It’s 2004 and The Pavilion is finally reopening. Historic music promoter Condon MacLeod is with us in studio talking about the birth, death, rebirth (and death again?) of Halifax’s all-ages music scene. Then, Dartmouth icon Gloria McCluskey tells us what made her come back to municipal politics 14 years ago and offers her unfiltered assessment of […]
City Council
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax is right to be excited about its new Green Network Plan
The Halifax Green Network is not your average greenbelt plan. Regional councillors enthusiastically and unanimously voted to approve the long-awaited plan this past Tuesday, to the delight of many supporters outside City Hall, conservationists and environmental advocates across HRM. Jenny Lugar, the sustainable cities coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre and one of the leaders […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sober second thoughts on Halifax smoking ban
After banning darts and breaking hearts, Halifax may ease off its public smoking prohibition—for cigarettes, at least. City council asked this week for a staff report on filtering out tobacco from the new public smoking ban that was created two weeks ago when HRM amended its nuisance bylaws. Dartmouth Centre councillor Sam Austin brought the […]
Posted inLifestyle
Public takes debate on Halifax’s new cannabis bylaws to social media
Last Tuesday the city passed a set of bylaw amendments that banned all smoking—of “tobacco, cannabis or another substance that is intended to be smoked or inhaled”—on municipal property. Smoking cigarettes and joints on the street, sidewalk or near a park will be punishable by $25 to $2,000 in fines. The municipal bylaws restrict outdoor […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Auditor general says HRM’s planning department too slow, inefficient
Halifax’s Planning and Development lacks clear policy guidelines and consistently fails to meet Charter-mandated timelines for processing new building applications. That’s the conclusion from a new report by HRM’s Office of the Auditor General that was presented Wednesday to council’s audit and finance committee. Among other issues, the OAG says Halifax’s planning staff have no […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Silence from the Halifax Transit union
Despite a motion from city hall and explicit media requests, the union that reinstated former Halifax Transit worker Arthur Maddox after he was fired for attempted assault has yet to release a statement in solidarity with members who face racism and discrimination. Halifax CAO Jacques Dubé has already apologized on behalf of HRM after a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Educating Shawn Cleary about journalism
District 9 councillor Shawn Cleary went on one of his ill-advised Twitter rants this past week. What set him off this time was an opinion piece by Stephen Kimber published in Tim Bousquet’s Halifax Examiner. (Disclosure: I have written for the Examiner and I am enrolled in a King’s MFA program in which Kimber teaches.) […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Racism, sexism and bullying will now be publicly reported to Halifax council
It’s not a public inquiry, says deputy mayor Waye Mason. It’s better than that. “A public inquiry would be a moment in time. This is an ongoing commitment.” In response to continuing outcry about the discrimination faced by HRM employees, Halifax Regional Council approved a motion Tuesday requiring CAO Jacques Dubé to provide quarterly public […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Two more ex-councillors speak up about discrimination inside HRM
Two former city councillors are joining with one of their past colleagues in demanding a public inquiry into racism within HRM’s workforce. Previous downtown and south end councillors Dawn Sloane and Sue Uteck, along with Equity Watch co-founders Jackie Barkhouse and Liane Tessier, held a press conference outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to describe […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How Halifax failed Randy Symonds
Marie Symonds hates the bus. Growing up, her kids were told to always be careful taking transit. If anything happened, keep calm and call her. “You never know what’s going to happen when you get on the bus when you’re Black,” she says. About a year ago, her daughter Carole was taking a bus to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coast 25: 30 of the most important things we’ve written
“Adam’s fall” Matthieu Aikins’ award-winning feature on suicides from the Macdonald Bridge is a heartbreaking read even now, a decade after its publication. A year after Aikins’ story was printed, the bridge commission finally decided to install safety barriers along the old bridge to prevent future deaths. Seals of approval One of the most-read stories […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax auditor general blasts woeful procurement process at city hall
A year after discovering a half-million-dollar case of vendor fraud, HRM’s procurement policies remain dangerously unguarded. In a report presented Wednesday to the Audit and Finance committee, auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd says the municipality’s oversite of contracts and tenders needs “significant improvement.” Twenty percent of the 94 procurement files reviewed by the Office of the […]
