Richard Starr had already got me thinking about how centralized power is in Nova Scotia before Auditor General Kim Adair drove the point home for me on Tuesday. Starr has been tracking this province’s anti-democratic tendencies for some time now via his Starr’s Point blog, and back in early November,Read More
There’s a point I’ve been meaning to make regarding CBRM council’s in camera discussions of waterfront development, which Mayor Amanda McDougall defended to the CBC, telling reporter Tom Ayers: Discussions on the potential land deal have been held in camera for months, which is allowed under the Municipal Government Act,Read More
UPDATE: Council met on August 23 and revealed that the second of these meetings involved the awarding of the food and beverage contract at the Miner’s Forum. It went to Scott Morrison, who owns Sydney’s Flavor Downtown, Flavor 19 and Flavor on the Water. (Although Morrison wasn’t mentioned by name;Read More
Among the many unknowns about life under Nova Scotia’s new majority Progressive Conservative government is the fate of our access to information system. While it seems unlikely things could get any worse, there is no guarantee they will get better. But even as I write, the CBC’s Michael Gorman isRead More
Once more to the polls! I have yet to decide how to cover this fall’s municipal elections in the CBRM. Back in 2016 — the year I launched the Spectator — I chose to focus on the women running for office in part because I am one person and couldRead More
During last night’s regular monthly meeting of the Cape Breton Regional Council, District 5 Councilor Eldon MacDonald moved that the week of September 23 to 29 be declared “Right to Know” Week in the CBRM. I laughed. I cried. And I thought of all the things I would like toRead More
Free the information CBRM Municipal Clerk Deborah Campbell Ryan got back to me Tuesday night about another FOIPOP I submitted back in April looking for information about a matter before council. Her original estimate of the fee I would be required to pay for this (public) information was $215 andRead More
Acting on a tip from a reader, who seemed to think that CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke, his executive assistant Mark Bettens and (the now former) economic development manager John Phelan were doing an unusual amount of traveling on the public dime last fall, I sent a request under Section XXRead More
While writing last week about the CBRM Regional Enterprise Network or CBRM REN it suddenly struck me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t really know what a Regional Enterprise Network was, so I decided I’d better educate myself. I began by looking up the existing CapeRead More
