On September 24, the Canadian anti-war community suffered a grievous loss with the death, at the age of just 71, of Bill Blaikie, New Democrat MP for Winnipeg for nearly 30 years (1979-2008) and devout Christian believer in a peace on Earth secured not through the chimera of military ‘strength’Read More

Johnny ‘No Comment’ During the 2021 provincial election, when he was running as the (ultimately successful) Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Glace Bay, John White (aka Johnny White aka Johnny Bubba) declined to answer the Spectator‘s questions. I had forgotten that until yesterday, when I read about WhiteRead More

If you haven’t read Joan Baxter’s two-parter (Part II is here) on EverWind, the US-based company planning to turn Nova Scotia into a regional green hydrogen hub, you really must. Brief commercial break: the Halifax Examiner, like the Cape Breton Spectator, is reader supported and you can purchase a jointRead...

Coal Face “There’s no stone left unturned when it comes to safety with this company”—CBRM District 8 Councilor James Edwards on Kameron Collieries’ decision to reopen the Donkin Mine, CTV Atlantic News, 14 September 2022 The unfortunate reference to stones—the man is, after all, talking about a coal mine proneRead More

There have been big developments on the green hydrogen file since last we spoke—and by big developments, I don’t mean actual, physical, developments.  I mean big plans (and incentives) announced by big, important people. I’ve dealt with the Nova Scotian aspect of these developments in a separate article, but IRead More

Yesterday, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed what was initially billed as an “historic accord” but quickly downgraded to a “non-binding agreement” to encourage the production of green hydrogen in Eastern Canada for shipment to Germany, starting in 2025. Per the GlobeRead More

Green hydrogen first appeared on my radar in May of this year when I heard about Everwind Fuels, a newly formed company with the modest aim of turning Nova Scotia into a regional green hydrogen hub. US-based Everwind, headed by Australian private equity guy Trent Vichie, announced its intentions byRead More

On the same day last week—July 8—600,000 liters of gasoline spilled out of a storage tank in Sydney’s North End and Rogers Communications showed us why Canada needs not more “competition” in the telecoms sector but a publicly owned internet provider (yes, I went there). I say this off theRead More

District 4 Councilor Steve Gillespie knows the electrification of CBRM’s transit fleet is inevitable as federal funding for diesel buses dries up, but he wants us to understand that he is adamantly opposed to it because it will be expensive and people in his district, who do not have busRead More

As noted in my earlier article about CBRM transit, the study that will guide the electrification of our system will consider the examples of other, comparable, municipalities. During their discussion of the matter earlier this month, some councilors expressed the concern that comparing us to Halifax—which ordered 60 electric busesRead More