Governing by ‘sheer legislative laziness’

On Wednesday, November 1, CBC Radio Information Morning host Portia Clark interviewed representatives of two environmental groups that have banded together to try to convince the Houston government to amend and strengthen the Provincial Parks Act. Nature Nova Scotia and the Ecology Action Centre want the government to close loopholes and short-circuit future development proposals […]

Houston, we have an ER crisis …

… and accusing your opponents of “playing politics” won’t solve it So, Liberal leader, Zach Churchill wants Premier Tim Houston to recall the legislature to deal with the suddenly front-and-centre issue of why people are dying while they wait for care in our provincial emergency departments. And NDP leader Claudia Chender wants a public investigation […]

Tim Houston is ‘absolutely disappointed’ with the Yarmouth ferry

The question is what will he do with his — and our — disappointment? I certainly am absolutely disappointed with the numbers. Nova Scotians have invested a significant amount in an operation over the last number of years and I think every Nova Scotian should be disappointed with the uptake on the service… I think […]

Political accountability meets ‘the permanent campaign’

Nova Scotia’s legislature met for just 19 days. It didn’t do much. And then it adjourned. That is the plan. It was pushing 11 pm on the night of April 22, 2022, and everything that was going to be done — however little of that there might have been — was now well and truly […]

A cautionary tale for Nova Scotia’s Liberal leadership hopefuls

Now that it’s out of power, the Liberal party is imploding. As usual. Those hoping to lead the party today might take a moment to remember how the Liberals fared the last time they lost an election. Anyone remember Francis MacKenzie? The existential problem for any political party whose primary raison d’êtres are to gain […]

Alexa McDonough (1944-2022)

Perhaps the best way to understand the vital personal role Alexa McDonough — the first woman leader of a recognized political party in Canada — played in changing Nova Scotia and Canadian politics for the better is to remember those days in the early 1980s when she was the only New Democrat, the only woman, […]

‘The worst thing…’

There were many moments in her long political career when Alexa McDonough believed the NDP was finally on the cusp of an electoral breakthrough — none as exhilarating but none as ultimately devastating as the 1988 Nova Scotia general election. Alexa McDonough, the former leader of the Nova Scotia and federal New Democratic Parties died […]

Latest apology accepted, Tim Houston. Now…

If Premier Houston really has “the greatest respect for the workers of NS, especially those making minimum wage,” he will make sure our minimum wage is also a living wage. Why are we always talking about yet another “yesterday” issue long after that train should have jumped the tracks? Consider the living wage… er, the […]

Firing a staff member for racist comments is a start, but…

It’s clear the Houston government has more work to do when it comes to confronting racism in this province and repairing its relations with the Black community. The news late last week that a Tory staffer had been fired for making racist comments about Liberal MLA Angela Simmonds is interesting on a number of levels. […]

Our new premier seems comfortable in his own skin

It’s early and it doesn’t mean we’ll like where he leads us, but Tim Houston’s human responses to his early missteps are refreshing when compared to Angry Stephen McNeil and his successor, the Puppet Masters’ Script Reader. It’s a… start. I was listening — but distractedly — to the latest provincial COVID briefing last week, […]