CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke was “not in the building” on September 27 when students (and others) from his community gathered in front of the Civic Centre to demand action on climate change. (His spokesperson tells me he “had meetings scheduled” in the morning and “a funeral” in the afternoon.) ButRead More

A spectator drew my attention to the published decision in Cape Breton (Regional Municipality) v. Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 2019 NSCA 77. That was the CBRM’s attempt to get the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to overturn the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board’s (NSUARB) decision in the case ofRead More

Former Economic Development Manager John Whalley’s civil suit against the Cape Breton Regional Municipality for constructive dismissal was the first (and to date, only) court case I have ever covered — but boy, did I cover it. I attended the trial in August 2018 (four full days, and a briefRead More

The CBRM has posted its audited financials from fiscal year 2007-2008 to fiscal year 2017-2018 on the municipal website. From 2010-2011 on, they include travel expenses for elected officials and senior CBRM staff members. I wanted to compare Mayor Cecil Clarke’s travel expenses to those of his predecessor, Mayor JohnRead More

It took me well over the advertised 30 days and cost me $510 but last Friday I finally received the travel and expense data I had requested from the CBRM on 11 April 2019. My exact request was travel and expense data for Mayor Cecil Clarke, his executive assistant MarkRead More

FOIPOP blues Since the dawn of the age of Big Data — hell, since the dawn of the age of Excel spreadsheets — tracking and collating information has become much easier for us humans. Data entry is boring but not difficult, and once entered (whether into a database or aRead More

I was looking over some old files as I was writing the article on the fine line between reporting and enabling and I came across a list I compiled of dubious assertions by proponents of the CBRM container port project in December 2015, seven months after the CBRM signed itsRead More

During the recent CBRM general committee meeting about the current state of the new central library project, the subject of the new library in Truro was raised a number of times. I thought it would be worth looking at how the Town of Truro (population 12,000) managed to do whatRead More

Emera The Cape Breton Post is reporting changes to Nova Scotia legislation that will lift restrictions preventing foreign investors from holding more than 25% of voting shares in Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI). The other change “reinforces Emera’s existing commitment to maintain its head officeRead More

I have recently read two interesting descriptions of libraries. One is from Michelle Wilson, the executive director of the Sydney Downtown Development Association (formerly the Sydney Waterfront District), who sees the proposed new central library as a “quality product” that can enhance Sydney’s “brand.” In a letter to the editorRead More