In anticipation of the five-year review of the city’s regional plan, which kicks off tonight at a public information meeting in Tantallon, a coalition of 36 environmental, business and community groups is advocating that a “greenbelt” be added to the plan. The coalition is called Our HRM Alliance, and given the odd geography of HRM, […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax bus drivers lose on pay
Bus driver Barry Barager sends the following email: Here is a comparison of transit operator wages in the major Atlantic Canadian cities. Moncton is not included as their contract expired in 2010. At that time they were earning $21.50/hr. 2011: HRM – $24.00 St Johns – $24.09 Saint John – $22.65 2012: HRM – $24.48 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Another brewery for Halifax
It’s becoming a welcome embarrassment of riches in the local brewing scene. This week we learn that a self-described “nanobrewery” will soon open in Halifax, called Bridge Brewing Company. Java Blend‘s (6027 North Street, 423-6944) Peter Burbridge is behind the new enterprise, but is hesitant to discuss it, telling us that he wants to build […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s transit strike is over
Halifax’s transit strike is over. Tuesday, both the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Halifax city council voted to accept a new contract between the two. Mechanics went back to work Wednesday; ferry service will resume Thursday and full bus service Friday, after 43 days off the road. In reward for their great patience, transit users […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Free coffee at Ireland 32 on St. Patrick’s Day
This Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day, from 9am to 1pm, Ireland 32 Cafe (6220 Quinpool Road, 444-7555) will serve free fair trade organic coffee served up by owner Noel Gallagher himself. Gallagher moved to Halifax from Ireland nine years ago, and opened the cafe last year because “I like to try different things,” he says. The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transit union votes to accept contract offer
Members of the union representing striking Halifax transit workers have voted 88 percent to accept a contract offer from the city. Halifax council will meet tonight at 6pm to vote on the same contract. That meeting is in closed session, but an announcement will be made immediately after. I’ll live-blog the meeting on Twitter (twitter.com/Tim_Bousquet) […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dal strike averted; transit strike looks to end
Over the weekend, two important labour agreements were reached. Dalhousie University came to an accord with the Dalhousie Faculty Association, averting a strike scheduled to begin today, and Metro Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union hatched a deal that may soon bring an end to the 39-day strike by transit employees. Both agreements are tentative […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Which side are you on?
Another reporter recently privately criticized me for, in an opinion piece on the transit strike, using the phrase “Whose side are you on?” I shrugged it off at the time—reporters have opinions, too, and I figured my colleague wasn’t aware of my reference to the labour song, “Which side are you on?” But yesterday my […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Strike city
Labour problems have come to Halifax in a major way. Some of the management-union fights involve private companies like the Chronicle-Herald and Oland Brewery (see sidebar), but the bulk of current or impending conflicts reflect public agencies attempting to roll back existing pay or benefits for public employee unions. The provincial government, for example, has […]
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Halifax’s building boom: anything goes
Development issues have come front and centre at city hall, with so much construction in the works that there’s a reported crane shortage in Halifax. And the much-celebrated ship building contract may or may not result in more and better paying jobs for the bulk of the population, but the building industry is anticipating high […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trade Centre Limited hires Scott Logan
Scott Logan, who was CEO of the Halifax 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid Committee, has been hired by Trade Centre Limited as the chief business development officer. Halifax’s aborted bid to win hosting rights to the Commonwealth Games was characterized by secrecy, out of control spending and busted budgets. As The Coast revealed in a two-part […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Life of a bus driver
Last weekend, I was given documents—-the so-called “run cut” of all the various transit routes in Halifax—-that detail how bus drivers’ schedules are derived. Readers can see the documents themselves at thecoast.ca/bites, and come to their own conclusions about what they mean. But what follows is my interpretation of what the run cut means for […]