Progressive Conservative candidate Matt Whitman has apologized for his “Chinese fire drill” stunt. Whitman posted a YouTube video last week of himself yelling the racially-charged phrase before exiting and then running around his car. In a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon, the Hammonds Plains–St. Margarets councillor said he wasn’t aware of the term’s racist connotations. “I […]
Nova Scotia
Posted inNews + Opinion
Fraying at the edges
There were more people at the zombie walk last year than the AIDS walk. Dressed in tattered costumes and gruesome make-up, over 100 people shambled around the downtown on September 25. Meanwhile, on the very same day at the Central Common, about 90 people (including sponsors and media) gathered together wearing red-pinned ribbons for the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Evidence out-of-control: a provincial inquiry is needed into HRP’s drug exhibit audit
Last summer The Coast revealed that an internal audit conducted by the Halifax Regional Police had found widespread problems with the security and record keeping inside the HRP’s Drug Vault—the storage area that holds evidence seized in drug crimes—including missing drugs and cash. Now it turns out the problems have existed for much longer and […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Craft beer conflict
The NSLC and local craft beer are in a relationship, but it’s complicated. The topic has caught the attention of beer lovers across the province, especially since Unfiltered Brewing filed a lawsuit against the NSLC last summer. The suit involves what the corporation calls the Retail Mark-Up Sales Allocation: A fee the businesses pay the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province announce over $1 million in new funding to combat fentanyl
The provincial government is putting an extra $1 million towards trying to prevent a fentanyl-fuelled opioid crisis in Nova Scotia. In a press release sent out Friday, the Department of Health and Wellness announced details of the increased spending, including $564,000 for expanding access to the overdose-countering naloxone drug kits to pharmacies, police and health care organizations […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A “universal design” for accessibility called for at law amendments committee
Jim McDermott, professor of deaf studies at Nova Scotia Community College, wanted to express his frustration last week during public hearings at the law amendments committee about the province’s Accessibility Act. “I wanted to know different people’s comments, what they were saying, and I have no idea because it was not accessible to me,” he […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Death’s companions: Meet Nova Scotia’s forensic pathology team
In a modern glass and steel building, embedded in the Burnside Industrial Park, reside the dead. The Dr. William Finn Centre for Forensic Medicine—named after Nova Scotia’s first medical examiner, appointed in 1895—was designed by Fowler Bauld & Mitchell, the same architect firm that created the sprawling cathedral that is the Halifax Central Library. The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province announces expanded services to address sexual assaults
While hundreds gathered at Grand Parade to protest a Nova Scotia judge’s comments that “clearly, a drunk can consent,” the province quietly announced several new initiatives it says will support survivors of sexual assault as they navigate through the justice system. The new services include the hiring of two special prosecutors to handle sexual assault […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
PC leader calls for formal inquiry into Judge Lenehan’s consent comments
Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie wants Nova Scotia to conduct a formal inquiry into the inflammatory comments made by Judge Gregory Lenehan that “clearly, a drunk can consent.” In a release sent out Friday, Baillie says he’s written to justice minister Diana Whalen asking the province to address the issue “swiftly and conclusively.” “Victims must […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Questions about senator’s Fall River quarry conflict
Opponents of the Fall River quarry are wondering why the Halifax International Airport Authority (HIAA) withdrew its appeal of the contentious project, and what role a former senator made in that decision. James Cowan served Nova Scotia in the senate from 2005 until his retirement this year. He also has an association with HIAA. As […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
For the first time ever, Nova Scotia’s teachers just walked out on strike
After months of back-and-forth negotiations, three rejected tentative agreements and work-to-rule job action, the conflict between the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) and the provincial government has come to a head. For the first time in its union’s history, teachers across Nova Scotia are on strike for the day. “In the entire 122-year history of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A lesson for Stephen McNeil
If we’ve learned anything during the protracted negotiations between the province and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union it’s that there is a massive gulf between how teachers, students and parents understand the current state of public education, and how premier Stephen McNeil sees it. This gap was never clearer than when McNeil claimed he needed […]