Gold Winner Waye Mason Silver Winner Jennifer Watts Bronze Winner Gloria McCluskey
 Halifax South Downtown councillor Waye Mason scores the hat trick, winning Best Councillor for the third year in a row. “It’s a tremendous honour,” Mason says, on break from at City Hall. “It’s the little things like this that help make it all […]
Jennifer Watts
Posted inNews + Opinion
Jennifer Watts won’t be running in next year’s election
[Image-1] After two terms representing the people of Halifax Peninsula North, Jennifer Watts says she won’t be running in next fall’s municipal election. 
The news comes from an announcement in her District 8 newsletter, though Watts says it was a decision she made before even being elected in 2008. “The next municipal election will be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Who is running for council in District 8: Peninsula North?
The district District map: (Click here for a written description of district boundaries.) Candidates Karen Dempsey Website Twitter Facebook Email Doug MacDonald Website Twitter Facebook Email Dawn Marie Sloane Council report card Website Twitter Facebook Email Jennifer Watts Council report card Website Twitter Facebook Email James McKay Website Twitter Facebook Email 20 questions from The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Councillor Jennifer Watts issues apology for Remembrance Day eviction
Councillor Jennifer Watts has issued the following statement: I am making this statement as a Halifax Regional Councillor and as a resident of this municipality. I deeply and sincerely apologize for my role in the unfolding of the events that took place with the enforcement of the eviction of Occupy NS on Nov. 11 in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Jennifer Watts
2010 grade: A- 2009 grade: B Last year I gave Jennifer Watts an A-. It was the first time any councillor had entered A-land, and I’ve been feeling kind of weird about it ever since. So I was happy to bring her down a tad this year. Call it a social demotion. Watts remains an […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Can Halifax become a Fair Trade town?
[image-1] Halifax city councillors may be consuming nothing but fair trade certified products during meetings if a new campaign to have Halifax recognized as a “Fair Trade Town” gets enough support. In export-oriented economies in the developing world, workers are often exploited and have limited rights; “Fair Trade” seeks to undo that harm by ensuring that goods sold in Canada are made by people paid a living wage and working in reasonable conditions. The campaign, launched by Emily Stewart, a fourth-year student in environmental science and economics at Dalhousie University, is beginning Halifax’s application with TransFair Canada. TransFair is a
Posted inNews + Opinion
Jennifer Watts
2010 grade: A- 2009 grade: B I’ve never before awarded an A grade and thought I never would, lest I be accused of getting soft. So I searched high and low looking for a reason to knock Watts down a letter grade—I reviewed my notes to see if Watts has ever made a boneheaded argument, […]
Posted inLove the Way We Bitch/Love
19 out of 21 in COUNCIL: YOU SUCK
Thanks, jerks, for closing down the proposal by Watts to re-open the discussion about the North Common land use. Everyone listened to the condo sap-story (boohoo, wind tunnels) about downtown for almost two hours, but when it came time to hear very valid concerns about the North Commons development, it was shut down right away. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Urban chickens plan re-flight
Last year, Halifax council declined to intervene as bylaw officers evicted three chickens from Louise Hanavan’s north end yard. But the issue is far from dead—councillor Jennifer Watts has announced she will soon ask city staff to establish possible land use guidelines that permit urban chickens. The issue will come before the December 14 Peninsula […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Council notes: “tax reform” dead in the water
[Note: Tuesday’s 10-hour council meeting covered a lot of ground. I wrote about much of it, here and here, but should probably add a few notes. This post is about the tax reform issue; I’ll follow it up with a post further exploring the sewage issue.] “Tax reform” Council spent fully two hours debating whether […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Jennifer Watts, Council newbie
Cell: 497-4748 Grade this year: B Grade last year: N/A Jennifer Watts hit the ground running, leading the resistance to the Bayers Road widening and putting forward a proposed ban on plastic bottles in city buildings and a range of suggested changes to the HRM By Design planning initiative, all within her first six months […]