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 […]
City Hall
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax police at high risk of cybersecurity threats
Attention hackers and bored teenagers: the Halifax Regional Police computer systems are woefully insecure and the department has done little to fix the problem over the past 18 months. Auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd outlined her office’s concerns about HRP’s cybersecurity in a letter sent July 6 to the Board of Police Commissioners. In the now-public […]
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Politicians turn down cannabis town hall
It was supposed to be a town hall to rally public support for improving cannabis legislation, but unfortunately, all of the political leaders invited were absent. The Nova Scotia Medicinal Association of Cannabis Dispensaries invited dozens of politicians—including provincial ministers, premier Stephen McNeil and every councillor in HRM—to the Halifax Central Library a week ago […]
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Halifax police chief Jean Michel Blais to retire next year
After six years as the city’s top cop, Halifax Regional Police chief Jean Michel Blais will retire next spring. The chief made the announcement Wednesday via press release, in which he thanked HRP employees and HRM citizens for the “incredible honour” it’s been to serve. “Leading the dedicated Halifax Regional Police team and serving our […]
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Halifax council looking for staff report on CFL stadium
It’s official. The municipality will once again tackle whether or not to build a stadium. Councillor Steve Craig is asking for a staff report on the “opportunities and risks” involved with establishing a mixed-use development, CFL franchise and football stadium in Halifax. The announcement came nearly 12 hours after council met behind closed doors with Maritime […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Confidential hotline, external consultant promised to address racism in HRM’s workforce
Halifax’s chief administrative officer is trying to quell growing public outrage now that the racial discrimination inside city hall’s workforce has come to light. In a public update sent out Monday afternoon, CAO Jacques Dubé says a new confidential hotline will go live next month for employees to report abuses when they aren’t comfortable going […]
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Council wants Cogswell engagement, but only on its own terms
Public engagement’s great, but leave the big decisions to us. That seems to be the lesson from planning staff as the city moves forward with a once-in-a-lifetime redevelopment project. Halifax council voted Tuesday to proceed onto the next major steps in redeveloping the Cogswell Interchange, with an added amendment for some robust public engagement before […]
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No public inquiry into Halifax Transit racism says CAO
The municipality’s top manager and the transit union’s president are both laying the blame on each other for the decades of racial harassment that occurred inside Halifax Transit. Despite the confusion, chief administrative officer Jacques Dubé doesn’t think a public inquiry is needed to find out who should be held accountable. “We’re not considering that […]
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Lawyer slams HRM’s freedom of speech defence for racial abuse
The municipality apparently feels its employees have a Charter right to call each other racial epithets. It’s the bizarre defence that lawyers representing HRM used during an independent board of inquiry into complaints of racial discrimination at Halifax Transit’s Burnside warehouse. As exposed earlier this week in the board’s decision, Black and Indigenous employees in […]
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Halifax fires transit supervisor
A supervisor at the Burnside bus garage has been terminated after a board of inquiry found him responsible for multiple instances of racial discrimination and harassment over the past 18 years. The Coast has learned that Halifax Transit employee Arthur Maddox was fired last week, just days before the scathing board decision by barrister Lynn […]