I was perusing the Nova Scotia tenders portal this morning, as one does, and noticed the CBRM has called for bids for the next stage of the Charlotte Street re-design. Before I focused on the actual details I got distracted imagining a sort of municipal version of Trading Spaces whereRead More

Editor’s Note: I’m trying out my system of choosing items from the CBRM council agenda and doing some preliminary research on Tuesday afternoon, then watching the meeting and updating the article accordingly.   Item 6.2 (a) on last night’s CBRM council agenda was “business arising” from a January 17 inRead More

Happy New Year, spectators! I have entered this year in possession of a wood stove and a drinks table, so you know things are looking up. Not that all I see is shiny and new—CBRM council, for instance, stuck with tradition and held its first meeting of 2023 in camera.Read More

There’s a point I’ve been meaning to make regarding CBRM council’s in camera discussions of waterfront development, which Mayor Amanda McDougall defended to the CBC, telling reporter Tom Ayers: Discussions on the potential land deal have been held in camera for months, which is allowed under the Municipal Government Act,Read More

Editor’s Note: I caught myself looking rather bleakly at the snow yesterday and decided I needed a timely reminder about embracing winter, so I re-read Paul MacDougall’s 25 November 2020 piece on coping with the cold and I thought you might like to too.   There is probably as muchRead More

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has done a survey right here in the little old CBRM. The CBRM Business Environment Survey was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022 and published in April 2022. I missed it but a reader was kind enough to send it along, knowingRead...

Premier Monkey’s Paw I was watching that Simpsons’ Halloween special where they spoof “The Monkey’s Paw” (a short story Wikipedia informs me was published in 1902 by the English author W.W. Jacobs) when I had a sudden revelation. It’s a “three wishes” story—the wishes being granted by the monkey’s pawRead More

My problem this week, as I got back to my regular publication schedule, was that my story ideas were all too big to turn around in time for this week’s edition. I don’t like scratching the surface of things, but while I dust off my shovel and get ready toRead More

I am an easily distracted human being who almost didn’t get beyond the second page of CBRM’s 2022 active transportation (AT) plan because it contained this quote:   I can’t remember whether I discovered the British writer and critic Leigh Hunt the summer I was obsessed with Victorian poetry (blameRead...

Editor’s Note: CBRM resident Guy LaFosse wonders why the municipality is not burying the power lines as part of its $10 million Charlotte Street makeover. He shared his letter to councilors with the Spectator.   Good afternoon Councilors, I am writing to you out of a growing concern that aRead...