Business

The Cape Breton Partnership’s Missing Metrics

The Cape Breton Partnership’s Missing Metrics

June 1, 2022 at 11:51 am

I went back and watched Cape Breton Partnership President and CEO Tyler Mattheis’ May 10 presentation to CBRM council and came away with the distinct impression that, like Destination Cape Breton, the Partnership has no real idea whether its work is producing the desired results—in this case, encouraging new businessesRead More

Loose Ends: Green Hydrogen, Handwavium & More

Loose Ends: Green Hydrogen, Handwavium & More

June 1, 2022 at 11:49 am

SaltWire’s Aaron Beswick wrote recently about the plan to turn Point Tupper into a green hydrogen hub without raising any questions about the viability of the scheme from a scientific perspective, and I suspect that’s how the coverage of this latest Strait Area mega-project is going to go. Beswick spokeRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

May 27, 2022 at 10:20 am

Talkin’ ’bout my generator I read Henry Maxwell’s letter to the editor of the Cape Breton Post about the apparently over-sized backup generator recently purchased by the CBRM for the Myles F. Burke Police Headquarters in Sydney with great interest. That particular item has bugged me since it appeared inRead More

CBRM Council: Selling Centre 200?

CBRM Council: Selling Centre 200?

May 25, 2022 at 1:33 pm

District 8 Councilor James Edwards placed an item on Tuesday’s CBRM council meeting agenda calling for a staff Issue Paper on the pros and cons of selling Centre 200. Opened in 1987, the 5,000-plus seat arena in downtown Sydney was built to mark the city’s 1985 bicentennial. It was homeRead More

Destination Cape Breton Presents (To Council)

Destination Cape Breton Presents (To Council)

May 25, 2022 at 1:31 pm

Terry Smith of Destination Cape Breton (DCB) appeared before CBRM council Tuesday morning and got a very easy ride from councilors, many of whom made a point of thanking Smith and his organization for all their “hard work” and complimenting him on his interesting presentation. District 8 Councilor James EdwardsRead More

Seed envelopes. (Source: Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/electrosara/seed-saving/)

Reframing the GMO Debate

May 25, 2022 at 1:29 pm

A recent phone-in on CBC’s Maritime Noon on the issue of labelling products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) left me irritated and frustrated with both sides of the debate. As an enthusiastic and, dare I say, popular seed-saving educator, I never fail to be asked about my views on GMOs.Read More

EverWind: Powered by ‘Hopium?’

EverWind: Powered by ‘Hopium?’

May 18, 2022 at 2:04 pm

Having tried to understand the financing of the EverWind green hydrogen project in Point Tupper it’s now time to consider the science—or lack thereof—behind it. First, you need to understand that hydrogen does not come in a variety of colors. The color coding is used to denote how the hydrogenRead More

EverWind: Following the Money?

EverWind: Following the Money?

May 18, 2022 at 2:00 pm

An American company named EverWind Fuels has purchased the Point Tupper “energy storage center” (read: tank farm) from San Antonio, Texas-based NuStar Energy. EverWind paid $76.9 million for the facility (which includes the tank farm; rail-loading facilities; access to an ice-free, deep-water port; and “available electricity and fresh water”) with theRead More

Photo by Commander John Bortniak, NOAA Corps., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Into the Fog

May 18, 2022 at 1:58 pm

Real business news is good stuff. I say this as someone who used to read the Wall Street Journal regularly, after a co-worker gave me the sage advice to “throw out the op-ed section and focus on the articles.” The quality of such articles is high because businesspeople, although happyRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

May 13, 2022 at 11:15 am

Betting on Vets The Post‘s Nicole Sullivan spotted something I’d completely missed on the local scene, namely, that four of five animal hospitals in the CBRM are now owned by VetStrategy. The Northside Animal Hospital, the Sydney Animal Hospital and the two Animal Medical Centres (AMC)—in Sydney and Reserve Mines—areRead More