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. […]
Eldercare advocacy groups and unions join forces to press for more nursing home funding
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: […]
Corporate shell game
Northern Pulp seeks protection from creditors in a BC court — and its largest creditor is its owner, Paper Excellence
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, […]
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.
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 […]
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.
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 […]
Northern Pulp announces more layoffs
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 […]
The Northern Pulp saga is a “really, really, really, really difficult time” for Pictou Landing First Nation
Morning File, Friday, December 20, 2019
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, […]
How many adults looked the other way as children in their care were being sexually abused?
Morning File, Thursday, August 8, 2019
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 […]