Just when I thought I was out… Morning File, Thursday, November 19, 2015

News
Views
Government
This date in history
On campus
Noticed
In the harbour
Footnotes

News

1. Overnight sensation

“An outbreak of bedbugs at Victoria General in Halifax has caused several patients to be relocated, according to the Nova Scotia Health Authority,” reports the CBC.

2. Port Hawkesbury Paper

Yesterday, the United States International Trade Commission approved the US Commerce Department’s decision to place high tariffs on paper products produced at Port Hawkesbury Paper, reports the Chronicle Herald:

U.S. industry is “materially injured by reason of imports of supercalendered paper from Canada” that the Commerce Department had already determined to be subsidized, the trade commission decision read.

The company and the province have appealed the decision to a NAFTA tribunal, but the appeal will take two to three years to work through the process.

3. Refugees

Metro’s Haley Ryan profiles Jahu Camara, a lesbian from Gambia who is a refugee sponsored by the Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia.

Relatedly, on this week’s Examineradio podcast, which we’re recording today, we’ll be discussing Justin Trudeau’s pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada. It’s unclear how many Syrians will come to Halifax, but as there’s an existing Syrian community and organizations ready to assist immigrants, we’re about to see some big changes locally. That’s a good thing.

4. Peter Kelly

“Former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly says he is coming back to the city after his contract as chief administrative officer of Westlock, AB, ends at the end of February,” reports Anjuli Patil:

Kelly says he plans to settle in the Bedford-Halifax area, but he will not say what he plans to do for work. Some people would like to see him enter politics again and he says people are calling and e-mailing him to see if he plans to seek office.

“I appreciate and understand that discussion is going to be there,” said Kelly.

Ya know, it’s a big world out there. I’d like to report on different stuff, maybe some crime reporting, maybe look into some financial issues, or the moss growing on trees. Anything but this.

5. Choices

CTV quotes Frank Mather, a passenger on the Air France plane diverted to Halifax:

I think I would rather come to Halifax for the night than risk my plane exploding over the Atlantic.

Maybe they can put that in the Doers and Dreamers guide: “Visiting Halifax: better than dying in a fiery explosion over the Atlantic!”

The diverted plane landed in Halifax at around 10pm on Tuesday night, and passengers were put on a 3:45am flight on Thursday. Reportedly, they stayed in a hotel near the airport. I hope some of them got to come into town but I didn’t see any bewildered French people wandering around downtown, so maybe not.

6. Bell

A police release from yesterday:

Halifax Regional Police is requesting the public’s assistance in locating the bell from the Princess of Acadia ferry. 

On September 28, officers responded to a report that the ship’s bell of the Princess of Acadia had been stolen while ferry was docked in Dartmouth. The vessel has been retired and a number of items from the ship, including the bell, were to be turned over to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

Views

1. Cranky letter of the day

To the Chronicle Herald:

To the man who recently left his two-year-old pit bull with a broken leg at the veterinarian’s to be euthanized a few weeks ago: I have your dog. A local rescue organization paid to have him examined by a veterinarian.

Sadly, his leg had to be amputated because it was broken over a year ago. But I guess you already knew that. What’s wrong with you? How did he break his leg? Why didn’t you have him seen by a veterinarian? Are there children in your home?

We have named him Alex and we are lovingly fostering him with the intention of adopting him. Just like Alex, I know what it’s like to be unloved and left behind.

Just so you know, I’ve been contacted by other local rescue organizations. They tell me you have been trolling the Internet looking for a new dog. You are out of luck because you are on the rescue list titled DNA (Do Not Adopt). I’ll never understand how people like you can unload such hatred on a defenceless animal. To me, you are heartless. By the way, Alex forgives you. I do not.

Tracy Jessiman, Chester

Government

City

Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee (9am, City Hall) — There are all sorts of boring economic development issues on the agenda, but what will get all the attention is… Off-leash Parks!

Active Transportation Standing Commitee (4pm, City Hall) — the committee will look at “Dartmouth Waterfront Greenway Extension.” There’s no published staff report yet, so I can’t give you details.

Province

No public meetings.

This date in history

On November 19, 1950, Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On” hit #1 on the Billboard country hit charts, his first #1 hit.

On campus

Dalhousie

Ad hoc wireless network (11:30am, MA310, Sexton Campus) — some unnamed speaker has this to say:

This talk will examine MAC protocol design issues in a single-channel wireless network characterized by a CSMA/CA technology. I’ll present a couple of new designs that increase network throughput substantially. Getting the parameters of these designs requires the solution of constrained optimization problems, and in one, a constrained integer optimzation problem. I’ll then look at an application (the Canadian Army’s communications system) where the resulting protocols were able to enhance network performance substantially.

Thesis defence, Interdisciplinary Studies (1pm, Room 3107, Mona Campbell Building) — PhD candidate Gregory Canning will defend his thesis, “‘A Good Show, in a Good House, to a Good Audience’: Early Film Exhibition in the Maritime Provinces, 1896-1919.” Thesis defences are open to the public, and I keep meaning to attend one.

The Suffering Grasses (6pm, Weldon Law building) — a screening of the film kicks off the 11th annual International Humanitarian Law Conference. The YouTube trailer explains:

Over a year and a half later, with thousands dead and counting, the ongoing conflict in Syria has become a microcosm of political tensions in the Middle East and an unsavory reflection of the world at large. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring and the complicated politics of the region, this film seeks to explore the Syrian conflict through the humanity of the civilians who have been killed, abused, and displaced to the squalor of refugee camps. In all such conflicts, large and small, it is civilians—women and children, families and whole communities—who suffer at the leisure of those in power and get caught in the crossfire of the hegemons. When elephants go to war, it is the grass that suffers!

Bee Time (7pm, Ondaatje Auditorium, McCain Building) — Mark Winston will speak on “Bee Time: lessons from the hive.”

Planetarium show (7:15pm, Room 120, Dunn Building) — the show focuses on the Andromeda galaxy, which is on a collision course with our own Milky Way. Five bucks at the door, leave children under eight years old out in the car.

Noticed

I was walking up Robie Street yesterday and noticed that the Piercy’s demolition was revealing some interesting brickwork hidden behind the old concrete facade. I tweeted the photo above and of course Stephen Archibald knew all about it. The brick, he told me, is the remains of the Nova Scotia Cotton mill, which was mostly destroyed by the Explosion. The building was over a mile away from the Explosion site, and on the opposite side of the Fort Needham hill.

Explains Libraries and Archives Canada:

Industrialization came to Halifax in the 1870s. The Nova Scotia Cotton Manufacturing Company operated from 1883 until 1891 when it was taken over by Dominion Cotton Mills Company of Montréal (later Dominion Textiles.) At the time, the cotton factory was Halifax’s second-largest industry.

After the Explosion, “the walls and first floor of the mill remained and were roofed over to store supplies for the city’s reconstruction,” says Janet Kitz in December 1917:Re-visiting the Halifax Explosion.

Archibald, who’s better at finding stuff than I am, tweeted this photo from the Archives:

Archibald says the cotton mill was a muse for the Fort Needham memorial. In the distance in the photo is the Exhibition building, which was even farther away from the Explosion but also destroyed; the Forum was built on the site in 1927. Here’s a photo of the Exhibition building, post-Explosion:

In the harbour

Maersk Cutter, offshore supply ship, to Pier 9
BBC Northsea, general cargo, Manzanillo, Colombia to anchorage
Atlantic Cartier, container ship, Liverpool, England to Fairview Cove
Michigan Highway, car carrier, Emden, Germany to Autoport

Footnotes

Say what you will about the Examiner, but you won’t find pop-up ads here or autoplay videos, no siree.