🗞️ A dying city

Plus, sailor dies in Bedford Basin after boat capsizes, NS Power responds to Dartmouth power line fire and city's transport committee preps for a parking tax on big cars.

Good morning Halifax,

I wish we didn’t have to talk about the veracity of the Holocaust—I actually wish we were always talking about Nazism in the past tense—but here we are.

Today the world marks eight decades since the liberation of Auschwitz—the largest of the Nazi extermination camps, where more than a million people were murdered during WWII. But as world leaders and survivors prepare to gather at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in southern Poland, a new survey suggests a growing number of Canadians believe the history of the Holocaust has been exaggerated.

Canadians between the ages of 25 and 34 were most likely (31%) to doubt the official death toll of the Holocaust, followed by 27% of those between the ages of 18 and 24. Among those 35 and older, a little more than one-fifth also held inaccurate views about the death toll.

The president of the Association for Canadian Studies says it is likely that the increase in Holocaust skepticism can be attributed to some politically motivated influencers seeking to diminish or distort the Holocaust and/or describing it as one historic injustice amongst others.

An even more startling data point is that one in five young people in Canada either hasn't heard of the Holocaust or isn't sure what it is. Historians believe the new data should be a wake-up call on how the systematic murder of six million Jews in Europe is taught in Canadian schools—and remembered more broadly.

And while we’re talking about it, we’d be remiss not to chime in on the Elon “did he or didn’t he” of it all. He did. But for those who really believe he didn’t, I invite you—as many on social media are suggesting— to go ahead and do it yourself. Make it your new “thing.” Do it to the next person you see, do it to your boss, hell, post a photo of you doing it on LinkedIn!

Of course you wouldn’t, which is kind of the point.

We need to remind ourselves what can happen when political power goes unchecked, and start having more conversations and encourage each other to consume content that tells the truth. I spent half of my day on Saturday in a dark theatre taking in The Brutalist—an experience I encourage you not to miss.

There is so much powerful art and literature that has been created to help us understand; that gives us a painfully uncomfortable glimpse into the most horrific of human experiences. For books, my favourites are Night by Elie Wiesel and I Was A Doctor In Auschwitz by Gisella Perl. There are also great books for young readers and kids that tackle the subject in an age-appropriate way. Of course, there are plenty of other poignant movies too, like Schindler’s List and The Pianist—and if you haven’t yet seen Zone of Interest, do that. I also never got over this incredible short documentary called One Day in Auschwitz

I understand that this stuff is not fun to think about, but it’s absolutely necessary, because frankly, history feels like it’s knocking on our collective doors; and although it has never been further away, 1939 feels closer than ever.

Take care of each other out there,

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌨️ 0°

Tomorrow: 🌧️

Next Day: 🌨️ -4°

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

NEWS + OPINION

The city you love is dying: Halifax’s sustainability crisis explained

📸 Credit: Maurizio de Mattei / Shutterstock

The warning signs have been there for a while, but it’s becoming harder to deny that Halifax is dying. Not some glamourous death, a noble sacrifice for the greater good. Nor is it something expected after a prolonged and public illness. 

No, it’s a far more embarrassing death: We’ve been bitten by a zombie, and City Hall’s staff are trying really hard to hide it. Not that being bitten by a zombie is inherently embarrassing, but for Halifax specifically our demise is still pretty avoidable.

🤔 Need To Know

🏘️ HRM has begun a 30-day public consultation period inviting residents to share their input on changes to the municipality’s Minimum Planning Regulations.

🚙 Kia is recalling more than 80,000 vehicles due to floor wiring beneath the front passenger seat that can become damaged and prevent airbags and seat belts from deploying properly.

🎭 Live Art Dance presents Omote (面), a co-creation between Vancouver dance artist Shion Skye Carter and Halifax mask maker Miya Turnbull, at the Bus Stop Theatre. February 28, 8pm, and March 1, 2pm & 8pm.*

📱 The Mounties in Nova Scotia are warning the public about a new texting scam that involves messages that appear to be from the RCMP—investigators say potential victims have reported receiving unsolicited text messages that claim to be an “RCMP Delivery Notice.”

*Sponsored Post

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CITY

Transport committee preps for a parking tax on big cars

📸 Credit: The Coast

Thursday, Jan 24th’s Transportation Standing Committee meeting was one for the record books—but only because the city keeps records of all municipal meetings.

Councillor Shawn Cleary’s motion to charge higher permit parking fees for bigger vehicles came back to the committee. Cleary’s original plan to use vehicle weight to determine different parking fees had been modified at council to use vehicle length instead, which introduced a host of problems as enumerated in the staff report.

After a brief debate to ensure that most of them agreed they wanted to move forward with differential parking fees based on vehicle weight, this committee briefly entertained treating the ongoing collapse of earth’s life support systems due to global warming like an emergency and asking for a staff report on two policies at the same time.

Councillor Trish Purdy voted against this motion because she does not believe that people who drive should be asked to pay for the societal cost of driving

🗞️ In Other News

🔌 Nova Scotia Power crews spent Sunday responding to a power line fire resulting in outages in Dartmouth—the utility operator says 2,563 customers are without power in the area of Lancaster Ridge, and the cause of the fire is still not known.

🚔 Police in Nova Scotia say they’ve charged a woman with attempted murder after a man was stabbed in Truro, in what authorities allege was a case of intimate partner violence.

🛣️ Despite public education campaigns and a focus on remembering and honouring the victims and survivors of impaired driving, the number of those charged with impaired driving continues to remain high—in 2024, there were 1,398 drivers charged with impaired-related offences.

🎞️ The creator of Nova Scotia’s first ever Restro Film Festo says he hopes the festival will share the power of time travel with audiences in Halifax this month—the line-up will spotlight four homegrown films from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s.

🚢 The Royal Canadian Navy says a sailor has died in the Bedford Basin after a boat capsized—saying two sailors were operating a rigid-hull inflatable boat in the Halifax Harbour bay at the nortHalifax-area bay when it overturned and capsized around 10pm on Friday.

🥩 More underweighted meat has been uncovered as big grocers Sobeys, Loblaw and Walmart have been hit with a class action lawsuit, despite the stores saying they've taken steps to ensure shoppers get what they pay for.

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Canadian e-vehicle rebates end this Friday 🚗🤯♻️

Last week, the federal program giving Canadians money to buy electric vehicles ended abruptly. You can still grab up to $8,000 in savings on EVs at Steele Ford Lincoln, but only until January 31. Visit the EV specialists at Steele Ford or hop online, before these rebates disappear 😢.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Nova Scotia Retro Film Festo: ​The inaugural Nova Scotia Retro Film Festo is coming! Over the course of four evenings, the festival will unearth a few classics of Nova Scotian cinema and screen them on the big screen. | Jan 30-Feb 2

🗓 Spontaneity's Improv Cage Match—Finals: ​These improvisers are moving on to the last part of the competition and will be bringing their biggest and best improv to the stage for this FINAL ROUND. Come ready to laugh and cast your vote. An uproarious night out full of drinks, food and an incredible show! | Jan 30 | 7:30pm | $15

🗓 Halifax Thunderbirds Lacrosse: Come cheer on the home team as they take on the Vancouver Warriors at the Scotiabank Centre. | Jan 31 | 7:30pm | From $26.25

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🚢 The Nord Ling general cargo ship leaves Halifax for Portsmouth at 5pm.

🚢➡️ The Vistula Maersk container ship arrives in Halifax from Montreal at 6:15am and leaves for Bremerhaven at 6:30pm.

🚢➡️ The Tropic Lissette container ship arrives in Halifax from Philipsburg at 6:15am and leaves for West Palm Beach at 8pm.

➡️ The Frisian Octa general cargo ship leaves Halifax for Moa at 6pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🐊 Try some unique and flavourful cocktails at Bar Kismet with the Incognito Alligator (mezcal and chocolate malt, branca menta, cold brew, avocado oil, sherry) or the Undercover Alligator (cachaça and chamomile, banana marzipan cream, ginger madeira, gentian).

🥘 Get all your comfort food cravings in one dish with the Boneless PEI Shortrib, on the menu now at 2 Doors Down: PEI raised beef, Sunday savoury gravy-celeriac potato puree, winter vegetables, buttermilk onion rings.

👀 In Case You Missed It

👄 Looking for some naughty, anonymous fun on these cold winter days? Every year hundreds of Haligonians take the time to spill their saucy secrets on dating sisters and bedroom fantasies in The Coast’s Sex & Dating Survey, and the latest edition is open. From swiping to sexting, nothing is off limits—take the 2025 Sex & Dating Survey now.

🚰 Two days after Halifax Water issued a boil-water advisory for roughly 200,000 residents across the HRM, the utility said it’s safe to drink water from the tap again. As The Coast’s Martin Bauman reports, the power failure that caused the problem—Halifax Water’s second in seven months—has prompted multiple calls for an investigation, from the mayor’s office to the province’s utility review board.

That’s it!

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