News

I’m probably the only person in Halifax who is bothered by the fact that today is a holiday for SMU students.

My experience is entirely anecdotal, of course, but I’ve been taking the #10 bus into work pretty much every day since I was hired. When gas shot up over $1.30 a litre, ridership about doubled— standing room only on those double, articulated buses. Since gas has declined again, tho, it seems like there are a […]

So now we get seven weeks of Conservative attack ads, spreading lies and making the Canadian people even more uninformed than they have been. And they won’t be countered by much in the way of coalition ads, because neither the Liberals nor the NDP have much money. Happy holidays! Through this ordeal, I’ve been struck […]

I received the following thoughtful email last week, and thought it worth sharing in its entirety: You are perhaps crosseyed from getting tomorrow’s issue out and here I am with a brilliant suggestion for the next. We have an unusual cluster of events coming up, which so far are all being handled as separate items […]

It’s lost in the wall-to-wall news coverage of the prospect of Canada’s New and Improved Government, but there’s an important environmental story unfolding this week and next as representatives from 185 countries meet in Poznan, Poland to negotiate a post-Kyoto climate change pact that will be signed next year. Quite literally the fate of the […]

Facebook: Let’s Make Parliament Work! HALIFAX INDOOR RALLYfor a COALITION GOVERNMENT NOW! Thursday December 4th5:30pm to 7:00pm MARITIME HALL at the HALIFAX FORUM(Corner of Windsor and Almon Streets, beside Bingo Hall) FEATURING speeches by officials from: the Liberal Party of Canada &the New Democratic Party of Canada * Rally at 5:30pm / Speeches at 6:00pm* […]

I’ve been down in the states, visiting family over the American Thanksgiving weekend. When I was growing up, Norfolk, Virginia was a southern city with typically southern racist attitudes. The huge military presence provided a broader world view, but while the military has long been better on race than the south generally, it’s as socially […]

Today’s Chronicle-Herald repeats its long-standing lie about the proposed Waterside Centre development: It all started after Premier Rodney MacDonald criticized city hall for rejecting a six-storey office tower addition on top of buildings that Armour owns on the corner of Duke and Hollis streets That’s simply not true. The development proposal calls for tearing down […]

The analysis is correct, but the solution is all wrong: Currently, tax assessments are capped at the rate of inflation for all residential properties, except for large multi-unit dwellings. “Every other type is covered under this assessment cap . . . homes and co-op housing and mobile homes and condominiums,” Liberal MLA Diana Whalen, who […]

Of course we regular people need all the information we can get as the economy tanks, so it’s a worthy undertaking when the only provincial newspaper puts its resources, and five reporters, to the task of covering the precarious financial situation But, er, does it have to be so boring? Does anyone come away from […]

Besides the fact that not many people want to play vigilante, the problem with the Guardian Angels is that it doesn’t address root causes of crime. You can spend two hours a week marching around, wannabe cop fashion, or you can spend two hours volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters, or coaching a ball team […]

The first meeting of the newly elected Halifax council progressed with some hilarity Tuesday, as Mayor Peter Kelly unsuccessfully attempted to navigate through City Hall’s perpetually broken computer system. Shiny new and no doubt expensive computers graced councillors’ desks, but the software failed to record some votes, dropped speakers from the list and failed to […]