Halifax’s new climate change action plan aims for carbon neutral city operations in 10 years and carbon neutrality across the municipality by 2050, but the COVID-19 pandemic has put the ever-important short-term success of the plan in jeopardy. “The level of effort and timelines of this plan are ambitious and unprecedented,” reads the final chapter […]
Tanks but no tanks: Halifax councillors vote to cancel armoured vehicle, reallocate funding
Halifax regional councillors voted on Tuesday to cancel the purchase of an armoured vehicle for the city’s police and reallocate the funding to diversity and inclusion, public safety, and fighting anti-Black racism. Councillors voted to redirect $53,500 to city’s office of diversity and inclusion to make up for a planned cut this year; a total […]
Defund the Halifax police
With calls around the world to redirect police resources, Halifax city councillors are tripping over themselves to see who can be most "pro police"
Since the widely publicized death of George Floyd at the hands of MPD officer Derek Chauvin (what some commentators have called a “televised lynching”), calls for police accountability and even abolition have been growing, with protestors taking to the street in cities across North America, including Halifax. These calls are beginning to be heard and […]
Tank rethink: ‘Buyer’s remorse’ has councillors reconsidering armoured vehicle for Halifax police
Halifax councillors who voted in favour of an armoured vehicle for police are considering cancelling the purchase in the wake of protests over the latest police violence against Black people. The purchase of an armoured vehicle was approved during the fiscal 2019-2020 budget process at a cost of $500,000. Police presented the idea to the […]
Downtown Dartmouth renewal funding restored as council finishes COVID-19 budget adjustment list
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Councillors voted to restore $2 million in funding for land purchases in downtown Dartmouth, along with money for three jobs related to the city’s climate change plan and two snow-shovelling programs at their budget committee meeting on Friday. The budget committee has been meeting nearly […]
Halifax will hold modified summer day camps
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Halifax will hold some modified day camps for kids this summer after a vote by regional councillors on Thursday, but the details are sparse. As part of the recast COVID-19 budget process, council’s budget committee met on Thursday and voted to restore funding for $7.4 […]
Halifax councillors consider saving snow shovelling from COVID-19 cuts
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Councillors hope to save a program that makes for more comprehensive snow clearing on the Halifax peninsula. During a budget committee meeting on Friday — the continuation of the rebuilding of the city’s recast COVID-19 budget with $85 million in cuts — councillors voted in […]
Halifax police board approves $5.5 million budget cut
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. The city’s board of police commissioners is recommending in favour of a $5.5 million cut to the Halifax Regional Police budget. Chief Dan Kinsella told the board this week that there will be no impact on public safety from the reduced spending, about $4 million […]
Halifax councillors look at extra risk to save cuts, scrap weekly green bin pick-up
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Halifax councillors are looking at taking on more financial risk to offset a third of the cuts proposed to the city’s budget due to COVID-19. Finance staff estimate the permanent impact of the pandemic on the municipality’s finances will be $85.4 million from lost revenue […]
More than $5 million in cuts to Halifax police budget won’t affect public safety, chief says
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. With 28 positions proposed to be left vacant this year, Halifax’s chief of police says there is work that won’t get done, but there’ll be no impact on public safety from budget cuts due to COVID-19. “It’s self-evident. There’s positions that are not filled, there’s […]