Joan’s Writing

2025
Sep 14th
Private equity plunderers in our midst
How private equity buyout firms extract value and harm workers, the economy and the environment.
Sep 15th
Some ‘special interest groups’ seem more special than others when it comes to bending N.S. Premier Houston’s ear
A guy with a big toothy smile campaigned for premier promising to make Nova Scotia ‘more livable,’ and when he won, the fangs came out and he rolled back decades of environmental protection and government accountability.
Sep 16th
The never-ending media hype about the Canso spaceport … that doesn’t exist
Despite fantastical headlines and still more promises of NS government largesse, Canso spaceport is nothing more than a small concrete pad and a gravel road on leased Crown land.
Sep 21st
Taking on private equity, preventing American takeovers, and ensuring Canada is ‘Never 51’
A conversation with Jon Shell of Social Capital Partners
Sep 24th
The healing powers of trees
The many benefits of ‘forest bathing,’ which health care providers in Canada can now prescribe.
Sep 26th
Oversized pickups and SUVs: the new kings of the roads are dangerous, threatening lives and living environments (Part 1)
In Europe, vehicle safety tests look at the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, not so in Canada.
Sep 26th
Oversized pickups and SUVs: the new kings of the roads are dangerous, threatening lives and living environments (Part 2)
A ‘public policy disaster:’ the loophole that unleashed monster pickups and SUVs during the climate crisis, undoing emissions controls and efforts to make urban environments safer and healthier.
Sep 27th
Oversized pickups and SUVs: the new kings of our roads are dangerous, threatening lives and living environments (Part 3)
Reversing vehicle bloat will not be easy, but there are ways municipal, provincial and federal governments can tackle the problem.
Oct 1st
As Northern Pulp dies, a big chunk of Nova Scotia is for sale. The government should buy it back
2024
Apr 24th
Privatization ahead for VIA’s most travelled route
Pleas for the federal government to save VIA Rail long-distance passenger trains linking Montreal and Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver
Apr 24th
Trying to give VIA Rail a chance
Parliamentarians have tried to protect and improve rail passenger service in Canada
Apr 24th
The Ocean: VIA Rail’s little old train that hopes it can
There was a time when Atlantic Canada had wonderful passenger rail service – today, all that’s left is one problem-plagued slow train between Halifax and Montreal
Apr 24th
Railroad trilogy 2024: Canada’s passenger rail service – past, present and future
Why a series of articles about passenger rail service in Canada? It began on a slow train to Montreal
Apr 28th
Miscommunication: how government’s PR gatekeepers are increasingly controlling the message
As media outlets disappear, PR and propaganda continue to expand
Apr 29th
Nova Scotia is practically giving away ‘some of the purest water in Canada’
Part 2. What are the environmental costs of bottling and exporting Nova Scotia's groundwater?
Apr 29th
Nova Scotia is practically giving away ‘some of the purest water in Canada’
Part 1: Each year, Sobeys and Aquaterra pump hundreds of millions of lites of water from wells in Nova Scotia, bottle and sell it for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. For that water, the province charges the two companies a total of $769.
May 14th
‘Green’ hydrogen industry takes aim at Nova Scotia’s underground salt deposits
Hydrogen entrepreneurs have taken out exploration claims to hundreds of thousands of acres in the province, in the hope of finding salt caverns to store 'green' hydrogen that hasn’t been produced yet
May 19th
Dissecting forestry industry’s deceptive PR propaganda campaign
The Forest Products Association of Canada has been filling social media with its ‘Forestry For The Future’ push poll – users beware.
May 22nd
Learning ‘not to hurt’ nature: Pictou County Forest School offers a classroom amidst the trees
2022
Jan 1st
“It pains me to tell you that the image of Canada is severely damaged:” damning testimony in a new book reveals the horrific record of Canadian mining companies in Guatemala
Jan 1st
Marketing Cape Breton as a “refuge” for “clear thinkers.” Development companies selling properties to German-speaking non-residents who “want to live with the values of Germany from 1933 to 1945.”
Jan 1st
Developers are selling off Cape Breton, one subdivision after the other, to German-speaking non-residents? What — if anything — is wrong with that?
Jan 1st
“Please don’t sell Nova Scotia:” Additional taxes on non-resident landowners have been discussed since the 1960s. Now the debate is on again as non-residents snap up property in Cape Breton.
Apr 16th
Northern Pulp has a new set of “friends”
But the “friends” look familiar, and the “new” Northern Pulp sure looks a lot like the same old Northern Pulp.
2021
Jan 15th
Beware, “The Epoch Times” are here … and there, and everywhere
Feb 2nd
Port Wallace Gamble: The real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy (Part 3)
Feb 2nd
Port Wallace Gamble: The real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy (Part 2)
Feb 2nd
Port Wallace Gamble: The real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy (Part 1)
Feb 10th
QAnon without borders
The conspiracy theory that originated in the US has become a global movement, and has attracted adherents in Nova Scotia. Anti-hate activists are concerned about it.
2020
Feb 6th
Remembering Dr. Frank Plummer
Feb 17th
Leak at Moose River gold mine raises environmental concerns
2019
Apr 15th
“Pig in a poke”: die-hard proponents want to open Nova Scotia to fracking
Apr 15th
Containing Northern Pulp’s mess: A half century of toxic waste in Boat Harbour, a leaky pipeline, and what happens next in the mill saga
Apr 15th
“Everything won’t stink so bad”: The countdown to the Boat Harbour closure begins
Apr 16th
Friends of St. Mary’s River say “NOPE” to Atlantic Gold
Apr 18th
Like blood from a stone: trying to get information out of the Nova Scotia Department of Energy and Mines
Jul 17th
Northern Pulp says it “cares” – but for whom and what?
Jul 24th
Northern Pulp’s environmental documents – missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions
Nov 19th
Mali’s Morila gold mine: “not everything glitters”
Nov 28th
The curious case of Northern Pulp’s neighbour Canso Chemicals, and why its owners keep it alive
2018
Feb 19th
“Go ask God” – the homecoming of Mali’s man of mysteries
Sep 10th
Fool’s gold: the resource curse strikes Nova Scotia (Part 1)
Sep 11th
Fool’s gold: the resource curse strikes Nova Scotia (Part 2)
Sep 13th
Fool’s gold: the resource curse strikes Nova Scotia (Part 3)
Sep 17th
Fool’s gold: the resource curse strikes Nova Scotia (Part 4)
2017
May 19th
Pottersfield Press releases “Seven Grains of Paradise: A Culinary Journey in Africa”
Jul 12th
Celebrating Africa’s food and farmers
Jul 14th
Challenging some myths about Africa’s food, food security and farming
Jul 26th
Book launch for “Seven Grains of Paradise: A Culinary Journey in Africa”
Aug 22nd
BBC Focus on Africa interviews author of “Seven Grains of Paradise: A Culinary Journey in Africa”
Oct 30th
Book review: “Whitewash – The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science” by Carey Gillam
Nov 6th
Pottersfield Press releases new book “The Mill: Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest”
Dec 12th
Paper Excellence shuts down a book signing for the book, “The Mill – Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest”
The pulp corporation with links to a multi-billion-dollar Indonesian corporate empire flexes its corporate muscle to bully Canada's largest book retailer into submission
2016
Jan 13th
Looking for healthy eating? Go to Africa!
Jan 28th
Musing on the bounty in rural Sierra Leone
2015
Jan 18th
Dear Stephen Harper – please accept this invitation to resign (and repent)
Jan 25th
Climate change and “wise” human beings — will our species rise to the challenge?
Jan 31st
With friends like these, Canada is sure to make enemies
Mar 1st
Canadians pay the high costs of Stephen Harper’s Conservative propaganda machine
Aug 30th
It’s way more than the economy: climate change, unfettered capitalism and Canada’s election
Sep 4th
Shame on the Harper Government
Dec 20th
Philanthrocapitalism – all the power that billions can buy
2014
Oct 12th
Ebola: How an awful disease is shredding the social fabric in West Africa
Nov 1st
Burying Africa’s hopes: remembering Thomas Sankara, the revolution and how Blaise Compaoré stole it all
Nov 16th
Bob Geldof, Band Aid and Do They Know Their Song May Be Harmful?
Nov 23rd
Yes, let’s feed the world – but with healthy food from healthy farms
Dec 12th
King Leopold’s Ghost and the 21st century scramble for Africa’s farms and foods
Dec 23rd
Oh, woe, Canada – a tough-love letter to my country
2013
Feb 1st
The treasures of Timbuktu
Feb 25th
Grieving for Mali
Apr 3rd
Saved from those dangerous dried caterpillars
Apr 17th
Conservative attack ads are bullying
Jul 1st
Farmland – the new “Blood Diamonds” in Sierra Leone?
Aug 12th
Diamonds are not for dinner
Aug 19th
SNAP! The sound of American food aid to Sierra Leone helping corporate America?
Aug 30th
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 1): Sierra Leone on a silver platter?
Aug 30th
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 2): Beny Steinmetz
Aug 30th
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 3): Frank Timis
Sep 2nd
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 4): Jean Claude Gandur
Sep 4th
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 5): Chinnakannan Sivasankaran
Sep 11th
Billionaires at play in the fields of the poor (part 6): prosperity for whom?
Dec 13th
Poor man’s food? Saving Africa’s foods, ferments and farms from the “saviours”