News 1. Loosening restrictions “Nova Scotia hopes to start loosening up restrictions in place around COVID-19 at the end of May, including allowing ‘non-essential businesses’ and ‘daycare and education settings’ to open and ‘non-urgent health care services to resume,’ according to a private presentation given by the province’s chief medical officer of health this week,” […]
A pinch of SALT
Morning File, Thursday, December 19, 2019
News 1. In Nova Scotia, pulp rules Linda Pannozzo’s latest is a commentary on the ongoing Northern Pulp story. While we wait for the premier’s announcement tomorrow, Pannozzo gives us some background on how we got here, and thoughts on how the process has created an unnecessary “environmentalists vs forestry and mill workers” dichotomy: By […]
Ukrainian corruption and the Canso spaceport
Morning File, Tuesday, November 12, 2019
November subscription drive I was going to write a long thing this morning in support of our subscription drive, but got pulled away trying to make sense of the Ukrainian space industry. So I’ll keep it short. We need your money. Thanks. News 1. Waiting for Fitch “Bob Dylan didn’t need a weatherman to know […]
New police chief Dan Kinsella holds a degree from WalMart U.
Morning File, Tuesday, May 14, 2019
News 1. Ramadan in jail “Malik is calling from the jail asking for the numbers of any Muslims he can contact just to talk to, maybe hear some Quran from,” writes El Jones: The last time he prayed with community was during Ramadan last year, and since then, his requests for spiritual services have been […]
An armoured vehicle won’t protect people during a mall shooting, but it will protect institutional racism in the police department
Morning File, Monday, April 15, 2019
News 1. Gerald Regan Writes Stephen Kimber: More than 20 years after former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan was acquitted of sexually assaulting multiple women, other women are still coming forward with still more stories of what he did to them, still needing finally “to be heard.” Including “Catherine.” Catherine tells Kimber of an alleged […]
Anthony Leblanc is asking the Trudeau government to pay for his stadium
Morning File, Tuesday, March 19, 2019
News 1. Alton Gas This item is written by Jennifer Henderson. “There is no evidence to support the occupation of land near Fort Ellis by Dale Poulette, Rachael Greenland-Smith, and others,” said N.S. Supreme Court Justice Gerald Moir in an oral decision granting Alton Natural Gas Storage Inc. a temporary injunction. The injunction is aimed […]
If you’re going to play in the sandbox, you should at least know what the sandbox is for
Morning File, Monday, January 7, 2019
News 1. Why was Lamar Eason suspended? Writes Stephen Kimber: “People don’t like to talk about race, culture, bias,” Bayview Community School principal Lamar Eason explains, adding elliptically: “Doing your job can lead to questioning the people employing you. Understandably, people get defensive. But [race relations officers] are not there just to support schools; we’re […]
Province amps up its unwise and discredited biofuel efforts
Morning File, Thursday, December 13, 2018
News 1. Biofuel Last year, in her article “Life After Pulp,” Linda Pannozzo showed how as the old pulp industry is collapsing, the government is chasing two other forest dreams — biomass and biofuel. On the latter, she wrote: In 2012, when the Dexter government announced the defunct paper mill would become a business hub […]
We’re about to learn just how subservient Nova Scotia is to the forest industry
Morning File, Tuesday, December 4, 2018
1. Clearcutting “The McNeil government is promising less clearcutting on crown lands through new ‘interim’ harvesting guidelines introduced yesterday in response to a comprehensive report on forestry practices prepared by University of King’s College president Bill Lahey last August,” reports Jennifer Henderson: It’s unclear how much the controversial practice will be reduced until after permanent […]
Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?
A review of the new film that illuminates Nova Scotia's failed biomass policies
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 […]