South Coast Today - timothy gillespie

Book Review: Fear, loathing and fun on the campaign trail

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 00:36:52 +0000

"...a ball team of "misfits and perennial losers" where the pitcher can't pitch, and the rest of the team are overweight, blind or in wheelchairs." Noah Richler's electoral odyssey

It can't be any easy row to hoe for someone who appears to be the smartest fellow in any room, and probably less easy when he is pretty sure he really is that fellow. Such is the case for Noah Richler, when this becomes apparent in his recent bright, thoughtful and often gossipy political memoir, The Candidate: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail (Doubleday Canada, 378 pp), about which the author will be interviewed this Thursday evening at the Keshen Goodman Public Library by LOCALXPRESS writer John DeMont.

Richler's self-admitted hubris – including the decision to challenge a long-term and obviously popular MP – is evident throughout the book and is something that both unhinges him at times and, at others, is his salvation.

He says he thought seriously about running in the West Nova riding where he and his wife spend parts of each year and which they have adopted as one of their "home" places. The candidate describes in some detail his negotiation with NDP party stalwarts about running instead in the Toronto-St. Paul’s riding, where, because it is also the riding where Liberal Carolyn Bennett has served since 1997 and any NDP prospect was thought to have little hope of winning, he was asked if he would "run to lose."

Richler's capacity as a journalist and his keen eye for social and political nuance make for an enjoyable and informed read, filled with plenty of personal and political dish on the inner workings of a federal campaign. I have to admit also to being charmed with the author's ability to be both in the fray and above it as an observer, even if at times a not-so-neutral one.

Even before the seminal event of Omar Khadr getting bail in May of 2015, the author-turned-candidate admits to musing for at least two years about "a life in Ottawa" and had discussed it with close friends and wife Sarah, who much to his surprise said, "Run. You should. You need to." He was off to the races.

In bouncing ideas off NDP star Megan Leslie, Richler was warned from running in West Nova, with her explanation that the provincial NDP had killed the Yarmouth ferry and left the region in a mess. She thought he couldn't win there.

After pitching his hat in the NDP ring, Richler is anxious at not hearing back from the party for more than two weeks. One of the most serious people I have met, the author/candidate is also prone to fits of delicious humour throughout The Candidate. After describing the probable vetting "selectors" in the Conservative and Liberal parties as likely wearing broad ties over heavily starched shirts under three-piece suits or being "fierce-looking women dressed for power in the wings... with not a ripple of fat on any of them," he describes in a loving way the room of ten NDippers who were vetting his nomination as something from a Bill Murray comedy; a ball team of "misfits and perennial losers" where the pitcher can't pitch, and the rest of the team are overweight, blind or in wheelchairs.

Again, he's off to the races. With $350 in the bank and serious doubts about the enterprise.

The Candidate describes with some touching detail the negotiations with party central, the creation of a campaign team, the joys and drudgery of precinct walking and the frustration of being stuck between the party line (or Tom Mulcair's) on issues and his own well-formed ideas of where a responsible party would stand. Richler is maddened by some of the pettiness in political races, especially at a neighboring candidate’s hosting a bar-b-que in Richler's riding, poaching badly-needed funds from his shoestring campaign's paltry coffers.

Some of the more engaging parts of the book are Richler's day-to-day interactions with the NDP "machine" hierarchy and with other candidates at public and media events. I got the sense throughout the book that his native intelligence – what makes him such a valuable part of the contemporary Canadian landscape – is constantly being held in check.

As someone whose earliest opinions were staunchly defended at the dinner table of his literary lion of a father and whose persona and profession have been based on formulating and publishing strong opinions about important current issues, Richler's journalism, Facebook and Twitter histories were subject to great scrutiny.

His past ideological "transgressions" were made problematical when thrown up at him via opposition research passed on to journalists. It is in his responses to the concomitant accusations – and his negotiations with senior party bureaucrats about what, if any, apologies should be forthcoming – that the strength of his convictions, character and intelligence shows.

This push-and-pull is made all the more clear in the internal tussle about the Richler campaign's decision to compensate for the lack of party media advertising in Toronto by creating a series of smart and satirical campaign videos. Much to his displeasure, party bosses nixed some of the ads, but the ensuing debate is worth the price of admission.

Ultimately, toward the end of the campaign and after what he calls a "wave of bad news", Richler comes to the realization that the NDP is about to lose and to lose badly. In his riding, Carolyn Bennett got well over three times the votes of Richler and the Conservative candidate and polled twice his numbers. The entire country was awash in red.

In the end, we Canadians are not treated to MP Noah Richler humiliating MP Chris Alexander on the floor of the House, as the author himself has imagined in his introduction. Instead, we all benefit by having at hand a thoughtful and humourous glimpse into the private and hidden machinations which create the very public platform of democracy we all depend upon. A great bargain, I think.

Originally published in LocalXpress:

The Candidate is published by Doubleday Canada, 378 pp
Noah Richler photo: Marc De Mouy

Timothy Gillespie is a Winnipeg-born writer whose home is now in West Middle Sable, Shelburne County. He is publisher/editor of online news portal, SouthCoastToday.ca

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Opinion: Should the SCT editor/publisher be shot?

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 12:43:47 +0000

Mayhem, murder and malicious content on Shelburne's wild, wild west on Facebook

Each year, 20-30 journalists the world over are successfully targeted for murder, most often because the assassin has taken offence at what is or has been published. Threats to do harm and actual assassinations are most common in countries engaged in wars or great social turmoil; Yemen, Brazil, Syria and France top the list.

It has been 22 years since a Canadian journalist has been murdered and I hope that timeline can be extended.

But an exhortation made less than three days ago on the raucus Shelburne Exchange Facebook blog urges 1700 readers to shoot me has understandably caused me some stress.

Threats of harm to journalists often do not result in any action, but in those same 22 years, more than 500 journalists the world over have been murdered. I am hoping not to be added to that number.

My writing over the past 15 years about the bumbling, missteps and minor corruptions of local politicians and civic leaders has caused stress for the subjects of some of my stories and I have been threatened with legal action and have had a local bully assault me after I wrote critically about his preferred candidate and then caught him stealing political signs from my property.

Despite the threats, assaults and bullying, the recalcitrant politicians, the periodic obfuscations by municipal councils and staffs, the tedious council meetings, thousands of mind-numbing news releases and hundreds of government PR folk spinning bad news into golden thread, as well as the myriad day-to-day humdrum - not to mention no pay for the thousands of hours invested - I have published more than 10,000 stories over the years.

Many people have found my unvarnished style and sometimes over-the-top prose annoying or troublesome, but not once has anyone presented any credible evidence that in any of the thousands of stories and hundreds of thousands of words has there been any error of fact.

In the offending story, I had the audacity to point out that the owner/moderator of the Facebook blog - a local Baptist pastor - had blatantly, carelessly and maliciously slandered a reputable mining executive whose only true crime was wanting to do business in the Town of Shelburne.

Several of her readers pounced like attack dogs and bullied and berated a local politician who had the audacity to befriend the businessman and encourage him to do business in the Greater Shelburne area.

Because of my track record for accuracy, the periodic loud, unpolished and sometimes rude postings on Facebook blogs claiming I "got it wrong" don't mean too much to me.

But the death threat does. And it should mean something to all of us.

What is perhaps more disturbing is that, when the owner/moderator of the site saw the threat minutes after it was posted, she did nothing. Oops. That's not true. She did do something. She egged on the death threat author. An hour after the "Timothy Gillespie should be shot - and shit on." post appeared, at least one Facebook member pleaded with the owner/moderator to remove the shooting threat. The post remains on the site two days later.

Despite the fact that there is no doubt about who made the threat, when they made it and where it was made, the RCMP advised me they will not be laying charges. Maybe a body slumped on my porch might change that a bit, but that wouldn't really make me a happy camper either.

See my offending story here: http://www.southcoasttoday.ca/content/baptist-preacher-gets-down-and-dir...

Timothy Gillespie is editor/publisher of South Coast Today

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OPINION: Plenty of blame to share in boundary debacle

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:03:48 +0000

This week, the law amendments committee travels to Shelburne for hearings about an Electoral Boundary Commission Report advising that Shelburne County be split in two, effectively foreclosing the chance for an MLA from the county to be elected for years, maybe decades.

At one of last week’s House sittings, speakers from the three parties – all members of the Select Committee on the Electoral Reform Commission – agreed that the situation regarding the report was “a mess”.

In Shelburne, the committee will hear hue and cry, sturm and drang from citizens, mayors, wardens, councilors and business chiefs. They will demand in unison– no boundary change.

What they will not likely discuss is the part they played in the current debacle.

Prior to the initial report from the commission, there were only two people in the region who seemed to be aware of the possible consequences of the commission's recommendations.

One has just been elected to Shelburne town council and the other sits on the Law Amendments Committee.

We citizens are largely dependent upon public officials to safeguard our interests. In this case, those interests of citizens have been ignored and betrayed.

Every ten years a boundary review is mandated by legislation and it should come as no surprise that such a review could have unwanted or unexpected consequences.

Even though the commission did not meet in Shelburne, it did hold a series of advertised meetings – 60 hours in all - throughout the province, including several in southwest Nova Scotia.

As far as I know, none of these meetings were attended by any of the three mayors, three deputy mayors, two wardens, two deputy wardens, or more than thirty councilors.

Nor by the five CAOs and clerks whose role is, in part, to track those items which can - or will - have an effect on the citizens of the town or municipality they serve.

Sterling Belliveau, Shelburne MLA and minister twice over, nor any of his staff, attended even one of these important commission meetings.

In the months prior to Commission meetings and the final report, the MLA did not issue one notice or news release to constituents about the commission’s scheduled meetings. Since the final report, he has issued no fewer than four releases, and issued dozens of “robocalls” designed to generate constituent opposition to the recommendations now ensconced in Bill 94.

Mr. Belliveau - and the mayors, wardens, councilors and business leaders - now say they were blind-sided by the commission's final recommendations.

Although this lack of attention by public officials borders on shameful, it should not foreclose the option by the legislature to reject the commission report.

In fact, the issues surrounding questionable changes in the commission terms of reference, the rejection by the government of the initial report, the lobbying of the commission by politicians, the unwarranted public criticism by government of commission members, the amazing hue and cry from citizens throughout Nova Scotia and the considerable current blaming, bickering and "gotcha" between all of the parties, should lead the legislature to end this arguably messy situation.

In this instance, the citizens of Nova Scotia and Shelburne County deserve a fresh start.

Timothy Gillespie
Editor/Publisher
South Coast Today

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$20,000 reward! Really.

Timothy Gillespie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:35:20 +0000

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE!

The one way a journalist – or activist - knows that he is touching a raw nerve about a person, company, political party or issue is when he gets accused of being on the take.

Well, folks, bingo! We have hit the big time this time.

On Monday, someone from Shelburne called a senior editor at the Chronicle Herald and told him that I was on the payroll - for $20,000, no less – of some person, group or company who was paying me to single-handedly destroy Cooke Aquaculture.

This dunderhead didn't seem to grasp that the $500 million multinational has prospered for decades, continues to grow at considerable speed and - the recent contretemps about ISA (Infectious Salmon Anemia) virus aside - has made it clear that it has no intentions of slowing down its plans for Shelburne and Nova Scotia, should be some sign about how well a nefarious plan like our citizen (or Citizens) postulates - for me or anyone else.

Now, I admit to first being a bit – OK, more than a bit – outraged at the accusation. That the call from the Herald reporter to get me to confirm of deny the odious came at the precise moment I was wondering how the hell I was going to pay my cell phone bill this month was an added sting.

The charge is not a new one. Hardly. In the past seven years, I’ve been accused of being on the take when I wrote about a Bonnie and Clyde team selling swampland to the unsuspecting. Again, the smear when I wrote for four years about Frank Anderson and SWSDA screwing us out of millions of dollars of precious economic development. Again too, when I wrote about Ralston MacDonnell and his tragic antics at Bowood and the Yankee grifters that took us all for a ride at the “movie studio” at the tip of Sandy Point and the fibreglass wizard who pissed away thousands of our tax dollars.

When I wrote about Richard Hurlburt and the corrupt, “mobbed up” gang of his that ran (and maybe still runs) Yarmouth, about the dodo-head mayor who led a protest blockade at the high school to intimidate fact-seekers on aquaculture, about the clownish things done – and important things not done - at the various municipal councils in the area, people got pissed off. That some my accusers have been certified mentally ill, have resigned in disgrace, have been investigated and charged with various offenses, have bankrupted themselves with millions in tax dollars or are currently under investigation or suffering foreclosures, business failures and other economic collapse as a result of their perfidy should put some perspective on things.

Everyone knows I’m not blessed with a generous helping of “nice” in my personality. Used to be, but now, not so much. Getting more “un-nice” as I get older. Cranky and intolerant of the foolishness and corruption that passes for government and business practices in this neck of the woods. My guess – it’s going to get worse, not better.

That I have built – if I do say so myself - a considerable and effective news and communications network which affords me a substantial and loyal readership, probably threatens some and pisses others off and does both to still some others. This network also attracts more web traffic and inquiries for positive stories about Shelburne and area than all of the other "positive" web sites combined.

One thing people should recognize is this – I’ve got a great nose for news. Of all of the grifters, scammers, political fools and opportunists, creeps and cretins, dumbbells and dodo heads – the political and other scandals and corruptions – I’ve never been wrong. Yet.

The proof in the pudding here can be found in the files of the RCMP, Department of Justice, Ombudsman’s Office, Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Department of Economic Development and elsewhere - and in the news files of media throughout Nova Scotia and beyond.

My news “slant” is admittedly biased and based on a presumption that I’ve come by honestly – that the best way to rid ourselves of the grifters, scammers, political fools and opportunists, creeps and cretins, dumbbells and dodo heads is to shine a light on them. And embarrass them when necessary.

If that is wrong, my bad.

If the claim of my being on the take is based on my reporting the singly most significant aquaculture-related story ever in Nova Scotia, then perhaps also on the take are The Herald (5 stories in one week), CBC (5+ stories in one week), The Coast Guard, Digby Courier, Queens County Advance, Canadian Press, NovaNewsNow, allNovaScotia.com, Winnipeg Free Press, FishNews, The Fish Site, Seafood news, Yarmouth Vanguard, CKBW, CJLS, etc. A universal Google news feed search today shows the top eight stories about Cooke and Shelburne - not one derived from SCT. This is news folks - I only report it.

I can’t say how this aquaculture thing is going to work out, no one really can. What I can say is that the vicious, mean-spirited vigilante mentality that has sprung up around here surrounding the aquaculture issue – aided and abetted by Cooke and local politicians, government employees and business people and agencies – should be far more a threat to this community than some crazy blogger pounding away at four in the morning and trying to eke out a living in this barren landscape.

Even though it’s really none of anybody’s beeswax, for the record, I largely make my money doing communications consulting and internet marketing. My clients have included a sitting provincial minister and a former minister. Also the Town of Shelburne and Town of Yarmouth and local Chamber of Commerce, CBDC, Tourism Association, Arts Centre and various festivals and events. I’ve received fees from more than a dozen tourism businesses over the years and a handful of others. My clients have included wind energy and investment firms – and a coalition fighting oil and gas pollution of Georges Bank.

My books don’t show one red cent remotely connected to Cooke Aquaculture.

In twelve years here, I have donated thousands of hours of volunteer time for do-gooding community groups, arts and cultural organizations and civic activism groups. It’s what I believe to be both my obligation and my right.

I think I’m good at what I do - 30,000 page views a month of my various news and other webs attest to that – and I think it is a valuable community “asset”. Outside of Shelburne, my work on the internet is by far the most read and recognized work of its kind from this region.

I’m going to keep doing it and doing it larger and better and faster and more effectively.

If I can find the identity of the cretin who called the Herald ($20,000 reward here for name and telephone number), I will take him or her (or them) to the woodshed.

There are a couple of adages that come to mind in this scenario. First, be wary of any species (or community) who readily devours its own. Second, never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.

Just saying.

Timothy Gillespie
editor/publisher

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