It was midnight, about 12 hours into her visit to the emergency department at the QEII, and still 24-year-old Ariel McTavish hadn’t seen a doctor. She had contemplated leaving; the wait wasn’t just long, it was terribly uncomfortable. She was cold, wearing just a johnny shirt. She was vomiting into a bag. She was there […]
longreads
Posted inNews + Opinion
Gambling with Nova Scotia’s future
1 A WHOLE NEW WORLD “Icome from a family of people that gamble,” John says. “I learned how to play poker from my grandfather when I was like three. I’ve always been kind of attracted to money.” This explains his Bachelor degree in business, his “early” Bitcoin investment and his steady, if unexciting, day job […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Revealed: the city’s plan to manage councillor reactions during the shelter siege
Early this summer, Halifax had given and missed its own deadline for removing shelters from the old Halifax Memorial Library grounds. The next steps were unclear, but tensions on all sides were rising and it was clear the city was gearing up to do something. In early July, councillor Shawn Cleary told The Coast that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A back-to-work to-do list for the new Nova Scotia legislature
Nova Scotia is the “home of responsible government in Canada,” the place that launched parliamentary democracy in Canada on October 2, 1758. This auspicious beginning lead to a minute 250 years later, back in the early aughts, when all these folks were singing our praises, and many Nova Scotians were walking around wearing D250 swag and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How the city created a crisis Wednesday with a shelter siege
In mid-July, when eviction notices were posted on several Halifax Mutual Aid-built shelters across Halifax, HRM councillor Shawn Cleary assured Haligonians that the removal of unhoused residents’ tents, wooden shelters and belongings would happen without violence. “If someone is dragged out of one of these shelters by a police officer I’ll be down there with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Halifax paradox of Nova Scotia politics
S ometime this summer, Halifax became, maybe, the best city in the world. Earlier this year, Halifax came in at the top of Maclean’s annual ranking of the best communities in the country, up from 131st place in 2020. The editors at Maclean’s haven’t fallen in love with donairs, watery Keith’s and “Barrett’s Privateers” singalongs. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What happened at Northwood?
A year ago this Saturday, April 17, three residents of Northwood, the long-term care centre in the heart of Halifax, died of COVID-19. Fifty more would die in the course of the next six, frantic weeks. While COVID raged inside the facility, the north end complex was sealed off from the surrounding community. The virus […]
Posted inArts + Music
What will it take to fix the Halifax Pop Explosion?
It was like a snowfall. Flurries at first. Then, a quickly mounting storm. “YOUR company has systemic racism on its own, NOT just because most companies also have it,” reads one of many comments on an Instagram post shared last June by the Halifax Pop Explosion. “recognize that the racism stems from somewhere personal, whether […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The history of Earth Day, from radical roots to big green in 50 years
If you ask Adam Rome, Earth Day isn’t as punk as it used to be. “Earth Day is so tame nowadays,” says Rome, the author of The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation. “For adults, it’s often a trade show where you can see the latest green […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
“I know this is bad, but you’ve got this”
Key points as of March 25, 4pm There are 68 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia Community spread is not happening here yet Local lab capacity is around 400 tests per day, enabling a more aggressive approach to tracking the disease Premier McNeil is an able co-host of The Steve & Strang Show We are […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
If Omar Khadr is a terrorist, then so am I
The bridge of the HMCS Charlottetown was cool and muggy. The ship’s air conditioning was running full blast, but the doors were open, so the sailors on watch could hear if something happened ashore. During the day, the Charlottetown would stay far off the coast of Libya to be out of range of land-based missiles. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Health care’s exhausted pain reliever
Editor’s note: In order to protect patient privacy, names and ages have been changed in the scenes Andrew Bethune witnessed while on the job, and times, places and other details have also been obscured. Names, quotes and details from news stories have not been changed. Three in the morning. The glare from the late-night pizza […]
