Our friend in Fredericton has been thinking about courage: On this day when everything changed, I think often of my friend. But that’s nothing new – she’s been on my mind every day this past year. For a year now, she has chosen to keep getting out of bed every morning, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to keep going—even when it seemed her world was crumbling. One year ago, in the days before this day, my friend was living as we all do when nothing major has gone wrong, when we are simply caught up in life’s daily...

30 April, 2012

Since Darrell Dexter has not yet decided to fire his Minister of Community Services, he is stuck having to defend her, and defending Denise Peterson-Rafuse these days requires saying some pretty silly things. That's just what Dexter did yesterday when he claimed Peterson-Rafuse was doing an "excellent job," adding, "The only people to release private information in this House are the members of the Conservative caucus." The tortured logic behind this argument, which Peterson-Rafuse has also used in her own defence, is that because the DCS report on Talbot House didn't use Fr. Paul Abbass's name, but only his job title,...

27 April, 2012

At the legislature Thursday, two key developments in the scandal enveloping the Department of Community Services and its minister, Denise Peterson-Rafuse. The Progressive Conservatives demanded the minister's resignation, arguing she had breached Nova Scotia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) Act by allowing the department to publish a report that violated Fr. Paul Abbass's privacy by repeating false innuendo against him even after the CBRM police looked into allegations advanced by DCS and found no grounds to open a criminal investigation. In a scrum with reporters from the Cape Breton Post and Halifax Metro, Peterson-Rafuse made a string of statements about...

27 April, 2012

At Premier Darrell Dexter's request, the Hollis Street facade of Province House shines green every night this week in honor of the Green Porch Light Project for Organ and Tissue Donation, a grass roots campaign in which supporters of organ and tissue donation turn their porch lights green to celebrate National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, April 23-28. As darkness began to settle over West End Halifax Wednesday night, Rosa Eileen Barss Donham got in the spirit with a green porch light and blue butterfly wings, symbol of Nova Scotia's Legacy of Life program. Rosa knows someone dear to her...

25 April, 2012

Sydney's Weird Beard Troupe, a black light theatrical group featuring puppeteers with Down syndrome, holds its debut performance at Cape Breton University's Boardmore Theatre Friday. This being 2012, they've released a great trailer (best viewed full screen): The inaugural production features a modernized, hippified re-make of the the Tree Little Pigs fable. All the live shows sold out early, but a CD and storybook is available. [Disclosure: Contrarian had a small role in the production's scriptwriting.]...

25 April, 2012

In a piece of exquisite timing, the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness today released the report and recommendations of its Advisory Committee on Mental Health and Addictions Strategy (along with a 24-page summary). I haven't had time to read the 80-page report, which doesn't mention Talbot House of any of the province's five community-based addiction recovery centres. But I was struck by recommendation 2.6-1: Addictions inpatient beds for withdrawal management, opiate stabilization and structured treatment should be reconfigured according to evidence and best practice, utilizing alternative community-based approaches where possible. [Emphasis: Contrarian's.] Imagine that. H/T: John Percy, Leader, Green Party of Nova Scotia...

24 April, 2012

  The video of a clever mariner squeezing his 80-foot mast under a '65 bridge on the Inter-Coastal Waterway reminded Chris Lambie of sailing across Florida's Lake Okeechobee with his father. We weren't sure if our mast would clear a bridge on the eastern edge of the lake, as the water level was pretty high. But my dad did the calculations and figured we'd squeak through. As we slipped underneath the span, the VHF antenna ticked gently against one of the girders, and dad got a speck of rust in his eye. I also remember running gently aground somewhere in the silt that...

24 April, 2012

A reader writes: That was a very heartfelt letter from the former client of Talbot House and he definitely has hit the nail on the head. I work in health care and have seen just what he speaks of. It is a testament to Fr Abbass and the staff and programs at Talbot House, and needs to be acknowledged. We tend to put numbers and policy ahead of compassion, care, and genuine concern for the client. I am so impressed with this letter and how this person has turned his life around; to hear him express exactly the "way it is," and...

24 April, 2012

Richard Stevenson, one of the province’s top water and sewer engineers, spends a lot of time thinking about how the province can cope with its crumbling municipal infrastructure. He has come to the conclusion HRM’s stringent regulations governing development actually work against the stated goals of the city’s planning department. HRM espouses a policy of increasing the density of the urban core, but its own planning regulations result in lower population densities. R-1 single family zoning limits population density to 20 persons per acre, or 45 persons per hectare (to protect us against barrio-like overcrowding, I presume). The city also requires that we...

24 April, 2012

Our friend in Fredericton writes: This morning my street was  crawling with Jehovah’s Witnesses: at least a half dozen pairs of women, making their way from house to house, all neatly attired in skirts of a certain style. Before long, two Witnesses landed on my doorstep, introduced themselves as Queenie and Muriel, and handed over copies of The Watchtower and Awake! I’m well-known as a magazine addict, so after getting through the most pressing work of the day, I paused to flip through these publications. I was shocked to notice the circulation numbers: 42,182,000 copies in 194 languages for each issue of...

24 April, 2012
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