Meet the Halifax startup that’s making compostable period products
Rashmi Prakash has no time for small thinking. As a young girl growing up in Wales and southern Ontario, the Indian-born Prakash dreamt of genetically engineering “green dragons” that would fly over the planet and convert greenhouse gases into oxygen. “I do consider myself delusionally optimistic,” she told The Coast in 2023. “‘Be realistic’ is,…
Wanderers draw home opener in front of sellout crowd
Three games into HFX Wanderers FC’s 2023 Canadian Premier League campaign, one theme has followed the professional soccer club: The team knows how to start a game, but hasn’t quite figured out how to finish one. On Saturday, April 29, in front of a sold-out crowd at Wanderers Grounds, the Halifax-based Wanderers drew visitors Vancouver…
Scene and heard: What’s being filmed, streamed and screened in Nova Scotia right now
When it comes to #NSFilmJobs, business is definitely booming—or at least, so says the province: “The film industry contributed about $180.8 million to Nova Scotia’s economy in 2021-22 up from about $78 million in 2019-20 and $91.6 million in 2020-21,” a release from last June stated. Now, as another banner year in the industry unfurls,…
Confused council passes HRM budget with climate tax and carbon subsidies
Weird meeting of HRM council this week, and not just because councillors had to do three meetings in one. The politically weird bit of Tuesday’s meeting is the fact that councillors are unwilling to commit to the actions that will enable their stated goals. We’re talking about parking. This parking debate is long and requires…
Economic driver or eco-threat? The conundrum of Halifax’s cruise ships
It’s the Tuesday after the first two cruise ships of 2023 have arrived at Halifax’s Pier 20—and for a brief spell, the waterfront is quiet. Waves lap. A seagull drifts in the breeze above the Emigrant statue, a french fry’s toss from where nearly 3,700 cruise ship travellers aboard the Norwegian Dawn and Zaandam filtered…
Shakespeare By The Sea announces 30th summer season
When curtain time finally arrives for Shakespeare By The Sea’s opening night performance of Romeo and Juliet (one of two shows that comprise the veteran theatre company’s 2023 summer season, which is also its 30th), associate artistic director and play director Drew Douris-O’Hara will be ready, primed, equipped, toes already waiting behind the metaphorical start…
Adam Baldwin’s newest record is his biggest hit. Here’s why he almost didn’t write it.
To hear him tell it, there was a time when Adam Baldwin’s newest LP was just about the last sort of thing the Dartmouth singer-songwriter would ever choose to record. After three albums establishing his own vein of rock ‘n’ roll outside of his post as Matt Mays’ guitarist, Concertos & Serenades feels like a…
Meet Séamus Gallagher, Halifax artist and 2023 Sobey Art Award long-lister.
The day it’s announced that Séamus Gallagher has made the longlist for the Sobey Art Award—the biggest visual art prize in the country—they’re catching some Vitamin D on The Common, neon manicure and cornflower-blue leather blazer complimenting perfectly with their highlighter-yellow Telfar bag. “I mean, I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of…
A dispatch from the front lines of the (middle-)class war: The PSAC strike
When Justin Trudeau first ran for office almost 10 years ago in 2015, he ran on a promise of helping those “in the middle class and those working hard to join it.” It is hard to define what the middle class is. The Brookings Institution believes it’s probably one of three things: A shared culture,…
Nova Scotian artists have a strong showing on the 2023 Sobey Art Award longlist
Consider it proof-positive that Nova Scotia has one of the richest visual arts scenes in Canada: On Tuesday, the Sobey Award—the country’s top prize for visual art—named not one but three local artists to its annual long list. Alan Syliboy, Aislinn Thomas and Séamus Gallagher are among the 25 artists named in the national long…
QAnon “Queen of Canada” makes Halifax stop amid ongoing controversy
One of Canada’s most infamous online figures is currently in Halifax. Far-right conspiracy theorist Romana Didulo—otherwise known as the QAnon Queen of Canada, who claims to be the true leader of Canada and waging a fight against the so-called “deep state”—made a stop in Bayers Lake on Sunday, April 23, to hand out “loyalty money”…
Everything you need to know about the 2023 ECMAs
The biggest music awards east of Montreal, the ECMAs are more than just a regional version of the Junos. (Though, for those who live for the red carpet, it’s worth noting that the awards ceremony itself will be held May 4 at the Scotiabank Centre, with 22 Minutes’ Trent McClellan hosting the fun.) Instead, think…
Unhoused with a full-time job in Halifax
Things were supposed to work out differently for Rae-Leigh MacInnes. The registered massage therapist should be living her best life, plying her trade in a picturesque, state-of-the-art clinic in the Annapolis Valley. But now, due to a series of completely normal minor mishaps, MacInnes has nowhere to live. MacInnes decided to move to the valley…
Halifax stoner institution MaryJanes Smoke Shop reaches end of the roll
Call it a blunt ending, if you will: Longtime Halifax cannabis accessory store MaryJanes Smoke Shop is no more. As of April 13, the mural-adorned bud bazaar of Pizza Corner (1549 Grafton Street) has displayed a “For Rent” sign in its front window, and both the business’s website and telephone number are no longer active.…
Raining on a climate parade
There’s a climate march happening in Halifax this weekend. Marches are happening in Nova Scotia a lot these days. Students marched at Province House to demand affordable places to live. But the provincial government said no. Education support workers have been marching at Province House to ask for living wages. So it’s no surprise that…
Cruise ship season arrives in Halifax
When the 2,300-passenger Norwegian Dawn cruise ship docks at Pier 20 this weekend, it will mark the return of cruises to Halifax for the second full, eight-month season after a two-year hiatus brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Signs of the season’s imminence are already visible along the Halifax Waterfront: Tourist shops are back…
The Wanderer Grounds is a new podcast by fans, for fans
Hello sports fans and people who think they might want to try out sports fandom! We here at the Coast are launching a new podcast! Martin and I are huge fans of the Halifax Wanderers FC, or rather, we want to be. We both come to our love of soccer honestly—both of us play, Martin’s…
The salamander meander observes the mating rituals of the yellow-spotted salamander
It begins on a dark, wet April night. On the damp forest floor, beneath the dead leaves and hardwood logs that are still thawing out from the winter freeze. Something slimy starts to stir from its slumber, and it’s feeling…horny. This past weekend, April 15 and 16, was the beginning of the city’s sexiest and…
Nova Scotia’s primary care waitlist surpasses 140,000 mark
More than six years since Nova Scotia Health began reporting on improving patient access to primary care, the number of Nova Scotians who say they’re in need of a family doctor or nurse practitioner has more than quintupled. As of the latest Need a Family Practice Registry report, released on April 14, there are now…
The Book of Mormon adds four shows to its upcoming Halifax run
Halifax, you’re really, really excited about the two Broadway performances coming to the city in 2023: Enough, in fact, to warrant an extension to The Book of Mormon’s run this July at the Scotiabank Centre. Yup, that’s right: A press release from the show producers sent this morning says that four extra shows are being…
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Mayworks Festival
A festival celebrating the lives and realities of working people, Mayworks is a multi-disciplinary feast of performance art and local history, told from the people’s perspective. A solace and spectacle for any non-nepo baby, the roughly month-long festival celebrates its 15th anniversary this year with a return to in-person programming. What is the official name? It’s…
Ramblers is back in Halifax and ready to satisfy your java needs
It’s the Tuesday before Ramblers is set to reopen just off the corner of Nora Bernard and Maynard streets, and co-owners Elly Hannon and Adam Pye are obsessing over the espresso bar’s finishing touches. The wall-mounted menu board has just arrived, and it’s bigger than anticipated—“People are going to be able to read it, right?”…
Is it aliens or is it art?
There’s a new outlier in Point Pleasant Park, something that doesn’t fit in with the usual panorama of trees, brush, slate-coloured sea and shale-rocked paths. It appeared yesterday afternoon (April 13), on the park road that goes along the Northwest Arm, and looks as if it dropped from the sky: A reflective cube, about a…
HFX Wanderers FC is ready to make you believe again
Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar is never still for long. The 48-year-old Etobicoke, Ontario native is bouncing in his chair as he sits to meet with The Coast in Dalhousie’s Studley Gymnasium, mere days before his Canadian Premier League club will travel nearly 1,000 kilometres to play defending regular season champions Atletico Ottawa in the…
Here’s all the local movies nominated for a 2023 Screen Nova Scotia award
After a record-setting year in Nova Scotia films–with more productions than ever calling “action” across the province—the latest Screen Nova Scotia nominees have been announced. The potential winners for the May 13 awards shows off just how many great stories are being made here, from Floyd Kane’s hit legal drama Diggstown (which netted four nominations)…
A new episode of The Grand Parade podcast just dropped
Hello, and welcome to an article about the Grand Parade podcast. We took a brief and unexpected hiatus due in part to the city’s budget really bumming us out. Want to know why? Listen to the episode as we try and piece together what’s happening behind the scenes (if anything) at City Hall. We also…
What’s the story behind the French naval ship in Halifax’s waters?
If you took a stroll along the waterfront near the foot of Morris Street on Monday morning, you’d have walked right past it: A 40-metre patrol vessel painted Navy grey, flying French and Canadian flags and docked within a skip and a jump of the Bicycle Thief. Ordinarily stationed out of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,…
Halifax Jazz Festival announces more 2023 headliners
The 2023 Halifax Jazz Festival announced a handful of headliners today, showing that this year’s festival will be a sonic smorgasbord. Alongside earlier headliners Feist and Fleet Foxes, today’s announcement features elder statesmen of hip hop, a reggae hitmaker supreme, one of indie R&B’s buzziest new names and a stalwart singer-songwriter. Let’s get into it:…
Here are all the 2023 Atlantic Book Award nominees
It’s a big day for east coast authors and local bookworms alike: The 2023 Atlantic Book Awards dropped its list of nominees. The winners for each of the six prizes will be announced at a gala ceremony that is slotted to take place at Halifax Central Library on June 7. Here’s a lowdown of who’s…
Two Canadian theatre legends debut a must-see play in Halifax from April 12 to 23
The Daniels are back. No, I’m not talking about the duo that made Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once. I’m talking about a pair of creatives that might, depending on who you ask, be even more iconic—another dynamic duo known for their rich, multi-layered storytelling: Canadian theatre legends Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks. The…
Halifax Curling Club draws lawsuit over noise complaints
Nancy Shea is showing The Coast through her Brussels Street home on an April morning when the noise begins. It starts with a muffled clatter, filters through the walls of the 1940s-era two-storey clapboard with a low-register hum and lasts for the rest of the 40-minute visit. With the windows closed, it sounds like a…
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival
A free festival that highlights films from diverse voices, the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival is a surefire shot to find your next favourite flick. A mix of shorts and feature-length films by local, national and international creators offers something for everyone, while live music and industry seminars round out the schedule. What is the official…
In defence of Peeps
It was Easter this past weekend so there are a lot of sugary treats you can buy right now to celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we love a candy-themed poll here at The Coast so last week, we asked our newsletter readers and our social media followers what they think…
Correction to The Coast’s reporting on suspended Ozempic doctor
Whether or not you are a subscriber to The Coast Daily newsletter, I want to be forthcoming about an error in today’s edition of the newsletter, which was sent out earlier this morning, April 10. Due to an editing error, we gave the incorrect name of the physician who has been suspended from practise due…
Nova Scotia’s worst shipwreck sets the tone for Halifax Harbour this week
This week gets off to an unusually quiet start in the harbour. But that’s a fitting way to honour the weekend’s anniversary of a massive shipwreck in the North Atlantic. The doomed vessel was a proud steamship of the White Star Line, sailing from England to New York, and when it went down taking hundreds…
The Nova Scotia government wants the Khyber building back as much as you do
When The Coast reaches Emily Davidson, president of the Turret Arts Space Society, by phone, it feels impossibly soon: It’s been less than a month since our last interview, on the heels of the federal government announcing a $200,000 investment in the organization’s vision of transforming the long-shuttered Khyber building (a historic site on Barrington…
The landlord registry is coming to Halifax on April 1, 2024
City Hall meetings are a little different these days since new CAO Cathie O’Toole took over. Her predecessor, Jaques Dubé, was a very public CAO, frequently speaking in HRM’s council meetings to explain the processes, often right before or right after a member of city staff had just given the same explanation in slightly different…
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Halifax Jazz Festival
One of the surest signs of summer—and one of summer’s biggest events—the Halifax Jazz Festival takes hold of the city for a few bass-soaked days each July, bringing big names from all genres to play shows at a smattering of venues, including its main stage, located on the waterfront. While this year’s festival list is…
Matt Mays announces 2023 Shore Club shows for August 24-27
UPDATE: As predicted, April 6 saw tickets for August 24-27 sell out in minutes. At 3:10pm on April 6, Sonic Concerts announced an additional show—on August 23—is being added to the run of dates. Run, don’t walk, to the Sonic site if you are one of the hopeful show attendees who didn’t heed my warning,…
Everything you need to know about OutFest 2023
A celebration of 2SLGBTQ+ stories and voices, OutFest is not only a representation boon, as the largest queer theatre festival in Atlantic Canada: It’s also a weeklong feast of new works from some of the scene’s most exciting voices—a perfect primer on up-and-comers as well as a chance to see pet projects by seasoned artists. What…
Property tax cap benefits the rich, costs cities
In this year’s budget, HRM’s council reduced the proposed property tax increase for single-family homes to 5.8% from the 8% initially proposed by staff, and the city will bring in more money this year than last. The reason Halifax is able to bring in more money from a lower rate is because house prices have…
