A blackface effigy on a property outside Parrsboro has been removed after concerns were raised by African Nova Scotians and Cumberland-Colchester MP Lenore Zann. The figure referenced traditional minstrel show symbols including the white glove and painted features exaggerating the lips and staring eyes. These elements of blackface costuming were intended to exaggerate African features […]
Feeling the sting of first-past-the-post
Morning File, Tuesday, October 22, 2019
News 1. Liberals win enough seats to form minority government With national voter turnout clocking in around 65.8% (it will adjust as those who registered on election day are counted) and Nova Scotia’s turnout slightly higher at 68.8%, Canadians re-elected 157 Liberal MPs, enough to form a minority government. In Nova Scotia, Liberals held on […]
Judge rejects motion against Lafarge’s tire-burning plan
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Denise Boudreau has rejected a motion from a citizens group opposed to burning tires for fuel at the Lafarge cement plant in Brookfield. The motion was that new evidence from a toxicology expert be admitted as part of a judicial review this March of Environment Minister Iain Rankin’s decision to...
Nova Scotia’s cap-and-trade system to go easy on big corporate polluters
Legislation introduced by the McNeil government to enable setting up a cap-and-trade system to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions as part of a Trudeau directive to slow climate change was debated briefly in the Legislature this week. What is missing from Bill 15 — “An Act to Amend Chapter 1 of the Acts of 1994-95,...
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...
Mayor Mike Savage to shill for Shaw Communications: Morning File, Tuesday, October 3, 2017
News 1. Cornwallis panelists to be discussed in secret Halifax council will today appoint the “special advisory committee” to determine what to do with the Cornwallis statue. The panel will comprise: • Co-chairs from indigenous and non-indigenous community with leadership and chairing experience • An even number of members with experience and expertise in the […]
Environmental Bill of Rights proposed for Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia needs nothing short of an Environmental Bill of Rights if it wants to ensure its citizens can drink clean water, breathe clean air, and hold their governments accountable to make polluters pay. That’s the position of a coalition of Nova Scotia environmental groups which celebrated Earth Day by unveiling an Environmental Bill of...
The McNeil government’s deceitful, ham-fisted, and mean-spirited attack on teachers: Morning File, Tuesday, December 6, 2016
News 1. The McNeil government’s deceitful, ham-fisted, and mean-spirited attack on teachers I almost felt sorry for cabinet minister Michel Samson yesterday. As with the rest of his government, events had overtaken him. He stood before a room full of reporters who were repeatedly calling him out on his contradictions and his uninformed spin. “You say […]
Eternity Expires as Eyes Close: Morning File, Saturday, November 12, 2016
News 1. Deaths in Custody, Again. This week brought another death in custody in Nova Scotia. …Paul Dauphinee Jr. was found in unresponsive in his cell at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth on Nov. 2. Dauphinee Sr. and family members made the heartbreaking decision to remove life support on Nov. 5, and […]