I don’t know if it’s really necessary to “disclose” that I attended journalism school with reporter and author Janice Landry but I am going to do so (and yes, I am well aware that there is a fine line between “disclosing” something  and “boasting about it;” I promise to walkRead More

Welcome to this week’s installment of “Where’s Cecil?,” my ongoing effort to keep track of Mayor Cecil Clarke’s campaign appearances to judge just how much time he’s taking from his day job to travel the province in pursuit of the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. AsRead More

Sydney City Hall? I will be the first to admit the name “Cape Breton Regional Municipality” does not roll mellifluously off the tongue, nor is “CBRM” any prettier. I think it would be good to have an actual name for our municipality and I would like to be able toRead More

A CAPE BRETON SPECTATOR/HALIFAX EXAMINER SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Read Part II, Part III and Part IV. Welcome to the Gold Rush There’s a 21st century gold rush starting in Nova Scotia, just as industrial gold mining is increasingly coming into disrepute around the world. It has been described as an “environmentalRead More

Back in January, I wrote about the town of Bar Harbor, Maine, and its plans to purchase and develop its disused ferry terminal. I was struck by the story, which I first read in the New York Times, because the approach Bar Harbor is taking to the project contrasts so sharplyRead More

One of the most interesting features of philosophy is that it forces practitioners to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary. Part of its charm lies in its power to make what we might be tempted to take for granted look strange and intriguing. For the philosopher, everything and anything isRead More

Immigration is never an easy political discussion, but I believe that the Canadian government was moving in the right direction with its announcement in November 2017 that it was working to accept economic immigrants, families seeking reunification with relatives already in residence and refugees fleeing war and/or persecution in otherRead More

Welcome to this week’s installment of “Where’s Cecil?,” my ongoing effort to keep track of Mayor Cecil Clarke’s campaign appearances to judge just how much time he’s taking from his day job to travel the province in pursuit of the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. I’veRead More

Equalization Nation Estimates put turnout for an equalization protest in front of the Provincial Building in Sydney on Wednesday at upwards of 600. Protest organizers, members of the advocacy group Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness, have to be happy with those numbers — their message is finally starting to resonateRead More

Back in April 2017, the Spectator asked the Port of Sydney Development Corporation for a breakdown of spending from its so-called Assumption Fund. The Assumption Fund is a trust fund containing monies (about $2.5 million originally) left over from the 2012 Sydney harbor dredge, a $37 million project funded by threeRead More