The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) will continue funding Destination Cape Breton Association (DCBA), the island’s tourism organization, to the tune of $1.9 million over the next three years. The ACOA funding will match monies raised by a room marketing levy (imposed by the island’s municipalities) to a maximum ofRead More

Editor’s Note: This is an article I’ve been working on for over a month now and it barely scratches the surface of the issue it deals with, namely, the housing problems faced by single, non-seniors in the CBRM. If you have information to add or angles you’d like to seeRead More

Regional Council and its Committees meet in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 320 Esplanade, Sydney, NS. All regular meetings are open to the public. Council meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. and are broadcast on the localRead More

What to do this week I don’t know about you, but this time of year I think a lot about garden pests. I do like to put science in this column once in a while, so maybe it is time for a little biology lesson. This is prime breeding seasonRead More

Editor’s Note: Fast & Curious is appearing today because the Spectator has family in town and needs some beach and Crazy Eights time. (She loses, usually badly, at the latter in case you’re wondering).   Friday Night Lightning Friday night brought a thunder and lightning storm of Biblical proportions toRead...

Quote of the week We’ve been at it for three-and-a-half years, I would say if you reference any of those major developments you’re looking at a 10-year cycle. We’re well within, and much shorter than one could imagine. I think we are in very good shape, I think we’re betterRead More

There I was, looking for signs of shipbreaking on Sydney harbor and I forgot to mention North Sydney. Apologies to all my North Sydney readers, who must have been left scratching their heads. How did I forget about that time the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) sold Archibald’s Wharf, aRead More

If you’ve read this week’s article on large-vessel disposal in Canada, you probably think you know everything there is to know about shipbreaking and recycling in this country but let out your sheets, friend (an expression I just made up as the nautical equivalent of “hold your horses”), there’s moreRead More

On 10 July 1970, three young Cape Breton men — 20-year-old Terry Burt of Sydney, 17-year-old David Burrows of Sydney River and 15-year-old Kenny Novak of Sydney River — were run over by a freight train on a track in Maine, about 45 kilometers from the Canadian border. It happenedRead More

This year my farm has seen a succession of middle to top predators with catastrophic consequences for the chicken population and, by extension, my livelihood. A raucous crowd of ravens was first, flying boldly into the barn and coming out with whole eggs in their beaks. I was sure they wereRead More