How to Spend $160 The September 27 edition of the Cape Breton Post was an exciting one for me. The front page featured a Canadian Press story about the provincial budget (prompting me once again to wonder why, if Saltwire is such a heavyweight Atlantic Canadian news presence, it can’tRead...

If there was one issue that dominated the 2017 provincial election in Cape Breton, it was healthcare. And it’s not like there was any one healthcare issue that stood out — poke the system just about anywhere and you’ll hit a sore spot, whether it’s lack of access to primaryRead...

I (finally) received an answer from the CBRM in response to my wastewater questions. You can read my original story here, but the gist is that when Canada’s new Wastewater System Effluent Regulations (WSER) came into effect on 1 January 2015, municipalities operating water treatment systems that didn’t meet themRead...

Pope Francis has introduced a new path to canonization for would-be Catholic saints. Now, in addition to martyrdom, living a life of heroic Christian virtue and “exceptional cases” (where someone has been venerated as holy since ancient times), Christians who lay down their lives for another will be eligible forRead More

Sydney businessman Danny Ellis’ harborfront beer garden, the Portside, about which he’s apparently received “mostly positive feedback,” according to the Cape Breton Post (which has been providing a lot of that positive feedback) will not be opening until next spring. In what must be considered the public relations coup ofRead...

Summer is all but done and fall is just around the corner. Sadly, so too is the latest moose cull in the CB Highlands National Park. Generalities about the process and results of the previous two moose culls have been shared with the public by Parks Canada, but not manyRead More

CBRM endorses UN Bomb ban I was hard on the CBRM for proclaiming Right to Know Week (for what I think are pretty obvious reasons), but there was another proclamation made during last Tuesday’s council meeting that made me quite proud of our little municipality. According to Cape Breton University (CBU)Read More

I begin with a caveat: I watched the CBRM Council livestream from 4:35 yesterday afternoon to 9 PM last night, at which point, I surrendered and switched to Netflix. I consider this a sign of weakness on my part — but I also blame whoever scheduled the economic planning andRead More

Three days of listening to the wide array of speakers at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action Symposium in Membertou from 12-15 September left me feeling hopeful for continued efforts and commitments to change in this province. As Chief Sidney Peters of Glooscap First Nation said, “WeRead More

It often feels hard to do the right thing, easy to do the wrong one. But what if there were a way in which we could learn to be ethical in just the same way that we learn other practical skills, like driving and reading? Happily, there may be. InRead More