• Black Nova Scotia
  • Courts
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
    • COVID
  • Investigation
  • Journalism
  • Labour
  • Policing
  • Politics
    • City Hall
    • Elections
    • Province House
  • Profiles
  • Transportation
  • Women
  • Morning File
  • Commentary
  • PRICED OUT
  • @Tim_Bousquet
  • Log In

Halifax Examiner

An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Commenting policy
  • Archives
  • Contact us
  • Subscribe
    • Gift Subscriptions
  • Donate
  • Swag
  • Receipts
  • Manage your account: update card / change level / cancel

Dalhousie University’s decision to source “sustainable biomass” from J.D. Irving and Wagner a “piss-off”

News that Emera’s Brooklyn biomass plant is out of commission is making waves in Nova Scotia, while Dal’s biomass facility in Truro garners little publicity.

March 1, 2022 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

In May 2021, Dalhousie University issued a tender for “sustainable biomass” to feed the bioenergy plant on its agricultural campus in Truro. At the end of July 2021, the university quietly awarded the contract — worth $1,318,187.50 — to J.D. Irving and Wagner Forest NS. This marked a departure for Dalhousie’s biomass plant, which for […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: agricultural campus, Anne McInerney, Atlantic Star Forestry Ltd, Bermuda, Biodiversity Act, biomass, biomass energy, biomass facility, Brooklyn Energy, Bruce Livesey, carbon accounting, CBC, clearcutting, climate change, climate crisis, Colchester County, Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) Program, Cumberland County, Dal News, Dalhousie University, David Patriquin, ecological forestry, greenhouse gas accounting, greenhouse gas emissions, Greg Watson, Independent Review of Forest Practices In Nova Scotia, JD Irving, Jennifer Henderson, KC Irving, Lahey report, Michael Gorman, National Observer, Neenah Paper, New Brunswick, North Nova Forest Owners Co-operative, Nova Scotia Forest Notes, Nova Star Forestry Ltd, pulp mill, renewable energy, Rochelle Owen, sawmill residue, Scott Maritimes, soil carbon, Sproule Lumber, Stephanie Rogers, tax haven, Tom Miller, triad model, Truro, Wagner Forest Management, Wagner Forest NS, William Lahey

The Northern Pulp saga is a “really, really, really, really difficult time” for Pictou Landing First Nation

Morning File, Friday, December 20, 2019

December 20, 2019 By Tim Bousquet and Joan Baxter 7 Comments

News 1. A “really, really, really, really difficult time” Joan Baxter wrote this item. About 300 people gathered yesterday in the school gymnasium at Pictou Landing First Nation for a rally to support the Boat Harbour Act. That legislation, passed in 2015 by Premier Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government with support of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: A’se’K, Boat Harbour Act, Brian Baarda, Chief Andrea Paul, Clean the Mill, convention centre hotel, Derek Ross, Dr. Richard Strauss, Elizabeth McMillan, Forest Nova Scotia, Haley Ryan, Jaddus Joseph Poirier, Linda Little, Lt. Derek de Jong, Michael Patrick McNutt, Murray Prest, Northern Pulp, Nova Centre, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association, Paper Excellence, Philip Croucher, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil, Ralph Francis, Renee Ross, Scott Maritimes, Star Halifax, Stirling McLean, Sutton Place Hotels, Taryn Grant, Unifor, Utility and Review Board, Wade Prest, Yvette d'Entremont, Zane Woodford

The Canso Chemicals mystery: With the chemical plant long gone, why is the company still alive? And what about all that mercury pollution?

March 7, 2019 By Joan Baxter 6 Comments

Canso Chemicals hasn’t produced any chemicals for 29 years, but — contrary to what I wrote in the Halifax Examiner in “Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions” — the company lives on. Sort of. For two decades Canso Chemicals produced chlorine for the pulping process […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Canadian Industries Limited (CIL), Canso Chemicals, Choong Wei Tan, Curtis Richards, Dillon Consulting, Ferguson MacKay, Fisheries Minister Jack Davis, Friends of the Northumberland Strait (FONS), ICI Canada, Jack Pink, Jill Graham Scanlan, John M. Olin Foundation, mercury, Minimata disease, Northern Pulp, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Nova Scotia Pulp Ltd., Olin Corporation, Pictou Harbour, Pierre Ducharme, Pioneer Chemicals Limited, Pioneer Companies LLC, Scott Maritimes, Seymore Thomas Dewtie, Sinar Mas Group, Widjaja family

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 young white woman with dark hair and a purple shirt lies on a large rock at dusk, looking up at the sky and playing her banjolele.

Episode 85 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Logan Robins (writer/director/composer) and Katherine Norris (star/composer) of the Unnatural Disaster Theatre Company are on the show this week ahead of their provincial tour of HIPPOPOSTUMOUS, Robins’ musical exploration of invasive species, colonization, environmentalism, and history. Hear how Pablo Escobar’s personal hippos have invaded and are ruining a section of Colombia, why Robins was intrigued to make a show about it, and all the places you can catch it this July. Plus Norris cracks out the banjolele to perform one of the show’s songs. And the new jam from Beauts!

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.

Sign up for email notification

Sign up to receive email notification when we publish new Morning Files and Weekend Files. Note: signing up for this email is NOT the same as subscribing to the Halifax Examiner. To subscribe, click here.

Recent posts

  • Nova Scotia’s second busiest emergency department is dealing with record-breaking overcapacity June 30, 2022
  • What’s the “one small habit” that keeps a man organized? A wife June 30, 2022
  • Stuck on stick: clinging to the manual in an automatic world June 29, 2022
  • Halifax council votes to plan for Centennial Pool replacement, support universal basic income, and more June 28, 2022
  • Group wants heritage designation for house of Nova Scotia’s first Black doctor June 28, 2022

Commenting policy

All comments on the Halifax Examiner are subject to our commenting policy. You can view our commenting policy here.

Copyright © 2022