[Image-1] Public information is supposed to be public, and private information about the public shouldn’t be shared indiscriminately. Those are both axioms better in theory than practice. Nova Scotia has traditionally fared poorly where Freedom of Information is concerned, but some daylight is shining through. Today the FOIPOP review office released its first annual report […]
Nova Scotia
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ex-offenders taking control of their lives, one step at a time
[Image-1] The 7th Step Society is a nation-wide program designed to help the incorrigible and recidivist offender change his/her behavior and attitude, creating a new self-identity by using a basic self-help philosophy. These individuals are typically “career” criminals who commit multiple crimes and have problems with both entering society from prison and maintaining their freedom. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Who’s going to vote for the Greens?
[Image-1] It’s getting close to performance-review time for the 19-month-old Stephen McNeil government. Nova Scotia’s major political parties are vying for support in three provincial by-elections to be held this year. Candidates for the ruling Liberals, and the opposition Conservatives and New Democrats, are going to be busy glad-handing strangers they encounter and promoting themselves […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Three cheers for the Good Cheer Trail
Merging historical anniversary with a reason to drink, next week marks the launch of the Good Cheer Trail. With over 30 stops at breweries, wineries, and distilleries, the trail was created by the province to promote discovery of lesser-known regions of Nova Scotia, while building awareness of the gastronomic explosion happening from one end to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia refuses to open up adoption records
[Image-1] Adoption. The word itself summons emotions, opinions, sensitivities—insensitivities. Many of us know someone who’s been affected by it. Someone who gave up a child, or someone who was raised by parents who weren’t the ones that birthed them. But most of us know very little about such a heavy issue—and even less about how […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Epic fails
Arbitrator out of order The Liberals’ approach to health care union arbitration bordered on ridiculous. The government tried using legislation to force health care workers into specific unions. Arbitrator James Dorsey would ultimately be fired (once by phone and three times by letter), and the Liberals would let the unions do what they originally wanted—keep […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Media money
$8,050 Training sessions for members of new government’s executive council (paid to Fraser & Sons Communications) $5,520 Social media training for 60 staff members of Communications Nova Scotia (Famous Folks) $1,437.50 Training for community services minister Joanne Bernard (Vibert Communications) $2,760 Training for labour and advanced education minister Kelly Regan (Fraser & Sons Communications) $1,897.50 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Haters gonna hate: NS Liberals are their own PR problem
[Image-1] It’s not a great time to be a Liberal in Nova Scotia. Online and in conversation, anger at the government is only outmatched by charges of incompetence. Every month seems to bring a new crowd of rowdy protesters down to the Legislature. In short order, Stephen McNeil’s Liberals have pissed off health care workers, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia Tourism Agency chairman is now a tourist
Let’s be honest, we’d all move to Ontario if we could. It’s just strange to see the board chair for the province’s newly-created Tourism Agency moving with his family back to Upper Canada. As reports Jean Laroche at the CBC, Cabot Links owner Ben Cowan-Dewar plans to attend meetings “every month or two.” Board chairs, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Want Nova Scotia’s economy to grow? Legalize pot
[Image-1] The “something to toke about” session is almost over, guys. For this series of four columns, city editor Jacob Boon and I agreed to skip the “should weed be legal” question and jump directly to the reality of its recreational and medical use. In previous columns, I bought pot at a price of $25 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Running on empty: voter fatigue in Nova Scotia
[Image-1] If you’re a political junkie living in any of the three electoral districts in Nova Scotia that will see a trio of elections between now and the autumn of 2016, you’re going to get your fix in a big way. Should you not be looking forward to sales pitches from political candidates, or casting […]
Posted inLifestyle
Grant cuts leaving community services out in the cold
[Image-1] “Who else is helping them?” Stephen Ayer asks. He pauses briefly before answering his own question with a quiet intensity. “No one. We are. That’s why we have value.” Ayer is executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, one of many groups to have their grant budgets slashed this year. He’s referring […]
