Bill Lahey’s prescription was sweeping: “We need a new paradigm to manage our forests.” That’s what the University of King’s College president told journalists after handing the McNeil government the results of a year-long review of forestry practices in Nova Scotia. McNeil appointed Lahey last August after choosing not toRead...

A few weeks ago, when I reported on the provincial government’s “redevelopment” plan for Cape Breton Healthcare, I noted that it called for the transfer of surgeries currently performed in the Northside General and New Waterford Consolidated Hospitals (both of which are scheduled for closure) to the Cape Breton RegionalRead More

Sydney-Victoria figured in a Canadian Top-10 list this week but it’s nothing to celebrate: we’re one of the 10 federal ridings with the highest levels of child poverty in the country. The list is found in the latest report from Campaign 2000, a Canadian anti-poverty group that takes its nameRead More

Back in January, I wrote about the town of Bar Harbor, Maine, and its plans to purchase and develop its disused ferry terminal. I was struck by the story, which I first read in the New York Times, because the approach Bar Harbor is taking to the project contrasts so sharplyRead More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. (You can read Part I here and Part II here.)    In this, the thirdRead More

Education consultant Avis Glaze is clearly a quick study: hired in October 2017, she was given until the end of December to conduct an administrative review of the Nova Scotia education system. She crammed 91 in-person meetings (with individuals or groups) into 19 business days (I’m assuming she didn’t workRead More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. You can read Part I here.   “[T]he annexation was not legal according to BritishRead More

Earlier this year, the idea of a guaranteed annual income (GAI) was in the news, including in The Cape Breton Spectator where yours truly wrote about Ontario’s plan to “launch a pilot project to assess whether a basic income can better support vulnerable workers, improve health and education outcomes forRead...

Has anyone else wondered why our political leaders at every level of government give lip service to representing the constituents they seek support from only when they are campaigning for office or forming the political opposition in the legislature? Ritually, leaders of political parties promise and promise and promise someRead More

If there was one issue that dominated the 2017 provincial election in Cape Breton, it was healthcare. And it’s not like there was any one healthcare issue that stood out — poke the system just about anywhere and you’ll hit a sore spot, whether it’s lack of access to primaryRead...