‘Art of the deal’ know-how missing in Cape Breton Regional Municipality

During a number of years with the Federal Government; I’ve had the good fortune to work in the technology field, transferring knowledge and knowhow from the Communications Research Centre in Ottawa to receptive business partners throughout Atlantic Canada. Our reach was Atlantic Canada but the need or willingness to work with us mostly came from the business community in Newfoundland. Suffice to say that the initiatives or projects if you will, generally required 3 partners at the table; one with the knowledge; one with the money and one with business opportunities. There was an “ART of the DEAL” at play where all players contributed and all gained in achieving success for their organization. Project concepts were drafted and the financial and project deliverables formalized through a memorandum of understanding. This left designated officials to work their magic; iron out the details , formalize timelines and agree to design requirements.

From all appearances the “ART of the DEAL” and know-how are sadly missing in CBRM. The Marty Chernin file; along with on-going decision delays on the Library file are testament to poor visioning and lack of clear direction from our supposedly “leaders”. I wrote in previous correspondence to the POST “leaders are dealers of hope”. I see little hope at this point from CBRM!! Its first line of business should be to develop a clear vision and time line to approve projects. Irrespective of who’s at fault, approval delays of years is not good for the project proponents nor the image or credibility of CBRM. CBRM needs to develop a clear service delivery statement and exercise the ”ART of the DEAL” in bringing the funding partners to the table on this important file.

A few years back there was a call for Proposals on a Federal SMART Cities initiative. The first round called for the development of a proposal outlining the scope and ideas for a SMART city initiative, which would then be followed by formal proposals with funding from the Federal Government. At the time I made a formal offer to help develop the SMART city initiative for the CBRM. Disappointing, but my offer was never acknowledged. In Nova Scotia the town of Bridgewater won a $5 million dollar prize to develop their project

I understand that there will be a call for RFP’s to develop the Harbour front. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a vision piece outlining what CBRM sees as potential Harbour front development opportunities. This then would give possible developers guidance as to what would be acceptable development proposals. And please do acknowledge respondents to the RFP.

Marty Chernin is the embodiment of the “ART OF THE DEAL”. He brings to the table the essential elements to any project. He has a proven track record and demonstrated success in building large scale projects; he has financial acumen and can leverage his money bringing federal and provincial and other business partners to the table. He is also well know and respected in the business world. And finally, he lives here; employs scores of Cape Brertoners’ and cares deeply about our Island. If I’d had the opportunity to do Business with Mr. Chernin when I was with the Fed’s; I’d have done it in a heartbeat.


Martin MacLellan
Sydney River