The fires are still burning here in Oregon. There are eight confirmed dead with almost 5.000 structures lost. Whole towns were substantially destroyed (look up Detroit, Gates, Blue River, Phoenix, Talent). Forty-thousand people were evacuated. This was not an ordinary year and although there was a terrible nexus of conditionsRead More

How did you learn best? How do we learn best about anything? How do we retain what we have learned best? Learning styles have been written about since the dawn of time. To see, hear, touch, smell, read, experience – which one do you learn best from? My Mom, DadRead...

Editor’s Note: Be sure to read the follow-up to this story in the 5 February 2020 edition.   Biomess The requirement in Nova Scotia is that emissions are reported as total emissions less the portion from biomass. For this reason, the contribution from a biomass plant to the project couldRead More

CBRM Council has declared its support for the Blue Dot movement. Launched in 2014 with the backing of the David Suzuki Foundation, Blue Dot is a “national campaign to advance the legal recognition of every Canadian’s right to a healthy environment.” In passing its resolution of support last night, theRead More

Dissecting a decision Three things struck me about a recent decision by Nova Scotia Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully. The decision involved what was then called Nova Scotia Waterfront Development Corporation Limited (WDCL), a provincial crown corporation originally responsible for land development, primarily around Halifax Harbour. In late 2015, the WDCLRead More

Bill Lahey’s prescription was sweeping: “We need a new paradigm to manage our forests.” That’s what the University of King’s College president told journalists after handing the McNeil government the results of a year-long review of forestry practices in Nova Scotia. McNeil appointed Lahey last August after choosing not toRead...

A CAPE BRETON SPECTATOR/HALIFAX EXAMINER SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to Joan Baxter’s four-part series on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. (Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.)   Cabinet shuffle Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is noRead More

Ferry Tale Bay Ferries Ltd, which currently operates the high-speed CAT ferry service between Yarmouth, NS and Portland, Maine, could start sailing to Bar Harbor, Maine instead as early as next June, reports the SaltWire network’s Andrea Gunn. Gunn notes that the move is being planned despite Bay Ferries andRead More

A CAPE BRETON SPECTATOR/HALIFAX EXAMINER SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. You can find Part I here.   Going for gold The CEO and chairman of Vancouver-based Atlantic Gold Corporation, Steven Dean, aRead More

Out of Order As an armchair political scientist (we’re almost indistinguishable from the real thing until we open our mouths), I was quite happy to read what an actual political scientist, CBU’s Tom Urbaniak, had to say about the go-ahead at last Tuesday’s CBRM council meeting. In case you went to BostonRead More