Cops, cops, cops! Nova Scotia is boosting the number of police officers that are being hired in the next year. Justice Minister Cecil Clarke says 45 new officers will be hired in the next year, which is 25 more than it originally planned to recruit during that period. Clarke says people want to see more […]
News
Posted inNews + Opinion
Does Elizabeth May = Ralph Nader
Just asking the question: is Elizabeth May the Canadian version of Ralph Nader?
Posted inNews + Opinion
Houses razed
No surprise: A trio of Victorian homes in Halifax met with the wrecking ball this weekend after a developer was unable to find someone to relocate them. The homes at 1441, 1455 and 1467 South Park St. were scheduled to be demolished to make room for the 19-storey Trillium condominium project W.M. Fares Group will […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Workplace death
The quality-control technician should have moved the bucket off the wet floor and taken the nail out of the pallet: A quality-control technician died this week after inhaling a chemical at a pharmaceutical plant in Nova Scotia. The 46-year-old man worked at the Sepracor Canada Ltd. facility in Windsor. Provincial labour department spokeswoman Jacqueline May […]
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How to keep the public out of the public’s business
I noted Wednesday that Nova Scotia’s access to information laws are basically a joke. Today, I have a demonstration of the fact. You’ll recall that Rodney MacDonald recently approved a “long combination vehicle pilot program”—basically, the provincial government legalized “truck trains,” those two-trailer rigs, on Highways 102 and 104 and various connecting roads. The public […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Crazy lady
Some crazy lady keeps calling and leaving messages on my phone, complaining that I have repeatedly referred to the election taking place on October 18, and not on the “real date” of October 14. “He should know better,” she said in the most recent message. Sigh. For the record: the federal election is October 14. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What the election is all about
In today’s print version of The Coast I make reference to the politics of division that has come to characterize the municipal election, and ask readers to come here to see an expanded essay on the subject. That essay is a few posts down, or you can get there directly through this link.
Posted inNews + Opinion
What others are saying…
Here’s a copy of an open letter from 85 Canadian economists on the current economic crisis and what Canada’s government should do about it. It was put together by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a progressive think tank: The deepening global financial crisis, the decline in world commodity prices, and the growing possibility of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
$300 milion for…
Thank God for Danny Williams. And for the people of Quebec. And for Bill Casey. And, of course, for Stephen Harper, whose stubborn, sweater’s-off-now arrogance helped save us all from a fate worse than George Bush—which is to say a Stephen Harper Conservative majority government. It is easy to imagine what might have happened Tuesday […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Great Interview Gaffe of Election 08
How beside the point will the final days of the federal election campaign get? Consider the latest hiccup in a hurricane over a botched question-and-answer Thursday (October 9) involving local CTV anchor Steve Murphy and federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. During the taping of an interview with the Liberal leader, Murphy asked: “If you were […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dream team
Perhaps it’s a sign of what a centre-left coalition might be able accomplish in Ottawa. Or perhaps I’m just desperate to find some hope somewhere… The Montreal Rocket, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team, have two players—Pierre-Antoine Dion and Nick Layton—who not only share the last names of two of Canada’s federal party leaders […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Truth in advertising
It is fair to say that this election has come down to a choice of which party leader—and which party—you think is best suited to cope with what will almost certainly be future ongoing economic turmoil. The problem is that there is a disconnect between their record and their rhetoric. Consider the Liberals and Tories, […]