Is the winter garden the most beautiful garden of all? — Philip Slayton to Lynn Farrell, A Nova Scotia Garden in Winter   The Spectator‘s own gardener — Michelle Smith — is currently enjoying a well-deserved break from the rigors of weekly column writing, giving her more time to dealRead More

C’mon MANS I’ve been noticing the Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS) tweeting up a storm lately. The tweet threads — some of which are as long as my arm — can be divided into two main categories: The first — I’ll call it the “Ain’t minerals grand?” category —Read More

I’ve lived in two cities (Toronto and Prague) in which trams (or streetcars, if you prefer) formed an integral part of the municipal transit system and have always had a soft spot for them. I’ve also wanted to write about the tram system that used to connect some parts ofRead More

The CBRM Police Commission was supposed to hold an in camera meeting Wednesday morning at 9:30 AM followed by its regular monthly meeting at “approx.” 10:30 AM. As I write this, it is snowing steadily and both meetings have been postponed to this afternoon, beginning at 1:30, so too lateRead...

Last month, I discussed the work of an ex-student of mine, Caitlin Heppner, who recently defended a very interesting thesis on the epistemological dimensions of climate science. Caitlin explored both the question of why some people might be skeptical about the validity of the science and the motives of theRead More

I spent so much time this week researching trams — past and present — and electricity that I’ve had little time to do much else. So I’m going to cheat and point you to some things other people have written or recorded that I think you might enjoy.   Wrasslin’Read More

Rodger’s Rumspringa? A Canadian political phenomenon I will never understand is how party affiliation can be at once all-important and yet no big deal. Canada’s political parties are powerful, as the Globe and Mail pointed out in 2013: Almost all discourse in the Canadian Parliament is scripted by party staffers.Read More

During Tuesday’s General Committee Meeting, CBRM council finally decided to scrap its $140/week ($7,280/year) travel allowance (described so regularly as “controversial” you’d be forgiven for thinking that was its official name). Instead of simply collecting $140 each week no matter how many kilometers they’ve actually traveled, CBRM councilors will nowRead More

I watched yesterday’s CBRM General Committee meeting in its entirety and would like to give you a few highlights:   New Central Library First thought when I saw this item on the agenda: John Phelan is no longer on the library file. The former economic development manager (who returned toRead More

Never one to suffer subtlety gladly, or overpolish the written word, US President Donald J. Trump on January 3 ‘spoke’ to the world by tweet: an American flag, behind which, we soon learned, lay the body of Iranian General Qassam Suleimani (and seven other human beings), assassinated by drone inRead More