Editor’s Note: This open letter from the Cape Breton West Chapter of the Council of Canadians to the prime minister is dated 11 May 2021.   Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, We are writing to implore the Government of Canada to ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to hold an emergencyRead More

During today’s COVID-19 Update, Dr. Robert Strang and Premier Iain Rankin announced a province-wide shutdown or circuit breaker that will go into effect as of 8:00 AM tomorrow (Wednesday, April 28) and remain in place until at least May 12. “We are in a race between the variant and theRead More

The third wave is here and I thought it might be a good idea to bring together all the information I’ve been tweeting out piecemeal about COVID these past few days. Given the admirable job Tim Bousquet at the Examiner does covering the briefings — and the daily press releasesRead More

Hail to the chief Robert Walsh, erstwhile acting chief of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service (CBRPS) has been named chief. I’m filing that under “O” for “Of course.” On the plus side, if they ever launch a Family Feud: Municipal Edition, we’re ready.   Something’s brewing We’re getting ourRead More

Ralph Surette’s April 3rd column in the Chronicle Herald hopes to convince us (especially those of us who are over the hill?) that now that a revised MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) law has passed, a large portion of our population, “the frail, the elderly, the poor and terminally ill”Read More

Shots! I’m betting when you read that you knew I was talking about COVID vaccine and not tequila. That is a sad but I hope not enduring effect of the ongoing pandemic. I got my first AstraZeneca shot on Monday. On Tuesday, I had a sore arm and fatigue serious…Read...

Editor’s Note: I had to make a trip to the Annapolis Valley on short notice yesterday and thought I’d simply be able to post Fast & Curious — which I’d written on Thursday — from the road. But time and circumstance worked against me, which is why you are seeingRead More

I’ve been meaning to discuss District 1 Councilor Gordon MacDonald’s attempt to get CBRM council to pass a motion in support of paid sick days since he first made it at the February 23 council meeting but I haven’t been able to do the necessary research until this week. MacDonaldRead More

Statistics Canada says that 309,893 Canadians died in 2020, which means annual deaths surpassed 300,000 for the first time in the country’s history. As for the contribution of COVID, Stats Canada says: The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported that 15,651 or 5.1% of deaths in 2020 were causedRead More

It’s been a while since I played a good old-fashioned game of “Okay, stop” with a written document, but last Saturday’s Cape Breton Post article about the Port of Sydney AGM cries out for a talking to. I’m going to cut the author, “political reporter” Ian Nathanson, some slack, becauseRead More