Labour bears brunt of McNeil’s eulogized tough decisions
Richard Starr looks at Stephen McNeil’s anti-labour legacy and sees little reason to think that there will be a fundamental reset under premier Iain Rankin.
Richard Starr: Nova Scotia democracy was in retreat even before McNeil
Nova Scotians have allowed a lot of power to be concentrated at the provincial level, and it didn’t start with Stephen McNeil. What to do, Richard Starr asks.
Richard Starr: Fiscal update wins bank’s praise but Liberals set stage for more debt paranoia and civil servant bashing
Richard Starr fears that with last week’s fiscal update the NS Liberals seem to be going for a repeat – not so much from what they said, but from what was not said. The update could credibly have been presented as relatively good news, instead of a prelude to the belt-tightening signaled by McNeil.
Democracy in Nova Scotia: Still closed until further notice
Richard Starr: “The theme of recent COVID-19 updates in Nova Scotia has been “opening up.” Opening up the economy and opening up society have been on the agenda. But opening up democracy – not so much. Indeed, the past week provided more evidence, if more is needed, of Premier McNeil’s disdain for the views of others.”
McNeil moves to new crisis, taking attitude with him
Richard Starr looks at premier Stephen McNeil’s governing style and sees a pattern: “McNeil needs a new raison d’être, and with remarkable dexterity he has found one with COVID-19, moving smartly from the manufactured fiscal crisis to the real crisis presented by the pandemic.”
Is ageism colouring the response to care home deaths?
Nova Scotia’s failure to adequately protect nursing home residents resulted in Canada’s third worst rate of death from COVID-19, writes Richard Starr, who wonders whether ageism is a factor in both government neglect of the long term care sector and how it’s being reported.
Memory Lane: When cutting sulphur dioxide pollution was all the rage (Updated)
At present, Nova Scotia Power’s’s sulphur dioxide emissions are capped at 72,000 tonnes a year. NSP revealed to the utility board that the province intends to amend its Air Quality Regulations to allow 90,000 tonnes of emissions for 2021 and 2022. That’s wrong! Energy expert Richard Starr provides the context.
Richard Starr: Housing strategy debunked but Liberals keep flogging it anyway
Policy analyst extraordinaire Richard Starr takes a close look at Liberal claims that the party is fully committed to affordable housing and is making a difference. “Not only is the National Housing Strategy many days late, its more than a few dollars short, perhaps even less effective in creating affordable housing than the Harper-era programs it’s replacing. ”
Richard Starr: Axing school boards exposes glaring contradictions
Richard Starr looks at Bill 72 and the arguments in favour of eliminating the regional school boards and finds they don’t hold much water. “To turn around now and inflict collateral damage on minority representation by getting rid of school boards (except CSAP) is reprehensible. At best, it says that minority representation on school boards was just tokenism, a politically correct initiative to be abandoned on a whim.”
Deja Vu, only worse – the updated NS Budget 2017
Richard Starr takes a closer look at the updated provincial budget released last week. “As long as a balanced budget remains the political holy grail and the economy produces little revenue growth there will be intense pressure on public spending. Unless the Liberals can pull more accounting tricks out of a hat – or there is an unexpected windfall from the federal government – we are in for a very rough ride over the next four years,” Starr writes.