Halifax council met in secret Tuesday to discuss which council committees and external boards councillors themselves would sit on; the discussion involved no committee assignments for anyone who was not an elected official, but that didn’t stop council from justifying the secrecy as a “personnel” issue. After the meeting a list of committee appointments was […]
Tim Bousquet
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cherry Brook at centre of District Boundary dispute
Is the mostly black neighbourhood of Cherry Brook part of the mostly white community of Cole Harbour? The residents of Cherry Brook think so, but City Hall thinks otherwise. In 2007, that disagreement resulting in a Utilities and Review Board ruling in the residents favour, and a council decision Tuesday threatens a repeat UARB hearing […]
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Risk is sticking point in convention centre negotiations
There’s still no deal between the city and province for financing the proposed new convention centre. Halifax council rejected a “compromise” offer from the province Tuesday, and sent staff negotiators back to the province with a counter offer. Council met in secret for over five hours Tuesday, the bulk of the time discussing the convention […]
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The Convention Centre Tower Play
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008, Nova Scotia conquered Wall Street. That morning a chartered plane left Halifax International for New York City. On board were eight passengers—premier Rodney MacDonald, chief of staff Bob Chisholm, communications director Wade Keller and minister of economic development Angus MacIsaac. From Nova Scotia Business Inc., the province’s economic development agency, […]
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Bridge Terminal may not have pedestrian bridge
Whatever happened to the new Bridge Terminal? Plans for new $9.5 million Bridge Terminal were approved by Halifax council at the end of the summer, with a tender put out in late July, with the expectation that the winning bid would be approved in early September, with construction starting by October 1. But into November, […]
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Council debates biosolids
The city will hire a university researcher to give advice on whether to use biosolids from the sewage system for municipal operations, Halifax council decided Tuesday. Before last year, sewage from the older portions of Halifax and Dartmouth was simply dumped in the harbour, and that was the end of it. But with the completion […]
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Cynical about cynicism
The only people I know who aren’t cynical are the most annoying head-in-the-sand Pollyannas, people who spam kitten videos and use “partner” as a verb. I mean, these are trying times—the economic, resource and climate challenges we’re facing would be enormous, even if we had the very best imaginable political and managerial classes, but, unfortunately, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council votes to move forward with convention centre negotiations
I captured last night’s council meeting on video. Here’s the relevant 25 minutes, worth a watch: The Simpsons 412 I watched council deal with the issue for about 12 hours yesterday, until they kicked me out to go into secret deliberations. As council does after secret deliberations, they came back into public session and voted […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council debates convention centre
Halifax council is having an all-day meeting about all things convention centre. I’m live-blogging it via Twitter, at @twitcoast. Later today, I’ll have a blog post recapping the day. Related Stories
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Can Halifax be Canada’s “Solar city”?
[image-1] Halifax can become “Canada’s solar city,” says Richard MacLellan, the city’s manager of sustainability. MacLellan has brought forward a bold plan: the city will not only pay all the upfront costs for homeowners to install solar water systems, but will also figure out all the bureaucratic hassles, arrange government rebates and negotiate with the contractors who install the systems.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trust betrayed
“Businesses aren’t going to locate downtown until their employees can afford to live on the peninsula,” Ross Cantwell tells me. Cantwell is a real estate consultant who works for some of the biggest property owners in Halifax, and specializes in the economics of development. He knows the local market as well as anyone, and matches […]
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Trade Centre Limited losses skyrocket by half a million dollars, partly due to failed Halifax Common concerts
Trade Centre Limited, the provincial crown corporation that runs the convention centre, had an operating loss of $622,558 lat year, almost three times its budgeted loss and nearly six times the previous year’s loss of $109,969. Once depreciation is factored in, last year’s operating loss was $2.1 million, compared to a budgeted loss of $1.9 […]