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

Did you get that mailer about provincial budget 2017-18 this week? Did yours include a personal “note” from Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA Derek Mombourquette? Mine did. He told me about the budget but he also told me that Sydney-Whitney Pier was a “vibrant melting pot of culture, optimism and most importantly,Read More

Writing about wastewater earlier this year, I raised the possibility that CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke might not be worried about meeting a December 2020 deadline associated with new federal wastewater regulations because he’s already announced he won’t be seeking a third term — which means he will bid us farewellRead More

What a night. Full disclosure: I went to bed at midnight, before everything was done and dusted but as the less interesting option — another Liberal majority — was looking very  likely. I say “less interesting” because the Danish television show Borgen has convinced me the only interesting governments areRead More

Monday’s second coming berth announcement was a star-studded affair. Everyone who is anyone in Nova Scotia politics wanted to be there in person to see the CBRM’s $20 million concrete dream come true. Cape Breton-Canso MP (and Master of Ceremonies) Rodger Cuzner got laughs by warning those in attendance fromRead More