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An independent, adversarial news site in Halifax, NS

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The perils of being progressive

Thanks to our first past the post system — thanks, Justin — progressives in Halifax still face a Hobson's choice when it comes to the federal election.

October 5, 2019 By Stephen Kimber

I get it. I even sympathize. You have only one vote and you don’t want to waste it. But how to choose? That is the question without easy answer this federal election. Let’s assume for the moment you see yourself as a moderate political progressive, likely more progressive than partisan. You know what you don’t...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: 2019 federal election, electoral reform

What to do about Justin?

Last week's Blackface/Brownface controversy raises the complicated question of how we navigate our way through all the competing, compelling, often contradictory private and public actions of our politicians to determine who — if anyone — deserves our vote.

September 21, 2019 By Stephen Kimber

Voting is easy. Choosing who to vote for? Not so much… In our federal parliamentary, first-past-the-post system, we each get just one vote to elect our local member of parliament who is supposed to both represent our personal views and also be a puzzle piece in a national numbers game that will ultimately determine which...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: 2019 federal election, blackface, Justin Trudeau and anti-Black racism

Politicians criticizing Israel: When 2019 becomes 1984 all over again

We've already begun another wild modern election ride during which outrageous old social media posts have and will come back to haunt candidates and the political parties that nominate them. But what happens when the outrage is misplaced and the goal seems to be to shut down legitimate differences of opinion?

September 8, 2019 By Stephen Kimber

Let’s begin with a pop quiz. During the 2015 Canadian federal election, how many candidates for the highest offices in our land were hoist by the petard of their own social media posts before voters could say yay or nay to them at the ballot box? On a roll? Then let’s go international. And get...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: 2019 federal election, Anti-Semitism, B'nai Brith, Hassan Guillet, Morgan Wheeldon, NDP, Rana Zaman, social media election

Can we talk about Israel and the Palestinians? No?

Between Rana Zaman’s nomination as a federal NDP candidate in May and the end of June, someone dredged up a number of her impassioned social media posts, which focused on Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. The NDP almost instantly dumped her. But what had she said that was so awful?

July 28, 2019 By Stephen Kimber 17 Comments

Canada’s New Democrats made a mistake. Not with their nomination last week of Emma Norton, a 28-year-old climate change activist and Ecology Action Centre staffer who decided to seek elective office this spring because she felt betrayed by Justin Trudeau’s “market-based, incrementalist” approach to climate change. I’m certain she will be a fine candidate in […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House Tagged With: 2019 federal election, Anti-Semitism, Apartheid, Genocide, Israel, NDP, Palestine, Rana Zaman

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Brian Borcherdt. Photo: Anna Edwards-Borcherdt

Brian Borcherdt came of age in Yarmouth in the 1990s. When he arrived in Halifax, the city’s famous music scene was already waning, and worse, the music he made was rejected by the cool kids anyway. After decades away from Nova Scotia, he and his young family have settled in the Annapolis Valley, where he’ll zoom in to chat with Tara about his band Holy Fuck’s endlessly delayed tour, creating the Dependent Music collective, and the freedom and excitement of the improvised music he’s making now. Plus: Bringing events back in 2021.

The Tideline is advertising-free and subscriber-supported. It’s also a very good deal at just $5 a month. Click here to support The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • After reading a Halifax Examiner article, two cops showed up at an author reading at Mount Allison University January 23, 2021
  • A heritage property in Sir Sandford Fleming Park is falling apart. Will the city do anything about it? January 23, 2021
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  • COVID update: team sport competitions can resume; 4 new cases announced in Nova Scotia on Friday, Jan. 22 January 22, 2021
  • Three times in the last year, violent men have been driving look-alike police cars January 22, 2021

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