🗞️ Council undermines its own transit strategy

Good morning!

It’s the last day of Ramadan for Muslims in Nova Scotia. Tomorrow marks the beginning of Eid-al-Fitr—and to celebrate, the Ummah Masjid is hosting a barbecue, along with face painting and a petting zoo.

Today also marks Vimy Ridge Day in Canada, commemorating the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers who served in WWI—3,598 of whom died during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.

– Martin

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 5°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 5°

Next Day: 🌤️ 8°

7-day forecast

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

CITY HALL

STICKLAND: Halifax council undermines its own transit strategy

The more I dig into Halifax’s two-faced approach to transportation planning, the more I find myself driven mad by a repeating question: Why does the city punish people for using the bus, but not for driving?

This year, Halifax will spend $68 million on its bus and ferry service. The city has identified transit as part of its Integrated Mobility Plan to create “healthier communities” with “safe mobility options” that produce less greenhouse gas. The goal is for at least 16% of all trips within Halifax to be made by public transit by 2031—an uptick from 12% in 2011.

Naturally, that requires investment. To recoup some of those costs, the HRM taxes property owners who live within 1 km of a bus stop an area rate, which amounts to 9.1 cents per $100 of a property’s assessed value. (In Halifax, that’s roughly $294.20 in taxes on the average single-family home, with a 2024 assessed value of $323,300.)

But here’s the thing: Even though roads and private car use are bankrupting the city at a much faster rate, the HRM seems content to punt this problem down the line. There is no area rate for Haligonians who live within 1 km of a traffic light, nor is there a rate for having a driveway connection. And the one method that could reliably inject cash into Halifax’s coffers—parking fees—is still a no-go on evenings and weekends, it seems.

Despite Halifax’s claims that it wants to encourage bus ridership, Haligonians who actually ride the bus can’t catch a break: While a monthly bus pass will set you back $990 a year, an annual resident parking permit is a bargain at $75 to $175 a year.

And even though automotive infrastructure is a financial drain on municipalities, and transit—when fast and reliable—is a fiscal boon for cities, the HRM is missing the boat. Or the bus—which, if the city’s spending priorities continue, will probably come less often than it used to.

— Matt Stickland, with files from Martin Bauman

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ON THE BOOKSHELF

Halifax author Elliott Gish’s Grey Dog will play with your mind

Of all the attempts to summarize Halifax author Elliott Gish’s debut novel, Grey Dog, about schoolmarm Ada Byrd’s unravelling in quiet Lowry Bridge, Canadian novelist Suzette Mayr’s words stick most in the mind. In her review of Gish’s story—a psychological horror that reads as if the Brontë sisters took a page from Stephen King—the Giller Prize-winning author calls it a “slow burn” that “unfolds so smoothly and subtly that you don’t realize until it’s far too late that all the walls are on fire and the story has its hands wrapped around your throat.”

Indeed.

Gish’s fiction debut (out today through ECW Press) is like a simmering pot or a mind fraying at the edges: What starts seemingly small can balloon quickly. In Grey Dog, Gish weaves a story of traumatic memory, of women’s suppression and the things that linger at the margins of our subconscious. The novel is both a feat as well as a literary treat: A tale that can pull you along through its prose while something deep and harrowing builds, waiting for its reveal.

The Coast caught up with Gish ahead of her book’s release to talk about inner lives, the past’s tendency to follow us and writing psychological horror.

🗞️ In Other News

🚨 Halifax police are looking for two suspects after thieves allegedly stole military equipment from a Roberts Street apartment building last week.

🏘️ Halifax councillors will continue to discuss a 5,000-unit housing development proposed for the Exhibition Park lands at council today.

🏥 A Halifax mental-health clinic is getting a $425K boost in provincial funding to support underserved Nova Scotians.

🎵 Rocker Billy Idol has announced his ‘Rebel Yell’ tour will stop in Halifax in late August.

💰 The province is expanding its loan program for Nova Scotians who want to build backyard and secondary suites.

🏨 More than a year after a first-in-Atlantic Canada supportive housing project opened in Dartmouth, its residents tell CBC News it’s a “chance to rebuild.”

🦷 Canada’s first public dental care plan starts next month—but some Nova Scotia seniors are just finding out their dentists aren’t enrolling.

🫱🏾‍🫲🏼 HRM council will hear updates about a working group to combat Islamophobia and improve the safety of Muslim women and girls.

🎨 Embark on a captivating self-guided public art tour to explore the colourful and locally-made community art banners of North End Halifax!*

🎟️ Join Saltscapes East Coast Expo from April 19 - 21. Explore East Coast's finest at interactive demos, food samplings, and live entertainment. Get tickets now!*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY OPEN CITY HALIFAX

Open City is Back!

Mark your calendars! Open City, the annual celebration of small, local businesses that make our communities vibrant and welcoming, is taking place on Saturday, May 11. Make a plan to visit your favourite local shops and maybe discover a few new ones too.

For more information and to register your business to participate, visit opencityhfx.com.

🤔 Trivia Tuesday

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Imbibe: Head to the Light House Arts Centre tomorrow, where you’ll find more than 20 of Nova Scotia’s top bartenders crafting their best cocktails with live music and snacks. | Apr. 10 | 7-9pm | $72.61

🗓 Matthew Good: The multi-platinum selling Burnaby rocker plays a show at the Bruce Guthro Theatre this Thursday. Tickets are sold out, but some resale tickets are available. | Apr. 11 | 7:30pm | $178.50

🗓 Ari Shaffir: After selling out his Thursday evening show, the New York stand-up comic and Skeptic Tank podcast host has added a second late-night show at the Light House Arts Centre. | Apr. 11 | 10pm | $35

🗓 Maximum Overdrive: A collective of “some of Halifax’s best-known musicians” returns to The Carleton for a night of ’80s covers ranging from Duran Duran to Madonna. | Apr. 12 | 8-11pm | $25

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings.

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🚢 The 24,129-tonne Seamaster container ship arrives in Halifax from New York City around 6:20am. It departs for Kingston, Jamaica, at 10pm.

🚢 The 232-metre-long Morning Lady vehicle carrier is expected to berth in Eastern Passage around 9:30am. It arrives from Southampton, UK.

➡️ The 7,202-tonne BF Fortaleza container ship leaves Halifax for Mariel, Cuba, around 1pm.

👀 In Case You Missed It

📽️ The made-in-Nova Scotia dramedy Hailey Rose is in theatres this week, and filmmaker Sandi Somers spoke with The Coast about putting it together.

🎵 Why did Carly Simon sing about Nova Scotia in her song “You’re So Vain”? Fifty-two years later, she spills the beans.

🥅 Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price made a trip to Halifax last week and spoke with CTV News about his Maritime welcome.

📣 Cheerleading teams from across Canada—and even Barbados—were in Halifax over the weekend for a chance to qualify for the World Cheer Championships.

That’s it!

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