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

Double vision? I promised to ask when and how Dennis Campbell of Ambassatours Gray Line got the nod to develop the property formerly occupied by the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club on Sydney’s harborfront and let you know what I found out. As you may recall, Campbell, whose firm operatesRead More

Confessions of a bad reporter I forgot about Ports Day — Port Days? Ports Days? — whatever it is, I forgot about it. I know, right? How does that happen? How does the most port-obsessed person in Sydney forget Port-a-palooza? I can only plead temporary sanity. This week, I was apparentlyRead More

The Sydney Subdivision of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway (CBNS) must be the most studied stretch of unused track in the country. The Subdivision was the subject of three different reports (with a total price tag of $152,600) in 2015. It’s to be the subject of a $460,000 studyRead More

While on the subject of the Sydney Subdivision of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) Railway, which I seem to be again this week, I’d like to take a moment to consider the state of said line. As the Spectator reported in the April 26th edition, the Port ofRead More

I submitted a Freedom of Information/Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) request to the Port of Sydney Development Corporation to ask for an account balance from the assumption fund — the trust containing monies left over from the 2012 Sydney harbor dredge. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the information from Port CEORead...

After a few years of telling Nova Scotians what they can’t afford, the Liberal government appears to be breaking the bank to promise them exactly that. The province has announced an additional $390 million over seven years to twin 70 kilometres of 100 series highways and build a new four-lane dividedRead...

The Port of Sydney Development Corporation will seek $460,000 in public funding for a study to “confirm the costs of upgrades to the rail line” from Truro to Sydney. In what we can only hope was a last hurrah for the Port’s interim board (Mayor Cecil Clarke, Deputy Mayor Eldon MacDonald, CouncilorRead More

This week, in our ongoing exploration of property taxes in Nova Scotia generally (and the CBRM in particular), we’re going to look at exempt properties, payments in lieu of taxes (or PILs) and  stuff I forgot to tell you last week, not necessarily in that order. We’re doing this becauseRead More

I do not own a car, so I have a rather cavalier attitude toward downtown Sydney parking — I’m that person, striding purposefully toward my destination, chuckling at you as you circle the block, looking for a place to park (unless, of course, it’s raining, in which case there will beRead More