Editor’s Note: This column first appeared in September 2017.    Inspiration for this column can come from the strangest places. This time, I was deep in the heart of my favorite blackberry patch, high canes arching above my head, hands and mouth stained as purple as my bucket. A flockRead More

Dear Editor, You know what’s wrong with Cape Breton Island? It’s not the seniors, who have been accused of not wanting economic development and jobs here. It’s not the unions, who have been accused of wanting their unions on every construction development. It’s not the high residential taxes or highRead More

Last fall, I was talking to South Bar resident and sometime Spectator contributor Rod Gale about the preponderance of provincial arts grants given to artists in Halifax. Gale has long taken an interest in the local arts scene — he’s the founder of Gobblefest, an alternative music festival held onRead More

I have just finished reading, with an open mind, Mary Campbell’s article about the COVID update for this past weekend. As a former Cape Bretoner (I now live in the Annapolis Valley), I was dismayed at the very negative tone of the article. It is rife with sarcasm over anyRead More

On December 23, amidst all the busyness leading up to Christmas Day, I was privileged to hear an outstanding interview broadcast on the national radio network of the CBC. The program was the public affairs daily The Current and the guest was the president of the Cape Breton Medical StaffRead More

Where the hell are our senators during our healthcare, child and senior poverty, unemployment and out-migration crises, to name just a few? Other than Senator Dan Christmas bringing up the hot topic of the separation of Cape Breton Island from the mainland, where are our other senators? Have they forgottenRead More

Before I tell you about Mary Ellen MacIntyre’s blog, Innis Bheag (Little Island), you should read a bit of it. Here’s a snippet from a story called “Cow Bay Road Mud and Fire“:   Some people shouldn’t retire. If they do, they must then do other things, or they willRead More

About three years ago, I produced a show for CBC’s Land and Sea on Fairy Culture in Cape Breton. Fairies meaning “little people” or in Mi’kmaq culture “Wiklatmu’j.” It was so well received that I have decided to write a book about the same project. I have several publishers interested.Read More

Follow the Money Have you seen the “Follow the Money” database from Post Media? Do you have three days to spare? Because I promise you, once you start perusing its contents you will not be able to stop. It’s the work of reporter Zane Schwartz, Post Media’s annual Michelle Lang Fellow,Read More

Unlike David Johnson’s March 23rd rhetorical spin-doctoring CB Post article citing me as an ill-founded separatist, I do indeed retort with a bold vision forward for Cape Breton Island (CBI), rooted in sound legal principles and a viable political structure which, to succeed, needs to be shaped and implemented by CapeRead More