Is Peter MacKay channelling John Buchanan? Is Stephen Harper keen to cultivate a second Danny Williams in Atlantic Canada? Those are two possible explanations of the Harper Government's mean-spirited, post-election reversal of its commitment to help fund the $40-million, four-rink arena planned for Bedford. The Conservative about-face presents an early test for Darrell Dexter's Government. Last month, the feds assured HRM officials that the project was on track to receive $15 million in infrastructure funding from Ottawa's stimulus program. The NDP Government likewise committed $15 million, and HRM was to finance the remainder. Last Friday, Ottawa abruptly informed city hall it no longer...

09 July, 2009

Overheard on Twitter: @statsgirl Swine 'flu at the Tattoo? Sounds like a Dennis Lee book title to me....

08 July, 2009

Contrarian reader Jocelyne Marchand makes a nice distinction: The bishop should not be talking to the press about this; he should be talking to the priest who handed Harper the host, knowing full well  he was a Protestant heretic.  But then again, Catholic bishops seem to let their priests do any thing they want—even if they might get caught . When push comes to shove, does any of it really matter ? Are we that hard up for scandal ?...

08 July, 2009

On the rare occasions when circumstances force contrarian to participate in religious rites, our unfamiliarity with the rules often begets panic. Thus contrarian sympathizes with Prime Minister Harper's apparent befuddlement when Monsignor André Richard, Bishop of the Diocese of Moncton, offered him the communion wafer during Romeo LeBlanc's funeral. What's a Protestant pol to do? As a non-Catholic, Harper is ineligible to receive communion. But having taken the wafer, which, upon consecration for the Eucharist, becomes the body and blood of Christ, he can't just ditch it. A YouTube video appears to show Harper slipping the host into his suit jacket...

08 July, 2009

In the spring of 2008, the Halifax group Sons of Maxwell headed out on a one-week tour of Nebraska. They flew United Airlines from Halifax to Omaha, with a connection in Chicago. While waiting to deplane at O'Hare, band members heard a woman behind them cry out, “My God, they’re throwing guitars out there!” They watched helplessly as ground crew pitched their instruments recklessly across the tarmac. Before boarding the next  flight, the band took all the steps normal people would to report the abuse, only to be shunned by every United employee they encountered. Once in Omaha, band member Dave...

07 July, 2009
Three contrarian readers respond on the right size for cabinet:
Give some thought to those 11 very busy politicians, and how easy it will be to control them. Dexter and Dan O'Connor will have complete control of the first-year agenda. The really big issues, NSP for example, will come from the department to the Issues Committee of Cabinet chaired by the Deputy Premier. -- XX
07 July, 2009
[caption id="attachment_1384" align="alignleft" width="600" caption="Before and after Seoul, South Korea, removed an ugly 1970s-era highway"]Before and after Seoul, South Korea, removed an ugly 1970s-era highway[/caption]
The Infrastructurist website offers four examples of the transformative possibilities when a city decides to remove a monstrous piece of highway infrastructure, like, say, the Cogswell Interchange, and replace it with something useful, beautiful, and urban life-affirming.
07 July, 2009
cabinet - 2 - cropped - medium
As Nova Scotia’s new government begins its third week in office, a critical early mistake is coming into focus: Darrell Dexter’s 12-member cabinet is too small for the job at hand. Cabinet selection inevitably requires consideration of gender, ethnicity, and geography: Women must take a prominent place; there must seats for Cape Breton, northern Nova Scotia, the south shore, and the valley; Metro MLAs must not appear to dominate. Legitimate political and cultural considerations of this sort do not necessarily trump such factors as experience and merit, but they compete with them. That leads to problems.
06 July, 2009
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