Nova Scotia’s mania for public-private-partnership (P3) school construction was brief—more of an episode than an illness—but what an expensive episode it was. It started in 1997 and ended in 2000 officially, but the 39 schools built under the P3 banner were the subject of 20-year leases, so the P3 programRead More

There will be a mayoral race in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality this fall and I for one, am glad. That’s partly because acclamations are no fun—who wants to watch incumbent Cecil Clarke debate himself?—but mostly because I don’t think they’re particularly healthy for a functioning democracy. Instead, Rankin MacSween,Read More

Dr. StrangeJob has not fallen off the wagon since starting the pledge last week, so he is still hoping to catch the CBRM gravy-train. Since Joe Citizen’s CBRM Councillors’ Pledge continues to raise a stink with CBRM taxpayers, there is now talk about a new rank in council. Hence, theRead More

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality has been doing a much better job of submitting audited financial statements to the province on deadline each year. I know this because CBRM CFO Marie Walsh answered my queries — as did the spokesperson for the Nova Scotia department of municipal affairs — andRead More

Business Cape Breton (BCB) CEO Eileen Lannon Oldford left a special meeting of the CBRM council on 8 June 2016 in triumph—council had not only agreed that the CBRM should declare BCB its economic development arm, it had awarded the group a $115,000* “sustainability” grant to hang baskets of flowersRead More

Given my love of resource materials, it’s a wonder I haven’t discovered the Nova Scotia Tender Notices website before now — it’s where, “as defined in the Nova Scotia Public Procurement Act, all public sector entities in Nova Scotia are required to post their tender notices.” So what is theRead More

Raised a good Catholic boy, my initial point of reference to taking the pledge involves refraining from alcohol and going to meetings. So, imagine my confusion when I saw the invitation from Joe Citizen to take The CBRM Councillors’ Pledge. Granted, some of the gibberish spewing from local politicians isRead More

Cecil Clarke, incumbent mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, kicked off his campaign for re-election at the Cambridge Suites Hotel last Friday with two CBRM employees at his side (see Tom Ayers’ account in the LocalXpress). In what may be a Nova Scotian first, there were more promises inRead More

Dr. StrangeJob declared his candidacy for mayor of the CBRM on 1 April 2016—that’s right, April Fools’ Day. The Doctor is compelled to speak because of his frustration with the existing council’s apparent lack of transparency, potential misuse of municipal tax dollars, overuse of confidentiality agreements, excessive in-camera meetings, andRead More

My quest to determine what exactly is up with Business Cape Breton (BCB, formerly the Cape Breton Small Business Centre, formerly the Cape Breton County Economic Development Authority) began in June when CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke surprised his council with the news that the municipality was leaving the Cape BretonRead More