Kyle Shaw

When Elizabeth May announced her plan to challenge Peter MacKay in the next federal election, she came under immediate criticism. The move was seen as a stunt at best—the Green Party leader taking on the powerful cabinet minister being a David-and-Goliath fight designed to secure media coverage. At worst, it was considered political self-sabotage, evidence […]

While the Commonwealth Games bid was getting scuttled at City Hall last week, I was across the street having a meeting with two people over lunch. Although it was tempting to go over and watch the debacle unfolding, I stayed put. The Games might have been the biggest thing to hit Halifax since the explosion—and […]

On the last Tuesday in February, city council set Grand Parade free. Downtown’s main public space shall be a parking lot no longer—sometime between now and September 1 cars will be banished, with councillor parking relegated to the Truscan lot, a short stone’s throw away. The decision seems the most natural thing in the world. […]

Ten years ago, the Maritime Film Classification Board made the news when it banned Anjelica Houston’s Bastard Out of Carolina, an adaptation of the acclaimed novel about child abuse, from local screens. That decision was soon overturned by bureaucrats further up the chain of command—Nova Scotia’s government runs the censor board on behalf of the […]

David Suzuki, flying bicyclists, crystal meth, Bettie Page, Ellen Page, a music-loving dolphin, a popcorn-eating hamster, embattled school board member Doug Sparks, Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, Feist. Each was the subject of a Coast cover in 2006. Together they give a picture of the cover as being eclectic, wide-ranging, unpredictable, interesting and dynamic. […]

Mayor Peter Kelly was in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games last March, part of a large fact-finding team from Halifax. Yet, important as the Games will be to the city if our bid for the 2014 edition is successful, Kelly also had urgent business to attend to back home. He cut his Australia trip short […]

Dartmouth’s former heritage museum is a monument to urban decay. The squat municipal building has served in several proud civic roles—it’s been a library and a police office, besides the museum—but now stands boarded up at the eastern end of Wyse Road. Compounding the city’s neglect is the graffiti. A couple elaborate throw-ups and countless […]

There’s something very Wizard of Oz about the violence summit that happened at City Hall. The invited guests met behind closed doors—pulling the curtain to keep the regular people out—before emerging with gifts. “We bring you surveillance cameras,” said the mayor. “We bring you more cops,” said the justice minister. And with that, the citizens […]

Last Thursday, some of Metro’s best citizens gathered at Rain nightclub for The Coast’s Best of Halifax awards. It was a large crowd, sprinkled with boldface names like film stars (Ellen Page, Thom Fitzgerald) and politicians (Maureen MacDonald, Alexa McDonough). Dawn Sloane’s mother was on hand to watch her daughter collect the Best City Councillor […]

Summer break is almost over for the province’s elected officials, who start their fall session Monday, October 30. The MLAs who are returning to their seats are not exactly the politicians who left when the legislature closed July 14. For one thing, they should be well rested. For another, they are definitely better paid. This […]

A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece called “Seeing green” about Karl-Henrik Robèrt, the Swedish environmentalist who invented The Natural Step planning method. During a visit to Halifax, Dr. Robèrt spoke at city hall on ways to plan today for the most sustainable future. As a local example of how The Natural Step works, […]