Atlantic Gold has just announced that in “late spring/early summer 2021” it will be undertaking a new Class 1 Environmental Assessment for modifications to its open pit Touquoy gold mine in Moose River. Among other things, the company wants to expand its waste rock storage area that is already sky-high, prepare to store tailings in […]
How the Biodiversity Act was killed
Forest Nova Scotia, which represents the biggest forestry players, gets an awful lot of public money — including millions of dollars to administer a forest roads program panned by the auditor general. It also has a paid lobbyist swaying the policies of the very government that funds it, and who started working on its behalf just as the Biodiversity Act was gutted.
Last month Forest Nova Scotia, an industry group representing the most powerful shapers of forestry policy in this province, spearheaded a propaganda campaign against the Biodiversity Act, which the Liberal government of Iain Rankin had introduced on March 11, calling it legislation that would “preserve and protect Nova Scotia’s unique ecosystems, wild animals, plants, lakes […]
Premier Stephen McNeil denies advocating for province to pay for new sports facility in his riding
Premier Stephen McNeil denies he lobbied or advocated for additional provincial money to be spent on a $3.5-million outdoor track and field facility in his own riding. The eight-lane track next to the new Bridgetown School is being financed through Ottawa’s Small Communities program. Twenty-five projects in the province have been approved through this federal...
Taxi drivers should be demanding stepped-up regulation and inspection
Morning File, Thursday, January 10, 2019
News 1. Spring Garden Road Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler walks us through the three options presented for the reconstruction of Spring Garden Road. Click here to read “Making room for pedestrians on Spring Garden Road.” This article is for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. Butler suspects merchants along the street will push back against the […]
Two horse stories for the price of one: Morning File, Wednesday, September 20, 2017
News 1. Low income transit passes “Why are we holding back on low income transit passes?” asks Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: Some time in the four years it took to get this program officially adopted, city staff and council decided that only 1,000 people can qualify for discounted passes at a time. (Once you […]
The problem with the new Bridgetown School: It’s not just the school
Construction of an access road to the new Bridgetown school is more than $2 million over its original $1.3 million dollar budget. A friend of Stephen McNeil's is the beneficiary of the work, and has been fined for illegally building a boat ramp on nearby public land.
One of the first orders of business for the newly elected Liberal government in 2013 was to announce the construction of new schools in Bridgetown and Tatamagouche, in the ridings of Premier Stephen McNeil and Education Minister Karen Casey respectively. The two schools jumped from #26 and #28 on the new school construction list to be included among 10 school […]
Testing the Limits: Critical Boreal Felt Lichen Habitat in Halifax County Slated to be Wiped Out
Last week, several new forest blocks totalling 171 hectares (422 acres) appeared on the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources’ Harvest Plans Map Viewer. The blocks, posted by the Abercrombie pulp giant Northern Pulp, are located in the Twin Lakes area of Halifax County, roughly 2.5 hours from Halifax, an hour inland from Sheet Harbour. […]
Muzzling the Forest Keepers
A Field Guide to Boreal Felt Lichen and DNR Message Control
Endangered boreal felt lichen. Photo courtesy Brad Toms. A redacted email exchange recently obtained through a Freedom of Information request revealed that on November 7, 2014, Allan Eddy, the associate deputy minister of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, was not happy with something he had just seen. Eddy was attending the annual science conference […]