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đď¸ Dal's divestment problem
Plus, troubadour Hawksley Workman readies for Halifax show
Good morning!
With tomorrow marking the start of Easter weekend, The Coast Daily is taking a short break. Weâll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, Apr. 2. (Unless, that is, youâre a Coast Insiderâin which case, youâll be getting our weekly Insider Newsletter this Saturday.)
Whether you celebrate Easter or are merely glad for a statutory holiday (or a holiday pay bump, if youâre working over the weekend), I hope itâs a restful few days for you and your loved ones. I, for one, will be eating chocolate and solving crossword puzzles.
â Martin
What are your weekend plans? |
đĄď¸ Traffic & Weather
Today: âď¸ 10°
Tomorrow: đ§ď¸ 13°
Next Day: đ§ď¸ 3°
đ Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.
EDUCATION
Time for Dalhousie to divest from fossil fuels, student protestors say
đ¸ Left: DalZero. Right: Alejandro Montes Garcia (CC BY-NC-SA)
A group of Dalhousie students has a message for their universityâs administration: Get out of oil.
On Wednesday afternoon, members of DalZeroâa newly-formed group of sustainability, political science and international development studentsâmarched from the Student Union Building to president Kim Brooksâs office, calling on Dalhousie to sell off the $30.2 million in endowment funds currently invested in the fossil fuel industry.
DalZeroâs members are demanding the university divest fully from fossil fuels by 2040âa step that campaign coordinator Caitlin Lawrence says other Canadian universities have already taken.
âThe University of Laval is already carbon neutral, and they've fully divested from the Carbon Underground [a list of publicly-traded companies with the largest coal, oil and gas reserves],â Lawrence says, speaking with The Coast. âSo we do know that itâs possible to divest from fossil fuels.â
University and college campuses across Canada have seen a rise in calls for similar divestments in recent years, including at Acadia University and St. Francis Xavier University. Dal has mulled divestment as far back as 2014, whenâdespite the advocacy efforts of Divest Dalâadministrators decided, âconsidering all the impacts,â they ultimately didnât âfeel that pursuing divestment is the right approach for the university.â
Ten years later, the university tells The Coast itâs ready to meet with students âto chat about the universityâs carbon reduction efforts as well as the universityâs student wellbeing efforts.â But Dalhousie stopped short of mentioning divestment in its statement offered to The Coast.
Lawrence believes itâs time for change.
âWe don't want any more money being slicked with oilâbecause itâs 2024,â she tells The Coast. âItâs undeniable we're in a climate catastrophe. If you look at Nova Scotia over the past summer, we had record-breaking fires, floods, and an increasing number of powerful storms and hurricanes.â
đ¤ Need To Know
âď¸ Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for much of western Nova Scotia, extending just south of HRM. The forecast calls for âprolonged rainfallâ between 40 and 60 mm through Friday.
đ Nova Scotiaâs government announces it will index income assistance to keep pace with inflation, starting at 2.5% for 2024-25.
đ¨đŚ The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is one of Halifaxâs gems.ďťż Visit the only national museum east of the Ottawa region.*
đ The RCMPâs commissioner says his police forceâs response to earlier reform calls has ânot always been fulsome.â The Mounties released their latest strategy in response to a public inquiry following the 2020 Portapique mass shooting.
*Sponsored Post
MUSIC
The many faces of Hawksley Workman
đ¸ Coast illustration
Canadian singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman has never shied away from a bit of good-natured myth-making. At various times in the 49-year-oldâs career, he has playfully suggested that he learned music as a custodian at a tap-dancing academy, once held a world record for parasailing and danced for the Dutch royal familyânone of which is true.
But his own storyâthe real oneâis every bit as fascinating.
From a rural Ontario upbringing to church theatre to the heights of fame in Paris, France, Workmanâs path has led him to opening for David Bowie and Morrissey andâat one time, he saysâholding the dubious honour of the most illegally-downloaded album in Canada.
Through JUNO acclaim and industry pitfallsâWorkman says he went through a four-year depression after his most commercially successful albumâhe has pushed onward, forever reinventing himself: He has been a producer, podcaster, author, one-man theatre performer and a musical shape-shifter, as likely to release a country record as he is to go full-on cabaret-glam.
đď¸ In Other News
đ˘ Halifax Harbour Bridges says a deadly bridge collapse like the one in Baltimore is unlikely to happen here.
đ§ Some Dartmouth residents are concerned after noticing construction run-off had turned their neighbourhoodâs lake brown.
đ Last summerâs floods are prompting more Nova Scotia volunteers to undergo water rescue training.
đ Families who lost their homes to Nova Scotiaâs wildfires are pleading for property tax relief, citing worries that some homeowners who rebuilt will pay nearly double the taxes over the next decade.
đ° Prime minister Justin Trudeau told premiers opposed to Canadaâs carbon pricing policy that heâs open to suggestionsâas long as the alternatives are âcredible.â He also refuted claims that carbon pricing is driving inflation, calling the assertion âdemonstrably false.â
đ¸ Nova Scotia is writing off more than $11M in âuncollectable debts,â including certain unpaid fines and loans.
SPONSORED BY CROWTHER & BRAYLEY
Crowther & Brayley online auction
Artwork by Jack Gray, Maud Lewis, Edith Smith, Dusan Kadlec, Alan Wylie, Robert Boyer, John Cook, Anthony Law, Eric Riordon, Joe Fafard, exceptional Lorenzen mushrooms jewellery, Hermes scarves, Georgian silver, antique oriental rugs, Asian items, good argillite totem pole.
Bidding opens Friday, March 29th. Preview auction here.
đď¸ Things To Do
Looking for something to do this long weekend? Check out these Coast picks:
đ MĂśtley CrĂźe Tribute: Tonight, head to the basement of the Economy Shoe Shop for a special â80s tribute show performed by Kyle Boudreau (The Frequency), Troy Arseneault (Alert the Medic), Sam Jam (The Legendary Goldblooms) and Quenny Stevens (The Royal Volts) | Mar. 28 | 10pm | $17.31
đ Halifax Mooseheads: The Herd open their QMJHL playoff run against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan with back-to-back home games this Friday and Saturday | Mar. 29-30 | 7pm | $28.25 (discounts for youth, students and seniors)
đ The Full Monty: Neptune Theatreâs newest show is a âboisterous, pop-rock-musical send-up of gender expectations and stereotypes⌠that takes it all offâ | Until May 12 | Showtimes vary | From $38
Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings.
âď¸ Whatâs In The Harbour
đ˘ The 120-metre-long Nolhan Ava ro-ro/cargo carrier is expected to arrive in Halifax from St. Pierre and Miquelon around 9am.
đ˘ Remember the ONE Ibisâthe container ship that was initially scheduled to come into Halifax on Tuesday? Well, make that Thursday. Itâs due from New York City around 10:15am and set to depart again for Singapore by 11pm.
âĄď¸ The CMA CGM Brazil container ship leaves Halifax for New York City around 10:30am.
đ˘ The MSC Sao Paulo V container ship is expected to arrive in Halifax from Quebec City around 3:15pm.
đ˘ The 294-metre-long NYK Romulus container ship is slated to berth at the Fairview Cove Terminal around 3:20pm. Itâs inbound from Atwerp, Belgium.
âĄď¸ The Oceanex Sanderling ro-ro/cargo ship leaves Halifax for St. Johnâs, NL, around 6pm.
đ˘ The 55,828-tonne Atlantic Sky container ship is due in Halifax from Norfolk, VA, around 9:20pm.
đ In Case You Missed It
đ Halifax Transit caught flak at its Budget Committee session for a number of reasonsâincluding doubling down on less-popular routes and predicting a per-capita drop in ridership.
đ¨ Halifax police found no threat after a weapons call prompted Dalhousie University to tell staff and students to âshelter in placeâ and stay clear of the Killam Library on Tuesday.
đ Canadaâs population is estimated to have hit the 41-million mark, less than a year after cracking the 40-million threshold.
Thatâs it!
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