On December 12, Harvey Morash and Michael Gerhartz went diving at Grand Narrows, Cape Breton, where the two great basins of the Bras d'Or Lake* converge amidst the treacherous currents of the Barra Strait. Those currents make the water in this video disturbingly murky, but the fecundity of the sea life—the profusion of urchins, anemones, not to mention perch, lobster, and cod—is something to see. The aerial photo at right shows the two bridges, highway and railway, that span the strait, from Iona on the left to Grand Narrows on the right. * Lake? Lakes? An eternal argument. The Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve...

20 December, 2011

Nova Scotia's New Democratic Party is wasting no time making hay in the sunshine of its Bowater bailout with a direct-mail flyer that's sure to infuriate opposition parties. The one-page card, featuring a photo of Premier Darrell Dester and Queens MLA Vicki Conrad, will start appearing in South Shore mailboxes this week. It uses Chronicle-Herald headlines to highlight the Dexter Government's rescue of the financially shaky newsprint mill, contrasting it with a jaundiced appraisal of opposition efforts. The NDP government is protecting 2,000 jobs with an investment in the mill workers and the Bowater Mersey pulp and paper mill in Queens County...

15 December, 2011

In an almost perfect illustration of Donham's Law, the New York Times reports this morning that New English fishermen are pooh-poohing calls from fisheries scientists for greater restrictions, or even an outright ban, on cod fishing in the gulf of Maine. The scientists point to new data showing cod stocks in much worse shape than previously thought; the fishermen say there's an abundance of fish. “Fishermen will almost always tell you that, and it’s not that they’re lying,” said Mark Kurlansky, whose 1997 book, “Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World,” documented how Canada’s once-abundant Atlantic cod were fished almost...

11 December, 2011
Doing a little catch-up here after a week of long-distance travel on short notice. Scott Gillard, constituency assistant to MLA Howard Epstein, objected to the inference I drew from a brief first-contract strike at Summer Street Industries in New Glasgow, where professional union negotiators pursued rigid workplace rules with wilful indifference to the rights and sensibilities of the developmentally challenged men and women that organization serves. The CUPE functionaries failed, thanks in part to pushback from their own members. Had the NDP government's first-contract arbitration had been in place, I suggested, an arbitrator ignorant of disabilities issues could have effectively wrecked a wonderful non-profit organization. Gillard calls this the "my cousin Louise" argument:
No matter how valid the legislation, in this case, may be there will always be someone (my cousin Louise) who can share an exception to its effectiveness. I think it is a red herring. To oppose Bill 102 on the basis that, in a specific situation, it would not have served its intended purpose is a bit much. [caption id="attachment_9103" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Darrell Dexter - Throwing a bone (Tim Krochak phot/Chronicle-Herald)"][/caption] You may have been able to provide and example of an exception to the benefit of the legislation but whether you are right or wrong on the implications of the legislation in this situation is irrelevant. Finding a specific situation where something may not work falls short of making a convincing case in opposition. Good legislation is hopefully the goal of government. No government assumes their legislation is perfect. Frankly, it's just this type of argument that reminds us of the complexity of a government's legislative agenda. There's always going to be a "my cousin Louise" type exception.
Gillard has a point. I was arguing from a very specific, though not unique, set of facts. and they have limited application to disputes involving conventional businesses. To be completely honest, I saw the first contract arbitration issue as an opportunity to lay out the disgraceful behaviour of a union that thinks of itself as progressive. But what's the case for Bill 102? What bad situation will it remedy?. Union people say over and over that collective bargaining works in Nova Scotia. For the most part, I think they are right. Why not let it play out? Why impose settlements on unwilling parties? After the jump, Gillard responds:
11 December, 2011

In a rare instance of a local voice taking on Sydney's popular but incessantly negative mayor, a Cape Breton Post editorial criticized two recent tweets by His Worship:  It was typical Morgan stuff: ...

09 December, 2011

Grad student, cultural activist, and entrepreneur Mike Targett writes: I appreciate a lot of Jay Macneil's general complaint. I've made similar ones about decision-makers not trying hard enough to make this place more livable, and even actively trying to make it less livable. I can even be pretty cynical about council at times. Maybe that cynicism is what made me think twice about this vote, since Morgan the populist voted with Kim Deveaux the radical. Curious. Did Morgan vote for what he knew would be the popular sentiment ("All he wanted to do was dance!") despite testimony from the Chief of Police...

09 December, 2011

Sydney radio newsman Jay MacNeil is attracting hundreds of comments, "likes," and shares on his Facebook video denouncing CBRM council's 10-2 vote to ban teen dances from civic facilities. You're making it hard. You're just making it hard. There are people in this community who spend their entire day trying to find ways to inspire and engage the youth of their community, and around your council table there are a bunch people who find ways—on a shockingly recurring basis—to disengage youth. View the whole rant here. H/T: Jancie Fuller via Leah Noble...

08 December, 2011

I might have been in favor of the NDP Government's first-contract legislation if I hadn't seen what the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) did to a progressive non-profit organization in New Glasgow this fall. Founded in 1968 by volunteers and family members, New Glasgow's Summer Street Industries supplies a variety of vocational services to 150 intellectually handicapped men and women in New Glasgow. It enjoys a stellar reputation for caring and respectful treatment of the people it assists. If the Dexter Government's first contract legislation had been in force this year, those very qualities would have been sabotaged, perhaps fatally. The...

02 December, 2011

Even as Occupy protests comes under increasing pressure from local governments, the movement's ability to gain traction remains both remarkable and largely unexplained. In a tweet last weekend, author James Glick, a pioneer of literate tech reporting, suggested an off-the-wall metaphor: I think #OWS was working better as an API than a destination site anyway. The Atlantic's tech editor Alexis Madrigal expands on this idea in a fascinating way, including a lucid explanation of how APIs — Application Programming Interfaces — work (for the 97 percent of us who have no idea). The most fascinating thing about Occupy Wall Street is the way that...

23 November, 2011

Earlier today I voiced my own misgivings, and reported those of the Pictou Bee, about Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie's campaign to slow the replacement of coal fired generation with renewable electricity. Ballie's chief of staff, Rob McCleave, defends his boss: Jamie’s position is far less about politics and much more about good public policy than your blog (or the Bee) suggests. The Environmental Goals & Sustainable Prosperity Act reflected an all-party consensus, only a few short years ago, but before the NDP formed government. It balanced environmental needs with economic needs. It set fairly aggressive and world class targets for the greening of our...

23 November, 2011
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