Leo Glavine: Mis-speaking oneself while saying the same thing

On Thursday, in the warm afterglow of a Throne speech that zeroed in on “unsustainable [public sector] wage increases” and promised a “hiring slow down and steps to achieve a more sustainable wage pattern,” Health Minister Leo Glavine was clear as glass. Premier Stephen McNeil’s government had had it up to here with recalcitrant health […]

The government’s craven; we’re stupid. I’m OK with that

“Nova Scotia’s shale potential will remain in the ground,” harrumphed Financial Post columnist Terence Corcoran. Blame “growth-killing theories and activists.” “The McNeil Liberals have nailed shut one more economic doorway,”fretted Chronicle-Herald columnist Marilla Stephenson. “It’s a sorry day for Nova Scotia,” tut-tutted her editorial overlings. “Fear is trumping science,” piled on the Toronto Sun’s Brian […]

Don’t trust Nova Scotia Power to fix what ails it

So there were these trees, see. And, it being July, these trees had leaves. Leafy leaves. And, this being Nova Scotia, there was a storm. Which meant rain that made the leaves wet. And wind that blew the wet leaves, so some of those trees fell down. around So — this still being Nova Scotia […]

No offence intended, Mr. Rudderham

One shouldn’t mess — litigiously speaking — with Parker Rudderham. The Cape Breton businessman who owns Frank Magazine — a publication with its own storied courtroom history — sometimes seems as (in)famous for his legal battles as his business successes and philanthropic donations. On October 30, 2012, to cite but one recent example, his hometown […]

Nova Scotia Power, Arthur and the review: the unasked questions

Last week, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board laid out the parameters of the first phase of its planned review of Nova Scotia Power’s “state of preparedness and response” to hurricane-turned-post-tropical storm Arthur. While the review is welcome, it is also clear the scope of at least this phase of the review, its tight […]

Lyle Howe, David Sparks and the race question

Let me begin with this. I don’t believe Lyle Howe was convicted of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman because he was black, or that “those that represent the white power structure” conspired to put down an uppity black lawyer. David Sparks does. Sparks is spokesperson for a group planning a rally outside the law courts […]

06/23/2014
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Jamie Baillie, Chuck Porter and the issue that matters more

In the end, of course, Baillie’s management style may turn out to be less significant than his discredited, thoughtless, cut-public-sector-jobs-reduce-corporate-taxes-leave-it-all-to-the-private-sector political philosophy.

06/16/2014
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The Liberals, the NDP and the Home for Colored Children settlement

Credit where credit is due. When he was still the opposition leader, Stephen McNeil met with former residents of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children. He listened to their claims that, as mostly black and often orphaned children, they’d been subject to physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of their mostly black […]

06/09/2014
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Does anyone believe Peter MacKay wasn’t involved… and other questions

We begin June as we ended May. With more questions than answers. Item: Enterprise Cape Breton President John Lynn got fired after hiring four Tories with connections to federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay — without benefit of documentation or competition. The federal integrity watchdog uncovered a “pattern” that created an “appearance of patronage.” But he […]

06/02/2014
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Nursing shortage? Why is the government making it worse?

So… Faced with a looming shortage of “several thousand” nurses over the next decade as our population both ages and also shrinks (read the Ivany Report; look around you), our new Liberal government responds by… Well, let me count the ways. The government alienates many current nurses by dismissing their concerns about patient safety as […]