Editorial

Mayor Kelly’s latest ‘Christmas gift’ to HRM has stirred up heated debate between two keen political observers—Monica and Mike Bobbsey. The 26-year-old twins have sharply opposing views on the SuperCity’s successful Canadian bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. “Imagine blowing a million bucks just to compete for the friggin’ Games,” says Monica, referring to the […]

Welcome to Election 2006! Ah yes, developers are putting up monster homes in the suburbs. Construction is going full speed ahead on a Super Mall in Dartmouth. Rush-hour roads are jammed with fuel-gulping SUVs, minivans and trucks. And, the Canadian TV networks have again decided to bar the Green Party from the TV leaders’ debates. […]

Maclean’s magazine once called him “Canada’s sexiest cerebral man,” because of “his made-for-TV-looks and effortless eloquence.” But when Michael Ignatieff flew in from Harvard last week for his Liberal nomination meeting in Toronto, he faced a chorus of boos. According to CBC Radio, Myroslava Oleksiuk, the secretary of the local riding association, angrily denounced the […]

Now that we’re into a federal election campaign, everything is looking political—even the death and funeral last week of Charlie Keating, the one-time cable TV czar. In my former life as a CBC hack, I vividly remember clomping door-to-door with Charlie in his futile 1988 campaign to eject John Savage from the mayor’s chair in […]

With a federal election looming, voters who care about environmental issues should heed the roars of battle coming from within the Green Party of Canada. The internal fighting erupted publicly last week in Halifax when my good friend Michael Oddy, leader of the Nova Scotia Greens, confronted federal leader Jim Harris. Their clash came during […]

I must have been really wicked in a past life because in this one, I’m required to scan news releases. On Tuesday, November 8, I noticed one from Canada NewsWire, a PR outfit that gets paid to send a daily flood of promotional blurbs into newsrooms. The release, from the giant condom maker Durex, claimed […]

It’s hard to avoid red poppies around Remembrance Day. Veterans are stationed in grocery stores across the country, selling the familiar felt and plastic flower. The bright piece of lapel flair is a must-have for politicians, making Canada’s parliament look like a convention of opium producers this time of year. The Chronicle-Herald even printed a […]

I was leaning against a meeting room wall on the ramparts of Citadel Hill last week when businessman Bill Black waltzed in to the strains of the Stones’ Paint It Black. About 75 portly, south end Tories applauded enthusiastically as Mick and the boys wailed about death and depression. “I see the girls walk by […]

As if Vancouver needs any more ego boosting, early this month The Economist magazine’s research arm named it the world’s best place to live. The city has been at the top of the “Liveability Ranking” before, consistently scoring well in terms of stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, culture and environment to be the planet’s “most attractive […]

“OK, what about banning cigarettes totally?” asked radio talk jock Andrew Krystal last Friday as he tried to pick a fight with a caller named James. Krystal, host of Maritime Morning on the new Rogers News 95.7, added, “I can’t go out and buy morphine. It’s bad for me, right?” “Yeah, no, absolutely,” James blurted […]

One night last week, a construction site on Hollis Street became beautiful. It was after nine o’clock, when the only visible activity came from a welder doing some sort of repair to a backhoe’s scoop. The beautiful part was the white-blue light coming off the welding torch. It cast the welder’s shadow six storeys tall […]

First we had Bacon, Tory premier Roger that is. Then we had Hamm, as in Tory premier John. Who will be the next Tory Sausage? Expect the media to be abuzz with speculation in the coming months. Most political news these days is all about top dogs, er, I mean, top wieners. Last week for […]