A CAPE BRETON SPECTATOR/HALIFAX EXAMINER SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Read Part II, Part III and Part IV. Welcome to the Gold Rush There’s a 21st century gold rush starting in Nova Scotia, just as industrial gold mining is increasingly coming into disrepute around the world. It has been described as an “environmentalRead More

What to do this week This week is a good time to talk about spraying fruit trees because now is the time to do that. There are a couple of reasons that even an organic grower might want to spray. One would be to rid the trees of pests beforeRead More

Maker Faire When I spoke to Kim Desveaux this week about our impending makerspace, she mentioned something I didn’t have room for in my article but that I wanted to touch on today. A makerspace is exactly what it sounds like: a space, equipped with tools and materials, in whichRead More

A recent conversation with a relative set me to researching chickens and ticks and what a long, strange trip it’s been. The conversation was about the efficacy of chickens in controlling tick populations. It struck a chord with me because I’ve been thinking of the advantages of backyard chickens latelyRead More

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw, “Reinstatement of the Blossoming Program” on the agenda for the 27 March 2018 CBRM council meeting. Had Deputy Mayor Eldon MacDonald, who put the issue on the agenda, temporarily lost his mind? I think the short answer is, “Yes.” During the meeting,Read More

The deadline for bids for the construction of a second cruise ship berth in Sydney harbor has been pushed back from 29 March 2018 to 26 April 2018, according to an addendum to the original tender (the fourth such addendum) posted on the Nova Scotia government website. That is just the latestRead...

Cape Breton Regional Municipal Council voted on Wednesday morning to approve a zoning by-law amendment to allow developer Chris Skidmore to establish a 211-site RV Park in Big Pond Centre. The vote was 7-6 with Councilors Clarence Prince, Earlene MacMullin, Steve Gillespie, George MacDonald, Darren Bruckschwaiger, Jim MacLeod and Mayor CecilRead More

On February 2, the United States released its first Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) since the 2010 study commissioned by then-President Barack Obama. The Obama NPR disappointed many disarmament advocates in its doctrinal timidity – it failed to declare the US would never use nuclear weapons first, and only ever use themRead More

French lessons This week, I’ve run across three Quebec news stories that are oddly relevant to events here in the CBRM. That’s not as completely random as it sounds: I keep tabs on events in Quebec by starting each day listening to the first half hour of Quebec AM, the QuebecRead More

CBRM planning staff seem really keen on this Big Pond RV Park idea. I don’t know how else to interpret the time and effort planning director Malcolm Gillis and planner Karen Neville have put it into Calgary developer Chris Skidmore’s project — first in their original recommendation that council amendRead More