1. Nova Scotia Power “When Chris Huskilson retires as president and CEO of Emera at the end of this month, there is nothing to prevent his successor Scott Balfour from assuming Huskilson’s executive position and continuing in his current role as the Chair of the Board at Emera-owned Nova Scotia Power,” reports Jennifer Henderson: A […]
An interview with friendly dogs: Morning File, Monday, February 12, 2018
1. PC Leadership race Reporter Jennifer Henderson attended the Progressive Conservative Party’s annual general meeting Friday night. Former leader Jaimie Baillie was notably absent, but Henderson heard from each of the five prospective future leaders, who positioned themselves such that Henderson dubbed them “The Reformer” (Tim Houston), “The Woman” (Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin), “The Dark Horse” (Julie […]
Fracking ain’t what it’s cracked up to be: Morning File, Monday, January 15, 2018
News 1. Immigration Writes Stephen Kimber: Reading news accounts of last week’s meeting of the legislature’s committee on economic development, you could be forgiven for assuming the much fooforahed Ivany Report’s call to action on immigration had already become a neatly gift-wrapped fait accompli, topped with a pretty government-tied bow. Not so fast… Click here […]
Delousing and other strategies for civic wealth: Morning File, Monday, December 18, 2017
News 1. Doctors “Nova Scotia has a doctor problem,” writes Stephen Kimber: Perhaps lack-of-doctor might be more accurate. And “crisis” is certainly a more apt description than the mundane problem. According to the province’s one-year-old “Need A Family Practice” list, 42,198 Nova Scotians — 4.6 per cent of the province’s population — are currently officially […]
Luxuriating in sponsorship cash, Stephen Archibald completely ignores the Vorarlberg gnome scandal: Morning File, Thursday, December 7, 2017
News 1. Quad C “China Communications Construction Company International Holding Ltd, or CCCCI, the overseas investment and financing arm of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), is poised to buy the Canadian construction company Aecon for $1.5 billion,” reports Mary Campbell: CCCC is, of course, “Quad C,” the company our port promoter Albert Barbusci says may build […]
Tales from a windswept bay in eastern Canada: Morning File, Tuesday, November 14, 2017
This is why you should subscribe to the Halifax Examiner Earlier this month, I published an article looking at Justice Lawrence O’Neil’s ruling that gives custody of a five-year-old boy to a father with a history of domestic assault. Last night, I took the article from behind the paywall so everyone can read it for […]
The Burnside Expressway was realigned and it’s going to cost commuters lots of time, money, and pollution
The route of the highway was moved south of Anderson Lake because Dexter Construction was "not expected to be cooperative."
Just before the last provincial election, the Nova Scotia Liberals announced a seven-year, $390 million commitment to highway building and twinning. It was a distinct change from the stance they had taken the previous year during tolling consultations, when they made clear that Nova Scotia could not afford to twin highways without collecting tolls. One […]
Here’s what we need for a great new Mumford Terminal
The city must first make big decisions on commuter rail and transit lanes in order to get the bus terminal right.
It’s finally happening. The city has started planning its redo of the ghastly, despised Mumford Terminal. The city has hired Dillon Consulting for phase one: figuring out where the heck to put the thing, designing how it will work, and giving a rough guess at how much it will cost to build. Dillon needs to...
Lily the duck toller and Cooper the mutt: a love story. Morning File, Tuesday, August 1, 2017
News 1. Burnside Connector I’ve been opposed to the Burnside–Sackville Connector from the start. As I wrote in April: Yes, traffic in Burnside is horrible. The place was badly designed from the get-go, and none of the repeated expansions of the business park came with sensible improvements in transportation systems. But adding more highways into the […]
A new way to measure sprawl shines light on inequities and inefficiencies
People in Glen Arbour have four times as much road per capita than their Fairview counterparts
Some of HRM’s richest neighbourhoods are being subsidized by some of our poorest ones, according to a new analysis by urban planners Tristan Cleveland and Paul Dec which looks at census data, road costs, and road length per capita. The analysis brings to light systemic inequities, and also shows that on average, Halifax has been...