Johnny ‘No Comment’ During the 2021 provincial election, when he was running as the (ultimately successful) Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Glace Bay, John White (aka Johnny White aka Johnny Bubba) declined to answer the Spectator‘s questions. I had forgotten that until yesterday, when I read about WhiteRead More

District 9 (not to be confused with the film of the same name) encompasses much of the former towns of Glace Bay and Reserve Mines. I am not sure what it is shaped like but I don’t think anyone will argue with me if I say it is shaped weirdly.Read More

District 10 includes Dominion, plus parts of Gardiner Mines, Glace Bay, Grand Lake Road and Reserve Mines. I know I have already drawn this comparison (see: District 12) but District 10 is also shaped like a bat. (Or maybe I really do have a Halloween obsession.) The district is homeRead More

Don Mills I read Don Mills’ recent opinion piece in the Chronicle Herald because I thought Don Mills was a mixed-use neighborhood in Toronto and was intrigued by what it might have to say about well…anything. My disappointment in discovering Don Mills was actually just a person was lessened whenRead More

I (finally) received an answer from the CBRM in response to my wastewater questions. You can read my original story here, but the gist is that when Canada’s new Wastewater System Effluent Regulations (WSER) came into effect on 1 January 2015, municipalities operating water treatment systems that didn’t meet themRead...

DNA Fail I grew interested in the subject of DNA evidence after a number of men convicted during the “John-Be-Gone” sting operation in Sydney were ordered to supply samples to the National DNA Data Bank. I wrote about some of the issues surrounding the collection and retention of DNA evidenceRead 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

Folklorist Ian Brodie’s presentation last week at The Old Sydney Society on the locally produced CJCB program “Dishpan Parade” and its spin-off, the Cape Breton Songs Contest, brought back great memories of radio, especially its heyday locally in the ’40s and ’50s. CJCB was the only game in town then,Read More

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means — time to beat the Business Cape Breton (BCB) drum! This week we’ve learned that BCB is both an outside organization immune to the rules governing departments of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality AND the CBRM’s “economic development entity,” immune to theRead More