It was Monday morning as I began writing this and I had just heard Damian MacInnis explaining to the CBC’s Steve Sutherland how his “social enterprise” — Rural Cape Breton Enterprises — is going to build affordable housing on Cape Breton Island. (Its Facebook page specifies “low to medium incomeRead More

Listening to Mayor Cecil Clarke’s year-end interview on CBC Information Morning made me feel like Dorothy waking up in Kansas at the end of The Wizard of Oz. Asked for highlights of 2019, Clarke pointed to the official opening of the second cruise ship berth,  which is actually scheduled toRead More

Complex systems Former Nova Scotia health minister Maureen MacDonald took to Facebook this week to express frustration with some of the recent criticism she’s seen leveled at the province’s healthcare system. She took particular issue with a speech given at a healthcare rally in Halifax by Paula Minnikin, a formerRead More

Note: This is the second of two articles on the recent firing of three Cape Breton Regional Police Service officers. You can read Part I here — and you probably should because we’re just going to dive right in where we left off.   Were the cops involved the staffkenneyRead More

What better way to begin 2019 than by looking back at 2018 with CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke? Clarke appeared on CBC radio’s Information Morning Cape Breton on January 3 to reflect on the year just passed and the Spectator listened with interest. In particular, it listened to the discussion ofRead More

Well, that’s all she wrote, folks. CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke’s pursuit of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party leadership ended after the first ballot on Saturday, when rival Tim Houston came within 54 points of winning and Clarke bowed out. It was an abrupt ending to a campaign that seemed likeRead More

Call Mr. Campbell On Friday morning, I heard CBC reporter Tom Ayers’ interview with Shannon Campbell, Donkin Mine vice president, who attended a public meeting in Port Morien last night (organized by District 8 Councilor Amanda McDougall) to discuss residents’ concerns about coal trucks traveling through their community. On theRead More

One of the great advantages of citing I.F. Stone as an influence when you launch a news publication is that you never have to attend a political event — no press conferences, no port announcements, no chamber of commerce luncheons, no public meetings. Stone’s journalism was based entirely on theRead More

Economic development is the word on the street in the CBRM these days — CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke popped up on CBC Cape Breton’s Information Morning on May 4 to speak to host Steve Sutherland about it and CBRM Regional Council has vowed to meet once a month to discussRead More

Prince Rupert CBC Cape Breton’s Information Morning had a very interesting interview with Herb Pond, mayor of Prince Rupert, British Columbia for two terms during which time the city’s struggling break-bulk port was developed into a successful container terminal, handling more than 600,000 containers a year and employing more than 3,000Read More