🗞️ Best of Halifax voting is now open!

Psssssst!

I have a big secret for you, dear readers… 🤭

Over the past few weeks, our adorable leeeeeettle Birkenstock’d, IPA-buzzed elves have been hard at work combing through thousands of nominations across 165 categories to narrow down the finalists for the 2024 Best of Halifax awards. 

And at last, the tabulations are complete and the finalists have been selected. That means the official voting is now open at BestofHalifax.com and nobody knows yet except you. 

Do you feel drunk with power?

Just a friendly reminder that if you don’t see the place or person that you nominated, that’s because not enough other people also nominated it/them—and that’s not on us dolls—so, don’t shoot the messenger (me!).

Get voting Halifax! ☑️

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 20°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 19°

Next Day: 🌧️ 18°

7-day forecast

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

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

HALIFAX VOTES 2024

District 9 voting guide: A Clear-y front runner

The Halifax Regional Municipality is a vast place about the size of Prince Edward Island. It is a patchwork quilt of small communities, which used to be organized into independent towns, counties and villages. But when amalgamation happened in 1996, all of those communities were slammed together in the larger regional municipality, a single political entity. 

Whether or not this was a good move (depends who you ask), when you combine 200 or so communities and then divide them into just 16 council districts there are going to be some districts, especially those in zones of transition, that lack a unified vibe. 

District 9 is one of those districts. 

Half of the district is the area in and around Quinpool Road and that wing of Halifax’s multi-faceted downtowns. But it also stretches up past the Armdale Roundabout and includes the areas around Chocolate and First and Second Chain Lakes. 

To determine which of District 9’s six candidates are equipped to face the complex challenges facing the city, The Coast sent out an extensive questionnaire to see what each candidate knows about the issues facing the city ahead of the municipal election on Oct. 19. The Coast followed up with more detailed questions to test each candidate's policy chops. 

Of the six candidates running to be this area’s councillor, only half filled out the survey by deadline. Check out what they had to say.

🤔 Need To Know

🗞️ The Coast is apologizing to District 5 council candidate Mike McCluskey for a mistake we made in this week’s City Hall Insider Newsletter. We said McCluskey tweeted about what we called “a phantom roundabout” in Dartmouth, but we were wrong, McCluskey was not making up his information. You can read the apology with full context here.

🚨 The number of hate crimes reported by Halifax police in 2023 jumped by 62% compared with the prior year—121 hate crimes were reported last year, more than 40% of the total for the entire Atlantic region.

🇨🇦 Explore A History Exposed: The Enslavement of Black People in Canada, the first national exhibition that reveals a history many Canadians don’t know about.*

🚗 The Nova Scotia government will pay a private company as much as $1.4M to provide valet service at the Halifax Infirmary—the free service has been available since Sep. 16 to help patients who drive themselves to the hospital.

💰 Feed Nova Scotia’s fall 50/50 jackpot is already over $10,800. Don’t miss your chance to win cash and support food banks across the province!*

🏠 HRM is moving ahead with planning changes mandated by the province to speed up housing, but multiple councillors argued that their impacts are unclear—and in some cases might hurt affordable housing.

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN HALIFAX BUSINESS COMMISSION

Stroll and Shop in Downtown Halifax

Fall is the perfect time to stroll—and shop—in Downtown Halifax. 

From big-name stores to curated boutiques and one-of-a-kind shops, you'll be sure to find something for someone special, including yourself. 

So, grab your bestie and get your shop on in Downtown Halifax this fall!

HOUSING

 Public housing in Nova Scotia—what you need to know

When affordable housing comes up, the idea of public housing is often not far behind. 

Whether it’s mentioned in passing by municipal officials or talked about in full during provincial announcements, public housing has an important place in our current housing crisis, as it provides affordable units to low-income families who may otherwise struggle to afford the ever-rising rents in Nova Scotia.

And while the province has fumbled on many an occasion when it comes to the housing crisis, housing minister John Lohr has promised that the provincial government will be introducing 273 new units, granting over 700 people access to affordable housing managed by the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency.

Unlike private housing, affordable or otherwise, the public housing sector is subsidized and not-for-profit, meaning that it can gear its rent toward low-income earners without worrying about making a profit. According to the NSPHA, there are over 11,200 of these units across the province. This provides housing for nearly 17,900 tenants, split between housing for families and seniors.

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer provides an explainer on public housing in Nova Scotia and some of its most recent developments.

🗞️ In Other News

🚨 A 34-year-old man has been charged after allegedly threatening people with a knife in the area of Duke and Barrington Streets on Tuesday.

🚢 The Port of Halifax is expecting increased container traffic as a strike at major American ports diverts cargo north of the border—the strike along the US eastern seaboard is stopping the flow of goods, which is impacting almost all cargo ports.

🚔 Nova Scotia RCMP say they have now found the vehicle belonging to a woman who went missing in South Uniacke two weeks ago—Erika MacLeod, who is also known as Erika MacCormac, was last seen Sep. 18.

⛵ SailGP has announced it will return to Canada in 2026, but a host city has not yet been chosen—Halifax is in the process of preparing a bid.

👋 Halifax mayor Mike Savage bid farewell in his final council meeting, saying that his time as mayor has been the “best job” he's ever had.

🛡️ The North American headquarters for the NATO DIANA—which stands for the Defence Innovation Accelerator for North Atlantic—opened in Halifax on Wednesday, marking a milestone moment for security and defence innovation advancement.

🎤 Canadian folk singer and songwriter James Keelaghan will perform nine shows across the region, including in Halifax, as part of an Atlantic Canadian tour to promote his latest album. 

⛪ After the hymns and quiet prayers of a Sunday morning, Rev. Rhonda Britton sat in the silence of her 192-year-old Black church in Halifax—reflecting on what it’s meant to guide her congregation for 17 years.

🦪 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the further spread of a parasite threatening PEI’s lucrative oyster industry.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Game On! Celebrating Women in Sport Business: This event at Saint Mary’s University happens all day today, and coincides with the premiere screening of a documentary about 50 years of women’s varsity athletics at SMU. The Coast’s Lauren Phillips previews this big day on campus. | Oct. 3 | 10am-7:30pm | From free

🗓 Worlds of the Night Opening with Special Guests: Ever wonder what comes alive when the sun goes down? Discover the secrets of how nocturnal animals see, hunt and thrive in darkness, on now at the Discovery Centre, presented by the Sherbrooke Museum of Nature and Science. | 9am-4pm | $17.50

🗓 King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild Presented by Neptune Theatre: This hybrid theatre-music production features Ahmed Moneka and Jesse LaVercombe alongside celebrated Arabic-maqam fusion band Moneka Arabic Jazz. Featuring themes of art, ambition, sex and mortality, this two-person epic spans centuries, cultures and continents in a moving, funny, tragic and ultimately celebratory performance. | Oct 1-6 | From $25

🗓 Halifax International Spirit Festival: The event starts tonight with a celebration of local spirits—called Tides and Tastings—then a gala dining evening on Friday, Oct 4 and ends with a Grand Tasting on Saturday at the Westin Nova Scotians. Intermixed are master classes hosted by spirit experts from across Canada and around the world. | Oct 3-5

🗓 T. Thomason Live at Café Lara: Come celebrate Tenderness, T. Thomason's debut album on Six Shooter Records! The release date is set for October 25, but you can get an exclusive early listen at this special pre-release show. The night will feature an acoustic performance from T., drag artists providing their interpretations of the new tracks and a sneak peek at unreleased music videos. | Oct 4 | 7pm | $15

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Sun container ship arrives in Halifax from Norfolk at 10:20am and leaves for Liverpool at 1:30pm.

➡️ The MSC Sagitta III container ship leaves Halifax for Montreal at 3:30am.

🛳️➡️ The Bakkafoss container ship arrives in Halifax from Reykjavik at 8:15am and leaves for Argentia at 1pm.

🛳️➡️ The Zuiderdam cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Norwegian Sky cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 10am and leaves for Canadian seas at 7pm.

🛳️➡️ The Emerald Princess cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 7:30pm.

🛳️➡️ The One Owl container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 5:45am and leaves for Singapore at 10pm.

🛳️➡️ The Delphinus C container ship arrives in Halifax from Antwerp at 5:20am and leaves for Port Everglades at 10pm.

🛳️ The Silver Shadow cruise ship arrives in Halifax from Canadian seas at 11am.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🍜 Warm up on the crisp fall days with the Katsudon at Doraku Dartmouth: crispy pork cutlet enveloped in a fluffy egg with a sweet and savoury sauce over rice.

🎃 Even Antojo Tacos is getting in on pumpkin spice season with a variety of creations including the Tres Leches (pumpkin spice sponge cake soaked in three milks, pumpkin spice whipped cream, nutmeg, candied pepitas) and the Calabaza Caliente (reposada, spiced rum, ancho reyes chili liquor, pumpkin syrup, lemon, cinnamon-sugar rim).

👀 In Case You Missed It

🗞️ Literally in case you missed it at the top of the newsletter, The Coast is apologizing to District 5 council candidate Mike McCluskey for a mistake we made in this week’s City Hall Insider Newsletter. We said McCluskey tweeted about what we called “a phantom roundabout” in Dartmouth, but we were wrong, McCluskey was not making up his information. You can read the apology with full context here.

🗳️ There’s only thing we can say for sure about District 7 is that it’s going to have a new councillor after the Oct. 19 election day. With the area’s longtime councillor Waye Mason running for mayor, the race for the Halifax South Downtown seat on council is wide open. And it needs a politician who’s up for a challenge. The Coast’s Matt Stickland has your voting guide to the race for District 7.

🏹 October is Mi’kmaq History Month across Mi’kma’ki—the land of the Mi’kmaq. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the living history, culture and traditions of the Mi’kmaq, who have lived here for over 11,000 years, and to deepen the work of truth and reconciliation through ongoing education. One way to do that? Get to know the history and ongoing legacy of the Mi’kmaq in sports. The Coast’s Lauren Phillips has more on a new video that connects sports and healing.

🏦 John Risley—one of Nova Scotia's most wealthy businessmen—is locked in a massive income tax battle with the Canada Revenue Agency that spans two decades and includes a sprawling seaside mansion, a high-performance dressage horse operation and three luxury yachts.

💗 Following changes to improve access to provincial adoption records, a group of siblings met their long-lost brother who was put up for adoption at birth—he was 20 km away all along.

That’s it!

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