News 1. Here’s why the liquor stores are open The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. I’ve seen a lot of joking about the liquor stores being open when almost everything else is shut down. Boy, we sure love our liquor in Nova Scotia, eh? If you’re wondering why it’s important to […]
Port Wallace Gamble: the real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy
Part 1: The making of a toxic mess and the uncalculated costs of previous gold rushes.
This is Part 1 of a three-part story about the toxic legacy from historic gold mines in Nova Scotia, which its citizens will be paying many millions of dollars to try to clean up, and how the contamination at just one of these sites — Montague Mines in HRM — is still affecting lives today, […]
The province wants your input on six newly proposed wilderness areas
Morning File, Monday, January 13, 2020
1. Council preview “Rules for Uber, a plan for climate change, and a cooling-off period for politicians and staff are all on the agenda for Halifax regional council’s meeting this week,” reports Zane Woodford: The meeting, starting at 10am Tuesday, also includes an appeal hearing for a design review committee decision at 1pm and a […]
Three years on a rusty ship
Morning File, Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Happy New Year’s Eve! We were going to have a quiet get-together with friends, but because the roads sound like they will be terrible, we’re staying home instead and I’m cooking dinner out of the great new Korean cookbook I got for Christmas. I hadn’t even twigged that it’s the end of the decade until […]
After the gold rush
Nova Scotia is ignoring the toxic legacy of past mining manias while rushing headlong into the next
If learning from past mistakes were a government tradition in Nova Scotia, the current government would not be exhibiting all the symptoms of gold fever. But it is, and it looks like a raging bout of the affliction. In the past few years, it has amended legislation based on recommendations made by the industry’s cheerleader-in-chief, […]
Halifax councillors should tell city staff to stop dithering and adopt a living wage policy already
Morning File, Monday, January 28, 2019
News 1. Blackface Last Monday, some Dalhousie students protested at the welcoming reception for incoming interim president Peter MacKinnon. As I noted Tuesday, the students were particularly riled over MacKinnon’s book, University Commons Divided: Exploring Debate & Dissent on Campus, which included a section that downplays and excuses the wearing of blackface while mischaracterizing and sidelining those who object […]