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The Goldboro Gamble

Part 1: For nearly a decade, Alfred Sorensen has been assuring us that the multi-billion Goldboro LNG plant is a done deal. But his supposed German financiers aren't as certain as Sorenson pretends, and his company struggles to find a secure source of gas.

October 19, 2020 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Recent news that Calgary-based Pieridae Energy’s has found a new engineering firm for its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Goldboro, and worked out an agreement with a Calgary firm and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs to build and operate a huge work camp at the site, has prompted headlines that suggest […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: AIMCo, Alberta Energy Regulator, Alfred Sorensen, Andrew Nikiforuk, Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, Bear Head LNG, Bechtel, Black Diamond Group, Chief Terrance Paul, Citizen’s Oil and Gas Council, Duke Energy, Environment Minister Randy Delorey, Goldboro LNG plant, Greta Thunberg, Kellogg Brown & Root, Keltic Petrochemicals, Kitimat, Korbinian Wagner, Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, lobbyist registry, Mike Sawyer, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan, Nigel Bankes, Pieridae Energy, Press Progress, Roger Taylor, Sean Lewis, Shaun Fluker, Shell Canada, Stephen Lund, The Tyee, Uniper Global Commodities, Wskijnu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency Ltd

This Cole Harbour council candidate shows why we need a municipal lobbyist registry

Morning File, Friday, September 25, 2020

September 25, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 6 Comments

News 1. Uber “The provincial government is making it easier to be a taxi or Uber driver, loosening the requirements to obtain the licence needed to be a driver for hire,” reports Zane Woodford: The move comes less than 48 hours after Halifax regional council passed bylaw amendments to legalize and regulate ride-hailing. Those amendments […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) competing designs, Associate Chief Justice Patrick Duncan, Big Moon, Blair Rhodes, Convention centre, Councillor Lorelei Nicoll, COVID Alert app, COVID-19, Dan Harrison, EC Petroleum, Events East, Jamie McNeil, jury trial, Justice Patrick Duncan, Liberal Party, living wage, lobbyist registry, m5 consulting, Mike Savage, Mitch McIntyre, Nova Scotia Power (NSP), Petroleum Geochemistry Consulting, privacy breach WCAT, Public Health Canada, tidal power, tidal turbine retrieval, Workers' Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT), Yvonne Colbert

The connections of Nova Scotia universities to slavery and why it matters

Morning File, Friday, February 14, 2020

February 14, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

News 1. Elmsdale Lumber Elmsdale Lumber used to sell most of its bark and chips to Northern Pulp, but now that the mill has closed, Elmsdale is finding new markets, reports Jennifer Henderson. “We will survive” says owner Robin Wilber, but he sees the new markets as only a short-term fix until, he says, the […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Cape Breton Spectator, climate change, e-scooters, Jean Charest, lobbyist registry, Mary Campbell, Max Rastelli, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, Richmond Yards, Segway, Shirley Tillotson, slave plantations, slavery in Nova Scotia, Stephen Archibald and curvy treasures, Susan MacLeod, trams, University of King's College, Westwood Developments, white supremacy

Northern Pulp lobbyists and the revolving door with government

December 11, 2019 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

In February this year, Mary Campbell drew our attention to a video clip of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known affectionately as AOC, questioning witnesses at a hearing by the US House Oversight and Reform Committee. AOC was pointing out how much members of Congress can legally get away with, even when it looks an […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Andrew Macdonald, Iris Communications, Jim Williams, Kirby McVicar, lobbyist, lobbyist registry, Michael Gorman, Minister Geoff MacLellan, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp lobbyist, Trevor Floyd

Euphemism watch: Jails are now “prisoner care facilities”

Morning File, Tuesday, December 3, 2019

December 3, 2019 By Erica Butler 5 Comments

News 1. Health care funding Canadian premiers met Monday and issued a call for a 5.2% annual bump in the Canada Health Transfer, among other demands. Andrea Gunn reported on the meeting for the Chronicle Herald: Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said he wasn’t sure whether a 5.2 per cent increase would be sufficient to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AIDS, Andrea Gunn, Canada Health Transfer, Carolyn Ray, councillor Steve Adams, Dartmouth General Hospital, David Burke, David Fleming, DeRico Symonds, Dino Capital Ltd, Donna Hatt, Jim Vibert, John McPhee, Judy Saunders, lobbyist registry, Lyme disease, Mark Numer, MassBiologics, MLA Susan Leblanc, Northern Pulp, police misconduct, pre-exposure prophylaxis, Premier Stephen McNeil, Prisoner Care Facility (jail), Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), Tsimkilis family

Mining for (public) dollars

The Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS) has created a new organization called the Minerals Research Association of Nova Scotia (MRANS) with the aim of leveraging still more provincial grants to further enrich global mining companies — and their local operatives.

November 18, 2019 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

In the beginning, by which I mean 2007, there was the Mining Association of Nova Scotia, also known as MANS, an appropriate acronym for an industry lobby group with a 17-member board of which 15 are men. It should be said, however, that MANS is not registered with the Nova Scotia Registry of Lobbyists, although […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: Alex Martell, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Gary Andrea, George O’Reilly, gypsum, Jacob Hanley, John Wightman, Kevin Neyedley, lobbyist registry, Michael Power, Mineral Resources Development Fund (MRDF), Minerals Play Fairway, Minerals Research Association of Nova Scotia (MRANS), mining, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Minister Derek Mombourquette, Musquodoboit Valley Gypsum, Rick Horne, Sarah Kirby, Sean Kirby, W. Douglas Roy

Maritime Launch Services and its private/public servants

One government bureaucrat sent a nasty email to a CBC reporter. Others had rude things to say about the Halifax Examiner. And Stephen McNeil met with MLS and it Ukrainian "partners" even though they aren't registered as lobbyists.

November 5, 2019 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

It’s not the first time I’ve waded through many hundreds of pages of correspondence released by a government under a FOIPOP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy) request, but it is the first time that reading the correspondence made me feel slightly queasy, like a voyeur witnessing unhealthy relationships developing between uncritical and subservient […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Action Against the Canso Spaceport (AACS), Alec Bruce, Barry Carroll, Canso Area Development Association (CADA), Canso spaceport, Cyclone 4 rocket, David Jackson, David Walsh, Don Bowser, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Frances Willick, Frank Sander, Gordon MacDonald, Harold Roberts, Harvey Doane, Janet MacMillan, Jennifer Henderson, Jim Geddes, John Kearney, Joseph Hasay, lobbyist registry, Marie Lumsden, Maritime Launch Services (MLS), Matthew Dunn, Michael Byers, Minister Lloyd Hines, MP Alaina Lockhart, MP Roger Cuzner, NATIONAL Public Relations, Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, Steve Matier, Sylvain Laporte, United Paradyne, Yaroslav Pustovyi, Yuzhmash, Yuzhnoye

How a simple vendor disclosure form can combat corruption in government

Morning File, Tuesday, December 11, 2018

December 11, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Lord Dalhousie report Last night, the “Scholarly Panel to Examine Lord Dalhousie’s History on Slavery and Race” issued its draft report. I wasn’t there, but you can see what went down in a social media recap of the event. I asked for a copy of the draft report yesterday but couldn’t get it; last night […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Brian Posavad, dispensary raid, Judy Haiven, lobbyist registry, Lord Dalhousie report, Michael Gorman, Southwest Properties, vendor disclosure form, William Matavou, YMCA funding

Peter Kelly is back in the news

Morning File, Thursday, October 25, 2018

October 25, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

1. OPOR “This is a story about a potential half-billion-dollar health-care services contract, alleged cozy dinners between bidders and bureaucrats, an unusual legal letter and accusations the government’s tender process was unfair,” writes Chronicle Herald reporter Paul Schneidereit: The planned purchase of a new provincewide electronic health record (EHR) system — expected to cost in the hundreds […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Allscripts, biomass, Cerner, climate change, crane operators, Dave Stewart, Department of lands and Forestry, Haley Ryan, Jason Hollett, lobbyist registry, Maritime Dufferin Gold, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), OPOR, Paul Schneidereit, Peter Kelly, Peter Ritchie, Theory of Everything podcast, This is That, Wayne Thibodeau

Great white sharks are killing people and they’re coming to Nova Scotia

Morning File, Wednesday, September 19, 2018

September 19, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 15 Comments

News 1. Deaths in custody Yesterday morning, I reported that an official at the Burnside jail had testified in court that “several” prisoners at the jail have died over the past week. I knew about the death of Joshua Evans, a man with a mental disability who took his own life, but no other deaths […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: advertorial in Chronicle Herald, Aly Thomson, Bruce Rainnie, Bruce Wark, Burnside jail death, Chris Benjamin, Chronicle Herald, Colleen Cosgrove, Councillor Lorelei Nicoll, Darren Porter, deaths in custody, Duggers Menswear, Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE), Halifax Mayor Mike Savage, innovation, Jamie McNeil, Jean Laroche, John McCracken, Jon Tattrie, Jordan Parker, Joshua Evans, Lake Management Services, Lindsay Bennett, lobbyist registry, M5 Public Affairs, Mike Labrecque, Premier Stephen McNeil, Sarah Gillis, Sarah Mervosh, shark attacks, sharks, Sharktivity app, tidal turbine gear

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

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.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • The new provincial rebate is just the first step to getting more electric vehicles on Nova Scotia roads March 3, 2021
  • The cops who shot up the Onslow Fire Hall committed no crime, rules SIRT March 3, 2021
  • Greenwashing the goldfields March 3, 2021
  • Here’s when you can expect to be vaccinated March 2, 2021
  • Public health on life support: underfunded and underappreciated March 2, 2021

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