Is the web off-limits to reporters?

Today I learned that the Globe and Mail's long-time parliamentary bureau chief, Jane Taber, now heads the paper's Atlantic bureau.  I learned about this change in part by reading what I understand to be her first contribution from her new post.

This first article, which deals with Halifax mayor's Peter Kelly's current political challenges, seems to have been triggered by a recent article in the Coast that deals with Kelly's failings as executor for the estate of a late friend.  The Coast article really goes after Kelly and outlines a number of problems with the way in which the probate process has been handled so far.

As Taber notes

Now Halifax is buzzing over allegations that Mr. Kelly took more than $160,000 from the $500,000 estate of a long-time elderly friend, Mary Thibeault, and with questions of why, seven years after her death, the will has not been settled. 

These questions were first posed last week in The Coast, a free weekly newspaper.

The primary issue I have with the article comes from the final sentence of the previous quote.  As many of us resident in Nova Scotia know, the Coast has been covering the issue of this will for quite some time.  A quick Google search for "peter kelly executor" lead me to a March 2011 story on the topic.

Maybe I should at least be happy that the mainstream media finally picked up on the story, even if it took them almost a year?  And isn't this the kind of story that the mainstream media should be breaking rather than re-reporting from the local alternative/arts weekly?

Cameron: 33
Neil: 0

Different takes on the same announcement

Earlier today the Government of Nova Scotia announced the details of a new MOU with the province's universities.  I gather that in general austerity is the theme of the announcement (with $25 million in funding specifically dedicated to cost cutting - however that is supposed to work).

Of course how the province is presenting this announcement is a little different than some media sources.  To demonstrate the difference I thought it might be fun to provide the first paragraphs from a sources covering this issue.

To start, here is the first paragraph from the government's news release:

A three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the province and Nova Scotia's 11 universities will ensure tuition remains at, or below, the national average, increases research and development opportunities, and invests $25 million in universities to help them become more sustainable.

 From the Metro's story on the topic:

The Nova Scotia government will allow tuition fees to rise by three per cent a year while reducing its grant to universities.

From the Chronicle Herald's story:

Nova Scotia universities will see a three per cent cut in provincial funding, Labour and Advanced Education Minister Marilyn More announced this afternoon.  

 From the Globe and Mail's story:

The Nova Scotia government will allow tuition fees to rise by three per cent a year while reducing its grant to universities.

(As you may haven noticed, there is a striking similarity between the Metro and Globe and Mail paragraphs.  Though the stories had different headlines it seems that they both just re-issued the Canadian Press story.)

I guess the media wasn't too interested in going with the province's take on things in this case.

So it's going to be nice tomorrow?

Over the past few days I have heard reports about a 'weather bomb' that may be approaching the region. Apparently much of the province is for some heavy rain and wind.

When I went to the Environment Canada site to find the local forecast and warnings I was surprised to see that they didn't appear to have any for the region.

I then decided to check the general warnings page to see if they might have been listed there but not cross-posted to the local page. While there I saw that there are, in fact, warnings for much of the province, but we seem to live in one of the three counties without a weather warning.

I presume this means tomorrow won't be anything special?

No, not all skiers

So the bill about requiring ski helmets in Nova Scotia that I mentioned yesterday has now been posted online. As you may recall, I was interested in whether or not the requirement would actually apply to all skiers, as was reported in the CBC article, or if it would specifically apply to downhill skiers.

It turns out that this very issue is dealt with in s. 2 of the bill.

The purpose of this Act is to protect the health of Nova Scotians by requiring people to wear protective helmets while downhill skiing or snowboarding at ski hills where people pay to ski or snowboard.

Of course, I guess this means that if you are just out in the woods or at an abandoned ski hill there would be no requirement to wear a helmet.

There are also sections of the act that seem to provide the potential for abuse.

7 (1) For the purpose of enforcing this Act and the regulations, an enforcement officer may, without a warrant,
(a)investigate any complaint of a contravention of this Act or the regulations and examine any person to determine if a contravention has occurred;
(b) from time to time and at all reasonable times, enter the property or premises of an owner or any other person if it is reasonably necessary to do so in order to determine whether or not this Act and the regulations are being complied with;
(c) request that a person remove the person's helmet and provide it for inspection;
(d) require a person to provide the person's name and address or proof of identity; and
(e) do any other thing necessary for the purpose of enforcing this Act and the regulations.

Is it really necessary to allow enforcement officers to be able to request ID and proof of address if there is no suspicion of wrong-doing? Or that people must submit to helmet inspections? What about s. 8 of the Charter?

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

Can this invasion really be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society"?

Yesterday, while looking for a copy of the bill, I happened to come across the press release issued to announce the impending introduction of this bill. Something that caught my eye in the press release was the claim that "The Snowsport Helmet Act will be the first legislation of its kind in the world." Could this really be true? Had no other jurisdiction tried to implement a mandatory helmet law?

Well, after a few minutes of searching I came to the conclusion that the claim may not be entirely accurate (it likely depends on your definition of 'first of its kind'). It seems that in California legislation was introduced, and passed by both houses of the legislature, that would have required those under sixteen to wear helmets while downhill skiing. Though the bill had legislative support it was eventually vetoed by California first post-Schwarzenegger governor.

So if you take 'first of its kind' to mean 'bill requiring some segment of the population to wear helmets while skiing' it is clear that this bill is not the first of its kind. On the other hand, if you take 'first of its kind' to mean 'bill requiring all downhill skiers to wear helmets while skiing' then the claim may hold water, though I can't claim to have done a particularly extensive search.

All skiers? Really?

CBC Nova Scotia has just reported that "The Nova Scotia government plans to pass a law requiring all skiers to wear helmets." Not surprisingly, the story doesn't have too many details on the proposed legislation.

I can't help but wonder if it is really necessary to require cross country skiers to wear helmets as they majestically make their way through the countryside at sub-10 KPH speeds. Requiring cross-country skiers to wear helmets is practically like requiring a walking/running helmet. Until I get to see the text of the bill I won't know if this really is the intent of the legislation, or if this is just another instance of sloppiness in the original media report.

More poking about on the internet

Not surprisingly, my poking about on the internet didn't end with my examination of The Council on Governmental Ethics Laws's membership list.

I soon found myself looking at Standing Orders/House rules for various legislatures in Canada. While looking at the standing orders for Newfoundland and Labrador and the House Rules for Nova Scotia I was surprised by the fact that neither had been amended in the past few years. The last time the Newfoundland Standing Orders were amended was 2005. The last time that Nova Scotia's House Rules were amended was 1998. Between these two amendment dates and now both of these legislatures have had significant spending scandals that seem to have had no impact on procedure.

This means that in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia the newly constituted Management Commissions that came about because of these scandals are not mentioned. Though these Management Commissions aren't technically matters of procedure, that they aren't mentioned at all seems a little strange to me.

It should also be noted that neither of these two sets of rules seem to deal with matters relating to matters of ethics or conflict of interest.

I think these last two points become a little more significant when these provincial rules are contrasted with the House of Commons' Standing Orders. Both the Board of Internal Economy (the federal analog to provincial Management Commissions) and the Conflict of Interest Code are included in the Standing Orders. Though I guess I will leave it to you to make of this what you will.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 3

Much to my surprise, it seems that at least one of the closest power outages has been resolved. I am taking this to be good news in a number of ways. Firstly, the conditions are not so bad as to prevent power crews from working. Secondly, power crews are actively working to repair damage. Thirdly, and this may be a little presumptuous on my part, but I take this to mean that they don't think that things are going to get worse in this area.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 2

The power outages seem to be spreading across the provinces quickly. The effect has likely been intensified by the fact that for some period of time the NS Power Live Outage map was not adding new outages as they were occurring. As far as I know outages are now being added as they occur.

The other big development (to go along with the return to real-time of the Live Outage map) is that our region now has both a rain and a wind warning. A little while ago we just had a rain warning (even though it was pretty windy).

Hopefully the event that Jeannette and I are hoping to attend later this afternoon won't be adversely effected by the weather. As it is, I know of at least one local event that has been cancelled because of the weather.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 1

Well, it seems that we are actually in the midst of a storm, though not to the extent that some parts of the New England states are (I have seen photos of substantial snowfalls). At the moment all we have to complain about are high winds and rain.

Of course, now that this has been going on for the past few hours we are starting to see power outages in the province. And one of the three power outages is just a short ways away from us. Fun. At least we have gathered our 'emergency supplies' and are ready, at least as ready as we can be, for a possible power outage.

It seems that Neil and a few of the matheletes may have been more seriously impacted by the storm in that at least one of their flights was cancelled on their way back from a conference in the US. I still don't know the extent of their delays, though I imagine that today's developments haven't made things better.

I guess I should get back to storm watching (i.e. work).

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 6

We just learned that we aren't likely to have power when we return to Wolfville. At the moment we are expecting to get it back by two.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 5

In Truro getting some food. Next stop the airport?

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 4

We are currently in Antigonish. All was going well until a few minutes ago when a truck threw a stone and chipped the windshield. As you might imagine, Neil is less than pleased with the situation.

Anyway, we will soon be back on the road to be again buffeted by post-hurricaine winds.

Port aux Basques to Wolfville - 2

We are now safely on the Blue Puttees and awaiting our departure. Though we are to leave two hours early it seems that we may only arrive a little early. Anyway, I guess that the arrival and departure times will both be highly dependant on the upcoming weather/hurricane situation.

We have all popped our Gravol and are now getting ready for bed. Hopefully we will get some sleep before we arrive.

Another new tie or Congressional paraphernalia

A few weeks ago Jeannette had the good fortune to be able to quickly visit Annapolis Royal on her way back from a conference. Since then she has been keen on returning and engaging in a more in-depth exploration of some of the sights in the region.

Yesterday, though it was a little overcast and at times rainy, happened to be the day when we finally got around to making a return trip to Annapolis Royal (and it also happened on one of the days of the Gathering of the Clans event - though we couldn't actually find much evidence of this event).

After a very pleasant stroll through downtown Annapolis Royal and through the grounds of Fort Anne and a quick stop at a local bakery for lunch we started to make our way back to Wolfville.

Instead of taking the highway back we decided to take the slow road that would take us through a number of communities in the region.

One of the communities we ended up driving through was Coldbrook, a community that just happened to have another Guy's Frenchy's. While Jeannette looked at lady clothes I decided to check out the tie selection (among other things). Almost immediately I found a tie that I found intriguing.

Almost immediately Americanness of this tie was apparent. When I flipped the tie over and looked at the keeper that it was American in origin became even more apparent.

Of course after seeing that this tie was "Made exclusively for US Congress" I couldn't not spend the $1.95 to buy it.

Shortly after I returned home I tried to figure out if this tie was made specifically for members of Congress or if it had some other role. Unfortunately, the few searches that I did conduct on ties and neckties turned up nothing. At least I haven't confirmed that this tie was nothing more than an item made just to be sold in a Congressional gift shop - it might still have been created for use exclusively by Congressmen (and that is my hope).

Get your act together NSLC

Yesterday Jeannette and I were walking through the local NSLC (provincially run liquor store) when we noticed an acquaintance of ours, who also happens to be a local winemaker, pictured and named in a display about locally produced wines. (In case you are curious, we did end up buying one of his products and were quite pleased with it.)

A few minutes after spotting this picture we made our way to the check out where, much to my surprise, I was IDed. As I am now almost 10 years over the legal age I am always surprised when I am IDed, particularly if I have previously made purchases in the establishment without being IDed.

Anyway, this morning while at the farmer's market Jeannette ran into our acquaintance and mentioned that we saw the display with his photo and name. This local winemaker then told Jeannette that recently when making a purchase in this same store, where his photo and name were prominently displayed, he too was IDed.

How is that for ineffective systems? I am not sure if their IDing system is worse than their staff product training system, but I am pretty sure that at least one or both of these systems is pretty far out of whack if something like this can happen.

On the Road: Charlottetown (to Montague) to Halifax

This morning we had a quick breakfast at a national coffee and doughnut chain. All three of us ordered oatmeal and then were somewhat surprised to see that in Charlottetown this, traditionally sweet, breakfast dish was served with little packets of salt and pepper. We suspect that that is how Islanders recognize one another, Islanders are the ones with pepper on their oatmeal.

After breakfast Jeannette and I went out for a 'coastal' drive while my father went to his meeting.

Though our drive wasn't particularly coastal, we did eventually make it to Prim Point and were able to see the Prim Point lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in PEI.

Of course, because it is off season, the lighthouse was not open. The adjacent 'chowder house' was also closed for the season.

Aside from the lighthouse itself, what was particularly striking about this location was how still the water was. This is particularly impressive when you remember that it is sea water that is so still.



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After driving along the road just inland from the coast from Prim Point to Wood Islands Jeannette and I made our way cross-country to Montague for lunch. Shortly after lunch we made our way back to Charlottetown to meet my father.

After picking my father up we started our trip back to Halifax.

Not surprisingly, we ended up passing Mastodon Ridge (Stewiacke) on our way back.



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Now that we are back I have had a chance to make an animated gif of our first trip to the Mastodon Ridge area.



I'm exhausted.

On the Road: Halifax to Sackville

Our weekend road trip started early this morning. Of course, it has been much colder and snowier than any of us would have wanted, oh, and it has been pretty windy as well.

After a quick to the airport to add me as a driver to the rental car agreement we made our way towards Truro. Before reaching Truro we stopped in Stewiacke, the former homeland of giant mastodons. What drew us to the site was the large mastodon statue that was visible for the road. Not surprisingly, we took the opportunity to take a few photos with the mastodon and some of the other touristy items (including a cement Flinstones car).

From Stewiacke we made our way to Truro to watch the 12:20 tidal bore. Much to all of our surprise, the tidal bore turned out to be something of a local attraction (there were 15 cars worth of people there) and of a fair size. If you are in the area it is definitely worth checking out.



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After the tidal bore we made our way to Margolians, a locally owned department store. While at first I wasn't particularly impressed with the store I soon found that the prices for many of their items were half of what I thought they were. In the end I walked out with a handful of brandname shirts and sweaters for about $10 a piece. Everyone else found great things as well. Actually, we were all so impressed by the experience that we are hoping to head back on our way back from PEI.

We were all pretty impressed with Truro, it was definitely a nice little down.

From Truro we made our way to Parrsboro and the Fundy Geological Museum . After quickly passing through Parrsboro we made our way to the aforementioned museum and checked out a few of the exhibits. The museum employee then gave us a few suggestions about things to see in the region, we were particularly taken by her suggestion that we go gem hunting on a local beach.

Almost as soon as we arrived at the beach we noticed that a car a little further along the beach appeared to have gotten stuck in some loosely packed beach stones. Obviously we decided that it would probably be best if we didn't drive any further and that we should offer to help the guy get unstuck.

After a few unsuccessful attempts at lifting the front of the car with the guy while his ladyfriend gave it some gas we left them to do some digging out while we made our way down the beach to do some gem hunting (it really wasn't as bad as this likely sounds). After limited success gem hunting (none of us knew what we were looking for) we made our way back to the stranded car and helped them put some boards under their front tires. With the boards in place we were finally able get the front tires enough traction that our pushing actually mattered.

After freeing the car from the beach we made our way to Joggins Cove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home of some very old fossils. Of course, because it is off season, we weren't actually able to see anything or visit the interpretation centre.

After our failed visit to Joggins Cove we were finally on the final leg of our trip to Sackville. Shortly after checking in at the Marshlands Inn (an inn that once hosted the Queen) we made our way out to find a restaurant for dinner. After dinner we took a brief tour of the town, though managed to see basically everything there was to see (at least those things that you could see by driving by).

The plan for tomorrow is to head to Dorchester to see the world's largest Sand Piper as well as the infamous penitentiary (there should be a museum-type aspect of the prison). We are also hoping to see the Mount Allison Owens Art Gallery, though we will have to check this out on our way back from Dorchester. I guess we will also eventually have to make our way to Charlottetown, which is where we will be spending the night.

Partially formed ideas about post-secondary education in Nova Scotia

Since the release of the O'Neill Report on post-secondary education in Nova Scotia a number of the report's recommendations and potential ramifications have been on my mind. Of course, none of these ideas have been fully formed, nor have I really been able to articulate exactly where the problem is or what I think might be a better solution.

Recommendations relating to tuition deregulation have, it would seem, been foremost on my mind. For your information, the general thrust of the recommendation was for a deregulation of tuition fees with the expectation that they will increase over time. Almost immediately this recommendation seemed counter intuitive to me, at least if Nova Scotia is still interested in having universities. If they they want their universities to whither and die this recommendation makes prefect sense.

I guess I should start with a little background. Of the 77 000 (or so) university students in Atlantic Canada, 35 000 are studying at Nova Scotia's 11 universities (6 of which are located in Halifax). Many of these students come from place other than Nova Scotia. Dal suggests that 44% of its students come from provinces other than Nova Scotia and 10% are international students.

On the demographics side of things, Nova Scotia has one of the oldest populations in Canada and is only getting older. Population projections don't paint a rosy picture of the Nova Scotia of the future. I would say that it will be nothing but old folks homes but I am not sure that they will even have the people to work in those positions throughout the province. Consequently, a fair bit of money and effort has been put into encouraging young people to migrate to Nova Scotia, or stay here if that is where they are from.

On the competing universities side of things, MUN's lowered tuition fees and a corresponding increase in the number students from Nova Scotia seems to suggest that some portion of the Nova Scotia population is responsive to relative differences in tuition prices. As things stood in 2005/06 (the last year for which I could find full data) the difference in price between Dalhousie and Memorial for 4 years of tuition, room and board, and fees was about $27 000. Dalhousie was almost twice as expensive as Memorial for exactly the same degree. Unfortunately, I don't have a full picture of exactly how having the country's highest undergraduate tuition fees are driving local students out of the province (but I suspect that it is not a pretty picture).

I should also mention that Nova Scotia has a graduate tax rebate that can be valued at several thousand dollars, if you pay taxes/have a job. While the utility of this program, at least to me, seems questionable at best (particularly when other provinces have comparable programs that are more lucrative), it does suggest that the province is willing to put up funds to encourage youth residency in the province.

So, to sum up, we have a context where a young, educated population is needed and there is some evidence that these people seem at least somewhat sensitive to price. Consequently it seems strange to increase tuition when efforts are also being made to attract young residents to the region. This seems particularly strange given the relatively small sums of money we are talking about on the tuition front. $35 000 000 ($1000 a student) in a budget of several billion is relatively insignificant. Instead of driving students out and then trying to bring them back with a tax rebate (that may not even apply to most people) they could maybe consider trying to encourage them to stay with lower tuition fees, or something of that nature.

Anyway, I know I am rambling and a little disorganized, but it just seems that by allowing tuition increases the provincial government has the potential to exacerbate an already serious problem. As far as I can tell, the best case scenario associated with these recommendations is that only a few thousand students stop coming to Nova Scotia to be educated - which won't be good considering the number of universities that the province has chosen to maintain.

Again, I apologize for the sloppy organization of these ideas. I just needed to get this off my chest. Maybe if I talk it through a few more times I might have something approaching a coherent argument or position.

[And I should be clear, everything discussed here is in the context of a place that has chosen to publicly fund education and population retention schemes. The issue isn't whether or not public funds are appropriate, but how they will be used.]

Score
Cameron 58
Neil 0

A Halifax flash mob?

A few days ago it was reported that at tonight's Canada Games free Joel Plaskett concert there would be a 'flash mob' dance. Instructional videos were even available online.



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Of course, at least to Jeannette and me, the fact that the event was so planned and publicized seemed to undermine the 'flash' component of the event.

Anyway, while at the concert this evening I was curious to see how this whole thing would play out. It seems that in the end few people actually performed the dance during the show.

If you are interested you can see for yourself below.



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Oh, and that is Premier Darrell Dexter at the beginning of the video. He made a brief appearance before the headlining act took the stage and then participated in the end of the song before the 'flash mob' dance.

Score
Cameron 38
Neil 0

I may have been there for this

So it seems that "possible leadership candidate" and "staunch libertarian" Maxime Bernier has caused something of a stir because of comments he made about Quebec's language laws being unnecessary. As the CBC/Canadian Press story on the topic doesn't include details on where exactly the comments were made I am somewhat inclined to think that they may be talking about the talk I saw Bernier give during which he made such comments at the end of the talk or on a Halifax radio show.

Of course what is funny about is that in the context of the talk these comments didn't seem particularly strange or outlandish, and they certainly didn't raise ripples of concern among members of the somewhat small audience. It should also be noted that at least in the context of the talk Bernier did express support for the French language and his belief that it would continue to exist even without the laws in question.

Score
Cameron 16
Neil 0