New agencies won't resolve old case; we need an inquiry now

The Harper government’s proposal to replace the current, gums-only Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP with a new, baby-toothed civilian watchdog agency is better than nothing. But not by much. The new agency will have power to force witnesses to appear and testify, but will need to get the justice minister’s OK to initiate […]

NDP Year 1: What went wrong?

On June 9, 2009—one year ago next week—Nova Scotia voters took a flying leap of faith and fate, sweeping out a tired Tory government, sidelining the faint comeback hopes of a still-recovering Liberal party and handing the keys to office for the first time ever to the New Democrats. It is probably fair to suggest […]

The teacher, the hit man and the questions that remain

At first blush, it seemed like one of those tawdry, too-strange-to-be-true tabloid tales. In April 2008, a 38-year-old Digby County school teacher named Nicole Ryan was charged—along with her 70-year-old father—with trying to hire a hit man to murder her husband. Because I follow most court cases from the comfortable periphery of my morning newspaper, […]

Expenses scandal meets lynch mob

The morning after the big semi-reveal—the auditor general had turned over to the RCMP expense-claims files on one current and four former MLAs, but he wouldn’t say which ones to avoid compromising the criminal investigation—CBC Radio Information Morning’s political panel weighed in. The panelists—veteran freelance journalist Ralph Surrette and former newspaper editor and Tory cabinet […]

Much truth in "The Truth…"

Our All The President’s Men Part page-turning thriller, part indictment of contemporary pack journalism, part thoughtful meditation on the human cost of the passion for truth, Journalist Harvey Cashore’s The Truth Shows Up: A Reporter’s Fifteen-Year Odyssey Tracking Down the Truth About Mulroney, Schreiber and the Airbus Scandal is essential (and entertaining) reading for anyone […]

Liberals perfect face plant

Can anyone explain why Nova Scotia Liberals—this province’s natural governing party for much of the last century—seem so hell-bent on shooting themselves, their leaders and their chances of forming the next government flush in the face? Consider the last time there was a majority Liberal government in Nova Scotia. In 1993, John Savage swept a […]

Pay for performance? What a concept

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is proposing legislation—delightfully entitled the “Excellent Care for All” bill—to connect the salaries and bonuses of provincial hospital chief executive officers with their on-the-job performance. We’re not talking here simply about how well the CEOs manage to shave operating room costs or slash vital support jobs to meet too-small budgets, but […]

Eclectic Economic Council good; appointments stonewalling not so much

So Liberal leader Stephen McNeil has his knickers in a righteous knot because Darrell Dexter’s new 19-member economic advisory council includes a few of the premier’s union “buddies.” I’m delighted this new volunteer group—set up to “provide advice to government on strategies and actions to grow the economy and act as a sounding board on […]

The tragedy of Trevor Zinck's public meltdown

I’ve only met Trevor Zinck once. Back in 2007 when I was working on a story about the far-too-many children who fall through the cracks of our child welfare system and he was a fresh-faced NDP MLA, we both attended a meeting examining other, better child welfare models. Afterward, Zinck handed me his card, offered […]

Convention centre secrecy deja vu all over again

Frankly, I’m not sure what I think of the controversy over whether to build a new convention centre in downtown Halifax. Those who support it claim that, during the past three years, we’ve lost 70 conventions—and the economic benefits they bring—because the current World Trade and Convention Centre is too small to attract the kind […]