🗞️ Lessons from Tantallon fire

Good morning Halifax,

At one of my former workplaces, they had these (kinda) joke awards that they gave out to employees at the company Christmas party. You know what I’m talking about—things like the “Punctuality Award” for the person who is chronically late for meetings—har har har. Well, one year I was awarded “Least Congeniality” and the image that accompanied the “award” in the ceremony slide show was of Gollum with my face superimposed over his, smoking a cigarette. 

Needless to say, being a good sport and/or fair play is not an integral part of my DNA, but I always admire people who exhibit that kind of grace. 

The Fair Play Award at the 2024 Olympics celebrates remarkable displays of sportsmanship and sporting spirit during the event. It’s a HUGE deal and Halifax’s own Ellie Black is one of only five athlete in the running for the honour. 

A four-time Olympian, this queen has always been known for being a generous competitor—supporting all gymnasts, regardless of team affiliation—throughout her career. She showed it this summer by consoling members of the French team after their disappointing performance in front of the home crowd. Here’s a clip:

Obviously she deserves the Fair Play Award, but she needs YOU to help her win, so please take a second to vote for her HERE. You can vote daily.

After all she has done to make us proud, we can definitely come together and do this little thing for her. 🤸

Have a great day!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌦️ 25°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 26°

Next Day: 🌤️ 25°

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.

NEWS + OPINION

Lessons of the Tantallon wildfire one year later

Fires need four things to exist, and last year on May 28, Halifax was a tinderbox waiting to explode. 

When the temperature gets high and the humidity gets low, it’s easier for fires to stay burning. This condition—known as crossover—is occurring more frequently as the earth’s climate changes. When there hasn’t been a lot of rain or snow over the winter, plant life becomes a ready supply of tinder. When the province neglects forest management after hurricanes rip through, those downed trees become fuel. Three of the four things—heat, fuel and oxygen—were in abundance; all that was left was what’s called a sustained chain reaction.                            

When it comes to forest fires, humans are responsible for starting most of these chain reactions, a whopping 81% of wildfires. It’s little things like flicking cigarette buts or sparks from an ATV, but it’s also the big things, like someone burning in their yard on Juneberry Lane, as filmed by a roofer and reported on CTV.

The Coast’s Stickland breaks down what happened last year and delves into what Halifax’s fire department can teach the city about the risks of living in the exurbs.

🤔 Need To Know

🚆 The federal labour board has ordered thousands of rail employees back to work after a bitter contract dispute shut down the country’s two major railways.

🌟 Calling all art lovers! Volunteer with Nocturne taking place from Oct 17-20. Help create magic under the stars! Sign up now!*

📰 The final edition of The Telegram daily newspaper—a SaltWire publication—hit the stands  in St. John’s on Saturday, marking the end of a 145-year run.

🎭 Catch the final week of shows at Shakespeare by the Sea! Watch their productions of Alice in Wonderland The Musical or Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Get seats HERE!*

🪲The population of Japanese beetles—an invasive species—is growing and that's contributing to the death of plants and fruit crops in parts of the province.

🌊 Don’t miss your last chance to experience Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend at the Museum of Natural History. This beautiful exhibit closes on September 2, 2024.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21

Was slavery common across Canada?

All the colonies that joined together to form Canada in 1867 had a history of slavery: Upper Canada (ON), Lower Canada (QC), NB and NS, as well as PEI and NFLD, who joined Canada later. Explore A History Exposed, a new myth-busting exhibition that reveals a history many Canadians don’t know about.

EDUCATION

Pay-what-you-can school lunch program starts feeding kids in October

A long-awaited provincial lunch program for school students is nearly here. At a media announcement last Friday Aug. 23, Nova Scotia’s minister of education and early childhood development called the pay-what-you-can program “historic.”              

“This is about, day-to-day, ensuring our students are healthy, focused on learning, with full bellies, ready to tackle the day,” said education minister Becky Druhan. “It's about making life easier for families as well [because] we know that families have a lot on their plate—excuse the pun.” 

Announced as part of the provincial budget in March, the new school lunch program will begin with Phase 1—elementary schools—this October, serving lunches to nearly 75,000 students at 255 schools across Nova Scotia. Druhan said that for schools that extend beyond elementary grades, for example, those that run up to Grade 8, “all students in the school will be part of Phase 1 of the program.” The lunch program will run in addition to the free breakfast and snack programs already available across public schools.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development—the EECD—launched a new website at NSLunch.ca for the program on Friday, previewing some of the meals offered to students and families when it starts. Some meal examples that will be part of the 40 menu items are now on the site, with photos.

The Coast’s education reporter Lauren Phillips has more details on the lunch program that is aiming to be feeding kids on Oct. 1.

🗞️ In Other News

📦 The economic fallout of the country’s rail shutdown is set to come into focus this week, as shippers and producers take stock of delays and losses.

🌧️ Residents living on a floodplain in the Halifax area want more immediate action from government while the municipality updates its land development regulations.

🏠 The federal housing minister is expected to unveil details on a Liberal promise to lease federal land to developers to build affordable housing—just before the full federal cabinet kicks off a three-day retreat in Halifax. 

🎥 Grammy-nominated Nova Scotian music video creator Andy Hines is making his feature film directorial debut, which he hopes could be the first of several music videos adapted into big-screen stories.

⚖️ A 77-year-old Cole Harbour man is being released from jail while he awaits trial on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his wife.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 It Don't Mean a Thing—A Roaring ‘20s Musical Dinner Theatre: Calling all dames, dolls and gangsters! It’s the Roaring ‘20s and everyone is on edge. Lucky Knuckles, the greatest crime boss Halifax has never seen, is going to make an appearance at The Kit Kat Club and word is he’s none too happy. Come hear some of your favourite modern hits performed in the swinging style of Gatsby’s Golden Era and Charleston your way through Prohibition! | Aug 9-Oct 19 | $65.55

🗓 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival: This annual Atlantic performing arts festival spans 11 days with over 60 productions, performing more than 300 individual performances, at over 14 venues! | Aug 28-Sept 8 | From $29

🗓 Denise Cormier Mahoney and Mary Jane Lundy—Whimsical CoExistence: Artists Denise Cormier Mahoney (mixed media) and Mary Jane Lundy (ceramics) present Whimsical CoExistence at Teichert Gallery. Utilizing vibrant colours, intricate textures and playful imagery, this fun exhibition immerses the audience in the captivating narrative of nature's symphony. The show opens Thursday with a party that features the artists and light refreshments. | Aug 29 | 5:30pm

🗓 Wintersleep—Live at the Shore Club: See Wintersleep perform tracks from their new release—In the Land Of—which encourages thought and introspection. The record’s title is an incomplete thought, a blank that is filled in across the record with different places, words and sounds. | Aug 30 | 9:30pm | $40

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Seaborne Quest cruise ship arrives in Halifax from Canadian seas at 7:30am.

➡️ The CSL Tacomo bulk carrier leaves Halifax for Wilmington at 4pm.

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Sail container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Zuiderdam cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 6pm.

🛳️➡️ The Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 7:30am and leaves for Canadian seas at 6pm.

➡️ The Eagle II container ship leaves Halifax for Villagarcia at 10pm.

🛳️ The Happy Dynamic cargo ship arrives in Halifax from Gaspe at 11:15pm.

🛳️➡️ The One Stork container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 10:45am and leaves for Singapore at 11:45pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🐟 Halifax’s newest seafood restaurant—Water Polo—is open and ready to take your reservation. Highlighting locally and globally sourced seafood, the new restaurant from the Bertossi Group celebrates the bounty from the seven seas, with an elegant yet approachable take on classic seafood dishes.

🍠 The signature Ube Buns have made it onto the new menu at Studio East with the General Tao Ube Burger: fried karaage chicken with bam bam sauce, garlic aioli, cucumbers, house pickles, napa slaw, fried onions and green onions.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🎤 Nostalgia has played a key role in Rich Aucoin’s career, but as the New Nostalgia moniker of his latest song and tour connotes, he’s ready to wrap up the wild spectacle of symphonic pop and multi-sensory effects—including the unraveling of a giant parachute over the audience—that have become his staple, and look forward to a new chapter. The Coast’s Julie Lawrence and Rich Aucoin catch up and talk about making a career out of music, finding inspiration, why it’s time to pack away the parachute and what’s next for him.

🚧 Months after Transportation Canada said it would rescind its approval of a pyrite infilling project in Dartmouth Cove, Atlantic Road Construction and Paving Ltd. installed barriers blocking the nearby trails on Wednesday—a threat that ARCP will start work despite a lack of approval. This is not the first time a private entity in Nova Scotia has bullied local governments and the public in an attempt to get what they want. The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer speculates on why ARCP decided to place barriers down on the Dartmouth Cove trail when it won’t get them any closer to being able to start their infilling project.

⚖️ A woman who sought a surgical procedure to prevent pregnancy testified in court that a Cape Breton gynecologist told her the choice should be up to her future husband and that "no other doctor in Canada" would perform it on her.

🚨 The new chief for the Halifax Regional Police expects charges to be laid in connection to a high-profile attack on a same-sex couple in the city’s downtown core earlier this summer.

That’s it!

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