I’ve spent a good chunk of my columnist’s career mocking Peter MacKay without ever having spent time in his company. And then I did. He seemed generous, thoughtful, far more complex than I’d given him credit for. But then he got back into politics. And became ‘that’ Peter MacKay again. Is it the person or […]
Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
- 05/17/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Manitoba’s First Nations reached out to Cuba even before COVID-19 because they need healthcare help. So do we. In February — before the coronavirus changed everything about everything for everybody — Jerry Daniels, the Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which represents 34 First Nations in Manitoba, led a delegation to Havana to meet […]
- 04/04/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
In 1972, the legislature’s spring session last 54 sitting days. In 2020, it lasted 13. It seems we have nothing to discuss. The last time I covered the Nova Scotia legislature on a regular basis, Gerald Regan was the premier. It was a simpler time: even before now-museum vintage fax machines and VCRs but also […]
- 03/21/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
The difference is that, in the case of opioids, the harm creators are the drug’s makers and distributors. In the case of VLT gambling, they’re governments themselves. And that creates a world of difference when it comes to which harm-maker governments decide should be punished and which should be protected. Give Stephen McNeil’s Liberals an […]
- 03/14/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Why is it so hard for Stephen McNeil to acknowledge mistakes were made, let alone admit he or anyone in his orbit ever does anything wrong? The latest Hugh MacKay drunk-driving allegations offer a premier case study in Trumpian counterattack, obfuscation and butt-covering. Stephen McNeil insists he knew nothing, his chief of staff did nothing […]
- 03/07/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
It’s the end of February, so it must be time for Bay Ferries to announce the start of this year’s summer sailing season between Yarmouth and Bar Harbor. And for the rest of us to ask if it will really happen this year. Shall we begin a new round of our favourite game show, “Idle […]
- 02/29/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Tax cuts for businesses, increases for minimum-wage earners, cute photos with kids… There must be an election coming. Let us count up just a few of the reasons Premier Stephen McNeil will call a provincial election before the end of 2020. Start in the counting house itself. Last week, during his annual State of the […]
- 02/22/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Why aren’t we doing something to try to change decades of data — “comparative drop-out rates, school suspension rates, graduation rates, academic averages achieved” — that show African Nova Scotian students aren’t reaching their potential in our school system? Whatever the reasons, it’s time to stop allowing the failures of the past to keep repeating […]
- 02/15/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
Was Lionel Desmond a victim of his war demons? Or was he a villain, a perpetrator of domestic violence who murdered his own family? Or both? We may never know. “Speak not ill of the dead man.” Spartacus “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Shakespeare Legacies have always been […]
- 02/08/2020
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Stephen Kimber’s freelance journalism appears in local, regional, national and international publications.
The province banned street checks. The police chief apologized. But nothing’s really changed. Earlier this month, former police officer Maurice Carvery says police turned his routine traffic stop into an example of racial profiling. “They haven’t stopped; they’ve only changed.” Red lights flashing in your rearview; a high-pitched siren’s we-we-we-waaaahhh from somewhere behind your head, […]
- 02/01/2020
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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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