Who has the ear of the finance minister? Hint: not you

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner March 27, 2017) No need to ask what the Halifax Chamber of Commerce wants to see in next month’s provincial budget. They’ve made their wish list plain enough in their own, well-chosen words: “Taxation: Reduce the tax burden by either reducing the corporate income tax rate, increasing […]

The way politics works — and doesn’t — in Nova Scotia

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner March 13, 2017) I got a call the other evening from an earnest young telemarketer person, urging me to pony up cash so the New Democratic Party could wage glorious, seat-re-gaining war in the coming provincial election, which he suggested — with even greater earnestness and urgency […]

Stephen McNeil’s ‘right direction’ and his Chamber of Commerce cheerleaders

(Originally published in the Halifax Examiner February 21, 2017) If you missed it, I’m sure you weren’t alone. Let us first recall The Week that now, thankfully, was. First, of course, there was the emergency session of the legislature scheduled for last Monday night, but which was delayed a day by Snowmageddon #1. Our premier apparently […]

Teachers say no thanks. So Stephen McNeil says…

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on February 13, 2017. Premier Stephen McNeil had plenty of potential (Hobson’s) choices he could have chosen while he filled his weekend with “considerable soul searching.” How should the premier have responded after Nova Scotia’s 9,300 teachers said no thanks, no thanks and no thanks again to his government’s contract offer? This was […]

Schools, politics and the provincial thumb on the scale

Education Minister Karen Casey says reporters who would dare to even hint that politics — perish that pesky thought — might have influenced the government’s decision to replace Spryfield’s J.L. Ilsley High School should make that outrageous claim to the faces of the problem-plagued school’s teachers, staff, students and parents. Well, yes, they could do […]

The teachers’ dispute: just another Monday in Chaos

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on Monday, January 30, 2017.) It’s Monday. So it must be time for the latest zig in the zig-zaggy, twisty-turny, tortured tale of Stephen McNeil and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. On Friday afternoon, the union announced its 9,300 members would resume their work-to-rule job action today […]

Stephen McNeil: are Nova Scotians just parking their votes and keeping score?

What a difference a week — or a poll — makes. On December 6, Corporate Research released its quarterly snapshot of the state of play in Nova Scotia politics, and it seemed to be more of the same-old, same-old, ho-hum, nothing-to-see-here-folks, move-along news story. CRA concluded the governing Nova Scotia Liberals remained our “preferred party” […]

Teachers: light at the end of the tunnel? What tunnel?

It’s been a full week since the Liberal caucus revolt Stephen McNeil insists never happened; since Education Minister Karen Casey’s 180-degree, we-must-close-all-the-schools-right-now-to-protect-student-safety/no-we-will-reopen-all-the-schools-tomorrow-to-protect-our-government’s future; since the government called its special session of the House of Assembly to pass legislation to impose a rejected contract on the province’s 9,300 teachers, then sent the MLAs home with nothing […]

How the government chose to build two new schools in the ‘right’ place in the right pre-election time

The very suggestion the Nova Scotia government would cherry-pick new school building projects from the bottom of the priority pile simply because said schools would be built in constituencies held by Education Minister Karen Casey and Premier Stephen McNeil, is — cue the harrumphs — “a ridiculous comment to make.” So says the minister […]

Stephen McNeil and the folly of false choices

“We believe we’ve delivered what is a fair package [for teachers]. If there is more required to be on the table, people need to explain where they want us to get that. Do they want us to take it out of health care? Do they want us to take it away from vulnerable Nova Scotians?” […]