The Mulroney Institute, St. Francis Xavier University and the honorary arms dealers

“When guests visit they will also see hundreds of artefacts spread throughout the building, memorabilia from Mr. Mulroney’s nearly nine years as prime minister, items that reflect significant moments in Canadian political history. Visitors will find a trove of historical documents and will visit a replica of the prime minister’s office including his original […]

How much health care could $10 million have bought — and why it didn’t

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on November 27, 2017. Let’s begin with what we don’t know. We don’t know when the province’s court of appeals, which held a hearing earlier this month, will rule on a Nova Scotia Health Authority appeal of a judgment against it in the case of cardiologist Dr. Gabrielle […]

UARB fails to protect whistle-blowers, punish wrong-doing bus company

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on November 20, 2017. Last week, the province’s Utility and Review Board issued a scathing, 180-page decision accusing Nova Scotia bus operator Stock Transportation of “repeatedly operat[ing] its public passenger vehicles, including its school buses, as it wished and contrary to the Acts, rules, regulations, its licenses, and orders; even […]

The Paradise Papers, the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation and tax reform

This article originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on November 14, 2017. Quick now. What has the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (“a citizens’ advocacy group dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government”) had to say about all those revelations of tax-sucking, financial jiggery-pokery uncovered in the Paradise Papers? Sorry. Time’s up. You win. […]

Winning, losing and Jamie Baillie

This column original appeared in the Halifax Examiner November 6, 2017. Many years ago, probably after an election campaign he’d just lost that he believed he should have won, I interviewed then-Nova Scotia Liberal politician Gerald Regan. He was in a philosophical mood. “Victory and defeat,” he told me, paraphrasing a Rudyard Kipling poem, “are equal […]

Masuma Khan and the issue of freedom of speech

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on October 30, 2017.) Should the vice president of the Dalhousie Student Union have faced even the whiff of disciplinary action from the university’s administration for a less than genteel Facebook exchange she had with some constituents? The short answer is no. The long answer is still no. […]

Lyle Howe: a sad end to a sad case

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on October 23, 2017. “The Hearing Committee of the NOVA SCOTIA BARRISTERS’ SOCIETY gives notice of the disbarment of Lyle Howe of Halifax, Nova Scotia pursuant to Section 45(4)(a) of the Legal Profession Act, effective October 20, 2017 until further notice.” In the end, the end was no surprise. The […]

Tax reform: the Chicken Littles come home to roost

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner October 16, 2017. “Professor Kimble’s comments seem to reinforce the recent CBC Marketplace show on fake credentials,” Gerry Anderson wrote on LinkedIn. He was among the unhappier readers responding to my recent column about the federal government’s modest tax reform proposals. “His comments show that he has not […]

Reparations raises the racism disconnect

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on October 10, 2017. On Sept. 25, the United Nations Human Rights Council discussed a report on Canada by its Working Group of Experts on Peoples of African Descent. The report, which shone its white-hot light on our country’s sordid history of slavery and racism in virtually […]

Beware businesses bearing bleats

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on October 1, 2017. What should you think when you suddenly find yourself squarely in the firing-squad crosshairs of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the business-boosting press, Doctors Nova Scotia, lawyers, retailers, restaurateurs, tax planners, even ad hockeries like the newly […]