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Well-behaved women are rarely quoted properly

Morning File, Tuesday, April 5, 2022

April 5, 2022 By Philip Moscovitch 3 Comments

News 1.  Forced mediation with Northern Pulp Joan Baxter continues to follow the story of Northern Pulp and its parent company, Paper Excellence Canada, as they try to seek restitution for being forced to shut their Pictou County pulp mill. To recap: The mill did not provide a satisfactory plan to deal with effluent from […]

Filed Under: Featured, Morning File, Women Tagged With: affordable housing, African Heritage Month, Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, Black Cultural Society of PEI, Black hair, Black History Month, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, COVID-19 pandemic, Dalhousie University College of Pharmacy, David Woods, El Jones, Gary Weekes, Habitat for Humanity, Hervey Investment B.V., Hyacinth Simpson, Jamaica Daily Gleaner, Jennifer Isenor, Joan Baxter, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Matthew Byard, Maurice Chiasson, Nature (journal), New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance, Northern Pulp, Paper Excellence, pharmacists, pharmacy, Podcasts, Robert Grant, Sarah Marshall, Spryfield, Stephen McNeil, Sweden, Tamara Steele, Thandi McCarthy, Thomas Cromwell, You're Wrong About, Yvette d'Entremont, Zane Woodford

Northern Pulp and its wealthy owners seem intent on taking Nova Scotians to the cleaners

But the Pictou pulp mill has had plenty of Nova Scotian accomplices helping them fleece the province.

April 4, 2022 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

On April 1, in the British Columbia Supreme Court, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick issued an order that forces Nova Scotia into a “mediation” process in the BC court, where Northern Pulp and six related companies have been enjoying creditor protection since June 2020. The process will be handled by a “court appointed” monitor that Northern Pulp […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), BC Premier John Horgan, Bernie Miller, Biodiversity Act, Boat Harbour Act, Brazil, British Columbia Supreme Court, Bruce Chapman, Catalyst Paper, Companies" Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Competition Bureau of Canada, creditor protection, Darrell Dexter, default, deforestation, Domtar, Eldorado Brazil Celulose, environmental assessment, environmental assessment report, GI Smith, Hervey Investment B.V., Indemnity Agreement, Jackson Widjaja, John Hamm, John Savage, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick, Kamloops, Kirby McVicar, lawsuit, Maurice Chiasson, mediation process, Netherlands, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), Nova Scotia Pension Benefits Act, Nova Scotia Superintendent of Pensions, nova scotia supreme court, Ontario, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Paper Excellence Group, Pensions, Pictou County, Public Affairs Atlantic, pulp mill, Quebec, Robert Grant, Robert Stanfield, Rodney MacDonald, Sasha Irving, Sinar Mas Group, statment of claims, Stephen McNeil, tax haven, Unifor, Widjaja family

Northern Pulp has a new set of “friends”

But the “friends” look familiar, and the “new” Northern Pulp sure looks a lot like the same old Northern Pulp.

March 9, 2022 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

This is how the “Friends of a New Northern Pulp” describe themselves on their website: We are Nova Scotians who care deeply about our province, our forests, and our communities. We are the 36,000 Nova Scotians who own small and large woodlots. So, just one line in and the BS begins. The wording of the […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured Tagged With: Andy MacGregor, Asia Pulp and Paper, Boat Harbour Act, British Columbia Supreme Court, Bruce Chapman, CBC, Chief Andrea Paul, Claire Simonon, Curmae Limited, Domtar, Earle Miller, ecological forestry, Ecology Action Centre, effluent treatment, Elmsdale Lumber, environmental assessment, Fibre Excellence, Forest Nova Scotia, forestry industry, forestry sector, Forestry Transition Team, France, Friends of a New Northern Pulp, Friends of the Northumberland Strait (FONS), Great Northern TImber, Healthy Forest Coalition, Hervey Investment BV, Iris Communications, John Hamm, Les Flamants Roses du Trébon, Linda Pannozzo, low-grade wood, Mike Lancaster, Northern Pulp, Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence Canada Holdings, Paul Withers, pellets, Peter Oram, Peter Spicer, Pictou County, Pictou Landing First Nation, PR campaign, pulp effluent, pulp mill, Ray Plourde, Robin Wilbder, Ryan Scott, Sinar Mas, Statistics Canada, Stephen McNeil, Tarascon, tax haven, The Netherlands, Widjaja family, wood chips, woodlot owners

A cautionary tale for Nova Scotia’s Liberal leadership hopefuls

Now that it's out of power, the Liberal party is imploding. As usual. Those hoping to lead the party today might take a moment to remember how the Liberals fared the last time they lost an election. Anyone remember Francis MacKenzie?

March 6, 2022 By Stephen Kimber

The existential problem for any political party whose primary raison d’êtres are to gain power and then cling to it forever, no matter what happens… is what happens when the voters finally abandon them? As they inevitably do. May I present Exhibit 1: the Nova Scotia Liberal Party of Nova Scotia, circa 2022. The party’s...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Angela Simmonds, Iain Rankin, Liberal AGM 2022, Stephen McNeil, Zach Churchill

Anaconda joins the gold rush on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

Part 2. Anaconda aims to avoid a federal impact assessment for its proposed open pit gold mine, but some say the whole regulatory process in Canada is “rigged”

February 11, 2022 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

Gold exploration and mining companies are lining up to get at Nova Scotia’s gold, as the province undergoes a fourth gold rush. In 2017, Atlantic Gold opened the province’s first-ever open pit gold mine in Moose River, with plans to open three more along the Eastern Shore, in what it described to potential investors as […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Abbé Jean-Louis LaLoutre, Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Aurelius Minerals, Barbara Markovits, Beaver Dam, Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, Cape Breton Spectator, Class I environmenal assessment, Class II environmental assessment, clearcutting, Cochrane Hill, corporate capture, DDV Gold, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Donna Ashamock, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, environmental assessment, Fifteen-Mile Stream, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, gold mine, gold rush, Goldboro, Goldboro mine project, green economy, Health Canada, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), Iris Communications, Joel Bakan, John Perkins, Kevin Bullock, Kirby McVicar, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), lobbyist, Mainland Moose, Margaret Miller, Mary Campbell, Meguma Gold, Mi'kmaq, Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative, Mi’kmaw Ecological Knowledge, Mining Association of Canada, MiningWatch Canada, Moose River, Natural Resources Canada, Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries an Aquaculture, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), One WIndow Regulatory process, open pit gold mine, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), regulatory capture, Seamus O'Regan, St Barbara Ltd, Stephen McNeil, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings, tailings facility, The Corporation, Touquoy gold mine, Ugo Lapointe, Vernon Pitts, watersheds, Western Mining Action Network

Marketing Cape Breton as a “refuge” for “clear thinkers”

Two development companies have sold 144 lots in Richmond and Inverness counties to German-speaking non-residents "who want to live with the values of Germany from 1933 to 1945."

November 19, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Nova Scotia has long been a popular place for settlers, but in the last century it also became a popular place for non-residents — including many well-heeled Americans and Europeans — to purchase properties.[1] For decades, scholars and successive governments have debated the issue of non-resident land ownership in a province with relatively little Crown […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation Tagged With: Adolf Hitler, Alexandra Mashaghati, Andreas Popp, Beaver Lodge Estates, Bras d'Or Lake, Cape Breton, Cape Breton Real Solutions, climate change, climate crisis, Condor, conspiracy theories, conspiracy theorists, Crown land, cult, Der Spiegel, Elizaveta Firsova, Eva Herman, Evans Island, George Monbiot, German Politics and Society Journal, German-speaking Europeans, Germany, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Golden Lake Estates, Gottfried Feder, Iain Rankin, immigrants, Inverness County, Juergen Gindner, Leibniz University Hannover, Mehrab Mashaghati, Michael Vogt, Nazism, non-resident landowners, ocean access, Owls Head Park, Patricia Anne Simpson, Querdenker, real estate, refuge, refugees, refugium, Reichsbuerger [Reich Citizens’] Movement, Richmond County, Save Owls Head Provincial Park, Stephen McNeil, Telegram channel, The Guardian, Third Reich, Transparency International Germany, waterfront, Wissensmanufaktur

A coalition for Black voices in Nova Scotia

Since 2015, the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition has been working on issues in the Black community, including justice, health, education, employment, and social services.

November 17, 2021 By Matthew Byard, Local Journalism Initiative reporter Leave a Comment

Earlier this fall when Premier Tim Houston announced that Pat Dunn, a white man, would be the new Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, Vanessa Fells immediately started getting phone calls from media asking her for comment on Dunn’s appointment. “When things like that happen, our members only meet once a month,” Fells said. “So, […]

Filed Under: Black Nova Scotia, Featured Tagged With: African Nova Scotia Affairs, African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (ANSDPAD), Black community, Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia, Brad Johns, Brandon Rolle, Canada, CBC, Culture and Heritage, Department of Communities, Dr. Késa Munroe-Anderson, Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, Emancipation Day, Human Rights Commission, International Decade for People of African Descent, Joan Jones, justice institute, Mark Furey, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (NSDPAD), Nova Scotia Legal Aid, Pat Dunn, Premier Tim Houston, RCMP, Rocky Jones, Scot Wortley, Stephen McNeil, street checks, the Wortley Report, Tony Ince, UN General Assembly, United Nations, Vanessa Fells

Northern Pulp is demanding it be given “more than $100 million” from the province

October 20, 2021 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

Northern Pulp — a Paper Excellence company that belongs ultimately to the billionaire corporate empire of the Widjaja family of Indonesia — is giving the Nova Scotia government two months notice that it intends to start legal proceedings to get “more than $100 million” from the province, which it claims represents the losses it has […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured Tagged With: Asia Pulp and Paper, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, British Columbia Supreme Court, Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCA), Darrell Dexter, Domtar, Jean-Francois Guillot, John Hamm, John Savage government, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Northern Pulp, Paper Excellence, Pictou County, Pictou Landing First Nation, premier John Savage, Premier Tim Houston, Sinar Mas, Stephen McNeil, Tim Houston, Widjaja family

What are Paper Excellence’s real plans for Northern Pulp?

This week two men presented the company’s plans for a “complete transformation” of the the mill at a special Pictou Town Council meeting. They faced persistent questions and made some telling comments that do not bode well for Nova Scotia.

July 21, 2021 By Joan Baxter 10 Comments

Paper Excellence is on a desperate charm offensive in Nova Scotia, trying to build “trust,” get support to refit and re-open its Pictou County Northern Pulp mill, make people believe that the company has somehow transformed itself overnight, and convince us all to forget its many egregious environmental, social, and political transgressions and bullying tactics. […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: A’se’K, Biodiversity Act, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Bowater lands, British Columbia, Caribou Harbour, Chief Andrea Paul, COunty of Pictou Council, creditor protection, Crown land, Cumberland Forestry Advisory Committee, Dale Paterson, Darrell Dexter, Duff Montgomerie, Effluent Treatment Facility, Environmental Liaison Committee, Forest Nova Scotia, GI Smith, Graham Kissack, Jerry Dias, Jim Ryan, Ken Swain, Melinda MacKenzie, Nadine LeBlanc, NDP government, Northern Pulp, Northern pulp creditor protection, Nova Scotia Lands, Paper Excellence, Pedro Chang, pension plan, Pensions, Pictou, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Pictou Town Council, pipeline, pulp effluent, pulp mill, Resolute Forest Products, Robert Stanfield, Scott Maritimes Limited Agreement Act, Stellarton Town Council, Stephen McNeil, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Unifor, Wagner Forest Management, Wentworth Valley, WestFor Management, Westville Town Council

The French Connection

People in southern France are battling pollution at a paper mill owned by a corporate behemoth: Paper Excellence Canada, the owner of the Northern Pulp Mill in Nova Scotia

February 24, 2021 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

They call their association the “Les Flamants Roses du Trébon” or LFRT (Flamingos of Trébon), and it’s a collective of residents in southern France who are fighting to have the six-decades-old Fibre Excellence Tarascon pulp mill in the province of Alpes-Côte d’Azur clean up its environmental act.  French media report that the mill is owned […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: A’se’K, Asia Pulp and Paper, bankruptcy, Boat Harbour, Bouches-du-Rhône, British Columbia, Catalyst Paper, Crofton, Darrell Dexter, Fibre Excellence Tarascon, Flamingos of Trébon, France, French President Emmanuel Macron, Haute-Garonne, insolvency, Jean-Francois Guillot, Les Flamants Roses du Trébon (LFRT), Michel Dufy, Nature Comminges, Northern Pulp, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence B.V., Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Landing First Nation, pollution, Port Alberni, Powell River, pulp mill, receivership, Saint-Guadens, Seveso, Sinar Mas, Stephen McNeil, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Tarascon, Tax Justice Network, Widjaja family

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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 man wearing a purple jean jacket and sporting a moustache lies on the green grass surrounded by pink plastic flamingos

Episode 80 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Singer-songwriter Willie Stratton has wandered a number of genre paths, starting with raw acoustic folk as a teen phenom, moving through surf rock as Beach Bait, and landing in a Roy Orbison-style classic country on his new album Drugstore Dreamin’. Ahead of his release show at the Marquee on Friday, he stops in to explain why mixing influences makes the best art, how he approaches the guitar, and what he likes about his day job as a barber.

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

  • Feeding the discussion on breastfeeding and infant formula May 26, 2022
  • “I have to live with that, and I’ve lived with that for two-plus years”: emotional testimony about RCMP mistakes during the mass murders May 26, 2022
  • ‘Next thing I know I’m getting tased:’ Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing into 2019 arrest on Quinpool Road underway May 26, 2022
  • Halifax committee recommends in favour of plan to move, restore, and add to historic Elmwood May 26, 2022
  • Retired Judge Corrine Sparks receives honorary degree from Mount Saint Vincent University May 25, 2022

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