In December 1984, Ward Five Alderman Frank Starzomski put forth a motion calling for Sydney’s City Council to be reduced from 12 members to six. Trimming city council had long been advocated by Sydney’s Shadow Council, a group of citizens—many of them women—who monitored the actual council, although, as theRead More

The CBRM is one of 41 Canadian municipalities “pre-determined” to receive funding (worth $5 million)  under the third round of the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), one component of its National Housing Strategy. The announcement, which I completely missed, was made on November 10, but council didn’t get aroundRead More

On Monday night, I attended the information session for residents of Sydney’s North End still waiting for answers about the leak at the Imperial Oil tank farm at 1 George Street on July 8. The leak occurred when a front-end loader rolled down a containment wall and punctured a largeRead More

There’s a point I’ve been meaning to make regarding CBRM council’s in camera discussions of waterfront development, which Mayor Amanda McDougall defended to the CBC, telling reporter Tom Ayers: Discussions on the potential land deal have been held in camera for months, which is allowed under the Municipal Government Act,Read More

Comfort and Joy I have to tie up two loose ends from my coverage of Tuesday morning’s council meeting. After listening to—and approving—Destination Cape Breton’s funding request (which I covered in detail because opaque organizations spending oodles of public money are catnip to me— or would be, if I wereRead More

CBRM Council has agreed to increase the marketing levy on hotels and other “fixed-roof” accommodations from 2% to 3% and apply it to Airbnb and VRBO rentals. Destination Cape Breton (DCB) CEO Terry Smith made the request to council yesterday morning, explaining the changes will be governed by new legislationRead More

Growing up in South Bar, wedged between the larger centers of Sydney and New Waterford, you quickly learn that to get anything done for “The Bar” you have to work hard, organize and make a lot of noise to get any kind of action from local politicians who focus onRead More

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has done a survey right here in the little old CBRM. The CBRM Business Environment Survey was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022 and published in April 2022. I missed it but a reader was kind enough to send it along, knowingRead More

I watched Westmount native Doug Doucet, founder of Bedford-based Doucet Developments—and a suite of related companies—present his plans for waterfront development to CBRM council last night. Much of the presentation (which also featured Chris Baldwin, his chief financial officer) focused on Doucet himself and his companies and why it’s aRead More

Back in May of this year, District 8 Councilor James Edwards moved that council call for a staff Issue Paper on the pros and cons of selling Centre 200 and the Mayor and 10 councilors present that night (Councilors Paruch and O’Quinn were not there) approved it unanimously. Writing thisRead More