Contributors

More About RENs

More About RENs

January 23, 2019 at 1:06 pm

While writing last week about the CBRM Regional Enterprise Network or CBRM REN it suddenly struck me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t really know what a Regional Enterprise Network was, so I decided I’d better educate myself. I began by looking up the existing CapeRead More

Old News is Still News in 2019

Old News is Still News in 2019

January 23, 2019 at 1:04 pm

Welcome to 2019! As I write, I’ve already used up 19 days of a brand new year, and by the time anyone reads this, there will be 342 days left in which to accomplish anything, whether of real value or not. Glancing back at the topics that grabbed my interestRead More

How Big is Nova Scotia’s Call Center Industry?

How Big is Nova Scotia’s Call Center Industry?

January 23, 2019 at 1:02 pm

I have been thinking about the call center industry a lot lately, thanks largely to our local Chamber of Commerce Newsletter daily newspaper which will keep printing headlines like the one last week proclaiming that workers receiving their first paychecks from the Sydney Call Centre were “on cloud nine.” Don’t misunderstandRead More

Gardening Tips: How to Read a Seed Catalog

Gardening Tips: How to Read a Seed Catalog

January 23, 2019 at 1:00 pm

What to do this week Looking at some of the better seed catalogs can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated. A well-written catalog is full of useful technical information, but that’s not much use if you don’t know what any of it means. This week, we’ll take a tourRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

January 18, 2019 at 11:10 am

Sister City A sharp-eyed Spectator drew my attention to an odd little fact in that terrible story of the Canadian sentenced to death in China. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a 36-year-old from Abbotsford, BC, was arrested in 2014 and found guilty in 2016 of participating in a drug ring that soughtRead More

So…What is the CBRM REN?

So…What is the CBRM REN?

January 16, 2019 at 12:02 pm

Now that Business Cape Breton (BCB) has been consigned to the ash heap of history, it’s time to meet the CBRM’s new sidekick in economic development — the Cape Breton Partnership. Because it seems there is to be a Cape Breton Regional Municipality Regional Enterprise Network (REN) and the CapeRead More

Looking Back at 2018 with Mayor Cecil Clarke

Looking Back at 2018 with Mayor Cecil Clarke

January 16, 2019 at 12:00 pm

What better way to begin 2019 than by looking back at 2018 with CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke? Clarke appeared on CBC radio’s Information Morning Cape Breton on January 3 to reflect on the year just passed and the Spectator listened with interest. In particular, it listened to the discussion ofRead More

No More Lip Service for George H. W. Bush (Part I)

No More Lip Service for George H. W. Bush (Part I)

January 16, 2019 at 11:58 am

Editor’s Note: Spectator contributor Sean Howard begins the New Year with a two-part consideration of the actual legacy — both domestic and global — of the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush. This month, in Part I, Howard considers Bush’s domestic missteps.   The death ofRead More

Gardening Tips: Time to Read About Seed

Gardening Tips: Time to Read About Seed

January 16, 2019 at 11:54 am

Editor’s Note: It is making the Spectator a bit giddy to announce the return of the weekly gardening column! Don’t let the snow fool you — spring will come, and Michelle and Madeline will make sure you and your garden are ready for it.   What to do this weekRead More

CBRM Council Chambers, 2017. (Photo by WayeMason [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons)

CBRM Solicitor Threatens Council With Legal Action

December 19, 2018 at 12:06 pm

This Spectator has learned that Regional Solicitor Demetri Kachafanas threatened legal action against District 11 Councilor Kendra Coombes “and all Council” after a radio interview Coombes gave the CBC on 27 November 2018. The interview (which I can no longer find online) was about the four in camera meetings duringRead More