Archive for July, 2021

Campaign Trail Mix: Saddle Up

Campaign Trail Mix: Saddle Up

July 28, 2021 at 2:10 pm

Election Fever? As I write, I am in the process of missing a Cape Breton appearance by NDP leader Gary Burrill, who is in Glace Bay this (Monday) morning. This past weekend, I pulled into a parking lot in St. Peter’s next to Tim Houston’s campaign bus and rather thanRead More

Barry Interesting

Barry Interesting

July 28, 2021 at 2:08 pm

Barry Sheehy — “author, historian, businessman and veteran” — barged into my summer on Tuesday, via one of his trademark screeds for the Cape Breton Post. Although his bio acknowledges he is “involved with Sydney Harbour Investment Partners, which is marketing the port [of Sydney] for development,” he writes theRead More

Paul Strome’s Election Priorities

Paul Strome’s Election Priorities

July 28, 2021 at 2:06 pm

Editor’s Note: Spectator contributor Paul Strome sent along this open letter to candidates in the upcoming provincial elections, presented as a list of his chief concerns.   Reconciliation and the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are not just federal issues. Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and GirlsRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

July 28, 2021 at 2:04 pm

Bridging Update In case you’re wondering what’s happening with Bridging Finance Inc (BFI), the private debt firm that lent Membertou First Nation $6.8 million to buy a stake in Albert Barbusci’s Novaporte container terminal project, here’s the latest: David Sharpe, the founder and former CEO of BFI, who was firedRead More

Fashioning Fission: The Bikini A-Bomb Tests

Fashioning Fission: The Bikini A-Bomb Tests

July 16, 2021 at 10:39 am

Bikini, which was once inhabited by a hundred Marshallese, which once belonged to the Germans, and then the Japanese, now belongs to an unknown future along with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. David Bradley, No Place to Hide Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No: thisRead More

Okay, Stop (Waterfront Development Edition)

Okay, Stop (Waterfront Development Edition)

July 14, 2021 at 12:51 pm

CBRM council seems to have righted a three-year-old wrong during its July 6 meeting by declining to extend a waterfront pre-development agreement with Martin Chernin’s Harbour Royale Development Ltd (HRDL) — an agreement that included a new central library. As Mayor Amanda McDougall explained to council, this does not precludeRead More

Bridging Finance: Making Transportation History?

Bridging Finance: Making Transportation History?

July 14, 2021 at 12:49 pm

As you may recall, the Spectator reported some weeks ago on the local implications of the scandal rocking Toronto-based private debt firm Bridging Finance Inc (BFI); namely, that Membertou First Nation borrowed $6.8 million from Bridging to finance its purchase of a stake in Novaporte, Albert Barbusci’s imaginary Sydney harborRead More

Fast and Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast and Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

July 14, 2021 at 12:47 pm

Merritting Mention Here’s a strange coincidence for you: this week, while looking up the Alberta insolvency court filings for A2A, I ran across a case involving the Town of Olds that included an affidavit from our old CAO — now CAO of Olds — Michael Merritt! The case involves theRead More