After seven years and two general elections, Jamie Baillie is stepping down as leader of the Progressive Conservatives. Baillie submitted his official notice to Tara Miller, the PC Party president on Wednesday morning. “I want to thank my family, my caucus colleagues and the dedicated members of the PC Party for their support over the […]
Politics
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sidney Crosby is wrong: Sports have always been intertwined with politics
In the lead up to the public relations event Tuesday with president Trump, Sidney Crosby kept digging a hole and doubling down on the idea that visiting the office of an elected official was somehow an act totally devoid of politics. More than that, he made the puzzling claim to the Associated Press that he […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Advice for young radicals
Are you an aspiring political activist going to university or college in Halifax? Congratulations on starting down a path that will ruin your life! I spent more years than I wish to publicly admit volunteering and working as a political organizer on university campuses; as an elected student activist, a union shop steward and students’ union […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Pathetic, dumb and dangerous: The Proud Boys make their debut in Halifax
On July 1, a group of Indigenous activists and their allies gathered at the statue of Edward Cornwallis that inexplicably still stands in downtown Halifax to commemorate and mourn the genocide of Canada’s First Nations. In the midst of the sombre ceremony, a group of five idiots in matching polo shirts showed up singing, waving […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Deciphering which election promises will be kept, and which will be forgotten
My day job involves speaking to Nova Scotians who are struggling to access public health care and trying to help them organize to demand better service in their communities. Unsurprisingly, I’ve been on the road a lot this month and I’ve heard frustrating, often heartbreaking stories of people whose communities, and too often their family […]
Posted inLifestyle
Political party leaders make mental health an election issue
Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie is promising to open mental health crisis centres in rural communities to divert patients from hospital emergency departments. And not to be outdone, the NDP under Gary Burrill has a similar plan. They differ, however on the shuttered mental health unit at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow, with Baillie […]
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 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
Marching forward after the Women’s March
Dawn Ferris says it was “overwhelmingly wonderful” to see all the people who packed Grand Parade Square for the Halifax contingent of the Women’s March on Washington. According to Women’s March Canada, 2,500 people turned out to protest the new administration of the United States. Although Donald Trump has been the name on many minds, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax women protest in solidarity with Washington
[Image-1]When Dawn Ferris first heard the results of the US election, she was devastated. “There’s equal concern here, north of the border,” says the Halifax activist. “If you’re not a white, wealthy, fully able-bodied male under the Trump reign—you’re gonna be negatively impacted over the next four years.” People who share Ferris’ unease are taking […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A letter to my sons about Trump
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 Like literally millions of people, I am in shock. You’ve watched the debates, the interviews, the news—Donald Trump is the worst of the worst and somehow, he is now going to be the leader of the free world. I have been apolitical my whole life. I am not proud of it but I won’t […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Going it alone
It’s been a year since Andrew Younger was ousted from the provincial Liberal caucus and premier Stephen McNeil’s cabinet. An experienced politician, going back to his days as a member of Halifax Regional Council representing East Dartmouth-The Lakes, Younger is now the independent MLA for Dartmouth East, a seat he first won in 2009. He’s […]
