Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod

Description - The Nova Scotia government announced this week that regulated child-care centres and licensed Family Home Child Care Agencies will remain open during the province-wide shutdown. But there are still questions about adequate access to personal protective equipment and safety according to CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen.

How are schools and childcare centres positioned for the possible extension of the two week circuit-breaker? I had the chance to speak to this with the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. The Honourable Derek Mombourquette joined me from his office in Sydney.

For the first time since the 2020 March Break that lasted all year, schools are closed province-wide. This is a two week circuit breaker according to the Premier and Dr. Strang, but the case load will dictate if it's longer than that. Paul Wozney is the President of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and we discuss the new minister, the new premier and how the Federal Government is now invested in edu...

Over the last few days the number of positive cases of Coronavirus have hit new daily records. And the numbers could even double before the public health circuit breaker makes an impact. Infectious Disease expert Dr. Lisa Barrett says these are trailing indicators of past behaviour and it points to the

The pandemic has grounded most musical artists and they've had to turn to a virtual space to reach an audience. For one performer with a passion for planes, it's an opportunity to pay it forward by donating his flight simulator to the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum.

It's almost always easier to save money than to create more of it. And it's always easier to save energy than it is to find greener ways to produce it. And that's what Ben Grieder does as an Energy Coordinator and Energy Efficiency planner with the Ecology Action Center.

Since the start of the pandemic, an Eastern Shore woman has been pitching in to help clean up the shorelines across Nova Scotia. And the granddaughter of a fisherman says that industry generates a lot of waste that ends up on our beaches. But not all of it goes to the trash because some of it becomes art.

The only opposition Member of Parliament in Nova Scotia weighs in on the Liberal Government's budget, the roll-out of COVID vaccines in Nova Scotia and we touch on some of the other stories in the news today.

There was budget news on two fronts on Monday. Chrystia Freeland presented the federal budget, the first since the Liberal Minority government came to power in 2019. And Nova Scotia's provincial budget was passed in the Legislature, the first for new premier Iain Rankin. Dalhousie Political Scientist Dr. Lori Turnbull shares her thoughts on the post-pandemic spending plans and potential for two el...

As it comes down to the final five, Andrew Al-Khouri and Andy Hay are still competing in CTV's Masterchef Canada Season 7 - Back to Win. They discuss Sunday night's episode and the friendship and rivalry they've cooked up as the two Nova Scotia contestants attempt to win the title and 100-thousand dollar prize. (NOTE: Some potential Episode 9 spoilers ahead)

Dalhousie University is receiving more than 1-million dollars to fund a three-year project led by Professor Afua Cooper. She describes her 30 year effort to bring Black studies to Canadian Universities an upward battle. We discuss that and the Nova Scotia Government's bill to recognize August 1st as Emancipation Day.

How likely are you to get your vaccine when it's offered? If you are like most Maritimers, you're probably anxiously waiting for it. We discuss the survey results from Narrative Research on how likely people are to take any and all vaccines including AstraZeneca.

This week, the Red Cross in Atlantic Canada announced they had distributed or committed all 6.2 million dollars collected through the Stronger Together Nova Scotia Fund. That was the campaign launched after the horrific murders across the province in April of 2020. Bill Lawler is the Atlantic Director for the Red Cross and he describes the compassion and contributions that came through the fund.

A student from the Annapolis Valley was recently suspended for sharing a picture of a t-shirt promoting rape culture. Even though that has since been reversed, it raises the issues around the way women and girls are treated when they bring issues like this forward. Martha Paynter recently wrote about this, and she discusses what lessons we should take from it in this conversation.

Free mental health services are being offered to people who have been affected by the events in Portapique one year ago. Alec Stratford Executive Director of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers and Serena Lewis, a social worker are both advocating for grief literacy. They join Sheldon for a conversation about the topic.

The Emergency Management and Health Protection Acts are the laws that gives government power to declare a state of emergency in a pandemic. And while we've been under that declaration for more than a year, Ontario has only enacted three States of Emergency during the pandemic. Lawyer, democracy advisor and former MLA Kevin Deveaux explains the differences, good and bad.

An independent report on the integrated policing model in Halifax Regional Municipality is now in the works after a motion from Councillor Tony Mancini. The District 6 representative says it's been 25 years since the model was implemented because of amalgamation. He also discusses the issues of police checks, the Portapique Massacre, Black Lives Matter and the "defund" movement.

Our lives have changed over the last year because of the pandemic with more of us working from home. And that has led to an increase in reports of people seeing coyotes in the Hammonds Plains area, the Walsh Court neighbourhood near St. Margaret's Bay Road and Chocolate Lake, and the Old Sambro Road. What does the national media director with the Nature Conservancy of Canada say about the balance...

Anna Shoub makes world-famous handmade, bespoke hats in a room of her home in the seaside town of Lunenburg. She's concerned with the campaign encouraging entrepreneurs to move their home-based businesses to Nova Scotia. The challenge is what she describes as our 'whimsical property tax rules'. As she points out, they aren't applied equitably and that's created a culture of ask for forgiveness, an...

A new study being released this month is taking a look at how food is classified as processed or unprocessed. And Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab says it's complex and we all need to educate ourselves on some of the misconceptions.

April is national Cancer Awareness Month. And while the pandemic has caused them to pivot, the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is investing in potentially disruptive research to radically change cancer care. Dr. Judy Bray is the Vice President of Research with the CCS in Ottawa. She discusses what they are working on and how the pandemic and vaccination program might help, and how daffodils are stil...

With only one regional children's hospital, it's not unusual for families to have to travel long distances to bring their kids to the IWK. And the Ronald McDonald House Charities are looking to double the number of rooms available to Maritime families. We speak with CEO Lori Barker about the campaign and the plan to start building their new house in Halifax.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) was asked to investigate whether there was criminal misconduct by police during the period before the appeal of Glen Assoun's conviction. He's the Nova Scotia man who spent 17 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Former SIRT director Ronald J. MacDonald is heading up this investigation with his current team of The Independent Investigations Offic...

An incident caught on video has lead to an officer being placed on administrative duties while an investigation is held into his actions. Police Chief Dan Kinsella says the comments were unacceptable and incidents like this can be deeply damaging to police community relations. Lindell Smith weighs in as an HRM councillor and the chair of the board of police commissioners.

Letters and phone calls weren't working, so a young Nova Scotian activist has been on a hunger strike to try and get government to stop clear cutting in the province. He started it on March 8th and 19 days in, we speak about the cause he's fighting for and the effect it's had on him.