Michael Fleury

Oh, what an eventful week it’s been for the Halifax Regional School Board. It all started with the reassignment of Gordon Young, who up until last Thursday had been the board’s director of programs. Young had also been the principal of Halifax West High School five years ago during the incident involving teacher Lindsay Willow, […]

The Halifax Regional School Board released a survey this week that is asking teachers to disclose their sexual orientation. The survey, which also questions staff about disabilities and race, asks teachers to identify if they are heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian (No transgendered tick-box? What gives?). Although the board claims that the survey is simply […]

A group of approximately 17 campers were rounded up last Saturday night on McNabs Island by provincial conservation officers and told to fold up their tends and go home. Although overnight camping has traditionally been permitted on McNabs, the two conservation officers were apparently unaware of the unique camping conditions that prevail on the island. […]

On Wednesday afternoon, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board decided to renew the liquor license at the now-infamous Dartmouth strip club Sensations Cabaret—with some conditions. Big conditions. Fully-clothed conditions. Spread over a whopping 108 pages, the ruling’s biggest decision can be boiled down to a single declaration, found on page 107: “Effective 12:01 a.m. […]

Ah, spring—a magical time for a young premier. So many firsts. Last week, rookie premier Rodney MacDonald released his first budget as leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party, and the Rod’ster aimed to please. Taxes, cut! Spending, up! NDP campaign pledges, borrowed! (The budget included an eight percent sales tax rebate on home heating […]

Last week, dirt-pushing machines appeared on the Halifax Common to break ground on the new $500,000 skatepark backed by the Halifax Skatepark Coalition. According to Coalition director/chairperson Jacquie Thillaye, the hope is that the new park will be fully skateable by mid-summer. “We’re looking at a two-to-three-month build schedule,” she says. The existing skatepark will […]

If you’re going to be in southern Ontario this weekend, be sure to take a bemused glance at Toronto’s Downhome Show, “a celebration of East Coast food, drink, comedy, and music,” according to the show’s website. The show, designed to give ex-pat Maritimers a little taste of home, does a fine job at capturing the […]

Remember fossil fuels? Like, oil? They were these things we used to use for energy until the resource became too scarce and the cost became too crazy expensive. Good thing we came to our senses and started using other sources of energy…:::like in April 2006, when Nova Scotia Power announced their intent to make a […]

Every so often, the provincial government will pause from its daily work, take a curious glance around the province, and eventually pose the question, “Hey—where the heck are all the young people?” (And occasionally, “Do you kids still listen to that Puff Shady? Is he still hip?”) There are some signs that the provincial government […]

According to a new study from the Educational Policy Institute, Nova Scotia offers the least affordable university education in North America. That’s right, folks, out of 60 states and provinces we finished…60th! In addition to finishing last, study authors Alex Usher and Kim Steele said that Nova Scotia was last by “some considerable distance.” A […]