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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

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

Eldercare advocacy groups and unions join forces to press for more nursing home funding

October 17, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. For the first time in Nova Scotia, two eldercare advocacy groups have joined forces with unionized healthcare workers to push the provincial government to address chronic labour shortages and underfunding affecting thousands of seniors requiring nursing home care. Below is the coalition’s call to action: […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Advocates for Care of the Elderly (ACE Group), Anne Gillies, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream, Ellen Gaudet, Families for Quality Eldercare, Janet Hazelton, Jesslyn Dalton, long term care (LTC), Megan Tonet, Northwood, Nova Scotia Government and General Employees (NSGEU), Nova Scotia Health Coalition (NSHC), Nova Scotia Nurses Union (NSNU), Nova Scotians for Long-term Care Reform, pandemic, Paul Curry, Robert Silverstein, Shannex, Unifor

Corporate shell game

Northern Pulp seeks protection from creditors in a BC court — and its largest creditor is its owner, Paper Excellence

July 19, 2020 By Joan Baxter 11 Comments

Northern Pulp — the mill in Pictou County — has gone into hibernation. And Northern Pulp — the company — is “insolvent.” It is one of seven related companies petitioning for creditor protection in the British Columbia Supreme Court, while it seeks “a plan of compromise or arrangement.” The petitioners seeking relief from debt payments, […]

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: 1057863 B.C. Limited, Asia Pulp and Paper, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bruce Chapman, Canso Chemicals, Catalyst Paper Corporation, Chetwynd Mechanical Pulp Inc., Chronicle Herald, corporate tax haven index, corporate welfare, deforestation, Ed Roste, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Eka Tjipta Widjaja, Euromomey, Euromoney, Forbes, former Premier John Hamm, Globe and Mail, Greenpeace, Hardi Wardhana, Hervey Investment B.V., Howe Sound Pulp and paper, Indonesia, Inter-corporate Ownership index, Jackson Widjaja, Jan Willem van Gelder, MacKenzie Pulp Inc., Mattell, Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp, Mongabay, Netherlands, Northern Pulp, Northern pulp creditor protection, Northern Pulp loans, Northern Pulp Mill, Northern Resources Nova Scotia Corporation, Northern Timber, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence B.V., Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation, Pedro Chang, Petra Spaargaren, Prince Albert Pulp Inc., Reuters, Sinar Mas Group, Singapore, Skoomkumchuck Pulp Inc., Sugiarto Kardiman, Supreme Court of British Columbia, tax havens, Tax Justice Network, Tejuh Widjaja, Unifor

No “pandemic premium” for Nova Scotia health care workers

Ontario and Quebec have increased the pay for the continuing care assistants, nurses, and dietary and cleaning staff working in nursing homes during the COVID-19 crisis. It's a recognition that those workers are both needed and putting their own health at risk. But Premier Stephen McNeil has rejected calls to give this province's frontline workers similar recognition; in Nova Scotia, they'll continue on with the same low pay they've always received.

April 28, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson 9 Comments

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Over the weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that Ontario will pay “a pandemic premium” of $4 an hour to continuing care assistants (CCAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), as well as dietary and cleaning staff who work in long-term care homes, group homes, home-care, and […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Continuing Care Assistants (CCA), coronavirus, COVID-19, licensed practical nurse (LPN), Linda MacNeil, Long Term Care, Marla MacInnis, Northwood, Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), nursing homes, pandemic, pandemic premium, Premier Doug Ford, Premier François Legault, Premier Stephen McNeil, Unifor

Northern Pulp takes province to court: The saga continues

The unfolding saga of the 53-year-old Pictou County pulp mill operated by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia — a Paper Excellence company that is part of the corporate empire of the billionaire Widjaja family of Indonesia — continues to get “curiouser and curiouser” as Alice in Wonderland once remarked.

January 24, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson and Joan Baxter Leave a Comment

Yesterday afternoon, Northern Pulp issued a news release stating it will ask the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to undertake a judicial review of the Nova Scotia Environment Minister Gordon Wilson’s December 17, 2019 decision requiring the company to submit a full environmental assessment report before deciding to approve its proposed effluent treatment facility to […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Andrew Ross MacGregor, Boat Harbour closure, Brian Baarda, Brian Hebert, Chief Andrea Paul, Environment Minister Gordon Wilson, Environment Minister Margaret Miller, Francis Wayne Chisholm, Gerald William Battist, Ian Joseph Johnstone, Jeffrey Carmen Black, Local 440, Marshall Stewart Bateman, Matthew Lawrence MacGillivray, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Sipekne'katik First Nation, Teal Forest Resources Inc., Unifor, William Andrew West

Northern Pulp announces more layoffs

January 23, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson Leave a Comment

Northern Pulp issued a news release earlier this morning to announce 90 salaried employees will receive layoff notices today, in addition to some 180 unionized employees given notice earlier this month. The release says: “The majority of Northern Pulp’s 90 salaried employees will be laid off over the next few months with the earliest being […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Northern Pulp layoffs, PC leader Tim Houston, PC MLA Tory Rushton, Shelley Amyotte, Unifor

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

How many adults looked the other way as children in their care were being sexually abused?

Morning File, Thursday, August 8, 2019

August 8, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 5 Comments

News 1. Patrick McNutt This item contains accounts of sexual abuse of children. A police release from yesterday: Investigators with the Special Investigation Section of the Integrated Criminal Investigative Division have laid additional charges against a man in relation to multiple historical sexual assaults that occurred in the 1970s and 80s. Investigators have charged Michael […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Adam Barrett, Ben Eoin, BlackBay Real Estate Group, Child sexual abuse, eviction, Frances Willick, Mary Campbell, Michael Patrick McNutt, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Northern Pulp Mill effluent, Project Apollo, Taryn Grant, toxic waste, Unifor, world class

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.

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