Blurred lines I have to start from the end of last night’s general committee meeting because things took an unexpected (and quite fascinating) turn that has knocked everything else out of my head for the moment. If you have been following the Spectator’s “Where’s Cecil?” feature, then you’ll know I’veRead More

There are two sides to a pancake; however, every day there are lots of chats on staffing at CBRM, whether it be in the coffee shops, taverns, living rooms or wherever. Sometimes they start with: “It’s who you know down there.” Or someone mentions a name of someone just hiredRead More

Welcome to this week’s installment of “Where’s Cecil?” my ongoing effort to keep track of Mayor Cecil Clarke’s campaign appearances to judge just how much time he’s taking from his day job to travel the province in pursuit of the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. I’mRead More

Editor’s Note: Equalization has colonized a lot of space on the Op-Ed pages of the Cape Breton Post lately (and here in the Spectator too). Personally, I’m just delighted to see the issue get an airing — I feel like it got stored away in a cupboard when former CBRMRead More

This past week, we’ve heard Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette, CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke, District 8 Councilor Amanda McDougall, BCB board chair Parker Rudderham, CBRM Economic Development Manager John Phalen and (former) BCB CEO Eileen Lannon Oldford explain what is going on with economic development funding in the Cape BretonRead...

Dear Premier McNeil: I am writing with regard to the issue of the Nova Scotia government’s distribution of the Federal Equalization Transfers,  public concern over which has now reached a critical level here on Cape Breton Island, and in other non-metropolitan areas of the province. I was part of aRead...

What the hell happened to Business Cape Breton (BCB)? I feel the way I expect I will when Rogers Media finally gets around to canning Ron MacLean and Don Cherry — not sad, but somewhat disoriented. It’s all been so sudden: why, just last month, there was BCB CEO EileenRead More

When Municipal Affairs Minister (and Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA) Derek Mombourquette first expressed the notion that the province could find a way to facilitate the CBRM’s port project without rushing through a “phase one” CBRM Charter focused entirely on the deal, I thought it was a good sign. I was soRead More