It’s two weeks today since a Nova Scotia court unsealed documents that help explain why Glen Assoun spent 17 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. The documents pertain to both the Halifax Regional Police’s initial Halifax police investigation into the 1995 murder of Brenda Way, and to a later RCMP re-investigation […]
Provincial budget update: increased surplus and debt reduction, but also large bills for cleaning up historic toxic mines and the Yarmouth ferry
“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...
The Sackville-Cobequid byelection: seeking meaning in the meaningless
It is way too early to read anything of significance from a single constituency byelection in the muddling middle of any government’s mandate. But let's give it a shot...
“Steve Craig won the byelection for MLA in Sackville-Cobequid… The district has long been solidly NDP, so a PC victory is notable, but I wouldn’t read too much into it.” —Tim Bousquet June 19, 2019 Tim is right, of course. It is way too early to read anything of significance from the political leavings in...
McNeil government: if John Perkins doesn’t like being wrestled to the floor at a public meeting, he can file a complaint
If you aren’t keen on police roughing you up and cuffing you at a pubic meeting, or corporations dialing up the Mounties to act as bouncers, then go file a complaint with one of two watchdogs that investigate actions by RCMP officers. That’s the identical response which Premier Stephen McNeil, Justice Minister Mark Furey, and […]
Health Authority opens the door a crack
For the first time since the McNeil government dismantled nine regional health authorities and created one provincial agency to run hospitals four and a half years ago, the Nova Scotia Health Authority opened a portion of one of its Board meetings to the public. Yesterday’s meeting took place in the town of Liverpool. Doors opened...
Stephen McNeil would never abuse his position, honest
Morning File, Friday, January 11, 2019
News 1. Bar Harbor ferry terminal “The question of Nova Scotia taxpayers footing the bill for the salaries of a handful of U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees in Bar Harbour, Maine was raised by reporters following today’s meeting of Cabinet ministers, the first since the holiday break,” reports Jennifer Henderson: Bay Ferries, which operates the […]
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...
Transportation minister Lloyd Hines won’t say how much we’re spending to move the Maine ferry terminus to Bar Harbor, but he insists it’s totally worth it
“What a crazy world,” says provincial NDP leader Gary Burrill, “that border protection officers in the United States aren’t being paid because of the government shutdown and we are debating whether the Nova Scotia government should be paying them. Something is wrong somewhere.” The question of Nova Scotia taxpayers footing the bill for the salaries...
The nursing home “expert advisory panel” is prohibited from recommending radical or costly changes
When law enforcement agencies confront a potentially dangerous situation which they need to defuse quickly, they send in a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team. When governments face a potentially damaging political issue they create a panel. After the deaths of three former nursing home residents linked to badly infected bedsores, months of mounting complaints...
NDP proposal would legislate minimum nursing home staffing levels and make public inspection reports
NDP leader Gary Burrill is turning up the pressure on the McNeil Liberal government to improve care for 6,900 people in long-term care facilities across the province. Burrill and NDP Health critic Tammy Martin were accompanied at today’s news conference by a woman who claims there isn’t sufficient staff at the Parkstone Enhanced Living complex […]