This promises to be a continuing Contrarian topic, but I will flag it briefly: NB Power's apparently imminent sale to Hydro Quebec represents a tectonic shift in Nova Scotia's energy options. I mention this because, as is typical, the national news media seem to view the story as just another installment in Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams's (to them) clownish battles with central Canada. Such a view is as witless as it is patronizing. The sale poses huge problems for Nova Scotia and PEI, as well as Newfoundland. If Quebec can use its windfall profits from Joey Smallwood's disastrous 1969 deal on Upper...

27 October, 2009

The June 9 general election saw a new party take power in Nova Scotia. It bears comment that, to the best of Contrarian's knowledge, not a single highway worker lost his job as a result, and this non-massacre occurred without notice. On September 20, 1978, the day after John Buchanan defeated Gerald Regan, many highway workers didn't bother to show up for work. It went without saying that Tory sympathizers would take over their jobs. The next time government changed hands, in 1993, Liberal hacks were so infuriated at John Savage's refusal to cleanse highway garages of Tory hires, they eventually hounded...

25 October, 2009

A stalwart Tory friend who fully expected Ian McNeil to beat Allan MacMaster in the Inverness byelection voiced surprise at MacMaster's decision to go door-to-door with former Premier Rodney MacDonald, who held the seat before quitting last month: I would have expected voters in Inverness to have an earful for Rodney after he quit so soon. There was certainly some of that. MacMaster received 2,247 fewer votes than MacDonald had just four months earlier. But I suspect Rodney was still a plus for MacMaster at the doorstep—probably a crucial factor in his sliver of victory. In the eyes of most Nova Scotia voters,...

25 October, 2009

We can't say whether Liberal leader Stephen McNeil read this particular Contrarian entry, but he did both the right thing and the smart thing in helping astonished New Democrats speed passage of political financing reform through the house in a single day. It's the smart thing, because McNeil couldn't prevent passage of the new law, so why encourage days of debate focusing on past Liberal wrongdoing? It's the right thing, because no party should enjoy a permanent finger on the political scale based on a 40-year-old shakedown racket. McNeil explained it this way:It was my direction—and I take full responsibility—that...

23 October, 2009

No surprise to those who know him that defeated Inverness Liberal Ian McNeil matched victorious Tory Allan MacMaster in post-election graciousness. McNeil wisely made short work of any recount speculation: I expect that everybody did their job effectively and the result will stand...

23 October, 2009

Inverness MLA Allan MacMaster was exceptionally gracious in victory Tuesday. Speaking to elated partisans after his slender win, he took care to mention his high regard for the three losing candidates: Liberal Ian McNeil, New Democrat Bert Lewis, and Green Nathalie Arsenault. I believe voters notice this, and remember it. Showing a generous spirit in victory is a mark of political professionalism, a mark of character, and surprisingly rare....

22 October, 2009

So much for Contrarian's election prognostication prowess. Tory Allan MacMaster hung on to the Inverness seat by 50 votes over Liberal Ian McNeil. N-dip Bert Lewis was 800 votes back. I guess a 3,431-vote margin four months ago counts for something after all. Full results here. [Update:]  A certain Danny Graham, a man familiar to Contrarian readers Liberal and otherwise,  writes: You should have given me a call on the byelection. I predicted the triacta of Mac Master, Mac Neil, and Lewis within a margin of very few votes....

20 October, 2009

Here's a clever wrinkle:  Nova Scotia Environment estimates that its Power of Green conference tomorrow will have a carbon footprint of about 50 tonnes, but some smart folks in the department's Climate Change Division arranged to offset these notional atmospheric emissions. With money from the Natural Gas Association, they will  convert the Metro Turning Point Shelter to gas heat and replace its residential grade washers and driers with more efficient, commercial units. This will save more than 50 tonnes of carbon annually, cut the shelter's electricity bill in half, and render the conference carbon neutral. As Tom Leher might say,...

20 October, 2009

Today's Antigonish by-election is a foregone conclusion. N-dip Moe Smith came within 275 votes of knocking off popular Tando MacIsaac in June's general election. Tando having abandoned the seat so abruptly, and the NDP firmly ensconced in Province House, Smith will take the riding in a walk. Inverness is a different matter. The riding is festooned with election signs in roughly equal numbers. Although then-Premier Rodney MacDonald out-polled his nearest rival by 3,431  votes in June, would-be Tory successor Allan MacMaster is widely expected to place third today. The premier's abandonment of the riding, like Tando's of neighboring Antigonish, will hurt MacMaster,...

20 October, 2009

A group calling itself Know How They Vote is asking the Nova Scotia House of Assembly to abandon its traditional practice of unrecorded votes. A news release from Michael Kennedy, the group's director, points out that, although any two MLAs can request a roll call vote, only one percent of the legislature's decisions in the last six years have been by recorded vote. Moneyquote: The democratic deficit in Nova Scotia is growing. With every unrecorded vote in the Legislature, our MLAs get farther and farther away from our scrutiny. Choosing not to record votes is choosing not to be transparent and accountable...

18 October, 2009
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