Flight 111: The Tragedy of the Swissair Crash By Stephen Kimber “Kimber…at his best…tightly drawn vignettes depicting the utter normality that is shattered for thousands by the disaster…gladden[s] the heart even as the tears well up. But for all the emotion Kimber doesn’t allow Flight 111 to descend into sentimentality.” The Globe and Mail “Deftly […]
We are at the drain end of August when the non-news of summer just repeats itself—Mayor Peter Kelly still refuses to rule out running for his old Bedford council seat; Lance Armstrong still proclaims his innocence; Conrad Black still wants his day in court—and no one, wisely, pays any mind.So I was surprised last week […]
- 08/27/2012
- StephenKimber
- No Comments
You could be forgiven for assuming Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry actually believes in the democratic process. “It’s very important that we look at our demographic structure in Nova Scotia… and how we get fairness and equity into the system,” he told reporters last week as his government-appointed, government-instructed “independent” electoral boundaries commission wrapped […]
- 08/20/2012
- StephenKimber
- 9 Comments
Let’s review. On February 3, 2010, Auditor General Jacques Lapointe reported some Nova Scotia MLAs played fast and loose with their expense accounts. One year after that—on February 14, 2011—RCMP charged three former and one sitting MLA with the criminal equivalent of fast and loose. Today—17 months after those charges, 30 months after that report—only […]
- 08/13/2012
- StephenKimber
- No Comments
You can—in a law-school-essay, sentencing-guidelines way—justify Justice David MacAdam’s decision to sentence disgraced former MLA Richard Hurlburt to house arrest instead of clapping him off to jail. But not in the real world. Richard Hurlburt repeatedly violated the trust of his electors while bilking taxpayers of more than $25,000, and then attempted—until the truth trapped […]
- 07/30/2012
- StephenKimber
- 4 Comments
What are we to make of the latest tongue-clucking, finger-pointing, eye-rolling, so’s-your-old-lady response to last week’s auditor general’s report on the ongoing, never-ending screw-ups at the intersection of Halifax Regional Municipality, Metro Centre and Trade Centre Ltd.? Following up on last year’s cash-for-concerts scandal—let’s not revisit that—Halifax A-G Larry Munroe discovered a murky, virtually undocumented […]
- 07/23/2012
- StephenKimber
- 1 Comment
I’m guessing you won’t find Philip Pacey, Beverly Miller, or the Save the View Coalition on developer Joe Ramia’s Christmas card list this year. But they should be on ours—and perhaps his too. Last week’s city council vote approving a memorandum of agreement between HRM and the province to build the new convention centre was […]
- 07/16/2012
- StephenKimber
- No Comments
I don’t envy Justice David MacAdam. Between now and July 27, he must parse the image of Richard Hurlburt as presented in court last week by his friends and colleagues—the “all around good guy” and pillar of his community who never met a community cause he did not support—with the convicted felon who calculatedly bilked […]
- 07/09/2012
- StephenKimber
- No Comments
(From the July-August 2012 issue of Atlantic Business Magazine.) Forget for an instant Newfoundland’s oil and gas gushers, which have transformed that perennial tail-of-the-dog province into one of Canada’s “haves.” Set aside Nova Scotia’s shimmering, ships-yet-to-be-built contracts that are supposed to pave our yellow brick road to the future. And ignore as well, at least […]
Commerce grads says mandatory work terms give them a jump on career success. (From the July-August 2012 issue of Atlantic Business Magazine.) It is a sweetly sunny late May day in Halifax, the morning after yet another night before on the streets of Montreal where police arrested 518 students in another night of demonstrations against […]
- 07/07/2012
- StephenKimber
- No Comments
STEPHEN KIMBER, a Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax and co-founder of its MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program, is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. He is the author of two novels and eight non-fiction books. Buy his books
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