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- 🗞 HRM council wants to sue the province
🗞 HRM council wants to sue the province
Plus, the Halifax Wanderers came up short against the league's top seed
Martin Bauman
September 13, 2023
Good morning,
Last year, my beer league hockey team’s ice times changed at the Gray Arena. No one really told us why. We all assumed the times changed because, well, what piece of municipal infrastructure isn’t falling apart these days? (Or maybe it was because the neutral zone was only three feet long?) Regardless of the reason, we all found reason to complain about the change to our routines.
One player who showed up late to our complaining party asked if we knew why the Gray was closed to hockey. Turns out the ice pad was shut down so that unhoused people could have shelter. “Kind of makes you feel like dicks for complaining, eh?” he asked, rhetorically. (It did.) As inconvenient as it was to play hockey at a different time, it is infinitely worse not to have a home. It may do well for all of us to remember my teammate’s question now that council is starting a fight with the province to maybe, just maybe, start fixing the humanitarian crisis of housing.
– Matt
🌦 Today’s weather: Mainly cloudy with 30% chance of showers and a high of 22C, feeling like 29C. Showers overnight and a low of 18C.
💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.
🚌 Driving, biking or busing in the city today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.
CITY HALL
More tents coming to Halifax parks—and the HRM is fed up with the province
📸 Matt Stickland / The Coast
The start of Tuesday’s city council meeting was spicy. Councillors came in hot. Councillors like Tim Outhit, Sam Austin and Lisa Blackburn were all visibly upset about the growing scale of human suffering that’s being caused by government inaction on housing.
Max Chauvin, the city’s director of housing and homelessness, told council that there are 30,000 households in the HRM that are spending more than they can afford on housing.
That was only the beginning of Chauvin’s update about just how badly Haligonians are being failed by all levels of our government.
And make no mistake, we have been failed—catastrophically so.
Need to know
🌀 New forecasts suggest Hurricane Lee will arrive in Halifax as a weak hurricane or strong tropical storm.
🏠 Nova Scotia’s government bought a Lunenburg motel to help house newly-recruited health-care workers amid a housing shortage.
🐟 A recent study in Nature offers a glimmer of hope for fish species’ survival of marine heatwaves.
💉 The US Food and Drug Administration has approved updated Covid-19 vaccines this week, in anticipation of a fall and winter spike in cases of the virus.
🎭The Play That Goes Wrong featuring Jonathan Torrens opens in two weeks! On stage at Neptune Theatre, September 26 - October 22. Get Tickets!*
*Sponsored Post
SPONSORED BY CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21
Help the Museum get more accessible!
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 has a new Accessibility Plan but they need your help to make sure the building and exhibitions (and things like the website) are as accessible as possible. So if you’re there and notice there are things they can improve on, let them know.
And by the way, did you know it is the only national museum east of Quebec? It’s full of cool stuff, including an interactive digital arrivals map, a timeline of immigration history, and a huge video-wall video collage of first- and second-generation Canadians who have made waves in Canada. Go learn about the history of immigration to this country!
In other news
👮♀️ Some Black Nova Scotians are sharing doubts that a new Halifax police chief will repair fraught police relations within their community.
🏥 A Sackville woman wants answers after her diabetic husband missed a meal and waited hours for another during his stay at Victoria General Hospital.
🤝 Neighbours in East Hants are rallying to help a 65-year-old with cerebral palsy who lost his home during July’s historic floods.
🚔 A 12-year-old girl will appear in Halifax court after allegedly stabbing a 15-year-old in Middle Sackville on Sunday.
🚨Mounties have arrested a 37-year-old after a man allegedly hit a 44-year-old in the head with a skateboard in Cole Harbour.
SPORTS
Late Wanderers surge not enough to match league-leading Cavalry FC
📸 Trevor MacMillan / Canadian Premier League
One of the all-time great television characters, the stick-up artist Omar from HBO’s The Wire, said it best: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the Halifax Wanderers had their shot at a league-leading Cavalry FC side fatigued from their third road match in 11 days. A win, and the Wanderers would climb up to third in the Canadian Premier League standings. Instead? Over most of the match’s 90 minutes, the Wanderers looked like the fatigued ones—and as a result, fell 2-1 at home to their Calgary visitors.
It’s not a killing blow to Halifax’s season or playoff hopes, but as The Coast’s Martin Bauman reports, it sure felt like a warning shot.
Sure things
Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:
🗓 “Dwell” exhibit opens at The Prow Gallery: NSCAD graduate and Upper Musquodoboit artist Shelley Mansel debuts her latest collection of paintings, which reflect on the comforts and tensions of home. | Sept. 14 | 5-8pm | Free.
🗓 Maritime Circus Festival: Enjoy a four-day celebration of contemporary circus, theatre and art—including an evening fire performance and an indoor variety show in St. Matthew’s United Church. | Sept. 14-17 | Times vary | Tickets vary.
🗓 Shanneygannock at Shore Club: Tell all your b’ys that the long-running Newfoundland folk band that inspired the music from Come From Away are bringing their high-energy show to Hubbards this Saturday. | Sept. 16 | 9:30pm | $35 advance, $45 at door.
🗓 Open Street Sunday: Head to Agricola Street this Sunday afternoon—weather permitting—for a day of car-free shopping, dining and outdoor festivities. | Sept. 17 | 12-4pm | Free.
Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings.
Shop talk
🗣 Popular Dartmouth diner John’s Lunch will be closing its doors for good on Oct. 31, according to Halifax ReTales.
Eat this
🍓 Bliss Caffeine Bar has a Belgian waffle served with strawberry puree, strawberry whip, strawberry powder and fresh strawberries.
🍣 Bedford sushi spot Let’s Ko has a special new “oceanic roll” with tempura shrimp, avocado and nori, topped with butterfish, salmon, snapper, tuna, deep-fried scallops and house-made sweet cheese sauce and unagi sauce.
🍽 24 Carrots Bakery just rolled out its fall lineup of pumpkin walnut muffins and pumpkin squares with maple buttercream.
That’s it!
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