Bruce Wark’s “Halifax’s Dirty Little Secret” was perhaps a little close to the bone for HRM’s top politico than Wark realized. Hey, it all starts on the homefront. There’s a 15ish year old kid in Bedford- suspended from school (fact), labeled by HRM Police as “evil” (fact), and has been linked to drug use (rumour). While this kid’s mom has been attending parent therapy sessions in Dartmouth to get a handle on this brat, the panhandlers who evolve into thugs continue to populate virtually every street corner, while Dad sits in council meetings voting on the next set of street lights (where yet another crop of squeegie kids will get their start).
By S. Carver
This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2006.