Society

Sidebar: Billionaires, Dutch Coal & Snake Farms

Sidebar: Billionaires, Dutch Coal & Snake Farms

March 23, 2022 at 2:19 pm

As you will see in a moment, I’ve indulged myself this week not just by focusing on a court case that was decided in 2020 (and which arguably has no real Cape Breton connection unless your Cape Breton includes Mulgrave) but by following up all sorts of weird odds andRead More

Community Cooking

Community Cooking

March 23, 2022 at 2:17 pm

Last week, I took a cooking class run by New Dawn Enterprise’s A Better Bite Community Kitchen. Called “Tomato Sauce Five Ways,” the class was held in A Better Bite’s facilities in the New Dawn Centre on Nepean Street in Sydney and led by dietician Jessica MacNeil. She taught usRead More

Tartan Downs: From Racetrack to “Mini-Neighborhood”

Tartan Downs: From Racetrack to “Mini-Neighborhood”

March 16, 2022 at 11:55 am

During last week’s CBRM council meeting for March, a “non-profit” called the Urban Neighborhood Development Association presented preliminary plans for an amazing, mixed-income housing development on the site of the former Tartan Downs harness racing track in Sydney. Don’t worry, I haven’t lost all critical perspective here, but I haveRead More

Defining “Affordable Housing”

Defining “Affordable Housing”

March 16, 2022 at 11:53 am

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

Akre Camp for Syrian refugees from Rojava in Akre (Aqre) town, Dohuk Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq Levi Clancy, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Helping Refugees

March 16, 2022 at 11:51 am

On March 3, Canada announced new emergency measures to support Ukrainian refugees. We have opened a special pathway for Ukrainians which waives all fees and normal visa requirements, we have established a special family reunification and sponsorship pathway for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, we areRead More

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Dear Editor: Coming Together to Heal

March 16, 2022 at 11:47 am

Over the last two years, Nova Scotians of all ages have been impacted by unprecedented grief and loss. The COVID-19 pandemic and public health restrictions have prevented people from coming together, supporting one another, or participating in many traditional rituals of mourning and celebration. Individuals have suffered physical, emotional, orRead More

Hawks Field: A Dream Coming True in Dominion

Hawks Field: A Dream Coming True in Dominion

March 9, 2022 at 12:49 pm

It may not look like much on a cold February day (see below) but the Hawks Field in Dominion is undergoing a serious make-over – from field to Dream Field. Having noticed the construction and wondered about the project, I contacted Councilor Darren Bruckschwaiger, whose District 10 includes Dominion. HeRead More

Protester in Times Square, 26 Feb 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Macho Posturing on the Edge of the Abyss

March 2, 2022 at 10:51 am

The work, my friends, is peace, more than an end of this war – an end to the beginning of all wars, yes, an end, forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killing of peoples — Draft of undelivered Jefferson Day speech byRead More

Showing the Flag?

Showing the Flag?

March 2, 2022 at 10:50 am

I mentioned in last week’s edition that I’d seen a video of Cape Breton Regional Police Services (CBRPS) officer distributing Canadian flags to a group of local “Freedom” protesters in front of MP Mike Kelloway’s office in Dominion. I asked CBRPS spokesperson Desiree Magnus about the incident last Wednesday morningRead More

Inheriting the Earth: Promise or Threat?

Inheriting the Earth: Promise or Threat?

March 2, 2022 at 10:49 am

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