Media Clippings 2008

The province needs to see the forest for the trees, a non-profit research group warned Wednesday.

The Halifax-based research group GPI Atlantic says much more needs to be done to counteract decades of over-harvesting, clear cutting and other bad practices.

"I can protect myself from my enemies; may God protect me from my friends."

When it comes to transit, Haligonians overwhelmingly support it---for somebody else.

Traffic gridlock in Halifax is wasting both time and money for motorists and businesses, according to a new report from GPI Atlantic.

Halifax's traffic jams aren't just costing drivers precious minutes on their way into town each day.

An upcoming rural express bus service will help make the route from Hammonds Plains a road less travelled, says the area councillor.

Education is a complicated undertaking and there is nothing simple about assessing it well.

The recent release of the GPI Atlantic report, which asked "How Educated are Nova Scotians?" reminded me of my favourite quotation from communications guru Marshall McLuhan. "School is the advertising agency," McLuhan wrote, "which makes you believe you need the society as it is."

One of the greatest intellectual skills is the ability to ask good questions, which is a prerequisite for discovering good answers. Nobody asks better questions than GPI Atlantic.

"In Nova Scotia as in Canada, there's never been more, nor more expensive, education. And yet, there's no indication that levels of knowledge are increasing. In fact, "basic literacy is stagnant and there is evidence of low knowledge levels in areas like politics, health and the environment."
The quotation is from a big report, three years in the making, by GPI Atlantic, that was released this week but didn't get much ink or air time - perhaps a function of the complexity of the issue, and our confusion about it."

"Supplying our wants by lopping off our desires is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes."

University students from less affluent backgrounds are burdened with a disproportionate amount of student debt, a new report says.

"Group spends three years putting all the facts together, and concludes it's hard to tell."