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

Cape Breton Regional Municipal Council voted on Wednesday morning to approve a zoning by-law amendment to allow developer Chris Skidmore to establish a 211-site RV Park in Big Pond Centre. The vote was 7-6 with Councilors Clarence Prince, Earlene MacMullin, Steve Gillespie, George MacDonald, Darren Bruckschwaiger, Jim MacLeod and Mayor CecilRead More

Port secrecy CBRM Council met in secret camera on Thursday to discuss something related to the Port of Sydney. Under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which our mayor sometimes worries about and sometimes doesn’t (see the 31 unannounced in camera meetings held over 22 months in 2014-15 in flagrant violationRead More

The CBRM has an environmental assessment of a property owned by local businessman Jerry Nickerson on which it hopes to construct a second cruise ship berth. We know the assessment exists, as Nancy King points out in the Cape Breton Post, because Mayor Cecil Clarke has referred to it, asRead More

Regional Council and its Committees meet in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 320 Esplanade, Sydney, NS. All regular meetings are open to the public. Council meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. and are broadcast on the localRead More

Municipal Affairs Says… I couldn’t help noticing the Cape Breton Post picked up my story about port marketer Albert Barbusci and his reports to CBRM council. The Post‘s take is very much “nothing to see here folks” — the article makes the point, not once but twice (first in a statement,Read More

Remember when Harbor Port Development Partners (HPDP) changed its name to Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP) and pressured CBRM council into extending its contract with the municipality for five years? It was last December, seven months ago, when the port file was so hot, what with terminal operator Ports AmericaRead More

There will be a mayoral race in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality this fall and I for one, am glad. That’s partly because acclamations are no fun—who wants to watch incumbent Cecil Clarke debate himself?—but mostly because I don’t think they’re particularly healthy for a functioning democracy. Instead, Rankin MacSween,Read More