From investment in arts and culture, a living wage, food insecurity, affordable housing and transit, to tackling the climate crisis and decolonizing our city, all these issues are affected by the upcoming municipal elections, writes reporter Stephen Wentzell.
Letter: Clearcutting and spraying belong to a lazy, toxic forestry we can’t afford anymore. We want the provincial government to listen when we say: stop spraying and clearcutting Nova Scotia. Stop stringing us along with promises of reform. We’ve had enough. We need forestry that restores nature, stores carbon and creates jobs.
An overwhelming majority of members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association are willing to go on strike if the university’s Board of Governors doesn’t compromise on its current bargaining stance. “We’re still not sure why this is the year they’ve chosen to try to force through these changes, other than that they don’t believe we have the strength to fight back because of Covid fears. To try to take advantage of the pandemic in such a way is just terrible,” says David Westwood, president of the faculty association.
Martyn Williams, on behalf of the group HRM Safe Streets for Everyone, has written a Councillors survival guide to safer streets and traffic. It targets mayor and council hopefuls, but it is also useful to residents as it sets out the issues, and what councillors can do to resolve them. It’s a comprehensive guide, and, much like Martyn’s articles, the product of meticulous research.
Important open letter by Eastern Door, a group of L’nu and Indigenous lawyers in Nova Scotia & Atlantic Canada, on who gets to regulate the Moderate Livelihood fishery. “Exercising self-government in accordance with Netukulimk – allowing L’nuk fishers to work legally and rightfully – is all the Sipekne’katik First Nation has done,” they write.
Things are getting really bad in Digby County. Last night a Mi’kmaq lobster boat was torched and completely destroyed in Comeauville, Digby County, just a hop and a skip away from the Saulnierville wharf.
For an out of town mother on income assistance taking a child to the IWK for tests or surgery, especially if it requires an overnight stay, is a logistical and financial nightmare. Meal allowances haven’t changed since 2008, and even then they were terribly inadequate.
I will be talking a bit about equity-related stories we ran in the NS Advocate. There are a lot to choose from.
The Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council, representing almost all local unions in Halifax, is endorsing municipal candidates running in several districts of HRM. However, it is not endorsing any of the mayoral candidates.
When it comes to buying 88 new fighter jets $19 billion is just a start, total life cycle costs are closer to $123 billion according to the Auditor General. Canada’s defense spending is projected to reach $32 billion by 2026, while the budget for environment and climate has flatlined around the $1 billion mark since 1997. You get what you pay for, writes Kathrin Winkler.