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Maritime Launch Services has hired a PR firm to conduct a “push poll” for its proposed spaceport in Canso

June 26, 2021 By Joan Baxter 5 Comments

About a year and a half ago, a couple of people contacted the Halifax Examiner about a telephone survey they had participated in. The survey concerned them because it seemed designed to convince respondents that they should support open pit gold mining in the province, something they emphatically did not support. On February 5, 2020, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Action Against Canso Spaceport (AACS), Altantic Gold, Antignoish County, Canso, Cochrane Hill, dimethylhydrazine, Eastern Memorial Hospital, Eastern Shore, gold mining, Guysborough County, hydrazine, Maritime Launch Services (MLS), Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG), Narrative Research, Narrative Research Poll, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Port Hawkesbury, push poll, rocket launch facility, spaceport, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, The Guysbrough Journal, The Port Hawkesbury Reporter, Twitter, Ukranian rockets

Who benefits from Atlantic Gold’s Nova Scotia operations?

Firm with gold mines on the Eastern Shore pays no taxes and low wages to its employees while it gets large government subsidies and maximizes profits. Oh, and it will leave toxic mine tailings that will be with us forever.

June 21, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

In mid-May, Laird Brownlie, head of external affairs for Australia’s St Barbara Ltd that acquired Atlantic Gold and its mining operations in Nova Scotia in 2019 for $722 million, sent out an email — a “special bulletin” — about the company’s proposed modifications at its Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River. Brownlie’s message […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Australia, Barb Bryden, Brenna Reynolds, Burkina Faso, Charlier Parker, clay borrow pit, Cochrane Hill, corporate taxes, Craig Hudson, Darrell Dexter, DDV Gold, Deborah Bayer, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Dustin O’Leary, Earthworks, Eastern Shore, Ellen Moore, Environment Act, Environmental Approval, environmental charges, Environmental Impact Statement, Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Fisheries Act, FOIPOP, Frances Willick, Freedom of Information request, fuel taxes, gold mine, Highway 7, IAMGOLD, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), industrial approval, information session, James Wilt, Jennifer Henderson, Jim Millard, John Perkins, KPMG, Laird Browlie, land expropriation, Leonora mine, LinkedIn, Lloyd Hines, MacGregors Industrial Group, Mario Fortunato, Mi'kmaq, mine tailings, Mineral Resources Development Fund, Minerals Incentive Program, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River Gold Mines Provincial Park, Moose River Road, Natural Resources Canada, NDP, net smelter royalty rate, net value royalty rate, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), NS Power, open pit gold mine, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Paul Palmeter, Pieridae Energy, PNG Mineral Resources Authority, PowerPoint, proposed Beaver Dam mine, RCMP, Robert Grant, royalties, Sara Wallace, Sherbrooke, Simberi mine, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, Stantec, Steve Streatch, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings management facility (TMF), taxes, The Narwhal, Touquoy mine, Transportation and Active Transit (TAT), United Nations Human Development Index, United Steelworkers union, waste rock storage area

A potent human carcinogen found in Lafarge Brookfield’s cement kiln dust is making its way onto Nova Scotia’s farm fields

The Halifax Examiner raised the issue about N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) with the two federal departments with mandates to protect the environment and ensure food safety. Here are their responses.

June 15, 2021 By Linda Pannozzo 4 Comments

For background on this story, here are Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this three-part series.  The Halifax Examiner has received responses from two federal departments involving the presence of a potent human carcinogen in Lafarge Brookfield’s cement kiln dust (CKD) — a product that is being sold as an agricultural soil amendment and is spread […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Aerotech Park, alternative fuels, ash residuals, Bath plant, biosolids, Brookfield plant, CABOT (Citizens Against the Burning of Tires), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, carcinogens, cement kiln dust, Concrete Capture, dewatered sludge, Douglas Hallett, Environment and Climate Change (ECCC), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), environmental review tribunal, Fred Blois, Gord Downie, Hagersville tire fire, human carcinogen, Lafarge Brookfield, LaFarge Canada, limestone derivative, Linda Pannozzo, Lydia Sorflaten, N-Nitrosodimethylamine, NDMA, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Robert Cumming, scrap tires, tire burning, tire-derived fuel, tires, toxicological assessment, toxicologist, Tragically Hip, US Environmental Protection Agency, World Health Organization (WHO)

Atlantic Gold paid $0 in taxes in 2019

As the company is in court facing 32 charges of polluting the environment, the promised windfall in tax revenue is proving illusionary.

January 27, 2021 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Atlantic Mining NS Inc., an affiliate of the St. Barbara company Atlantic Gold, which operates the Touquoy open pit gold mine at Moose River, has succeeded in delaying its day in court. Arraigned in Dartmouth Provincial Court, Atlantic Mining NS asked for and received an adjournment until March 15. In September 2020, Nova Scotia Environment […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Cochrane Hill, Dartmouth Provincial Court, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries Act, gold price, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Krista Gillis, Mitchell Glawson, Moose River gold mine, Mooseland, Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Prospectors and Developers of Canada Association (PDAC), royalties, Scraggy Lake, St. Barbara Limited, tax, Touquoy mine

Atlantic Gold is going to court

The St. Barbara Limited company is facing 32 environmental charges, even as more complaints roll in.

January 20, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

Just over a month after the construction company contracted by Atlantic Gold to excavate clay for the tailings facility at its open pit gold mine at Moose River assured Krista Gillis of Mooseland that the excavation work wouldn’t cause any more sedimentation in a nearby brook, it has happened again. On Saturday, January 17, Gillis […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Adele Poirier, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS Inc, carbon neutral, climate change, climate emergency, Dartmouth Provincial Court, DDV Gold, Dustin O’Leary, Environment Canada, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Guysborough Journal, heavy rainfall, Kip Keen, Krista Gillis, Lake Charlotte, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Rachel Boomer, rainfall records, S&P Global, Scraggy Lake, Seloam Brook, Ship Harbour Long Lake Wilderness Area, St. Barbara Limited, tailings management facility (TMF), Tangier Grand Lake Wilderness Area, Touquoy mine

Nova Scotia has laid charges for 32 environmental infractions against Atlantic Gold

Citizens raise concerns about environmental impacts of gold mining in Nova Scotia's moose country.

December 23, 2020 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Much attention is focused on Crown land in Digby County that is threatened by logging operations. And last week, nine people from Extinction Rebellion were arrested while trying to prevent contractors in the employ of the WestFor consortium from accessing the public forest and moose habitat slated for cutting. But in another part of the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: 15-Mile Stream, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, Betty Belmore, biodiversity, Bob Bancroft, Caribou, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dave Gunning, Deborah Bayer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, endangered species, erosion, Extinction Rebellion, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, James Millard, Krista Gillis, Mitchell Glawson, moose, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Moose River gold mine, Mooseland, Mooseland Road, Nature Nova Scotia, Northern Pulp, Northern Timber, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), proposed Beaver Dam mine, Rachel Boomer, salmon, Save Caribou group, Scraggy Lake, sedimentation, Sherbrooke, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary's River, Touquoy mine, trout, Veronica Chisholm

Northern Pulp’s “political game”

It's decision time for the Nova Scotia government. It will either approve a pipeline for pumping mill effluent into the Northumberland Strait, or won't. And it will either extend the Boat Harbour Act, or won't. Those affected by the mill operation are laying out their case and preparing next moves.

November 21, 2019 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

The story of the bleached kraft pulp mill in Pictou County, which has already dragged on for 53 years, is coming to a nail-biting climax. How — and when — it’s going to end is anyone’s guess. Time is running out, and two key dates loom. The first is December 17, 2019, which is the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: Allan MacCarthy, Boat Harbour Act, Brian Hebert, Chief Andrea Paul, Colton Cameron, Friends of the Northumberland Strait (FONS), Jamie Simpson, Jill Graham-Scanlon, Jim Ryan, Minister Gordon Wilson, Minister Margaret Miller, MP Sean Fraser, North Nova Seafoods, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp effluent, Northern Pulp focus report, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil

Cold storage was going to save N.S. in 1926

Morning File, Thursday, October 3, 2019

October 3, 2019 By Suzanne Rent 5 Comments

News 1. Northern Pulp’s sci-fi future This item is written by Joan Baxter. It’s all supposed to be decided in just 83 days. Yesterday, Nova Scotia Environment announced that it had received the focus report for Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment plant, which was required after former environment minister Margaret Miller announced in March that […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Brandon Walker, bridge protest, Carlos Beals, Ceasefire Halifax, CFL stadium proposal, collapsed crane lawsuit, collapsed crane removal, David T.S. Fraser, Extinction Rebellion, Francis Campbell, Haley Ryan, hfxAlert, Maggie-Jane Spray, Mayor Mike Savage on CFL stadium, Michael Smith, Northern Pulp focus report, Northern Pulp treatment facility, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Patrick Yancey, PC leader Tim Houston, Premier Robert Stanfield, Quentrel Provo, Rickey Walker, Rights 4 Vapers, Stephen Archibald and Halifax Seaport, Twiggz Shoes, vaping products ban, WE Day Atlantic

Nova Scotia has a mercury problem

Facilities associated with Northern Pulp Mill's proposed effluent pipe are immediately adjacent to a mercury-contaminated toxic waste site left over from the Canso Chemicals operation

April 9, 2019 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Cover photo: A Mad Tea-Party by Lewis Carroll with the Hatter, March Hare and Alice. It turns out that using a lot of mercury, as human beings have done for centuries — in everything from haberdashery to gold production to medicine — wasn’t such a great idea after all. Although this realization came only in […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Adele Poirier, Canso Chemicals, David Depew, Dillon Consulting, Domtar, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), erithism mercurialis, Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP), gold mines, Grassy Narrows First Nation, Liberal Party fundraiser, Linda M Campbell, mercury, mine tailings, Minimata Convention on Mercury, Minimata disease, Neil M Burgess, Northern Pulp Mill, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Olin Corporation, Paper Excellence, Peter Hodson, Pictou Harbour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Reed Paper, United Nations Environment (UNEP), Wabaseemoong First Nation, Wabigoon River

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

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

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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