With mayor Mike Savage announcing he won’t be seeking re-election in October, we Haligonians now become the hiring committee tasked with filling a vital leadership position. The person we choose needs to take charge and usher the Halifax Regional Municipality into an era of change and adaptability, as we scramble to correct past development mistakes while building a sustainable future in a climate-changed world. So we need to get the best person possible!
To help track candidates for the job, The Coast is keeping a list of the people who are running, or likely to run or all-but-confirmed to go for it. We will update this list with names and official decisions right up to the October 19, 2024 election day, so come back often. If you have any information about people who might be running, please share it confidentially by email with [email protected].
And without further ado, here are your expected candidates for mayor, listed in alphabetical order by last name:
Andy Fillmore
Although born American, Fillmore came to Nova Scotia to pursue education as a planner and designer at Dalhousie University. After a stint of work in the US, he came back to Halifax in 2005 to become the HRM’s first-ever manager of urban design. In 2015, he got elected as the federal member of parliament for Halifax. In 2019, he was tapped by Kathrine McKenna to run Canada's
National Active Transportation Strategy, but resigned that post last fall saying he wanted to focus on Halifax.
Pamela Lovelace
Lovelace was first elected to Halifax city council in 2020 after a few decades spent working in communications. Although she has been an advocate for important issues in her Hammonds Plains district, like adding emergency exits for subdivisions, she has also been prone to a few gaffes caused, ironically enough, mostly by bad communication, sometimes by making bad decisions. In an interesting factoid, if Lovelace does end up on the mayoral ballot, she will be the second councillor from District 13 to suffer a loss of local support and then take a run for mayor.
Waye Mason
Originally from Dartmouth, this downtown Halifax councillor first ran for and won his District 7 municipal seat in 2012. His formal eduction is in business, and he previously ran two local institutions—the Halifax Pop Explosion music festival and the now-defunct political website Halifaxpolitics.ca. Since being on council, Mason has been a champion for the Centre Plan re-imagining of Halifax. Although this process has taken over 10 years from inception to outcomes, this planning exercise is now starting to bear fruit.
