🗞️ MSVU faculty go on strike

Good morning!

If you’re reading this, I’d say it’s safe to assume that you care about local news. And maybe you don’t care for every story that you read—from us, or other outlets—but you want to keep abreast of what’s happening in your community. News can be a window—or a doorway—like that: To belong in a place, it helps to know what’s going on. We do our part in that, and you trust us to deliver.

Last week was a blow to our industry. Layoffs at Bell Media ended local noon broadcasts at CTV stations across the country—including CTV Atlantic—and shut down weekend evening newscasts in Atlantic Canada, as well. You would be hard-pressed to find a newsroom in Canada that hasn’t weathered layoffs. Even numerous ones.

Every news outlet takes a different approach to finding a sustainable model. We sell ads, but we also count on you to support our work, if you have the means to do so. And many of you willingly do—as evidenced by our growing Insider membership. For your trust and support, we thank you. And we also believe we’re offering a good deal—by granting Insider-only access to our most robust city hall coverage, along with weekend event guides and local perks. (If you haven’t joined already, check it out.)

And even as we feel for our industry colleagues in newsrooms across the country, we’re working to keep you connected to your community.

– Martin

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌨️ 0°

Tomorrow: ☁️ -5°

Next Day: 🌨️ -3°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

EDUCATION

MSVU faculty on strike after weekend-long bargaining fails to reach agreement

One-hundred and sixty full-time faculty members, librarians and lab technicians at Mount Saint Vincent University are on strike today. The MSVU Faculty Association say they’ve been trying to reach a new agreement with the school’s administration since last May. The previous two-year agreement ended July 1, 2023.

And while MSVU’s vice-president of administration, Isabelle Nault, tells The Coast that negotiations take time—and the university “will remain at the table” until an agreement is reached—the faculty association tells us they’ve faced “ignoring, obfuscating, stonewalling… [and] not a lot of goodwill.”

Coast education reporter Lauren Phillips has all the latest from the frontlines of the labour dispute—including what it means for students, faculty and administrators.

🤔 Need to know

❄️ Halifax could see another 15-30 cm of snowfall before noon Wednesday—Environment Canada has issued a winter storm watch for the HRM and most of Nova Scotia, warning of wind gusts up to 70km/h.

🏛️ Support4Culture is a proud supporter of the Black Loyalist Heritage Center and other NS museums. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.*

🪐 Calling all Space Geeks: Catch Woman in Motion - a film about how Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the OG Star Trek series), revolutionized NASA’s space program.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY LIVE ART DANCE

Live Art Dance presents surFace Dance

Live Art Dance presents the Moncton-based choreographer Jalianne Li, and her company surFace Dance. Founded in 2013 Jalianne Li’s work has been presented in the Netherlands, England, and across the Maritimes.

100x1x2 is a solo dance performance that revolves around two series of 100 one-minute site-specific improvised dance videos (100 videos x 1 minute x 2 series = 100x1x2). Dancer Jalianne Li filmed these videos as she traveled around Canada and the United States in 2018 and while she was confined to her house and yard during lockdown in 2020. 100x1x2 asks the question: how can we overcome what life throws at us?

On stage, February 23rd & 24th, get tickets here!

CITY HALL

Halifax city council starts the process of police reform

Halifax’s budget process will look different for police this year—and if done right, set the table for police reform. For that, you can thank a motion from councillor Waye Mason.

At last week’s Budget Committee meeting, Mason argued that since public safety is more than just policing, and since the city made a commitment to public safety that it never funded, new police spending and new public safety spending should be considered at the same time as part of the same budget.

Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland has more on the budget debates, plus how Mason’s motion takes certain powers away from the Board of Police Commissioners—and why that might be a good thing.

And don’t miss the latest Grand Parade podcast episode, which gets right to the heart of what’s happening.

🗞️ In Other News

📝 A decade since the Ivany report warned Nova Scotia was “on the brink of an extended period of decline,” some of the people involved in its creation say the province hasn’t met all of the goals it set out to lift Nova Scotia’s economy.

💰 Some Haligonians have joined a Canada-wide rally calling out major grocery stores for record profits amid an affordability crisis—an issue we’ve been raising alarms about for years.

🍎 Nova Scotia’s plan to lower the entry barrier to teacher training programs is being met with mixed responses by some educators.

🚨 A 20-year-old Halifax man faces charges after an Economy Shoe Shop worker was allegedly assaulted last Saturday night.

🔎 Canada’s auditor general says she’s “deeply concerned” after probing into the procurement and development of the $59.5M ArriveCan app—but can’t say how much Canadians overpaid because of the Canada Border Services Agency’s “poor financial record keeping.”

🅿️ Could the amount of land allotted to parking be part of Canada’s housing affordability problem? At least one recent report suggests as much.

🐟 Swordfish are turning up in Atlantic Canadian waters—is a warming ocean at play?

🤔 Trivia Tuesday

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Sam Wilson at Smokehouse Brewery: The award-winning Halifax guitarist plays a Valentine’s solo set this Wednesday, with food and flight boards included in the ticket price | Feb. 14 | 7-9pm | $80 per couple

🗓 Better Times Comedy: Good Robot’s weekly stand-up comedy night brings up-and-comers together with established acts—and there’s a Taz Records raffle, to boot | Feb. 15 | 7-10pm | No cover

🗓 Rankin’s Winter Warmers: This Saturday, Rankin MacInnis hands the mic over to Floatchella organizer Dave Archibald for a special set with artists Christina Martin, Taneidra, Alfie and more | Feb. 17 | 6pm | $16.58

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings

👀 In Case You Missed It

❄️ A week after heavy snowfall buried parts of Cape Breton, the CBRM’s state of emergency has ended.

🫢 Meanwhile, after Tim Houston’s “just a kind of PR issue” comments landed him in hot water last week, The Coast took a look at some of the premier’s most memorable verbal blunders.

🧑‍🚀 A MSVU professor’s research on space travel and its effects could have implications for how we treat bone disorders, CBC News reports. 

🎸 From pizza parlours to boxing clubs, some Nova Scotia bands are getting creative with finding venues that will allow them to play.

That’s it!

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