Developers get to change rules, the rest of us not so much

If it’s become acceptable — routine really — for developers to apply to bend municipal planning strategy and land use zoning regulations to green-light projects that don’t fit within the rules as they are, should it not be just as possible for ordinary citizens to seek similar exceptions to red-light those who plan to do things […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

This government brought to you by…

The last minute of play in this period is brought to you by… What would happen, I often wonder, if the company that pays for that last minute of play in each period of Halifax Mooseheads home hockey games stopped sponsoring it? Would the 20-minute period be reduced to 19? Among life’s eternal, infernal mysteries, […]

To keep grads in Nova Scotia, we have to first attract students

The Halifax Partnership, the community economic development organization set up to — ta-da! — “bring private and public sector stakeholders together to create prosperity,” says Halifax needs to “focus on creating opportunities for recent graduates, both domestic and international, to enter the local labour force.” That’s the key take-away — perhaps penetrating glimpse into the […]

CBC Nova Scotia’s Halifax election financing database: lessons learned

Do you know how many of the donations to winning candidates in the 2012 Halifax municipal election came from companies “involved in development?” Do you know how much money your district councillor received from this dog’s breakfast of “involved” developers, construction companies and real estate firms, each with self-interests in sundry proposals, projects and permits […]

Two good guys. Two good journalists. RIP

They were different men at different stages of their personal lives and professional careers. No matter. With last week’s too-soon deaths of Allan Rowe, the longtime Global television anchor turned MLA, and Matthew Wuest, the former Halifax Metro sports journalist and founder of the legendary Capgeek hockey insider’s website, the local journalism community is a […]

What’s terror? Who’s a terrorist? And other aftermath questions…

It can’t happen here. It won’t happen here. It — almost — did. But what is “it”? And how do we protect ourselves against whatever it is? On Friday night, I was at Scotiabank Centre enjoying the Mooseheads-Shawinigan Cataractes Quebec Major Junior Hockey league game. During a commercial lull — the game was televised nationally as part […]

The Mayor’s markers: Are people happy, confident we can be better?

When you ask Halifax Mayor Mike Savage what he takes the “most pride in” from his first two years on the job, he doesn’t mention the two balanced budgets with no tax increases, the $350 million debt at the time of amalgamation now wrestled to $260 million “while the province has gone from a debt […]