Who wants to be mayor?

Is Tom Martin running for something? I first met Martin in 2006 when I profiled him for The Coast. What intrigued me then was his passion for solving unsolved—seemingly un-solve-able—crimes. William Shrubsall, Kimberly McAndrew… That passion earned him 2001 Police Officer of the Year honours, but cost him his health. Even after two heart attacks […]

Stadium? Another $2 million… Oops…

The news it was news to HRM Councilor Steve Streatch is hardly comforting. If Halifax becomes one of the host cities for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup (limited edition/no major games), it turns out we won’t just be on the hook for a $60-million stadium to hold the games. There’ll also be a $2-million […]

It's not the size of the council, it's the quality of the councilors

The problem with the Utilities Review Board’s solution to the problem of municipal council is that its solution won’t solve the problem. The URB decided the 23 current Halifax Regional Municipality councilors should morph into 16 after the 2012 election. Why 16? The URB “attributes significant weight to the polling results, which express the public’s […]

Let the (Convention Centre) Summer Games begin

Metro reporter Alex Boutilier’s scoop last week that costs for the new convention centre have increased sent local, provincial and federal politicians scurrying about like ants on a hot summer day, but to less positive result. No one was able—or, more to the point, willing—to confirm what Alex’s source had told him. And no […]

When in Yarmouth… Politicians and the Hypocritic Oath

Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie was in high dudgeon last week when he took his summer road show to Yarmouth to warn business leaders there about the terrible costs to our grandchildren’s grand kids because of our socialist-horde government’s “stubbornly… swimming-against-the-tide” tax policies. A slight exaggeration, perhaps, but it’s summer. And Baillie himself was attempting […]

Immigration: Can we get it right this time?

It began in 2003 with the Hamm government’s rightful recognition of our ticking demographic time bomb. In order to defuse it, Nova Scotia desperately needed to attract more immigrants who would root themselves, their businesses and their families here. But the fast-track solution spawned by those best of self-interested intentions quickly got tangled in our […]

Butts kicks some

In his first major public act as the city’s new Chief Administrative Officer, Richard Butts stared down concert promoter Harold MacKay—and won. Sort of. Last year, the mayor and former CAO fronted MacKay $400,000 toward the costs of two concerts on the Common. It was a sweet deal that allowed MacKay to walk away from […]

Heroes and blemishes: Edward Cornwallis and Cesar Chavez

“Edward Cornwallis is deeply offensive to members of our Mi’kmaq communities and to Nova Scotians generally who believe school names should recognize persons whose contributions to society are unblemished by acts repugnant to the values we wish our schools to embody and represent.” Kirk Arsenault Aboriginal Halifax School Board member *** The Atlantic’s latest issue […]

The real crime of Concertgate

Was it criminal? That seems to have become the question. It’s the wrong question. Last week’s 96-page auditor general’s report into the great concert fiasco-fandangle dissected and bisected the ever escalating series of high-level handouts that rambled merrily along—unchecked and in secret—from one faux-successful Common concert to the next fluff-the-numbers extravaganza to, oops, there goes […]

Hypocrisy, patronage and the cleansing power of transparency

Michel Samson is right on both counts. The Liberal MLA is right to acknowledge that last week’s collection of NDP appointees to various provincial agencies, boards and commissions is clearly a well qualified lot. But he is right too to point out the unbecoming hypocrisy of a government that—while in opposition—railed so righteously against patronage […]