News 1. Police budget “The city’s board of police commissioners is recommending in favour of a $5.5 million cut to the Halifax Regional Police budget,” reports Zane Woodford: Chief Dan Kinsella told the board this week that there will be no impact on public safety from the reduced spending, about $4 million of which comes […]
Trigger Warning
The ban on assault style weapons comes in the wake of the Nova Scotia shootings, but it is just one cautious step in a decades-long debate over gun control.
Ross Faulkner, owner of The Gun Dealer, “Atlantic Canada’s largest firearms dealer,” gets more and more strident the longer the phone interview goes on. He makes his points over and over again, as if not convinced I can understand, and sometimes he speaks as if there were a full stop after each word, which gives […]
Council preview: Uber rules, climate plan, cooling-off period for bureaucrats
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. The meeting, starting at 10am Tuesday, also includes an appeal hearing for a design review committee decision at 1pm and a public hearing on a Bedford Highway...
Northern Pulp lobbyists and the revolving door with government
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 […]
Is executive fraud behind the bankruptcy of VistaCare Communications?
Morning File, Tuesday, July 9, 2019
News 1. Power rates “Nova Scotia Power has filed an application that would see power rates rise 1.5% a year for residential customers in each of the next three years, if approved by the Utility and Review Board (UARB),” reports Jennifer Henderson: The increases are related to rising fuel costs and purchases of imported power. […]
Fracking is back on the agenda in Nova Scotia
After years during which nobody seemed to be asking the F-question in the province, suddenly it is being asked again all over the place: To frack or not to frack? Who’s asking and why?
To frack, or not to frack Nova Scotia? That seems to be the question. Again. There’s been a de facto moratorium on fracking — more specifically on “high-volume hydraulic fracturing in shale” — in the province since 2014, and oil and gas companies haven’t exactly been beating down our doors to get it lifted, demanding...
Richard Butts has a gigantic conflict of interest
City Hall's top bureaucrat quits and goes to work for Halifax's biggest developer, underscoring the need for laws against the revolving door for lobbyists.
Today, Halifax CAO Richard Butts abruptly announced he is resigning from City Hall. Butts will stick around for a few weeks as the job “transitions,” but effective immediately City Solicitor John Traves “will assume the authority and responsibilities of the CAO Office,” said city spokesperson Breton Murphy in a press release. The choice of Traves — and not Deputy...