ServiCom There is absolutely no humor to be found in the announcement that 600 Cape Bretoners have lost their jobs  three weeks before Christmas with the closure of the ServiCom call center. Even Mayor Cecil Clarke’s mixing of metaphors (he’s hoping the potential sale of the local ServiCom branch willRead More

CBRM Council met this morning to decide what it’s going to discuss at future meetings. If I understand Mayor Cecil Clarke correctly, he has been compiling this list (which is not exhaustive) based on what he has been hearing from citizens. The topics are “in no order whatsoever” and thisRead More

I’ve been wondering what’s going on down on the boardwalk and yesterday I finally got off my duff and went down for a closer look. It’s rather startling:     I emailed CBRM spokesperson Jillian Moore on Tuesday to find out what exactly is being built and she sent thisRead More

This week, I decided to focus my attention on two (luckily related) stories I’m interested in. Stories I’ve been following for years (eight years for one, one year for the other) but following in a kind of hit-and-miss way. Like I was watching Game of Thrones, but only when IRead More

On October 11, the CBC’s Paul Withers reported from “inside the failed fight for federal funding for Port of Halifax.” He’s referring to the Port of Halifax’s application for money from the $2 billion National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF), established by the feds in July 2017 to “help infrastructure owners andRead More

In a “classical” [private-public-partnership or P3], a government typically uses a consortium of private sector firms to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain some new physical public infrastructure. Despite the increasing use of [P3]s, evidence shows that many [P3]s have produced unsatisfactory outcomes, including high transaction costs and project bankruptcy.Read More

You probably just read Part I of this P3 Hospitals article, but in case you then took a juice break, or a yoga break, or a few minutes to breathe deeply or pound a couple of shots of tequila, let me remind you why, according to Premier Stephen McNeil, hisRead More

But seriously, where’s Cecil? Did it strike anyone else odd that the mayor wasn’t at that flood prevention press conference on Monday? Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA (and Energy Minister) Derek Mombourquette and Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking both thought $2.5 million in additional federal disaster funding was worth coming to town andRead More

Spin Class I like following the CBC’s Jean Laroche on Twitter precisely for moments like these, where he captures something about the way our political system works that you don’t get to see unless you happen to hang out in the halls of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly: ThisRead More

Editor’s Note: John Whalley, the former Economic Development Manager of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is suing the CBRM for constructive dismissal. The case finally came to trial from 20-24 August 2018 and the Spectator was there. We’re presenting our coverage in a series of articles because the trialRead More