In the days after the Common concert funding scandal came to light last week, I noticed a new parlour game being played everywhere I went. The goal sounds simple: Name a contender who can challenge mayor Peter Kelly in next year’s municipal election. However, it’s surprisingly hard. Just a short list of names keeps coming […]
Gig trouble
Posted inNews + Opinion
Metallica on the Halifax Common?
[image-1] Last Friday, Trade Centre Limited’s Scott Ferguson told me that all the Common concert attendance figures were given to “the city” immediately after each show. That would be consistent with the city’s Common concert policy adopted by a unanimous vote of council on March 6, 2007. Specifically, the policy says that: • Each major concert will be considered on a case by case basis. • In making decisions Council will have available [for] review reports of all previous concerts on the Common from the HRM Special Events Task Force. • Council will consider opening the North Common for major
Posted inNews + Opinion
O’Toole: I want to see the auditor general’s report
“I’m so happy!” are the first words out of Cathie O’Toole’s mouth when I call to ask about her resignation as Halifax’s chief financial officer. O’Toole was the city official who refused to sweep the concert loan improprieties under the bureaucratic carpet and instead alerted city legal staff and the auditor general, leading to the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Did TCL act properly?
The improper loans to Power Promotions were funnelled through the Metro Centre, a city-owned facility that is managed by Trade Centre Limited. Officials at TCL have said that they were under no obligation to vet the appropriateness of the loans—the city owns Metro Centre, so when city official Wayne Anstey called them up and directed them to loan Power Promotions money from Metro Centre accounts, they simply complied without asking questions. But what if Anstey had called and directed TCL to cut a cheque to his wife? Would TCL have complied without question? What exactly are TCL’s responsibilities to vet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cathie O’Toole resigns
[image-1] City finance director Cathie O’Toole has tendered her resignation, effective April 9. I wrote the below blog post this afternoon, and it was sitting in the queue to go live on our website as I learned that O’Toole has quit. I just had a long conversation with O’Toole, and will write more tomorrow. All the below, and more, still stands. The Common concert financing scandal is tainting the reputation of nearly everyone involved: mayor Peter Kelly, now-former acting CAo Wayne Anstey, Anstey’s predecessor Dan English, Trade Centre Limited’s Scott Ferguson and the city itself. But one person will come
Posted inNews + Opinion
Scott Ferguson’s explanation for concert loans doesn’t wash
This morning, I was a guest on the Jordi Morgan show on News 95.7. During the show, Morgan’s producer was able to reach Trade Centre Limited president Scott Ferguson on the phone, and I was able to ask Ferguson a few questions. Among other things (which I’ll get into in another post), Ferguson said that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Peter Kelly’s dissembling explanation
What did Peter Kelly know and when did he know it? That question will determine if the Halifax mayor will survive the Common concert funding scandal. Kelly’s story seems to change as time goes on, but as I understand his line is basically that he knew that Power Promotions was being advanced loans somehow through […]