Examineradio - The Halifax Examiner Podcast

is a successful television producer and Juno Award-winning musician. Now he's throwing his hat in the ring as the Progressive Conservative candidate for Halifax Chebucto in the next provincial election. Find out what Front Line Fever means and why he thinks it wouldn't take many Tims to make a dozen. Also, city council the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes area from development. The only councilors who didn't vote in favour of the preservation either did so out of spite or for free dim sum.  

This week we speak with Rhiannon Makohoniuk, the Dalhousie Student Union's Vice-President Internal, about the university's  not to fully fund the nascent Sexual Assault Hotline. The university claims that, based on a report they won't release to the public, the partial funding they offered was adequate. But who needs safe students when you can send ? (Okay, technically it's Cambridge.) Also, we speak with newly-elected MLA for Halifax-Needham,  about her solid victory in this week's by-election. And the Halifax Typographical Union is claiming that the Chronicle Herald is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to .  Finally, Sobeys? Yeah, still kinda being dicks. Halifax Examiner contributor co-hosts.

This week we speak with inclusivity activist about his short film, , his attempts to make the businesses in his neighbourhood more accessible, and why he's known as the Asshole With A Shovel. Also, the city releases its sunshine list. No surprise that former CAO Richard Butts is tops when it comes to remuneration. Dalhousie University ponies up nearly $300k to send a handful Nova Scotia 'elite' (including billionaire seafood magnate John Risley, referred to by the Globe & Mail as '') to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to hone their skills at ... I dunno, entrepreneurship? Innovation? Innovaneurship? Finally, the African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia (AUBA) has called for a boycott of the Sobeys grocery store chain, unless the corporation admits it has an ongoing problem with racial discrimination. (Ed. note: on the podcast we incorrectly mentioned Dalhousie University President Richard Florizone as being on Halifax's sunshine list. He's not, obviou

had a storied journalism career here in Halifax, with stints at the Daily News, Metro Halifax and allnovascotia.com before lighting out to Ottawa to cover national politics with the Chronicle Herald and, later, Buzzfeed Canada. Next month he moves to Washington, DC, to cover the U.S. politics and the presidential election.  We speak about his coverage of the last month, his attempts to wrap his head around the American electoral system and the future of journalism in Halifax. Also, a Metro Transit driver has been after allegations of child luring surface. 

This week we speak with -winning journalist  about his new novel, . Set on the South Shore, the book is a gritty thriller packed full of Nova Scotia-isms.   Also, totally racist Amherst councillor swears he's not racist. Doesn't everybody occasionally drop the n-word in casual conversation now and then? Plus, the World Trade & Convention Centre is sold to a private developer, and not a single Atlantic Liberal politician has anything to say about the lack of Supreme Court justices from this part of the country. Wonder why?

This week we feature a roundtable between Halifax Examiner editor Tim Bousquet and candidates  and . In it, they discuss seniors' issues, housing, the Film Tax Credit and the future of the Bloomfield site.   Also in the news, lawyers representing Westlock County, AB, have  no fewer than 12 breaches of contract/breaches of county rules during Peter Kelly's brief tenure there as CAO. It still seems apparent that the taxpayers in Westlock will be left holding the bag while Kelly counts down the weeks until his probationary period in Charlottetown expires. Plus,  ceases operations after wrapping it itself in $5.6-million in provincial funding. Also, . Halifax has 'em. 

After losing her long-held south-end seat by fewer than 100 votes, former city councillor  is gearing up to challenge incumbent Waye Mason in this October's municipal election. What's inspiring her run and what does she think the city should be doing better? Plus,  by "explaining" that North Preston is some sort of gang-riddled wild west frontier. Many in the African Nova Scotian community are justifiably outraged. Finally, former Chronicle Herald columnist  scanned the want ads and found a $100k+ gig. The qualifications included, 'Must have at least two 'Ls' in your first name.' Funny how that happens when you get to write the job description yourself.

Kevin Kindred is a local human rights lawyer and spokesperson for the . He speaks about the push to find LGBTQ+ refugees safe harbour in Halifax and beyond and also the drive to encourage the Trudeau government to make this resettlement pilot program a permanent part of Canada's foreign policy. Also, we dig as deep as we can into the development proposals surrounding the , and where exactly the nearest Wal-Mart will be from it. Plus, VIA Rail has apparently floated a plan to introduce commuter rail to Halifax, but the City's mum on the details.

This week we speak with journalist and community organizer  about her nascent campaign to replace Gloria McClusky in Dartmouth's District 5. Also, despite  for Peter Kelly's contract as CAO to be nullified while he's still in his probationary period, city council chose to ignore the allegations of fiscal malfeasance at his previous job in Alberta. Finally, fatcat junior hockey players demand to be paid more than $35/week. Probably because they hate Canada.

This week we speak with Jonathen Brigley of  about that organization's push for mandatory landlord licensing in Halifax. Also, Peter Kelly's cross-Canada tour of fiscal malfeasance continues. After and mismanagement of a  here in Halifax, he's now accused of money-wise in the Alberta town of Westlock. His journey has now landed him in Charlottetown, where he plans a Kid Rock concert on the town's monorail.  

This week we chat with Gridlock Festival main guy  about the creation of a brand new music fest in Halifax. We hope it's successful, but the lack of fiddle music and Keith's doesn't fill us with hope. Still, if , craft beer and food trucks appeal to you, you have one week to .    Plus, cops. And drugs. And money. We know where the former are (hauled in front of the Board of Commissioners). The other two? Good question.

In the 1990s, the Nova Scotia government entered into a public-private partnership in order to facilitate the construction of 39 schools across the province. Over the intervening years the total cost of those leases has been about a billion dollars. Over the next few years the 20-year leases are expiring and the province is faced with some tough choices: extend the leases another five years, walk away from the schools, or buy them outright for about $230 million. This week we speak with , Nova Scotia Director of the . The CCPA recently released an  of the P3 process for building schools and concluded it was a flawed process and that much of that billion dollars served to line the bank accounts of a handful of private developers with no real value to taxpayers. Also, a man died in police custody last week, but the HRP aren't disclosing his name or any of the circumstances surrounding his death. And the public consultation on the preservation of Blue Mountain/Birch Cove Lakes? .      

This week we speak with , Vice Canada's Parliamentary Reporter. In the past month he's written a highlighting the RCMP's ability to intercept cellphone calls and messages, and how they're using the courts to try to continue taking advantage of this technology. Plus, the Halifax Examiner turns two this week, which means it's starting to stand on its own two feet, though it still occasionally craps its pants and cries out for its bottle. Finally, in answering Jennifer Watts's , hockey superstar announced his candidacy for District 4 at a press conference on the deck of the .

This week we speak with local arts writer  about the dearth of arts criticism in Nova Scotia and how fewer arts organizations are taking risks with their content for fear of alienating their corporate benefactors. Ron writes extensively about arts and culture at . Also, Russell reads an actual daily newspaper written by actual journalists and muses about how such a model could work in Halifax.

This week, in our ongoing series profiling the ever-more-crowded slate of candidates for the municipal election, we speak with District 8 contender . We also chat with Halifax Typographical Union veep Frank Campbell about the between the Chronicle Herald and the striking workers.  Plus, city council debates  to the transit system, a provincial election may be on the horizon, and Russell unveils plans to make Examineradio more listener-friendly.        

This week we speak to restaurateur and mayoral candidate . As the person who almost singlehandedly brought the concept of local and sustainable to the Halifax food industry and made it profitable, she talks about transferring that ethos to a civic level. Plus, Scott Ferguson is finally exiled to the cultural backwater that is lower Manhattan, Reg Rankin begins his farewell tour, and  announces that she's prepared to challenge Waye Mason to take back her seat in District 7. 

This week we speak with community activist  about the project. The Bridging Bus aims to help develop community projects throughout the city and to bring the organizers to Washington, DC, to experience grassroots organizing firsthand. Also, gets a reboot, Aidan Cromwell's is overturned and Linda Mosher grabs anything not nailed down. Seriously, have you lost a bike lately? It might be in her backyard.