There’s now a Facebook group—of course—for anyone who wants to vent their anger at the decision by Canada’s national broadcasting consortium/cabal to bow to the fears of the Tories, NDP and Bloc, and exclude Green Party Leader Elizabeth May from the federal political leaders’ debate. The group is for “Canadians of any and all political […]
Stephen Kimber
Familiar faces
There’s something comfortably old shoe about attending an NDP gathering in Halifax. You’re almost certain to run into someone you know. The neighbour down the street you saw mowing his lawn in the rain last week, the young couple with the toddler who just bought the fixer-upper on the next block, the sales clerk from […]
Good question… Just don’t expect an answer
“Uh…Uh….Mmmm-mmm… (Silence)… Uh… Um…” Rob Batherson’s monosyllabic musing had gone on for at least 15 seconds before I thought to look at my watch, and lasted another 33 before he finally didn’t answer my question. It wasn’t a complicated question, and it was one for which Batherson obviously knew the correct answer. I just wanted […]
NDP squabble
The search for Alexa McDonough’s successor is off to a rocky start. And the party has yet to nominate its candidate. But it isn’t clear what—if any—effect a messy misunderstanding between the Nova Scotia federal NDP campaign office and wannabe-standard bearer Irvine Carvery over membership fees might have on the upcoming campaign and/or —and perhaps […]
NDP squabble: Update 1
Irvine Carvery concedes his difficulties with the NDP’s provincial campaign office were likely the result of a simple “miscommunication,” but he says that misunderstanding “puts the screws to me.” Carvery is one of three hopefuls vying to be the party’s candidate in the riding of Halifax in the October 14 federal election. Carvery says his […]
The Mooseheads’ homegrown hope
Will this be the year the Halifax Mooseheads win it all? There are those who will tell you it’s about damn time. Halifax has had a franchise in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League—one of Canada’s three elite professional-hockey-player factories—since 1994. The team has produced close to two dozen players who’ve played in the NHL, […]
Lost Children
“I feel like Jesus,” Tina announces to no one in particular. We are sitting on a hard wooden bench outside courtroom one in the Dartmouth law courts building. We’re waiting for Tina’s lawyer to finish up another matter in another courtroom, so the wheels of justice can finally grind through the business at hand—Tina’s formal […]
The prophet in Clayton Park
On the morning of September 11, 2001, a family doctor named Bill Deagle was driving his two older sons—Matthew, 16, and Stephen, 14—to Chatfield, their charter high school in Littleton, Colorado, a couple of miles from their home, when he heard the first confused, confusing, stuttering reports on the radio. A plane has crashed into […]
Does high school matter?
“For many of you, this is a crucial time in your life. Some of you will continue studies at university; some will go into business while others will join the industrial life of our country… Whatever path you may follow, you have an important role to play.” —Dr. Helen Creighton, address to the graduates, Queen […]
High times
As soon as he saw Bob Mann’s name flash on the call display, Harry Williamson knew why his old friend was calling. Williamson had already heard the news on the radio. Queen Elizabeth High, the venerable, rambling red-brick-and-mortar schoolhouse on the south edge of the Halifax Common that, over the course of a 65-year history […]
Inside the square
“Some?” he says, extending a small hand in my direction. No thanks, I answer. The boy shrugs, thrusts his other hand deep into his bag of freshly-popped microwave popcorn, hauls out what must be three hands-full in his one tiny but fully outstretched hand. “It’s extra buttery,” he tries again, gesturing toward the bag. “Says […]
Rodney MacDonald fights to stay on message
Rodney MacDonald looks more like the guy who’s just realized he’s landed smack in the can’t-get-out-of-the-way path of a runaway freight train than the dignified, in-control premier of Nova Scotia. His latest “important good news” press conference is barely five minutes old and, already, reporters have hijacked his sound-bite message track. That upbeat message was […]

