LATENIGHT - HALIFAX

Friday, January 18, 2008

Poor Nova Scotia

Skyscrapers from Lower Water Street.

I'm waiting, right now, to hear Bush release his economic stimulus package for the United States in a couple hours and passing the time catching up on local news. It's not that I don't follow what's happening everyday, but sometimes I need to sit down and compile it together in terms of my own future strategies. In the short form, the move to Toronto is back on the table and nigh certain. Our trip to Korea is uncertain, and likely postponed, but that frees us up to grab 2008 by the horns and go for the gold.

What gold? There's not much around here, it seems. That's the news. While the U.S. is on the brink of economic collapse, I think Canada might be able to weather it but it's not going to be pretty. And, if you're starting out from a have-not position, it's going to be ugly as sin.

The big news today, in Nova Scotia, is health care. Rodney MacDonald has announced he's accepting a report with 103 recommendations on how to shape the future of health care in Nova Scotia over the next three years. The cure, says MacDonald, is not so much about improving it, but learning how to better deal with the inevitable shortfalls.

The Herald is describing Nova Scotia's health care as near collapse. The Daily News also offers up its prognosis along with a column by David Rodenhiser.

It certainly does not give one hope that things will get better and no one is satisfied with the status quo now. I don't know if the grass is greener on the other side of the St. Lawrence, but the waiting lines are shorter, it seems.

At least education should be taken care of in the future. It seems there's a glut of new teacher. Getting back to health care, however, the same problem exists there. There's plenty of nurses graduating but the province won't hire them. It doesn't stop them from pretending there's a shortage, though, as that's a more convenient excuse.

Even cabbies are thinking of going on strike, though being a media guy professionally, I'm more keen to watch what happens with the looming strike at the Toronto Star or if the financial trouble besetting Quebecor World bubbles over to affect Quebecor's other holdings, namely SunMedia and the Toronto Sun (cut all the reporters you need to but hands off the Sunshine Girls.)

So we're thinking again about moving up to the big smoke. Maybe we'll hang on long enough to see if Canada's New Government's tax cuts give us a better starting platform come April... though by then, it sounds like they could be Canada's Former Government but nothing's carved in stone.

Perhaps we should go up next month. Ontario has announced that they're granting a new statutory holiday in February. In Nova Scotia? Nope. Premier says we're too poor to afford a day off. Canada's Ocean Playground already has the fewest holidays of any Canadian province and I suppose it makes little sense to celebrate Family Day in a place where it's damn near unaffordable to start one.

Labels: economic collapse, education, health care, Nova Scotia

Sunday, October 14, 2007

According time to discord

Along the Bay of Fundy

I need to get a mention in of the new deal between Nova Scotia and the Ottawa over oil and gas revenue. You'll remember that Harper tossed the previously-agreed-to Atlantic Accord into the dustbin when he released his last budget. He offered Nova Scotia a different package that would see us have to choose between getting less, or nothing at all. Some choice. MP Bill Casey broke ranks and got punted from the Tories over it; now he sits as an independent.

Well, Stephen Harper and Rodeny MacDonald have discussed the matter and now there's yet another proposal out. The nuts and bolts aren't entirely clear yet but it seems that over the next 12 years we get less, and then we get more... at some point... down the road... after three or four more governments come and go in Ottawa... and apparently certain revenues promised to us in the 'eighties have disappeared completely.

Rodney sees it as a victory but he's not known for his cunning insight. But Nova Scotians don't really see many things eye-to-eye with our lacklustre premier. The opposition is predictably against it, but they're not alone. We're more akin to siding with people who stand up for our province, like Bill Casey. I think we're all a bit jealous that we don't have Danny Williams over here fighting for us, the way he fights for Newfoundland (and is rewarded for it in the polls.) Perhaps we get the next best thing. In the looming election, Casey will be running as an independant. It turns out, that Williams will fly over to fight for him.

Labels: Nova Scotia, Ottawa

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Keeping watch

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, backlit by the sunset

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.

Labels: blogging, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Good for Bill

Halifax Armouries

I just have to say, good for Bill Casey for voting against his party's budget and supporting his Nova Scotia constituents. The now-former Tory couldn't support the budget that effectively trashed a two-year-old written deal for Nova Scotia to gain revenue from its offshore resources and sought to claw back the revenue.

Not all Nova Scotia Tories are such true blue bluenosers, however.

I don't know why the Greens and Liberals don't hit this harder but this budget and its bad deal for Nova Scotia's offshore revenue is Peter MacKay's achilles heel. As I may have mentioned before, Elizabeth May, leader of the federal Green Party is running there and the Liberals, under Stephane Dion, have opted to sit it out and give Liz a chance.

It's another case that leaves people thinking that the Greens don't really want to get elected and that politics is just a hobby for them and nothing more. Why not choose a more lefty riding? An easier riding? Nope. Elizabeth May wants to go against one of the nation's top Tories, Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay. Pundits chuckle a bit, shrug their shoulders and change the subject.

Major fumble, in my opinion.

Labels: Nova Scotia, Ottawa, politicians

Saturday, March 31, 2007

65 is the new 30

Yarmouth fishing boats.
I neglected noting a major change in legislation that passed in Nova Scotia yesterday; mandatory retirement has been dropped. Now, if you hit 65 years of age, you will be able to keep on working with no end in sight.

Mandatory retirement originally came in to free up jobs for younger workers, but these days there is a shortage of younger workers as we deal with outmigration and declining birth rates. Seniors also take up more than their share of health care costs and other expenditures which is going to be a major trouble for the province's coffers as baby boomers begin retiring and their taxable income goes with them. Younger workers, even those in the same jobs, aren't pulling near the salaries that boomers are leaving with either. A boomer retiring with a salary of $50k a year gets replaced by a Gen X'er making $25k a year.

Well, no more. They can keep on working.

I never figured I'd see my own retirement anyway. True, I'm only half way to that mandatory age, but the fact is that most of my generation is entirely unable to save for our own retirements. We're supposed to be the backbone of the workforce, and therefore should be carrying the bulk of the tax burden too, but all those increased taxes will be funnelled right into services for those baby boomers with not much left by the time we hopefully hit 65 ourselves. I accept that I am destined to die at my desk.

Labels: demographics, Nova Scotia

Friday, March 23, 2007

NS Budget - running out of gas

Rowan Gorila VI in Halifax Harbour.
The big news of the day was the release of the provincial budget for Nova Scotia. There had been a good deal of suspense leading up to it as the federal government, earlier this week, left premier Rodney MacDonald with a choice of future funding regarding equalization payments. Nova Scotia could continue with the Atlantic Accord (sort of), or it could give up its control over offshore oil and gas revenue, in exchange for a $79 million bonus. But to make things interesting, the Feds also threatened to cut about the same amount from the funding promised under the Atlantic Accord, if we opted to go with the status quo.

MacDonald took the extra cash and gave up the oil and gas rights. Apparently, we have a year before we're committed so there might be an about face later. Otherwise, we've lost control over the one bright hope we had to get out of being a have-not province.

We'll just have to see how it plays out. If I were an optimist, then maybe I'd hope that by giving up control to Ottawa, it would result in more money earmarked for development in the near future. Right now, the industry has stagnated and the offshore resources are not being explored. Getting exploration kickstarted would invigorate the economy, for sure. Who knows when it would happen if left to Nova Scotia's abilities alone.

Overall, I can't help but think we've been sold out. Premier MacDonald should have fought harder. At the very least, we should be able to have Ottawa recognize the Atlantic Accord and pay up what was agreed, without any reduction. MacDonald's government has been quite useless and had it's share of scandal too. The current one has fisheries minister Ron Chisholm being stopped by cops with a prostitute in his car. He says he was just giving her a ride home as the weather was -30 degrees out on the night in question. The cops never booked himand the story seems reasonably legitimate. Still, it's part of a habit it seems. The Ernie Fage fiasco(s) damaged the government's credibility quite a bit already. It's doubtful he'd the Tories will be reelected here.

I have to wonder what the longterm effect will be for Pictou MP Peter MacKay though, also. He's coming across more as a toady of Prime Minister Harper than a staunch defender of Nova Scotia. I have to wonder if there might be a chance for Elizabeth May to actually unseat him. May, the leader of the Green Party, surprised many when she announcd she was going to run against MacKay in his home riding. Maybe this bad deal over gas might be a chink in his armour come election time.

Labels: energy crisis, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, politicians

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Tuition Fee Protest - Part 2

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...

Labels: Halifax, Nova Scotia, photo gallery, police, politicians, universities

Memory of Honest Bob takes off

On other news of the day worth mentioning, it was announced that on Friday, Prime Minister Harper is going to be in town to redidicate the Halifax International Airport. From that day forward, it will be known as Robert L. Stanfield Airport. Stanfield was premier of Nova Scotia and almost Prime Minister of Canada in 1972. He's often been called "The best Prime Minister Canada never had" and has been well remembered for his honesty and integrity.

Labels: Halifax, history, Nova Scotia, politicians

Tuition Fee Protest - Part 1

Tuition Fee Protestors in Victoria Park.
All across Canada today, university students gathered to protest the increasing costs of tuition. In Nova Scotia, about 150 students from several universities got together in Victoria Park to march on the Provincial Legislature. Nova Scotia has the personal distinction of having the highest tuition fees in Canada so it was even more important to brave the subzero temperatures and come out in force here.

Students from NSCAD lead the way.
As can be expected with students, they were a bit late, but NSCAD was first on the mark and showed up with a solid representation.

"Students are not cash cows."
And, like dutiful arts students, they brought crafts. The above looks a bit like the love child of a Dalmation and the terror dogs from Ghostbusters, but it's a cow. There was also a prisoner's-torso head piece and assorted hand-painted signs to complement the ReduceTuitionFees printed signs.

King's, Dalhousie, and St. FX Students on the march.
About ten minutes later, the students from Dalhousie, St. Francis Xavier, and King's College appeared over the horizon, on their way down University Ave. and up Tower Rd. to the park.

MSVU students add some colour.
Next, the girls from Mount Saint Vincent pulled up and piled out of a charter Metro Transit bus, bursting into the demonstration in a bright explosion of pink cheer. The girls were awesome and with more than a dozen "radical cheerleaders" they had some great choreographed cheers to hammer home the protest.

Cheeky, eh?
The cold was going to pose a bit of a challenge but the mood was light and merry. It was something to see so many schools come together in one place, for one purpose. I'm not sure if Saint Mary's Univeristy was there however. I didn't see them come in and didn't hear them mentioned later when the schools were named in speeches, but one surprise was Université Sainte-Anne. That school is from Cape Breton, although they have a very tiny campus here in Halifax. Nonetheless they had a tremendously vocal and strong contingent there.

Listen up.
Next up came the rallying speeches by Canadian Federation of Stundents reps and the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty.

We're not gonna take it.
By about half past one, it was time to hit the streets. Police were on hand and rushed in to duty, blocking traffic and ensuring that the protestors had a safe path prepared down Spring Garden Road on onward.

Halifax police clear the way.

With the road before them open, it was time to move out.

Moving out.

Stay tuned for part two, coming up shortly...

Labels: Halifax, Nova Scotia, photo gallery, universities

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Halifax in Hot Water

I already mentioned considering climate change in relation to our househunting but it seems that the city is about to further research the effects that Global Warming will have on the Halifax coastline. The quarter-million dollar study will use LIDAR technology, beaming lasers to accurately measure the coastline and predict where rising ocean levels and changing weather patterns will have the greatest impact.

This study will build upon a previous report, called "Adapting to a Changing Climate in Nova Scotia" (see related pdf) which was released by the province in 2005 and looks at changes foreseeable over the next 75 years. It should be completed over the next couple of months, after which the real estate bubble will presumably burst and everyone will move to Windsor or Cape Breton.

Labels: climate change, Futurism, Halifax, Nova Scotia, real estate

Friday, February 02, 2007

Groundhog Day points to early Spring

Greenery in the Public Gardens.
It's been called. Local our animal-celebrity groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam, did not see his shadow today. The weather was mild though a bit bleak and drizzly, but the rule says that spring is on its way. Of course, it's also an appropriate time for world scientists to get together and release their disturbing report on the reality of climate change. The way things have been going this winter, not unrelated to the global warming problem, maybe Sam didn't even stick around his burrow long enough this winter to hibernate at all. That's one problem that's been reported in these parts with animals like groundhogs, bears, etc. The weather has just been too warm.

In Britain, it was also announced today that every middle school would get a copy of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", however it's receiving flack in the country that should be watching it the most -- the United States -- where government has made it a policy to question the veracity of the global warming theories. Worse, the National Science Teacher's Association turned down 50,000 free copies of the film, worried that they would lose government funding if "Burn it up" Bush caught them screening it.

Perhaps the government is just playing a waiting game. In less than a couple of years the United States will no longer be the world's biggest problem. By 2009, China will overtake the U.S. as the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. I am quite sure that Washington will quickly pick up the fun game of finger pointing then.

Labels: animals, China, climate change, Great Britain, Nova Scotia, United States

Friday, January 26, 2007

The life and death of newspapers

Snowy graves at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Since I work in the publishing industry, I keep a close eye on what the competition is up to although lately, I had quietly placed a couple of Nova Scotia newspapers on a deathwatch. Mostly due to poor management and business structure, I figured that both the Valley Today and the Halifax Daily News could be gone at a moment's notice.

So far now, I'm half right. The Valley Today ceased publishing this week, after less than four months out of the gate. The official story is that financiers could no longer fund the paper, after slow growth in circulation and advertising revenue. There are now 31 people out of work.

The fact is, I was actually wrong about this one when it gets down to the reason why. I figured they had a bad strategy from the get go but even I assumed they'd have enough operating capital to make it through at least the first six months regardless of performance. Else wise, why even bother trying? I assumed that the problems would have stemmed primarily from their printing side.

The Valley Today never really understood what they would be or who their competition was. As a paper that served Nova Scotians in the farmlands of the Valley, they felt they were going head to head against the local community weeklies that were already established in that market. They couldn't have been further from the truth. There are people that read dailies, and people that read weeklies. They're largely different readers. The Valley Today sought to be a daily newspaper for rural readers and therefore its competition was The Chronicle Herald, naturally. Nonetheless, they didn't seem to figure that out and in a huge mistake from the onset, they contracted the Herald as their printer.

Now I've seen this happen in New Brunswick. The little guy awards their printing contract to their competitor, often because they can't find or afford their own press, and then that competitor slowly ratchets up the printing price until it becomes unaffordable and the paper folds. That's a very basic dirty trick in publishing but one that even neophytes should know to avoid.

The Valley Today also had major circulation issues. You could hardly find it outside of the Annapolis Valley. Here in Halifax, only one location I knew of carried the paper, and that was Atlantic News.

Another poor planning problem was that in order to be a bit unique, they decided to be an evening paper. Hardly anybody reads the paper in the evenings anymore. They read it in the mornings, avoiding work, before sinking into their routine for the day, or they read it to educate themselves on current events for the day's conversations around the water cooler. By evening, the news is already stale - which led to Frank Magazine nicknaming them "The Valley Yesterday".

Other things stand out now that I see they've folded. Advertising is always a concern, but thirty-one people is quite a lot of employees for such a tiny paper to have if you're not even running your own press. The paper simply wasn't all that big. It looked more like a community weekly than a soon-to-be esteemed daily. It was slim and laid out as a mini-tab. I'd venture that for what the final product was, you could get by with little more than half the staff they had. That wouldn't give you the New York Times, but this was far from the New York Times. The publishers should have been more careful with their money and from the sounds of it, the money of a number of others as well.

On the other side of the province, the Halifax Daily News, like a yo yo, seems to be back into a growth period. Having passed through numerous owners over the past few years, it tends to be greeted with huge investment, followed by huge cuts and layoffs until a new buyer repeats the cycle. It started when Harry Steele sold it to Southam. They sold it to Global and it then passed to Transcontinental.

All the while, staff turnover has been utterly insane and each round of cuts seems to leave them with fewer and fewer of the tried and tested. I worked there before going overseas and out of all my former coworkers, I only know of two people that are still there from my days at the paper.

Not long ago, a little birdie told me that it was up for sale once again, as of September. The problem is that they've pretty much run out of credible buyers. Basically, there just aren't that many people left in the market for failing dailies.

Selling is now further complicated because Transcontinental has taken over the web press and set it up in a separate building with their other contract printing equipment and operations. Since it's in a facility with other presses, one would have to tear it down and move it were it part of a sale package, which is a major undertaking.

No buyers stepped up and the same source told me that they had been on the verge of officially folding on January 1st of this year.

But they didn't. They hired a new editor, Jack Romanelli, whom I hear once worked at the Montreal Gazette. They've also created a new mascot for the paper. I guess it's supposed to be a rolled-up newspaper with legs but the cylindrical white body with a tassel at the top makes it look like a giant, walking, feminine hygiene product.

Now this week, we were treated to some huge news that implies that Transcontinental is confirming they're into the Daily News for the long haul. They've announced that they're joining with Alexander Keith's brewery to be "Founding" sponsors for the Halifax 2014 Commonwealth Games bid. The pricetag of that commitment is what first appears to be a staggering half-million dollars.

Now, a large portion of that could be contra advertising agreements, possibly spread throughout Transcontinental's more profitable regional papers, and much more will be made back in printing contracts for Transcontinental, related to the games whether they be signage, brochures, programs, etc. You could also consider from the perspective that $500,000 is small potatoes for a newspaper that consistently loses more money than that each and every quarter, from what I hear.

But 2014 is a long way off, so to make a deal like that we can assume that Transcontinental is planning to hold the Daily News reins for at least another seven years.

Labels: 2014 Commonwealth Games, Annapolis Valley, Halifax, media, Nova Scotia, publishing

Thursday, January 25, 2007

New Scotchland

The lads up at Glenora Distillery have secured a favourable ruling in the branding of their delightful beverage. It's good news for Nova Scotia, and a lovely spirited story for Robbie Burns' Day.

Calling their single malt whisky "Glen Breton", the Cape Breton distillery ran afoul of the self-appointed Scotch authorities back in the Auld Sod. Those authorities complained that the use of the term "Glen" would confuse buyers into believing the whisky had come from Scotland and they sought to protect their brands from such potential loss of revenue.

It's a bit of a philosophical battle really. The Scottish distillers assert that a scotch whisky, or anything posing as such, be manufactured in Scotland. They can go to Hell as far as I am concerned. This is a sore point with me, since I am a Canadian, from a colonial-era family, but of virtually pure Scots descent. At the furthest point, my first namesake blood ancestor arrived here eleven generations ago. At the nearest, my grandmother was born just outside Edinburgh. The distant "cousins" that continue to occupy the old country often try to dismiss any relation with those of us who found our way to the colonies, but I maintain that I have as much blood-right to the heritage as them. So what if I don't like soccer, my ancestors fought next to the Bruce at Bannockburn.

So here you have a single malt whisky that is made by people, themselves of Scots descent, in the Cape Breton Highlands, and in a province literally named "New Scotland". The fight is over the use of the word "Glen" yet there are those in Cape Breton who still speak middle Scots Gaelic and you sure as Hell can't patent a natural language that's still spoken. I think that on account of the history and character of the area that they ought be allowed to come right out and call it "Scottish Whisky", just with small print saying it's made in Canada.

If they don't like it in Glasgow, maybe we can threaten to all immigrate back, and flood their soccer stadiums until they become hockey rinks.

Labels: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Scotland, vice

Thursday, January 11, 2007

No... not that Mike Smith

Mike Smith has launched his bid for the Nova Scotia Liberal leadership but just to clarify, they're talking about the mayor of Colchester County -- not Bubbles.

Too bad. It'd be friggin' awesome if he ran.

Labels: Nova Scotia, politicians

Monday, January 08, 2007

Fage's Follies

A story broke over the weekend that I didn't blog about yet but it's really growing here in Nova Scotia and that's the discovery that MLA Ernie Fage had a bit of a fender bender a couple of months ago and it was kept quiet. (This is the same Ernie Fage whose conflict of interest problems led to a temporary resignation and almost cost the Tories the election.)

Now, this accident is not a big deal on its own but it was in a government vehicle and witnesses are saying that he smelled very strongly of alcohol. Not much happened afterwards. The premier is claiming that Fage was upfront and told him about after the accident. Police never really filed any charges against him. In fact, they seemed uncertain that they could identify the driver at all.

But he was identified.

One of the witnesses recorded it on their cell phone camera. They took shots of his license plate and apparently followed him home. It's quite conclusive.

Camera phones are no longer just the tools of subway perverts and locker room voyeurs. This kind of citizen journalism/citizens on patrol is starting to become a real force for good -- especially when the Halifax police seem to be having such a hard time these days catching criminals.

So what's Fage's punishment? He's volunteered to take a leave of absence and Premier Rodney MacDonald says he won't be welcome in any cabinet positions in the future. (Caucus is still fine, I guess.) MacDonald has given this guy so much slack you'd think Fage had donated a kidney for him, or something. With the lacklustre government that MacDonald's has turned out to be, this should surely do him in if we go to an election anytime soon.

Labels: Cape Breton, crime, Halifax, Nova Scotia, police, politicians, vice

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

From the political left, Wright has left

Also now on the job vacancy board, the leader of the Nova Scotia Green Party, 24-year-old student Nick Wright announced he was stepping down today. For such a youthful politician, he had a lot of work cut out for him in helping to establish a new party here in Nova Scotia. That's even more true considering the Greens are percieved to be left wing and would have to square off against the New Democratic Party to gain ground and the NDP is strong here, especially in Halifax proper. Nonetheless, he mustered a full slate of candidates for the election, in all 52 ridings, with only a couple of months between the last election and the founding of his provincial party wing. While never achieving an ultra-high profile, his work was noticed and, I think, respected.

Wright has announced he is planning to go to Senegal to study French. Most people might save the money and just go to Quebec, but hey, I think this will be a great experience for someone who will undoubtedly be returning to our country to offer himself for public service again someday. I've been a big proponent, especially coming from New Brunswick, in utilizing our Canadian French/Acadian background to expand business ties in areas like Africa and Southeast Asia. I love to go on about the former glory of the British Empire (buy me a beer and you'll see) but the French were no slackers during the colonial era. A lot of developing nations still use French and it would be in the best interests of our country to foster relationships now. It's an edge that we have, and except for France, it's one that's not posessed by other G-8 nations to anywhere near the same degree.

I have no idea if that's what's going through his head. Maybe he's just going to watch their soccer team play home games. I don't know. We may find out however, as he's carved out a spot on the blogosphere to regale us with his journey. You can follow Nick Wright's blog online and see what transpires. Good luck, Nick.

Labels: Nova Scotia, politicians

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Two solitudes

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.
With all this talk over the distinctness of Quebec culture, I was a bit shocked to see the study that came out today that showed such a vast difference between the Bluenosers in Nova Scotia and the Herring Chokers next to us in New Brunswick. It was quite the opposite of what I would expect, especially considering my own experience.

It turns out that New Brunswickers and are the happiest people in Canada and Nova Scotians the least. I'll be quick to admit that we're a cynical lot here in Canada's Ocean Playground, but in comparison with folks back in the Picture Province who are just about as cynical, I believed, at least we don't have the solid, bottomless levels of well-founded despair.

"[Pierre] Coté (designer of the survey) suggests Nova Scotia's lower score may be attributed to the pervasive belief among respondents that their lives were better 50 years ago than they are today."

That's a pretty good possibility. I certainly have watched quality of life go down and down. A lot of that is generational though. Baby Boomers got the good jobs and held onto them long past the time my generation was set to join the workforce. By the time the old guard started retiring (still ongoing) many in my generation were left without experience and met by management who were eager to replace $50k-$100k-a-year-earning Boomers with Generation Xers who'd work for $20k-$30k as their replacements.

"New Brunswick's general contentment is a paradox, he says, because the province has one of the worst-performing economies in the country and one of the lowest proportions of people earning very high incomes."

It'd be pure speculation but New Brunswick has much fewer young people remaining who might report the same feelings. At least in my part of New Brunswick, where I came from, the bulk of remaining residents are in their 60s. They're retired and not concerned with the economy so much. Basically, anyone who would normally be there to complain, has already left. *cough* *ahem*

Much of it could be ambition also. Many of the last remnants of younger folks back home are there because they couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

"More respondents in New Brunswick compared with the rest of Canada also said they are living the lives they dreamed of."

Chicken dinner at the Dixie Lee, a case of Moosehead, and Ladies' Night at the Opera House -- what more could you want? One wonders if they ever dream in colour.

Furthermore, regarding ambition and the allusion in the CBC headline to ignorance is bliss, university educations are correspondingly less prevalent in New Brunswick than Nova Scotia, too. There are more universities in the city of Halifax than there are in the whole province of New Brunswick. Figure that we have three major universities here plus a significant degree-granting art college and an engineering school, which although it was absorbed into one of the other universities a few years ago, is still very much a separate entity. The last time I checked, Nova Scotia had 11 universities in total while New Brunswick had four. I had actually written a story on the subject, recommending that Miramichi push to get its own university, with that disparity in mind. Nothing became of it though.

Many folks I know back home were lucky if they finished high school. Here in Nova Scotia, I know people with Masters degrees who are bagging groceries. Stating that fact leads me to stumble on another good reason we're all so sullen here.

Either way, this study is really a kind of shock. I mean, we're right next to each other, share common cultural traits and backgrounds, yet we are like night and day in this study. Not only are we different, but we make up the two extremes of the survey. The Tantramar Marsh must be a lot deeper than I thought.

Labels: demographics, Maritimes, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec

Monday, November 20, 2006

Where there's smoke there's fines

Gossiping gulls at Peggy's Cove
I can't verify this at all but it was all the talk at work today, and some of my coworkers claimed it was a topic on the local talk radio station also. Rumour has it that, inspired by recent anti-smoking legislation up for consideration in California, our local council received a proposal today for a drastic smoking ban for Halifax. There's already a new smoking ban that goes into effect on December 1 that will ban smoking in any indoor public place as well as on terraces and patios of restaurants. Currently, such patios are alright and bars are permitted to include a smoking room provided it only takes up a certain percentage. This new proposal however, will extend a ban on smoking to include the entirety of the outdoors, including your own automobile, and also prohibits smoking in any multi-person dwelling. That means that if you rent an apartment, own a condo, or even live in a duplex, you'll be expected to butt out or risk a fine of as much as $500 bucks. To smoke, you will have to be the owner of a single-family dwelling. Welcome back, Feudalism. We missed you.

As if the government doesn't take in enough money in this country. Cigarettes are just under $10 a pack now, and 80% of that is taxes. Add it to all the crazy hopped-up fines that go through also. The booster seat law is a good example. For a piece of safety equipment that is still not entirely proven effective, you'll be looking at hundreds of dollars in fines if you are caught transporting a child without one, should the child be under nine years of age, or 4'9" in height. That's a pretty big kid to be riding in a booster seat. I'm surprised that they don't mandate helmets too.

The government, and law enforcement, seem intent on manufacturing new ways to create violators without doing anything substantive to go after violent offenders in our community. It's hard to stomach all these laws/veiled tax-grabs when you can't find a cop on a Saturday night in the city. There sure were plenty of cops around when Sunday shopping prohibition was in place, to make sure stores didn't exceed the loopholes in the law.

I've had one experience with a cop since moving back. It was actually the bridge police, if you want to consider them cops. I was driving 70 in a 70 kmph zone across the MacKay bridge, and reduced speed to 50kmph before hitting the 50 zone along the funnel. I wasn't speeding but the old goat tapped his siren anyway and warned me to slow down. The next day, I noticed that they moved the 50-zone further up the bridge. You now have to reduce your speed about a 100 feet before the funnel. I guess he jumped the gun after getting the memo. Either that, or he expected me to be clairvoyant and attentive to the street laws of the future. Boy, that'd be quite a talent.

For completeness, and largely for the benefit of the international readers, we sad and downtrodden Canadians also pay about 36% income tax and a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in the Maritimes of 14%. That works out to over 50% of every dollar I earn ending up in government coffers, not including Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance deductions. The HST was reduced by 1% this years as part of the Conservative party's election platform promises. Bad news to all you tourists, however; they just got rid of the HST/GST reimbursement. Once upon a time, tourists could save their receipts when visiting Canada and then file a claim to have the value of the HST/GST returned to them when they returned home. That tax break is now dead. Welcome to Canada. Enjoy your fiscal sodamizing.

Don't get me started on the raise in registration rates. ATV owners in Nova Scotia got a shock when their provincial licensing and registration fee quintupled this year with no reason given, and they've come under increased attention by law enforcement as well. And then there's the gun registry which the Torys have yet to kill...

Again, I just don't know what to expect in the future. This is tax rate now, but what will happen when baby boomers all retire and instead of contributing their much higher salaries to the tax base, they turn the tables and start sucking it out in geriatric health care costs? Government spending will have to go up, but there are fewer and fewer people entering the workforce, at lower relative salaries than ever before. How much longer before Ottawa starts accepting kidneys and newborn children come tax season in April?

If I could afford a crate of tea, I'd throw it in the harbour.

Labels: crime, Metro Transit, Nova Scotia, police, vice

Monday, October 16, 2006

You just gotta wonder

Some kids not causing trouble.

Here I go, blogging from my rocking chair again...

The problem with having a little bit of free time is that I often spend it getting caught up on the news. That's probably a mistake. I tend to internalize a lot of what I read and it's really gotten me to the point that I have very little hope in the future of our society, much less all those nations that are plunged into, or on the brink of, collapse and war.

One thing that is really getting to me is the horrible combination of increased level of psychotic sociopathy in our youth together with the fact that they get no more than a slap on the wrist, at most, before they get a hug and kiss by authorities who bawl over what a poor life these little brats must have suffered.

In the last week, I've read of one girl, serving barely more than a year of her three-year sentence for her part in a beating that left a guy comatose. After all, she has a baby to look after and has shown the capacity to form consistency in her life, as evidenced by her ability to maintain a boyfriend while in jail. (How did they even meet?)

Then there's the guy that beat a cop into a coma who was completely let off this past summer. It's no wonder that police are getting a reputation around here of not wanting to risk their necks in stopping attacks.

In the newspaper today, there's a sickening story of animal abuse coming out of Calgary by a 17- and a 19-year-old. That's the one that sort of set me off today, but there's really so much more to look at, here at home.

In Nova Scotia, there's the story of the 22-year-old who abused a newborn baby giving her 40 fractures. His defence: he's mildly retarded and was jealous of the attention the baby's mother was giving the infant.

The new trick to help kids play hookey from school is to threaten to pull a Columbine incident. There were a couple of those in New Brunswick lately but today they reported one in Bridgewater too.

It's insane, really. Murders, beatings, vandalism...

Look at the kids last week, 12 to 16 years in age, who threw rocks at a senior couple out for a walk when they refused them cigarettes. (Those kids are also suspected of starting fires on the walking trail.) How about the two 15-year olds charged in the stabbing death of a Halifax cabbie? In the last month, we've gotten stories of how youth have turned communities like Eastern Passage into a 'Little Hell' and that teenagers are running "amok" in Bedford.

It just makes your head spin and these are just in the last month. Try keeping up with the stats on the Halifax Police reports website.

Of course, there are politicians promising to toughen up legislation against young offenders, but recently a proposal to make parents responsible for property damaged by youth failed to be accepted. I guess it's more tolerable for our society to shuffle that cost off onto the victims.

We've gotten to the point where if you get jumped by these little hellions, you're more likely to get ticketed for jaywalking in your escape than they are to be approached by cops, much less charged. (Mind you there was a story on evening news this week that said cops will ony charge jaywalkers if they force cars to brake.)

Everyday there seem to be at least two or three stories like this showing up in the Maritimes. Sometimes I watch television coverage of the War in Terror to cheer up.

I don't attribute this all to soft parenting and poor discipline. I think I blogged once upon a time that back in my days of coffee house crawling, there was a clear shift in youth at a distinct point. It used to be that every fall you'd see the new crop of youngsters start hanging out "downtown" and for the most part they were all good kids. But one year, in 1994, it seemed that the whole new group to arrive on the scene were aggressive, prone to random acts of violence which they gained pleasure and power from, and they mixed it all with very rampant drug abuse out in the open, where once it was respectfully kept under the table.

I really do think that there was something that affected these kids when they were young, the eldest of whom would now be in their early to mid 20s. I suspect people like Charles LeBlanc, who speaks out against ritalin and other behaviour-altering drugs, may have a strong argument there. The over-prescription of these little pills fits into the timeframe very neatly.

However, I might be treading on dangerous terrain in putting forth this post. It seems like everybody you know these days is on some kind of prescription to alter their behaviour. I might be all alone in admitting my fears.

Oh well. North Korea is suspected to be getting ready for another nuclear test. I'm sure that will occupy me for the next few days. I'll save my sanity and leave my crime cataloguing to other bloggers who cut their teeth on such things. If another war breaks out, maybe we can solve the youth problem the way they did back in the Great Depression: wait for hostilities to open up then give all the young'uns a uniform, a gun, and a ticket overseas.

Labels: Alberta, crime, demographics, Halifax, Korea, Nova Scotia, pharmaceuticals, vice, youth

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Even awesomer than TV

The Trailer Park Boys:The Movie, A.K.A. "The Big Dirty" opened last night and we succeeded in getting into one of the showings at Bayers Lake while we were out.

It's going to be a cult classic. I only have a few very minor critiques. The whole show was shot on 16mm instead of 35mm ("show" is a better word since it plays like an extended episode). I can't decide if I like this or not. At first, the graininess just made it look a bit cheap and hard to focus on. After a while, your eyes adjust and you barely notice it, so I didn't leave thinking any less of it. I'm wondering how it will translate to DVD though. A bit more like an "art house" piece, I guess.

Anothe point is the budget. It's not that you can't make a good film for $5 Million but it's hard to see where they spent it, and if they did spend money on something, it may have only been to recapture the TV show. Ricky has shirts in this movie that date back to the first season. The big chase scene is also something that appears early on, and after it's used up it's back to the level of effects that we'd expect from the TV show. It's really a human movie, and one that avoids the temptation toward flashiness.

Writing wise, it's a solid story, not too ambitious, just comfortable. It's got a steady narrative with lots of moments for the major characters and fills in enough background at the same time to make it accessible to the non-fans. Some critics are worried that it's only going to appeal to people who already enjoy the show, and that could be a danger, but I'll argue the opposite. I think the storyline is tight enough, and the characters interesting enough, that new viewers will seek out the TV show and happily find that the TV show recaptures the movie (instead of the other way around, as the case may be.)

It's a big thing for us to see it in Halifax too, since it's a local production and you can have fun picking out familiar locations. I even ran into a friend of mine at the theatre and learned that I knew one of the extras. Not surprising I suppose, since most Haligonians are only two or three degrees of separation away from the major characters anyway.

As for the gags, there are some great ones. The actors have slid so well into these characters over the years that everything they do comes across funny, natural, and familiar. (The image of Bubbles waking up singing the Vogue Optical jingle, or Lucy's G-string being stuffed with two-dolar bills keeps the "in" joke quotient pretty high for their Canuck fan base.)

They've really resisted a lot of big-Hollywood temptations in this film. Like I said, it's not big budget, nor does it have big names (although Gordie Downie of the Tragically Hip makes an early cameo, besides having some old favourites on the movie soundtrack.) What we are treated to is the same basic formula we love from television, but extended to a more fullfilling and deeper two hours, in a self-encapsulating unit that is going to be a classic in the vein of Cheech and Chong or Animal House. The big screen didn't lead them to do it differently, it allowed them to do it even more right.

Labels: movies, Nova Scotia

Friday, October 06, 2006

Off to Bayers Lake

"The Captain's Pride sails toward the waterfront."
Just a short post. We're on our way to Bayers Lake to do some shopping and see the Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty if we can get in. Being a local movie, I expect it to be packed.

One other bit of local news to relate is that the Governor General inducted a number of Nova Scotians (as well as others of course) into the Order of Canada today. One of whom, was Walter Borden. Back in the day, I had a few coffees with him from time to time, as he also could be found in the downtown cafés of Halifax. That was back when he was working on Lexx and voicing the role of His Shadow. We always got a kick out of imagining that we were sharing coffee with the omnipotent overlord of the universe -- him being so mild-mannered and all. He always struck a pretty strong impression though. I remember hearing that he had been a motivational speaker through the local schools. He's one of a few people whose conversations on poetry and writing have stuck with me through the years. I was really pleased to hear his name attached to such an honour. Congratulations, Walter.

Labels: movies, Nova Scotia, personal

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Peggy's Cove Part II

Sailboat, through the rocks, at Peggy's Cove.
Here is the second installment of photos from Peggy's Cove. While the weather has been cooling off lately, with fall around the corner, it was still bright and sunny and lots of people were out to enjoy it by land and by sea.

Looking out on the fishing houses.
It's not a big community but those who live there can be comfortable in knowing they have one of the most charming homes in the province. I can only imagine how much traffic drives by their front doors in the summer months.

Boats and fishing shacks in the cove.
It was reasonably quiet on Saturday but a number of whale watching boats and deep sea fishing boats are also there to provide tourists with a fun addition to their trip. In fact, some of the fishing equipment was so rusty that maybe that's the main business nowadays anyway.

The rocks stretch out for miles.
The rocks stretch out for miles. Though they form solid hills near the water, further inland you're treated to an almost "moonscape" terrain.

Boulders placed strewn by the glaciers.
If I had more time, it would have been nice to walk further outside of the main touristy area. More photos like this would make for a great collection. It's amazing to see some of these boulders having been balanced so evenly for over 10,000 years. The shot here was just one of a handfull I took with my zoom, from the site of the provincial visitors' centre. It was there that we turned around and headed back to the car.

The Sou'Wester Restaurant and gift shop.
Before leaving however, we couldn't help but stop at the Sou'Wester for fish'n'chips and mussels, as well as a little gift shopping. We drove a bit further after leaving, to Fox Point and Hubbards, looking for a few more final photos before driving back to the city.

Labels: Nova Scotia, Peggy's Cove, personal, photo gallery

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Peggy's Cove Part I

The Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.
Here are the first images from our trip to Peggy's Cove yesterday. I'll split the initial shots into a couple of posts and then feed some of the remainders into random posts over time, as the moment suits. Peggy's Cove is said to be the most photgraphed site in Canada, so it's inevitable that we should get there soon enough, with it really only being a half hour drive.

Tourists are urged to remain cautious in climbing over the rocks here. I think caution should be exercised the second that you leave the city. The road leading out to Peggy's Cove, through Prospect and various other small communities, is less of a highway than a test pit for road construction and Department of Transport signage practice. It's a very curvy road. Speed limits change extremely rapidly and you'd best just ignore them. I actually saw a sign marked 80 km/h but less than 50 feet later, another sign for a turn warned you to drop to 45 km/h. What kind of twisted joke is that?

Tourists walk along the giant rocks of Peggy's Cove.
We parked up by the lighthouse and restaurant and started snapping pictures. Strangely, there were no tour buses but nonetheless, plenty of tourists were out for the day. The weather was great once again.

Peggy's Cove has a lot of rocks.
The rocks at Peggy's Cove were a result of the last Ice Age. Glaciers scraped much of the land down to the bedrock while depositing boulders when they receeded.

Classic Peggy's Cove.
Images like the one above are reasons why Peggy's Cove is said to be the most photographed Canadian site. I can't remember seeing virtually any calendars of Nova Scotia that failed to include the above shot.

Colourful buoys along the dockside.
Fishing gear lies along the docks, from faded buoys to rusty anchors, as do old whale bones and carved driftwood. Visitors can also purchase lobster here in season, although the market was closed when we were there.

Looking down on the fishing village.
From another angle, here is the famous cove. Arts and Crafts shops mingle with the wharves and fishermen's buildings to offer visitors a pleasant and sentimental walk. The Sou'Wester restaurant is visible along the top-centre.

Small fishing boats anchored in the cove.
After seeing the rocks, we spent a while walking along the road and paths that surround the cove and took quite a few "traditional" pictures.

The Fishermen's Monument at Peggy's Cove.
Carved by local artist William E. DeGarthe the Fishermen's Monument is a testament to the fishing heritage of the area. It depicts 32 fisherment, their wives and children, being wrapped in the arms of an angel.

This is a few more pictures than I had planned on posting at this moment. I know that a few regular readers are still on dialup and it makes the page virtually inaccessible whenever I post a large gallery. I'll post these for now and others will follow later. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is on the CBC right now.

Labels: Nova Scotia, Peggy's Cove, personal, photo gallery