Sharon Fraser

No laughing matter

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:58:01 +0000

I listened to CBC Radio's coverage of the pre-budget Throne Speech on Monday. The host, Kathleen Petty, and the two pundits, Chris Hall (CBC) and Don Martin (National Post) could not utter the words "Jack Layton" or "NDP" with even a modicum of respect.

Stephen Harper was taken seriously; Michael Ignatieff was taken very seriously indeed. And Jack? Jack's name was never mentioned except with contempt or in derision.

Stephen Harper's march to majority

Sharon Fraser — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:19:47 +0000

The pro-coalition demonstrations last week took me back to February of 2003 and the big world-wide demos against the invasion of Iraq. The size and scope were much different, the targeted result was much less grim but the optimism was very similar.

Suddenly, there was a feeling of people rising up and coming together in the hope of effecting positive change, of having the immense satisfaction of taking Harper down, of moving forward on some progressive policies that would put our country back on track and take us out from under the curse of the mean and nasty people who inhabit the Conservative Party.

Without further comment ...

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:32:21 +0000

I have just sent this letter to Avaaz.ca who have written — once again — urging the use of the site VoteForEnvironment.ca as a voting aid.

___________________________________________________

I am very impatient with you people — and I’m not the only one — with your continuing campaign for Elizabeth May in Central Nova.

Elizabeth May never had a chance to beat Peter MacKay — and she’s still not going to. The NDP, however, did have a chance but has had to fight, not just the usual opponents who were running but know-it-alls from all over the country who, somehow, seem to think that they have inside knowledge that the people in Central Nova don’t have.

Backing away from the man in the sweater

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:44:13 +0000

I am way too cautious a person to count my chickens before they’re hatched, to cross my bridges before I come to them, all that.

But in my compulsive checking of poll results, I began to think about Stephen Harper and about why voters have started to back carefully away from him.

It’s not all about an “economic meltdown.” Many people I know have financial worries and they have nothing to do with a stock portfolio. They have to do with the cost of home heating which is expected to be double last winter’s cost.

Or they have to do with the increase in price for bread, flour and rice — not the stealthy penny-at-a-time increase which can slip by but the really noticeable jump in the cost of these staples.

Poll puts May in third place

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:50:33 +0000

At this hour, CTV in the Maritimes is releasing a poll done in Central Nova, showing Elizabeth May — narrrowly — in third place, running behind Peter MacKay (Conservative) and Louise Lorifice (NDP).

The poll shows:

MacKay: 44 %
Lorefice: 25 %
May: 23 %

The poll also asked self-identified Liberals how they planned to vote:

NDP: 49 %
Con: 25 %
Green: 16 %
None: 8 %
Won’t Vote: 3 %

CBC news judgement at a new low

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:55:06 +0000

As I write this, it’s just after 11 p.m. in Atlantic Canada and we’ve just watched the news. My husband — and he’s no media-whiner — has written this letter to the CBC:

I just saw The National’s item on the all-candidates debate in Central Nova, which misrepresented it as a MacKay-May match, ignoring the candidate and party who are best challenging Peter MacKay for the seat.

Camera angles were used/chosen in such a way that NDP candidate Louise Lorefice was not even shown. She was not clipped. One NDP sign was shown, only as the reporter stated that half the NDP support would have to switch to the third place contender for E. May to be able to win.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front (with apologies to Erich Maria Remarque)

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:00:29 +0000

Some days, I feel as if I’m watching an election that’s taking place somewhere else.

That’s not to say I’m disengaged, however. I have become a poll-chaser, checking polls several times a day, to see what change there might be and I scan for media coverage that might offer some hope that voters are beginning to feel — at the very least — wary of another Stephen Harper government.

You people in the rest of the country should take a lesson from those of us in Atlantic Canada. We hold a grudge. Harper doesn’t like us and we don’t like him. I don’t think he likes many of you that much either but it seems to be taking you longer to recognize it.

The merry month of E. May

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:05:20 +0000

Last week I watched Peter Mansbridge’s political panel — Andrew Coyne, Chantal Hebert, Allan Gregg and Janet MacKinnon — and felt I were living in a different country from them. They spoke of Elizabeth May in hushed and reverent tones, and implied that because she would be in the debate, everything had changed … forever.

You're voting for her ... excuse me? why again?

Sharon Fraser — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:11:38 +0000

There’s a Seinfeld episode with a scene that takes place in a menswear shop:

Jerry: “Excuse me, I’d like to return this jacket.”

Shopkeeper: “Certainly. May I ask why?”

Jerry: “For spite …”

Shopkeeper: “Spite?”

Jerry: “That’s right. I don’t care for the salesman that sold it to me.”

Shopkeeper: “I don’t think you can return an item for spite.”

Jerry: “What do you mean?”

Shopkeeper: “Well, if there was some problem with the garment, if it were unsatisfactory in some way, then we could do it for you, but I’m afraid spite doesn’t fit into any of our conditions for a refund.”

The end of a most significant era

Sharon Fraser — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:56:39 +0000

There are very few politicians across the land who are known by their first names only but - indisputably - one of them is Alexa. (Okay, okay, Alexa McDonough.)

Alexa first ran for public office in 1979 - the year Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of the United Kingdom. She lost that first election and the one following, but since 1981, she has been an NDP fixture in Nova Scotia, both on the provincial and the federal scenes. She has served as leader at both levels and is respected by many people across the political spectrum. She has worked actively for peace while effectively serving a constituency that includes a large military presence.

Culture of defeat? Defeat this!

Sharon Fraser — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:53:22 +0000

In the circles I move in, the issue is leadership all right. From my 13-year-old son who disdainfully imitates the ads that channel Mr. Rodgers, to my 95-year-old mother-in-law who says, in no uncertain terms, "I want to see him defeated," the issue is Stephen Harper.

Harper is not popular in the Maritimes. Even some Conservatives will run their campaigns trying not to mention him and depending on local issues and traditional voting patterns to see them through. I'll come back to that another day.

Lowering the Peace Tower flag

rabble archives — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Whose life âe" and whose death âe" is worth more in our national consciousness? The issue turned up in the news after a non-partisan committee advised the government to scale back the numbe

Soldiers are killed in wars. Police officers are killed in the line of duty. Workers are killed on the job.

Women are killed âe¦ more often than not, just because they're women.

And why stop there? People are killed because they're homeless, because of their sexual orientation, because of their colour, religion, age, ethnicity.

Which of these lives lost are most worthy of being honoured in death?

That has become the stark question as controversy swirls around the lowering to half mast of the Peace Tower flag.

It's been swell, it's been great âe¦

rabble archives — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Thursday, May 31, 2007

When I mentioned to a friend that I had resigned my position as editor of <i>rabble.ca</i>, she expressed great surprise. I thought you loved your work there, she said. And I do. I have l

When I mentioned to a friend that I had resigned my position as editor of rabble.ca, she expressed great surprise. “I thought you loved your work there,” she said.

And I do. I have loved every minute of the work I've done here. But I've been here since May of 2003. That's a long time in internet years and it is now time for rabble and me to tear ourselves apart and pursue other challenges.

There have been many changes at rabble.ca since I arrived here, four years ago — in personnel, in additional content and new sections, in administration.

Carrie Best: 'As good as anyone, better than most'

rabble archives — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Monday, February 20, 2006

This is Black History Month. In the history of Nova Scotia  home of the largest indigenous Black community in Canada  Carrie Best was well-known and admired for her many years of work on

This is Black History Month. In the history of Nova Scotia — home of the largest indigenous Black community in Canada — Carrie Best was well-known and admired for her many years of work on behalf of her people. Dr. Best died in 2001 but not before she had made her mark and helped to dispel some of the egregious racism that existed throughout her life.

She was born in New Glasgow in 1903.

The Editor Strikes Back

rabble archives — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Friday, June 3, 2005

Last week, someone directed the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) to the Mike Constable cartoon which appears on this page. Under the headline, Canadian Government Caught Funding Anti-Catholi

Last week, someone directed the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) to the Mike Constable cartoon which appears on our front page. Under the headline, “Canadian Government Caught Funding Anti-Catholic Website Bashing Pope Benedict,” the CCRL sent out a press release and began a letter-writing campaign to rabble.ca. Let me tell you about the letters.

They started to pour in after the Ottawa Citizen ran the cartoon at the top of its front page with an accompanying story featuring our publisher, Judy Rebick and the artist, Mike Constable.