A dissenting view
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...
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Getting the green light from Rosa
At Premier Darrell Dexter’s request, the Hollis Street facade of Province House shines green every night this week in honor of the Green Porch Light Project for Organ and Tissue Donation, a grass...
View ArticleDexter defends the indefensible
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...
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The shuffle: big losses; missed opportunities
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...
View ArticleThe shuffle: two afterthoughts
A couple of day-after comments about Darrell Dexter’s cabinet shuffle seem worth passing on: First, a longtime New Democrat writes that, “Having to take Maureen out of Health to backfill Finance...
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Cities made of government glass shouldn’t cast stones
Like many Cape Bretoners, I cringe when fellow islanders, egged on by CBRM’s outgoing mayor, blame all our problems on Halifax. It’s unbecoming, it’s untrue, and it’s a lazy excuse for avoiding the...
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Acting like a premier
A headline in Saturday’s Chronicle-Herald called Premier Darrell Dexter’s churlish attack on a member of the Electoral Boundaries Commission “out-of-character.” It was certainly at odds with the...
View ArticleCynical pandering to media-fomented hatred of politicians
The Dexter Government’s decision to make a retroactive grab for disgraced MLA Trevor Zinck’s pension should not pass without comment. It is a cynical exercise in pre-election pandering to public hatred...
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Maybe 79% is the sweet spot for AG Lapointe’s proposals
It’s natural for Auditor General Jacques Lapointe to believe all his recommendations should be implemented, and implemented promptly. Nova Scotia journalists certainly seem to have accepted that view,...
View ArticleA department that makes life harder for people with disabilities
Huffington Post’s Canadian edition yesterday published an investigative report by a team of student journalists from the University of King’s College detailing the housing crisis facing Nova Scotians...
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Jumpshot
Premier Darrell Dexter shot a few baskets Monday afternoon during a courtesy call at the former Holy Angels High School, which New Dawn Enterprises is turning into a center for cultural organizations...
View ArticleNo NS election tomorrow
In a telephone interview moments ago, Jennifer Stewart, press secretary to Premier Darrell Dexter, said “there absolutely will not be an election called tomorrow.” We were discussing election timing...
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Thoughts on election timing
Since 1970, four Nova Scotia governments have delayed elections into the fifth year of their mandates. Three of the four got clobbered. In 1978, Gerald Regan’s Liberals went almost seven months into...
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Will the government trample wheelchair users in its rush to an election?
Last spring, a disability rights organization surveyed the constituency offices of Nova Scotia MLAs and found hardly any were fully accessible to citizens who use wheelchairs. In May, the James...
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Six things the NDP did wrong — part 1
Six things the NDP did wrong — Part 1 1. The Expense Scandal In the election of 2009, Nova Scotia voters did what the NDP had been asking them to do for decades: They ditched the same-old, same-old...
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Six things the NDP did wrong – part 2
Further evidence, if more were needed, that God is a New Democrat: No sooner did I put up the first part of my Things the NDP Did Wrong post than I was laid low by a chest cold that obliterated deep...
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That Don Mills poll
Don Mills sounds nervous. Nova Scotia’s best known pollster has been conducting a rolling poll for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, and over the last week, his numbers have pointed to an historic rout....
View ArticleNDP rights and wrong — readers comment
Many of those who responded to my posts on the Dexter government’s mistakes and accomplishments (here, here, here, and here) were disappointed New Democrats. To my complaint that a small cadre of...
View ArticleLosers & winners
Nova Scotians tune in on election night to learn two things: Who won, and who are the sore losers. Darrell Dexter was a smart loser, delivering the best speech of the night, a gracious amalgam of...
View ArticleMake that 1,049 votes from annihilation, theoretically
Sharp-penciled Contrarian reader Gus Reed points out that the Dips could have been wiped off Nova Scotia’s electoral map by as few as 1,049 votes, not 2,087 as I wrote Friday. For this to happen, all...
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