On the morning of July 15, Iris Communications’ Sean Lewis sent out a press release on behalf of Paper Excellence. It was chockablock with carefully calibrated and curated PR, informing us that Northern Pulp’s 54-year-old pulp mill in Pictou County was set to become “a “best-in-class operation” and “one of the world’s cleanest, most environmentally […]
Who benefits from Atlantic Gold’s Nova Scotia operations?
Firm with gold mines on the Eastern Shore pays no taxes and low wages to its employees while it gets large government subsidies and maximizes profits. Oh, and it will leave toxic mine tailings that will be with us forever.
In mid-May, Laird Brownlie, head of external affairs for Australia’s St Barbara Ltd that acquired Atlantic Gold and its mining operations in Nova Scotia in 2019 for $722 million, sent out an email — a “special bulletin” — about the company’s proposed modifications at its Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River. Brownlie’s message […]
Atlantic Gold’s lobbying blitz
The company is now in court on charges of harming the environment, regulators are casting a wary eye at its plans for future environmental protection, and investors are getting worried, so Atlantic Gold has hired a lobbyist to fast track federal approval of its Nova Scotia projects.
Last year it was a propaganda blitz. For several weeks in the spring of 2020, Atlantic Gold, which operates an open pit gold mine in Moose River in the Halifax Regional Municipality and wants to open three more along the Eastern Shore, bombarded people in Nova Scotia with its PR. Atlantic Gold’s owner, Australia’s St […]
Small dam, big controversy
How the contentious aboiteau at the Windsor Causeway could generate a national conversation about fish passage.
The Mi’kmaq call the Avon River “Tooetunook,” which means “flowing square into the sea,” or more specifically, into the Minas Basin in the upper Bay of Fundy. Since 1970, when the Windsor causeway was constructed across the Avon, the river hasn’t exactly been able to “flow square” at all. That’s because the aboiteau — the […]
Lobster: the last, best fishery
Part 2: The new cod?
Lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada have been flourishing in recent years, ironically not just because of conservation measures, but also because of two ecological disasters — the collapse of groundfish stocks and climate change. But can the lobster fishery survive with current rates and rules for harvesting as waters continue to warm and ecosystems change? […]
Alex Cameron’s “conquered people” brief is odious, but he’s got a good case against the McNeil government
Morning File, Thursday, July 18, 2019
News 1. “Conquered people” secrecy “The Nova Scotia government has won another temporary victory in its attempts to keep court documents sealed relating to a controversial brief that suggested the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia were a conquered people,” reports Jean Laroche for the CBC: On Wednesday, Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown sided with the province […]
The green episode: Examineradio, episode #79
This week, alongside a number of international military warships and a crap-ton (sorry, crap-tonne) of cruise ships, the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise docked in the Halifax harbour, fresh off a tour in Nunavut. Examineradio contributor Francella Fiallos took a tour of the boat and spoke with some of its crew members. On Thursday, approximately 60 protesters gathered […]