Not Toronto, exactly, but close enough. Yeji and I are moving to Mississauga.
We're busy packing right now, but I just realized I'll need to set up a time before we go for the internet company to reclaim their cable modem. That means I'll be disconnected reasonably soon and had better make the announcement now.
I've griped and complained before but I'll spare you the details. My big concerns with Halifax were longterm employability and the despair I was feeling over the obvious population decline which will continue to occur. I was also starting to dread the demise of print media as a whole, also. More layoffs had occurred over the last month and cut backs have been steady all over.
There was also the three-year-old nagging disappointment that after returning from Korea, I never fully reintegrated into Halifax. I used to walk the streets, dwell in the coffee shops and know half the faces I'd pass by. Not now. The streets always seem empty and I never picked up a new hang out. My old friends span the globe, but only one or two remain in the city, all of us too busy to ever get together.
So I opted to solve it all if I could -- but it took a while. My resume is fine for the business I am in, but I wanted to make the leap to new media, away from the death rattling print publishing world. I also decided to set my sights on the Big Smoke. It's the centre of English-language media in this country and the least likely to have to worry about population decline. It's big, vibrant and a perfect place to strike out after one's fortune. The problem, was that they don't often take notice of someone applying from outside their area, much less Nova Scotia.
I got lucky on Victoria Day, of all days, and someone who liked my qualifications opted to field me a phone call. The matter was made even stranger by my wife having a premonition of the call in a dream the night before. My interviewer and I decided to meet face-to-face so I was off to buy a new suit and a plane ticket west. I made my trip on Thursday, flying out in the wee hours of the morning and returning home just before midnight. All went well and I was offered the job.
I even managed to find an apartment ten minutes away. People say Toronto is "so expensive" to live in. Poppycock. Of all my price comparisons, the commute was the only thing I could see that would cost me more (and at that, the price per litre of gas in Ontario is still five to ten cents cheaper than here.) By finding a place so close, I figure I will save money on gas. Furthermore, most apartments in Toronto include utilities, whereas Nova Scotia places seldom seem to do now. Perhaps it's because, again, utilities are cheaper in Toronto. A quick search informed me NS Power is at around nine cents per kWh and increasing, while the area I am moving to in Mississauga is billed around six cents per kWh. At the end of the day, I'm paying about a hundred bucks more per month but it's for a two-bedroom facing a park, while here in Haltown we only have a tiny junior one-bedroom. I'm sadly giving up indoor parking, but we're gaining a swimming pool, sauna, exercise room and tennis courts.
I may still find some time to post a few more briefs here. Even when I lose my current internet, there's still my work computer, and internet at my folks' place. We'll be staying there a few nights starting this weekend, however, by Wednesday I expect to be heading west and racing to get moved in to the new place before Friday the 13th.
Most relieving to my blogging however, is that I can finally semi-retire this version of Latenight and now fully concentrate on the mainpage. I don't think I will split the site into a Latenight: Mississauga (never say never) but I'd rather get back to one regular destination for posts and the top-level blog is the place for that. Expect it to become more busy once we're settled in our new home. For the first time in a while, I'm also eager to dust off the ol' camera again and get some fresh photos to send up.
There's big news in the local publishing markey today. The Halifax Daily News (referred to as the Daily Snooze by some, and one of my past workplaces back in the nineties) is no more. The paper had been stumbling for years and had run through a number of owners from David Bentley to Harry Steele, on to Conrad Black and Southam, then to the Aspers and Global, until finally Tanscontinental. Workers were notified this morning. Over 92 employees will be laid off.
The remainder will remain in place to launch a brand new newspaper on Thursday when Halifax gets its own edition of Metro, the freely distributed broadsheet that is already running in several markets across Canada including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Their new publisher, Greg Lutes, who had recently taken over the job at the Daily News, was the premier publisher for Metro Toronto. (They're not wasting any time, that last link to hfxnews.ca already is rebranded for Metro, having long been the Daily News site.)
The move makes a great deal of sense. I'd always suspected that SunMedia might buy them out and give us a Halifax Sun. The formats were so very similar. As it is, knowing the new publisher's background it's more apparent. The appearance of a free daily will mix up the local newspaper market more than another simple sale would have. The enormity of this format change might be what it takes to allow this new paper to survive. It might even shake the Halifax Chroncicle Herald's grip on the city.
It's so exciting it almost makes we want to reconsider my decision to leave.
Laid off employees will receive severance packages and/or help finding other jobs with other Transcontinental papers in the province. Though it's a bit like checking the obituaries for loved ones, it seems I know at least one or two that have survived the transition and will still be working when Metro launches on Thursday.
[Update: Thanks for the link, Fagstein, who considered this post as somewhat optimistic. I don't much like the idea of so many people thrown from their jobs but some perspective has to be considered; within two to three years of me leaving in October of 2000 (I was a ad rep back then), the paper had already experienced a 99% turnover in employees. The person I mentioned who is still working there had left and apparently returned. This is has been a slow bleed for a long, long time.]
[Update 2: My memory is shabby. Seems Metro publishes in the tabloid format; I could've sworn the one I picked up in T.O. last time was bigger. At any rate, Metro Halifax is out now and is defitinitely a tab.]
I'll try to avoid editorializing anything here but felt I should blog that the first sentence was handed down in the case of the three teen girls who beat the elderly lady on the Commons with table legs last August. Time served plus a month. That brings her total incarceration to less than six months for this offense.
If there's any possible ray of hope that youth crime will ever be reduced, perhaps yesterday's announcement might be a spark to cling to. The Feds are chipping in $1.9 million to fight gangs by putting youth workers in at-risk communities in the hopes of reducing gang recruiting.
There are lots of fresh crimes in the news too, but I don't feel like starting my weekend off with any more negative news.
Reporting back from our evening's entertainment, I am very happy to say that Bladerunner: Final Cut has arrived in Halifax with an exclusive showing at Empire Theatres, Dartmouth Crossing. I had been worried we wouldn't get it, after reading of showings in Toronto an Vancouver. As you likely know, Bladerunner is my favourite movie of all time and the five-disc ultimate collector's edition is topping my wish list this Christmas.
My take on the new version? It's smoother. It's much more polished. Little shots and sequences have been restored and added in. Holden's iron lung scene is still out but more cityscape material seems to be in this version. It could be as simple as having the backgrounds redone, or colour enhanced, but I really felt much more immersed this time and more little details jumped out very clearly from the sets. Coming out, I feel a bit like I've been meditating for two hours. Seeing it on the big screen, every chance you get, is well worth it.
Oh My God, people. Enough with the Celine Blah blah blah Dion.
Here's the rundown for anyone that doesn't know. Halifax was looking for another big act to bring to town for next summer's line up. The act would hold their show on the Halifax Commons. Having already blatantly copied Moncton by booking the Rolling Stones and having lost pathetically to Moncton in trying to secure a country act like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Halifax decided to try again. It was announced that Celine Dion would be coming to Halifax.
The powers that be are pretty out-of-touch, I guess. Celine Dion's Halifax fan base is limited to the gay community and the spinsters who sit around watching Titanic on their VCR until the tape runs out and they commit suicide out of desperation and loneliness.
Her only other fans must be Trade Centre Ltd.'s Fred MacGillivray and his buddies, however I doubt you'd see them out on the Commons for an outdoor concert. Certainly there's not enough people who would take in a Celine Dion concert to generate the millions that Fred promised it would. But then again, Fred seems no good with money unless he's lining his own pockets with it. The Commonwealth Games bid FINALLY was released and low and behold there's a $2.8-million dollar figure in there for "salaries" -- all in the name of a bid that ended up being four times the value of Glasgow's winning bid. (Thankfully, Mayor Peter Kelly had the sense to pull the plug on these fools.)
One small spark of intelligence in this city is David Rhodenizer who was gentle with Celine but began his column, the other day, by pointing out that most of us would rather see AC/DC or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After all, this IS supposed to be a rock concert, right?
What genre is Celine anyway? I've never heard of an off-Vegas act, unless you're talking about Elvis impersonators. Once you've played Vegas, you're kind of expected to stay there, or keep quiet until you've just faded away.
Anyway... I digress. Celine's nigh-Octogenarian husband, Rene Angelil, read the column, took offence to it, and cancelled the show. (It seems he caught a dose of Mayor Kelly's common sense.) The original story was that the outdoor venue wasn't appropriate -- which is an understatement in this case -- but now he's extending his opinion to say that the entire city is inappropriate. *cheer*
Look. No hard feelings. Celine, I am sure, is a wonderful person with an honest-to-goodness great set of pipes. My anger, is with this stupid city in which a small cadre of idiots is mangling any hopes of getting half decent original entertainment booked here.
Moncton, congratulations on your lack of morons. Pity us, here in Halifax.
Sorry, the "Halifax Regional Municipality". In another show of gross idiocy, a motion to change the name of the city to the more sensible name, "Halifax" got voted down. Council couldn't figure out how to do it without spending a million dollars on new signs. (Here's a hint; just leave the signs there. Nobody will be confused.) Apparently, councillors from other communities in the city, that were known by other historic names prior to amalgamation, were worried that they'd lose their specialness. Don't fear, you'll always have the special names of Snobsville, Drivebyshootingstown and Crackhousetopia.
Let me stop myself right there. I'm experiencing chest pains.
This year's Parade of Lights seemed like a lot of fun, but I'm sorry that it just didn't pan out so well for me. It was certainly colder this year than last (when I wore a T-shirt, if you can believe it.) I stood out for about an hour on the side of the street and actually managed to have a spot right on the curb. It'd be perfect for photos. The parade started and shortly into it, the batteries in my camera died, as I suspected they would. Not to fear, being a professional, I carried no fewer than four sets of batteries for just such an occurrence.
No dice. ALL four sets were dead. I popped them into the camera, got maybe one or two shots out of them and then they died on me. Either they'd sat around so long that they lost their charge or else the cold was having an effect on the camera (should have tried them when I got home.)
So, the best I can do is bring you some shots from the first ten minutes of the parade. As far as photos go, I missed all the marching bands, all the radio stations but the country one, and singer John Gracie who brought up the rear.
Much of what I did see, I saw on the way by. Having no batteries in my camera, I gave up my choice perch and headed back to the apartment. It had been one of those days and we planned to go out for supper before the parade, but one of us or the other dawdled and delayed such that I went to the parade alone and neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast. I was starved so I figured I'd head back, grab the wife, and together we could duck into a restaurant before the parade finished and the crowd got hungry.
I have to admit though, walking past the crowds to get downtown, the float from Pete's Frootiquereally caught my eye. It seems they went all out with staff dressed in fruit and vegetable costumes marching ahead and Pete, himself, in a giant sleigh in the form of a carved watermelon. Fantastic work.
So that's how I ended up with a near empty memory card of photos in my camera, but a nice, full belly of sushi to keep me contented. The photos here aren't the best. Normally, I'd have wanted ten times the number I got to prune the best out of. If you are still hungry for holiday illumination, I'll leave you with a link to the 2006 Parade of Lights that I had better luck at last year.
For anyone who missed the ceremony this morning, I've got a few photos that I took while attending. Turnout was quite good, despite the weather. It was cold, with specks of snow here and there. All in all it looked slightly reminiscent of yesterday before the storm struck, so I could understand some trepidation. The sun alternated with cloud during the service however, so the lighting was a bit more neutral. Last year, you may remember, the sun glared tremendously on the cenotaph.
All branches of the service were represented, as well as the Mounties, cadets, Masons, Knights of Columbus, etc. They assembled in Halifax's Grand Parade just before 11 o'clock.
Spectators also came from varied walks of life. This little guy opted to wear his combats, rather than dress uniform. Perhaps he was on duty.
The band played the national anthem, "God Save the Queen", and a beautiful rendition of "Abide With Me" (Note: link includes sound).
Looking across the Grand Parade, you can get an idea of how many participants were there. The poppy banners date to the 2005 Year of the Veteran.
The parade's Colour Guard was provided by the Legion. A flypast was also performed by a CH-124 Sea King.
This year especially marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, also sometimes known as the Third Battle of Ypres.
Crowds lines both side of the Grand Parade. Seen here, are people lined up along Argyle Street.
The parade departed via Barrington Street.
Following the service, all were invited to lay their remaining wreathes and poppies upon the cenotaph.
Please let me, once again, take a moment to express my admiration and thanks for those who went before and sacrificed themselves in the desire to maintain our nation's freedom. We remember.
Slow again to chronicle something that is set to affect a huge number of Haligonians, and in this case their fluffy friends -- city council finally passed that ridiculous cat by-law by a vote of 11 to 9.
It's basically a combination of law enforcement nightmare and fiscal extortion for cat owners. Starting April 1st, cat owners will have to register their pets at a cost of $10 to $30 per year. The money will go to fund a new SPCA building that will then handle the huge influx of cats expected once the other part of the bill kicks in -- the legal trapping of neighbourhood strays and pet cats by your average Joe citizen.
It bothers me that they want me to now pay a yearly fee for our cat. It bothers me that they are further endorsing a neighbour vs. neighbour mentality in the city and playing up to the animal haters among us. It bothers me that it's going to cost $3.3-god-damned-million. What most infuriated me, however, was when the Daily News interviewed as many of the yes-voting councillors as they could get on record as to how many complaints are actually made annually about cats running amok. The bulk of these anti-pussy brigade apparently have to deal with as many as one entire call per month on average! That's their own admission. More during elections, possibly, they suggest. It's a wonder their ears haven't dropped off from all that call-fielding.
That's it for this post. I do my best to keep profanity out of this blog... Honestly, I don't think anyone should vote for someone who isn't smart enough to reply, "Cat in your garden, M'am? Don't call your councillor. Try mothballs or buy a dog."
Thanks to the Daily News for publishing the names of the 11 wastes of flesh that voted for this insane waste of the public process, though I can't seem to find a link to the online list.
Honestly, this is the same crap that caused the bubonic plague. Get rid of the cats and it becomes a paradise for rats and other vermin. Lovely city we're going to have here. Fact is, we've pretty much made the decision that we won't be living in Halifax by the time this law kicks in. That's fine because even if we were, I wouldn't be wasting my money to register our cat. I don't support the firearms registry, so I sure as Hell don't support this ludicrous enterprise.
It looks like we're on the verge of another bus strike come Monday morning. As much as the cynical enviro nuts would have you believe otherwise, there are many people who rely on buses for transportation - our graphic designers for examples. It looks like I'll be running a car pool on Monday and for potentially a long time thereafter. One speaker on the radio suggested the strike could run from two to ten weeks as Metro Transit is in the red and saving a weeks of drivers' salaries would put them back in the black. Seems logical to me, sadly.
Halifax is reeling after yet another attack by teenage girls setting upon one another hell hounds. Three girls, ages 18, 15 and 14, ambushed another 18-year-old girl and brutally beat and tortured her for two hours before taking a smoke break, which enabled the victim to escape and get help. It was reported as being in response to the victim having "ratted" on the others.
According to the CBC, Brittany McNeil, "The oldest girl has 19 previous convictions for assault, theft and breach of court orders." I'm sure that it must really be testing the ingenuity and creativity of our little snowflakes to find ways that they might ever, possibly, even remotely be punished for anything.
In all, page three of the Daily News today was a perfect example of what this town has witnessed in our youth. We have the above-mentioned torture and beating by three girls on another (with 265 comments and counting, you may have trouble loading the story.) There's also the news that authorities are releasing the identity of Garmen Davison Smith, the 17 year old who killed cabbie Kevin Purcell on Christmas Day 2005. On the side, it also mentioned that the three girls who attacked the elderly lady, Silvia Bortignon, with metal table legs on the Commons last month may qualify for Serious Violent Offense status. Even so, it wouldn't guarantee jail time for the girls but simply increase the chances of it.
I can only imagine the costs that will be associated with rehabilitating these psychopathic monstrosities throughout the many years of violence and carnage they have ahead of them.
At a press conference this afternoon, much-loved Canadian music producer David Foster announced that he was expanding the operations of his David Foster & Friends Foundation to Halifax with a celebrity gala for fundraising, to be held next March in the city.
"Crescendo" promises to bring big names to the city, in support of the foundation which aids families who are facing difficulties when their children require organ transplants and must relocate. Foster was happy to be able to bring Crescendo to Halifax, saying that he finally felt the foundation had become "coast to coast."
The Crescendo weekend features a big ticket dinner with the stars, as well as numerous performances and a "Star Search" from which a local talent may find their way to success. Foster didn't want to promise a guest list just yet, but suggested such names as Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Peter Cetera and comedian Sinbad were all in order. The goal of the weekend is to raise $1 million dollars for the foundation.
Several artist's renderings are floating around to show the impact of these buildings on the skyline. United Gulf drops theirs neatly into the downtown on their image and the heritage groups make them tower over the downtown, bigger than all get out. Here's mine, somewhere in the middle, I guess. I based it largely off the dimensions of the buildings, superimposed over their footprint, as determined by the angles I retrieved from Google Earth.
Big news to round out this week: the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has dismissed the appeal against United Gulf Developments' construction of two 27-storey skyscrapers in the downtown core. This has been lagging on and the progress-haters have already suggested they might have another angle to try (there's a buy-back clause in the property sale agreement that they may now target.)
I'm all for heritage preservation and I do think that the location of these towers could have been better chosen. I don't know why the city doesn't expropriate some land north of the Commons (might cut down crime too) or the area near the Holiday Inn at the Willowtree intersection (would require re-zoning but would let Quinpool finally come into her own.)
Part of the decision to go ahead with this must be Rodney MacDonald's recent discussion of a future "financial district" for Halifax. If so, they should better choose the location. On account of the protected view planes from the Citadel, it's taken years for this one development to go through.
I'm making a bonus post here to say I've also started updating my linkage in the side bar. I've also added link features to Latenight - Miramichi and Latenight - Korea so if by some chance, you used to have a link here but it's missing, check one of those. I did remove some non-reciprocal links that I don't read anymore but for the most part, I've just spent the last little while reorganizing rather than removing.
This is also a call out to other blogs and sites in Nova Scotia, and/or the Maritimes. If your blog is in the province, post a note and I'll try to add you in. If I come across some great blogs, myself, I may do likewise and will endeavour to have a more robust set of alternate reads available in the near future.
I wanted to link to the video above, so I'll drop a quick post on here. We went out with a friend of ours, Michael Conway, better known as "Ukulele Mike" to the buffet at the Casino. Afterwards, I've been introducing him to YouTube and you can click on the video to see the results. It's a medley of Canadian classics, the "Hockey Night in Canada" theme and the theme to "Definition". In another video, you can also listen to his rendition of "Lullabye of Birdland" -- and yes, those are our old 1960s-era yellow-gold drapes. We made both videos here at the homestead.
For anyone interested in picking up a copy of Michael's CD, check out his page at CDBaby.
I apologize that these are up a bit late, the Tall Ships festival having ended almost a week ago for Halifax. The ships sailed out on Monday and are touring other parts of the province now.
The photos here are my shots from last Friday afternoon when I went down. I spent most of the afternoon resizing photos so prepare your bandwidth. There are a few photo dumps on the way. The honeymoon and wedding photos I have earmarked for the blog are also resized and I should finally get around to posting them soon.
Picton Castle
The Picton Castle was neat to see again. Lunenburg is her home port so she's been around a few times, but now she's famous since starring as the ship in the reality TV show "Piratemaster".
Climbing the rigging on The Pride of Baltimore
Being in port, activity was down to a minimum. You could purchase boarding passes to take tours, however. The big event would be the parade of sail as they departed.
The Bounty
I'm not 100% sure on all the names here, but this one looks like the Bounty to me. I'd see in years ago in Miramichi. I did take a picture of one of the maps to the ships but some were not in their berths when I toured the waterfront.
Prince William
The Prince William was moored near the Picton Castle and both were roped off to prevent admittance from anywone without a pass. As I was there, I saw CTV setting up their shots nearby.
Crowds enjoying the sunny weather
Lots of people were crowding the waterfront and it was hot. Really hot.
Pride of Baltimore
There didn't seem to be as many huge ships this year but certainly, some were beautiful vessels. You could really smell the aroma of the oiled wood as you walked past some.
RoyalisteThe Bounty
There's nothing like seeing these great ships on our waterfront. It seems that we will have another festival in 2009, so we can all look forward to then.
It was announced today that Moncton would be hosting the region's mega concert this summer. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw will be performing at Magnetic Hill. Congratulations, Moncton. You deserve it.
Why? Because there are ten times as many country music fans in New Brunswick as there are in Nova Scotia. That's all. It's not a matter of a better venue or better negotiating. Moncton is the place to put a concert like this.
However, I'm left feeling embarassed at Halifax again, competing against the Hub City as it did. It's like Halifax has no original ideas in regards to music. Moncton got the Rolling Stones and in response, Halifax tried to one-up them by getting the Rolling Stones *headsmack*. Now, they're competing to get a concert that very few Haligonians will take in, especially at prices in excess of a hundred dolars and in some cases, two hundred bucks. The only reason they compete is to stop Moncton from getting it.
Let Moncton have it.
I'd really like to see the promoters in Halifax come up with something original that people here would enjoy and find fresh. There's room for two mega concerts in the region, but they need to be different and respecting of the different tastes and flavours of the cities.
It was announced today that Point Pleasant Park is finally getting money to help repair the damage caused five years ago by Hurrican Juan and the subsequent White Juan blizzard. The Feds are going to cough up $1 Million which is about half of what Stanley Park in Vancouver got (without having to wait so long.) Convincing us of their graciousness, Ottawa has pointed out that Stanley Park is ten times larger than Point Pleasant Park, so half as much money is quite the largesse. The problem is that if you actually examine the damage, Stanley Park lost about 3,000 trees. That works out to about $667 for each tree that needs to be replaced. Halifax's Point Pleasant lost about 85,000 trees. Use the same yardstick and we'd be in line for $57 Million.
The first census results from 2006 have been released and Halifax has shown a slow and steady rate of growth of about 3.8%. We now number 372,679 Haligonians. I was more surprised to see that Miramichi only dropped by a few hundred people and are still about 18,000. I was expecting a much lower number with the degree of outmigration from the area.
The bad news is that a brief perusal of the nightly news indicates that the population growth that Canada is experiencing lies mostly in the "dumbass psycho punk" category. In Morrisburg, Ontario, a decorated army veteran, back from Afghanistan, was jumped in a bar by some sociopath trying prove himself against a "hero", by jumping him from behind and hitting him with an object. Meanwhile, in Winnipeg, two sixteen-year-olds and a thirteen-year-old have developed a sport whereby they steal cars and sideswipe joggers for fun and kicks. Police caught them, but predicatably, the youngest has already been released to await a court date in the future.
...and to think, when I woke up this morning, the biggest news in the nation was the invention of an Ottawa man, to make "rolling up the rim" at Tim Hortons easier. The tool was displayed in Dartmouth yesterday and made local news last night, but this morning the story had gone national. The best part was that it confirms Canada still has an innovative manufacturing industry. Sure, we've gone from designing Avro Arrows to coffee cup implements in less than a half-century but I, for one, welcome this opportunity to more efficently "play again" (which is about all I ever seem to get from the contest cups.)
On the silver screen I've yet to see 300, which I am dying to do on the local IMAX screen, but it's also big in the news now. Not only did it make oodles of cash on its opening weekend, but it's attracted some criticism for being historically inaccurate and being veiled Iranian bashing. Please, don't spoil the movie for me. I hate historical inaccuracy.
Really though. How much accuracy do you want? It's based on a comic book, not Encyclopedia Britannica. It's art, not history. Furthermore, if the bleeding hearts out there think that it's insensitive or something, why not spare Hollywood the grief and instead petition the Greek government to make a formal apology for the battle of Thermoplylae itself. Try holding your breath and stamping your feet while you do. I've played at least three different versions of Sid Meier's Civilization -- which makes me an expert in such matters -- and I have nothing good to say about Xerxes and the Persians.
It was announced today that Halifax is pulling out of the 2014 Commonwealth Games bidding. Mayor Peter Kelly made the call after the projected costs of the games began to skyrocket up to the $1.7 Billion mark.
I accept his decision but am a bit embarrassed as a Haligonian that it's come to this. We'd already attracted surprise from our main competitors, the Glaswegians, who couldn't understand the infighting that the bid created here in the city, and especially the negativity in some of the local press over the whole process. That's just Halifax, I guess. Why strive for vision when you can indulge in pettiness and potshots? It's our true civic passion.
The blame should fall on Fred MacGillivray and the bid committee, though. They were the ones that allowed the projected costs to climb to an unacceptable level. They're now complaining that they were not allowed an opportunity to come back with a counter offer to the city once the inflated cost was put forth. It implies that they did not bother to consider fiscal responsibility in this projection (nor fiscal reality in their first projection of $700 Million) and to me, that generates a lack of faith in their ability to honestly and fairly handle this task. To suggest that we could have a lower-costing bid, implies that we were being fleeced by the current one. It's standard practice to lead a negotiation with a high bid, I understand, but why negotiate against ourselves? Their first bid should have been their best.
Mayor Kelly has been accused of showing a lack of leadership over the matter and it's true that our future will now shine less brightly. We will likely never get the infrastructure we need to rise in prominence as a city. We have also lost an opportunity to showcase ourselves to the world and are now saddled with the realization that such a project is over our heads. We do not have the ability to put it together here. However, if leadership is in question, I applaud Mayor Kelly. Pulling the plug on a bid that was going bad, inspite of a majority who really wanted the games to come here, took courage and was clearly an example of real leadership.
Afterall, the same people criticizing him for pulling out would be crowing down the road when the costs did become unbearable. People do that here; I accept that now. We are not world class. I'm sorry we wasted the Commonwealth's time and let our nation down.
Then again, maybe the Commonwealth Games isn't all they're cracked up to be. Honestly, I couldn't name another venue that hosted them in the past, save for Malaysia, I think, which I read a passing reference to a couple of weeks ago. And, while I lament the loss of infrastructure, the fact is I probably wouldn't have attended it anyway. I'm not much of a sportsfan.
I guess we'll just wake up tomorrow and go back to what we're good at. On the plus side, the Tall Ships are coming back to Halifax in July. That's probably a more suitable and achievable event for a city like us. Plus, I can get it into it. Nothing warms my heart like seeing wooden masts lining the harbour.
The above picture was taken as the Rowan Gorilla VI and Galaxy II were being prepared to voyage to the Grand Banks. Present was a rather special vessel to assist them. It was a partially submersible ship that could sink down under the rig and then resurface to lift it up and move it.
Galaxy II with submersible under and alongside.
The day I took this shot, it was questionable if they were going to move the rigs or not since there was a storm brewing off the coast, but either way, they were gone soon after.
Rowan Gorilla VI, with Halterm in background.
I'm going to tag this under "energy crisis". Even though it's not really the typical doomsday fare of peak oil and consumption, the whole offshore industry has cooled off considerably for Nova Scotia in recent years, so I suppose it counts.
According to a story in the Chronicle Herald, Friday night's "World's Largest Pub Crawl" went off swimmingly.
The organizer, Johnathan DeYoung, spent the momentous evening "cruising around in a limousine drinking champagne and smoking cigars" but now that he's Halifax's newest nightlife mogul, there's plans in motion for a followup this fall. DeYoung is now planning the "World's Sexiest Pub Crawl" in which participants will wind their way through the city's pubs while scantily dressed.
Good thing that one is getting saved for warmer weather.
Well tonight's the big night. It seems a bit quiet up where we are but then again, we're several blocks away. All told, 3200 tickets were sold for tonight's attempt at holding the World's Largest Pub Crawl in Halifax, and getting entered in the Guinness Book of World Records.
I had originally planned to head out for a few photos but it's a bit chilly and since I don't have a ticket, I wouldn't be able to join in on the fun. It's probably for the best as I hesitate to think how much trouble might get started with so many people cruising the downtown inebriated.
The only hitch so far seems to have been with the proceeds. Originally, the organizers had planned to donate the money to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, but M.A.D.D. won't accept funds generate through means including alcohol. This morning, the news said the money would instead go to establishing bursaries at Saint Mary's but I don't think that will sit well with students from the other universities who will, no doubt, form quite significant contingents on there own.
The pub crawl started at 6 p.m. and runs until 2 a.m. so I suspect we'll hear more out of it in a few hours. One of my coworkers has a ticket so if he reports back anything interesting, I'll try to pass it along.
The whole thing is making me feel rather old. I guess I'll just pour a glass of milk and go to bed early.
There's a couple of financial news stories out today that just leave the mouth agape. Personally, I think the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid is a great thing. In order to establish Halifax as a city of the next level, we need world class infrastructure in place and capital projects like a stadium to be the serious city we can surely be. However, someone let slip a new estimate of the costs involved in landing the games and establishing ourselves as a venue. The new number being passed around: up to $1.8 Billion, according to Mayor Peter Kelly.
Even the most ardent proponents of the games must have soiled their track pants at that one.
Just to put that into perspective, based on (slightly dated) figures from the Project Billboard and Center For American Progress clock, that princely sum would fund the Iraqi occupation for approximately 10 days, 4 hours and 4 minutes, were we to base it on 2004 levels. Ironically, that's awful close to the length of time projected for the scheduling of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. One can only guess what events they're planning.
Dis-equalization On top of that, Halifax is in the least likely position to easily afford it. A report on transfer payments came out today and we are not getting anywhere near the level that those oily Albertans accuse of siphoning from the Federal coffers.
Transfer payments are supposed to be doled out to help provinces equalize the level of services they offer, such that all Canadians can expect similar levels of health care, roads, education, etc. It's supposed to flow from rich provinces to poor ones. The rich provinces have traditionally been Ontario and Quebec but in recent years British Columbia and especially Alberta have taken over while Ontario has settled back down a bit (Thanks, Bob Rae.)
Obviously, this is not how it's working today. In Ontario, the Big Smoke (Toronto) leads the pack, receiving $645 per person while Ottawa gets $426 per person. Next door in La Belle Province, Montreal, significantly lower, is handed $245 per person.
Halifax gets... [drumroll]... $27 per person.
That won't even buy you a case of beer. To put that into perspective, if you consider the Halifax Regional Municipality has a population of 400,000, that's the same amount it would take to occupy Iraq for just under one hour and twenty-eight minutes, at 2004 levels. Less than that if you expect a "troop surge".
Now, somebody remind me why we're still in Confederation?
Students to the left, the thin blue line to the right.
So it was off to the Legislature to confront premier Rodney MacDonald over the high costs of tuition and the crippling debt that our students face when they get out of university. In recent years, average student debt upon graduation was said to be about $28,000 while tuition goes up and up. Food banks have even opened up at some universities and for many, the costs put higher education out of reach. For those that achieve a university degree, they often end up leaving the province to find jobs that will help them pay off their debt load, resulting in a critical brain-drain for the province.
Hey Starbucks! Lower the price of your Mochalattefrappachinos or you're next!.
Students first marched down Spring Garden Road, the main artery of the downtown shopping district. The procession took up a block and a half.
Passing Saint Mary's Cathedral.
Following Spring Garden, the route turned up Barrington and onward to Prince Street.
X-Men taking a stand.
The presence of St. F.X. students was welcomed and appropriate also because premier Rodney MacDonald is an alumni of that university. One poster asked how much the premier's famous X-ring was worth.
Student demonstrators at Province House. Viva la Revolution!
Students took up the space in front of the Nova Scotia Legistlature building. A sound system was set up beforehand. There was one slight problem which was pointed out. The premier was actually holding cabinet meetings across the street in One Government Place.
About face. Protestors turn to One Government Place.
One media photographer near me pointed out that while all attention was on the Legislature building, four cabinet ministers had just walked in across the street. The protestors turned and chanted about macaronit and cheese, Mr. Noodles, and student debt, but to no avail. They turned back to the steps of Province House and a number of people gave speeches to the crowd.
Leo Glavine of the NS Liberals.
There were representatives of the Workers' Federation and Teachers' Federation. The Liberals and NDP both had their education critics address the crowd. Leo Glavine, of Kings West, is the Liberal Education critic.
Leonard Preyra of the NS NDP.
The official opposition, the NDP's education critic is Leonard Preyra who hails from Halifax-Citadel. His riding holds five (count 'em) universities.
NSCAD students, prisoners of debt.
It appeared that the governing Tories would not meet with the students. Inside One Government Place, Education Minister Karen Casey was speaking with the media and basically blaming a lot of students' problems on the lavish lifestyles they live. (Yep, check out the clips on the TV, I'm serious.) Perhaps Casey should leave the building at least once in a while to see what it's like in the real world. If not, she'll be forced to come next election.
Leonard sympathizes with the plight of debt prisoners.
So that was about it. The whole protest took about three hours, in freezing temperatures. I was out a bit longer than that, making sure I was in position to get photos before everybody showed up. When it was over, and having skipped lunch to attend, I waltzed up to Barrington and the Med, for a cheese fattoya and shawarma to warm up with. Brrrr...
