Tuesday’s special session of CBRM council included a rather cryptic Issue Paper from regional solicitor Demetri Kachafanas under the title: “Qualifications to Run for Municipal Elections.” Kachafanis says qualifications to serve on council are — like everything else involving Nova Scotian municipalities — governed by the Municipal Government Act (MGA).Read More

The last three months of 2021 found me, as always, following CBRM happenings — particularly around waterfront development and cruise news — but also looking further afield at stories with local angles or implications. In particular, I got interested in how some Saint Lucians were responding to the arrival ofRead More

This morning, I am going to take on some of the hot takes I’ve seen on CBRM council’s recent waterfront development decision. As you probably know by now, during last Tuesday’s meeting, council, rather than entertaining a new proposal from Martin Chernin’s Harbour Royale Development Ltd (HRDL), opted to issueRead More

Backroom deals During Tuesday’s CBRM council meeting, CAO Marie Walsh revealed — very matter-of-factly — that she and regional solicitor Demetri Kachafanas had met with developer Martin Chernin after the expiration of Chernin’s waterfront pre-development contract to discuss a new proposal. She even admitted that she and Kachafanas had presentedRead More

Affordable housing I came across a for-sale listing for Sadler Court, the 36-unit apartment complex on Alexandra Street in Sydney owned by New Dawn Enterprises. Sadler Court, as the New Dawn site says, “brings together the convenience of downtown living, the serenity of a natural setting, and, best of all,Read More

As you may recall, I asked the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) for clarification on the use of outside legal counsel to handle municipal access to information requests (I was inspired to ask for this clarification by the discovery that my 2015 FOIPOP to the CBRM regardingRead More

I learned a few things from the discussion of my 2015 FOIPOP application during last night’s CBRM council meeting. I learned that Jim Gogan of Breton Law Group handled my initial request in 2015 and is now handling the review. Regional solicitor Demetri Kachafanas revealed this in response to aRead More

Last week I reported on the Nova Scotia Information and Privacy Commissioner’s damning critique of the CBRM’s response to my 2015 access to information request regarding the municipality’s decision to award an exclusive port promotion/development contract to Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP). Commissioner Tricia Ralph faulted the municipality for withholdingRead More

The former Sydney train station, located at 75 Dodd Street, is no stranger to controversy, by which I mean, it used to have the name of a brand of beer emblazoned on one end in letters so large, puzzled travelers thought they’d arrived in the City of Olands. I knewRead More

During its May 26 session, the Cape Breton Regional Municipal council approved the Port of Sydney Development Corporation’s “Strategic Plan” and some “non-substantive changes” to its Articles of Association (which, fortunately, were written originally in pencil). Before we discuss the latest developments, a brief history of the Articles of AssociationRead More