Paying for Information Maybe public information in Nova Scotia is of a slightly better quality than public information elsewhere. Maybe Nova Scotia Land Registry documents are carefully stored and aged and contain undertones of citrus and hints of oak that set them apart from generic land registry documents. Maybe theRead More

This past Saturday found me driving along Route 4 listening to commercial radio. (I know what you’re thinking: did last Saturday also find you breathing and blinking at regular intervals? Did it find you wearing shoes? But you have to understand, I haven’t owned a car or listened to commercialRead More

I recently attended an ethics conference which addressed the question of how healthcare organizations and other social institutions should respond to cultural, religious, and sexual diversity in their patients, students and staff. One of the speakers was particularly interesting for me, because her talk was focused on ways in whichRead More

Has anyone else wondered why our political leaders at every level of government give lip service to representing the constituents they seek support from only when they are campaigning for office or forming the political opposition in the legislature? Ritually, leaders of political parties promise and promise and promise someRead More

No Cape Bretoners, please Halifax regional council has created an eight-member committee to consider the commemoration of Edward Cornwallis in the municipality. I can’t tell you who the members are because council has yet to make the names public, but if it heeded the advice of Councilor David Hendsbee ofRead More

The recent dramatic spike in tensions on the Korean Peninsula has sparked fresh calls for Canada to join the American Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system. Proponents of the system claim it can either intercept and destroy a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking North America – a dreadRead More

How to Spend $160 The September 27 edition of the Cape Breton Post was an exciting one for me. The front page featured a Canadian Press story about the provincial budget (prompting me once again to wonder why, if Saltwire is such a heavyweight Atlantic Canadian news presence, it can’tRead...

If there was one issue that dominated the 2017 provincial election in Cape Breton, it was healthcare. And it’s not like there was any one healthcare issue that stood out — poke the system just about anywhere and you’ll hit a sore spot, whether it’s lack of access to primaryRead...

Pope Francis has introduced a new path to canonization for would-be Catholic saints. Now, in addition to martyrdom, living a life of heroic Christian virtue and “exceptional cases” (where someone has been venerated as holy since ancient times), Christians who lay down their lives for another will be eligible forRead More

CBRM endorses UN Bomb ban I was hard on the CBRM for proclaiming Right to Know Week (for what I think are pretty obvious reasons), but there was another proclamation made during last Tuesday’s council meeting that made me quite proud of our little municipality. According to Cape Breton University (CBU)Read More