Ginger St. James at the Elephant and Castle, Halifax, NS (Hipstamatic photo by Stephen Pate)
A trip to Halifax for business turned into a chance meeting with ex-burlesque performer Ginger St. James.
St. James was well known in Southern Ontario as a regular on the burlesque circuit – yes it still exists despite the prevalence of strip clubs in Ontario. Continue reading
Student debt in Nova Scotia is highest in Canada
A music video by the Dal Student Union gets 10,000 YouTube hits in 6 days.
Students are protesting the high tuition and their high student debt in Nova Scotia.
Back in the 1960s, we protested at Dal but it was over nuclear war, racial discrimination and Vietnam. Times have changed.
The video says they cannot afford the debt since the jobs aren’t out there that pay them when they graduate.
Are they spoiled iPhone users or truly impoverished students? Whatever the answer, the video is funny and entertaining.
Tom Wilson alter-ego of Lee Harvey Osmond
Lee Harvey Osmond is in the midst of it’s Canadian tour with a swing through the Maritimes this week and next. The four performances will be the some of the best nights’ entertainment this winter.
Mike Campbell says “these shows will make the Top Ten Shows in 2011 list of anyone who’s smart enough to be there” about the two shows at The Carlton in Halifax.
Friday night they play the popular The Dunk on Dixon Road, Breadalbane, PEI. Saturday is Hunter’s in Charlottetown. Sunday and Monday they play The Carleton in Halifax.
People have tried describing Lee Harvey Osmond as “acid-folk”. Formed in a musical partnership with Tom Wilson, The Cowboy Junkies and ex-Junkhouse members, the band is running hard on the energy of folk/roots artist Tom Wilson. Continue reading
Alexa McDonough Canadian NDP Leader (1995 - 2003) Reuters photo
By Stephen Pate, Polio PEI, November 21, 2002 (from our archives)
In an unprecedented vote Wednesday in the House of Commons, government MP’s supported an NDP Motion and defeated the government’s changes to the Disability Tax Credit.
The Liberal Government’s Department of Finance introduced draft legislation on August 30, 2002 intended to introduce restrictions in the ability of Canadian taxpayers with disabilities to obtain tax relief.
The Disability Tax Credit provides approximately $1,000 of tax savings to 400,000 severely disabled Canadians.
On Tuesday, November 19th, 2002, NDP leader Alexa McDonough introduced an opposition Motion that was debated for most of that day. Continue reading
Carmen Townsend Starting All Over
Is there a new Carmen Townsend on the horizon? Carmen Townsend’s new video is intriguingly named “Start All Over.”
The hot chanteuse from Christmas Island, Cape Breton has been performing and touring extensively since we first met her 4 years ago at the ECMAs in Charlottetown.
Townsend eschews the ethereal female model for out and out bad-ass rocker. Her performances are all high energy and hi-jinks. We love seeing her.
But does she translate well in audio-only? We think a change is in the wind for her distinctive voice.
The new video is a gentler, acoustic Carmen. Check it out.
She has a new CD coming in January. Right now the girl is getting some tan and beach time while touring down in Aussieland and New South Wales.
I don’t think we’ll see Carmen without rock and roll but the new material sounds very interesting.
For all things Carmen Townsend, check out her Facebook page, Band, and MySpace.
image - Savannah Yellow Cab (not the cab in the story)
This is a true story that happened last week. We have been asked to change the names and locations to protect the cabbie. You will understand why.
Yep.
I’m sitting in my cab at Mall around Walmart yesterday morning [Friday] about 8:15 when this guy and girl can running over to my cab with a whole cart load of stuff, 42 inch LCD TV, computer and a bunch of other stuff.
I opened the back of my cab, put everything in, then they said they wanted to go to amhurst.
They said how much and I said $80.00. They said “Lets go.” Continue reading
The Caledon Institute has presented a proposal, Caledon Basic Income Plan, to overhaul Canada’s patchwork and failing system of social supports for working age Canadians who are severely disabled and living in poverty.
The new system would prevent the abject poverty that afflicts Canadians with disabilities where a single adult in New Brunswick is subsisting on roughly $8,000 a year, which is less than half of the LICO (Low Income Cut-Off).
This poverty exists despite the billions being spent at the Federal and Provincial levels.
The proposal is comprehensive but not a system that purposes major increases in social spending.
Instead it proposes to use the existing systems, like the Income Tax Act and Canada Pension Disability Benefit, to streamline and reorganize benefits making them more effective in eliminating poverty for working age Canadians with severe disabilities. Continue reading
Update – Nova Scotians felt the worst of Tropical Storm Earl. More than 200,000 homes were without power from fallen trees and branches on power lines. Halifax lost power and was littered with trees and debris.
At 6 PM Tropical Storm Earl was 20 miles west of the Magdalen Islands still packing 110 km/h winds. The track after the Magdalen Islands is Western Newfoundland.
Earl cut a swath through central Nova Scotia with power outages all along it’s path. No deaths were reported except a swimmer in Chocolate Lake in Halifax and its not clear if it was during the storm or not.
Powered by storm-tracking software from Stormpulse.com
StormPulse puts the eye of the storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 135 miles from Sydney. Winds at the center of the storm are still 112 km/h but outside that they range from 62 to 91 km/h. Continue reading
Tropical Storm Earl is picking up velocity now moving 57 km/h with winds of 112 km/h. The eye of the storm has become more focused and will hit PEI in Kings County within 4 hours. Charlottetown is not in the direct path any long but will experience 91 km/h winds and heavy rain.
Here’s a time lapse video from Halifax posted at 10.40 just before Cameron lost his power.
9 AM rain on radar from Environment Canada
Tropical storms and hurricanes are weird. The calm before the storm is true. Halifax is expected to get winds over 100 km/h and heavy rain. Even with Earl offshore, the rain is heavy in Nova Scotia in Yarmouth, the Valley and Lunenburg all the way to the edge of Halifax.
Halifax just got an updated forecast and warning “Halifax Metro and Halifax County West continued Persons in or near this area should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions and take necessary safety precautions. Watch for updated statements.”
The power has taken my computer down twice since 8:20 while trying to update this story. Could be a crazy day.
For weather radar updates, bookmark Environment Canada.