We’ve been hearing a lot about the rules of international business lately—much of it from a career politician who has never worked in the private sector. Do you know what’s big in the world of international business since Enron? Madoff? The 2008 financial crisis? Governance. I’ll let those anti-development, bleedingRead More

Port of Sydney information session, Port of Sydney annual general meeting, regular CBRM council meeting, (most) irregular CBRM council meeting: oh the wonders I have seen and heard this week. I’ve seen what should have been a moving moment — two First Nations chiefs addressing council for the first timeRead More

Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP), the firm established by Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci to market the Port of Sydney, has become Sydney Harbour Investment Partners Inc. (SHIP). The name change was registered with Corporations Canada on 19 October 2016. Mayor Cecil Clarke wants CBRM council to extend HPDP’s existingRead More

“This is really big news for the CBRM, buddy.” Peter Gillis, president of Local 1259 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, is unequivocal in his response to Monday’s announcement that terminal operator Ports America would be involved in the promotion, development and ultimately management of the Novaporte container terminal in theRead More

Did you see that 28 October 2016 story by the CBC’s Paul Withers about the CBRM and its consultants? It was the oddest thing. The “news” was that the CBRM has no record of the work done for it by the first pair of consultants it hired to promote theRead More

On 6 September 2016, I sent Albert Barbusci of Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP) an email asking him two questions about his bio on the Novaporte website. Specifically, I asked him about this statement: “Barbusci merged Events International with Grey Healthcare Group, a global pharmaceutical marketing and advertising agency, toRead More

I have never bought into the notion of Barry Sheehy and Albert Barbusci as port “developers.” I remain sternly old school in these matters, insisting that to be considered a port developer you must, at least once in your career, have developed a port. But I’ve also been doubtful aboutRead More

Albert Barbusci of Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP) likes to write his name. More specifically, he likes to write his name on documents, preferably with some attendant ceremony. That those documents should be meaningful or open to public scrutiny or of some use in court would be nice, but notRead More

Big news, fellow citizens of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality – no, Rodney MacDonald has not been re-elected premier, although you could be forgiven for thinking that, given the front page of today’s Cape Breton Post (11 February 2016):   The real news is tucked into the lower left handRead More

Guys, I’ve figured out what’s wrong with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality: it’s the Council. There’s one exception: District 6 Councillor Ray Paruch. He tries to bring more transparency to proceedings but it’s like trying to make Lady Gaga wear pants. It all became clear to me at the PortRead More