Editor’s Note: John Whalley, the former Economic Development Manager of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is suing the CBRM for constructive dismissal. The case finally came to trial from 20-24 August 2018 and the Spectator was there. We’re presenting our coverage in a series of articles because the trialRead More

Ferry Tale Bay Ferries Ltd, which currently operates the high-speed CAT ferry service between Yarmouth, NS and Portland, Maine, could start sailing to Bar Harbor, Maine instead as early as next June, reports the SaltWire network’s Andrea Gunn. Gunn notes that the move is being planned despite Bay Ferries andRead More

Maker Faire When I spoke to Kim Desveaux this week about our impending makerspace, she mentioned something I didn’t have room for in my article but that I wanted to touch on today. A makerspace is exactly what it sounds like: a space, equipped with tools and materials, in whichRead More

Back in August, I read that Point Edward Marine — a company majority owned by McKeil Marine — was subletting its land in the Sydport Industrial Park to Heddle Marine (another Point Edward Marine partner, in the news lately for its spot of bother with the federal government over theRead More

After the June 2013 floods that caused an estimated $400 million worth of damage to infrastructure in Calgary, the City: …determined that a broad investigation of flood mitigation issues and responses was required. The City also decided that the investigation should be carried out by an arms-length body of expertsRead More

The agenda for Tuesday night’s Cape Breton Regional Council meeting included the proclamation, sponsored by Deputy Mayor Eldon MacDonald, of September 25-October 1 as Right to Know Week, the purpose of which is to “raise awareness of an individual’s right to access government information, while promoting freedom of information asRead More

Economic development is the word on the street in the CBRM these days — CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke popped up on CBC Cape Breton’s Information Morning on May 4 to speak to host Steve Sutherland about it and CBRM Regional Council has vowed to meet once a month to discussRead More

Remember that brief swirl of controversy around the mysterious renaming of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s Civic Centre to “City Hall?” A front-page story in the Cape Breton Post on March 6 saying the issue would be on the agenda of that day’s General Committee Meeting (placed there by District 6Read More

CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s term as Speaker of the Nova Scotia Legislature ran from June 2006 to October 2007 but in his head, I think it never ended. How else to explain an agenda item like this one, from the 7 March 2017 meeting of the CBRM General Committee:    Read More

Charter? What Charter? I was perusing the list of recently completed Nova Scotia Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) requests, as one does, and discovered this one: All briefing notes, analysis and correspondence regarding the development of a municipal charter for Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Oh boy, oh boy,Read More