January 6, 2021 at 10:00 am
Happy New Year, spectators! I’m easing back into regular publication today with this one article. Full disclosure: I had expected to spend this week poring over documents released by the CBRM in response to my 2015 FOIPOP request. I knew I wouldn’t receive all 890 pages Privacy Commissioner Tricia RalphRead More
December 9, 2020 at 12:51 pm
I learned a few things from the discussion of my 2015 FOIPOP application during last night’s CBRM council meeting. I learned that Jim Gogan of Breton Law Group handled my initial request in 2015 and is now handling the review. Regional solicitor Demetri Kachafanas revealed this in response to aRead More
November 11, 2020 at 10:23 am
On 3 July 2015, over a year before I launched the Cape Breton Spectator, I made a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) application to the clerk of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Deborah Campbell — now Deborah Campbell-Ryan — requesting: Any communications between Mayor Cecil Clarke orRead More
October 15, 2020 at 12:41 pm
Canderel abandons SHIP? Has Canderel, the Montreal-based real estate development firm founded by Jonathan Wener, cut its ties with Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP), the firm with the “exclusive” contract to promote a Port of Sydney container terminal? Wener is no longer listed on the “leadership” page of the NovaporteRead More
October 2, 2020 at 11:29 am
Catch 22 “There was only one catch, and that was Catch-22.” Did you happen to watch the CBC-sponsored CBRM mayoral candidates’ debate on Wednesday night? I watched the whole thing and, given my obsession with all things port, was struck by Mayor Cecil Clarke’s assertion that the province was preparedRead...
September 26, 2020 at 11:41 am
Debate debacle I tried to watch the Ripple FX TV mayoral debate (by which I mean, the video of it the morning after the actual debate) but couldn’t get past the first few minutes during which both Mayor Cecil Clarke and candidate Chris Abbass were KICKED OUT. Clarke, who wantedRead More
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
January 15, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Each week, I pick a subject and do my research and try to give some sort of coherent account of what I’ve learned but this week — I give up. I’ve been trying to make sense of the latest developments in the Sydney container port saga and I am utterlyRead More