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Two decades of world-class delusion
How Halifax’s big dreams have become a nightmare, and what needs to happen to make the city a great place to live. by Tim Bousquet This article was awarded the gold medal for Commentary at the 2013 Atlantic Journalism Awards. It was first published in The Coast, on July 11, 2013. After “drop the bomb,” […]
Commonwealth Games investigation part two: where the money went
Public money, private players: The Coast uncovers the paper trail of where $8.5 million in public money was spent by the Halifax 2014 bid committee. by Tim Bousquet This article first appeared in The Coast, on March 13, 2008. A year ago last Saturday, Halifax’s Commonwealth Games bid collapsed in acrimony. Politicians pointed fingers at […]
Commonwealth Games Investigation part one: Halifax 2014 big plans
Game over: An air of secrecy surrounded Halifax’s bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, even after the bid’s very public collapse in March. For the first time, we reveal a complete picture of what was happening behind the scenes. by Tim Bousquet Seven months after Halifax’s Commonwealth Games bid collapsed, there still hasn’t been […]
How Halifax’s concert scandal played out
With new details such as how Rush got bum-rushed, The Coast tells the most complete story to date. by Tim Bousquet This article was first published in The Coast, on December 5, 2011. Last spring, Halifax’s now-infamous “concert scandal” broke when city staffer Cathie O’Toole revealed that mayor Peter Kelly and the city’s deputy CAO, […]
The Convention Centre Tower Play
Did Halifax’s dream of being a world financial capital help Joe Ramia’s proposal, with an office tower on top, beat a higher-rated plan for the Cogswell Interchange? by Tim Bousquet This article first appeared in The Coast, on November 25, 2010. On Tuesday, February 26, 2008, Nova Scotia conquered Wall Street. That morning a chartered […]
Holly Bartlett’s unlikely journey
Police say the Dalhousie student wandered to her death on the way home, but her family believes there’s more to the case. by Tim Bousquet This article first appeared in The Coast, on December 12, 2013. Update, February 24, 2014: Halifax Regional Police and Halifax District RCMP have announced an independent review of the police investigation […]
A trust betrayed: Peter Kelly and the estate of Mary Thibeault
This article was published by The Coast, on February 16, 2012. It won the Don MacGillivray Award for the best investigative reporting in Canada for 2012, the Atlantic Journalism Awards gold medal winner for Enterprise Reporting (print), the Canadian Association of Journalists award for best Community News reporting, and was one of six articles in […]
Investigative reporting: why anonymous sources are so important
Note: This article first appeared here, on May 2, 2014. This is my penultimate blog post before launching the new site—I’ll have one more next week, explaining exactly how the subscription model will work and asking for pre-subscriptions and founding contributions. Then I’ll take about a week to dive into reporting so I’ll have material […]
Context is everything: History as journalism
Note: This article first appeared here, on April 30, 2014. I’ve been avoiding writing about current events in these blog posts. This is a blog explaining my journalistic philosophy and hopes for the new website, which will be launched in a week or two. The new site will be full of the news and analysis...