allnovascotia.com:
Premier Rodney MacDonald said he will overule Halifax Regional Council’s decision to block the redevelopment of part of Historic Properties.
MacDonald emerged from a cabinet meeting today resolving to make sure the Armour Group’s 80,000 square foot Waterside Centre goes ahead.
“My government’s going to do something about it,” the premier told reporters.
“We’re going to revisit this situation and make sure we see this development move forward. Whatever steps are necessary, we will take.”
He said the government is looking at options that include possible legislation or a Cabinet decree
The McCrea family has has been an important financial supporter of the premier.
They backed MacDonald’s 2006 leadership bid, which was launched in the lobby of the Armour Group’s Founders Square office complex on Hollis Street…
Whatever you think of the Waterside Centre proposal, this is an astounding, unprecedented, intrusion on the democratic processes of local government. It boggles the mind, actually.
This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2008.
This is what I just sent to Rodney MacDonald, via https://www.gov.ns.ca/premier/contact.aspYour statement that you will do everything in your power to overturn a democratic decision by Halifax Regional Council is a sure sign that you are an idiot, and have no respect for democracy. The people of this province will not stand for someone who continues to allow our heritage buildings to be raped by money-minded financial juggernauts. If you want to help your largest financial contributors, step down as premier so that the province can recover from all the damage you’ve done.I hope that for once, democracy works, and HRM’s decision is upheld.
I say this is a great thing for the city and I was quite surprised by Rodney. Didn’t think he was capable of such a decision.Now Tim you say this is an intrusion on our democratic process and well I say rubbish. Obviously our city council is full of half wits and a number of them don’t even feel it important enough to show up for a vote, so something needed to be done. Now all this people whining that we need to save our city, our heritage, I say bull shit. While we need to preserve our history we could benefit from taking a look at what great cities like Dublin, London, and Berlin have done. History and the new can co exist and it is the only way forward. In our current state we are a self destructive society and eventually Halifax will just be a run down city lacking any life.