Chronicle: A CALIFORNIA-MADE boat the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service had planned to buy despite warnings from local boat builders flipped on its third day of test runs Wednesday, briefly dumping eight men into Halifax Harbour. The 8.5-metre, 500-horsepower boat overturned in perfect conditions about 150 metres from a Dartmouth coast guard pier where […]
News
Posted inNews + Opinion
iVote: Can electronic voting save democracy?
The three weeks from October 14 to November 4 are something of an election marathon: The Canadian federal election is October 14, Nova Scotians elect their municipal councillors and school board members October 18 and the US elections, when Americans vote for president, all congressional positions, a third of the Senate and a host of […]
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The joke’s on us
So Gerry Ritz a made stupid, tasteless, offensive joke. Two actually. Is that any reason for Stephen Harper to fire him? My answer would be no. Most of us—well, me at least; thee may be more pure—have, in the heat of an overheated moment, or in a moment of frustration, or in the inevitably mistaken […]
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Death by a thousand polls
How many thousands (millions?) of dollars will Canadian news organizations spend polling public opinion in the leadup to the October 14 federal election? How much of that would have been better spent explaining the concepts and relative merits of competing environmental policies like the carbon tax or cap-and-trade emissions policies so the public opinion they […]
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Be it resolved…
Given the number of candidates in this upcoming federal election who’ve already had to suddenly slink off in disgrace because videos had surfaced showing them driving while doping, or skinny-dipping while (or while not) erect, or blathering mindlessly in their blogs about how gays and women must begin packing heat to protect themselves from predators…; […]
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CBC Radio Information Morning
I’ll be on CBC Radio One’s Information Morning, Thursday in the 7am to 8am hour. This is the the second of what I hope will be a semi-regular gig with CBC’s Pam Berman, discussing the municipal election.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Airport screw-up
Talk about putting lipstick on a pig… this is a press release from the airport: Two Parking Facility Precast Columns being replacedNo significant construction delays expectedHalifax, N.S. – Two of the recently-erected precast concrete columns at Halifax Stanfield International Airport’s new 23-hundred space parking facility are being replaced. No significant delays are expected in the […]
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Young council candidates
I don’t have any problem with young people running for council—there are a heck of a lot of young people in this city that need representation, and the older crowd isn’t much taking them into account, so why not? What I have a problem with is young people running for council who merely mouth the […]
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The Big Lie from Citizens for Halifax
Sure, everyone tries to spin events to their best effect, but this statement: Malcolm Fraser, chairman of an area community group that’s been publicly critical of city hall, said his organization was hoping to see “more candidates, or more options, for the citizens of the city to have for (regional) council, the school board and […]
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And the correct answer is…
Question number one. “Stephen Harper has been prime minister for almost three years. Under his strong and focused leadership, do you think Canada is on the right track?” “Yes.” “No.” Uh … Question number two. “Stephane Dion has been leader of the Liberal party since December 2006. Some people say Mr. Dion is a weak […]
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Outside the Charmed Circle
Did you know that the first week of Stephane Dion’s federal election campaign went so “poorly… several senior Liberals have expressed serious concern that (it) could be the sign of an electoral disaster to come?” You’d certainly know that if you’d read the front page of Monday morning’s Globe and Mail. Or its strange-bedfellow matching […]
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The case of the silent blogger
So who did the dirty on Megan Leslie? Keith Torrie claims it wasn’t him but, beyond that, he ain’t talking. And he certainly isn’t answering questions. On Monday, someone identifying herself as Jess MacDonald and claiming to be a disgruntled New Democrat created a Facebook group called “We Made the WRONG Choice: the RADICAL Megan […]