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Margaret Shkimba

@margaretshkimba.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.3K following 226 posts

Writer. Grandma. Hamilton, Ontario Contributing columnist, Hamilton Spectator.

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Reposted by Margaret Shkimba
darren32359.bsky.social @darren32359.bsky.social · 12h
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The further away we move from the last mass slaughter, the quicker we march mindlessly into the next one. Stop the madness. The only winners in war are arms manufacturers & the banks that fund them. The rest of us sell out our souls, or give our lives. thespec.pressreader.com/the-hamilton...
thespec.pressreader.com
The Hamilton Spectator
The Hamilton Spectator
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My latest Substack substack.com/@margaretshk...
substack.com
Margaret Shkimba (@margaretshkimba)
“If, as a pacifist, I’m “deluded”, how do I understand my own brain as a functioning organ rather than the pursuit and desire for peace as a pathological preoccupation? Is it enough to resort to “well...
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A personal note updating on my health. Happy to be a success story almost one year out from near death. margaretshkimba.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
margaretshkimba.substack.com
Back in the Saddle Again
It’s almost a year now since I my heart blew up and I found myself staring death in the face. It’s been a long recovery, but I think I can safely say I’m back and better than I was before.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The by-election in HE-SC is an opportunity to assert ourselves against the duplicitous Conservative Party under Doug Ford. The OLT urban boundary decision was a slap in the face of democracy and the decision of local government. We need to slap back. www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Cross-border bad mouthing and forced Hamilton boundary expansions: We’re living in interesting times
How will questions around the city’s urban boundary play on the campaign trail?
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
“Attachment to Ford, his Progressive Conservative Party and his wealthy donors should be the political kiss of death for any candidate, whether in the provincial byelections or the municipal general elections.” www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Send Doug Ford a message when you vote in the upcoming byelection
Ontarians are done with being lied to, our social services underfunded, our hospitals bankrupted, our education system gutted and our tax dollars squandered, writes Margaret Shkimba.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
My column for today. The rich do not have the best interests of society at heart. They would deny poors democratic representation if it were up to them. They have become emboldened enough to express such thoughts as a “good idea.” www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Beware tech bros and the monied classes
The rich today have no problem expressing their belief in their natural right to rule.
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Laura Babcock 🇨🇦 @laura-babcock.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Woohoo! We just hit 15,000 Subscribers to 🇨🇦 The OShow Canada’s Pro Democracy Podcast on YouTube! Thank you to everyone for fighting for democracy and supporting independent media! Sub here for free youtube.com/@theoshowwit.... Or visit TheOshow.ca
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
@mackaycartoons.bsky.social
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Nathan Sager @n8sager.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The @margaretshkimba.bsky.social has a fantastic article, 'The Battle of Stoney Creek 2.0,' about some shameful pandering to the BANANA / NIMBY crowd. Only in Hamilton do voters put parking spots before people! open.substack.com/pub/margaret... #CanadianSky #CielCanadien
open.substack.com
The Battle of Stoney Creek 2.0
The affordable housing planned for the parking lot on Lake Ave. in Stoney Creek has hit the news again, just in time for the silly season of a municipal election
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Are they giving Stoney Creek voters false hope? open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
open.substack.com
The Battle of Stoney Creek 2.0
The affordable housing planned for the parking lot on Lake Ave. in Stoney Creek has hit the news again, just in time for the silly season of a municipal election
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Frances @frances2023.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This is another Ford government story, but has flown under the radar. When the government lost in court over Bill 124 capping salaries to 1% increases and the legislation was repealed, the government refused to compensate agencies for funds needed to backpay workers. #FightFord
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Support striking OPSEU workers in their demand for back pay after the illegal passage and then repeal of Bill 124. Labour solidarity✊ www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Striking OPSEU workers deserve your support
About 4,000 public sector workers are on strike for their owed backpay.
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🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 @hm2b.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Absolutely...and we ignore his incompetence at pur own peril. He is destructive, uncaring and simply not good at the job we pay him to do.
to.do
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Frances @frances2023.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Yes! I've started saying this in every discussion about the state of the world: They love it when we fight among ourselves instead of aiming our criticism where it belongs. We have to stop that now.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve the crises of homelessness, drug addiction or mental health. Direct your anger where it belongs: the Ford government. These are their problems to fix. www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Direct your library complaints to Doug Ford
This is not a made-in-Hamilton problem and there should be a made-in-Ontario solution.
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Laura Babcock 🇨🇦 @laura-babcock.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Have you ever had your plans totally derailed? A bad car crash in my 20s completely screwed up my career path and I had to start over and try new things - even when I didn’t feel qualified. Saying yes anyway has been a key to my success. Check out this brief chat about it youtu.be/28QZ-Aj7Yco?... 🇨🇦
youtu.be
The Best Career Moves Aren't Always Planned | Laura Babcock
YouTube video by Successfully Ambiguous Podcast
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
We should be just as proud of our social services and how we treat the homeless as we are about our brand new entertainment facilities. www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Moving shelters won’t fix Hamilton’s homelessness problem
What if the facility was state-of-the-art in design aimed at what the clientele needs rather than limited to what some think they deserve?
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Doug Ford is sinking Ontarians. There has to be a political cost for his policies that actually hurt people & the communities they live in. It’s not too late to right the ship. #DumpDoug How much more damage will Doug Ford do? www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
How much more damage will Doug Ford do?
Honorary degree is slap in the face to higher education.
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Laura Babcock 🇨🇦 @laura-babcock.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
“Ford has so many scandals: fresh new hell of 500M potential secret payout to pal for air *rights, he won’t give us records on Gravy Plane, and passed law putting his friends in charge of elected mayors! We should be in full revolution mode!” 🚨youtu.be/e0m7WQjS1Gk?si… #Onpoli
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
January 20, 2029: Democratic president inaugurated. January 21: Full Trumpectomy begins. Melt the golden statues. Rip his name off the Kennedy Center. Restore the Rose Garden and East Wing. Tear down the gilded ballroom. America finally touches grass again. 🌿🇺🇸
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Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 02/05/2026
A brutal indictment of Carney - gutting the social policy initiatives of his predecessor. I wasn't even aware of some of this. Vanishing differences between Carney and Poilievre. Liberal partisans, you support THIS? www.thestar.com/politics/pol...
thestar.com
Althia Raj: Mark Carney has forgotten who helped get him elected
Dig into the details of the prime minister's budget and you find cuts to social programs.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Pop his balloon ego.
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FF-Suze @suze-bsky.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
An apology is so inadequate - when this man loses his temper you see the true #DougFord not when he puts on his aw shucks folks personae that SO many fall for. #FordMustResign #FightFord
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Graeme MacKay @mackaycartoons.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
My Tuesday cartoon in The Hamilton Spectator: www.thespec.com/opinion/edit...
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
@fordnation has since apologized in private to MPP Smyth. Not good enough. He made the comments in the house, he needs to retract them and apologize in the house. www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
More misogyny in the Ontario legislature
The kind of disparaging comment made by Doug Ford in the legislature would not be out of place coming from the mouth of Donald Trump.
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Laura Babcock 🇨🇦 @laura-babcock.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Like Trump and his Epstein Class, Ford and his Gravy Plane Class want to take all the things: Greenbelt, Ontario Place, Airport, TO Waterfront, Regional Councils, School Boards, Conservation Authorities 🔗 youtu.be/6nyfaPTZstk?... 🇨🇦🤬👊 Watch @margaretshkimba.bsky.social @michauvanspeyk.bsky.social
youtu.be
THE OSHOW: PROTESTS IN ONTARIO AND ALBERTA, FORD'S GRAVY PLANE CRASHES HIS BRAND, TRUMP TRADE WAR
YouTube video by The OShow with Laura Babcock
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Maybe it’s not MPPs people need to protest. Maybe it’s Ford supporters, from deep-pocketed donors to crony labour leaders to corporate welfarists. We need a General Strike. open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
open.substack.com
More Cowbell!: Protests Against Ford Not Letting Up.
Saturday’s protest in the windy wet weather outside MPP Monica Ciriello’s office on the Hamilton mountain was just one of many as Ontarians continue to express their anger at the Ford government.
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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
After driving Palestinians out of their homes and stealing long held property the Netanyahu government is now allowing forced removal of Christians from their own land. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
theguardian.com
A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank
The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
“It’s increasing looking like Israel, along with its sponsor state, the US, is the threat to world peace, not Iran.” Time to cut ties with Israel? open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
open.substack.com
When Words Aren’t Enough: Time to Cut Ties With Israel
Recent remarks by the Israeli Ambassador to Canada exposes Israel’s not only Israel’s barbaric repression of Palestinians but also signals a desire to alter Canadians’ rights and freedoms.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Early days yet… Lots of aspirational promises but what will win the day are concrete plans to address the city’s challenges and the province’s failures. www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
Hamilton’s mayoral race heats up
Promises of transparency, accountability and co-operation are aspirational but should be baseline for all candidates.
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Shirley Tillotson @stillots1.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Dr Loo gave excellent content, starting at 4:40 minutes in. The significance of the 1970s pipeline story! For historians who want to be irritated, the setup in the first 4 minutes will definitely provide: it's about how some people think history is "boring" and "irrelevant" but -gasp! - it's not!
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Ryan McGhoul 👻💀🎃 @ryanmcgreal.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
A reminder that the more an economy invests in renewables and less dependent it is on fossil fuels, the more resilient it is against geopolitical supply shocks. And that’s without even considering the enormous positive externality of reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Indigenous protestors were trying to bring attention to decades of mercury poisoning in their community. Mark Carney's response? "I can outlast her"
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
“Turing BBA into Pearson-on-the-Waterfront isn’t the answer to our desire to grow. It is the answer to a construction industry voracious in its demand to build, build, build, and to hell with the repercussions.” open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Paid time off for employees is priceless. @fordnation continues to screw over Ontarians just so he can shop on a stat holiday. Worst. Premier. Ever. Stat holidays on Doug Ford’s chopping block www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
“…in meeting the world where it is, we run the risk of jettisoning any aspiration to where we want it to be. Is Canada giving up?” Seems so. Feeling nostalgic for the principled position of Jean Chrétien. open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
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Ricky Davila @therickydavila.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
So proud of the USA Olympic Women’s Hockey Team for showing moral backbone and integrity unlike the Men’s Hockey Team who quickly gave into fascism.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
If someone’s in the habit of pedophilia, what makes anyone think they’d tell the truth about anything? Even under oath. Which means nothing to people with no conscience or moral compass.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Well… duh!
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
😕
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Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
I hope OpenAI gets sued into the sun
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 21/02/2026
A maternity ward doctor donated his own blood during surgery to keep a pregnant patient alive. One woman gained fewer than 10 pounds over her entire pregnancy. Another collapsed and had seizures during labor. (Published Dec. 2025)
propublica.org
What I Saw at a Maternity Ward in Kenya After the U.S. Cut Off Food and Foreign Aid
Photographs tell a story of two mothers determined to help their babies gain enough weight to leave the hospital — only to face little to no food again.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Digital manipulation is easy for anyone with half a brain, as evidenced by the recent attempt to silence UU Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Shame on the Canadian connection. open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
open.substack.com
Francesca Albanese, UN Watch, and the Politics of Digital Warfare
UN Special Rapporteur on the OPT Francesca Albanese has come under fire from several European nations who are demanding she step down over comments she made that they claim are anti-Semitic.
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Malena-PRO-CHOICE 🌊 🟦🟧Fighting Tyranny! @malena.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
I have never bawled my head off from watching dance before, but this had me sobbing uncontrollably. This tribute to Renee Good & Alex Pretti dipicting #ICELawlessness is something EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN NEEDS TO SEE! Bravo to the dancers of Hungryman Productions & choreographer Mathew Steffens!
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
How has no one resigned or been fired for the budgetary bombshell that hit the Barton-Tiffany shelter project? www.thespec.com/opinion/colu...
thespec.com
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🍁 Left of Woke Warrior @wokenojokewarrior.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Excerpt from article posted below by @margaretshkimba.bsky.social
I’m typically reluctant to let loose on women in the public eye, they are so often the object of scorn and derision in our misogynistic culture, so my comments have been well considered and are not off the cuff or in any way knee jerk. But Bondi has demonstrated an obscene lack of compassion and sense of justice for the victims and survivors of the predations of Epstein et al. It’s astounding the level of blind partisanship she demonstrates in her defence of convicted felon and rapist Donald Trump. Her contempt of Congress is arrogant and dismissive.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“Bondi has demonstrated an obscene lack of compassion and sense of justice for the victims and survivors of the predations of Epstein et al. It’s astounding the level of blind partisanship she demonstrates in her defence of convicted felon and rapist Donald Trump.” Her contempt of Dems is palpable.
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Margaret Shkimba @margaretshkimba.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
What a shit show of unprofessional partisan delusion. open.substack.com/pub/margaret...
open.substack.com
Bullshit Barbie Pam Bondi Takes the Stand
US AG Pam Bondi testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about all things DOJ. What’s top of everyone’s mind is: why has no one been charged in relation to the Epstein files yet?
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Arrête Mark Carney ⚜️ @lalegault.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
I know Americans have been fed bullshit their whole lives about Cubans and Cuba 🇨🇺 but take it from someone who has been there a half dozen times— they are the loveliest, hard working, self-respecting people who just need 🇺🇸 to take its foot off their necks. Don’t you dare attack them.
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