As I argued last week, the Andrew Younger mess points to the unintended consequences that arise when legislators and policy makers rush to solve real social problems by means of sweeping, arbitrary rules. Murky as the details of this case are, it serves as a useful thought experiment, since the gender stereotypes that gave rise to the iron-clad rules are reversed, making their application problematic, if not perverse. Had events followed the course demanded by media scolds, the probable outcome would have seen a promising young woman's career destroyed on an alleged point of "principle," over a private matter neither party...

12 November, 2015

Sydney resident Rory Andrews posted these charts to the community website GoCape Breton, but something very similar could be drawn for each of the four Atlantic provinces. And to make the point even clearer: Short of taking a reverso-page from China's book and implementing a Ten-Child Policy, the only solution is immigration. Ad hoc, community-based efforts to encourage foreign students attending Nova Scotia universities to settle here should be rolled into a major provincial government effort with appropriate resources. And beyond welcoming university students, Stephen MacNeil should put himself at the head of the queue for accepting the Middle Eastern refugees Prime...

09 November, 2015

I no longer subscribe to the mass email service that let me contact the 1,800 people on the old Cape Breton Island Film Series mailing list, and sending an email message to 1,800 recipients is a good way to get yourself banned as a spammer. So I'll count on Sydney area readers to pass this information along: On Wednesday, Nelson MacDonald and the Atlantic Filmmakers' Coop present an evening of short films produced in Atlantic Canada—including two made in Cape Breton. As the poster says, the screenings take place 7 p.m. Wednesday at Sydney's Highland Arts Theatre. The movies include: 4 Quarters -...

09 November, 2015

[caption id="attachment_15410" align="alignleft" width="250"] Joliene Stockley's Ingonish great-grandparents: Thomas Doucette and his war bride, Agnes "Lucy" Devenish[/caption] Last Thursday, Friends of Green Cove met with Nova Scotia's Liberal caucus to outline something that ought to be obvious to them already: the case against giving Toronto businessman Tony Trigiani a priceless piece of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park—land Canada promised to protect in perpetuity—to a erect kitchy, highly commercialized, eight-storey statue in memory of soldiers killed overseas. It would be great to see the province officially speak out about this ill-conceived, dishonestly executed scheme, but since the park lies entirely in federal...

09 November, 2015

He was a married, 40-something opposition MLA, a large man with ambitions of becoming premier someday. She was a popular, 20-something party staffer, a small woman with plans to study law. They began what would be a four-year "personal relationship," details of which have not been disclosed, but one gathers it's the sort of friendship the MLA would prefer his wife did not discover. In the fall of 2013, the MLA's party won a landslide victory in the general election, and on October 22 of that year, he was sworn in as Minister of Energy—a giant step toward his ultimate political...

06 November, 2015

The frailty of my connection to pop culture exposed at Sobey's: Checkout Person:  Are you collecting Jamie Oliver stamps? Me:  Someone asked me the same thing yesterday. [Leaning in, sotto voce] WTF are Jamie Oliver stamps? CP:  For every $10 you get a stamp, and when you get enough stamps, you can get some...

01 November, 2015

Since 1996, Halifax resident Dan Conlin has kept close track of the vampires, witches, and ninjas who show up at his Duncan St. home on October 31. The numbers plummeted from 2005 to to 2012, but have edged up for the last three. Yesterday they topped 100 for the first time in eight years. The annual dental industry nightmare got underway at 5:45 p.m.,  peaked around 7 p.m., and vanished into the ether by 8:45 p.m. Vampires and witches continue to top the list. Skeletons are up, princesses and superheros mercifully down. The most striking feature of Conlin's meticulous list is...

01 November, 2015

Yes, there have been a few hiccups in the early stages of Halifax's Big Lift. Morning bridge openings have been delayed beyond rush hour a few times, and an awkward bump in the road surface has slowed traffic. But by any standard, the project is an engineering marvel: one that sees entire 60-foot sections of the massive structure replaced overnight, while the bridge remains open to traffic the rest of the time. This morning, Allison Currie, Community Engagement Officer with the Halifax Dartmouth Bridge Commission, circulated a time-lapse video depicting replacement of the first bridge segment, carried out between October 16...

28 October, 2015

Today would be the 101st birthday of our friend Gus Reed's late father, Robert Dunham Reed. To celebrate, Gus has created a marvelous digital exhibit of a 1930 train trip his father took from Montreal to Dawson City, Yukon, along with his cousin, Warren Goddard Reed, who kept a detailed diary of the journey. Clicking on any of the map's markers brings up the corresponding diary entry, creating a vivid record of the time and places the two young men passed through. Diarist Warren Goddard Reed had a keen eye for detail. Here he describes the pair's arrival in Dawson: From the river...

28 October, 2015
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