Doggone generous CBC Cape Breton’s annual Light Up a Life campaign to raise money for Feed Nova Scotia makes me awfully uncomfortable. I know I sound like Scrooge, the Grinch and Donald Trump all rolled into one for saying it, but there it is. In fact, I get so uncomfortable,Read More

What to do this week: Now that winter is here it is time to start gathering seed catalogs, and planning the coming year’s garden. This week I am thinking about trees, bushes and berries. It is always a catch 22 because the prices are really good now, but it mayRead More

I have always loved our CB Highlands National Park (CBHNP) and much of what is done there is cause for celebration. Park visitor numbers are up, new ideas are being tested and found to be positive and steps are being taken to try to bring back the boreal forest—at a faster rateRead More

Out of Order As an armchair political scientist (we’re almost indistinguishable from the real thing until we open our mouths), I was quite happy to read what an actual political scientist, CBU’s Tom Urbaniak, had to say about the go-ahead at last Tuesday’s CBRM council meeting. In case you went to BostonRead More

Editor’s Note: I feel the need to warn you, dear readers, that this article is really long. That’s what happens when you start writing about a company with annual revenue of US$55 billion and 100,000 employees. But since it’s also a company that has been cited in reference to notRead More

Editor’s Note: A version of this article has appeared in The Inverness Oran and the Nova Scotia Advocate. The last leaves have fallen to the forest floor, and as I look out across my little forested valley, I would like to take this time to respond to the Margaree Salmon Association’sRead...

What to do this week This week, it might be a good idea to check on the health of the plants you’ve taken in for the winter: it is time to check for pests. When you bring plants in from the outdoors you sometimes bring outdoor pests in as wellRead More

I have a confession to make: I did not watch the full CBRM council meeting last night. I watched (with interest) the discussion of the proposed RV Park in Big Pond. (I spend my summers in Irish Cove, just a little further west along Route 4, so anything that happensRead More

As regular readers of the Spectator know, I have an affinity for document-based research — emails, letters, court records, consultants’ reports, council minutes, issue papers, doctoral theses — I am never happier than when up to my elbows in print. But sometimes when you have an issue that you want veryRead More

Here’s the press release Kameron Coal Management Ltd issued on Tuesday: For Immediate Release – Organizational restructure at the Donkin Mine Donkin, NS, November 7, 2017 – Today Kameron Coal Management Ltd. announced an organizational restructure that resulted in a reduction of the workforce at the Donkin Mine in Nova Scotia. “TheRead More