May these games be like those games

It was the sweet summer of 1969, two years after the glories of Centennial and Expo ’67 ignited a sense of what our country might become in its second century, but a full year before the October Crisis snuffed out that particular dream-flame. It was a time—the last?—when Canadians still believed in the possibilities. I […]

Whatever they call it, let's call it… The Oval

“Last minute of play in the second period,” the booming voice of the Metro Centre’s PA announcer would declare solemnly, then add brightly: “Brought you to by…” I can’t remember now which name-dropping corporate sponsor claimed credit for the last minute of play in a period at Mooseheads’ home hockey games, or whether it still […]

Convention centre choices—with consequences

CBC Radio’s Mainstreet host, Stephanie Domet, had an interesting conversation last week with federal Liberal MP Scott Brison and former provincial PC leadership candidate Bill Black. The topic: taming Nova Scotia’s debt woes. While Black in particular had many thoughtful things to say, I was intrigued by his answer to one question. Does it really […]

The convention centre gamble that isn't

So Darrell Dexter’s government has decided to gamble $163.5 million of our tax dollars over the next 25 years on a spiffy new, super-sized, half-billion-dollar downtown-convention-centre-bunker-hotel-and-office-tower complex we may or may not be able to fill five years from now. That reckoning—conveniently and perhaps not coincidentally—will coincide nicely with when the bills actually begin to […]

Doing the right thing the wrong way

It has been a crazy rollercoaster of a pin-balling, ping-ponged week for those of us who get our knickers knotted about seemingly esoteric matters like public access to public information and government accountability. But all’s well that ends well… sort of. Let’s start with NDP MLA Howard Epstein’s “inadvertent” leak of confidential caucus information indicating […]

What's race got to do with it?

I accept the argument. Those involved in the recent decision to provide a group of—white—residents in Lake Major with keys to an old logging road so they could avoid having to travel an extra 5.5 km through the—black—community of North Preston were providing a small but reasonable favour to those most inconvenienced by a local […]

Welcome to the rat days of summer

When did we realize we had finally entered the deeps of the news-challenged rat… er, dog days of summer? Was it when that story about the number of rats per city block in Halifax—75; You count ‘em, I’ll pass—made CBC Radio’s marquee World at Six news show last week? Or perhaps it was when we […]

Mayor Kelly's Moses moment

What to make of Peter Kelly’s Moses memo to members of HRM Council? Thou shalt not drink to excess… Thou shalt not drive drunk… Thou shalt call 9-1-1 if a fellow councilor violates #2… Thou shalt pause and reflect… Mayor Kelly issued his I-regret-I-have-to-write-this-however-circumstances-demand-it memo July 9. The ink had barely dried before it showed […]

We want answers; they offer hype

I don’t necessarily oppose the new convention centre proposed for that gaping hole in the heart of downtown Halifax. And I don’t completely subscribe to the too-tall, edge-of-the-wedge principal objections raised by the Save the View Coalition. The preservationist group argues the convention centre’s twin 18 and 14-storey towers will obliterate much of the iconic […]

Drink the convention centre Kool Aid

Last Friday, a group calling itself the Coalition to the Save the View held a press conference to release its analysis of four reports on the financial viability of a new convention centre for downtown Halifax. Promoters want the province to ante up one third of its $300-million cost. You may recall that when those […]