News 1. Transit passes “Soon, more people will get access to low income transit passes,” writes Erica Butler. “But the cap on this important program remains a needless obstacle.” Click here to read “Transit Pass Bingo.” This article is for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. 2. This is North Preston Stephen Kimber introduces us to This […]
The Oak Island effect: how Nova Scotia can profit by selling a nonsense tale to the Chinese
Morning File, Tuesday, April 9, 2019
News 1. Tidal turbine “Energy and Mines Minister Derek Mombourquette announced last week the province intends to ‘eventually retrieve’ the abandoned 1,000-tonne, five-storey turbine abandoned at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy near Parrsboro,” reports Jennifer Henderson: “Eventually” is the key word in that sentence since there is no timeline and no obvious financial […]
Stephen Kimber’s indispensable contribution to local journalism
Morning File, Monday, November 5, 2018
News 1. Jen’s choice Writes Stephen Kimber: Jen Powley is smart. She has four degrees. She’s a prize-winning author with an eclectic CV and a significant record of ongoing accomplishment. She’s still only 41. So why does she face a government-imposed Hobson’s life choice: go into a nursing home to be warehoused and “removed from […]
The corporate kleptocracy takes aim at Nova Scotia
Morning File, Friday, August 31, 2018
Hi, I’m Joan Baxter, a Nova Scotian journalist and author. Some of my books are actually quite upbeat, proving that I’m not always a bearer of bad news. News 1. Abandoned tidal turbine Jennifer Henderson updates the situation of the abandoned tidal turbine in the Minas Basin in this article for the Examiner. After a […]
Shawn Cleary’s betrayal of voters
Morning File, Wednesday, June 27, 2018
News 1. Shawn Cleary I’m taking a mapping class at the Journalism school this week. It’s pretty cool! I’ve always wanted to get into mapping beyond simply using Google Maps, and in recent years new software programs have become available that allow people without extensive tech backgrounds to manipulate GIS databases and make maps. About […]
The contradiction of being Councillor Cleary
Shawn Cleary is the chief flag-waver for the city's most unpopular high-rise proposal — and its developer. But he refuses to accept campaign donations from developers, and is promoting municipal campaign finance reform. He dismisses the significance of the fact the developer's chief lobbyist is a good friend, yet he is spearheading a proposal for a municipal lobbyist registry. Only in Halifax you say...
“We don’t build buildings because of public opinion. We build them for good planning… And so I think this is a good thing for us… In terms of the design, I think we’ve mitigated most of the concerns…” —Councillor Shawn Cleary June 19, 2018 Shawn Cleary’s suitcase of sophistry requires a little unpacking. Councillor Cleary […]
The Desmond file: belatedly untangling the threads that led to a murder-suicide
Finally, last week — just a few days before the first anniversary of the deaths — Dr. Matt Bowes, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, announced he was recommending an official inquiry to better understand how what happened happened and, more importantly, “to make our system better..."
One year ago tomorrow, on January 3, 2017, 33-year-old Lionel Desmond parked his car on a logging road in Upper Big Tracadie, NS, just as the sun was setting. Armed with two rifles, including an SKS semi-automatic Soviet military weapon he’d bought a few days earlier at an outdoor sports store, he made his way...
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...
UARB fails to protect whistle-blowers, punish wrong-doing bus company
The UARB decision doesn’t appear to punish Stock Transportation for firing its whistle-blowers or do anything to get Bishop and LePage their jobs back, let alone making the company pay a real price for its egregious behaviour as the province's largest designated operator of buses intended to carry school children.
Last week, the province’s Utility and Review Board issued a scathing, 180-page decision accusing Nova Scotia bus operator Stock Transportation of “repeatedly operat[ing] its public passenger vehicles, including its school buses, as it wished and contrary to the Acts, rules, regulations, its licenses, and orders; even drivers’ safety regulations.” Stock not only ran an unlicensed...
Channelling Kimberly McAndrew: Morning File, Friday, November 17, 2017
“The parole board has again refused to release a Nova Scotia man jailed in British Columbia for sex crimes who is a suspect in cold case murders,” reports Chris Lambie for the Chronicle Herald: Andrew Paul Johnson, 58, is deemed a dangerous offender. […] In 1998, sources told The Chronicle Herald that Johnson was a […]