Why Bay Ferries wasn’t concerned, and why we should be

It was early February. The first “new-ferry-system-has-not-been-confirmed… we-must-unfortunately-cancel-the-space” emails from skittish U.S. tour operators had begun landing on reservations desks at Nova Scotia hotels and resorts. Local tourism operators desperately needed to know if there would — as the government had promised — actually be a ferry service this summer between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine. […]

Ghomeshi not guilty? How about “not proven”?

The courts need another option. On Thursday, Ontario Justice William Horkins found former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi “not guilty” of five sexual-assault-related charges involving three different women. Legally, it was the right decision. But it isn’t the right conclusion. As Judge Horkins acknowledged, not guilty “is not the same as deciding in any positive way […]

We call suicide a preventable cause of death, but…

Cody Glode had everything to live for. He was a handsome 20 year old, the youngest firefighter — and first Mi’kmaw — in Truro’s fire service. “The boys at the fire department welcomed [him] with open arms,” his mother says, but Cody’s “true passion” remained mixed martial arts. He was a featherweight fighter. His […]

How do you fairly determine how much elected officials should be paid?

How do you fairly determine how much elected officials should be paid? The short answer — as evidenced by last week’s emotional, confrontational, personal three-hour city council debate — is you can’t. In November 2014, councillors asked the auditor general to convene an outside committee to devise a new salary formula. Under the existing scheme […]

Gary Burrill: the politics of hope, or hope for politics

Cast your mind back to October 9, 2013. The morning after the night before. Nova Scotia’s first ever NDP government had just morphed into Nova Scotia’s first one-term government in more than 130 years. The party that began its re-election campaign with 31 of 52 legislature seats hobbled across the finish line with seven shell-shocked […]

The Chronicle Herald: Last one out turn out the lights?

The news two Chronicle Herald journalists have taken other jobs would not be news, except for what it says about the ongoing impasse between journalists and management at that newspaper, and what it may say about the future of the newspaper — and journalism — in this city. Last week, David Jackson, the newspaper’s former […]

Nova Scotia Power is reporting its first outage of the morning… and other tales we shouldn’t hear

I woke up one recent morning and flipped on the radio. “Nova Scotia Power is reporting its first outage of the morning,” the newscaster began. It was not a storm day. Or the day after. Or even the day after that. We were in the middle of a brief winter storm interregnum. Skies were clear. […]

Jian Ghomeshi: Justice, the courts and the court of public opinion

Did he do it? Of course. Did the crown prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, Jian Ghomeshi sexually assaulted three women? That’s more complicated. Let’s start with what we know. Three women went to police alleging Ghomeshi sexually assaulted them, each story strikingly similar: Ghomeshi punched and choked them without consent, without warning, and with no […]

Seniors’ pharmacare? It’s past time for a national, universal pharmacare program

Since we’ve been talking about seniors’ pharmacare, perhaps it’s time to change the modifier and resume a longstanding conversation about national pharmacare. Canada is the only industrialized country in the world that boasts a universal health care program but offers no parallel national scheme so those who need prescription medications can actually get them. The […]

Government’s Orwellian doublespeak on Pharmacare, the ‘balanced budget’ and the next election

On Jan. 15, Nova Scotia’s Health and Wellness department — Leo Glavine, proprietor — issued a gauzy, feel-fine press release headlined, “Lower Seniors’ Pharmacare Co-pays Begin April 1.” You had to carefully parse, syllable by syllable, its disingenuous first sentence — “Changes to the Seniors’ Pharmacare program mean Nova Scotians enrolled in the program will soon […]