Post Tagged with: "MGA"

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

March 10, 2023 at 8:15 am

Transparency 101 Amid the blowback from CBRM council’s rejection of a staff recommendation it fund a New Dawn/Ally Centre project with the $5 million it received under the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), District 2 Councilor Earlene MacMullin took to Facebook to explain why she’d voted against the project,Read More

Civic Centre, CBRM

And Another Thing…

November 30, 2022 at 11:42 am

There’s a point I’ve been meaning to make regarding CBRM council’s in camera discussions of waterfront development, which Mayor Amanda McDougall defended to the CBC, telling reporter Tom Ayers: Discussions on the potential land deal have been held in camera for months, which is allowed under the Municipal Government Act,Read More

The Case of the In Camera Email

The Case of the In Camera Email

June 9, 2021 at 3:02 pm

I know I’ve already devoted a lot of space to the Port of Sydney this week — it’s like old times — but I really want to cover the mildly scandalous issue raised during that June 3 meeting between CBRM council and Port board members and staff; namely, the mysteryRead More

Travel Expenses

Travel Expenses

February 5, 2020 at 1:38 pm

During Tuesday’s General Committee Meeting, CBRM council finally decided to scrap its $140/week ($7,280/year) travel allowance (described so regularly as “controversial” you’d be forgiven for thinking that was its official name). Instead of simply collecting $140 each week no matter how many kilometers they’ve actually traveled, CBRM councilors will nowRead More

Map showing proposed site of RV park in Big Pond.

UARB Critical of CBRM Planners in RV Park Case

January 23, 2019 at 1:08 pm

I have to start by quoting myself. This is what I wrote about Chris Skidmore’s RV Park proposal for Big Pond back in February 2018 CBRM planning staff seem really keen on this Big Pond RV Park idea. I don’t know how else to interpret the time and effort planningRead More

More About RENs

More About RENs

January 23, 2019 at 1:06 pm

While writing last week about the CBRM Regional Enterprise Network or CBRM REN it suddenly struck me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t really know what a Regional Enterprise Network was, so I decided I’d better educate myself. I began by looking up the existing CapeRead More

It’s Public Money — That Simple

It’s Public Money — That Simple

November 21, 2018 at 1:08 pm

CBRM Council approved a raise for itself last night in response to the federal government’s decision to end a tax break that allowed elected municipal officials to collect one-third of their salaries tax free. Councilors did it without a word of debate or discussion, presumably because they’d already debated andRead More

Letter to the Editor: Breaching Governing Legislation

Letter to the Editor: Breaching Governing Legislation

November 14, 2018 at 11:15 am

In recent published comments, Mayor Cecil Clarke suggested that because the Municipal Government Act (MGA) was ignored in the past it is perfectly acceptable for our current elected representatives to continue thumbing a collective nose at a statutory mandate to follow the rules. What the Mayor and Council repeatedly didRead...

Where’s Cecil?

Where’s Cecil?

October 24, 2018 at 12:44 pm

Welcome to the penultimate installment of “Where’s Cecil?” For eight months, I’ve attempted to track our peripatetic CBRM mayor as he was “criss-crossing the province” and “burning up the phone lines” in pursuit of the job he really wants: leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives. I started this feature because,Read More

Whalley Trial Part VI: The McKeil Deal

Whalley Trial Part VI: The McKeil Deal

September 5, 2018 at 2:34 pm

Editor’s Note: John Whalley, the former Economic Development Manager of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is suing the CBRM for constructive dismissal. The case finally came to trial from 20-24 August 2018 and the Spectator was there. We’re presenting our coverage in a series of articles because the trialRead More