It’s impossible to look around and not see that our society is broken—or to be invited to fix it, one can of soup at a time. Especially at this time of year, charity is presented as the best way to help those in need. Real solutions to our problems, however, do not look like Giving […]
Inequality
Posted inNews + Opinion
Here’s to what Halifax is getting right
Most of the news in 2017 has been spent documenting and/or trying to hide from all the horrible garbage fires happening around us. Here, at the end of the year, we instead wanted to raise a glass of kindness to those who are making this city better—the local points of lights in an otherwise abysmally […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM council salaries jump 2.3 percent to $87,409
Happy holidays to HRM councillors, who are taking home a 2.3 percent pay bump. It’s a slightly smaller raise than last year when salaries jumped by 3.4 percent. Back in May council approved a motion to tie its annual raises to average weekly earnings in Nova Scotia, as reported by Statistics Canada. Under the new formula, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax to wait-and-see on this whole basic income thing
A staff report on poverty reduction recommends Halifax hold off on endorsing a basic income pilot project from the province. The municipality’s Community Planning and Economic Standing Committee asked for the report back in July after a presentation from Basic Income Nova Scotia. At the time, the group had suggested some minor steps HRM could take […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A second opinion on tax reforms
Breaking from the dominant position of their colleagues, this week over 300 doctors across the country sent a letter to finance minister Bill Morneau voicing support for proposed tax changes that will eliminate several money-saving mechanisms used by many Canadian physicians. Monika Dutt, a family physician in Cape Breton, is one of the signatories. Dutt […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City council gets 3.4 percent pay raise
It’s a little bit more than a living wage. Salary numbers for Halifax Regional Council have finally been calculated and most of the municipality’s elected officials received a modest 3.4 percent pay raise this year. Councillors will see their pay increase from $82,653 to $85,443. The deputy mayor’s salary has likewise increased from $90,918 to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
School closure leaves the most vulnerable at greatest risk
[Image-1] On Monday morning a recalled Nova Scotia legislature will begin the first steps to forcing a new collective agreement on teachers and taking away their right to strike. At the same time, outside Province House, angry crowds will join in a protest against the Liberal government’s battle with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU). […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Struggling to understand HRM’s gun violence
[Image-1] Solving a homicide is, to some degree, quite simple. You just need to find the hand that pulled the trigger. Understanding why that person picked up a gun in the first place isn’t so cut and dry. As Halifax reflects on what’s been a violent 2016, the police department and the municipality are trying […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council will debate salary changes again
[Image-1] The municipality’s newly elected deputy mayor is starting his term off with a bang. Steve Craig will bring forward a motion at council’s next meeting asking for a report and recommendations from the CAO’s office on changing how the mayor and councillors are paid. He’s tried this move before. In 2014, it was Craig […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City hall offers small reprieve to North Preston families
[Image-1] For Keke Beatz, a drive to North Preston means that he’s going to honk his horn a few times. Not because he’s frustrated, but because he wants to say hi to his neighbours and friends he spots outside his car window. “When you’re driving, people wave to you,” he says. “I don’t know if […]