I first met Harry Bruce one morning in 1971 in the offices of The 4th Estate newspaper. Harry had recently moved to Halifax from Toronto and stopped in to say hello to its editor, Nick Fillmore. I was a young freelancer who’d just dropped off an article I hoped Nick would buy. Nick introduced us. […]
Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
- 08/19/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
For more than 40 years, I’ve been writing about the Halifax Chronicle Herald, its predecessors and successors—including its oddly-named and ill-fated recent owner, Saltwire. In 1981, in the aftermath of a failed attempt to unionize the newsroom, I wrote this feature about the paper and its role in Nova Scotia life and politics. That story’s […]
- 03/13/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
In 1978, when I was a young freelance magazine writer, Financial Post Magazine assigned me to profile Brian Mulroney. Two years earlier, Mulroney had lost his bid to lead Canada’s Progressive Conservative Party to Joe Clark and had then taken a very different job as president of Iron Ore Canada. Financial Post editors wanted me […]
- 03/01/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Our columnist says he’s had a great run, and some days he wants to continue doing this forever. But it’s time. For more years than I care to count, I have been professionally — and often personally — “shocked and appalled” on a regular basis about the goings on going on in our world. Luckily, […]
- 02/18/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
An internal working group of bureaucrats who benefit from “a culture of disregard for access and privacy laws” are reviewing Nova Scotia’s freedom of information system. What can go wrong? Tricia Ralph is Nova Scotia’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, the person best positioned to know what’s wrong with our failed and flailing freedom of information system […]
- 02/10/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Former PC leader Jamie Baillie was quick to categorically deny — through his spokesperson — that he’d ever assaulted a former aide. But he is still silent — through his spokesperson — about whether he forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The story had already been published by the time Parker Donham’s email landed […]
- 02/02/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
That’s because the private utility’s more-than-well-compensated executives prioritize shareholders over customers, profits over service. So, Nova Scotia Power Inc. wants its customers — which is to say, us — to foot the remaining $26.4 million “restoration costs” from September 2022’s “unprecedented weather event,” otherwise known as Hurricane Fiona. First, it’s worth noting that we’re already […]
- 01/26/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Commissioner Michael MacDonald, chair, leaves the stage after delivering the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry’s final report into the mass murders in rural Nova Scotia in Truro, N.S., on Thursday, March 30, 2023. The problem begins with the self-serving decision by Ottawa and the province to make the committee that’s supposed to be publicly accountable for […]
- 01/19/2024
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Pete’s Frootique workers on the picket line in front of the grocery store in Halifax. Sobeys-owned Pete’s Frootique offered its workers a wage increase below even what will be the provincial minimum wage in April. And then refused to budge until a sure-to-be-embarrassing National Day of Protest shamed it into settling. Is this the best […]
Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Tim Houston’s in-house committee to review our outdated freedom of information legislation refuses to even meet with an outside expert group suggesting improvements. Accountability? Don’t count on it. Let us begin with a return to a Better Ghost of Christmas Premiers Past — to wit, Timothy Jerome Houston, Progressive Conservative Premier in Eager Anticipation, circa […]
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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