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Terrible things are happening, but there’s a cat in the sky

Morning File, Friday, May 8, 2020

May 8, 2020 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

News 1. Loosening restrictions “Nova Scotia hopes to start loosening up restrictions in place around COVID-19 at the end of May, including allowing ‘non-essential businesses’ and ‘daycare and education settings’ to open and ‘non-urgent health care services to resume,’ according to a private presentation given by the province’s chief medical officer of health this week,” […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Atlantic journalism Awards (AJA), Barbara Darby and a modest proposal, El Jones, Linda Pannozzo, Stephen Archibald and spring, Stephen Kimber

Drink lead, kid

Morning File, Thursday, November 7, 2019

November 7, 2019 By Philip Moscovitch 3 Comments

November subscription drive Stephen Kimber has been around the Examiner for so long, it’s easy to take his weekly columns for granted. Monday morning: Kimber’s got a new column. I got to know Kimber while doing my MFA at King’s over the last couple of years. He was the cohort leader for my class and […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Brett Bundale, Christopher Warren, councillor Waye Mason, Dutch Boy Lead, Elizabeth McSheffrey, Frances Willick, Ian Fairclough, Jennifer Denny, Kara McCurdy, lead in drinking water, Lead Industries Association, Lyndsay Armstrong, Manfred Bowditch, Maureen Googoo, Megan O’Toole, Millbrook First Nation, Millbrook land claim settlement, Nic Meloney, property tax assessments, property taxes, Quinn Roberts, Robert Cribb, Sipekne'katik First Nation, Stephen Kimber, The Stakes podcast, wildfires, Zane Woodford

The redemption of Frank Anderson

Morning File, Monday, May 13, 2019

May 13, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

News 1. Transit passes “Soon, more people will get access to low income transit passes,” writes Erica Butler. “But the cap on this important program remains a needless obstacle.” Click here to read “Transit Pass Bingo.”  This article is for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. 2. This is North Preston Stephen Kimber introduces us to This […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: abortion, Andrew Alkenbrack, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Atlantic journalism Awards (AJA), bullshit, Cabot Links Golf Resort, corruption, Dan Leger, David Deveau, Economic Development, El Jones, Frank Anderson, grifters, Holly Conners, Immigration, Joan Baxter, Mary Campbell, North Preston’s Finest, Parker Donham, Pierre Simard, police investigator Dave MacDonald, Rebecca Thomas, Riverside Lobster, South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA), Stephen Archibald and wire fences, Stephen Kimber, Timothy Gillespie

The Oak Island effect: how Nova Scotia can profit by selling a nonsense tale to the Chinese

Morning File, Tuesday, April 9, 2019

April 9, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

News 1. Tidal turbine “Energy and Mines Minister Derek Mombourquette announced last week the province intends to ‘eventually retrieve’ the abandoned 1,000-tonne, five-storey turbine abandoned at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy near Parrsboro,” reports Jennifer Henderson: “Eventually” is the key word in that sentence since there is no timeline and no obvious financial […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aly Thompson, Andrea Winn, Atlantic Business, Carol Merchasin, Horus, Jeff MacKinnon, Mipham Mukpo, Oak Island effect, Paul Chiasson, Selina Bath, Shambhala scandal, Sidewalk clearing tender, Stephen Kimber, Sunshine Report, the Curse of Oak Island, The Island of Seven Cities, Tom Murphy, Wickwire Holm investigation, women in media and business

Stephen Kimber’s indispensable contribution to local journalism

Morning File, Monday, November 5, 2018

November 5, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

News 1. Jen’s choice Writes Stephen Kimber: Jen Powley is smart. She has four degrees. She’s a prize-winning author with an eclectic CV and a significant record of ongoing accomplishment. She’s still only 41. So why does she face a government-imposed Hobson’s life choice: go into a nursing home to be warehoused and “removed from […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Allen Toussaint, American election, ATV deaths, Biomass Delusion, Bullshitter of the Day SMU's Entrepreneurship Centre, Chief Jean-Michel Blais, fascism, Halifax Regional Police (HRP), Jack Julian, Joe Henry, Langston Hughes, Linda Pannozzo, pedestrian struck Portland Street, police evidence, SS Atlantic Heritage Park Society, Stephen Kimber, T-shirt, Yeats

The corporate kleptocracy takes aim at Nova Scotia

Morning File, Friday, August 31, 2018

August 31, 2018 By Joan Baxter 5 Comments

Hi, I’m Joan Baxter, a Nova Scotian journalist and author. Some of my books are actually quite upbeat, proving that I’m not always a bearer of bad news. News 1. Abandoned tidal turbine Jennifer Henderson updates the situation of the abandoned tidal turbine in the Minas Basin in this article for the Examiner. After a […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Alfred Sorensen, Allan Murphy, Ardath Whynacht, Bianca Mercer, big oil and public money, Bruce Nunn, Burnside jail protest, climate change, Darren Porter, David Patriquin, dead porpoise, El Jones, Fracking, Glyphosate, Goldboro LNG plant, Helen Murphy, herbicide spraying, Jessica Chin, Joan Baxter, Josh Healey, Ken Summers, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Marla MacInnis, Matthew Boyd, Maurice Reed, NOFRAC Nova Scotia, Paul McLeod, Peter Watts, Pieridae Energy, prisoner protest, Robert Devet, Sandra Hannebohm, Sarah Gillis, Sarah Ritchie, Stacey Rudderham, Stephen Kimber, Swissair crash, tidal turbine abandoned, Will Weissart, worst roads in Canada

Shawn Cleary’s betrayal of voters

Morning File, Wednesday, June 27, 2018

June 27, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 21 Comments

News 1. Shawn Cleary I’m taking a mapping class at the Journalism school this week. It’s pretty cool! I’ve always wanted to get into mapping beyond simply using Google Maps, and in recent years new software programs have become available that allow people without extensive tech backgrounds to manipulate GIS databases and make maps. About […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Armco, city hall lobbyist registry, Councillor Lindell Smith, Councillor Sam Austin, Councillor Shawn Cleary and Willow Tree tower, councillor Waye Mason, dine-and-dash, Jason Edwards, Joachim Stroink, Linda Mosher, mapping class, RIP Whitefish, Shawn Cleary’s deleted post, Stephen Kimber

The contradiction of being Councillor Cleary

Shawn Cleary is the chief flag-waver for the city's most unpopular high-rise proposal — and its developer. But he refuses to accept campaign donations from developers, and is promoting municipal campaign finance reform. He dismisses the significance of the fact the developer's chief lobbyist is a good friend, yet he is spearheading a proposal for a municipal lobbyist registry. Only in Halifax you say...

June 23, 2018 By Stephen Kimber 13 Comments

“We don’t build buildings because of public opinion. We build them for good planning… And so I think this is a good thing for us… In terms of the design, I think we’ve mitigated most of the concerns…” —Councillor Shawn Cleary June 19, 2018 Shawn Cleary’s suitcase of sophistry requires a little unpacking. Councillor Cleary […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: Armco Capital, Bill Karsten, Brendan Elliott, Centre Plan, councillor Shawn Cleary, David Hensebee, Joachim Stroink, lobbyist registry, Matt Whitman, Mayor Mike Savage, Richard Zurawski, Russell Walker, Stephen Kimber, Steve Adams, Steve Craig, Steve Streatch, Tony Mancini, Willow Tree Tower

The Desmond file: belatedly untangling the threads that led to a murder-suicide

Finally, last week — just a few days before the first anniversary of the deaths — Dr. Matt Bowes, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, announced he was recommending an official inquiry to better understand how what happened happened and, more importantly, “to make our system better..."

January 2, 2018 By Stephen Kimber

One year ago tomorrow, on January 3, 2017, 33-year-old Lionel Desmond parked his car on a logging road in Upper Big Tracadie, NS, just as the sun was setting. Armed with two rifles, including an SKS semi-automatic Soviet military weapon he’d bought a few days earlier at an outdoor sports store, he made his way...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Ardath Whynacht, domestic violence, family violence, Lindsay Jones, Lionel Desmond file, Matt Bowes, Stephen Kimber

Northern Pulp bullies Canada’s biggest bookstore chain, wins… and then loses

The good news is that the mill’s heavy-handed attack on freedom of expression and the bookseller’s own cowed response appear to have backfired. The bad news is that, “in 2017, a company can use its power to shut down a book signing in a small bookstore in a small town.”

December 11, 2017 By Stephen Kimber

Joan Baxter’s personal Northern Pulp story begins on “one of those stunningly clear, blue-sky mornings that nature sometimes bestows on Nova Scotia.” It was June 2, 2016, and Baxter had decided to start the day with a run near her home in Colchester County, NS. But as soon as she stepped outside, “the air was...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Chapters Indigo cancels booksigning, Donald Burt MacKenzie, freedom of expression, Joan Baxter, Kathy Cloutier, MLA Karl MacFarlane, MLA Lenore Zann, Northern Pulp, Stephen Kimber

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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

  • 1 new case of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Jan. 26 January 26, 2021
  • Looking for Eliza in Nova Scotia’s poor house cemeteries January 26, 2021
  • Two and a half years later, Nova Scotia Power still hasn’t revealed the “root cause” of the Tufts Cove oil spill January 26, 2021
  • Tragedy in the Valley: woman dies while sleeping in car, man is brain-damaged January 25, 2021
  • A man gets a roof as Halifax quibbles with group’s band-aid solution to homelessness January 25, 2021

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