Rants &Raves

We discuss Chinese visits, heath-care gaps and more

RAVE: For Chinese delegation visit. Delegation members from the Chinese city of Dalian seemed happy to be here when they visited CBRM last week. On the surface the sister city relationship between Dalian and CBRM seems a bit odd - the former being a giant metropolis of 6.7 million people, the latter struggling to keep its population about 100,000. But dig a little deeper and there are some similarities. Dalian is a port city and a regional hub but has fallen behind some other major Chinese cities in recent years. As a result it is reaching across oceans and continents in an attempt to establish new relationships, CBRM being the 17th municipal unit to become a sister city. CBRM is also a port city which is trying to transform itself following the decline and loss of some traditional industries. So why not see what the world has to offer? Why not see if there is a market for local sea products? Why not see if a new wave of Chinese students might want to study at CBU, helping to mitigate the loss of Saudi Arabian students? Why not see if there is an appetite from anyone in Dalian to invest in Novaporte? CBRM was the only city in Canada the Chinese visited. We haven’t seen anyone from Vancouver or Los Angeles dropping by lately. We say nothing ventured, nothing gained

RANT: For health-care gaps. More questions regarding Nova Scotia’s health-care system were raised this week when a Richmond County full-time palliative-care doctor revealed that he would be forced into retirement on July 15 (except for still treating existing patients) due to the province’s slow response to its own palliative-care strategy. Dr. Bob Martel of West Arichat says there are too many gaps in the system and that the level of service does not compare to other parts of the province. He says he is basically providing 24-7 coverage but it’s still not enough. Over to you, Nova Scotia Health Authority.

RAVE and RANT: For free bus service. Hurray for the free summer bus service now in effect across CBRM but why is it that the buses we glanced at last week still appeared largely devoid of commuters? Were we not looking at the right time in the right place? Yes, it’s difficult to get people to change their routines but for those who are on a bus route why not go green and give it a try? And here’s the worry. If this service does not generate a noticeable increase in ridership will some routes ultimately fall victim to budget cuts? Time will tell.

RAVE: For tourism increase. Strong early tourism numbers for Cape Breton are encouraging. Room nights sold for April 2016 show a 30 per cent increase over April 2015 and we haven’t even reach the bump that should result from two world-class golf courses now in operation in Inverness. The media attention generated by a local website campaign touting Cape Breton as a place to visit or call home should a certain politician win the next U.S. presidential election probably won’t hurt, too. Now if only the weather would cooperate a little more.