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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

Imagine Spring Garden Road where everyone looks the same

Morning File, Tuesday, September 24, 2019

September 24, 2019 By Suzanne Rent 9 Comments

News 1. Naturalists go to court “Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Christa Brothers will decide whether the Minister of Lands and Forestry has failed to live up to the obligations set out in the Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife in the province,” reports Jennifer Henderson: “We seek the Court’s assistance as a last resort,” […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alicia Draus, Anne McLellan, Brett Ruskin, Brian Muldoon, Cermaq, collapsed crane removal, Cooke Aquaculture, Darrell Dexter, Dorothy Grant, EcoJustice, Evan Williams, exposure, fish farms, Glen Cooke, global warming, Graeme Benjamin, Hany El Naggar, Harbourside Engineering Consultants, housing affordability, Howard Ramos, Income inequality, Janice Harvey, Kathleen McNab, Kelly Cove Salmon, left hand turns, lobster fishery, Marla MacInnis, menstrual products in schools, Michigan Lane, Minister Labi Kousoulis, Minister Lloyd Hines, Nicole Munro, period poverty, Peter MacKay, Protect Liverpool Bay (PLB), R&D Crane Operator Ltd, rent control, Robert Devet, Sabino Urciuoli, sinkhole Trans Canada Highway, Spring Garden Road redesign

Opposition to Canso spaceport grows

“The government of Nova Scotia and the government of Canada are partnering with a dubious, nearly-bankrupt Ukrainian company using Cold-war technology," says Michael Byers, an expert in space law.

August 5, 2019 By Joan Baxter 5 Comments

I hadn’t even made it into Canso when I happened upon the first person willing and eager to speak her mind on the proposed spaceport that Maritime Launch Services wants to construct in the picturesque community at the very end of Highway 16, an area that boasts spectacular coastline, one ocean-side provincial park and another […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Action Against Canso Spaceport (AACS), Alicia Rhynold, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Canso Area Development Association (CADA), Canso spaceport, Chris Surette, Chrystia Freeland, Divya Shah, Don Bowser, Geraint Breeze, Harold Roberts, hydrazine, Jan-Sebastian La Pierre, Jean-Frédéric Lafaille, Jim Geddes, John Hearn, John Isella, June Jarvis, Karen McKendry, Katherine O'Halloran, Marie Lumsden, Maritime Launch Services (MLS), Michael Byers, Minister Catherine McKenna, Minister Gordon Wilson, Minister Lloyd Hines, Minister Margaret Miller, MP Alaina Lockhart, MP Darren Fisher, MP Roger Cuzner, MP Sean Fraser, Ray White, spaceport lobbying, Steve Matier, Sussex Strategy Group, United Paradyne, Yuzhmash, Yuzhnoye

So much McNeil, so few answers

Morning File, Friday, July 26, 2019

July 26, 2019 By Philip Moscovitch 3 Comments

News 1. Furey on Assoun Justice Minister Mark Furey continues to not really weigh in on Glen Assoun’s wrongful conviction. Jennifer Henderson reports that the Minister of Justice thinks an apology is premature: “An apology would be premature at this time until I have an opportunity to review the full scope of the file,” said […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alexander Quon, Becky Williams, Becky's Knit and Yarn shop, Centre for Local Prosperity, Councillor Dayle Eshelby, Dalhousie logo, Eli, Eli Technologies, Entrevestor, Glen Assoun, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Lockeport, Minister Bernadette Jordan, Minister Lloyd Hines, Neuragen, Origin BioMed, Peter Moreira, Premier Stephen McNeil, provincial budget, Racism, Robert Cervelli, Stephen Archibald and window boxes, Taryn Grant

Provincial budget update: increased surplus and debt reduction, but also large bills for cleaning up historic toxic mines and the Yarmouth ferry

July 25, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson

“You’re richer than you think” Scotiabank used to say in its marketing campaign to prospective customers. Today we learned the Province is in better financial shape than we were led to believe a year ago. Audited financial statements for the year March 2018–March 2019 show the province had a surplus of $120 million, four times...

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Filed Under: Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: abandoned gold mines, arsenic, Bar Harbor ferry terminal, Boat Harbour, Finance Minister Karen Casey, Goldenville mine, Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin, mercury, Minister Lloyd Hines, Montague Mines, NDP leader Gary Burrill, provincial budget, Yarmouth ferry

The $722 million deal

An Australian company is buying the Vancouver company that owns Nova Scotia’s largest gold mining operation; what’s in it for us?

May 17, 2019 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

Here’s the deal. On Wednesday, May 14, an Australian gold mining company called St. Barbara Limited, with one gold mine in Australia and a second one in Papua New Guinea, agreed to pay $722 million for Atlantic Gold Corporation, which operates one open pit gold mine in Nova Scotia, has proposed three more along the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Acadian Mining Corporation, Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold Corporation, Atlantic Gold NL, Atlantic Mining NS Corp, Australia gold mining, Barrick Gold, Beaver Dam, Beedie Investments, Cochrane Hill, David Black, DDV Gold, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Dorotheé Rosen, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Freedom of Information request, gold mining, Gwalia gold mine, Hannah Martin, Jamie Kneen, Joan Kuyek, JoAnn Alberstat, Jordan Nikoloyuk, Kevin Spencer, LionGold Corp Ltd, LionGold Mining Canada Inc, Lisa Jarrett, MegumaGold, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), MiningWatch Canada, Minister Lloyd Hines, Moose River, NOPE, Northern shield Resources, Osprey Gold, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Paul Collier, Raymond Plourde, Robert Atkinson, Robert Lang, Ryan Beedie, Scott Beaver, shell game, Simberi gold mine, SpinCo, Spur Ventures, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary’s River Association, Stacey Gomez, Steven Dean, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings, Tim Netscher, Touquoy mine, Transition Metals, Velocity Minerals

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?

May 6, 2019 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: AltaGas, Alton Gas Natural Storage, Andrew Nikiforuk, Andrew Younger, Barb Harris, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Cape Breton Spectator, Councillor Lynne Welton, Cumberland Business Connector, Cumberland Energy Authority, David Wheeler, Department of Energy and Mines, Fracking, global warming, Harry Thurston, Heritage Gas Limited, Jennifer Matthews, John Hawkins, Jonathan McClelland, Ken Summers, lobbyist, Maritime Energy Association, Mark Haslon, Mary Campbell, Minister Lloyd Hines, natural gas, Nova Scotia Fracking Resource and Action Coalition (NOFRAC), PC MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, PC MLA Pat Dunn, PC MLA Tory Rushton, Premier Stephen McNeil, Ray Hickey, Ray Ritcey, Sandy MacMullin, shale gas development, Shelley Hoeg, Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development, Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, Wheeler report

Paying for cops but not courts: Yarmouth ferry file

April 26, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 2 Comments

It’s heartening to learn the Province has not been asked by Bay Ferries to pay its legal fees to appeal a judge’s decision which allows the Progressive Conservative leader to seek a court order to find out how much taxpayer’s money is going to Bay Ferries for managing the Yarmouth ferry service. Which isn’t to […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Bay Ferries, Justice Peter Rosinski, Marla MacInnis, Minister Lloyd Hines, PC lawsuit, PC leader Tim Houston, Scott Campbell, Yarmouth ferry

Stunting 101: The games Bay Ferries plays

Bay Ferries says its Yarmouth ferry service's real problem has nothing to do with the government's over-subsidization or its own over-pricing. Blame it on the "nasty" opposition.

March 31, 2019 By Stephen Kimber

Mark MacDonald knows which donkey to pin the blame on for the fact his Bay Ferries Ltd.’s money-sinking pot of a Yarmouth-Maine ferry service isn’t winning the accolades he believes it deserves from Nova Scotia taxpayers. Forget the $61,187,310 in previously announced subsidies, grants and other goodies those same taxpayers have shovelled into the service...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Bay Ferries CEO Mark MacDonald, Freedom of Information, Government secrecy, Minister Lloyd Hines, PC leader Tim Houston, Yarmouth ferry

The Yarmouth ferry is going to Bar Harbor — a little late, and at some unknown cost…

February 26, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 3 Comments

Bay Ferries has announced that the Alakai ferry — dubbed “The Cat” — will begin sailing between Yarmouth and Bar Harbor, Maine starting June 21. On its website, the company says that date is “subject to change” because of the renovations required to the ferry terminal in Maine. A public hearing will take place in […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Fleet Services, Bar Harbor ferry terminus, Bay Ferries, Bruce Tuck, Minister Lloyd Hines, Tim Houston, US Border and Customs agents, Yarmouth ferry

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

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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