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Plus, HRM de-designates Cogswell Park encampment, Canada Post and union to resume bargaining and Halifax Urban Folk Festival bringing Rhett Miller, Aysanabee and more.
Julie Lawrence
August 21, 2025
Oh hi Halifax,
The municipality versus province drama has reared its ugly head again and they’re making it all of our problem as usual because we have to read and think about it and that’s exhausting.
A little bit of history for context (*rolls out projector with plastic slides circa 1997*)...
The year was 2006. Facebook and Twitter had just launched, Miley Cyrus made her debut as Hannah Montana, The Hills radicalized reality TV, and we were all just living for the hope of it all. Most importantly though, HRM became an amalgamated municipality and created its first ever regional plan as a guide for growth.
The plan established policy until 2031, with reviews scheduled every five years. It was readopted in 2014 following a review in 2011, and another review started in 2020.
Fast-forward to last June, Halifax council adopted a motion to repeal the 2014 regional plan and adopt a 2025 strategy with related amendments. The updated regional plan was subject to provincial approval—approval which the province did NOT give for a few reasons, but mainly because “the document included many proposals that appear intentionally designed to impede housing.”
So now Council is like “joke’s on you guys”, saying that in not passing the strategy, the province is now stalling thousands of housing units. Halifax’s planning director said in Tuesday’s meeting that in just one category, the delay affects 12 projects creating 2,000 housing units.
So to review: Province says HRM’s plan impedes housing. HRM says the province's rejection of plan impedes housing.
These two sides need to get it together because while they’re having a pissing competition, people are in desperate need of housing—especially with the recent announcement that the Cogswell Park encampment has been de-designated.
Let’s hope this gets resolved quickly.
Love and light!
– Julie
🌡️ Traffic & Weather
Today: ☀️ 24°
Tomorrow: ☁️ 22°
Next Day: ☀️ 24°
🚗 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.
MUSIC
Halifax Urban Folk Festival bringing Rhett Miller, Aysanabee and more
📸 Credit: Coast Illustration
The Halifax Urban Folk Festival is coming up quickly, and their artistic director has one message to push to anyone interested in attending.
“If you’re sitting on your hands, thinking I’ll just pick up tickets at the last minute, you might want to think twice about that approach,” says Mike Campbell in an interview with The Coast.
This is set to be one of the best lineups yet for HUFF, which started back in 2010 under the stewardship of Campbell.
🤔 Need To Know
🎓 There’s uncertainty ahead at Dalhousie University after the school locked out members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association on Wednesday—after threatening the move earlier this week, the university initiated the lockout at 9:30am on Aug. 20.
🤝 A tentative agreement has been reached to end the contract dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants, both the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced yesterday.
🧑🍳 Join the Perfect Pairings program, an opportunity to share your cultural food traditions and co-create a recipe. Apply today to be part of this unique culinary collaboration!*
🦈 Dive into Monsters of the Abyss, on now ‘til Sept 7! Explore prehistoric and modern aquatic predators. Don’t miss it!*
*Sponsored Post
CITY
Stretch, snuggle, and save a life: puppy yoga sessions support animal rescue
📸 Credit: Submitted
Puppy snuggles meets yoga at a special event on Aug. 30, as Halifax Puppy Yoga teams up with FlyWithMe Animal Rescue to host two charity puppy yoga sessions aimed at helping rescue puppies find their forever homes.
The event, held at Halifax Puppy Yoga’s studio in Bayers Lake, will offer two sessions—one from 5-6pm and a second from 6:30 to 7:30pm—where attendees can unwind with a gentle yoga class while surrounded by adoptable puppies.
🗞️ In Other News
⛺ HRM says people living at an encampment in Cogswell Park have until Sept. 21 to leave the site—the encampment is being de-designated because of its proximity to a new adult care facility now open at the corner of Robie Street and Quinpool Road.
🚆 The province’s opposition party is accusing the Houston government of dragging its heels on addressing traffic congestion in the HRM—the comments follow the province’s announcement that it has issued a request for standing qualification to find consultants to carry out a feasibility study on passenger and light rail.
🫐 The multi-million-dollar blueberry industry is being hit hard this year by the lack of rain—the drought conditions have been so persistent that the quality of this year’s crops has been badly affected and is not salvageable.
📮 Canada Post and the union representing postal workers are set to return to the bargaining table—plans to rekindle talks late last week were delayed due to a lack of federal government mediators.
🗓️ Things To Do
Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:
🗓 Isobel Hamilton - Barn Finds: This exhibition celebrates relics, antiques, and quiet moments, and finding beauty in forgotten items. Vignettes of nostalgic items tell their stories in each of these carefully executed oil paintings. Explore the detail and quiet beauty of these paintings. | Aug. 5-26 |
🗓 Matt Mays The Sundown Salute: This special concert is an outdoor celebration of Matt Mays shows at the iconic Shore Club on The Cove. The tour features special guests The Sheepdogs & Kathleen Edwards. | Aug 21-23 | From $109 |
🗓 Alan Syliboy - From the Archives to the Easel: Critically acclaimed Indigenous Nova Scotian artist Alan Syliboy is set to present a compelling new exhibition that bridges decades of visual storytelling and artistic exploration. The show will feature a curated selection of Syliboy’s celebrated earlier works alongside a bold new series of paintings—offering visitors a rare opportunity to experience the evolution of an iconic Mi’kmaq voice in Canadian art. | Aug. 7-29 |
🗓 Halifax Live Comedy Club presents Michael Harrison: Michael’s comedic pursuits have garnered him his own Drybar comedy special, a half hour comedy special that aired all across Canada on the Comedy Network, a comedy album called “Freak Laugh”, and an Amazon special called “Overcritical”. He has also performed at several prestigious comedy festivals including Just for Laughs in Montreal and the New York Comedy Festival. | Aug. 22 and 23 | 8pm | $20 |
Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].
⚓️ What’s In The Harbour
➡️ The Atlantic Sun container ship leaves Halifax for Liverpool at 1:30am.
➡️ The Algoma Vision bulk carrier leaves Halifax for Baltimore at 5am.
🚢➡️ The One Cygnus container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 5:45am and leaves for Singapore at 5pm.
🚢➡️ The Volendam cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 8am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.
🚢 The Algoluna oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Nanticoke, ON at 9:15am.
🚢➡️ The Norwegian Getaway cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 10:30am and leaves for Canadian seas at 7pm.
🚢➡️ The MSC Yamuna VI container ship arrives in Halifax from Mundra, India at 10:45am and leaves for New York at 11pm.
➡️ The BBC Minnesota container ship leaves Halifax for Sydney at 11:30am.
🚢 The APL Sentosa container ship arrives in Halifax from Colombo, Sri Lanka at 3:15pm.
🚢 The Pictor container ship arrives in Halifax from Portland, ME at 3:15pm.
➡️ The Zuiderdam cruise ship leaves Halifax for Canadian seas at 7pm.
🍴 Where To Eat & Drink
🍩 Don’t miss the last round of the Cold Brew Dipped Donuts this summer at Total Donut Solutions: classic donut dipped in homemade cold brew coffee icing.
🍨 Ice cream? Good. Cornbread? Good. Don’t knock the Cornbread Ice Cream at Churned until you’ve tried it: local corn and vanilla base with cornbread crumbled throughout.
👀 In Case You Missed It
🎫 One of Canada’s most electrifying new voices in theatre is set to make his Atlantic Canadian debut this month as Matchstick Theatre brings The Huns, a biting workplace comedy by Michael Ross Albert, to the intimate Craig Boardroom at Neptune Theatre. Running from Aug. 26 to Sept. 7, The Huns plunges audiences into the high-stakes world of corporate crisis management gone haywire. The Coast has more on this theatrical foray into millennial corporate chaos.
That’s it!
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