I was visiting my mother a few years ago, in the seniors’ home where she now lives, in BC. Mom introduced me to a well-dressed lady: “This is my daughter. She’s come from Nova Scotia to visit me.” “Oh!” the lady offered brightly, “my husband used to run oil rigsRead More

Has Ben Cowan-Dewar hit one into the cat box in Saint Lucia? What I’m saying, for those of you not as familiar with the old golf lingo as I am since I googled it 10 minutes ago, is: has Cowan-Dewar actually run into an obstacle on his way to turningRead More

Pet sounds Episode 12 of Annette Verschuren’s Bet On Me podcast (“Prioritizing Purpose with Profits: Getting to know Ikdeep Singh, Regional President of Mars Pet Nutrition“) would have put me to sleep entirely had it not, at times, managed to annoy me so deeply. Her guest’s connection to Cape BretonRead More

Innkeeping In terms of sheer words per minute, I think Episode 11 of Annette Verschuren’s Bet On Me podcast — “The Power of Place: The connection between culture and economy with Zita Cobb, Innkeeper of Fogo Island Inn” — has to be the winner. Because man, can Zita Cobb talk.Read More

Re-reading my recap of Episode 10 of Annette Verschuren’s Bet On Me podcast, I realized I’d forgotten a couple of things I’d meant to cover, so I’m going to devote a little more ink to her conversation with Cabot Cape Breton owner Ben Cowan-Dewar. At one point, the two discussRead More

Annette’s Dream I listened to all 44 excruciating minutes of Episode 10 of Annette Verschuren’s Bet On Me podcast, “A candid conversation with Cabot Co-Founder & CEO, Ben Cowan-Dewar,” — more accurately a “fawning exchange” with her “dear friend” — but I’m going to begin with my favorite line, whichRead More

As noted elsewhere this week, I’ve been curious about the appointment of Carla Arsenault as principal of the Marconi Campus of the NSCC, but I found I couldn’t think about Arsenault, the former president and CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership, without thinking about the organization she headed for threeRead More

Sometimes, in the midst of researching a mind-boggling dull subject, you dig up pure, unadulterated comedic gold. That’s what happened to me this week while I was trying to find out who was on the board of the Cape Breton Partnership (I still haven’t found out — I was toldRead More

CUSCFAOWEABL I started talking back to the computer pretty much from the jump during Episode Nine of Annette Verschuren’s never-ending podcast series, Bet On Me — this one bearing the catchy title: Leading and Living with Purpose: Exploring equity and inclusion with Deborah Gillis, CEO of CAMH Foundation. It startedRead More

Since last we spoke of Dartmouth-based Meta Materials, it has become the target of both a scathing short-seller’s report and a potential class action lawsuit. Both developments were reported in the local mainstream press — by SaltWire’s Newfoundland-based Barbara Dean-Simmons and the CBC’s Paul Withers — which I note because neitherRead More