I’m a bit obsessed with the port — and sadly, I don’t mean the fortified wine — which is why this week’s issue contains so many port-related stories. But somebody has to do something other than cheerlead. Somebody has to don the skunk suit and turn up at the gardenRead 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

Port of Sydney information session, Port of Sydney annual general meeting, regular CBRM council meeting, (most) irregular CBRM council meeting: oh the wonders I have seen and heard this week. I’ve seen what should have been a moving moment — two First Nations chiefs addressing council for the first timeRead More

PR: You’re Doing it Wrong Christina Lamey, who is either CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s personal spokesperson or the CBRM’s official spokesperson, depending on what day of the week it is, gave a master class in public relations on Wednesday. Proving she is worth every penny of the $75,000 we payRead More

Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP), the firm established by Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci to market the Port of Sydney, has become Sydney Harbour Investment Partners Inc. (SHIP). The name change was registered with Corporations Canada on 19 October 2016. Mayor Cecil Clarke wants CBRM council to extend HPDP’s existingRead More

Ports America (or as I predict it will be known in Cape Breton, based on what I’ve heard, read and said myself, “Ports of America”) is the real deal. It’s an actual terminal operator running ports all along the eastern seaboard of the United States, across the Gulf of MexicoRead More

“This is really big news for the CBRM, buddy.” Peter Gillis, president of Local 1259 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, is unequivocal in his response to Monday’s announcement that terminal operator Ports America would be involved in the promotion, development and ultimately management of the Novaporte container terminal in theRead More

This Content Is Not Sponsored Running a fledgling online news operation on a subscription basis is not without its challenges but it has some big benefits — I don’t have to fill my pages with “sponsored content,” my entire front page will never be given over to an advertisement and IRead More

Did you see that 28 October 2016 story by the CBC’s Paul Withers about the CBRM and its consultants? It was the oddest thing. The “news” was that the CBRM has no record of the work done for it by the first pair of consultants it hired to promote theRead More

I’ll say it again: we need to talk about the cruise industry. We need to talk about its actual impact on our local economy, its environmental impact on our coastal waters,  its questionable labor practices and its crime problem. And we have to do it right now, before we pumpRead More