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Downtown Dartmouth renewal funding restored as council finishes COVID-19 budget adjustment list

May 29, 2020 By Zane Woodford 2 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: budget adjustment list, climate change, councillor Matt Whitman, Councillor Russell Walker, Councillor Sam Austin, Councillor Stephen Adams, councillor Waye Mason, COVID-19, Downtown Dartmouth plan, HalifACT 2050, Halifax city operating budget 2020/21, Halifax Water, Jane Fraser, Peter Duncan, property taxes, Sawmill River, sidewalk clearing, snow shovelling

Halifax councillors look at extra risk to save cuts, scrap weekly green bin pick-up

May 13, 2020 By Zane Woodford 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: budget, CAO Jacque Dubé, compost bins, coronavirus, councillor Matt Whitman, Councillor Paul Russell, Councillor Russell Walker, Councillor Stephen Adams, Councillor Tim Outhit, councillor Waye Mason, COVID-19, green cart, Halifax city operating budget 2020/21, Jane Fraser, Mayor Mike Savage, pandemic

More than $5 million in cuts to Halifax police budget won’t affect public safety, chief says

May 11, 2020 By Zane Woodford Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, Halifax city operating budget 2020/21, Halifax Regional Police Association, Jane Fraser, Natalie Borden, pandemic, Police Chief Dan Kinsella

Surplus cash could help Halifax council avoid tax hike

January 29, 2020 By Zane Woodford

Larger than expected growth in property assessments and a budget surplus could help Halifax regional councillors avoid a tax rate increase for the year ahead. Chief financial officer Jane Fraser presented updated financial numbers to council’s budget committee on Wednesday. Fraser told councillors her office has now reviewed the final 2020 assessment numbers, and the...

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Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: city budget surplus, Jane Fraser

Halifax auditor general confirms the city’s website redesign was a mess

January 21, 2020 By Zane Woodford

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has logged on to halifax.ca: the city’s auditor general has confirmed that the redesigned website was riddled with errors when it went live in 2017. But in a report published Tuesday and presented to council’s audit and finance standing committee, auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd wrote that...

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Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd, CAO Jacques Dubé, councillor Matt Whitman, FCV Technologies Ltd, halifax.ca website, Jane Fraser

Board recommends council approve Halifax police budget with extra $1 million

January 9, 2020 By Zane Woodford

Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella says he needs a budget increase of nearly $1 million for the next year to create eight new sergeant positions “to better serve the community.” The department presented its 2020-2021 budget request to the city’s board of police commissioners on Thursday, asking for an increase of $993,300 over the...

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Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: councillor Tony Mancini, Halifax Police budget, Jane Fraser, Natalie Borden, Police Chief Dan Kinsella, RCMP Chief Superintendent Janis Gray

Halifax council aims for below-inflation tax increase

January 7, 2020 By Zane Woodford

It’s early in the budget season, but Halifax regional councillors are hoping to keep next year’s tax increase well below inflation. Council’s budget committee met Tuesday to work toward creating the municipality’s billion-dollar 2020-2021 budget, and unanimously passed a motion to limit property tax increases for the year ahead to 1.5% on the average bill...

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Filed Under: City Hall, Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Halifax city operating budget 2020/21, Jane Fraser, property tax increase, taxes

Province amps up its unwise and discredited biofuel efforts

Morning File, Thursday, December 13, 2018

December 13, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 13 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: biofuel, biomass, Brendan Elliott, Cape Sharp Tidal, Cathi Mullaly, Cellufuel, CTV advertorial, Dartmouth Crossing, David Patriquin, Emera, Emma Davie, Esquire, Global Forest Coalition, Halifax CFO, Jacques Dubé, Jane Fraser, JNET Communications LLC, John Traves, Lands and Forestry Department, Linda Pannozzo, Link Performing Arts Centre, Mary Campbell, Minas Basin tidal project, OpenHydro, Paul Hollingsworth, Reverend Dr. David Jefferson Sr., Richard Starr, ServiCom, Zane Woodford

Why did Bob Bjerke get fired and what does it mean for Halifax?

It's been three months and Halifax still has no Chief Planner, and the CAO is asking council to end run the Centre Plan.

November 28, 2017 By Erica Butler 3 Comments

Jacques Dubé worked as HRM’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for just 11 months when he decided to can the city’s Chief Planner, Bob Bjerke. Bjerke had been heading up the city’s planning and development department for about three and a half years. His dismissal came abruptly, with no explanation to either him, or to the […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Featured Tagged With: Bjerke's plan, Bob Bjerke firing, CAO Jacques Dubé, Centre Plan, councillor Shawn Cleary, Erica Butler, Jane Fraser, Willow Tree Tower

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • The revamped vaccination booking site is working, but slowly March 8, 2021
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  • More delays at Muskrat Falls hydro project March 8, 2021
  • 2 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Nova Scotia on Sunday, March 7 March 7, 2021
  • Can we finally hope to hope? March 7, 2021

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