Nova Scotia’s annual Christmas tree gift ends up on prominent paper’s front page

HALIFAX – An apparent debate over the cost of Nova Scotia’s annual Christmas tree gift to Boston has made it to the front page of one of the most-read papers in the United States.

The tale of the towering tree that’s given to the American city as a thank-you for help after the 1917 Halifax Explosion landed in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, replete with government-handout shots of people waving the Nova Scotia flag after the tree’s arrival in Boston.

But the story was focused around questions about the cost of finding, cutting, and shipping the tree, and in publicizing the Boston lighting ceremony, which is also attended by provincial government officials and other dignitaries.

CBC recently reported that Nova Scotia spent $242,000 last year to send the tree to Boston, including about $116,000 to the City of Boston and an ABC affiliate for a one-hour tree-lighting special.

For the most part, people interviewed by the New York-based paper didn’t get too excited about the hefty price tag, saying it was a “nice” way to honour the special relationship between the cities.

The decades-old tradition was started after two warships collided in Halifax Harbour, setting off an explosion that killed 2,000, injured 9,000 and levelled parts of the city on Dec. 6, 1917. It prompted the New England city to dispatch medical personnel and supplies hours after getting word of the disaster.