As I’m writing this, I don’t know if the Amalgamated Transit Union and Metro Transit will come to terms and avoid a strike, or not. I do know, however, that the city’s desire to play hardball with its employee unions is a new thing, and one concurrent with the arrival of chief administrative officer Richard […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Metro Transit manager won’t reveal his own pay or raises
As negotiations between Metro Transit management and its workers’ union enter the final day before a midnight strike deadline, management has issued a press release implying that the workers’ position is unreasonable. “HRM put forward a new proposal Monday morning that would see Metro Transit operators be the highest paid in Atlantic Canada, while removing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transit negotiations continue; strike is set to begin Thursday morning.
Halifax transit workers continue to resist demands from city hall that a new contract weaken existing protections for workers, and a Thursday strike seems likely. Wages are not an issue in the contract negotiations. The city has offered a 0.5 percent wage increase for this year—for a conventional bus driver, that’s a raise of just […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council votes to sell St. Pat’s-Alexandra (again)
Ignoring pleas from north end community groups, Halifax council voted 13-9 to sell the former St. Pat’s-Alexandra school to Jono Developments. A council policy adopted in August 2000 outlines a process for how to handle surplus schools: community groups are to be offered the opportunity to put together, within 90 days, a proposal for the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Hear Gloria McCluskey say non-profit managers are “not real business people”
Yesterday, during Halifax council’s debate over what to do with the St. Pat’s-Alexandra school, councillor Gloria McCluskey suggested that the north end community groups lack business acumen and are “not real business people.” Listen to her comments here: The reality is that the North End Community Health Clinic and Mi’kmaq Friendship Centre have a long […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transit workers overwhelmingly reject city contract offer
Halifax transit workers have overwhelming rejected a contract offer from the city, and could therefore go on strike February 2. The contract vote was unambiguous. About 700 of the 763 transit workers cast ballots, with 98.4 voting against—fewer than 10 people voted to accept the city’s offer, says Ken Wilson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
False framing of the St. Pat’s-Alexandra sale
The north end community was rightly incensed by city council’s December 13 decision to sell the former St. Pat’s-Alexandra school site to developer Joe Metlege without first offering the school to neighbourhood community groups, as required by council policy. In the face of that anger, council reversed the sale on January 10, and directed staff […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
(Updated) Property sales secrecy leads to fraud
Nova Scotia is the last province in Canada, and the only jurisdiction in North America, to not make property sales information publicly available. As a result, there is untold fraud related to mortgages, inefficiencies in the appraisal industry and a lack of information for taxpayers to successfully challenge their assessments. That’s the case laid out […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Delaying tactics
The future of our city is at risk. Back in 2006, city council adopted the regional plan, a blueprint for how the city is supposed to develop over the next 25 years. It’s not a bad document, which is to say it set out reasonable—albeit not great—targets for less suburban sprawl, for densification of the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Speed skates at The Trail Shop
The Oval is a raging success, but the vast majority of people are coming out in hockey skates. Others, however, are taking advantage of the long ice to learn how to speed skate, and now The Trail Shop (6210 Quinpool Road, 423-8736) is offering a range of speed skates for sale. For the youngsters, there […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Washmill underpass celebrated
Federal defence minister Peter MacKay, provincial transportation minister Bill Estabrooks and Halifax mayor Peter Kelly held a “photo op” today to celebrate the opening of the Washmill Underpass into the Bayers Lake Industrial Park. The three probably have a dozen PR reps between them, and yet it was collectively decided that it was a good […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Profile: Gottingen Street
With the St. Pat’s-Alexandra controversy bringing new attention to the neighbourhood, now’s a good time to shine the Shoptalk spotlight on the Gottingen Street retail district. I’m happy to report that things are looking good. Merchants are still disappointed about the UARB decision to not allow Reflections to transfer its late-night cabaret licence to the […]