and why, quite frankly, it probably doesn’t matter if you vote in this election or not. I mean, did you know that […]
The problem with the new Bridgetown School: It’s not just the school
Construction of an access road to the new Bridgetown school is more than $2 million over its original $1.3 million dollar budget. A friend of Stephen McNeil's is the beneficiary of the work, and has been fined for illegally building a boat ramp on nearby public land.
One of the first orders of business for the newly elected Liberal government in 2013 was to announce the construction of new schools in Bridgetown and Tatamagouche, in the ridings of Premier Stephen McNeil and Education Minister Karen Casey respectively. The two schools jumped from #26 and #28 on the new school construction list to be included among 10 school […]
Are election campaigns places to discuss serious issues?
In theory, this election could have been an ideal opportunity to debate the kind of society we want for the future. That’s because, for perhaps the first time in 20 years, one political party appears to be offering an alternative to more of the same.
Election campaigns are no place to discuss serious issues. That’s what Kim Campbell — Canada’s now-you-see-her-now-you-don’t, first-and-only-female prime minister — infamously declared in 1993 in the middle of her one and only federal election campaign as a party leader. Though I was among those who mocked her at the time, I now believe she was […]