Economic Development

Election 2020: District 10

Election 2020: District 10

October 7, 2020 at 11:49 am

District 10 includes Dominion, plus parts of Gardiner Mines, Glace Bay, Grand Lake Road and Reserve Mines. I know I have already drawn this comparison (see: District 12) but District 10 is also shaped like a bat. (Or maybe I really do have a Halloween obsession.) The district is homeRead More

Aerial view of Downtown Sydney NSCC Marconi Campus site. (Source: "NSCC Marconi Campus: Sydney Relocation," Ekistics)

Marconi Part I: On the Waterfront

September 16, 2020 at 11:25 am

It’s taken over a year — I first requested a copy of the Ekistics Plan+Design report on the relocation of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Marconi Campus to downtown Sydney in April 2019 — and it ultimately required a FOIPOP to dislodge it and the censors have had aRead More

Marconi Part II: They Coulda Been Contenders

Marconi Part II: They Coulda Been Contenders

September 16, 2020 at 11:23 am

Since it was announced the NSCC Marconi Campus would move from its location next to Cape Breton University to the Sydney waterfront, I have been curious as to how the site was chosen — and what other sites were considered. Last week, I got the answer to the second partRead More

Downtown Sydney, NS. ("NSCC Marconi Campus Sydney Relocation, Ekistics Plan + Design,

Marconi Part III: Bonus Scenes

September 16, 2020 at 11:21 am

Here are some bits and bobs I gleaned from the Ekistics report on relocating the NSCC Marconi Campus to Sydney’s downtown but could not work into Parts I or II (I know, there has to be a more elegant way to introduce this but I am lazy, so have optedRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

August 19, 2020 at 2:47 pm

Once more to the polls! I have yet to decide how to cover this fall’s municipal elections in the CBRM. Back in 2016 — the year I launched the Spectator  — I chose to focus on the women running for office in part because I am one person and couldRead More

CME-North Sydney Wins First Job Under $60M MCDV Upgrade

CME-North Sydney Wins First Job Under $60M MCDV Upgrade

June 24, 2020 at 1:08 pm

The HMCS Kingston, one of the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) 12 Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV), is in dry dock at the CME shipyard in North Sydney for repairs and upgrades, part of a $60 million program to give each of the ships a five-year life extension. National DefenseRead More

Photos of damage to CBNS rail line courtesy of CB Railway Victims Association

Keeping the Dream Alive

May 27, 2020 at 1:04 pm

Operating on the “better late than never” principle, I thought I’d discuss the Nova Scotia government’s decision to continue subsidizing the disused Cape Breton portion of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) short-line railway. In case you’ve just tuned in to this soap opera, the province has beenRead More

Centre 200, Sydney, Nova Scotia

What’s Up with Centre 200?

February 26, 2020 at 2:02 pm

  “Nobody is going to put their name on it, whether it’s TD centre, whether it’s Rogers centre, right now with the condition this place is in. I wouldn’t ask them to do it unless there’s a commitment from our government.” — Irwin Simon, majority owner, Cape Breton Eagles  Read More

District Energy Part I: Who Benefits?

District Energy Part I: Who Benefits?

January 29, 2020 at 1:16 pm

If you were a cash-strapped community of communities looking to cut your greenhouse gas emissions and had $100,000 to spend, how would you spend it? Would you blow the boodle on a preliminary study for a “district heating and cooling system” in Sydney’s downtown core? A system that would serviceRead More

Puzzling Over the Port File

Puzzling Over the Port File

January 15, 2020 at 1:36 pm

Each week, I pick a subject and do my research and try to give some sort of coherent account of what I’ve learned but this week — I give up. I’ve been trying to make sense of the latest developments in the Sydney container port saga and I am utterlyRead More