Walking past Grand Parade, er, I mean, Celebration Square this evening, I noticed they’ve set up the stage for all the noon concerts scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I have no idea how many people will attend these shows, but any more than a couple of hundred, and they’ll be stretching their necks […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inLifestyle
Really cool video of the Common skating oval
Just watch it: Send us your Canada Games pics and vids; email ourgames@thecoast.ca.
Posted inLifestyle
The summer of ’69
We’re really excited about getting reader-submitted Canada Games photos and videos (see below), but I’m seriously doubting that any reader can match the production values, videography and, most astonishingly, soundtrack of the 1969 Halifax Canada Games promotional video: Send us your Canada Games pics and vids; email ourgames@thecoast.ca.
Posted inLifestyle
Canada Games rejects security theatre
Be afraid! Fear, fear, fear! It’s what keeps the military state alive, keeps the cops well-funded. It’s your duty as a good citizen to be afraid. So, to help you along, at every turn, the powers that be need to inculcate fear, with visions of terrorists behind every bush, security theatre at every airport and […]
Posted inLifestyle
The Coast meets the Canada Games
Welcome to The Coast’s Canada Games blog. We’ll use this space to do what we do best: provide a bit of insight, a bit more snark and still more fun. Expect some commentary, some pictures and some video from our videographer. And expect some community involvement: When we say it’s “Our Canada Games,” we mean […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Washmill underpass: follow the money
[image-1] As we detailed two weeks ago, the Washmill underpass project, originally projected to cost $10 million, is an astonishing $8 million over budget. So far, $9,656,252 has been spent on the roadway, which now leads directly into a stone wall. The money needed to complete the road has yet to be allocated, but here’s who has been paid so far: Maritime Testing—environmental monitoring and slate management, $37,364. Servant Dunbrack—surveying, $12,205. SNC Lavalin—design work, wetland alteration application, construction inspection, $202,140 spent, with another $129,710 budgeted, for a potential total of $331,850. Brycon Construction—Phase 1 construction (detour road base, water retention,
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Seventh Estate
When companies start talking about “being green,” my bullshit-detecting antennae immediately prickle with activity and zero in the greenwashing centre of, well, bullshit. And, not to be overly judgemental, but this sort of nonsense is especially concentrated in public relations, which too often latches on any feel-good phrase to promote a business, and never mind […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City gets realistic about building a stadium
Checking what might be characterized as unbridled local enthusiasm for a bid to host the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship, city staff has put the possibility of building a stadium in more measured terms: make sure a stadium fits the city’s long-term recreation and facility needs, says staffer Doug Rafuse. “We need to have […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council OKs Bridge Terminal expansion
Halifax council Tuesday bit the bullet and agreed to spend $12.1 million on an expanded Bridge Terminal in Dartmouth. Previously, council had insisted it would stay within a $9.5 million budget for the project. The expanded terminal is to be placed on Dartmouth Common land designated as park and was situated as to come very […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province fails to meet half of its 2010 environmental targets
The government has failed to meet four of the eight environmental targets for 2010 established by provincial law. At issue is the celebrated Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, which became law in 2007 with a unanimous vote from all three parties in the Nova Scotia legislature. EGSPA was intended as means to hold regulators […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Canada will fail to meet climate change goals
[image-1] The graph above comes from a page quietly posted on Environment Canada’s website last week, with the page titled “Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Target and Emissions Projections.” The graph shows the amount, in megatonnes (millions of tonnes), of greenhouse gases emitted by the entire country each year between 1990 and 2010, with projections forward to 2020. There’s a small attempt to spin the real situation—it throws in the red herring of China’s GHG emissions (a real concern, but not relevant to this country meeting its own GHG goals), and this bit of misdirection: Added together, all these existing government actions
Posted inNews + Opinion
Students protest tuition increases
Hundreds of university students braved Wednesday’s snow storm to protest tuition fee increases announced Monday. “Students in Nova Scotia currently pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country and graduate with the highest student debt, at $31, 000,” explained a press release issued by Canadian Federation of Students. (Photos: Colin Davis and Scott […]