Innovacorp, the province’s venture capital crown corporation, has won the VC lottery — it bet $3 million on a Dartmouth firm that makes “high-performance materials used in the defense and aerospace industries” and collected $104 million when that firm went public in the US (it’s Meta Materials NASDAQ:MMAT). How pleasedRead More

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

I’m going to start this week’s article on the financialization of housing by reproducing a graphic from the recent report from the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission — a graphic I just can’t get enough of because it really does say it all:   The man on the right sideRead More

Nothing ventured… This week, I have a question for you: Women in this province have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. You want to help them. Do you: A) invest $5 million in an early-stage venture capital fund focused on women-led startups; B) tear $5 million into tiny shreds andRead More

I’ve been bellyaching for years about how little information we were ever given about Mayor Cecil Clarke’s travel in support of the port project. His expense reports were notoriously shy on detail, as illustrated by this 2018 entry in which he doesn’t even reveal the city in which his “PortRead More

The Thick of It [I must begin with a warning to the Spectator’s War and Peace columnist Sean Howard: do not read the following story while drinking a beverage of any description or there will be a spit-take in your future.] Earlier this week, I received an invitation from theRead...

It is unfortunate that Stephen Drake’s letter was published before our company, Morien Resources, distributed the truth of the situation in a press release this morning [April 2]. I would like to add some proper context to Drake’s letter and correct some inaccuracies. I am submitting this letter because thoseRead More

Last week, I focused on Orenda Software Solutions, one of “two Cape Breton IT companies” on the receiving end of federal funding announced by Sydney-Victoria MP Jaime Battiste. This week, as promised, I’m taking a look at the other lucky winner, Swarmio Inc, formerly Ubique Networks. Swarmio received a $338,369Read More