Nova Scotia has highest percentage of citizens who identify as trans and non-binary of all of the provinces and territories. Statistics Canada also says Halifax is the second-most gender-diverse city in the country behind Victoria. This week, the Standing Committee on Health brought the issue of Gender Affirming Care to the Legislature discussion. And there are lots of reasons for all of us to better educate ourselves on the issues and challenges the community is facing. Mikaela Gorman is a tran...
Oct 12, 2022•19 min
After months of criticism over their handling of sexual assault allegations, the CEO and the entire board of directors of Hockey Canada are stepping down. And it's just the first step according to Judy Haiven. She's is the founder of a group called Equity Watch, a human rights organization dedicated to fighting bullying and discrimination in the workplace. Along with their reluctance to openly denounce rape culture, Haiven says they've been accepting fees from hockey players to go towards settli...
Oct 11, 2022•9 min
Nova Scotia is denying homeless people hurricane relief aid despite announcing social assistance recipients would all get an extra $150. But as reported by Andrew Rankin, the province is denying anyone who doesn't have a permanent address. And there are lots of others in the same situation as Robert Stewart according to Campbell McClintock. He is a street outreach worker with the Out of the Cold Community Association. They provide a low-barrier supported housing community in Halifax. Campbell ha...
Oct 07, 2022•10 min
Unless you've lived for close to two weeks without electricity, it's hard to really get a sense of what it's like. For Carrie Smith, she and her Pictou County family lost their electricity at midnight September 23rd. She's been told it will be restored this coming Sunday, October 9th. In spite of the inconvenience, she says they've come together as a community and they are grateful for the teams who have been working to clean up the mess. We also hear from Halifax Regional Fire Assistant Chief o...
Oct 06, 2022•14 min
October 5th is World Teachers' Day with the theme this year of The Answer Begins with Teachers. But they say teachers arefacing unprecedented challenges that have beenbuildingfor several years and have onlybeen exacerbated by the pandemic. Ryan Lutes is the President of the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union representing close to 9,500 teachers and specialists. He discusses some of those challenges and the ongoing impact they're having on both teachers and staff. And he addresses some of the rhetoric f...
Oct 05, 2022•16 min
Some Nova Scotians may not even have their electricity reconnected in time for the Thanksgiving Weekend. And for those who will have power, they can expect the meal to cost more this year. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is with Dalhousie's Agri-Food Analytics Lab. And they conducted a survey with the help of the polling firm Angus Reid to see how inflation is affecting the fall harvest gathering. And they found almost a quarter of Canadians say they will be making some menu changes for Thanksgiving due ...
Oct 04, 2022•10 min
Not only was the huge street party predictable, it was likely preventable. That's what the President of the Dalhousie Student Union is saying after thousands of intoxicated students held an unofficial Homecoming gathering for a second year in a row. Aparna Mohan says the University needs to take more responsibility for not being proactive. She says the student union had been trying to get help to hold an official event, either on campus or somewhere else downtown. But she says the administration...
Oct 03, 2022•16 min
It's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ahead of Mi’kmaq History Month and Treaty Day. And it's part of the ongoing reparations of relations with First Nations in Canada. Along with official services and ceremonies, it's a day off for some Nova Scotian workers. But Pam Glode Desrochers says we shouldn't call it a holiday. The Executive Director of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax. She says we've come a long way in the last few years but more education is the key to reconcil...
Sep 30, 2022•15 min
A controversial change to Nova Scotia's film tax credit system in 2015 dramatically impacted the numbers of productions. But things have certainly rebounded in recent years. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic drove a need for new content and the industry responded. Nova Scotia's film and television is bustling right now according to a casting director. Erin Hennessey discusses the opportunities and challenges as they look to try and fill demand. She hopes everyone in the province gets involved in ba...
Sep 29, 2022•16 min
Members of the Canadian military are in Nova Scotia, helping clear downed trees as power crews work to get electricity restored following Fiona. But some customers might have to wait until the weekend or beyond for their lights to come back on. Halifax Mayor Mike Savage says he understands people are frustrated, but other areas were hit much harder than HRM. He adds his thoughts on communication issues and the overall response by the municipality and the utilities. He also offers his thoughts on...
Sep 28, 2022•16 min
He says it's a bit difficult to rate the provincial response to Hurricane Fiona at this point. Kevin Quigley specializes in public sector risk and crisis management, strategic management and critical infrastructure protection. He says we should all be supportive as crews work to help people recover from the natural disaster. But he adds it's important to take a critical look at the response after the fact. The Dalhousie professor says we live in an area susceptible to hurricanes and we will like...
Sep 27, 2022•17 min
Weather experts are all commenting on the historic nature of some of the aspects of Hurricane Fiona as it churns towards Atlantic Canada. And with that in mind, we are checking in with SaltWire journalists around the region about preparations ahead of the arrival of this weather threat. David Jala is with the Cape Breton Post in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Rafe Wright is a climate change reporter with The Guardian in Charlottetown. And Diane Crocker is with The Telegram out of Cornerbrook, Newfoundland...
Sep 23, 2022•12 min
For the first time since major changes to transit, we're seeing lots of traffic congestion as people head back to the office and back to school. And that's creating major backups around HRM. It's something Deputy Mayor Pamela Lovelace says could be addressed with the help of the Nova Scotia Government including park and ride services along the 103, 102 and Trunk 7 . She also weighs in on the relationship with the Tim Houston government including the decisions around development, like the Eisner ...
Sep 21, 2022•17 min
Nova Scotia Health (NSH) wants you to know it’s now easier to become a patient family advisor. But what exactly is that? The province says it's changed its system and no longer are people required to send in a resume to apply. You can email or call a toll-free number to get added to a list. And they say they'll respond to everyone who applies. Debbie LeLievre is the NSH Lead in Patient Experience. She says they are hoping to hear from people with diverse backgrounds, but not necessarily in the h...
Sep 20, 2022•12 min
Inflation is putting pressure on a lot of people in Nova Scotia, especially the ones making minimum wage. And while the Provincial Government is working towards a 15-dollar per hour minimum, it won't reach that number until April of 2024. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Nova Scotia recently released its annual report on living wages. It's titled "Working for a Living, Not Living to Work" and the author is Christine Saulnier. It says Nova Scotia’s living wage rates for 2022 are: An...
Sep 16, 2022•14 min
There's a new option for people with physical or intellectual disabilities looking to get around Halifax Regional Municipality. HRM has entered into a three year contract to provide accessible taxi services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In March, council unanimously approved a staff recommendation to fund Extra Care Taxi to help support higher costs of offering the service that has been lacking in recent years. The service has been running for a few weeks and is about to expand to...
Sep 15, 2022•10 min
There's a pretty good chance Monday will be business as usual for anyone who doesn't work for most people. Both the federal and Nova Scotia governments have proclaimed September 19th a holiday to commemorate the funeral service of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Government employees will have the day off and schools and daycares in Nova Scotia will be closed. But they've left it up to individual business owners to decide on how they will treat the day. Patrick Sullivan is the CEO and President of t...
Sep 14, 2022•7 min
Students and staff are back in class for almost a week now, and some of the long standing concerns are still top of mind. Ryan Lutes was elected president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) earlier this year. And he says he's concerned with air quality issues in some Nova Scotia classrooms. It's something that has been raised by the previous executive dating back to March of 2020 in the early days of the pandemic. He also speaks to some of the concerns over staffing with a shortage on subs...
Sep 13, 2022•15 min
It's the end of an era with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. And now her son, King Charles III is the head of state in Canada. Our constitutional monarchy has been an ongoing area of study by Nathan Tidridge. He is an author and educator who has been studying and writing about our history, and the Crown's relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Tidridge answers some of the questions people are asking about the transition in Canada after the death of the reigning monarch of the last 70 ...
Sep 09, 2022•17 min
September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day. It's an initiative to foster understanding of suicide prevention and promotes the message that death by suicide are preventable. On September 8th, the Canadian Mental Health Association Nova Scotia Division (CMHA NS) is urging those who identify as male to talk about the mental health issues and challenges. And Thursday evening, there will be a virtual panel discussion that will explore men's mental health and suicide prevention. They call it an ev...
Sep 06, 2022•11 min
Scientists like to point out that correlation is not causation. One thing may not be causing or influencing the other just because they are connected in some way. In our current housing crunch, a group representing landlords says the housing crunch in Nova Scotia can be blamed by the rent cap. Kevin Russell says a rental increase to just 2 percent a year has had a big impact because inflation is running at seven or eight percent. He says many landlords took advantage of a red hot real estate mar...
Sep 02, 2022•12 min
A doctor for every Nova Scotian. Fixing health care. Promises that will take more than just political will to become reality. This week, the Progressive Conservative Government announced more virtual care for patients who don't have a primary health provider. But will it make a difference? Doctor Leisha Hawker is the head of Doctors Nova Scotia, the association representing physicians in the province. And she says there are other obstacles standing in the way of recruiting and retaining health c...
Sep 01, 2022•16 min
Politicians from all parties are decrying the verbal attack against Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. But this is not just an issue affecting politics in Canada. Dr. Robert Huish is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University. He reacts to the video for the first time in this conversation that also reflects on the global impact of former USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who recently passed away.
Aug 31, 2022•13 min
More restaurants opened than closed during the height of the pandemic. And that was thanks in large part to government grants and loans for restaurant owners. But there's a real fear that many won't survive long enough to pay back that money at the end of 2023. Gordon Stewart is the Executive Director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia. He says increased food and operational costs are eating into already thin profit margins. And a labour crunch is forcing owners to decrease hours and e...
Aug 30, 2022•13 min
The Federal Government says the country has recovered 115% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. And in recent months, many businesses in the region have been facing a shortage of workers. It's affecting food service, retail and even transportation and construction industries. Carla Qualtrough is the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. She recently was in the region to announce a program to help hire 5,200 first year apprentices for the trades, and another to ...
Aug 29, 2022•14 min
Union leadership say there's been a huge change in the way the Progressive Conservative government is been dealing with labour groups. And when Tim Houston announced a significant wage hike for Personal Care Workers, he stirred optimism in other health care sectors. But there's still work to be done. A recent agreement was reached with support services represented by three different unions including Unifor, NSGEU and CUPE. It still needs to be ratified by the members, but labour leaders are reco...
Aug 24, 2022•11 min
Over the last 50 years, the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) has been about action, activism, education and change. And they have been effective in shaping government policy and regulation when it comes to our environment. Recently, the Nova Scotia Government announced its plan to address climate change and the greenhouse gas emission targets without imposing a carbon tax on residents. The Premier calls it a made-in-Nova Scotia plan with the most aggressive legislated targets for lowering emissions a...
Aug 23, 2022•12 min
From Stephen McNeil, to Iain Rankin and now on to Tim Houston. The final progress report has been issued by the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission. The document released in 2021 contained 17 recommendations and 60 meaningful actions. Close to 50 are considered complete or substantially complete. Dr. Ren Thomas is Associate Professor, Dalhousie University School of Planning. She also was the co-chair of the 17-member Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission. She explains the work that wen...
Aug 22, 2022•13 min
Tim Houston is the eleventh premier to find himself in Bruce MacKinnon's cross-hairs. Since becoming a full time editorial cartoonist in 1986, he's been winning awards with his evocative and entertaining commentary on life in Nova Scotia. And while some people are easier to capture than others, MacKinnon always has his ink-stained fingers on the pulse of the story of the day. In this conversation, he reflects on the images he's drawn, and the issues he's drawn on, since the Progressive Conservat...
Aug 19, 2022•14 min
Theresa Babb says she's probably the exact kind of patient a newly opened private health clinic is looking for. She was one of the many thousands of Nova Scotians who have gone to an emergency department only to leave without being seen. And she says she could afford the fees for a monthly membership and for the consultation with a nurse. But she says it's not likely something she'll ever do again. The Dartmouth woman says it was unlike any other health care visit she's had. And it worries her t...
Aug 18, 2022•14 min
