Veteran city councillor Gloria McCluskey thinks city hall may have violated the Police Act with its budget suggestion to the police chief. It's led to speculation 28 cops could be cut from the force as the department strives to hold the line on any increase in funding as suggested by city staff. McCluskey says the police department is supposed to be free of any political interference. The chief sets the budget and brings it to council which can then approve or reject it. Suggesting a budget, as staff has apparently done, she thinks contravenes the act. Neither the mayor nor CAO Richard Butts is commenting which indicates McCluskey's on to something. Stay tuned for future developments.
Mayor Mike Savage is publicly musing about the possibility of an NHL franchise in Halifax. He tells CTV's supper hour news why not have an NHL team here. "We're a big city," says the mayor. "No city should limit their aspirations and I think we're going to dream big in the years to come and many of the dreams will come true." While I like the fact Mayor Mike likes to dream big, and wouldn't an NHL team here be great, I do recall former mayor Peter Kelly's commuter rail dream that caught our attention over a decade ago. It was great talk, but we're no closer today to commuter rail than when Kelly first suggested it. Let's see some of these dreams like a new stadium or a downtown concert facility or even commuter rail turn into reality.
Olive Moore's aunt says she wants to set the record straight. 9 year old Olive was the young girl killed when the van driven by her mother ran her over after dropping her off at a relative's house earlier this month. 30 year old Candace Moore now faces charges of impaired driving causing death and refusing the breathalyzer. Olive's aunt Kalyn Moore tells CTV's supper hour news Candace was not drinking at the time of the accident, just before noon on Saturday the 19th, and she says Olive slipped and fell under the van. She says the family's devastated and just wants to focus on Olive. "She loved everybody and loved life." It's a sad story. Candace Moore will be in court next March 27th.
Finance Minister Maureen MacDonald continues to strongly suggest the Dexter government will not be able to live up to its promise of a balanced budget. She said it yesterday to a gathering of business organizations in Bridgewater and repeated it on my radio show yesterday afternoon. She says as she travels the province on a pre-budget consultation tour people are telling her if a balanced budget means more cuts to health care and education, then now is not the time to bring in a balanced budget. It indeed may be the financial reality today, but what pisses me off is the government making the promise in the first place. If you're not sure you can live up to a promise then don't make it.
Have a great day. Get involved. And if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
Rick Howe
