Harvey Oberfeld (born March 4, 1945) is a Canadian journalist. Now retired, he maintains a personal blog featuring personal anecdotes and opinion pieces about current events.

Life and career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, he graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

(now

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

) in Montreal. While attending university he was a reporter for ''The Georgian'' campus newspaper. His stories on the possible cancellation of the scheduled Youth Pavilion at

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

for lack of adequate capital/operational funding led to wider media coverage and substantial new corporate contributions that saved the Pavilion; Oberfeld was appointed to the Youth Advisory Committee for

Print

After graduating, Oberfeld took his first daily newspaper job at the Saskatoon ''

Star Phoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...

'', covering, among other stories, the early court appearances of

David Milgaard David Milgaard (July 7, 1952 – May 15, 2022) was a Canadian man who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing student Gail Miller in Saskatoon and imprisoned for 23 years. He was eventually released and exonerated. Up u ...

who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 murder of Saskatoon nursing student Gail Miller. After moving to the ''

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Li ...

'' for two years, Oberfeld joined ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

'' in 1971, initially covering the

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

and then

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

city halls, and then becoming ''Suns first regional affairs reporter, inaugurating full-time coverage of the

Greater Vancouver Regional District The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

as it assumed a larger role in regional services. Oberfeld was promoted to the ''Suns

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Bureau in 1974, covering the

BC Legislature The Parliament of British Columbia is made of two elements: the King in Right of British Columbia, represented by the Lieutenant Governor, and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (which meets at the British Columbia Parliament Buildi ...

under the NDP government of Premier

Dave Barrett David Barrett (October 2, 1930 – February 2, 2018) was a politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 26th premier of British Columbia from 1972 to 1975. Early life and career Barrett was born in Vancouver, Britis ...

and then the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

government of Premier

Bill Bennett William Richards Bennett, (April 14, 1932 – December 3, 2015) was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986. He was a son of Annie Elizabeth May (Richards) and former Premier, W. A. C. Bennett. He was a 3rd cousin, twice removed, ...

Television

In 1979, Oberfeld joined BCTV's Legislative Bureau, making the switch to television during the station's "Golden Era" under News Director Cameron Bell and Assignment Editor Keith Bradbury. Their strategy of hiring accomplished newspaper reporters to bolster the flagship ''News Hour'' news program helped propel BCTV to the top of the ratings, a position it still holds under its new owners

CanWest Global Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

. Oberfeld was a key reporter in the station's coverage of British Columbia's "Dirty Tricks Scandal",B.C. Dirty Tricks Scandal
/ref> which eventually saw eight B.C. government employees lose their jobs amidst allegations of election-boundary interference, phoney letters-to-the-editor and secret election-fund bank accounts. In 1981, BCTV moved Oberfeld to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

where he became the station's first full-time bureau chief during Prime Minister

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

's final term in office. He also covered Parliament Hill under Prime Ministers

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

and

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

. Oberfeld returned to

in 1989 where he did political and investigative reporting for BCTV / Global until he retired in 2006. Oberfeld currently writes a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

called ''Keeping it real ...''.

Awards

During his career, Oberfeld won several regional and national journalism awards including: *

Canadian Association of Journalists The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ; french: Association Canadienne des Journalistes) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that offers advocacy and professional development to journalists across Canada. The CAJ was created to pro ...

' Award (1990) for Outstanding Investigative Reporting in Canada by a Regional Television station * Webster Award for Best Reporting of the Year (1991-Television) * Webster Award for Excellence In Legal Journalism (2004) *

Canadian Association of Broadcasters The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is a trade association representing the interests of commercial radio and television broadcasters in Canada. It is co-located with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in Ottawa. It was first e ...

Gold Ribbon Award (1991) for a News Series *

Radio-Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

of Canada Dan MacArthur Awards (1991- Regional and National) * BC Association of Broadcasters Award (1996) for Best Reporting-Television

References

http://www.harveyoberfeld.ca

Canadian Association of Journalists

Webster Awards, 1991

Webster Awards, 2004

Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon Awards

Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada Dan MacArthur Awards

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberfeld, Harvey Anglophone Quebec people Canadian newspaper reporters and correspondents Canadian television reporters and correspondents Journalists from Montreal 1945 births Living people Sir George Williams University alumni