I receive many story pitches each week. They arrive in my inboxes and my direct messages. Most of them are outside of my primary beat - that is they are not a Hamilton City Hall story. As a reader-funded journalist, I must be clear about what I cover and what readers can expect from me. I do my best to respond to messages and pitches, usually with a polite thank you for thinking of me, unfortunately ... then a quick reason why I cannot cover the story. For first-time emails, I'll say they are welcome to keep sending me pitches - one never knows when a story idea's timing will be ideal. A pleas ..read more

I am watching the livestream of oral arguments at the Ontario Labour Relations Board this morning as the Government of Ontario seeks an order from the Board that Ontario's lowest-paid education workers are engaged in an illegal strike. Presently, the government lawyer is arguing that CUPE's ongoing strike is a "mid-contract" withdrawal of services. The lawyer argues there is a collective agreement in place, albeit imposed by government legislation and not free negotiation. Thus, he argues, CUPE workers cannot conduct a "mid-contract strike." Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education ..read more

Hamiltonians appear to be tuning out the municipal election in the final few days of the campaign. Exhausted by a barrage of negativity and bullshit from various people who claim an affinity for one candidate or another, the number of people tweeting about the municipal has steadily decreased in recent days. Annotatally, people state to me they are not logging into Twitter until Monday night after this damn election is over. My own Twitter analytics show a significant drop in people browsing my tweets and profile during the past week. This surprises me, I usually see substantial increases bef ..read more

A good man, a great educator, and a great community contributor died recently. Peter Greenberg was age 78. Peter Greenberg was a great educator. He made a positive impact on thousands of students, including me - and I wasn't even a student at his school. I first met Greenberg in February 1998 at the Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys' and Girls' Club, where I was a referee at a basketball tournament. Mr. Greenberg [as he was to me then] was there to cheer on his Dundas District teams as the Principal of the famed Dundas middle school. The details are vague with time, but I remember the positive impres ..read more

Hamilton mayoral candidate Keanin Loomis held a presser on Thursday to announce his housing platform. Following the announcement, Loomis took questions from the media. Another journalist asked Loomis what he thought of Premier Doug Ford's plan to give the Mayors of Toronto and Ottawa as-of-yet unspecified veto powers. Loomis responded, "The province hasn't put forward any specifics as of yet. So it would really just be speculation," adding that he began his campaign knowing the mayor is "one vote among sixteen," and he plans to "collaborate with the fifteen people around the council table to r ..read more

It is just over 5°C in Hamilton at 9:00 pm this New Years Eve. I am walking in Downtown Hamilton, going nowhere in particular. COVID has ruined New Years Eve, Again. The present Ontario COVID regulations require restaurants to close at 11:00 pm, indoor gatherings are limited to 10 people, and outdoor gatherings to 25 people. With 50 percent capacity limits, the restaurants along King William were full, there is the blinking of four way lights on vehicles picking up food delivery orders for those celebrating tonight at home. The buses are free, as they are each New Year's Eve. The 9:00 pm B-Lin ..read more

There is no special Sunday print edition of The Hamilton Spectator on this Sunday Boxing Day. It is the end of a tradition and another marker of the decline in the importance of print advertising. There have been special editions of TheSpec every Boxing Day Sunday since the legalization of Boxing Day retail opening in 1996. The ProQuest database states the last Boxing Day special edition, on Sunday, December 26, 2010, contained 68 stories. There were over 100 stories on Sunday, December 26, 2004, and the 1999 edition included 94 stories. Since 2010, Boxing Day has declined in importance to ret ..read more

I am finding joy in this second Christmas of COVID. Friends have delivered gifts to my porch; I enjoyed a beautiful walk on this warm Christmas Eve, had a good laugh watching tonight's local evening newscast, and am enjoying the relaxation of this restful weekend. I sit beside a Christmas tree, my Spotify library playing in the background (radio gave me enough seasonal music already for this year), wearing a knit cardigan, and a book to finish reading sitting beside me. I am blessed with great friends, both old and new. I am thankful for the time I've had with many of them in recent weeks. The ..read more

This post is inspired by today's episode of CANADALAND discussing the impact of COVID upon restaurant, the rise of third-party delivery apps, and if restaurants have a future. No spoilers from me, listen here. The Hamilton Farmers' Market, the City of Hamilton mismanaged commercial space at the centre of Downtown Hamilton had a hopeful revival underway prior to the pandemic. Not by design, the lower west end of the Market had become a food court consisting of an interesting variety of prepared food vendors. It was a busy lunch destination for office workers, and it was growing. The Market clo ..read more

Canada's journalism schools have come together to launch a new publication. Facts and Frictions' title "reflects our mission to publish rigorous, well-documented research (facts) that invites debate and discussion from multiple perspectives (frictions)," writes editor-in-chief Patricia W. Elliott. It is a promising publication, one which I hope follows a similar model to the British Journalism Review in being written with a general and industry audience in mind. The BJR is a fascinating mixture of practitioner viewpoints, media criticism, industry news, book reviews,  confessional articl ..read more