Of Humble Origins –
Literary Review of Canada/ October 2024
The glitz and glam of a grassroots movement
A Review of The Cooperators: The People Behind the Rebirth of a Nova Scotia Movement, 1949-2024, Alec Bruce, Pottersfield Press, 2024.
“On October 18, 2023, the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with a glittery gala and public talk with the former first lady and celebrity author Michelle Obama, before a packed house in Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre. It was actually the second of two such extravaganzas, coming four years after an equally flashy evening billed as “A Conversation with Barack Obama.” Shelling out speaker fees to New York booking agencies for celebrities commanding $200,000 (U.S.) or more per appearance was now, apparently, aligned with the mission of a council representing community credit unions and small producers in rural and small-town Nova Scotia….that lays claim to the heritage of the Antigonish Movement, founded a hundred years ago by two Catholic visionaries and dedicated to serving the poor in Cape Breton and other parts of eastern Nova Scotia. Putting on airs was the last thing those humble founders would have imagined.

Commission Concluded: Portapique and the questions still unanswered Literary Review of Canada, April 2024
Mass Murder, Police Mayhem: The Mass Casualty Commission; The Facts, the Findings, and What Must Be Done. Dean Beeby, Formac Publishing, 2023
“The tiny seaside community of Portapique, Nova Scotia, now bears an infamous name. In April 2020, amid the initial COVID‑19 lockdown, a rage-filled, crazed gunman killed twenty-two people, starting in that village and expanding his scope to surrounding communities over some thirteen hours. The deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history attracted fleeting national media attention, before the cameras moved on to other events. But the nightmare prompted an independent public inquiry, examining mostly why the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment failed to stop the carnage, kept the public more or less in the dark, and resisted full transparency.
Several renowned critics of the agency jumped on the mass murder as yet another example of its crumbling reputation and sheer incompetence. One of the country’s most tenacious investigative reporters, Paul Palango, came out of retirement with a mission to expose the latest episode in an ongoing miscarriage of justice. Now living on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Palango seemed to take on everyone, including the local press for its tendency to parrot RCMP media releases rather than dig deeper. Shunned by many news outlets, he nonetheless found a ready audience on Halifax talk radio and in the pages of Nova Scotia Frank.”

Good Morning Nova Scotia
Literary Review of Canada, April 2023
Behind the Mic: Five Decades Covering the News in the Maritimes
Rick Howe, Pottersfield Press, 2022
“Halifax broadcaster Rick Howe typified the Canadian brand of talk radio. From his familiar greeting “Good morning, Nova Scotia”— to the end of his shift several hours later, he presided over a virtual town square each weekday….For a time, Howe ruled Halifax’s airwaves and shaped thousands of morning conversations at the neighbourhood Tim Hortons and government offices alike. He was “Halifamous,” as the saying goes.
“His entertaining, nostalgic trip down memory lane provides readers with rare and fresh insights into Canadian talk radio. It is also a reminder of how a succession of personalities — from Jack Webster and Larry Solway to Roy Green and, yes, Rick Howe — have worked to understand their audience and to give voice to countless everyday Canadians over the years.”

Bluenose Premier: A biography of Stephen McNeil
Literary Review of Canada, December 2022.
Stephen McNeil: Principle & Politics
Dan Leger, Nimbus Publishing, 2022
“On April 3, 2020, just over three weeks after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Nova Scotia’s premier, Stephen McNeil, uttered four unforgettable words: “Stay the blazes home!” That public plea, spoken in the company of the chief medical officer, Robert Strang, did more than attract national attention. It also turned the Liberal politician into a Maritime folk hero, quickly celebrated with homegrown memes, songs, lawn signs, beer cans, and T-shirts….
“In tackling McNeil’s contentious and contested political career, Leger walks a fine line and delivers a remarkably judicious post-mortem. This book will surely stand as the definitive biography of the “Stay the blazes home!” premier.”

Marches in Lockstep: An activist’s critique of Pandemic Policy
Literary Review of Canada, July-August 2022.
Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic
Nora Loreto, Fernwood Publishing, 2021
“Passionate, hard-hitting, and fiercely contrarian, Spin Doctors is sure to appeal to harsh critics of the Canadian response to COVID-19 and to skeptics who have lost faith in both political leaders and public health officials. Consumed by recent rounds of job losses, Loreto serves up a scathing critique of the “media establishment” (basically everyone but alternative news sites) that takes the form of a diary-like retelling of the pandemic’s first year…”
“The realities of COVID-19 should spark much-needed rethinking of public policy, pandemic planning, and numerous social inequalities…. Indeed, so much of Spin Doctors focuses on shooting the messenger that it’s no wonder the media establishment has, so far, brushed aside Nora Loreto’s criticisms.”

Virtual Realities: Putting technology to the test
Literary Review of Canada, September 2020.
Teachers vs. Tech? The Case for an Ed Tech Revolution
Daisy Christodoulou, Oxford University Press, 2019.
“Technology skeptics expecting another critique of the dominance of the technology giants will be disappointed. The title, Teachers vs. Tech? ends with a well-placed question mark. Popular and mostly fanciful ed-tech myths need to be exposed, including the 21st century panaceas of personalization, Googling information, active learning, and constant mobile device connectivity… “
“After struggling to master new technology during the great COVID-19 distance learning experiment, students, teachers, and parents may be longing for a respite and a return to regular K-12 ‘bricks-and-mortar’ education…. If the latest education technology promotes “the wrong ideas,” it is ultimately up to educators to set them straight so that the current generation of students can truly benefit from the potential of connectivity and the latest ed tech tools for learning.”
