🗞️ Best in service

Hey Halifax,

When I was little, I had this friend who had a pet rabbit. The rabbit had a self-serve feeding mechanism in its hutch—it just pushed a lever with its little paw/hand/foot and pellets would come out, so it could just eat all day. And it did. It pushed the button and ate until it was so morbidly obese that it could barely move. 

Even as a little kid, I remember thinking: This is so unfair and this poor thing’s parents are so deeply irresponsible.

Incidentally, those were my exact same thoughts when I came across this URGENT warning from Health Canada for parents and caregivers to stop using—prepare yourself—infant self-feeding devices.

Infant self-feeding devices are banned in Canada, the health agency warns, and pose life-threatening risks that violate the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. But apparently people are still buying them online 🤷🏻‍♀️

The advisory—issued Jan 24—explains these devices allow infants to hold a bottle and feed before they have developed the necessary muscles to do so safely. They also position the bottle in a way that makes it hard for the infant to stop feeding when needed. As a result, these products pose a choking or suffocation hazard to the infants using them.

It’s very rare that I am speechless, but the fact that this contraption exists has me shook to my very core. If you have one, I would get rid of it ASAP, but put in under all of your other garbage so nobody knows you ever had it—like I used to do with my empty Strongbow cans at work.

Have a great day,

– Julie

📷 @editorjulesl

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌨️ -3°

Tomorrow: 🌨️ -11°

Next Day: 🌨️ -6°

7-day forecast

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

FOOD + DRINK

Nova Scotia restaurants celebrate excellence at annual awards gala

A night out at a restaurant is about so much more than just the food put on the plate—it’s the service and atmosphere that can take a culinary experience from good to great.

The best of the best in Nova Scotia’s service industry was honoured Monday, Jan 27 in a gala celebration held at the Westin Nova Scotian hotel. Hosted by RANS, the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, the annual event hands out awards for outstanding service in the food and beverage industry.

The Coast has more on the event as well as the full list of winners. 

🤔 Need To Know

🚨 A 21-year-old woman has died after being struck in downtown Halifax by a vehicle that had allegedly just been in another collision up the road.

🍽️ Mark your calendars—Dine Around kicks off on February 1! Enjoy special menus from your favourite Downtown Halifax restaurants, with prices ranging from $10 to $60.*

⚓ The Royal Canadian Navy has identified the sailor who died Friday, after a small military boat capsized in Bedford Basin, as Petty Officer 2nd Class Gregory Applin of Shoal Cove West, NL.

🖼️ Get ready for Craft East Buyers’ Expo, the annual trade show promoting crafts in Atlantic Canada. Featuring handmade products from the region. Open only to the qualified retail trade.*

💜 A Nova Scotia woman who was in an abusive relationship says the deaths of six women in the province in the last three months have left her with feelings of grief, anger and hopelessness.

🎨 Support4Culture proudly supports Kawama Kasutu, a self-taught multidisciplinary artist with a passion for sharing joy through art. See her story and learn more here.*

💉 A new study is showing a policy change in 2016 related to the vaccination of some premature babies for RSV in Nova Scotia led to a tenfold increase in the number of infants in that group that were hospitalized with the respiratory virus.

🍅 If you have never made Carbonara pasta, or never tried Guanciale as a key ingredient, this is your sign that now's the time. Visit us in person, or arrange for delivery, through our online store.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY SUPPORT4CULTURE

Support4Culture Believes in Nova Scotia

From funding filmmakers like Corey Katz to organizations like the African Nova Scotian Seafaring Project, Support4Culture impacts your Nova Scotian community and looks to foster local talent. Follow along on Facebook and Instagram for updates all year long.

CITY HALL

Council kills Windsor Street Exchange redesign

At yesterday’s regular meeting of city council, by a close 8 to 6 vote, councillors made a tough decision to do the right thing. For the past six years or so the city has been working on a plan to re-do the Windsor Street Exchange. At first it was supposed to be a small project, to accommodate the federal government’s desire to increase the capacity for truck traffic through the Fairview Cove container terminal. To pay for that, the federal and provincial governments put up $36.2 million—the city was on the hook for just $10 million.

But like many (most? all?) renovation projects, the WSX plan grew in scope over the years to include things like Halifax Water’s capital infrastructure upgrades as well as council’s priorities, like getting more people moving around the city by foot, bike or bus.

Last summer, the latest design was panned by council because it prioritized car throughput instead of council priorities—so councillors instructed staff to come up with a new plan. But no one told council that such a plan would mean letting go of the federal and provincial money.

The Coast’s Matt Stickland was at the council meeting and has the full story on the Windsor Street Exchange’s demise.

🗞️ In Other News

🌬️ The Nova Scotia government says a program to bring wind-generated electricity to 11 large customers is keeping the province on track to meet its goal of producing 80% of its electricity with renewables by 2030.

⛴️ The federal transport minister has ordered an audit of the ferry service between Nova Scotia and PEI after a season plagued by delays and interruptions—the audit will help ensure the ferry service has protocols in place to guarantee safe transit and to prevent future problems.

🙋‍♀️ More than 100 Dartmouth residents gathered at the Mic Mac Amateur Aquatic Club to get an update on the controversial Dartmouth Cove infill project—the HRM is accepting public feedback on the proposed bylaw amendments until Friday.

SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN DARTMOUTH BUSINESS COMMISSION

East Coast Credit Union Ice Festival

Head to downtown Dartmouth this weekend, January 31-February 2, for the East Coast Credit Union Ice Festival. A winter celebration filled with live ice carving, a street party on Saturday, a chance to meet Bluey & Bingo and lots more fun! Live carving will take place on Friday and Saturday, then the sculptures stay until they melt away. Full schedule available here.

🗓️ 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 for you to see on the big screen. | Jan 30-Feb 2

🗓Spontaneity Presents Court of Nonsense: All Rise. Welcome to The Court of Nonsense! Roommate won't do the dishes? Co-worker always taking your parking spot? If this sounds like your life, head to the Bus Stop Theatre for a night of laughter and legal chaos. The litigious group of improvisers will take your conflicts, arguments and interpersonal gripes, and put them to the legal test! | Jan 31 | 7pm | $23

🗓Winter Rave-Up: Come and join this free outdoor event inside a huge inflatable igloo to kick off the year. Shake off those winter blues to big energy rave tunes on a brand-new sound system. | Feb 1 | 6pm | Free

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Ophelia container ship leaves Halifax for Kingston at 3am.

➡️ The Algotitan oil tanker leaves Halifax for Saint-Romuald-d'Etchemin at 5am.

🚢 The CMA CGM Paranagua container ship arrives in Halifax from Montreal at 6:15am.

🚢 The Acadian oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Saint John at 11:40am.

➡️ The MSC Ornella container ship leaves Halifax for London at 12pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🥐 The croissant of the week at Two If By Sea is Nutella Cheesecake: creamy Nutella cheesecake filling, Nutella drizzle, sprinkle of crunchy hazelnuts.

🌶️ Spice up your boring lunch routine with the Chimichurri at CHKN CHOP: fried chicken, herb chimichurri, pepperoncini peppers, lettuce, onions, harissa mayo.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🪧 Al Zeitoun University was dismantled by security guards and police after 78 days on Dalhousie’s campus. On the day of the decampment, SLPK members told The Coast they had to rummage through dumpsters at Dal to recover pieces of AZU that security guards had thrown away—including artworks, signs and parts of a vigil for children killed in Gaza, Palestine. Now, many of these recovered artifacts are on view in (un)rest, a show that opened Monday at the Treaty Space Gallery at NSCAD. Get a full preview of (un)rest from The Coast’s Lauren Phillips.

🏛️ Even before council ended the Windsor Street Exchange redesign—see above in case you missed that—yesterday’s meeting of Halifax Regional Council was shaping up to be consequential. To get ready for Matt Stickland’s report on what happened at the meeting (which will probably be in tomorrow’s newsletter), you can read Matt’s look ahead at the meeting’s agenda from Monday.

That’s it!

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