🗞️ RCMP investigates data breach

Good morning!

Today marks the 55th annual Earth Day—a global day of recognition that was started in 1970 as a means to encourage support for environmental protection.

At The Coast, we’ve long been reporting on environmental matters—from wildfires to floods to climate strikes, and from the Covering Climate Now partnership to stories about teens suing the federal government.

Reporting on climate matters—and government inaction—can be time-consuming and thankless work, involving delayed returns of freedom-of-information requests (ahem) and hours spent poring over global temperature charts that inspire anger at the best of times and panic at the worst. But it’s necessary work. You’ll read some of it in this issue.

And your support helps us to do that work. By becoming a Coast Insider member, you’re helping us to pursue climate stories that require deep reporting. Are you with us?

– Martin

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 12°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 8°

Next Day: 🌤️ 13°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

FROM THE COAST ARCHIVES: GRID PROBLEMS

Why can’t Nova Scotia phase out of fossil fuels faster?

Last year, we witnessed Nova Scotia’s most devastating wildfire season on record: More than 25,000 hectares of land burned from Shelburne to Upper Tantallon. Two-hundred families lost their homes. Thousands more were forced to flee without knowing when—or if—they would be cleared to return.

Premier Tim Houston called Nova Scotia a “changed province” in the wildfires’ aftermath, adding that both the emotional and financial scars would “run deep” and take time to heal.

But as the province’s recovery time extends into years, another time window shrinks: The opportunity to act as Earth accelerates toward 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming from pre-industrial levels. (Keeping under that threshold, most climate scientists agree, would shield us from the most brutal of climate futures.)

And while some of the loudest voices in climate science say the time for definitive action to tackle climate change “is now,” Nova Scotia—and much of Canada, for that matter—has followed a slightly different timeline: The province has targeted 2030 to phase out coal and reach an 80% renewable-energy power grid.

Houston’s governing PC Party sees wind and solar as the key to meet those goals, The Coast reports. But is the province’s plan ambitious enough?

🤔 Need To Know

💻 Nova Scotia Health says the RCMP is investigating after nearly 2,700 patients’ personal health information was “inappropriately accessed” by a former employee.

🏠 The federal government is eyeing a 34-hectare plot of land near the MacKay Bridge for a temporary modular housing community.

⛺ Meanwhile, HRM deputy mayor Cathy Deagle Gammon says it “would be foolish not to think” that Halifax will see more unhoused Haligonians tenting as the weather warms, but council is still undecided on how best to help.

🚶‍♀️Run, don’t walk to Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax’s latest walking tour, “By Choice or By Force.” However we got here, this is the home we built together.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY 2024 HALIFAX JUNO HOST COMMITTEE

The show’s over. But the JUNOS legacy will live on.

Before the JUNOS arrived on our shores, our goal was simple: to showcase Atlantic Canada as the vibrant hub of musical talent we all know it is. And now that JUNO Week is behind us, wow, did our region ever come through! Thanks to the musicians, the venues, and especially you, the fans. You showed the entire country exactly what Halifax is and can accomplish. We’re a place where music is as timeless as the tides. We’re a modern people firmly rooted in rich musical traditions. We’re a creative and vibrant destination that will be riding this high for many years to come.

See event highlights at halifaxjunos2024.com.

FROM THE COAST ARCHIVES: ENVIRONMENT

Hartlen Point dispute between DND, environmental activists enters House of Commons

Efforts to halt a controversial $129-million Canadian naval project planned for the edge of Eastern Passage have found one ally in Ottawa: federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May. The Saanich-Gulf Islands MP has sponsored a Parliamentary petition by the Protect Hartlen Point advocacy group. It calls on the federal government to “pause all construction and further development” of the Department of National Defence’s land-based testing site at Hartlen Point until Ottawa can satisfy a list of concerns, beginning with an “independent impact assessment” of the planned facility and public access to “all documents affecting the decision to develop Hartlen Point.”

And now, as of this past week, the Protect Hartlen Point group’s petition has been certified by the federal petitions clerk for presentation in the House.

The dune-covered spit of land has been a hot-button issue in Halifax ever since the DND shared its plans to build a warship testing site on the undeveloped coastal lot back in 2021. It’s a place that has long been popular with hikers, birdwatchers and surfers—along with rabbits, deer, bobcats and harbour seals.

As The Coast reported in February, the planned DND site has sparked vocal opposition for its potential environmental risks—and also led to nearly $150,000 in taxpayer funds used on outside PR help.

🗞️ In Other News

🏛️ Nova Scotia’s justice minister, Brad Johns, has resigned after his comments that he didn’t believe domestic violence is an “epidemic” drew sharp criticism.

💸 Students are calling on more provincial support after a new StatsCan survey finds that students who graduate from Nova Scotia post-secondary schools have the second-highest debt of any province.

📝 A new land-use bylaw aimed to protect the heritage of Peggy’s Cove has some community members voicing concerns about a conflict of interest.

🏆 TIME magazine has named Halifax actor and activist Elliott Page one of its most influential people for 2024.

SPONSORED BY NSCAD UNIVERSITY

Tickets on sale for NSCAD's year-end festival

Don't miss out on NSCAD's two weeks of year-end MAYHEM: its Fashion Show, Film Festival, Student Art Award Gala – plus many more free exhibitions, like the must-see Grad Show. A pass gets you into all ticketed events, with special discounts for students. Passes are limited so get yours now!

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Anne of Green Gables: Catch Ballet Jörgen’s two-show production at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium this week. Dartmouth’s Hannah Mae Crudas, who’s retiring after 12 years of dance, plays Anne Shirley one last time. | Apr. 23-24 | 7:30pm | From $49

🗓 The Once w/ Kim Harris: The St. John’s folk trio hops over to Halifax for a show at The Stage at St. Andrew’s to tour their 2024 album, Out Here. | Apr. 26 | 8pm | $34.20

🗓 Hillsburn w/ Symphony Nova Scotia: The Halifax indie pop darlings play a special symphony-backed show at the Rebecca Cohn this Friday. | Apr. 26 | 7:30pm | From $45

👀 In Case You Missed It

📝 The Coast’s reporting on road salt is making an impact on governance. Last week, HRM councillor Paul Russell asked Halifax’s auditor general to factor the cost of damage to lakes into the city’s snow-clearing costs when auditing the HRM’s snow-clearing efficacy.

⚽ The Halifax Wanderers fell 2-0 on the road to Vancouver FC—and are still searching for their first goal after two games. In the latest Wanderer Grounds podcast, The Coast’s Martin Bauman and Matt Stickland discuss what needs fixing.

🤝 Premier Tim Houston says the province has reached an agreement in principle with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, avoiding a possible strike.

🏒 Cole Harbour’s Nathan MacKinnon set the Colorado Avalanche’s single-season points record with 140 points—breaking a 42-year-old record in the process.

That’s it!

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