Editor’s note: Burnley Allan “Rocky” Jones died Monday night. The following piece was written by Coast intern Rana Encol after Jones gave perhaps his last media interview, earlier this year. It is one of several profiles of prominent Haligonians we’ve collected as part The Coast’s 20th anniversary year, and which will run over coming months. […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Children at Shubenacadie Residential School were used as Guinea pigs by government nutritionists
The purpose of the Shubenacadie Residential School was to “take the Indian out of the Indian.” That broad mandate reduced the school to an instrument of cultural genocide, which in turn gave opportunity for sadists employed by the school to rape, beat and even murder the children in their care. These crimes were well-documented by […]
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Mayor Mike Savage is chasing the stadium dream
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage confirms he has met with CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon n June, in Toronto, to discuss the possible expansion of the CFL into the Maritimes. A new CFL team starting in Halifax would require a government-financed stadium, says Savage. “We just chatted about the CFL,” continues Savage. “[Cohon] explained, as I already […]
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Special treatment for Nova Centre mocks HRM By Design
At its meeting tomorrow, Halifax council will almost certainly approve a staff suggestion that in effect exempts Nova Centre developer Joe Ramia from the planning and building rules that apply to every other developer in the city. I say “in effect” because what’s being contemplated is not an actual legal exemption. Rather, the suggestion is […]
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Cobham Tracking and Locating closing
Cobham Tracking and Locating has announced that it will close its Dartmouth office by the end of the year, putting 55 people out of work and killing an important part of Nova Scotia’s tech industry—one nursed along with millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and loans. As The Coast reported last year (see “From Nova […]
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Jane Maloney leaves the North End Community Health Clinic
One of the principle actors in the fight over Saint Pat’s-Alexandra school is leaving Halifax. Jane Maloney, director of the North End Community Health Clinic, is taking a job at the Community Health Centre Ottawa. Her last day at the clinic was Wednesday. With 140 employees, the Ottawa clinic is a much larger operation that […]
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Two decades of world-class delusion
After “drop the bomb,” never have three simple words so devastated a place. The first reference I can find to anyone using the phrase “world-class city” to describe Halifax comes from 1994. That July, Fred MacGillivray was hired as president of the World Trade and Convention Centre, the provincial crown corporation now called Trade Centre […]
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Oceans Five is no more
Last Wednesday night was the curtain call for Oceans Five. The quintet, which formed as the back-up band for jazz legend and Haligonian Bucky Adams, played its last gig at the Harbourview, the bar in the Northwood retirement home on Gottingen Street. Present were about 60 residents, and a dozen or so visiting well-wishers, friends […]
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Will Trade Centre Limited president Scott Ferguson get a new job and a big raise?
Despite a string of auditor reports castigating him for poor management of Trade Centre Limited, it appears increasingly likely that TCL president Scott Ferguson will be hired to manage the new convention centre—without applying for the job. And he’ll probably get a big raise, too. The existing convention centre is owned and operated by the […]
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Million dollar boondoggle
This year, the provincial and city governments have given over $1 million to Trade Centre Limited for promotion of the new convention centre. The city’s share, $640,000 was presented to Halifax council on the 18th slide of a PowerPoint presentation during the April budget deliberations. The provincial share, $487,000, was never announced publicly until The […]
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City lawyers: judges don’t like us
In a nearly fruitless effort to cut overtime pay to cops, the city’s legal department is fighting a mostly behind-the-scenes battle with the province’s judges, urging the courts to change the way hearings are scheduled. At issue is the requirement that police officers be available to testify at court, as witnesses in cases involving people […]
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Police release recording of 911 call making bomb threat
Halifax police have released a recording of the 911 call made last Friday threatening a Boston Marathon-like bombing. Because of the threat, the Relay for Life and Arthritis Walk charity events were cancelled. Click here to hear the call.