You claim that the Cape Breton Spectator has ambitious goals. Yet, you publish articles like this week’s “Where’s Cecil?,” which strikes me as the kind of gossipy story that one might find in a supermarket rag. Despite his status as a former mayor, Cecil Clarke is now a private citizenRead More

Big thanks to the spectator who alerted me to the latest incarnation of former CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke, who is now with the provincial department of Health and Wellness as  a “project executive” with “Health Capital Projects.” Clarke, whose updated LinkedIn profile states he is an “accomplished public sector leader;Read More

Full disclosure: I thought 2021 was going to be vastly different from 2020 but instead, it unfolded like we’d given 2020 a 12-month extension on its contract. The COVID pandemic continued to loom large in everyone’s lives although, as you’ll see, I modified my response to it. I spent muchRead More

Welcome back, Bettens It’s taken me weeks to confirm this item, but Mark Bettens, formerly CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s executive assistant, has returned to the CBRM Fire and Emergency Services Department from whence he came. As you will recall, when Cecil Clarke became mayor in 2012, he created two newRead More

The CBRM has published its latest travel expense data for council and senior staff and, as you might expect, given the pandemic, people weren’t traveling much. Council had begun meeting by video/teleconference in March 2020, the Atlantic Bubble was instituted on 3 July and popped on 26 November 2020, andRead More

If you’ve been missing the Cecil Clarke-style of government — characterized by council being asked to make big decisions on short notice with little time to digest background information — then you no doubt enjoyed District 5 Councilor Eldon MacDonald’s last-minute attempt to slip approval of the waterfront location forRead More

This week, the FOIPOP findings are just going to be a jumping off point for a check-in with everybody’s favorite Northside shipyard — the one operated by Canadian Maritime Engineering on the property formerly known as Archibald’s Wharf. I’ve covered the controversial sale of that property in detail — thisRead More

Remember CBRM’s sister city, the Chinese port city of Dalian? I don’t blame you if you’ve forgotten, the relationship never really amounted to much and we basically stopped talking about it after our sister city (population: 6 million) sentenced a Canadian to death in 2019. But back in December 2015,Read More

Trainspotter Looking for illustrations for my rail-related articles this week, I ran across something great: a trove of train photos by a photographer named Roger Puta. I didn’t have time to learn anything more about him on Wednesday, I just snaffled up those lovely photos of a CN engine inRead More

When you’re living in a troubled economy, there’s nothing more interesting than following the money that influenced that economy’s election results. It’s even more interesting when you’re a failed, former candidate from the 2016 municipal CBRM election, who knows all about the donations (or lack thereof), the paperwork, the expenses,Read More