Transparency 101 Amid the blowback from CBRM council’s rejection of a staff recommendation it fund a New Dawn/Ally Centre project with the $5 million it received under the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), District 2 Councilor Earlene MacMullin took to Facebook to explain why she’d voted against the project,Read More

We’re supposed to be celebrating yesterday’s announcement that Cape Breton University has received $58.9 million from the provincial government to establish a medical school that will solve Nova Scotia’s healthcare crisis but I can’t drag my eyes away from the spectacle of CBRM council refusing the $5 million it wasRead More

The CBRM council meeting on Tuesday began with an acknowledgement of the passing a former alderman in the City of Sydney. This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I’m not sure about this tradition of noting the passing of anyone who ever served on a municipal council in CBRM.Read More

Alyce MacLean, project manager for housing development with New Dawn Enterprises, appeared before CBRM council on January 31 to ask the municipality to transfer surplus municipal property to her organization for the construction of supportive housing for people struggling with mental health and addictions issues. (If you are wondering whyRead More

The CBRM is one of 41 Canadian municipalities “pre-determined” to receive funding (worth $5 million)  under the third round of the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), one component of its National Housing Strategy. The announcement, which I completely missed, was made on November 10, but council didn’t get aroundRead More

My problem this week, as I got back to my regular publication schedule, was that my story ideas were all too big to turn around in time for this week’s edition. I don’t like scratching the surface of things, but while I dust off my shovel and get ready toRead More

It’s been roughly a year since I wrote about two Nova Scotia housing reports, one by the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission, the other by the Housing for All Working Group of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), NS Office, and after a flurry of “affordable housing” announcements fromRead More

This week I had a chance to visit Glace Bay’s Town House to find out what they’ve been up to lately. I was intrigued by the organization but not well informed — I was aware of the clothing depot, but not much else. But in a wide-ranging conversation with ExecutiveRead More

The mixed-income housing development proposed for the former Tartan Downs racetrack in Sydney will contain 55% “affordable housing” units — meaning 240 of the 430 units will be rented at 80% of market rent. Kent MacIntyre of the Urban Neighborhood Development Association (UNDA), the organization overseeing the project, is usingRead More

I assumed my first 2022 contribution to the Spectator would be pretty upbeat, especially since New Year’s Eve was spent in a hilarious re-watching of various episodes of Father Ted that included a few I hadn’t seen before. And thanks to YouTube documentary introducing the actors, I got to seeRead More