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Joan Baxter

@joanbaxter.bsky.social
2K followers 587 following 761 posts

Author, independent investigative journalist, member ICIJ global network - environment, climate, and corporate capture my obsessions - allergic to hypocrisy, propaganda and greenwashing grifters. Still writing after all these years. Opinions my own.

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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The staff of this establishment who closed it due to “inclimate” weather (rainfall warning) may be onto something. Reassuring that they, at least, realize that more frequent and severe extreme weather events are related to the climate crisis.
A blue and green sign on a glass door that reads, “Closed early due to inclimate [rather than inclement] weather. Sorry for the inconvenience. We look forward to serving you tomorrow!”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Vancouver roadside commentators put it succinctly years ago.
A roadside newspaper box offering copies of The Epoch Times paper. Someone had penned in red ink below the name “the Epoch times” on the box the words “is shit”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
The OPEC oil crisis in the 1970s led governments to reduce speed limits to reduce fuel consumption, and automakers to dramatically reduce the size of the cars on the road. Sure would be nice to see govts in North America doing the same now, and automakers shrinking the bloated pickups and SUVs.
A massive, bloated grey pickup truck in a shopping mall parking lot.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Visitors to Nova Scotia who fly in to the Halifax Airport are now greeted by a big question mark where the tourism booth and tourism greeters in tartan once welcomed them. Now, they get this great big question mark. Welcome to Tim Houston’s Nova Scotia?
A semi-circular booth stands empty on a tiled floor, with windows behind it. Above the windows is a blue strip with the words Nova Scotia and a big white question mark.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Premier Tim Houston was drowned out by boos at the African Nova Scotian gala last night, after he slashed crucial arts, education, minorities, heritage, environment & climate programs. But the right wing, corporate-funded Fraser Institute likes him & failing to read the room, he’s bragging about it.
A March 1, 2026 Facebook post from N.S. Premier Tim Houston shows men in hard hats in what looks like an underground mine, and boasts about the Fraser Institute giving N.S. the largest score increase in “mining investment attractiveness” in Canada.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy beat Pierre Poilievre in the 2025 federal election. When the Liberal Party looked dead in the water, long before Carney, Fanjoy was wearing out his shoes knocking on doors to defeat PP. PM Carney should listen carefully when Fanjoy speaks. And Fanjoy is speaking now:
A statement from Ottawa Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy regarding the return to office policy for federal public servants, arguing that the Liberal govt should reconsider the policy, offering sound reasons.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Wonder which “enemy” NS Premier Tim Houston wants to “Defend Nova Scotia” from now? Next stage, a NS Department of War?
A screenshot of a Nova Scotia PC Party Facebook fundraising post, saying last chance to donate for a tax credit in 2025, showing Premier Tim Houston with a N.S. plaid tie, white shirt and dark jacket standing at a podium with his hand resting on each side. On the podium are the words, “DEFEND NOVA SCOTIA.”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Sipekne’katik First Nation has issued a press release saying Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Attorney and Justice Minister General Scott Armstrong, and L’nu Affairs Minister Leah Martin are “banned as undesirables” from Sipekne’katik lands. The fine for trespassing is $50,000.
A full page press release from the Sipekne’katik First Nation Band Council in Nova Scotia, which declares the premier an undesirable who is banned from Sipekne’katik lands.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Mi’kmaw land protectors on Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton, Unama’ki, are determined to stop clearcutting & destruction of moose habitat on unceded Mi’kmaw lands. They say they’re not moving, even tho N.S. Premier Tim Houston’s govt has passed a law to criminalize such encampments on Crown land.
A red and white sign propped against logs on Hunter’s Mountain in Cape Breton by Mi’kmaw land protectors reads “NOTICE! NO TRESPASSING Mi’kmaq Hunting Territory” and “visitors must be permitted. violators will be prosecuted.”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Nova Scotia - a province known for endless rainy days & many bountiful rivers & lakes - is into its 4th month of extreme drought. This is the French River, that provides Tatamagouche with water (or not). Climate crisis kicking in. But: let’s frack and clearcut anyway, says NS Premier Tim Houston.
A rocky and pebbly riverbed with almost no water in it, and in the middle of the gravelly empty middle, grass is growing. Some reddish and green shrubs are visible on the left of the photo.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
New SUV and old pickup say sit all.
A modern white SUV parked behind a very small older pickup truck, and the SUV is larger than the pickup.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Two weeks in Vancouver, the city of superb public transit and bike lanes, and I dream of this for the rest of the country.
A paved bikeway with a sign that says no entrance except bicycles.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
On Main Street, in Vancouver, for a few hours this past weekend, pedestrians ruled. It was a joyous community party and great for local businesses too.
Pedestrians fill a road, lined on either side by kiosks, and a blow-up balloon arch says, in large black font, “CAR FREE DAY.”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Hint!
The shadow of a person, overlying a brownish background that appears to be geometrically divided by golden lines.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Guesses of what this natural beauty is and where it is are most welcome. Mother Nature is the best artist of all. Bar none.
Against a brownish background, an incredible array of geometric shapes that appear almost golden.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
This is what rivers in Nova Scotia look like today. This is climate change. But NS Premier Houston didn’t mention climate change when he announced the wildfire risks and bans on forest access (except, of course, for industrial forestry operators and miners) because of “dry conditions?”
A rocky nearly dry riverbed, with just a couple of cm of standing water in it.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
In Nova Scotia, we don’t have licence plates on the fronts of our vehicles (money saving gambit by the provincial govt?), which makes it impossible to identify a vehicle from the front. More and more, it seems we don’t even need ‘em on the rear. What Freedom!!! NS - Canada’s Dump Truck Playground!
The back end of a mud-splattered dump truck on a paved two-lane highway. The truck has no licence plate.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Now isn’t this cozy and cuddly: Nova Scotia’s environment minister Halman getting lessons at the Mining Association of NS (aka MANS, appropriately) meeting, the day before Halman announces new permitting processes for metal mining. Seems MANS is now governing NS, Premier Houston’s ventriloquist.
A balding man wearing a light grey suit jacket and grey-blue tie speaking at a white podium. Two photos below show others speaking and shaking hands in a room full of mostly men.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
This little old pickup looks lean and small compared to the bloated SUV of today.
A large white SUV parked on the roadside just behind a small, compact silver pickup truck of yesteryear.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
The Now-Great-Again United States of America will stop “ideas” from crossing the U.S. border illegally. Trying to picture the ICE brain surgeons brandishing scalpels to remove thought crimes at border crossings. Sounds messy. And bloody.
An X post from U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a dark graphic, over which is superimposed text saying “If it crosses the U.S. border illegally, it’s our job to stop it. PEOPLE MONEY PRODUCTS IDEAS.”
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
An unequivocal, powerful message to N.S. Premier Tim Houston from the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, who inform him they remain opposed to fracking and “will not see it happen on our unceded and traditional territory.” Houston, you have a big problem with your plans to frack this province.
A screenshot of a March 27, 2025 letter from the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs to Premier Tim Houston, saying they oppose fracking, and singed by all 13 Chiefs.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Trent Vichie, owner of EverWind Fuels that is busy collecting subsidies & big bucks from the Canadian public - $200 million and counting - for “green” hydrogen in Atlantic Canada, donated to Donald Trump last June. It wasn’t much but it tells us where his loyalties lie. (Open Secrets is great.) 🧵
An attachment from Open Secrets that shows Trent Vichie donated US$936 to Donald Trump in June 2024.
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Joan Baxter @joanbaxter.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
This person is 6’1”. This truck should also be illegal.
A grey-haired man with a chequered jacket stands in front of a massive pickup truck, the front end of which is at his shoulder height.
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