Cone of Silence I’ve been thinking about the way Stephen McNeil has been quietly turning out the lights in any room in which his government might be held accountable to the public. Just this week, for instance, the Liberals limited the number of times the public accounts committee will meetRead More

The issue of healthcare on this island intimidates me so thoroughly that (as you have probably noticed) I largely avoid it. But recently I started thinking about what I could contribute to the debate and it occurred to me that if I approached reporting on the subject the way youRead More

Deep Dives The banner across the top of this morning’s Cape Breton Post gave me pause, I’ll admit it: The SaltWire Deep Dives: Looking at the Doctor Shortage in Atlantic Canada. Today: Where are all the doctors? “Deep dives?” I thought. “That’s my thing.” I was nervous, but I hadRead More

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

Editor’s Note: It’s that time of year when the Spectator turns off the computer for a bit to focus on decking halls, trimming trees and eating all the best chocolates in the Quality Street tin. To facilitate this, we’re including Fast & Curious with the regular edition of the paperRead More

The Spectator, Tree!Umphant I found Albert Barbusci! He’s in Kissimmee, Florida where “the Lemieux and Barbusci families” own and operate the Tree Trek Adventure Park! Okay, he may not actually be there right now (although why not be in Florida in December?) but he could be. When I stepped backRead More

The Spectator’s Ethicist, Rachel Haliburton, provides convincing — and sometimes counter-intuitive — arguments as to why making the rich pay their fair share of taxes benefits us all.(Read Reason #1 and Reason #2)   As faithful readers of the Ethicist column in the Cape Breton Spectator will know, for theRead More

On Tuesday, I received the following email from Aaron Bower, a senior communications adviser with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the government branch tasked with selling “surplus” property, including that once owned by Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation: Just following up based on our last email exchange to let you knowRead More

CBRM Council has declared its support for the Blue Dot movement. Launched in 2014 with the backing of the David Suzuki Foundation, Blue Dot is a “national campaign to advance the legal recognition of every Canadian’s right to a healthy environment.” In passing its resolution of support last night, theRead More

The Spectator’s Ethicist, Rachel Haliburton, provides convincing — and sometimes counter-intuitive — arguments as to why making the rich pay their fair share of taxes benefits us all.(Read Reason #1) In my last column, I began exploring some arguments that might be given in support of the claim that itRead More