I can understand why Nicole Gnazdowsky might have become a “hostile individual.” I can’t understand why Premier Iain Rankin can claim — as he did last week — that he doesn’t have the authority to act in her case because there’s an election campaign underway. Huh? Let’s start with Gnazdowsky. Her 26-year-old “little brother,” Andrew,...
Election 2021: Welcome to ‘stupid season’
"An election" — as here-and-gone Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell once infamously but correctly explained — "is no time to discuss serious issues.” The real reason we are going to the polls in the middle of August is because the Liberals hope, and believe, no one will be paying attention.
It’s 7:37 am on Saturday morning and I hit refresh on my computer news feed. Again. A few minutes earlier, on CBC Radio’s Weekend Morning, newsreader Sarah Haliburton — squeezed between host Bill Roach’s usual eclectic musical selections (Dennis Lee’s iconic “Alligator Pie” followed by “Two Sleepy People,” the Fats Waller version) — began her...
Iain Rankin scores unforced error after own goal after…
I’m guessing — hoping, for their sakes — the premier's inner circle wasn’t responsible for "strategically leaking" news about Rankin's youthful DUIs last week. But they, and Rankin himself, are certainly culpable for what happened after that.
Watching Premier Iain Rankin score one own goal after another — and then, oh god, no, yet another — on his Liberal campaign last week was fascinating in a rubberneck, train wreck, don’t look now, not again, JUST PLEASE STOP IT kind of way. By itself, Rankin’s unforced gaffes probably won’t — and shouldn’t —...
Province to spend $96.5 million to renovate nursing homes, add new long-term care beds
Rankin: renovations to include replacing shared bathrooms, adding single rooms to add "greater focus on infection prevention and control."
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Please help us continue this coverage by subscribing. On Friday, Premier Iain Rankin announced plans to spend $96.5 million to renovate 17 long-term care facilities across the province and add 264 new nursing home beds in the long-term care homes in Nova Scotia Health’s Central […]
How not to handle homelessness
Morning File, Wednesday, June 23, 2021
News 1. Halifax police officer testifies he didn’t think Corey Rogers needed medical assistance “One of the officers who arrested Corey Rogers the night he died testified Tuesday that although Rogers was intoxicated and needed to be dragged into his cell, he didn’t think the 41-year-old needed medical attention,” writes Zane Woodford in his continuing […]
“A crisis that hits any part of the world or segment of society also affects us”
Morning File, Tuesday, June 22, 2021
News 1. At the time of Corey Rogers’ death, HRP had no policy on spit hoods, and officers had no training in using the hood place on him Zane Woodford reports on the first day of the Police Review Board hearing into the conduct of the three officers who arrested Corey Rogers in June 2016. […]
Promises to make… Promises to keep?
Iain Rankin billed himself as the candidate of generational change. But as a premier in pre-election pretend mode, he seems more like the unwelcome but familiar ghost of politicians past.
On June 14, 2021, Health Minister Zach Churchill announced the “Rankin government” — as it demands to be known — will invest one million dollars a year to provide improved cancer care treatment and support for patients in southwestern Nova Scotia. “We are committed to giving the people of Digby, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties better...
Commence Phase 2: waking up from COVID fatigue
Morning File, Wednesday, June 16, 2021
No excuse to skip the gym this morning, Halifax… News 1. COVID-19: the road to reopening continues Why not have a few friends over for dinner tonight? At 8 o’clock this morning, Nova Scotia moved into “Phase 2” of its reopening plan, easing some of the province’s current public health restrictions. The news was officially […]
Planning for a re-opening and hoping for a re-election
Premier Iain Rankin needs a do-over after a gaffe-prone first few months in office. His government's gradual re-opening gives him another chance to make a better impression.
On Friday afternoon, Premier Iain Rankin announced what he describes as a five-phase plan to allow too-long shuttered, increasingly restless, can’t-wait Nova Scotians to resume something approximating normal lives. “Our phased plan,” he boasted during a COVID briefing, “will allow us to safely enjoy summer” while various vaccines are making immunity magic inside our bodily...
What’s the ‘reasonable’ limit on protest in a public health emergency?
How do you distinguish between anti-maskers intending to flout health restrictions in the name of their “freedom” to infect themselves and others and organizers of a COVID-safe car rally intended to protest violence against Palestinians? You don't, say police. And they didn't. But should they?
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Please help us continue this coverage by subscribing. On the morning of Friday, May 14, 2021, Nova Scotia government lawyers — armed with affidavits from Dr. Robert Strang, our chief medical officer of health, and Hayley Crichton, the Department of Justice’s director of public safety […]