Water

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

June 11, 2021 at 12:32 pm

Where fishermen shop A spectator reminded me that while I devoted a lot of ink to port matters in this week’s edition, I didn’t discuss plans to expand the retail space around the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion — a plan first mentioned during the Port’s February AGM. “Fisherman’s Cove” isRead More

Dear Editor: Phantom Container Terminal

Dear Editor: Phantom Container Terminal

June 2, 2021 at 1:17 pm

A ridiculous article appeared in the Cape Breton Post on 20 May 2021. It might have been entitled “Man Yells at Cloud.” The protagonist, a Mr. Jerry Gillis, was astonished at the gall of the CBRM in following procedure in the handling of its committees and not just rubber stampingRead More

Aerial view of Canso Causeway, 2007. (Photo by Swampfoot at English Wikipedia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Rethinking the Causeway

February 17, 2021 at 1:49 pm

For thousands of years, the diverse marine life in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence prospered as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean mixed with those of the Gulf. The ebb and flow of huge volumes of salt water brought food and myriad whales, fish, lobster, crabRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

January 29, 2021 at 10:25 am

Trainspotter Looking for illustrations for my rail-related articles this week, I ran across something great: a trove of train photos by a photographer named Roger Puta. I didn’t have time to learn anything more about him on Wednesday, I just snaffled up those lovely photos of a CN engine inRead More

CN train in Moncton, NB, 1971. (Photo by Marty Bernard from U.S.A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

FOIPOP Findings: CN Needs ‘Real Live Shipper’

January 27, 2021 at 2:19 pm

By a strange confluence of events, I had already decided to cover the subject of rail this week before I read the Scotia Rail Development Society editorial in Saturday’s paper. The editorial simply served to spur me on (no pun intended). Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci of Sydney Harbour InvestmentRead More

FOIPOP Findings: Albert’s Global Rolodex

FOIPOP Findings: Albert’s Global Rolodex

January 20, 2021 at 12:49 pm

In putting a timeframe of 1 December 2013 to 29 June 2015 on my access to information request, I’d hoped to cast my net wide enough capture the earliest communications between port promoters Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci and CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke, and if I haven’t done so, I thinkRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

November 27, 2020 at 10:30 am

Ahem… Back in May of 2019, I wrote a story with the headline, “This is what a REAL port announcement looks like,” in which I contrasted what was happening at the Port of Québec — which had announced a deal with CN and Hatchet Ports to build and operate theRead More

Ribbon-cutting ceremony for Port of Halifax berth extension, 23 October 2020. HPA CEO Allan Gray is front row, center. (HPA photo)

Berth Announcement at Port of Halifax

October 28, 2020 at 12:22 pm

Editor’s Note: Rick Grant, who keeps an eye on all things port, attended a rare Open House at the Port of Halifax on Friday and offered to report on what he saw for the Spectator. I accepted, although Halifax is usually beyond the scope of my reporting, because Grant andRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

September 25, 2020 at 12:15 pm

Beggaring belief So, it’s done — Albert Barbusci of Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP) has completed his work and all that stands between the Port of Sydney and a multi-million dollar terminal for ultra-large container vessels is our decrepit railway. Barbusci told the Cape Breton Post‘s David Jala (who describedRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

September 18, 2020 at 12:03 pm

Sea to Sky Did you see the story about the cable of the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, British Columbia, being cut a second time? Just as in August 2019, the cable was cut during the night, sending dozens of cars crashing to the ground. Fortunately, no one wasRead...