I write today as one of the 8,800 residents of Sydney — Nova Scotia’s third-largest city, urban heart of a rich coal-mining region, industrial hub of Atlantic Canada — to ask Holland America Line (HAL): WAT IS ER MIS MET JOU? (That’s Dutch for “What is wrong with you?” AtRead...

Welcome to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia’s second largest municipality with a population of 98,722 and home to the Port of Sydney. The Port of Sydney is the first port-of-call on mainland North America for vessels transiting the Suez Canal and acts as a gateway to the GreatRead More

While on the subject of the Sydney Subdivision of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) Railway, which I seem to be again this week, I’d like to take a moment to consider the state of said line. As the Spectator reported in the April 26th edition, the Port ofRead More

I submitted a Freedom of Information/Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) request to the Port of Sydney Development Corporation to ask for an account balance from the assumption fund — the trust containing monies left over from the 2012 Sydney harbor dredge. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the information from Port CEORead...

Information is a valuable commodity in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) — so valuable it’s kept under lock and key and even our elected representatives have trouble accessing it. Take the way the Port of Sydney Development Corporation (PSDC) has been paying its “partners” in a hoped-for container terminal development,Read More

The Port of Sydney Development Corporation will seek $460,000 in public funding for a study to “confirm the costs of upgrades to the rail line” from Truro to Sydney. In what we can only hope was a last hurrah for the Port’s interim board (Mayor Cecil Clarke, Deputy Mayor Eldon MacDonald, CouncilorRead More

The Port of Sydney Development Corporation posted minutes from two more board meetings on its website recently. (I can’t say exactly when, because I don’t check the site every day and the Port doesn’t seem to feel the need to notify me when it’s about to post a batch of freshly vetted documents.)Read More

Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci of Harbor Port Development Partners (or Sydney Harbour Investment Partners or Blue Zen Memorial Parks) are proud of the many “partners” they’ve enlisted in their campaign to turn Sydney harbor into a mega-port for ultra-large container ships. They have “building partners” like the “American giant Bechtel.”Read More

Last month I sent two freedom of information/access to information (FOIPOP) requests to the Port of Sydney Development Corporation. One requested a detailed account of how the Port has been spending the $2.5 million left over from the $37 million Sydney harbor dredge, completed in 2012. (You can read aboutRead More

Like two ships that pass in the ice The port [of Sydney] has a series of natural advantages that distinguish it from other East Coast harbours. For example, it is the first port of call in North America for vessels transshipping from the Suez Canal. In addition it is aRead More