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Atlantic Accord Deal Reached
2007-10-10 20:18:00
The dispute over the Atlantic Accord has ended. For those who are interested, I am including a link to the news report. I will take some time to review it and post my comments later. http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=70022 &sc=89
More About: Deal , Cord

Nurses Protest For Their Right To Strike
2007-10-10 11:04:00
The nurses union is at it again demanding they keep their right to strike during negotiations. Without this right they feel that they would not be treated fairly when making alterations to their contract. The government wants to protect the safety of the public by having workers available at all time.Putting lives at risk for a contract negotiation is dangerous and should be stopped. I know for a fact that the nurses would take great strides to ensure the publics safety if a strike were to occur, but eventually it would not be enough. Some poor person would miss a test and not receive the correct diagnosis in time and could eventually loose their life. It is not that far of a stretch to believe it could happen.I have said many times in the past that unions use the strike threat way to often. It should only be used as a last case resort to get something essential to the employees. Ignoring nurses, a similar policy could be used for other industries. Laying out certain circumstances i...
More About: Protest , Strike , Nurses

Radio Stations In Halifax
2007-10-08 10:57:00
Even with the addition of two radio stations in Nova Scotia, there is still a huge gap in the music we tune our car radios in to. The selection is very limited and the stations play the same songs over and over again. Radio used to have the market beat on local talent, but unless you have sold an "x" amount of CD's you can not get a break.Local bands and artists have moved on to the internet to create their own fan base which is a shame. Having a global audience is great but unless they can have a concert where people want to see them they will not make any money. In Halifax our selection of radio includes:1) C100 fm - 100.1 - top 40 hits of mainly slow music2) Q104 - 104.3 - oldies music3) Hal Fm - 89.9 - more oldies music4) Z103 - 103.5 - hip hop and dance music5) Sun Fm - 97.5 - slow songs from all decades6) Country - 101.9 - top country hitsNova Scotians are sheltered from the great underground scene on all of these stations. Even worse is the fact that we are sheltered from ge...
More About: Adio , Radio Station

I'm back
2007-10-07 01:25:00
Just wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know that I am now back in Nova Scotia. I have spent the last three weeks in New Jersey which made it difficult to keep this site up to date.Expect more articles starting Monday on the latest news from around Nova Scotia.A quick note to any readers who would like to try out reporting, email your submissions to me and I would be honored to add your post to this site. This site is for everyone and everything Nova Scotia and it would be nice to have different perspectives.
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City Considers Putting People In The Dark
2007-10-02 14:44:00
A new type of regulation is being proposed today which would put Halifax residents in the dark. The concern is that some businesses (mainly gas stations), are too bright in the night time. My suggestion to these people is to Lighten Up.Regulating the brightness of the lights around metro could cause more crime to go unnoticed. Especially after the unfortunate incident last month on Portland Street in Dartmouth where a woman was beaten very badly during an evening shift. Turning down the lights would only help such crimes in the future.It would make sense from an environmental stand point to conserve energy, but that argument is weak at best. The energy output mainly depends on the type of bulb used and not the level it is set at.There is already too much regulation these days on issues that city council has no part in controlling. Why add to the restrictions by passing this one as well? Too many regulations is bad for business and could scare new employers away. Let the business dec...
More About: People , Dark , City , The Dark , Putting

Which Banner Do You Perfer?
2007-10-02 01:48:00
Thanks to some good friends, I now have 6 banners for Blogging Nova Scotia. I am putting up a poll looking for your input on which one is the best. Please help me out by voting.A special thanks to Chris for allowing me to use his pictures, and Tera for altering them.Banner 1Banner 2Banner 3Banner 4Banner 5Banner 6

Bi-Election In Cole Harbour and Eastern Passage
2007-10-01 12:32:00
Residents of the Cole Harbour and Eastern Passage area will elect a new MLA tomorrow to fill the void when Kevin Deveaux resigned. It is shaping up to be a very tight race, but the region has been known to be a strong riding for the NDP party. Below is a list of the people running and a link to their site for those still undecided. The results will be posted here as an update.Liberal - Kelly RambeauPC - Michael EddyNDP - Becky KentGreen - Beverley Woodfield
More About: Election , Aster

Gas Price Predictions For September 28th 2007
2007-09-27 05:51:00
It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on September 28th 2007.I predict gas prices will go down between 1 cent and 4 cents per literGasoline Price s In New BrunswickSeptember 20th 2007 - 103.7September 28th 2007 - 103.2Difference - -$0.5Price Of OilSeptember 20th 2007 - $81.93 U.S. Per BarrelSeptember 28th 2007 - $80.30 U.S. Per BarrelDifference - -1.63To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified.
More About: Predictions , Predict

Terry Kelly To Launch A New Bluenose Song
2007-09-26 16:18:00
This press release was sent my way which may interest some of you.DAYSPRING, NS (September 26, 2007) - Award-winning singer, songwriter and entertainer Terry Kell y and co-writing partner Floyd King have written a musical toast to the legendary schooner 'Bluenose' and will launch the new song during the Inaugural Open House at Snyder's Shipyard Saturday October 6."Floyd King and I are honoured and delighted to have been invited by the Roué family to be a part of Nova Scotian, Canadian and World history in the making," said Terry Kelly, who enthusiastically agreed to write the song after being approached by Joan Roué, great-granddaughter of 'Bluenose' designer William J. Roué and founder of the project to build 'Bluenose IV'."We were absolutely thrilled to imagine Terry agreed to do this," said Roué. "But when I heard the song for the first time a couple of weeks ago, it literally brought tears to my eyes and was immediately and permanently etched in my mind. Te...
More About: Song , Launch

Hundreds Of Patients Have Lost Lab Results
2007-09-25 11:23:00
Hundreds of people in Nova Scotia have been waiting for lab results which never came. A software glitch caused the reports to remain in limbo for over nine months. It was first noticed slightly more than a week ago.The failure occurred when a patient had two or more records on file. The systems would get confused and not even attempt to send out the report. The bug has since been fixed by the manufacturer Nightingale Informatix.For lab results to go missing for nine months and not be reported, speaks to the health care crises Nova Scotia is in. The doctors are so over worked that they are unable to keep up with the past tests they had run on their own patients. If any of these people had a serious condition, than this could have easily ended up causing deaths.The electronic system was praised as the best way to keep a patients file up to date. After the missing lab results, confidence in this new system has declined. Every software is bound to have glitches but health care glitches ...
More About: Lost , Results , Patients , Result

Loonie Equal To American Dollar
2007-09-24 13:07:00
The Canadian Loonie has caught up with the American Doll ar for the first time since 1976. Some experts expect the Canadian Dollar to surpass the U.S. Equivalent over the next few weeks. This could have a big impact on jobs and spending across Nova Scotia.American companies, which outsourced jobs to Nova Scotia, used to save a lot of money by coming to Canada. The employees would be paid in Canadian Dollars so that when converted to American, would help raise profits. Now it will be more expensive to keep operations alive.I spoke about this once before when I criticized the strategy of opening call center jobs from American companies to raise the employment level. These positions are more at risk now than ever. See "Strong Dollar Hits Hard" from July 2006.The high loonie is good for people visiting the United States as it will be cheaper for a vacation. Overall the high rate is great for the U.S.A., however we may begin to see adverse affects here.Until the American Dollar bounces ba...
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Money Talks
2007-09-21 11:15:00
The Halifax Daily News ran an article today with an interesting opening paragraph. It read :"A student-funded think-tank is calling for greater student representation on university boards in Atlantic Canada."So a think-tank, which is funded by student, wants students to be better represented in universities? Good proof that money can buy you almost anything. In this case it is a 40 page report calling for changes which would benefit the people in class.The point being made is valid however. The report will claim that since students are now the major fund generator for universities, they should be highly visible in the board meetings. The think-tank will also call for all agreements between schools and private companies be made public so the agreement remains fair for students.Just like a company that has gone public on the stock market and must answer to their share holders, universities should have to answer to the students. They are the ones which keep the institution up and runni...
More About: Money , Money Talks

Gas Price Predictions For September 21st 2007
2007-09-20 04:54:00
It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on September 21st 2007.I predict gas prices will go up by less than 2 cents per literGasoline Price s In New BrunswickSeptember 13th 2007 -103.4September 20th 2007 - 103.7Difference - +0.3Price Of OilSeptember 13th 2007 - $79.91 U.S Per BarrelSeptember 20th 2007 - $81.93 U.S. Per BarrelDifference - +2.02To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified.
More About: Predictions , Predict

OxyCotin Lawsuit
2007-09-19 04:55:00
Lawyers in Nova Scotia are taking the creators of the pain killer OxyCoti n to court. They represent five people in the province who were prescribed the drug under the assumption that it was not addictive as the doctors had told them. Some of these people have since lost their families, their homes and their addiction free lives because of this claim.Most pain killers carry a form of addiction simply because they make you feel better when you are normally in pain. The manufacture however claimed that their drug would not create a dependency. They later pleaded guilty in a United States court over false allegations.I usually hate stories on people trying to get money out of a business, however these people deserve it. There is no way possible that they could not have known about the addiction thanks to all the tests that it has to go through for approval. What this company has done is prayed on the hopes of people in desperate need.This case will likely end in a settlement so they can...
More About: Lawsuit , Suit

What Is In A Name?
2007-09-18 04:18:00
There has been a lot of talk over the past week about changing the Halifax Regional Municipality to two districts. One to be known as the City Of Halifax, and the other as Halifax Communities.As far as I can see, the only purpose to separate the two would be to create a larger gap between rural areas around Halifax and the city itself. Future improvements would be given to the City of Halifax, while outside communities would miss out on.The public has "supported" the idea according to a recent poll. The poll however used a loaded question. I do not have the exact quote but it essentially stated that Nova Scotia has no capital city. Do you support changing the name from HRM to the City of Halifax and Halifax Communities. Why include the part of not having a capitol city unless you wanted to sway people in that direction?Call this town Halifax, the City of Halifax or Halifax Regional Municipality. It will not change the things that make the city or the surrounding towns great. Just do...

Stopping Strikes
2007-09-13 07:22:00
Rodney MacDonald wants to create a new law aimed at the nurses union. He would like to make it illegal for a strike action to take place and force binding arbitration. The NDP and the liberals have both publicly announced that they oppose the idea.This law should not only pass, but it should be expanded to police officials and fire fighters. Anyone who is providing a vital service needs to keep their right to negotiate their contracts, but should not be allowed to put the publics lives and health at risk.Arbitration does not mean that these groups loose their ability to demand what they deserve, it just means that a third party will decide a fair compromise. It would also make sure that these services are still provided as they would be normally.Our health care system is already below acceptable levels. A long term strike would create an even bigger backlog of surgeries which the system could not keep up with.Many unions have forgotten that a strike is a last case resort and not a n...
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Gas Price Prediction For September 14th 2007
2007-09-13 05:01:00
It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on September 14th 2007.I predict gas prices will either stay the same or increase by less than 2 cents per liter. While New Brunswick has lowered their price slightly, the cost of oil has been on a steady increase over the last week.Gasoline Price s In New BrunswickSeptember 7th 2007 - 104.1September 13th 2007 -103.4Difference - -0.7Price Of OilSeptember 7th 2007 - $76.70 U.S. Per BarrelSeptember 13th 2007 - $79.91 U.S Per BarrelDifference - +3.21To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular u...
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Guardian Angels In Halifax
2007-09-11 16:48:00
A chapter of the citizen watch dog group "Guardian Angels " could one day begin here in Halifax. The group hires unarmed, trained citizens to confront violent criminals head on. They make citizen arrests, break up fights and aid police in charging criminals. Sounds like the job of a police officer with no pay.If people seriously want a local chapter of this group, why not lobby for more law enforcement who can make the arrest themselves? The Guardian Angels may be a great group of individuals, however their three month training program would not prepare them for everything that they see on the streets.Having unpaid citizens patrol the streets in cars however, is a great idea. It give some sort of protection from the crime and avoids confrontation. Asking people to volunteer for crime fighting would be like asking citizens to volunteer for a war effort. There is simply to much danger and it should be handled by professionals.

The Story With Nine Lives
2007-09-10 05:00:00
Once again the cat bi-law is making headlines. On Tuesday it will meet a public hearing and afterwards will be debated by council. The proposal is to require all cats to be licensed and a limit on the amount allowed.Just like the dog licenses, this is a pointless plan. It is next to impossible to enforce and will accomplish nothing except bring in money for fines. Quite frankly there are things that the government should not try to control.If someone wants to own 10 cats, let them. As long as they are not neglected or abused then what is the big deal? Why would we then force cat owners to pay a fee to have their name included in some database of cat owners? The plan is simply a way to force people to pay out more money and get nothing back in return for it.The only way to deal with the large amount of stray cats is to round them up as we do now. If no one claims them then they should be given to a family looking to adopt them. The license proposal will have no effect on dealing with...
More About: Story , Lives , The Story , Tory

Out Of Province
2007-09-09 16:40:00
I will soon be heading out of Nova Scotia for a short while so I may not be able to contribute as much as I normally do on this site. I figured it may be a great time to turn the blog posts over to others while I am away. If you are interested in contributing to the site then send an email to bloggingnovascotia@gmail.comThe post can be about any topic which concerns Nova Scotians. If you manage your own site you can also feel free to include a link for readers. I will do my best to post myself, however it will not always be possible. I will have email access the entire time that I am gone so send your posts when ever you wish. I will contact you back to let you know when/if it will be posted.
More About: Vince

Gas Price Predictions For September 7th 2007
2007-09-06 11:19:00
It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on Sept ember 7th 2007.I predict gas prices will either stay the same or change in either direction by less than 3 cents per liter.Gasoline Price s In New BrunswickAugust 30th 2007 - 101.8September 7th 2007 - 104.1Difference - +2.3To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified.
More About: Predictions , Predict

Reducing Landfill Waste
2007-09-05 13:45:00
Starting in November the amount of garbage allowed to be collected will be reduced from 10 bags to only 6 every two weeks. Most people will not be affected by the change, but what about the large families?6 bags of garbage is suitable for a family of four or less assuming they compost and recycle like they are supposed to. Once we start looking at the households where 5, 6 or even more people live in, how are they going to cope with this new regulation changes? My guess is that they will continue doing what everyone else does once their limit has been reached. They will find an apartment building and dump it in to their bin.So if people are dumping garbage in to apartment building bins, why bother having a limit in the first place? Lowering the amount of garbage collected will not force the remaining 20% of Nova Scotian's to start composting. A better idea would be to put some effort in to enforcing the green bin regulations. Have random bags tagged by the collectors which includes...
More About: Waste

Unsponsored News
2007-09-04 15:53:00
UNTV is an independent video service which allows you to publish high quality video content. The Unsponsored News is dedicated to bring great new stories which are, just as they claim, Unsponsored. Here is their latest video:

New Labour Day Meaning
2007-09-03 04:44:00
This weekend is the final weekend before many people in North America return to school. This year however, many people will be working thanks to the new holiday/Sunday shopping laws (or lack there of). Next month will also mark the one year anniversary of retail locations being allowed to choose their own hours.Every holiday this issue seems to resurface. The Halifax Shopping Center decided to open up for the Labour Day holiday but later reversed their decision. Mic Mac Mall and WalMart however, have decided to remain open on the day meant to honor the worker.Sunday shopping and holiday shopping should be considered as two different topics. I believe in Sunday shopping however I also believe that all stores (regardless of their size), should honor statutory holidays. It should not be limited only to retail but any location which does not provide a vital service.A holiday is meant to celebrate an important occasion. There is no reason the malls can not agree to close since they now h...
More About: Meaning

Deadline For Gossiping Senior Passes
2007-09-01 13:29:00
Mary Vaughn was handed a three month notice to vacate her home in Northwood due to excessive swearing and gossiping. The three months have just passed and now Mary is refusing to leave. No actions have been taken just yet, but she is risking police action.Dictionary.com defines gossip as:"Idle talk or rumor, esp. About the personal or private affairs of others"By this definition we are all guilty at some point of the same thing. Every newspaper or blog is guilty and should be evicted from their homes. Northwood has taken it upon themselves to create a catch all so they can evict any tenant in the future.Dictionary.com also defines swearing as:"To use profane oaths or language"This is another vague description because a word can be considered profane by some people and not others. I do not consider "damn" to be profane however, may religious people would.What Northwood is doing is laying the groundworks for the eviction of any tenant which the residence manager dislikes. It could cre...
More About: Senior , Deadline , Ossi

A Culture Of Moderation
2007-08-31 05:24:00
Nova Scotia now has a plan to lower alcohol consumption among the people in the province. Funny enough, it goes against the changes made only a week ago.A 2005 report claimed that alcohol abuse was causing the province $419 million a year in health care, police work and other social costs. Hoe they come up with an actual dollar amount is beyond me, but it was enough to make the government react.The first step will be to create an Alcohol Advisory Policy Review Board. Another useless board which will cost us even more money then we are likely to save. There will also be 5 new community based positions available under the strategy. Now alcohol abuse is creating new jobs.There will also be advertising campaigns which will attempt to take away from the glamorous lifestyle of being drunk. Don't these people realize that we are all immune to advertisements? I can't even recall any of the ads on the dozens of billboards I pass every day.And finally they want to limit access to alcohol su...
More About: Culture

Gas Price Predictions For August 31st 2007
2007-08-30 05:59:00
It is Thursday again which means gas prices change for the people of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Here is my prediction for gasoline prices on August 31st 2007.I predict gas prices will wither stay the same of go down less than 3 cents per literGasoline Price s In New BrunswickAugust 23rd 2007 - 103.2August 30th 2007 - 101.8Difference - -2.4To find out which zone you are located in, check out the map provided by Service Nova Scotia. You can also get a copy of the latest gas prices across the province by viewing the official report release. This prediction is in no way official and should only be used as informational. Any decision to purchase or not to purchase gasoline on any given day rests with you. All prices are based on self serve regular unless otherwise specified.
More About: Predictions , Predict

Dwight D'Eon Leaves Idol
2007-08-29 16:46:00
Dwight D'Eon became the latest Nova Scotia to come so close to winning the Canadian Idol competition After Monday nights vote, he was sent home earning him a forth place finish. Had it not been for the theme show, which was way out of character for him, he may have been able to go another round or two farther.Gary Beals started the trend by placing second in the first ever Canadian Idol series. The Metro Center was packed that night in hopes of a win which never happened.Chad Doucette then revived our hopes in season 3 by placing forth in the competition. His close finish was almost unexpected due to his eccentric style.The reason we have not won the top prize is because few Nova Scotian's fall in to the "pop" category which dominates idol. Our musicians have their own styles, their own sounds and their own images. Halifax is widely known as one of the great indy music scenes in North America.The close finishes show we have some great talent around the province. Best of luck to Dw...
More About: Leaves , Dwight , Aves

Dog The Bounty Hunter Dogs Fans
2007-08-28 13:59:00
Ches Brushett (Dog The Bounty Hunter ), was in town to give an inspirational speech at the Metro Center. People who purchased the $100 VIP tickets were shocked to learn that their VIP pass was basically changed to a standard pass.First of all, why would someone go see Dog The Bounty Hunter for inspiration? He did have a bad upbringing and managed to overcome it, but what qualifies him for this role? I would not pay $100 to see some T.V. figure talk about something he/she is not qualified to talk about.Putting that aside, fans were expecting a chance to meet Dog, get an autograph and a personal picture with him. During the show they were advised that they would receive the autographed book but nothing more. Some people are even questioning if the autograph was real.All fans who spent the big bucks for the show should demand a refund on the VIP pricing. The promoters and Ches Brushett did not live up to their agreement and therefor took money for services which were not provided.Thanks...
More About: Dogs , Fans , Dog the Bounty Hunter

How To Beat Stress
2007-08-25 19:50:00
Many of us, especially myself, have lifestyles which keep us constantly on the move. A lot of my time is dedicated to everyone else which is why I sometimes like to take an hour or two for myself.Saturday I decided to take a walk on the trail near Dartmouth Crossings. It stretches from Lake Charles all the way to Lake MicMac. Now I am seriously considering making it a regular routine.The trail is easy on the feet thanks to the maintenance which keeps the path smooth. I walked for an hour and when I got back was tired but not sore. While this is a great quality, it was not the best one.I am going to use the term "visual fatigue", which this trail limits. Visual Fatigue is when you see the same thing so much that you loose interest. I never saw so much of nature in one area then I did on this path. There were chipmunks feeding out of peoples hands, a canal system running along the path, swimming holes, camping areas, benches overlooking the lake, etc...I highly recommend walking as a ...
More About: Stress , Beat