Stephen McNeil and the folly of false choices

“We believe we’ve delivered what is a fair package [for teachers]. If there is more required to be on the table, people need to explain where they want us to get that. Do they want us to take it out of health care? Do they want us to take it away from vulnerable Nova Scotians?” […]

Sobeys Safeway meltdown

The early morning conference call to discuss Empire Company Ltd.’s fourth-quarter results began as scheduled at 8 a.m. ADT, June 29, 2016. It was supposed to last an hour. Instead, the question-and-answer session plunged past 95 minutes. That’s because more than the usual number of retail stock market analysts queued up to electronically question the […]

The latest Gabrielle Horne travesty of justice

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers…” Dick the Butcher Shakespeare’s Henry V “Did you hear?” the email from my friend asked. “The hospital is appealing [the] Gabrielle Horne verdict? Honestly.” I should have expected as much. But I was hopeful. Naively, stupidly hopeful, it turns out. I’ve been following Dr. […]

‘We found each other’

During my research for my 2009 book, IWK: A Century of Caring for Families (Nimbus), I interviewed Dr. John Crocker, a pediatric nephrologist at the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre in Halifax. Dr. Crocker died on October 26, 2016 Dr. Crocker could be a cantankerous character — he eventually sued the hospital and the province for breach of […]

Lindell Smith: more than a symbol

First, of course, there is the symbolism. Lindell Smith is Halifax’s first black city councillor since 2000. But not just… Early in his race for District 8, a campaign worker warned the corn-roed, goateed Smith he’d have to “deal with people looking at you like you’re Snoop Dogg trying to be a politician.” Rather than […]

Job one for the new council: end developer donations

Now what? With this year’s municipal elections history, the question becomes what should our new-old council do first? Answering that question is complicated by the reality our mayor and councilors are elected individually and independently. We don’t have political parties at the local level, either traditional or uniquely municipal parties. While that can be positive […]

Voting for change, not electoral victory

It will come as a surprise to no one — least of all to Lil herself — when I predict Lil MacPherson will not be mayor of Halifax after all the votes are counted this Saturday. But that was never the point, especially for MacPherson. And that is a point the rest of us should […]

Development: now’s the time to ask

North Preston’s Miranda Cain tells Metro’s Zane Woodford the key issue in her District 2 is “lack of recreation.” Rod Brunt’s main concern, reports Haley Ryan, is cycling safety on Halifax’s “shark-infested” streets. “Our issues,” Musquodoboit Harbour’s Kim Young tells reporter Yvette d’Entremont, “are just basically the oppression of rural development.” And so it has […]

Halifax council: time for change, but what? And how?

It goes with saying the Tilt-a-Whirl that is Halifax city council has too long tilted toward men, who traditionally also happen to be white, middle-aged and middle class, usually involved in business of some sort and been recycled through at least a couple of election wash-dry cycles. There are plenty of people — count me […]

We care… so why don’t we vote?

Why do we pay so little attention to the simplest — yet most important — opportunity to influence what happens in our everyday lives: voting in municipal elections? In 2012, only 36.9 per cent of us — barely one-third of those eligible — cast ballots to choose our current mayor and councilors. The irony is […]