How many Conservative cabinet ministers does it take to mislead Canadians? Last weekend, Stephen Harper trotted out his own trusty troika â Defence Minister Rob Nicholson, Veterans Affairs Minister (sic) Julian Fantino and Justice Minister Peter MacKay â for a $200 million photo op/announcement during the Halifax International Security Forum, a.k.a. Peterâs Playground (official cost: […]
- 12/01/2014
- StephenKimber
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Halifax NDP MP and deputy party leader Megan Leslie says she âcannot believeâ Liberal leader Justin Trudeau went public with allegations of âserious personal misconductâ by two Liberal MPs against two NDP MPs. But really, given the state of the nation â the fascinating, mostly thoughtful, sometimes insightful, occasionally knee-jerk conversations triggered by recent Jian […]
- 11/10/2014
- StephenKimber
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Last Wednesday, I was glued to CBC radioâs coverage of the Ottawa shootings while trying â and failing â to focus on making notes for my upcoming class. At 12:54 p.m., as a CBC reporter relayed the shocking news shots may have been fired inside the Rideau Mall â meaning there might be âmore than […]
- 10/27/2014
- StephenKimber
- 1 Comment
I suppose if the Harper government can commit us to a war without borders â Iraq, maybe Syria â or actual end goals on the strength of a few hours of debate in the House of Commons on a Monday night in October, we should be grateful Stephen McNeil took a full week to ram […]
- 10/06/2014
- StephenKimber
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âThe Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax has not responded to questions.â That nugget was nested in the last line, last paragraph of a Globe and Mail story last week about the Harper governmentâs efforts to âintimidate, muzzle and silence its critics.â Ottawa is spending $13.4 million so its tax auditors can descend, lotus-like, […]
- 09/22/2014
- StephenKimber
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âNova Scotiaâs shale potential will remain in the ground,â harrumphed Financial Post columnist Terence Corcoran. Blame âgrowth-killing theories and activists.â âThe McNeil Liberals have nailed shut one more economic doorway,âfretted Chronicle-Herald columnist Marilla Stephenson. âItâs a sorry day for Nova Scotia,â tut-tutted her editorial overlings. âFear is trumping science,â piled on the Toronto Sunâs Brian […]
- 09/08/2014
- StephenKimber
- 1 Comment
Winner of the 2014 Atlantic Journalism Award for Commentary â Any Medium. For as long as I can remember, Canadian politics has been a pleasantly diverting if meaningless game of rascal tossing. We pick one set of rascals to govern us and toss the last set out. After a while, those no-longer new rascals run […]
- 09/04/2014
- StephenKimber
- 17 Comments
As the poor keep getting poorer, global uprisings get closer and closer. You have been warned. Iâm a university professor. I make better than your average income. Although ours is not a union shop, our salaries reflect the successes of traditionally strong faculty unions at bigger institutions around us. Iâve also been teaching for […]
- 07/11/2014
- StephenKimber
- 1 Comment
Peter MacKay is the columnistâs gift that keeps on giving. Even on the edge-of-summer, eve of a national holiday when newsmakers worth their spin doctors know better than to do anything newsworthy⌠Peter MacKay never lets us down. You may remember Peter, he of the âI solemnly swearâ never to merge the Progressive Conservative Party […]
We begin June as we ended May. With more questions than answers. Item: Enterprise Cape Breton President John Lynn got fired after hiring four Tories with connections to federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay â without benefit of documentation or competition. The federal integrity watchdog uncovered  a âpatternâ that created an âappearance of patronage.â But he […]
- 06/02/2014
- sk15admin
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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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