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It’s been 12 years since Joe Ramia won the contest for the convention centre, and the deal still looks shady af

Morning File, Friday, June 3, 2022

June 3, 2022 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Corey Rogers “A Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice has acquitted the former Halifax Regional Police special constables who booked Corey Rogers in cells the night he died,” reports Zane Woodford: “While the death of Corey Rogers is sad and tragic, it did not come as the result of criminal negligence,” Justice James Chipman […]

Filed Under: Featured, Morning File Tagged With: Andy Filmore, Angus MacIsaac, Ceres Acquisition Corp, Cogswell Interchange, Convention Centre creation of, Deputy Minister Paul Taylor, Expression of Interest (EOI), FOIPOP, Hardman Group, Joe Ramia, Jr., Judge Suzanne Hood, Liam Daly, Maritime Launch Services (MLS), Mayor Peter Kelly, Midtown Tavern, MP Mike Kelloway, Nova Centre, Parallel, Rank Inc, Scooter Braun, Scott Ferguson, spaceport, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Susses Strategy Group, Trade Centre Limited, Ukraine, William “Beau” Wrigley

The Halifax Examiner turns five years old today

Morning File, Tuesday, June 18, 2019

June 18, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Five years The Halifax Examiner turns five years old today. On June 18, 2014, I made this site live and posted this video: Look how young I was! [cries] I had a pretty good idea where I wanted to take the Examiner, and I think it holds up: Much of the content on […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andy Filmore, Centre Plan history, Develop Nova Scotia, Dexel Development, Examiner 5th birthday, GDP, Heritage Trust, HRM By Design, Joe Ramia, John MacKenzie, Nova Centre, Obama, Richard Woodbury, Rouvalis project, Stubborn Goat Beer Garden, Tim’s PEN Canada interview, WM Fares Architects

The Nova Centre hotel isn’t opening any time soon; what does that mean for the city budget?

Morning File, Tuesday, April 23, 2019

April 23, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 15 Comments

News 1. Street checks “No one in authority seems willing to apologize for the decades of ‘disproportionate and negative’ impact street checks have had on Nova Scotia’s black community,” writes Stephen Kimber. “Worse, no one seems to be committed to finally ending them once and for all.” Click here to read “Street checks: Who’s sorry […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alberta, Andrew Nikiforuk, armoured vehicle, ARV, Barbara Darby and the Easter Bunny, Brendan Elliot, Bruce Fisher, Calgary, Cape Breton Correctional Facility, Gary Mason, geographical politics, Grabher, Grafton Street glory Hole, Halifax Convention Centre, Halifax ReTales, Hollis Street bike lane, Inspector Jim Butler, Jan deRoos, Jen Gerson, Joe Ramia, Justice Darlene Jamieson, Mary Campbell, Nick Ritcey, Nova Centre, Property Valuation Services Corporation (PVSC), Roger Taylor, Sutton Place, The Tyee, Utility and Review Board (UARB)

A mega development on Lake Banook shows that the Centre Plan is a cruel joke

Morning File, Wednesday, April 10, 2019

April 10, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 9 Comments

News 1. Mercury, Canso Chemicals, Northern Pulp Mill Facilities associated with Northern Pulp Mill’s proposed effluent pipe are immediately adjacent to a mercury-contaminated toxic waste site left over from the Canso Chemicals operation. Joan Baxter explains: The Canso Chemicals plant opened in 1970, and for the next 22 years used large amounts of mercury to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andy Filmore, Anthony Leblanc, Bob Bjerke, Canso launchpad, Centre Plan, Councillor Sam Austin, Don Bowser, Glory Hole, HRM By Design, Joe Ramia, Lake Banook development, Maritime Launch Services, Nova Centre, Queen’s Marque, South Barrington Historic District, stadium, YMCA, Yuzhmash, Yuzhnoye

The convention centre is running a $4 million operating deficit this year… and that’s just the beginning of the costs

Morning File, Monday, September 10, 2018

September 10, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 3 Comments

News 1. Mehta Stephen Kimber writes: Last winter, Acadia University said it was investigating [Rick] Mehta “for the manner in which you are expressing views that you are alleged to be advancing or supporting and, in some instances, time that you are spending on these issues in the classroom.” We need to parse that sentence. […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Argyle Developments, Burnside jail demonstration, Convention centre operating loss 2018, Councillor Sam Austin, Emma Davie, Events East, Haley Ryan, HLT, Hurricane Florence, Ian Fairclough, Joe Ramia, Katy Jean, Michael Gorman, Michael Tutton, Minister of Justice Mark Furey, Mother Canada, Norma Jean MacPhee, Norwegian Dawn, Nova Centre tax assessment, racist graffiti, restaurants vs young children, Rick Mehta, Trade Centre Limited

Grafton Street through the Nova Centre is a crumbling mess

August 9, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

Grafton Street through the Nova Centre has only been open to the public since January, but already the Grafton Street roadbed is crumbling. You’ll recall that the city sold a one-block stretch of Grafton Street between Prince and Sackville Streets to Nova Centre developer Joe Ramia for $1.9 million on the condition that the city maintain […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Grafton Street glory Hole, Grafton Street roadbed, Joe Ramia, Nova Centre

Bad behaviour everywhere

Morning File, Thursday, August 2, 2018

August 2, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

1. An apology The Halifax Examiner acknowledges that the Armour Group Limited neither hired, nor fired, the janitors previously employed to clean Founder’s Square. Further, The Halifax Examiner retracts, and apologizes for the allegation that Armour Group engaged in racial discrimination in determining to no longer engage with GDI Integrated Facility Services. The original article […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andrea Winn, Andrew Rankin, architectural drawings, Armour Group Limited, Bedford Highway Functional Plan, Bill Turpin, Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Park, Cassie Williams, Catherine Tully, Chronic Relief, Convention centre, councillor Waye Mason, development proposal Robie and Pepperell, dispensary fire, Drug Information System (DIS), Events East, Founders Square, Fred MacGillivray, Harold MacKay, Icarus Report August 2, Jacque Dubé, Joe Ramia, Leitches Creek, Nova Centre appeal, Parker Donham, Robyn Keddy, Shambhala community, Sobeys pharmacist privacy breach, Stephanie Domet, Sunshine Report, Ticket Atlantic, Trade Centre Limited

Understand how Andy Fillmore derailed a plan to demolish the Cogswell Interchange and you’ll understand how we got the Nova Centre

Morning File, Wednesday, May 9, 2018

May 9, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 6 Comments

News 1. The Halifax Examiner and Cape Breton Spectator’s exposé on the security failure Yesterday, the Halifax Examiner and Cape Breton Spectator went to court to ask Justice Gregory Lenehan to unseal a search warrant Halifax police executed on the house of a 19-year-old Halifax man suspected of illegally downloading information from the FOIPOP website. […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andy Fillmore, Andy Fillmore's secret council meeting, CAO Jacques Dubé, Cape Breton Spectator, Cogswell Interchange demolition, cop stabbed, Cst. Andrew Gordon, Employment Systems Review, Hardman Group, HRM By Design, Ian Fairclough, Inglis Street fire, Jennifer Keesmaat, Joe Ramia, Nova Centre, Racism at City Hall, Raymond Sheppard, search warrant exposé, Tim Krochak, Zane Woodford

How the same perverse government policies led to both the convention centre disaster and the breach of information

Morning File, Friday, April 13, 2018

April 13, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 11 Comments

News 1. The Unisys contract The contract between the province and the contractor hired to support the software used in provincial databases — including the Freedom of Information site that was “breached” last week — was the subject of a blistering auditor general’s report in November 2016. In the early 2000s, the province adopted the AMANDA […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AMANDA software package, Auditor General Michael Pickup, Convention Centre failure, Convention Centre is a transfer of wealth, Darrel Dexter, Department of Internal Services, Heywood Sanders, Joe Ramia, Nova Centre, Stephen Lund, Unisys contract

The new convention centre is already a financial disaster for the city

The city expected to have a $1.8 million deficit on its Halifax Convention Centre account this year, but that figure has nearly doubled — to $3.5 million. And a revised analysis of the account shows that what had been a projected $5.89 million surplus after 10 years is now a $17.78 million deficit. That's a swing of $23.67 million. Worse still, even that forecast relies on rosy assumptions.

April 6, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

The city expected to have a $1.8 million deficit on its Halifax Convention Centre account this year, but that figure has nearly doubled — to $3.5 million. And a revised analysis of the account (above) shows that what had been a projected $5.89 million surplus after 10 years is now a $17.78 million deficit. That’s a […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Bruce Fisher, Convention centre deficit, Joe Ramia, Nova Centre deficit

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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

A young white woman with dark hair and a purple shirt lies on a large rock at dusk, looking up at the sky and playing her banjolele.

Episode 85 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Logan Robins (writer/director/composer) and Katherine Norris (star/composer) of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company are on the show this week ahead of their provincial tour of HIPPOPOSTUMOUS, Robins’ musical exploration of invasive species, colonization, environmentalism, and history. Hear how Pablo Escobar’s personal hippos have invaded and are ruining a section of Colombia, why Robins was intrigued to make a show about it, and all the places you can catch it this July. Plus Norris cracks out the banjolele to perform one of the show’s songs. And the new jam from Beauts!

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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