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Northern Pulp mill plans “best in class” or best in BS?

The Paper Excellence company that is part of the global corporate empire of the Widjaja family has submitted plans for the “transformation” of its hibernating pulp mill to the Nova Scotia government for approval, even as it sues the same government for hundreds of millions of dollars.

December 17, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

Northern Pulp is claiming that the changes it’s proposing for its 54-year-old pulp mill in Pictou County will make it “best in class.” Even the blurb that appears on the Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change page for the “mill transformation and effluent treatment facility project” includes the phrase “best in class.” And although Northern […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation Tagged With: 1057863 B.C. Ltd., 3243722 Nova Scotia Limited, 3253527 Nova Scotia Limited, A’se’K, Abercrombie Point, AP&P, Asia Pulp & Paper, Boat Harbour, British Columbia Supreme Court, British Virgin Islands, Bruce Chapman, Canso Chemicals, Catalyst Paper, climate change, climate crisis, Companies" Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Competition Bureau of Canada, Domtar, Eldorado Brasil Celulose pulp mill, Environmental Paper Network, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), France, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, FSC, Golden Agri Resources, Graham Kissack, greenhouse gases, Greenpeace, Hervey Investment BV, Inter-corporate Ownership index, Jill Graham Scanlan, Jim Ryan, Kamloops pulp mill, Karta Halten B.V., MacKenzie pulp mill, Maurice Chiasson, mercury, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp Mill, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia LP, Northern Pulp NS GP ULC, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber Nova Scotia LP, Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia Envrionment and Climate Change, Olin Corporation, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Pictou, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing First Nation, Powell River pulp mill, pulp mill, Robert Grant, Scott Paper, Sinar Mas, Sinar Mas Group, Singapore, Statistics Canada, tax havens, Tax Justice Network, The Netherlands, Widjaja family

Why isn’t Northern Pulp using the wastewater treatment plant next door at Canso Chemicals? Is mercury an issue?

November 5, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Northern Pulp is using $450,000 dollars to sue Nova Scotians for what could be hundreds of millions of dollars, and the money for the litigation comes from the interim financing its creditor protection in the British Columbia Supreme Court affords it. But the Paper Excellence company doesn’t seem interested in spending any money to put […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Bay of Fundy, British Columbia Supreme Court, Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, Canso Chemicals, Central Colchester Wastewater Treatment Facility, Choong Wei Tan, creditor protection, David McNeill, Dillon Consulting, East River, landfill, leachate, mercury, ministerial order, Northern Pulp, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber Nova Scotia Corporation, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), Olin Corporation, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Harbour, Pierre Ducharme, runoff, Salmon River, Sean Lewis, Tracy Barron, wastewater

Paper Excellence’s very big deal

Northern Pulp’s parent company is set to acquire the North American pulp and paper giant Domtar. While the acquisition is getting very little media attention in Canada, around the world many people are worried about it — for many good reasons.

July 26, 2021 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

It is a Very Big Deal. At 10am on Thursday, July 29, at a special virtual meeting, shareholders of Domtar, a giant in the North American pulp and paper industry, will vote on whether to accept the sale of all the corporation’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock to Paper Excellence for US$55.50 per […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Alberta Wilderness Association, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), Bloomberg, Brazil, British Columbia, BusinessWire, Catalyst Paper, CBC, China, CO2 emissions, Competition Bureau of Canada, COVID-19, creditor protection, Crofton, David Suzuki Foundation, default, deforestation, Domtar, Dryden, Eco-Business, Environmental Paper Network, Espanola, eucalyptus, Euromoney, Europe, forest fires, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), France, FSC certification, Global Forest Coalition, greenhouse gas emissions, Halper Sadeh LLP, Indonesia, Joshua Martin, Kalimantan, Kamloops, land grabbing, MacKenzie, Michael Gorman, Montral, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), North America, Northern Pulp, Northern Softwood Bleached Kraft pulp, Northern Timber Nova Scotia Corporation, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI), OKI pulp mill, Ontario, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence Brazil, Paper Excellence Canada, Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, peat fires, Port Alberni, Powell River, pulp and paper industry, pulp and paper mills, Quebec, Restore Our Earth, Reuters, Sara Webb, Saskatchewan, Sierra Club, Sinar Mas, Sinar Mas Group, South America, South Carolina, Stand Earth Canada, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Sumatra, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Widjaja family, wildlife habitat, Windsor, WWF

How the Biodiversity Act was killed

Forest Nova Scotia, which represents the biggest forestry players, gets an awful lot of public money — including millions of dollars to administer a forest roads program panned by the auditor general. It also has a paid lobbyist swaying the policies of the very government that funds it, and who started working on its behalf just as the Biodiversity Act was gutted.

April 20, 2021 By Joan Baxter 11 Comments

Last month Forest Nova Scotia, an industry group representing the most powerful shapers of forestry policy in this province, spearheaded a propaganda campaign against the Biodiversity Act, which the Liberal government of Iain Rankin had introduced on March 11, calling it legislation that would “preserve and protect Nova Scotia’s unique ecosystems, wild animals, plants, lakes […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: All Terrain Vehicle Association of Nova Scotia (ATVANS), Andrew Fedora, ARF Enterprises, Astroturf, Auditor General, Bill 4, biodiversity, Biodiversity Act, Bowater Mersey, Brian Taylor, Canadian Federation of Forest Owners, Canadian Woodlands Forum, Cassie Turple, CBC Information Morning, Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia, Chronicle Herald, climate crisis, Concerned Priavate Landowner Coalition, Cumberland Forestry Advisory Committee, Darrell Dexter, Darrin Carter, Dean Produce Co-op, Debbie Reeves, Department of lands and Forestry, Department of Natural Resources, Downey Thompson, Elmsdale Lumber, Extinction Rebellion, Federation of Nova Scotia Woodland Owners, Forestry Nova Scotia, Forestry Transition Fund, Forestry Transition Team, Gas Tax Access Program, Great Northern TImber, Harry Freeman and Son, Howard Epstein, Ian Johnstone, Jacob Fillmore, JD Irving, Jeff Bishop, Jeff Black, Jim Ketterling, Jim Meek, Jonathan Porter, Kevin Saunders, Krista Fulton, Ledwidge Lumber, Leitha Haysom, Linda Pannozzo, Louisiana Pacific, Maibec CanExel, Marcus Zwicker, Mark Baillie, Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, Michael Pickup, Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, Neenah Paper, Nina Newington, Noel Sampson, Northern Pulp, Northern Timber Nova Scotia Corporation, Nova Scotia Landowners and Forest Fibre Producers Association, Paper Excellence, Port Hawkesbury Paper, Premier Iain Rankin, Public Affairs Atlantic, Resolute Forest Products, Richard Freeman, Rick Archibald, Round Table on Environment and Sustainable Prosperity, Ryan Cameron, Sasha Irving, Scotia Investments, Scotsburn Lumber, Scott Paper, Sean Lewis, Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia (SANS), Stephen Marsters, Stephen Thompson, Stop Bill 4, Taylor Lumber, Timberland Holdings, Todd Burgess, Wagner Forest Management, WestFor Management

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

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.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

A blonde woman and a white man with a dark beard, both wearing pajama bottoms and either a red or a pink bra, have a pillow fight on a bed.

Episode 84 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

After a year’s worth of singles and videos, the Halifax duo is finally releasing its first recorded project in the form of FLUTTER, a six-song genre-agnostic EP that’s deeply personal and incredibly catchy. Art Ross and Aaron Green return to the show a year later to dish on their music-industry immersion, why Ross’ sapphic lyrics strike all kinds of chords, and where you can see them this summer.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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Recent posts

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  • Letter to RCMP Commissioner Lucki rebuked her for trying to influence messaging after mass murders June 28, 2022
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