Why are we always talking about yet another “yesterday” issue long after that train should have jumped the tracks? Consider the living wage… er, the minimum wage. Last Thursday, there was a minor kerfuffle in the House of Assembly. During Question Period, NDP leader Gary Burrill demanded to know why Premier Tim Houston was refusing […]
Bad bosses and cranky customers
Morning File, Tuesday, June 9, 2020
News 1. Report: Canadians plan to avoid restaurants ‘for the foreseeable future’ A recent survey shows 52% of its respondents will be avoiding dining in at restaurants for “the foreseeable future.” Yvette d’Entremont spoke with Sylvain Charlebois, a Dalhousie University professor and the lead author on the survey from Dalhousie University and Angus Reid. Says […]
Halifax cops and Black people: the Rodney Small case
Morning File, Thursday, June 4, 2020
News 1. Police and Black people in Halifax The police murder of George Floyd is highlighting what Black people have known forever: there is too much policing. On Tuesday, Sarah Dobson drew our attention to the Halifax case of Rodney Small, then a 15-year-old living in Uniacke Square. An appellant court ruling explained the (alleged) […]
What to do if you’re lost in the woods
Morning File, Thursday, May 28, 2020
News 1. Healthy Bays Network: Fish farms are not just a rural issue; people in Halifax should be concerned Yvette d’Entremont reports on the newly-created Healthy Bays Network (HBN), a group of several community organizations opposed to open-net finfish farms in Nova Scotia. The group is opposed to New Brunswick-based seafood company Cooke Aquaculture subsidiary […]
Hold on to your ballots
Tax cuts for businesses, increases for minimum-wage earners, cute photos with kids... There must be an election coming.
Let us count up just a few of the reasons Premier Stephen McNeil will call a provincial election before the end of 2020. Start in the counting house itself. Last week, during his annual State of the Province address at — where else? — the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, McNeil announced tax cuts for corporations...
If we really valued immigrants, we’d pay them better
Morning File, Friday, May 10, 2019
News 1. Clearcuts “The Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF) recently hired DG Communications, a public relations firm, to assess the department’s progress in meeting the recommendations of William Lahey’s Independent Review of Forest Practices, specifically in terms of Lahey’s calls for increased transparency and engagement with the public,” reports Linda Pannozzo: The […]
Nova Scotia doesn’t have a demographic problem; it has a wage problem
Morning File, Friday, December 28, 2018
News 1. Population I’ve long felt that concerns about Nova Scotia’s “demographic problem” are overblown. In the first place, if we require younger people and professionals to do important and needed work (and we do!), then we could, you know, pay them more, and we’d find people lining up for those important and needed jobs. It’s […]
Hedge war disrupts West End tranquility
Morning File, Wednesday, December 5, 2018
News 1. Bike network “This week’s council agenda featured an information report on the prospect of getting Halifax’s AAA (all ages and ability) regional centre bikeway network, which the Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP) included as a priority to be built by 2022, up and running two years earlier, by 2020,” reports Examiner transportation columnist Erica […]
Taking it to the bank: Morning File, Thursday, January 18, 2018
News 1. Melford Mary Campbell discusses the business case for the proposed Melford Terminal on the Strait of Canso. Campbell was contacted by Richie Mann, the former MLA who now runs “government relations” for Melford International Terminal Inc, and the two had an interesting discussion about the differences between the proposed Sydney terminal and the proposed Melford […]