i work all across canada, and i come here and read how terrible it is here. you know what? this is a great city, lots to do in the summer. nothing in winter? so what? you had a great summer why not rest. that’s what i do.
the trouble is i suspect these whiners are not from halifax, but from ottawa, montreal,vancouver,etc. and now they compare it to their city. guess what? i’ve lived in those cities too and haligonians are friendly and happy people, not like those cities. you hate it so much here, hey, viarail runs every night. fly westjet even faster.
get the fuck out of here, haligonians don’t need your sorry asses. stop whining. i’m beginning to sound like fucking you stinkers. finger to you bye.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2008.
amen dude agreed 100%
Yep, friendly Nova Scotians, bitching at the come-from-aways. I agree with the sentiment, but no wonder out-of-provincers don’t feel welcome here. One comment about how NS sucks and they get bombarded with all our pent up rage about the province Harper forgot. People need to realize (haligonians and canadians at large) that Halifax is a relatively small city and with that comes some very great benefits and some equally large drawbacks. It’s up to the individual to decide what kind of lifestyle they want and whether or not halifax and nova scotia can offer that. Why would anyone expect Halifax to provide the same types of services (stores) and entertainment (concerts, NHL games etc) as a city 10 times its size? I wouldn’t expect Toronto to have the saem easy access to raw unadulterated nature as Halifax either. Places are different, no better, no worse, just different. Figure out what you want from life and find a town that offers that. But there are a lot of upper canadians who come here and turn their nose up at our “quaint” little town and wonder why maritimes freak out at them for their arrogance. Welcome to Halifax, make the best of your stay, enjoy what we have to offer and please leave quietly if it’s not for you. We won’t take offense. That’s one more job for someone who appreciates this town.
I’m sorry, I just fail to see how entertaining it is in the summer here. For one, what summer?! the 2 weeks that god knows if we’ll get rain or not? Really it’s only 2 weeks.I was in Dubai and Kuwait last summer. I left here 2nd week of July and for a summer season, it was below 20 degrees. When i returned, 2 weeks later, we had a couple of good sunny weeks, then back to rain and cold weather, and before you know it, fall is here.I missed the tall ships fest this year but from what i was told is it sucked. We had like 5 or 6 ships actually show up. Obviously they were not pleased with the city or they would have returned. Not to mentioned, you used to be able to get on the ships for free or for a donation, now you have to buy tickets from the city to see the ships, what the fuck is that???!!!I understand being proud and all, but truth be told, Halifax doesn’t have much to offer. I’ve been around and I’ve traveled and lived places. Halifax has the highest living expenses around Canada. It’s higher than Toronto.I was in Victoria, BC for a while and rent was sooooo much cheaper than here, only the same situation, no jobs, lots of entertainment, no jobs! Moncton is a smaller city yet they have better entertainment. We could do something with that god forsaken piece of land in the harbour. Why don’t they open George’s island as a historic site and let people see it? We don’t have a water or an amusement park! Plenty of land to create that but nooo.. we’re not good for that kind of stuff. Imagine the jobs and economy boom this will create. We don’t have good weather?! BS, Montreal has La Rhond and they have shittier winters than we do!
When my friend moved to Halifax from overseas, he looked across the harbour at that factory in Dartmouth with all its shining lights and thought that was downtown- where the excitement was. He got on a bus and went all the way over there only to find out that it wasn’t downtown, it was a stinking factory and there was actually nothing to do in Halifax besides eat chicken wings on Thursdays and play xbox.
George’s island as far as my knowledge goes has only been used in the recent past for Provincial government parties, you know the big white tent and snooty assholes kind of event. Seems like a big waste to me…though I hear the island does still has plenty of old rusting barbed wire scattered through the tall grass everywhere and that along with many of Nova Scotia’s old military installations by the water, is covered with poison ivy which they used as a further deterrent to German sub delivered spies. LOL
I agree that there is lots Halifax could be doing/offering as a city, but if the only thing you can find to do here is “play xbox and eat chikenwings” like lynn’s friend, then Halifax is probably not for you. I have spent many summers and winters in halifax and have never had a hard time finding fun things to do. GO OUTSIDE! Point pleasant park, the public gardens, coasting on Citadel Hill, Hiking/Mountain Biking on any number of excellent trails, the beach, cycling/driving along the coast. Wanna stay downtown? Catch some live music,a mooseheads game, go to the art gallery, go to a play, take in any number of other cultural activities advertised in the coast every week (they can be found in the part of the paper that isn’t the bitch section). If you can’t find something to do here….the problem is not with Halifax. That said, I acknowledge that some people want more….more and bigger concerts, waterparks, tacky magnetic hills? (which by the way can be found ALL OVER the annapolis valley), bigger sporting events etc. That’s fair to want, and I think some of the frustration with living in halifax can be that we are soooo far away from those things….Montreal is 13hrs away and is the closest big city. But once you accept your fate as a haligonian, you can become quite comfortable with it.
I agree with Miles. Halifax – just like any community, be it a small town or large city – is what you make of it.Looking for something to do this summer? Why not get some friends together and grab a drink on one of the many patios? Pack a lunch, spread out a blanket at Point Pleasant Park, and do some people watching. Head out to Long Lake and hike or bike the nice trails out there. Shakespeare by the Sea is always a fun and inexpensive way to spend an evening. Halifax is 30 minutes from a ton of great beaches. The Jazz Festival in August always has some great music, often for free. Go play some ultimate frisbee on the Commons. Grab a book and sit in the Public Gardens. Get up early Saturday morning and get a cinnamon roll and a coffee at the farmer’s market.Halifax is never going to be a Toronto or a Montreal, at least not in our lifetime. My advice is to stop whining, look outside the box, and take advantage of the many great things this city has to offer.Can’t find something that interests you? Why not be proactive and organize something yourself?
Miles and Newsgal ….. spot on!
I love Magnetic Hill! Its just Halifax has such shitty weather and poor transportation so unless you own a car, getting around is tough, especially in the winter- unless you live near downtown and can walk. Out of curiosity, did the city ever install an outdoor skating rink? The best things to do in Halifax are nature related- and outside of the city limits: hiking, swimming, mountain biking, ice skating… all wonderful but difficult to access. That being said, there’s nothing I miss more than the smell of the ocean and lake swimming in the summer. Its just hard to get through the other 11 months in Halifax!
Personally I don’t see the problem in playing XBOX all summer.
me either as long you aren’t bitching that it’s the only thing to do.
Dartmouth, I am told, is known as the City of Lakes so when it’s -20c it’s not too hard to find hundreds of outdoor rinks. Isn’t there a skating rink on The Commons or in the North End … I could be wrong there but am positive water freezes when it’s -20c. I know, the lakes are not as reliable as a city maintained outdoor rink but they’re there.I’m new to Halifax so maybe I have yet to get sucked into the negativity but I find the city plenty entertaining and have enjoyed myself so far. I’m looking forward to Summer it should be beautiful here. There are some interesting points on both sides of the arguement but it always seems harder to be active this time of year and it’s easier to stick inside and stay bored than to go out and see what the city has to offer.
As long as you have a car…
What about Banook? Busses don’t go down Prince Albert Rd? I understand what your implying Lynn and I’m not saying it is easy without a car but there are plenty of accessible lakes within the city. It’s possible to come up with a negaitive for any suggestion. A person can be negative and believe nothing is possible or a person can take some initiative and make something happen. Sorry, didn’t mean to go all Tony Robbins but sometimes opportunity really is disguised as work and sometime requires a little “sweat equity”.
I don’t think I am typically negative person but I happen to think that Halifax could do a lot to improve in a way that would benefit the economy and the tourism industry. Sure buses go down Prince Albert rd… maybe once an hour on weekends. If you don’t live in Dartmouth, or even if you do, it could take a really long time to get there but maybe its worth the investment in the long run.It’s nice that you’re so optimistic about Halifax and I hope you stay that way!
Lynn I hear what you are saying as for years hubby and I didn’t have a car so our entertainment was on bus route. After living in Toronto, the transit isn’t any better there. But what i missed in Halifax was the ocean, and the people. I agree with both Lynn and Miles. And yes if you do want to play only xbox so be it but don’t bitch if you have nothing else to do!
yes, i agree with most of you. like some, i’m new so the negative side of things have yet to sink in. a car does help, as halifax,like calgary, has lots nearby but you need wheels. or to get a metro like mtl which runs every 15 mins, even overnight a bus runs hourly. you don’t need a car in mtl, but the drivers are something else. if halifax drivers are rude, wow, they are puppies compared to mtl, who will wait as you run to the bus, then shut the door on you and drive away. even if you’re an elderly. strangely enough, i ‘ve yet to meet a rude bus driver here in halifax. but yes, it can be better for sure, as i usually choose to walk rather than wait for the buses. except winter, well… you stay home and join in this bitch like everyone else 🙂
Coming from away, I think most people’s issue with Halifax is that it’s run more like a village than a small city. New developments are laid out haphazardly, new roads being put in never seem to go in on any sort of grid, and you seem to have to know someone to get anything done in the bureaucracy here.Then, if you make any suggestion on how to improve things, you get told to go ‘back to Toronto’. I’m not even from Toronto for one, nor would I live there.Halifax is one of the most violent cities in Canada. I’ve been all over the country, and this is the only city where I don’t feel comfortable walking through the downtown alone at night. The police really aren’t doing that good a job at stopping people getting swarmed, although watch out if you’re doing 10 over the speed limit. While the increased foot patrols downtown is good, that should really be more of the focus.There’s lots to like about Halifax, but there are a lot of things to be fixed before it becomes a world class city like people keep saying. Forget about hosting big events or having big concerts for a while and focus more on the crumbling infrastructure and the broken education system; the literacy rates are appalling. Add to that the dysfunctional school boards, and I don’t want my kid going through the public school system here.I don’t expect the same sort of big events that you’d get in larger metropolises, or all the other things that come with big cities. But I’m really unimpressed at how this whole town in run. You can’t be parochial and worldly at the same time. Once this city gets over it’s current identity crises and gets down to the business of running itself like it should, then maybe it can take another look at being world class instead of just saying it is.
Well no matter what anyone else says, I agree with Lynn. Regarding the hiking and biking. Well i’d love to do some biking except point pleasant park allows biking at certain times, which is usually during working hours. I highly doubt people want to bike in the middle of winter at -20 degrees.. No outdoor skating rinks, at least give us one. Late night entertainment is only eating and drinking, so really if you plan on becoming an alcoholic, Halifax is an ideal place. I just looked at events going on in Halifax and i never realized how many struggling artists are in NS. There was nothing going on for the next month except for no name art shows and restaurants. I still fail to see how halifax qualifies as an entertaining city.
Wow, so true… you guys summed it up perfectly.I was so disapointed the last time I was in Halifax- it felt really unsafe and looked like it was falling apart. Spring Garden was full of really sketchy people and motorcycle groups, was poorly lit and devoid of anyone except for roaming teens and it was the middle of August! I felt sad to see Halifax that way but its hard to know if its really changing for the worse or my perception has changed since leaving. Coyotex, you are so right, Halifax is a great place for budding alcoholics because there’s really nothing else to do (aside from nature) but party and drink. Its sad that where I live there are countless outdoor rinks, public events and free concerts. There’s so much Halifax could do to really be a great city but my guess is the government is too busy lining their pockets to give a shit about investing in what could be a beautiful and entertaining city. God, still no outdoor rink? That was proposed forever ago! Just another example how the city really doesn’t give a damn- I mean, how much could it cost?
The outdoor skating rink on the Commons was operational several times this winter, although the fluctuating temperatures made it hard it maintian. There is also an outdoor rink in the north end, as well as one in the west end. They’re small, but they’re better than nothing. Also Dartmouth Crossing has a big new outdoor rink, although I don’t know if it’s accessible by bus. The Frog Pond in Purcell’s Cove is one of the best skating spots in the city, and I’m pretty sure it’s on a bus route, as are many of the Dartmouth lakes.
Re: biking, Whenever I pull into larger cities like Montreal or Toronto, whether by car or air, I am always amazed at the miles and miles of concrete on either side of me as I head into town. Picture driving by the BLIP, but having it on both sides, for about 20 minutes. I’ve always wondered “how far do these people have to drive to ride a bike in the woods?” Me? I have trails practically across the street from me. Not only that, they’re populated with deer, rabbits, and beavers(when they aren’t being poached). Trout and bass fishing can be done right there as well. Even when I lived “downtown” on Tobin St. I could be “in the woods” riding my bike in under 20 minutes (by bike). And I don’t mean Point Pleasant Park trails, I’m talking fun mountain biking here. Not too shabby.Skating: Frozen over skatable lakes abound. People have been enjoying them since January.