HRM Elections 2020

  Living in Halifax’s north end all her life, Virginia Hinch has certainly seen the district change. So much so that it encouraged her to get into politics. “The defining moment, it was due to the fact that the housing crisis for one thing, cause I mean we’re at one percent [vacancy] and still they’re […]

Dylan Kennedy is running for the District 8 (Halifax Peninsula North) council seat because he wants to fight for his district. “I find there’s not very many fighters on council, let alone representing District 8,” he says. “If no one else is going to challenge the status quo, I guess it’s got to be me.” […]

Kyle Morton has a full course load. In his third year at Saint Mary’s University, Morton is studying finance, economics and computing information systems, with a minor in German. Outside of school, he’s getting a practical education in political science by running for the District 10 (Halifax–Bedford Basin West) seat on council. “I want to […]

When Kathryn Morse worked as an assistant to Maureen MacDonald, the former provincial NDP minister of both health and finance, and as a reporter with the CBC for about 12 years, she learned a lot about communities and politics. “That was a really good education, I think, and a preparation to be a councillor,” Morse […]

Christopher Hurry decided to run for the District 10 (Halifax–Bedford Basin West) council seat after reading the city’s climate change plan, HalifACT 2050. “I think we have to speed up our response to this,” he says. “I think it’s such a large crisis and we have to do it, and that’s what motivated me.” Hurry, an IWK data researcher who […]

“I am a story. I am the only woman of colour running in my district,” says Sherry Hassanali, a second-generation Canadian. “The fact that there’s never been a woman of colour on council in the 271 years is a story.” Hassanali’s parents moved to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago. And over the last 24 years of […]

Bangladesh-born community volunteer Mohammad Ehsan is running for councillor for District 10 (Halifax–Bedford Basin West) because he wants to do more for his district. “There is limitations on you on how much you can do from the sidelines.” He’s passionate about senior citizens in the district: He spearheaded a project called the Stronger Together Initiative […]

T ony Mancini has run in elections before, but not like this. “The previous two campaigns we literally knocked on thousands of doors. And I just felt that because of Covid the risk wasn’t worth it,” he explains in a phone call with The Coast. “Because let’s say that either myself or one of my […]

Five years ago, Andrew Curran was taking his dog for a walk when he met a senior whose husband had died just a few months earlier. Because she did not have many friends, she spent her time talking to dog walkers and watering her lawn. “After I spoke with her, she had moved away because […]

After Renee Field started working as a volunteer in District 10 (Halifax–Bedford Basin West), she formed a neighbourhood watch program in Rockingham that handled the car theft issue, and she chairs a residents’ association where they raised $140,000 in less than two years to redesign DJ Butler Park. Now she wants to take this love […]

Douglas Day tried reaching out to the current councillor of District 6 (Harbourview–Burnside–Dartmouth East) a couple of times via email about some concerns he had. When he didn’t get a response, he decided to run for the council seat himself. “I feel it’s time for a change,” says Day. “Time to get rid of the […]

Ibrahim Manna is running for office because the current councillor has been ignoring the needs of residents in District 6 (Harbourview–Burnside–Dartmouth East). “I’ve personally been talking to the councillor himself,” Manna says, “and he has done nothing to these issues.” Manna, who’s lived and worked in the district for a long time, wants to be […]