In July 2011, Elaine Power wrote a scathing account of food banks in The Globe and Mail, declaring “they have become a serious obstacle in the fight against poverty” and “it was time to close them down.” Power, at the time an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology andRead More

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house….Oh wait! We don’t have a house! Start that again: ‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the rental, we were all really sick, both physical and mental. Our flooded houses stood empty on streets that were bare, in hopesRead More

We’ve been hearing a lot about the rules of international business lately—much of it from a career politician who has never worked in the private sector. Do you know what’s big in the world of international business since Enron? Madoff? The 2008 financial crisis? Governance. I’ll let those anti-development, bleedingRead More

Fresh off his near victory in the recent CBRM municipal election and plum out of long-term pension options, Dr. StrangeJob is now considering a shot at provincial politics. Not only is Nova Scotia in need of a new premier, but Cape Breton also requires a stronger voice at the provincialRead More

The most insightful comment I’ve heard about developments this week in the dispute between the Nova Scotia government and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) came from a former union organizer of my acquaintance, who said the government’s decision to lock students out amazed her: One of the hardest things aboutRead More

Before writing a word about the workplace conditions of Nova Scotia teachers, there is something I need to say: everything I know about the Nova Scotia school system is based on having passed through it as a student in the 1970s. In other words, I know bupkis (to borrow a termRead More

We’d all do well to start over again, preferably with kindergarten. – Kurt Vonnegut The education system in Cape Breton needs a lesson plan. The P-12 system is in chaos, NSCC faculty are more than two years without a contract and the CBU Board of Governors has placed its presidentRead More

Nova Scotia Auditor General Michael Pickup released his Fall 2016 report today (November 30), focusing on childcare centers, capital planning for schools, critical infrastructure resiliency and the AMANDA software used to manage licenses and permits. (Interestingly, the day the AG’s report dropped found Premier Stephen McNeil on his way to theRead More

My loyal readers (both of you) may be wondering why the Doctor stopped gracing the pages of this most valuable online news endeavor. The fact is, I was so busy planning my mayoralty coronation that I only now discovered that I lost the election. I am still shocked: my PierRead More

I recently received a batch of documents from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) as a result of an access to information request about the Ben Eoin Marina (Those of you who like your source material straight up will find it all here.) I didn’t learn much that was newRead More