🗞 Embracing fear and risk

CITY HALL REPORT

Everything you need to know about yesterday’s council meeting

Public spaces like the Convention Centre, the Scotiabank Centre and the new stadium being proposed for the Wanderers Grounds live in a weird place in this day and age. They are built and exist with public money, and yet don’t give the HRM much direct benefit in return. Most of the time, these venues are a way for private operators to make money by putting on events. Sure, it’s awesome when Sidney Crosby plays a quasi-NHL game in front of a hometown crowd. But not everyone can enjoy these sorts of benefits from this public money, making government spending on these things feel like a waste.

Especially on days like yesterday.

Read Matt Stickland’s full council recap at The Coast. 

Need to know

💉 Starting this week, Nova Scotians aged 65 and older will be able to receive the high-dose influenza vaccine for free at pharmacies and medical clinics. COVID-19 vaccines will also be available.

🌀 Post-tropical storm Philippe could make an appearance in Atlantic Canada this Thanksgiving weekend.

🗳️ Yesterday Greg Fergus, an MP from Quebec, became the first Black Speaker of the House of Commons.

🗣️ A Halifax neighbourhood is calling for a public meeting with the mayor, police chief and Dalhousie University president after last weekend’s wild HoCo/FauxCo street party…

🚨 …while two partygoers have been charged with assault.

🏙️ Here are a bunch of ways you can get involved with the city’s Regional Plan review this month.

🌘 Nocturne takes place from October 12-15. Check out all of our projects, artist talks and other festival events as part of this year's festival!*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY DEVOUR! THE FOOD FILM FESTIVAL

Devour! The Food Film Festival: French & Acadian Food. Film. Music.

If you love French, Acadian, Québecois, Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture, you don’t want to miss Devour! The Food Film Fest in Wolfville on Oct. 23-29. There are 45 films, 3 Galas, a Fais do-do and Zydeco Party with Louisiana legend Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers,16 culinary workshops and live music events with DJ Uniper, Patente and more. Acadian director Phil Comeau will open this year’s festival with his film Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart. Two Michelin-starred Chef Gabriel Kreuther (NYC), and legend of New Orleans’ Cajun cuisine Chef Megan “Meg” Bickford will join the rising stars of Acadian and Quebec cuisine to create a French feast. Devour! Weekend Getaway and tickets: devourfest.com.

On The Coast

SPONSORED BY SALTSCAPES EAST COAST EXPO

Don't miss Saltscapes East Coast Expo - Where Harvest Greets the Holidays!

Come down to the Halifax Exhibition Centre from Oct. 27 to 29 for the Saltscapes Fall East Coast Expo and sample some of the best food the East Coast has to offer. Get your tickets today and discover the recipe for your next amazing Holiday meal!

In other news

🐴 Parks Canada believes about 150 horses died on Sable Island last year—more than double the number in an average year.

📱 A new University of Ottawa study has found fast-food businesses are targeting Canadian children using data collected from apps.

🍄 Despite still being illegal in Canada, growing research shows magic mushrooms are an effective treatment for depression. CBC dives deeper. 

🏒 The Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 at Monday night’s preseason game in Halifax.

MUSIC

Halifax’s Leanne Hoffman embraces fear and risk on the expansive The Text Collector LP

Leanne Hoffman is not short on ambition. The Halifax singer-songwriter’s latest project, the dazzlingly pop-fuelled The Text Collector, is far from a conventional 15-song LP: Not only has Hoffman accompanied her album’s release with a poetry book—365 entries over the course of a single year—but the 31-year-old artist has also turned each of her songs into visual art pieces. They’re hanging on the walls of Seven Bays Cafe when she meets with The Coast on a late September afternoon. Like Hoffman’s latest album, the pieces stand out; they pop with colour against the Gottingen Street cafe’s white walls and polished wooden benches. It still catches her every time she sees them.

“I would say that I had dreams [before], but I was afraid to risk anything. I’ve always had big ideas, but never knew how to follow through on them,” Hoffman tells The Coast. “And I feel like this project is a step in that direction.”

On The Text Collector, Hoffman turns stories of love, heartbreak and nostalgia into electropop melodies that bring to mind memories of Dido (“Portuguese Tarts”) and early Taylor Swift (“Bilby Street”). She’ll premiere it in front of a live audience at the Marquee Ballroom this Thursday, Oct. 5.

Ahead of her show, Hoffman spoke with The Coast’s Martin Bauman about the album’s creation, risk-taking and finding her voice as a poet.

🤝 Now hiring

• Cafe worker at Dilly Dally Eats

• Property manager at TreePad Inc.

• Account executive at Nielson

• Full-time and part-time sales associates at Sportwheels

• Data entry clerk at Symcor

• Environment consultant at CGI

Hiring? Reply back and let us know!