Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse will finally sit down with the Talbot House board of directors Tuesday, but only after her department's shrewd mandarins have pre-empted any actual purpose the meeting might serve. The Talbot board asked for the session months ago, seeking a peaceful resolution to her department's reckless assaults on the half-century-old, community-built addiction recovery center. Peterson-Rafuse readily agreed to the meeting in principle, then bobbed, weaved, and stalled until her officials rendered it meaningless. First she couldn't meet because the legislature was sitting. Then she postponed again, just long enough for the department to announce the RFP* it hopes...

12 June, 2012

Wednesday's smoothly orchestrated cabinet shuffle could not hide the central fact of the event: It is a big loss for the Dexter Government. Graham Steele has been the strongest member of Darrell Dexter's cabinet, turning in a sterling job at Finance while displaying a rare knack for speaking plainly, persuasively, and with conviction. Bill Estabrooks's departure likewise represents a big loss. He was the cabinet minister with the commonest touch, a popular, unpretentious man who did solid work putting systems in place for rational decision-making about road work. The province's roadbuilding oligopoly was apoplectic over Estabrooks's decision to set up a civil service...

30 May, 2012

In four decades as a journalist, I saw many people do brave things, but I can't offhand think of anything more courageous than the letter I received last night from Sean McSween, a pharmacist and former resident of Talbot House, the addiction recovery centre now closed due to false allegations of sexual misconduct against its former executive director, Fr. Paul Abbass. To whom it may concern: I am a professional (pharmacist) married (since 1999) man. I had some difficulty in life, partly due to an abusive home life while growing up and partly due to poor choices of my own. I spent nearly...

15 May, 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

In response to this post, Stan Jones of Yarmouth writes: You said: "I truly believe Darrell Dexter and Denise Peterson-Rafuse are better people than they have shown themselves to be in the last three days." You are wrong. Actually, I think I'm right, but neither politician is giving me much ammunition to make the case for them. They should apologize to Abbass and the Talbot board, remove Lathem and her supervisors from any future involvement with the recovery centre, and name a knowledgable, skeptical authority to take a long, hard look at this badly run department....

18 April, 2012

I have a flood of reader mail on the scandal enveloping the Department of Community Service—too much to publish more than a sample for now. I do hope readers are not tiring of this subject. Officials of the department committed serious errors with terrible consequences—for the priest whose character they so carelessly assassinated; for the volunteer members of a board serving the community in good faith; and for the addicted men in treatment at Talbot House, who could be there now had the department's cavalier actions not forced the closure of this community-built institution. For decades, the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party...

18 April, 2012

Fr. Paul Abbass, the priest and former executive director of Talbot House Recovery Centre who was subjected to false accusations of sexual misconduct promoted behind the scenes by an official of the Department of Community Services, and whose reputation continues to suffer due to the Dexter Government's apparent determination to defend the Department's behaviour, has issued his first statement on the matter: At the end of last week I was informed by the Cape Breton Regional Police Service that they had concluded their investigation and will not be laying any criminal charges. Obviously I was pleased and relieved that this matter...

17 April, 2012

Liberal MLA Kelly Regan put two questions to Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse in the House of Assembly yesterday: MS. KELLY REGAN:  Mr. Speaker, for 53 years Talbot House provided residential addiction treatment for men in Cape Breton. Talbot House recently, abruptly closed its doors and left the people of Cape Breton with a whole lot of questions. Will the Minister of Community Services lift the shroud of secrecy and tell the men and their families who rely on these services why the minister closed the doors and removed this vital service from this community? HON. DENISE PETERSON-RAFUSE:  Mr. Speaker, we know...

04 April, 2012

Civil Rights activist Warren Reed took the time to read the complex documents setting forth the Dexter Government's furtive plan to slash medical benefits for residents of special care homes. The documents were posted here last night. The Dexter Government shelved the plan, which would have required residents making less than $2,000 per year to pay for needed medical supplies, dental treatments, vision care, and certain drugs including, in some cases, insulin and anti-seizure medication. The unannounced cuts, developed without consultation, were to have been implemented Canada Day, but were put on hold late Thursday after the Canadian Press wire...

01 July, 2011
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