One thing I feel absolutely no compulsion to print is op-eds by sitting politicians. My job is not to help elected officials get their carefully crafted messages to the electorate. My job is to hold elected officials accountable. So when I received a healthcare op-ed “written” by Energy and MinesRead More

Editor’s Note: Mayor Cecil Clarke’s contention that discussing council remuneration in camera (and treating elected officials as “personnel”) is a longstanding CBRM practice sent me scuttling to the “CBRM Mayor and Council” clippings file at the McConnell library, to research some of the remuneration (and related) issues council has dealt withRead More

But seriously, where’s Cecil? Did it strike anyone else odd that the mayor wasn’t at that flood prevention press conference on Monday? Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA (and Energy Minister) Derek Mombourquette and Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking both thought $2.5 million in additional federal disaster funding was worth coming to town andRead More

Berth of a Boondoggle? “As for why it’s 18 months after the funding announcement and the supposed shovel-ready project still hasn’t proceeded, [CBRM Mayor Cecil] Clarke said it may have been in the addition of extra features in the design process, but admitted “I don’t have an answer.” People mayRead More

A CAPE BRETON SPECTATOR/HALIFAX EXAMINER SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to Joan Baxter’s four-part series on the push for mines and quarries in Nova Scotia. (Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.)   Cabinet shuffle Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is noRead 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

The Case of the Disappearing Audit Request Several keen CBRM Council watchers on social media noted this next item this week. During the regular meeting of CBRM Council in February, as Council was discussing plans for a Viability Study ordered by Minister of Municipal Affairs Derek Mombourquette, District 2 CouncilorRead More

When Municipal Affairs Minister (and Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA) Derek Mombourquette first expressed the notion that the province could find a way to facilitate the CBRM’s port project without rushing through a “phase one” CBRM Charter focused entirely on the deal, I thought it was a good sign. I was soRead More

Discovering, thanks to the reporting of Rick Grant, that the CBRM mayor and council are holding a secret meeting today with port developer Albert Barbusci sends a chill up my spine. The meeting is being held at the Holiday Inn to avoid the bother of calling a special in cameraRead More

My favorite quasi-public organization, Business Cape Breton (BCB), was on the CBRM Council agenda last night. Seems BCB is broke — it needs another $34,000 to see it through to the end of March. It’s difficult to understand exactly what is going on here because CAO Marie Walsh was veryRead More