Remember that brief swirl of controversy around the mysterious renaming of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s Civic Centre to “City Hall?” A front-page story in the Cape Breton Post on March 6 saying the issue would be on the agenda of that day’s General Committee Meeting (placed there by District 6Read More

CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s term as Speaker of the Nova Scotia Legislature ran from June 2006 to October 2007 but in his head, I think it never ended. How else to explain an agenda item like this one, from the 7 March 2017 meeting of the CBRM General Committee:    Read More

On 8 June 2016, at a “special” CBRM Council meeting, Mayor Cecil Clarke surprised councilors with the announcement that the CBRM had withdrawn from Regional Enterprise Network (REN) 6, an economic development organization incorporated in October 2014 and including the CBRM, Richmond County, Victoria County and Inverness County. CBRM councilors,Read More

You know that really annoying stage toddlers hit at about age two? When no matter what you tell them, they say, “Why?” I never outgrew it. So when CBRM mystery solicitor Jim Gogan appeared at Tuesday’s nominating committee meeting to discuss changes to the Articles of Association of the Port ofRead More

I was just a kid the first time I learned the word “scab” could be applied to something other than a rough patch of skin. I had gone with my father to visit his aunt in a nursing home up the street from our house. The staff were on strike, andRead More

We’ve been hearing a lot about the rules of international business lately—much of it from a career politician who has never worked in the private sector. Do you know what’s big in the world of international business since Enron? Madoff? The 2008 financial crisis? Governance. I’ll let those anti-development, bleedingRead More

Let me admit, up front, that whenever Mayor Cecil Clarke mentions “Business Cape Breton,” my ears perk up. BCB used to be the Cape Breton County Economic Development Authority (CBCEDA). Eileen Lannon Oldford, the CEO of BCB, was also the CEO of CBCEDA. In that capacity, in 2011, she hiredRead More

Guys, I’ve figured out what’s wrong with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality: it’s the Council. There’s one exception: District 6 Councillor Ray Paruch. He tries to bring more transparency to proceedings but it’s like trying to make Lady Gaga wear pants. It all became clear to me at the PortRead More