Are you listening, Minister MacFarlane?

No one — not the overworked, understaffed social workers trying to cope with messes they didn’t make in a bureaucracy they can’t control, not the family court lawyers and judges tasked with enforcing the unreasonable, not the family and children’s advocates trying to change the unchanging, and certainly not the parents and children trapped inside […]

The RCMP’s ‘no apology’ speaks louder than words

What the Mounties are saying is simply this: Yes, street checks do disproportionately affect African Nova Scotians. But no, that’s not our fault. If you get street checked because you’re Black, well… that’s your problem. You’re Black. And so it goes. So, on the one hand, the RCMP “acknowledges the disproportionate harm that street checks […]

Does Tim Houston need to press reset on his reset?

Houston began his week in office pressing (yet another) reset on our healthcare mess. He ended it needing to press reset on his relations with the province’s African Nova Scotian community. So, let’s begin this history lesson somewhere in the murky middle muddle, way back in 1994 when a fresh-faced Liberal government led by Dr. […]

The candidates’ debate, take two

There must be a better way, and not just to conduct candidates’ debates. How would you change how elections are conducted? Last week’s skeptical — some might call it cynical — column about the provincial election leaders’ debate prompted a number of more thoughtful-than-I-deserved responses. Richard Starr, for example, agreed with my point there were […]

The premier who won’t get involved versus the sister who won’t give up

I can understand why Nicole Gnazdowsky might have become a “hostile individual” after no one in authority would tell her how and why her brother died in a workplace incident. I can’t understand why Premier Iain Rankin can claim he doesn’t have the authority to act in her case because there’s an election campaign underway. […]

Annette Verschuren’s ‘one more interesting thing’

Ten years ago, Annette Verschuren told a newspaper reporter she had “one more really interesting one in me.” That, of course, was NRStor, the innovative clean energy storage developer. Now? She is, I point out as delicately as possible, nudging 65. Is she ready to retire? “No, no!” she says quickly. “You know what, Stephen? […]

Election 2021: Welcome to ‘stupid season’

“An election” — as here-and-gone Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell once infamously but correctly explained — “is no time to discuss serious issues.” The real reason we are going to the polls in the middle of August is because the Liberals hope, and believe, no one will be paying attention. It’s 7:37 am on Saturday […]

Iain Rankin scores unforced error after own goal after…

I’m guessing — hoping, for their sakes — the premier’s inner circle wasn’t responsible for “strategically leaking” news about Rankin’s youthful DUIs last week. But they, and Rankin himself, are certainly culpable for what happened after that. Watching Premier Iain Rankin score one own goal after another — and then, oh god, no, yet another — […]

Border crossed

Iain Rankin closed a border, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin courted the crazed and Tim Houston made his Hobson’s choice between principle and power. After which he dumped Smith-McCrossin. Oh, and then Rankin reopened the border after all. Welcome to another week in pre-election Nova Scotia. Tim Houston did the right thing, and it may cost him a […]

Child protection: Catch-22 all over again. Again and again… Part 2

The case of the “Minister of Community Services v J.C,” says Emma Halpern of the Elizabeth Fry Society, “shows all the gaps in our child protection supports and services.” There are a lot of them. Read Part 1 of this article here. PART 2 As of September 8th, I have had two one-hour supervised visits […]