I write today as one of the 8,800 residents of Sydney — Nova Scotia’s third-largest city, urban heart of a rich coal-mining region, industrial hub of Atlantic Canada — to ask Holland America Line (HAL): WAT IS ER MIS MET JOU? (That’s Dutch for “What is wrong with you?” AtRead...

Editor’s Note: This article is the second of two (see Part One) on Manitoba’s private air ambulance service based on the experiences of a number of medics who work (or have worked) regularly with the service. The Spectator has agreed not to identify them, as some are still employed in theRead...

Lasso of Truth The box office success of Wonder Woman reminded me of the connection between her creator, William Marston, and the lie detector which reminded me that I’ve never received an answer from the Cape Breton Regional Police as to what sort of work their two “polygraph technicians” perform. ByRead More

I’ve got to start going to the CBRM board of police commissioners meetings. Thanks to Tom Ayers’ LocalExpress report, I got to experience Tuesday’s meeting secondhand and it was almost as good as being there — I could just about hear the excitement in Police Chief Peter McIsaac’s voice asRead More

Welcome to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia’s second largest municipality with a population of 98,722 and home to the Port of Sydney. The Port of Sydney is the first port-of-call on mainland North America for vessels transiting the Suez Canal and acts as a gateway to the GreatRead More

Editor’s Note: The Spectator is going a little further afield than usual this week, with a report on Manitoba’s private air ambulance service. This article is the first of two based on the experiences of a number of medics who work (or have worked) regularly with the service. The Spectator has agreedRead More

Dean Beeby is a former Canadian Press (CP) reporter who now works for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). I have never met him — in fact, the photos that now accompany his CBC articles are the first I’ve ever seen of him — but I’ve long admired his work: heRead...

Ban the Bomb If Spectator contributor Sean Howard has raised your awareness (and the hairs on the back of your neck) about nuclear weapons and the need for disarmament, you may well be wondering, “But what can I do?” (Other, of course, than dismantling your own stock of intercontinental ballisticRead More

I was confused from the moment I read the subject line (which you can click to enlarge):   My best guess was that “Portege” was a typo and what Business Cape Breton had actually launched was an Entrepreneurial PORTAGE/Vanguard Program. This, I decided, would either involve entrepreneurs carrying canoes on their headsRead More

Author’s Note: This article is dedicated to the memory of Celia Lorway (1944-2017), a member of Peace Quest Cape Breton and for many years a dedicated, articulate champion of human health, social justice, nuclear disarmament, and a world free of the scourge of war. At UN Headquarters in August 2002,Read More