Canada's Prime Minister issued a statement early on Thursday morning condemning "Russia's egregious attack on Ukraine" and calling on them to "immediately cease all hostile and provocative actions." The United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have taken steps to address the military actions that are underway. Dr. Ruben Zaiotti is an associate professor in Dalhousie Universities Political Science Department. He is also an expert in European Union politics and in publ...
Feb 24, 2022•17 min
He was 26 years old when he first ran in a bye-election in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2010. He's been in opposition and then in government and has served as both Education and Health Minister. And now Zach Churchill is looking to become the next leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. He discusses his decision to enter this race and not the one a year ago that saw the candidate he supported, Iain Rankin win. He also discusses the challenges of rebuilding the party with a goal of winning the next ...
Feb 23, 2022•17 min
Since January, a group of Dartmouth residents have been amping up efforts to bring attention to an area of wetland near a proposed housing development. Bill Zebedee says the Protect Eisner Cove Wetland Society is reacting to a private sale of the 15 hectares of forested wetland earlier this year. The developer has proposed a walking trail through the wetland, but the group says that's not the best thing for the habitat or the animals and plants that live they. He says their goal is to have The E...
Feb 22, 2022•17 min
Nova Scotia Health is hosting an event later this month called the Health Innovation Showcase. It will happen on Feb. 22 (from Halifax) and Feb. 25 (from New Glasgow) to officially launch the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub. And they say it's to deliver high-impact solutions for patients and providers by using technology like the Virtual Care program that connects orphaned patients with medical services virtually. Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is the Vice President of Research, Innovation and Discov...
Feb 18, 2022•17 min
For the past few years, the Union representing Nova Scotia paramedics has been sounding the alarm over the shortage of available ambulances. It's something they call Code Critical and it's becoming even more acute says the business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Kevin MacMullin told the Legislature's Public Accounts Committee this week that paramedicine is a system in failure right now. MacMullin says burnout and stress are a huge issue that is creating a cycle of str...
Feb 17, 2022•14 min
Vicky Levack is with the Disability Rights Coalition. They are the among sixty groups and individuals who have written an open letter asking the Premier to end discrimination against persons with disabilities. It is also calling for him to implement the Court of Appeal October 6 ruling as well as abandoning an application to the Supreme Court of Canada to dismiss the ruling. They want the government to negotiate a systemic human rights remedy to the problem of discrimination against people with ...
Feb 16, 2022•14 min
Dr. Lori Turnbull is an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University and the director of the School of Public Administration. She also spends a great deal of time in Ottawa where she lectures remotely. And she's being very clear about what she's been seeing since the trucks rolled in a few weeks ago. This is not a protest -- it's an occupation. And with the announcement that Justin Trudeau is enacting the Emergency Act has some people accusing the government of going too far....
Feb 15, 2022•17 min
There's a renewed interest in talking about affordability with Nova Scotia Power's proposed ten percent rate hike over the next three years. And the Affordable Energy Coalition is offering up three solutions to help low-income households afford their monthly bills. Brian Gifford is the group's chair and he has submitted that plan so that SaltWire readers could see what they are proposing. We discuss that plan and the inherent conflict when the company making millions of dollars selling electrici...
Feb 14, 2022•16 min
What started out as a break from the pandemic has turned into a social enterprise with an environmental agenda. Angel Riley started visiting the beaches around her home in Eastern Passage and noticed all of the debris along the coast. So she started picking it up. That has evolved into the Scotian Shores Clean Up group and more than 100-thousand pounds of debris being removed from the coastline of Canada's Ocean Playground. The group also repurposes some of the material they find to create art a...
Feb 11, 2022•13 min
It's been a stormy start to the new year with several blizzard and freezing rain storms. And the ongoing love-hate relationship continues with the province's power provider. People love to hate Nova Scotia Power, especially when the lights go out. The company has applied to increase its rates by ten percent over the next three years. And that has once again ignited the debate about how the utility is managed and regulated. Claudia Chender is the NDP House Leader and the Natural Resources and Ren...
Feb 10, 2022•13 min
As a law student, Angela Simmonds started work on helping people in her community gain legal title to land their families had lived on for generations. That continued as she was given the opportunity and funding from the Province to help right the historical wrong dating back to the 1700's. And last year, she decided to continue to support her home community from inside of Province House. She ran for, and was successful in winning as the MLA for the seat of Preston. She has now become the first ...
Feb 09, 2022•18 min
Nova Scotia's government has taken steps in the past to deal with potential protests over public health measures. An injunction was granted by the courts at the direction of former Premier Iain Rankin last year to head off a protest on Citadel Hill. Last week, Premier Tim Houston announced an order prohibiting protesters from blockading or disrupting traffic on any road, street or highway in Nova Scotia. And those two things are different under law according to McInnes Cooper's David Fraser. The...
Feb 08, 2022•18 min
It was described as a slow-rolling convoy protest in downtown Halifax over the weekend. And there were also counter-protests happening at the same time with some people choosing to make clear their support of the public health mandates and rules. The owner of a popular website and Facebook group ended up with a lot of comments over a stand he took. Ralph Pickart wrote: "For those who want to follow the activities near Pier 21 on our webcam today: We do not support this protest in any shape or fo...
Feb 07, 2022•10 min
In the end, they backed off on making people with solar panels pay to access the grid. But Nova Scotia Power is still looking for a ten percent increase in rates over the next three years as they transition away from reliance on coal-fired power generation. But the greening of the grid doesn't have to be adversarial. Gurprasad Gurumurthy is an Energy Coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre. And he says there are lessons to be learned as we move to more renewables. And the lessons are for the ...
Feb 04, 2022•14 min
Erin O'Toole's ride as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada has come to an abrupt end. And some of the blame might come down to the same sentiment that's fuelling the trucker's protest in Ottawa. How does this affect the Conservatism movement in Canada? And what is the likelihood that the next leader will be even more "right" of the political centre? Dr. Robert Huish is an associate professor at Dalhousie University. Along with International Development, he also speaks to politics. And he ...
Feb 03, 2022•17 min
Researchers with Dalhousie University's School of Social Work has been looking at the homelessness issue for years. And with the arrival of the global pandemic, they wanted to find out how that impacted those people who were already in a vulnerable situation. A paper on the subject looking into the issue affecting people in Halifax and Cape Breton Municipality was released last fall. And this week, a video animation about that research was completed and posted. Doctor Jeff Karabanow is the assoc...
Feb 02, 2022•15 min
The group representing truck drivers has been clear it wants the public health mandates to end. And they say their convoy will stay in Ottawa until their demands are met. Another group of Canadians has also put forward their case to have the public health measures ended. Or at least challenged. A prominent Nova Scotia lawyer says the government needs to prove the State of Emergency should be kept in place and that it's not an overreach, almost 23 months after it was enacted. And those issues wer...
Feb 01, 2022•14 min
A recent survey commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) reveals 77% of Atlantic Canadians who consume alcohol say reducing their risk of developing cancer is an important health benefit. But the challenge is that only one in three Canadians are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. That's a pretty good reason to consider going "dry" and to abstain from alcohol this February. Kelly Wilson Cull is with the Canadian Cancer Society in Nova Scotia. She outlines some of the research ...
Jan 31, 2022•13 min
For 19-year old Logan Prosper of We'koqma'q First Nation, it was a gift that had special meaning for several reasons. The Saint Mary's University student was behind the Red Tape Movement. That was a way of shining a light on descrimination in hockey by wrapping sticks in red tape to encourage players to take personal responsibility to end it. And the program made it all the way to the NHL's Brad Marchand. A few weeks ago, Logan received a gift from the Boston Bruin star, his favourite player on ...
Jan 28, 2022•11 min
Some of the supporters of the Freedom Convoy are using language that is very similar to the patriots fighting for freedom in Washington DC in January 2021. Many in the group appear to be distrustful of the media and of government, let alone the public health guidelines put in place because of the pandemic. And when the goal is to have all health mandates lifted, is there any chance of success? What does history tell us about social movements and discontent? Doctor Howard Ramos is a political soc...
Jan 27, 2022•16 min
The Nova Scotia Government has accepted a recommendation to increase the provincial wage to $13.35 per hour starting April 1st. And the Minimum Wage Committee has also recommended a push to have that reach a $15 minimum wage by 2024. And some groups are advocating for a living wage, around $20 per hour in Nova Scotia. A group formerly known as Fight for 15 has taken on a new goal. And a new name. Suzanne MacNeil is a spokesperson for the newly branded Justice for Workers Nova Scotia.
Jan 26, 2022•15 min
If you are a property owner in Nova Scotia, you should have received your 2022 Property Assessment Notice in the mail by now. And there's also a pretty good chance, that number is higher than it was a year ago. On average, housing prices were up 10.3 percent last year. And assessments are up an average of 10.8 percent. There are a lot of factors that go into coming up with that number and in 2021, almost six-thousand appeals were filed. What should you consider if you are thinking of appealing t...
Jan 25, 2022•11 min
A group of people fed up with pandemic restrictions were part of a slow moving protest on the highway between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia over the weekend. It coincided with another group leaving British Columbia on their way to Ottawa to show their displeasure with Canadian and American officials mandating drivers who cross the border to be fully vaccinated. The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) said in a statement on Saturday, it does not support any protests on public road ways and the only ...
Jan 24, 2022•12 min
It was an issue that dogged Iain Rankin in the last general election in Nova Scotia. Since then, we have a new premier, a new government and a new minister of Natural Resources. Also, the developers behind the potential golf resort at Owls Head have withdrawn their offer of purchase of the 285-hectare package of uninhabited Crown property and the Nova Scotia government recently announced Owls Head would in deed become protected from development once and for all. And still, a lawsuit is still wen...
Jan 21, 2022•9 min
For someone who has performed around the world, being grounded by the pandemic could be seen as more than just an inconvenience. For Canadian Soprano Measha Brueggergosman Lee, it has been a grounding of a different kind. While supporting her new series of virtual concerts, she reflects on how we wouldn't have chosen what has happened over the last two years, but she also wouldn't have changed it. She says it's all the more reason to recognise we are responsible for our own autonomy as we lift e...
Jan 20, 2022•13 min
The full name of the 218 page report is Defunding the Police - Defining the Way Forward for HRP. And one of the many authors of this document calls it his love letter to Halifax Regional Municipality. Tari Ajadi is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Dalhousie University, an activist & a public scholar. His dissertation research compares how Black activists in mid-sized cities in Nova Scotia and Ontario strategize to prompt change in policing and in health policy. He and others are hopin...
Jan 19, 2022•17 min
Some shoppers are reporting bare shelves at grocery stores across Nova Scotia. And with the winter storms and road conditions over the past week, it's an issue at other grocery stores across the region. But some people are suggesting this is because of a vaccine mandate that went into effect Saturday for truck drivers crossing the Canada-US border. Sylvain Charlebois says it's not that simple. The Professor of Food Distribution with Dalhousie University says there's a confluence of issues affect...
Jan 18, 2022•13 min
Littering and illegal dumping are still huge issues in Nova Scotia. Halifax Regional Municipality is stepping up enforcement and have more teams in place to track down the people responsible. Fines can range from $500-$10-thousand for illegal dumping and $200-$10-thousand for litter violations. Recently, HRM introduced a campaign to educate people about the issue with a call to action of "Be responsible for your waste". Kirk Symonds is a part of the municipalities solid waste education team. And...
Jan 17, 2022•11 min
It's been close to five months since Tim Houston and his Progressive Conservatives formed government in Nova Scotia. And most of his time, like the two premiers before him, has been dealing with the effects of a global pandemic. In this conversation, he discusses the decision to return to in class learning on Monday and what plans are in place to deal with potential outbreaks of COVID-19. He's also asked to detail why the province is appealing a decision about disability rights, his support of a...
Jan 14, 2022•19 min
One of the housing crisis solutions adopted by Halifax Regional Municipality was to allow secondary and backyard suites. And for a Dartmouth-based social enterprise, there's an opportunity to help on several levels. LakeCity Works has been supporting clients living with mental illness by giving them jobs to create skills and income. And their micro-home project is still moving through the approval process to give an affordable option for housing. Lisa Barkhouse is the Director of Operations for ...
Jan 13, 2022•11 min
