Film tax credits: a tale of two jurisdictions

“The math is simple,” explained the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a Jan. 8 editorial about the state of that state’s film tax credit. Pennsylvania is currently in the middle of a messy budget kerfuffle. The big picture is beyond the scope of this column. But it’s worth noting that when Gov. Tom Wolf approved an emergency […]

The Herald: on the downhill run to oblivion?

“Downhill fast.” The caption over Wednesday’s Chronicle Herald front-page photo — of skateboarders zipping down Citadel Hill — said it all. So too did the management-mandated absence of a photo credit (by Tim Krochak). The Herald, which bills itself as Canada’s largest independent newspaper, is hurtling downhill ever-faster toward its own oblivion. And that’s bad […]

The burning question: how to balance real risks with feeling safe

On Tuesday, Halifax Council will — once again — ponder the question: how many firefighters does it take to make our city safe? What kind, and in what combinations? Permanent? Volunteer? Where should firefighters and their equipment be located? And — perhaps most important — how much are we willing to pay? The answers matter […]

AIMS takes aim at the future

The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies — a.k.a the Atlantic Institute to Comfort Its Affluent Corporate Sponsors While Afflicting the Rest of Us With Neoconservative Nonsense — offers fawning support for Premier Stephen McNeil’s “fiscally responsible” decision to pre-emptively eliminate bargaining rights for 75,000 provincial public sector workers. And praises McNeil’s “important” step to wipe […]

Stephen McNeil and collective bargaining: saving us to death

Premier Stephen McNeil says Nova Scotia’s 75,000 public sector workers are welcome to bargain collectively — so long as they don’t expect to negotiate wages. The government has determined those. Working conditions? Sure. Negotiate away, but not as part of any collective bargaining process. And since they won’t be part of the contract, don’t expect the […]

Monday morning this and that

An innovative anti-cyberbullying law that seemed to its framers like justice in the heat of an emotional moment has turned out to be a “colossal failure.” It not only couldn’t stand the test of a Charter challenge but must also, immediately, be struck from the law books. That’s the problem with creating legislation in the […]

Stephen McNeil’s best laid plans…

Last week, Nova Scotia’s 9,000 teachers decisively rejected a tentative contract with the provincial government. With their vote, the teachers instantly scuppered Stephen McNeil’s carefully crafted strategy to bring public sector unions to heel before introducing a see-we-did-it balanced budget in advance of the next provincial election. McNeil had begun strategically with the teachers, traditionally […]

A Pearl by any other place?

Quick now, who was Gavin Rainnie? Rainnie Drive? Doesn’t tinkle any bells yet? How about that short street that skirts the northern base of Citadel Hill from the new Halifax Common roundabout at North Park and Cogswell to the corner of Brunswick and Duke, the one thousands of us pass through daily on our way […]

Unanswered questions: Shoppers shoplifting video, and what it shows… or doesn’t

There are still many unanswered questions about what Shandell McNamara calls “the most humiliating experience of my life.” McNamara, a 27-year-old mixed-race woman, went to the Fenwick Street Shoppers Drug Mart last Monday night to pick up a package. Instead, she was confronted by the associate-owner, who claimed the store had video footage showing her […]

Andrew Younger hurtles to the hell of political oblivion

You wish he would stop. For his sake. But he doesn’t. Andrew Younger seems constitutionally incapable of not hurtling down the same, self-immolating highway to the hell of political oblivion paved over — and then over again — by gone-but-not-forgotten former NDP MLA Trevor Zinck. Less than a week after Younger was ceremoniously tossed from […]