Thin Blue Island Researching this week’s stories on the Cape Breton Regional Police Service (CBRPS) I ran across a (lengthy) profile of the service which included this amazing paragraph: Although only a small Island, Cape Breton’s beauty, hospitality and culture has made it one of the top vacation destinations worldwide.Read More

In 2003, Peace Quest Cape Breton launched a modest campaign for a ‘Pentagon Vacation’: a two-week (336-hour) reduction in the US Defense Department’s annual budget of $379 million (all figures in US dollars)– a saving, calculating 14 days at a Pentagon Hour (PH) rate of $42 million/hour, of around $14Read More

When CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke began mulling a run for the leadership of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party back in December 2017, he appeared on the CBC’s Information Morning Cape Breton and was asked by host Steve Sutherland if a win would put progress on the Port of Sydney containerRead More

What to do this week With the prolonged cold weather, there was some serious pouting going on in my house. I wasn’t sure there even should be a column this week and maybe I’m still not certain. But if, like me, you are greatly cheered by a few days ofRead More

Note: In honor of International Women’s Day, I set out to profile Women Unlimited, a women’s group founded in Sydney in the early ’80s. I discovered the group had been formed from the steering committee of a conference held in Sydney around that time and the conference itself was soRead More

On February 11, the government of Nova Scotia announced it was “pleased to see” that “Nova Scotia’s economic outlook continues to be positive.” The joy, expressed in a press release from Finance and Treasury Board Minister Karen Casey, was sparked by Statistics Canada’s January Labour Force Survey which showed theRead More

How many Catholics, I wonder, of those who continue to attend Mass at least weekly — praying, singing, listening to homilies and participating in the Eucharist — ever give serious thought to the ongoing and possibly greatest scandal in the Catholic Church’s history? Is it a case of “I’m alrightRead...

Many years ago, when I was in journalism school, we were taught that the Op-Ed pages were something to which reporters should aspire. Getting a column or being tasked with writing editorials was the reward for having paid your dues (and honed your craft) as a working reporter. Even theseRead...

“Hopefully, the [feasibility study by Chinese construction giant CCCC] will be completed by July and we will be able to fast-track construction for opening for business in 2019,” — Port of Sydney CEO Marlene Usher, April 2016 “If all goes well, we’ll be putting a shovel into the ground inRead More

What to do this week Right about now is when I finally get tired of frozen and winter root vegetables and start to crave a bite of some tender, fresh greens. Even diligent sprouting of lentils and cress do not assuage the appetite for leafy greens, though they are wellRead...