Cornwallis Park is now officially Peace and Friendship Park. Halifax regional council voted unanimously in favour of the staff recommendation to rename the park on Tuesday. The motion also starts a public consultation process to choose a new name for Cornwallis Street. Councillors tacked on an amendment too, looking to create a process for future […]
Halifax council approves living wage requirement for contractors
In one of the last votes of its term, Halifax regional council approved a living wage requirement for most contracted workers. As the Halifax Examiner reported earlier this month, municipal staff proposed the policy to council as part of a new code of conduct for suppliers: It’s a response to council’s lukewarm reception of the social procurement policy passed […]
Halifax councillor unsatisfied with staff reports on pedestrian push buttons and other road safety measures, points to internal transportation ‘crisis’
Nearly two years after he asked for a report on eliminating pedestrian push buttons in Halifax, what Coun. Waye Mason got back doesn’t even answer the question he asked. And it’s one of multiple information reports to council on Tuesday that Mason and other councillors believe show the municipality needs to change the way it […]
Mostly non-COVID Halifax council round-up: Social policy, boulevard gardens, and more
Coun. Lindell Smith’s social policy framework passed unanimously at Halifax regional council on Tuesday after a nearly three-year wait, though the councillor worried it lacked teeth. “Everything we do in the city, we have an impact on people’s lives,” Smith said. “We recognize in HRM that we have a role in social policy.” The social...
Halifax is finally planning COVID-19 transportation changes
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. Halifax is belatedly moving to make changes to its transportation network to help pedestrians and cyclists better adhere to social distancing guidelines, but the plan is short on details. The city notified councillors and announced publicly on Tuesday that it’s “preparing to implement adjustments to […]
Strang: “We may well have had the peak”
Morning File, Wednesday, April 29, 2020
News 1. Murderer escaped Portapique within 10 minutes of police arriving Tim Bousquet provides an update on what we know about the mass murder which started in Portapique, Nova Scotia on April 18, based on new information released yesterday by RCMP Support Services Officer Darren Campbell. New information includes: • 435 witnesses have been identified, […]
“It’s the terror of knowing what the world is about”: Under Pressure during the pandemic
Morning File, Friday, April 3, 2020
News 1. The latest “The Nova Scotia government has extended the State of Emergency until April 19 to try and contain the spread of COVID-19,” reports Jennifer Henderson, who sat in on yesterday’s briefing for me: Premier Stephen McNeil announced two new programs: one, to help workers and self-employed people who have lost their jobs […]
“We own beautiful.” The history of Black hair care in Nova Scotia
Morning File, Wednesday, February 12, 2020
News 1. Hospital parking garage Councillor Waye Mason says he’s “optimistic” that a “win-win” compromise over the parking garage for the new QEII hospital is possible after the city and province met on Friday afternoon. Yesterday, council voted to start the process of closing a part of the west side of Summer Street to co-locate […]
Who killed the electric bus? Halifax Transit turns down electric bus funding, opts to stick with diesel instead
City staff are “mothballing” an electric bus pilot project for which council had already approved $1 million in funding, in the process turning down another $2.25 million in federal funding secured to help fund the project, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request. An electric bus generates about 62 fewer tonnes of […]
Province amps up its unwise and discredited biofuel efforts
Morning File, Thursday, December 13, 2018
News 1. Biofuel Last year, in her article “Life After Pulp,” Linda Pannozzo showed how as the old pulp industry is collapsing, the government is chasing two other forest dreams — biomass and biofuel. On the latter, she wrote: In 2012, when the Dexter government announced the defunct paper mill would become a business hub […]