Seeing Cleary now
Councillor Shawn Cleary’s attack on the credentials of journalists such as Tim Bousquet or Philip Moscovitch is pure distraction—more bait and switch (“Educating Shawn Cleary about journalism,” Opinionated piece by Philip Moscovitch, June 28). As Bousquet summarizes: “The bottom line is that Cleary ran a campaign explicitly in opposition to Armco’s Willow Tree development, then utterly changed his position once his buddy Joachim Stroink was hired to lobby on Armco’s behalf.” We’re lucky we have journalists who ferret out stories like this and try to keep some level of transparency and accountability in a city where pay-to-play is too often the name of the game. Thanks for good ferreting. —Peggy Cameron, Halifax
Let me see if I have Cleary’s argument right. Journalists should have a degree in journalism from an accredited institution, because what they do can—and often does—have significant impact upon large portions of the population. But politicians who, inarguably, have more influence and impact upon the public than journalists are required to have no such bona fides. Did I get that right? —posted at thecoast.ca by Terry Bell
So if they don’t have to go to school, who is going to teach them journalistic ethics? Sorry, but there are too many people writing who do not follow some of the basic ethics of Journalism 101. I agree with Cleary to a point—if you are going to call yourself a journalist you should have some credentials, otherwise you should just label yourself as a citizen opinion writer! —posted by gargramel
Keep speech free
As an expat who comes home to Halifax from North Carolina about twice a year, I encounter both good and bad things about my home town when I visit. This year two things showed me that Halifax and her people are not what we used to be. First thing was the protestors against the United States Marine Band, who just tried to get a picture taken when the local cadre of SJWs show up and scream them out because, you know, Trump. All the while, Haligonians just stood by and allowed visitors to be harassed and verbally abused and didn’t say a word. What happened to standing up for our visitors? (Editor’s note: It’s true that a CTV reporter spread news about a protest against the band, but CTV later admitted the reporting was inaccurate. Our story about the situation—”UPDATED: False outrage over this past weekend’s Marine Band protest,” by Jacob Boon, posted July 4 at thecoast.ca—gives Haligonians their due).
Secondly, a letter to the editor by Timonthée B in The Coast said freedom of speech should have limits (“Free speech limit,” Reply all, June 28). I’ve heard it before, but it just reminds me that Canadians are bit by bit losing freedom and liberty with no idea of the consequences, and are good with it. Freedom of speech shouldn’t have limits, because who determines those limits? You honestly want a government to decide what is good and bad speech, which is going to depend on who is in office and their plan for Canadians? Sorry but no, there should be NO free speech limit.
—Rory Flood, Monroe, North Carolina
Over the Boon
Once again we see that Jacob Boon’s writing is filled with false statements, outright lies and that he leaves out key facts. This has been proven over and over again. Does The Coast support this or will you finally let him go? Instead of being silent, The Coast needs to publicly take a stand. —Coco Sobon-Jabot, Halifax
Jacob Boon responds: Look, I’m sorry but it really did look like the agave plant was good and dead.
Hear me, hear me
I am concerned for our environment in many ways. In my own province the forest, including old growth, is harvested to generate electricity. Also, Northern Pulp plans to dump 70 million litres of effluent into the Northumberland Strait. I encourage our federal government to make positive adjustments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act as soon as possible. —Bluenose, Halifax
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2018.
Business Case For A Stadium
Mayor Mike Savage G. MacLeod
HRM Councillors 2053 Old Sambro Road
Halifax NS B3V 1C1
As a citizen of HRM, I wish to question why HRM Council has deferred the question for the cost of a CFL stadium to City Staff. The cost of this request is sure to amount in the tens of thousands of dollars which taxpayer money is being used to determine. So, right off the bat the taxpayer is bearing the brunt to establish a business case for a stadium when it should be the Maritime Football Group that should be footing the bill.
The idea for a CFL football franchise and stadium has been tossed around ever since the second day Mike Savage was sworn in as HRM Mayor almost six years ago when he began conversations with CFL officials. It is no secret of his desire for a football franchise. It is also clear that the hiring of CAO, Jaques Dube, former CAO of Moncton and the chief driver behind the 9000 seat, $100,000,000, Moncton stadium figures nicely into the scheme of acquiring a football stadium for Halifax. Since then, it seems there have been private conversations with the Mayor and members of HRM Council citing, since, this was a privately run initiative the public could not be informed of the details as to how the stadium would be financed, even though things like tax concessions and infrastructure were being considered. The public was told many times by HRM councillors they would have to see a business case to determine if taxpayers would/could/should financially support a sports stadium,
Judging by what has happened during the recent HRM Council meeting, July 17, 2018, the public did not hear of any business case presented by the Maritime Football Consortium, instead it was HRM Council who has asked city staff, at taxpayer expense to do the work the consortium, as told by the Mayor, councillors and Premier McNeil, would have to do to determine if the stadium should be partially funded by the taxpayer. This is purely an exercise of duping the taxpayer to support, once more, to make already rich millionaires, richer. In my mind, Council should not have passed the buck to city staff and instead should have stuck to their word of waiting for a business case from the Maritime Football Group. Unless I missed it, the consortium was not even present at Council.
Where is the Maritime Football Business Group business case to build a stadium? Why is Council not doing their due diligence of requesting to see a business case from the group wanting this stadium in Halifax? HRM, as stated by Steve Craig, is not a bank. This consortium, like any other business, should be taking to bankers instead of HRM.
Disgusted and disappointed,
Gary MacLeod