Mark Carney is under a microscope. (Yes, that would be a Markroscope, but let’s not make the term a habit.) Since his landslide victory in the Liberal Party’s race to replace Justin Trudeau on the weekend, Canada’s attention has turned to Carney to lead us into a trade war and/or general election. But there is […]
Kyle Shaw
Loving the arrival of this mysterious climate event people are calling "spring".
Kyle was a founding member of the newspaper in 1993 and was the paper’s first publisher. Kyle occasionally teaches creative nonfiction writing (think magazine-style #longreads) and copy editing at the University of King’s College School of Journalism.
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Halifax byelection finally started, but it might not finish
Update: Mark Carney will be Canada’s next prime minister, following his overwhelming win—85.9% of the vote—at the Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention yesterday, Sunday, March 9. Carney must be sworn in by the Governor General (no date’s been announced for that yet) and has to form a cabinet, then he can call a general […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Driven to drink by Trump? Start here.
It’s mind-numbing trying to keep up with Don Trump’s tariff moves. The US president is a trade terrorist, and negotiating with terrorists is something rational people avoid if possible. To their great credit, Canadian premiers have stepped off the Trump roller coaster and gone ahead with various measures to show America we most definitely have […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
When will MP Andy Fillmore be replaced?
As a politician, Andy Fillmore has good timing. Back in 2015 he ran for the federal Liberal Party in the Halifax riding, winning to become a member of parliament on the same “sunny ways” wave of Liberal popularity that swept Justin Trudeau into the prime minister’s office. After a couple more election wins—each time, on […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Minority rules
The issues, the debates, the democracy of it all. There’s nothing like election season in Halifax. And we are in the middle of it! Yesterday premier Tim Houston called a provincial election for Nov. 26, even as campaign signs for the just-finished municipal race litter roadsides around the city, and the threat of a federal […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What Halifax’s new-look council says about incumbent power
Ballots have been counted since Saturday’s final voting day, and the results show a major makeover for the regional municipality. “Halifax council gets face lift following municipal election” is the CityNews headline; there are 17 seats for elected representatives around the council table—16 councillors plus the mayor—and eight of them are going to be filled […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best of Halifax 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards winners
We’ve been doing this for 29 years, The Coast and the people of Halifax working together to create the city’s biggest spotlight. The Coast has the easy job—hosting the Best of Halifax survey, counting the votes, having the honour of presenting the results. It’s you (or if not actually you, thousands and thousands of Coast […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax film festival jumps on the rebrand wagon
It’s been a busy few days for rebranding, with a struggling social media network changing its name on Sunday, followed by Halifax’s major film fest following suit Wednesday. But unlike Elon Musk’s dopey move—an X-tinction level event according to much of the Twitterverse—the Atlantic International Film Festival went in the right direction. Rebranders of the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Come From Away adds 3 shows to Halifax stand
Come From Away doesn’t open Halifax until November, and it’s already a hit. Today the show’s producers announced that three performances have been added to CFA’s local run, making for a total of seven chances to see the show at Scotiabank Centre from Tuesday Nov 14 through Sunday Nov 19. “Due to overwhelming demand, three […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
About that rain in the forecast…
The good news: Environment Canada is predicting a few days of rain for Nova Scotia starting Friday, which can only help fight the various forest fires burning across the province. The bad news: After one of the driest springs on record, parched Nova Scotia will need huge amounts of rainfall to get back to normal. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Weekly COVID deaths, cases, data in Nova Scotia (May 25 update)
Shortcut to data visualizations Cases 2023 Deaths 2023 Hospitalizations 2023 Pandemic infections Weekly deaths Pandemic patients Death toll The omicron variant arrived in Nova Scotia at the end of 2021—Dec. 8 by the province’s official count—making 2022 the first full year of the omicron COVID pandemic. 2023 will be the second, unless either the disease […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The COVID emergency is officially over in Nova Scotia
In the early months of the COVID crisis, Dr. Robert Strang’s daily briefings were a popular and vital source of information for Nova Scotians. Today, Dr. Strang gave his final briefing of the epidemic, announcing the lifting of the province’s last lingering COVID restrictions and stating that COVID’s become an endemic disease akin to the […]