It is fitting—and in many ways, chilling—that on the first day many of the world’s leaders met in Egypt to discuss the ongoing perils of climate change, Halifax was experiencing its hottest November day on record. You felt it if you strolled the waterfront or lay in the grass at the Citadel or wandered the […]
Martin Bauman
Martin Bauman is an award-winning journalist and interviewer, whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, Capital Daily, and Waterloo Region Record, among other places. In 2020, he was named one of five “emergent” nonfiction writers by the RBC Taylor Prize. As host of the Story Untold Podcast, he has interviewed some of Canada's most notable figures, including Paralympian Rick Hansen, cave diver Jill Heinerth, and Juno Award-winner Shad. A passionate speaker and mental health advocate, Martin has been a youth panellist for the Canada-wide Spotlight on Invisible Disabilities Partnership and bicycled solo across Canada to raise funds for services in his hometown of Waterloo, Ont.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Meet the 2SLGBTQ+ artists reshaping Halifax’s beauty industry
Julien Grey will not go quietly into the night. As an openly trans esthetician in Lower Sackville, they’ve made a point of rallying for gender-inclusive services—from haircuts to Brazilian waxes—within Halifax’s beauty industry. “I’m loud,” the diminutive Grey, who uses they/them pronouns, tells The Coast. “People shouldn’t be denied services for the body parts they […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Brace yourself for a longer fall tick season in Nova Scotia
Picture this: You’ve just returned from an early November stroll through Point Pleasant Park or the 12-kilometre in-and-out trek to Cape Split when you notice you’ve got unwanted company. Is it a freckle? A mole? Wait… are those legs? You begin to spiral. Oh, god, it’s an alien. Nope. It’satickitsatickitsatick. You manage to pry it […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Your water bill is going up in Halifax. Here’s how much—and why.
If you’re connected to Halifax’s water system, your first shower in December will cost more than the last one in November. The municipally-owned Halifax Water, which provides water, wastewater and stormwater utilities throughout the HRM, is upping its rates—twice. The rate hikes will come as a pair of 3.6% bumps, first on Dec. 1, and […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Vandal Doughnuts is closing its doors—for now
No, Vandal Doughnuts isn’t gone for good. Or at least, that’s the message owner Jens Heidenreich tells The Coast when reached by phone on a late Friday afternoon. But as you might’ve heard rumoured online, the 2150 Gottingen Street donut shop is, indeed, closing for the time being. With a change in ownership and a […]
Posted inArts + Music
Curtain call at Neptune Theatre as general manager bids adieu
Atlantic Canada’s largest theatre company is changing its cast. After six years at Neptune Theatre, general manager Lisa Bugden is stepping down from her post, the performing arts company shared in a release this week. In her place, longtime marketing executive Catherine Bagnell Styles will assume an interim general manager role as Neptune seeks a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tenants say landlord held thousands in unreturned security deposits
Neena Brostowski says she’s been waiting four years for Michael Lawen to return her security deposit. The Dartmouth-based wedding photographer was a tenant of Lawen’s between 2017 and 2018, while she and her then-roommate were students at Dalhousie and NSCC’s Akerley campus. For Brostowski at the time, the location was great: One house in from […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A recession is here. Can Halifax’s small businesses hold on?
It’s never been easy to be a small business: More than a third of Canada’s new businesses fold after three years. But toss in a pandemic and global downturn, and the added financial uncertainties can sound like a death knell.
Posted inNews + Opinion
How to beat Halifax’s sriracha shortage
If you’ve wandered the aisles of your nearest big box grocery store in the last few months, you might’ve stumbled upon something troubling and unfamiliar—no, not the armed Halifax police officers in the bread aisle this time, or “some dumb kid” at the checkout asking if you’d like a discount. An “unprecedented” crop shortage, first […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia has a fixed-term lease problem
Charlotte MacDonald’s Chebucto Road apartment was small, but she loved it anyway. Three blocks from the Halifax Commons, she could grab a coffee on Quinpool, stroll over to the North End for a bite or saunter to Spring Garden Road within minutes. All for less than $900 a month. “I never had to take the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Should Halifax host the World Juniors in wake of Hockey Canada’s scandal?
Of all the voices to speak about Halifax hosting the World Juniors at the HRM’s council meeting on Tuesday evening, the one that rang the clearest—and whose words may last the longest—was that of District 14 councillor Lisa Blackburn. In the wake of a spate of sexual assault and coverup allegations plaguing Hockey Canada and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HFX Wanderers FC president speaks on coach Stephen Hart’s dismissal
Derek Martin has a tall order ahead of him. The HFX Wanderers FC founder and president is in the market for a new head coach after dismissing the only one his club has ever had in Stephen Hart—a coach who, over four seasons, became almost synonymous with the club he led and generated no shortage […]