The numbers are staggering. Over the past 51 years, the bleached kraft pulp mill on Abercrombie Point in Pictou County has piped about 1.25 trillion litres of toxic effluent into Boat Harbour.[1] That’s enough to fill about half a million Olympic-size swimming pools, or a pipeline one metre in diameter stretching about 1.6 million kilometres,...
Stephen McNeil announces his complicated carbon plan
Nova Scotians will pay more for electricity, gasoline, and home-heating over the next four years as part of the province’s plan to reduce its carbon footprint and avoid a carbon tax Ottawa announced it will impose on four other provinces beginning this January. But Premier Stephen McNeil insists Nova Scotia consumers will pay much less...
Outlines of the stadium proposal emerge
Morning File, Wednesday, July 11, 2018
News 1. Stadium details Yesterday, Bedford councillor Tim Outhit posted details of the stadium proposal on his Facebook page: Next Tuesday Regional Council will be asked to give direction to the CAO to officially enter into investigations and preliminary negotiations with the private group looking to bring a regional CFL team to Halifax. They will […]
Forest fairy tales and other frightening stories of Nova Scotia
Morning File, Friday, May 25, 2018
News 1. Motor Vehicle Act “The province has put out an open call for input on a new Traffic Safety Act to replace the much-amended and much-maligned Motor Vehicle Act (MVA),” writes Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: The call-out is remarkably open ended, simply asking people to read over the current MVA and “tell us what […]
Matt Whitman’s idiocy and free speech: Morning File, Tuesday, February 27, 2018
News 1. Windsor & Hantsport Railway “A Virginia businessman wants a piece of the action before the city can turn the old Windsor & Hantsport Railway into a trail,” writes Rick Grant: Robert T. Schmidt’s claim to all of the rail line is contested, and the province has gone to court to force him to maintain […]
The Herald’s news reporting on Northern Pulp Mill looks like a packaged advertising deal: Morning File, Tuesday, January 16, 2018
1. Fracking “On the same day that Nova Scotia’s governing Liberals introduced legislation to ban high volume hydraulic fracturing in the province, I happened to be on a ‘fracking tour’ in the U.S. with a bus load of other environmental journalists in a place that had instead embraced it,” writes Linda Pannozzo. That news was […]
Northern Pulp bullies Canada’s biggest bookstore chain, wins… and then loses
The good news is that the mill’s heavy-handed attack on freedom of expression and the bookseller’s own cowed response appear to have backfired. The bad news is that, “in 2017, a company can use its power to shut down a book signing in a small bookstore in a small town.”
Joan Baxter’s personal Northern Pulp story begins on “one of those stunningly clear, blue-sky mornings that nature sometimes bestows on Nova Scotia.” It was June 2, 2016, and Baxter had decided to start the day with a run near her home in Colchester County, NS. But as soon as she stepped outside, “the air was...
The hanging of Daniel Sampson: Morning File, Tuesday, December 5, 2017
News 1. IMP “The city has dropped its Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP), a hefty 193-page document designed to help Halifax achieve its Regional Plan target of reducing the share of trips we all make in private vehicles,” reports Erica Butler: In 2006, council set a goal to reduce vehicle trips down to 70 per cent […]
Now there’s a reason to go to the community mailbox: Morning File, Wednesday, October 11, 2017
News 1. Women in prison “The number of women in federal prisons has jumped significantly in Canada in the last decade, and advocates say that’s evidence of what happens when community support programs are cut,” reports David Burke for the CBC: There are 37 per cent more women behind bars than there were 10 years ago, according […]
Losing the forests for the trees: New figures show increase in clearcutting
Despite what the Nova Scotia government has said in response to concerns raised over clearcutting, the most recent figures released from the National Forestry Database (NFD) indicate that in 2015, both the overall harvest and the proportion of trees removed by clearcutting continued to increase. And ironically, the national body used data supplied by the […]