Addiction

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

June 23, 2023 at 10:48 am

Ayn Rand Revisited I went through a brief period in high school when I thought Ayn Rand was someone you had to read to be considered well read (I blame a Sydney Academy debater who used to quote her regularly) and since being considered well-read was pretty much my life’sRead...

CBRM Council Approves Rapid Housing Project

CBRM Council Approves Rapid Housing Project

April 12, 2023 at 12:40 pm

Let’s focus on the good news: CBRM council has approved a project for funding under the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI). Council took time out of its budget discussions on April 5 to approve a joint proposal from New Dawn and the Ally Centre of Cape Breton to buildRead More

What Part of ‘Rapid Housing’ Don’t You Understand?

What Part of ‘Rapid Housing’ Don’t You Understand?

March 15, 2023 at 10:50 am

Last Friday’s “emergency” CBRM council meeting has been well covered in the local media, leaving me with one angle—secrecy—that I still feel has not been adequately explored. But first, let’s recap recent affordable housing history: 2020 October 27: The federal government launches the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) delivered by theRead More

Photo by Don Clarke

Finding Your Footing

April 27, 2022 at 1:49 pm

Pathways to Employment community organization based in Sydney, is probably best known for its wood shop, laundry services and other programs that attempt to reintegrate disenfranchised people with addictions or restrictions due to mental health issues into the community. Certainly, that’s the aspect of Pathways I was most familiar with;Read More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

October 8, 2021 at 1:00 pm

Just say no The local CBC is running a multi-part series on “street drugs” and if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect it was being sponsored by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, because the stance it takes on drugs — they’re bad and people who do them die — seemsRead More

Meet the Candidates: Northside-Westmount

Meet the Candidates: Northside-Westmount

August 11, 2021 at 1:06 pm

Northside-Westmount — formerly Cape Breton North — has mostly gone back and forth between the Liberals and Tories with the exception of the 1978 general election when Len Arsenault briefly turned it NDP orange. The riding produced a Liberal Premier, Russell MacLellan, before turning into what I think I canRead More

Sydney’s Casino at 25: Gambling Addiction

Sydney’s Casino at 25: Gambling Addiction

December 16, 2020 at 12:45 pm

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turns 25 this summer and to mark its quarter-century, Rob Csernyik has been taking an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. In Part III, he focuses on the question of addiction. (Read Part I here and Part IIRead More

Homeless encarmpment, Northeast Portland (Photo by

Shelter from the Coming Storms

November 25, 2020 at 11:49 am

I don’t really know the situation today, but in the 1950s, working for the church especially as a secretary, I got to know those who were referred to as “stemmers.” They were the dedicated few who every so often rang the glebe house doorbell in search of a dollar orRead More

Jail is…Great?

Jail is…Great?

April 17, 2019 at 12:23 pm

When I saw the headline “Life in lockup“on the front page of Tuesday’s Cape Breton Post I was impressed — a full, front page story (and two additional pages inside) exploring life in the Cape Breton Correctional Facility? SaltWire actually doing a valuable “deep dive?” Excellent. And then I readRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

September 7, 2018 at 10:33 am

We’re baaaa…aaaaaaack How was your summer? Mine was fantastic. It was full of swimming and reading and barbecue and blackberries and crossword puzzles and G&Ts and cribbage and reunions with long-lost friends and rock-skipping sessions with visiting nephews and one glorious, heartfelt, bonfire sing-a-long to Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded MeRead More