Physician assistants? It shouldn’t be that hard. Really

The province has announced a pilot program to see if it’s safe to let physician assistants into our health care system. They already operate legally in much of the US, Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick and in the Canadian military. So why just a modest pilot project? We’re glad you asked. A September announcement that the […]

Waiting for Fitch: the much-delayed consultant’s report you may never get to see in full

Bob Dylan didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. And Nova Scotians don’t need a consultant to tell us our Emergency Health Services are a mess. Do we really even need one to tell us how to fix it? “Last week the government issued a tender for a system-design review of […]

Whose deaths matter?

The Nova Scotia government has brought in legislation to create expert review panels to look into the deaths of those who die as a result of domestic violence as well as children who die in provincial care. The goal is to “turn tragedy into lessons learned and lives saved into the future.” But Justice Minister […]

Stephen McNeil and the Crowns: Magic realism meets reality

After a crazy week of blind-siding legislation, insults, distortions, bluster, meaningless committee hearings and more fact-free moments than you’d find in a Trumpian White House, the province and its Crown attorneys are right back where they began — at the bargaining table. Well, not exactly as illustrated… So let us review. On Mar. 31, 2019, […]

Stephen McNeil’s Collective Bargaining Game

The thing about this game — as the government demonstrated last week when it changed the law to take away Crown prosecutors’ collective bargaining rights — is that McNeil always wins. That’s the way the game works. Always. Let’s play a game. A shell game. You say it’s not a game to you. I say […]

The curtain falls on this year’s ferry follies… but there’s always next year

Transportation Minister Lloyd Hines Hines had to sort-of admit his ferry universe hadn’t unfolded exactly as planned, or… well, at all. “We’re really disappointed on behalf of the operators that we haven’t been able to mount a season…” On behalf of the operators?! The operators are making out like bandits. What about the rest of […]

The perils of being progressive

Thanks to our first past the post system — thanks, Justin — progressives in Halifax still face a Hobson’s choice when it comes to the federal election. I get it. I even sympathize. You have only one vote and you don’t want to waste it. But how to choose? That is the question without easy […]

If we build it, will they come?

The stadium that refuses to die has returned. Last week, HRM released most of its private sector proposer’s pitch for public sector funding to make its dream of a CFL team reality. But it’s worth asking ourselves: what else could/should we spend that $180 million over the next 30 years on? “Premier Stephen McNeil reiterated […]

What to do about Justin?

Last week’s Blackface/Brownface controversy raises the complicated question of how we navigate our way through all the competing, compelling, often contradictory private and public actions of our politicians to determine who — if anyone — deserves our vote. Voting is easy. Choosing who to vote for? Not so much… In our federal parliamentary, first-past-the-post system, […]

The Great Dorian Disconnect of 2019

Why weren’t phone, cell and data companies ‘in the room’ at the Emergency Management Office during last week’s hurricane? Why is Nova Scotia Power still burying its head in its profits instead of burying its overhead cables? And other tales from an OMG week. “When the last downed branches are shredded, I trust NSP’s and Eastlink’s […]