“Adam’s fall” Matthieu Aikins’ award-winning feature on suicides from the Macdonald Bridge is a heartbreaking read even now, a decade after its publication. A year after Aikins’ story was printed, the bridge commission finally decided to install safety barriers along the old bridge to prevent future deaths. Seals of approval One of the most-read stories […]
Wayne Anstey
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How Halifax’s concert scandal played out
Last spring, Halifax’s now-infamous “concert scandal” broke when city staffer Cathie O’Toole revealed that mayor Peter Kelly and the city’s deputy CAO, Wayne Anstey, had improperly extended millions of dollars in loans to concert promoter Harold MacKay’s firm, Power Promotional Events, and that the last two of those loans, totalling $400,000, were not repaid. Anstey […]
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City embarrasses itself with Metallica fiasco
In a bizarre and inexplicable move, this past week the city of Halifax attempted to force the promotion company for the July 14 Metallica concert on Citadel Hill to pay the $359,550 bill for the Common concerts fiasco. With the advice and encouragement of Scott Ferguson, president of provincial crown corporation Trade Centre Limited, Halifax […]
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Possible Metallica cancellation: City picks wrong target in attempt to recoup concert costs
Harold MacKay is right: He doesn’t owe the city of Halifax one cent. But city administrators are demanding $359,550 from his wife’s company, MacKay Entertainment, before agreeing to provide city services to the July 14 Metallica show on Citadel Hill. The city oversees and regulates police, fire, licensing and other aspects of the concert; without […]
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City officials contemplate suing Trade Centre Limited
Two city officials are implying there’s a simple solution to the $359,550 bill related to concerts scandal: Don’t pay it. That course of action, suggested by both city auditor Larry Munroe and city councillor Gloria McCluskey, threatens to create an epic legal battle between the city and Trade Centre Limited, a provincial crown corporation. But […]
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Concert report slams Peter Kelly, Wayne Anstey, Fred MacGillivray and Scott Ferguson
Halifax auditor general Larry Munroe released his report on the concert loan scandal Tuesday. Mayor Peter Kelly, the city’s former chief bureaucrat Wayne Anstey and former and current Trade Centre Limited presidents Fred MacGillivray and Scott Ferguson are particularly implicated. The report names names, assigns blame and provides explosive new details about how city and […]
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Merch rep says Harold MacKay still owes $63,000 for Black Eyed Peas show
On Monday it was announced that Metallica will perform on Citadel Hill on July 14. The promoter is none other than Harold MacKay, whose Power Promotional Events company put on the failed Black Eyed Peas show at the heart of the city’s concert loan scandal. Power Promotional Events has since gone out of business; the […]
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Breaking news It only looks like… Trade Centre Limited loaned Power Promotions $600,000 without city approval
Update, 2:35pm: Trade Centre blames sloppy paperwork and misplaced cell phone for the miscommunication that resulted in the article below. See here for the latest information [image-1] Up to now, the official narrative on the concert loan scandal is that it was all Wayne Anstey’s fault: For several years, the city’s deputy CAO acted alone and without authority to advance $5.6 million to concert promoter Power Promotions through a Metro Centre bank account. Mayor Peter Kelly was involved in discussions with Anstey and Power’s Harold MacKay, but Kelly says he knew nothing about the improper loans—it was all Anstey’s doing,
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City employees to be paid to “volunteer” at Canada Games
City employees will be paid to “volunteer” at the 2011 Canada Games, which will be hosted in Halifax in February. As explained in an email sent Monday from acting CAO Wayne Anstey to staff, the city will match any leave or vacation time employees use to volunteer at the Games with an equal amount, up […]