Nova Scotia political playbook: when in doubt, blame the reporter

When Alonzo Wright was appointed Director of Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) in December 2022, he gave his first interview to Matthew Byard, the Examiner’s Local Initiatives Reporter. Wright’s appointment as SIRT’s first director of African descent came at a fraught moment in the decade-long existence of the civilian police oversight body, whose […]

You don’t need an economist to know which way the economy blows… It just does

We are trying to balance the risks of under- and over-tightening monetary policy. If we don’t do enough now, we will likely have to do even more later. If we do too much, we risk making economic conditions unnecessarily painful for everybody… — Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem I am not now, nor ever […]

Will Waterville sexual assaults investigation be a watershed… or another Shelburne

“Anyone who comes forward does so voluntarily, and we will be taking a trauma-informed approach when we’re speaking with them,” explained Cst. Shannon Herbert, an investigator with Operation Headwind, the RCMP’s investigation into allegations of sexual assault at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville. Operation Headwind, she told a press conference last week, was […]

Justice delayed, justice dismissed, justice denied… justice ignored

Nova Scotia Provincial Court Chief Judge Pamela Williams. Does the Houston government have it in for the province’s judicial system? And, if so, what impact is that having on the timely but carefully considered delivery of justice in Nova Scotia? There is much to discuss here. But let’s start with Chief Provincial Court Judge Pamela […]

Politicians fixing freedom of information legislation? Don’t hold your breath

“I had hoped that more than halfway through my five-year term as Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia, I would be able to report better news and not have to repeat that the same challenges continue to plague the [Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner] despite our best efforts to resolve them… Unlike […]

Will the Tantallon fires lead to change or one more ‘Betsy Boomerang’ moment?

I have come to think of it as the Betsy Boomerang — that moment when something you didn’t know, had forgotten, ignored, dismissed, avoided or pretended wasn’t something… suddenly becomes a thing that you desperately need to understand and can no longer forget, ignore, dismiss, avoid or pretend wasn’t anything. Until that moment passes too, […]

MP Rick Perkins plays the ‘Chinese’ canard

I recently finished reading Hitler’s Secret Army: A Hidden History of Spies, Saboteurs, and Traitors, by British journalist and documentary maker Tim Tate. It’s a deeply researched book about ultimately unsuccessful efforts by a mutt’s breakfast of homegrown British fascist groups, lone wolves and oddball networks to undermine support for the Allied war effort, as […]

The RCMP’s offensive PR offensive continues

As a longtime Halifax Mooseheads fan, I’ve spent some time this spring inside a downtown arena named after a bank watching our Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team compete for the Gilles Courteau trophy as their league’s best. The games on the ice have been excellent, but I often find myself drawn to what’s happening […]

Why no Yarmouth ferry cost-benefit study? Because there is no benefit?

Nearly seven months ago, on October 18, 2022, Public Works Minister Kim Masland told reporters the Houston government was about to request proposals to conduct an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of the controversial, money-sucking Yarmouth-to-Bar Harbor ferry service. “It’ll be a very broad overview of the economic impacts of the service,” she explained, adding […]

It’s time to fix policing, not ‘integrate’ the local Mounties and the HRP

Let’s start with this… Defunding the police is, in many ways, about reinvesting in fundamental, and historically under-funded, community resources… [Our] last recommendations relate to municipal and police budgeting. One of these recommendations is that any funds diverted from the police budget going forward be redistributed through participatory budgeting processes. Defunding the Police: Defining the […]