Two aspects of my summers past are relevant to the story I’m about to share: first, as a kid, I used to devour Nancy Drew mysteries (hence the title of this article) and always had a hankering to solve mysteries. Second (and more recently), for what seemed like a veryRead More
More BullSHIP? In a bit of revisionist history that would probably secretly impress the government of the People’s Republic of China, Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP) CEO Albert Barbusci has erased all mention of the Chinese from his latest Novaporte container terminal press release. I figure the next step willRead More
Free the information CBRM Municipal Clerk Deborah Campbell Ryan got back to me Tuesday night about another FOIPOP I submitted back in April looking for information about a matter before council. Her original estimate of the fee I would be required to pay for this (public) information was $215 andRead More
Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series of articles about the conclusions of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) inquiry. You can read the first one here, the second here, the third here and the fourth here. How might reclaiming the rightful “power andRead...
Amid the visions of airports and helipads, plus suggestions that Cape Breton should be a new province, a new territory or a partner with Membertou, and the publication of the financial position in which the CBRM finds itself, CBU Professor Tom Urbaniak’s notion that the seat of the Diocese ofRead More
Politics today is strikingly polarized in both Canada and the United States (and, of course, in other parts of the world). People who call themselves “conservative” and those who call themselves “liberal” or “progressive” not only disagree with one another about almost everything, they seem to be inhabiting such differentRead More
When I saw the headline “Life in lockup“on the front page of Tuesday’s Cape Breton Post I was impressed — a full, front page story (and two additional pages inside) exploring life in the Cape Breton Correctional Facility? SaltWire actually doing a valuable “deep dive?” Excellent. And then I readRead More
I did not weep, I turned to stone inside…Dante, Inferno I rarely cry, but on the evening of 8 December 1987, glued to radio coverage of the signing of a nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Soviet Union, I wept with a relief I had neverRead More
You may have noticed that some American billionaires are actually anxious to give away some of those billions to help those who fall, well, billions short of having a half-decent chance at something even close to the good life. Are the guys with the big bucks “bucking for the finals”Read More
On numerous occasions in recent decades, Canadian governments have apologized for a host of egregious wrongdoings. While such words of contrition are too often unaccompanied by adequate actions, they can help make visible, as Trudeau argued in his 2017 apology, the “hard truths” Canadian society needs to confront. Yet theRead More
Amid the visions of airports and helipads, plus suggestions that Cape Breton should be a new province, a new territory or a partner with Membertou, and the publication of the financial position in which the CBRM finds itself, CBU Professor Tom Urbaniak’s notion that the seat of the Diocese ofRead More
Two aspects of my summers past are relevant to the story I’m about to share: first, as a kid, I used to devour Nancy Drew mysteries (hence the title of this article) and always had a hankering to solve mysteries. Second (and more recently), for what seemed like a veryRead More
![Red currants.(Photo by ojonsson from Göteborg, Sweden [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]](https://capebretonspectator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/red_currants_crop-200x150.png)
What to do this week There are so many garden projects vying for my attention these days. The red currants and gooseberries are at their peak so I am busy picking and cleaning for the freezer. I discovered that gooseberries get sweet enough to eat out of hand if theyRead More
Dear Editor, For the record, on June 17 the Town of Port Hawkesbury registered an Ottawa-addressed Greg Maceachern as a consultant lobbyist with respect to the Allan J. MacEachen Port Hawkesbury Airport regarding infrastructure and transportation matters concerning regional development. In essence, the mayor of Port Hawkesbury is using localRead More
Print pairings I find a fun thing to do is to pair Cape Breton Post stories with other stories the way you pair wine and cheese. The idea behind pairing wine and cheese is that each tastes better when complemented by the other. Similarly, many Cape Breton Post stories areRead More
What to do this week It has been a slow start but with the recent heat and ample rain, the garden is starting to catch up. This column will spend as much time in the kitchen as outside, with tips on using the incoming bounty. Right now you should beRead...
It’s not like I had high hopes for that “viability” study Grant Thornton has just completed for the CBRM — frankly, I viewed it as a $219,000 hoop we had to jump through to get the province to recognize our difficult financial situation — but I hadn’t expected to findRead More
Editor’s Note: The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, five years to the day after an assassin’s bullet in Sarajevo sparked a global conflict claiming over 20 million lives. Sean Howard reflects on a momentous centenary receiving remarkably little political or media attention. Mischief and MadnessRead More
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles about the conclusions of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) inquiry. You can read the first one here and the second here.) Cassidy Bernard, a young mother died last fall in We’koqma’q (Whycocomagh). Last week,Read More
