🗞️ Point Pleasant Park still an option for encampments

Oh hi Halifax,

Imagine you train your whole life so that you can compete on the biggest stage of all at the Olympic Games. And after all your sacrifices and hard work, you finally get there and as you’re about to dive into the water—the moment you’ve been preparing for since you were a child—you hear a record scratch and it’s like “Plot twist! This is actually Fear Factor and in order to win, you have to swim through literal shit!”

You might get E. coli, but you also might get a gold medal: What’s your choice to be?

At least four triathletes have been reported sick in recent days following their swim in the Seine last week amid concerns about the river’s water quality. Team Belgium decided to withdraw from the mixed relay triathlon after one of its athletes—who competed in the women’s individual triathlon event last week—got ill. And Switzerland had to revise its own mixed relay lineup not once but twice due to gastrointestinal infections affecting two of its athletes.

Two more Olympic events are left to be held at the Seine—the women’s marathon swim scheduled for today and the men’s marathon swim scheduled for tomorrow.

One athlete said “while swimming under the bridge, I felt things and saw things that you shouldn't think about too much,” and my mind goes “are we talking diapers or dead bodies?” And now you can wonder about that all day too!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 23°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 25°

Next Day: 🌨️ 24°

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

Point Pleasant Park still an option for homeless encampments

Councillor Pam Lovelace proposed a motion during Tuesday’s regular council meeting to strike Point Pleasant Park from Halifax’s list of proposed homeless encampment designations.

Citing a petition and emails from concerned residents, Lovelace argued the park should be removed from the “designated locations” list due to the potential for danger such as fires, which are not permitted in the park according to the city’s rules.

“Point Pleasant Park is a site for weddings. It’s a site for special events,” Lovelace said at the Aug. 6 meeting. “There are thousands of people that go to Point Pleasant Park regularly, and it’s a forest floor that’s composed of mostly of softwood, and it’s a forest floor that has an incredible amount of combustible materials that have gathered over time from hurricanes, tropical storms, ice storms and so on and so forth.”

While she admitted that the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables hasn’t performed a wildfire risk assessment in the park, Lovelace says its frequent use by residents and the lack of regulations around encampments in the city mean it shouldn’t be used for that purpose.

Waye Mason, the mayoral candidate and councillor whose district includes the park, was the first to speak against Lovelace’s motion. He pointed out that people are living in tents in undesignated spots as it is, including Point Pleasant.

“Once again, we’re back into talking about: Are we going to manage the fact that people live in tents right now because of the national housing crisis and the failure of all levels of government to provide adequate and safe housing, or are we going to pretend that by making empty motions today, or making empty statements on the internet, will change one thing at all,” said Mason.

He went on to say that the only means the municipality has to deal with the current housing situation is whether they will manage tents or not. “If the answer’s no, there will still be tents in every one of these parks,” added Mason, calling Lovelace’s motion “word salad.”

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer has more on the decision to keep Point Pleasant Park as a proposed homeless encampment designation.

🤔 Need To Know

🏅 Nominations are now open for 2024’s edition of the Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards!

🏠 The province says new regulations on short-term rentals—including Airbnbs—will take effect on Sept. 30, with a goal of boosting the availability of long-term options.

SPONSORED BY GARRISON BREWING CO.

Garrison & Great Outdoors Comedy Fest

Lots of laughs headed your way! This weekend, grab a Garrison at Halifax's biggest comedy festival of the year 🍻 August 9-11, Tom Segura, Theo Von, Nate Bargatze and many more will hit the stage at Garrison Grounds for a weekend unlike any other!

Garrison will be on site with old favourites & fresh flavours - including their all new Hard Coast Vodka Sodas! Be sure to stop by their tent before the show starts for a sample and some swag 😎

Last chance for tickets available here! 🌲

See you on the hill!

CITY

Would you make a good French school board member, councillor or mayor?

The elections are coming to town this October, and there’s still time to run for a seat on the Halifax Regional Council or the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial Council. The CSAP is the French-language school board—the only school board in the province—and its board members are elected every four years at the same time as municipal elections. 

Mayor Mike Savage isn’t running again, so the October 19 election day guarantees a big shakeup in the mayor’s office, but there are also significant changes coming for the CSAP. Currently there are 18 board members governing the 10 school districts, or regional centres for education, across the province. The CSAP is governed by the provincial Education (CSAP) Act. In May, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board approved a motion raised by the CSAP to reduce the seats on their board from 18 to 13. This means there are 13 CSAP school board seats available to run for—and vote on for those eligible—in the election. 

The nomination period for all seats runs from Aug. 29 to Sep. 10. Ahead of this, the city is hosting two information sessions for those interested in or curious about running. These will be run by the returning officer for the Halifax Regional Municipality, Iain MacLean, with staff from the Elections Office. MacLean is responsible for candidate registration and the candidate nomination process, along with Election Office staff, as authorized under the Municipal Elections Act.

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips has more on the upcoming information sessions to help you decide if you’re the right person for the job(s).

🗞️ In Other News

💙 The board of the Africville Genealogy Society is seeking partners within the African Nova Scotian community and other groups to form a committee to look at safety in Africville Park after five people were shot during the community's 41st annual reunion.

⚖️ An indigenous family from Kentville has filed a lawsuit against the Nova Scotia Health Authority for racism and discrimination after what they’re calling their daughter’s preventable death in August 2023.

⚽ Three players from Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team say they “still don’t understand” why their coaches engaged in drone spying in Paris when it was made clear to the team that doing so was illegal.

SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN HALIFAX BUSINESS COMMISSION

It's August in Downtown Halifax!

The sun is shining and the sky is blue - what better time to get out and explore all the fun happening in Downtown Halifax.

From markets to sporting events, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Check out all the fun things happening this month here.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Shakespeare By The Sea presents Twelfth Night: Shakespeare’s most complete comedy returns to Point Pleasant Park this summer in a high-energy production full of laughs, sighs and music. Inspired by Vaudeville Theatres of the early 20th century, eight actors take on some of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters in this fast-paced, hilarious version of the classic. | July 18-Aug 30 | From $10

🗓 Jeremy Vaughan—New Paintings: Through this collection of paintings at Teichert Gallery, Vaughan explores his connection to nature and the local settings where he has built lasting relationships. Spending time with nature, and exploring with a sense of love and wonder allow these relationships to deepen and details in the space to open up. Vaughan offers an insight into the deep and personal connection with nature. | Aug 8-22  

🗓 The Sadies Tour: Without doubt or qualification, The Sadies are one of this continent’s greatest extant rock ’n’ roll bands—just as they have been for the last quarter century. Versatile and imaginative, they skip from astral psychedelia to shuffling bucolics, and leap from puckish pop to righteous garage-rock without losing momentum or mastery. | Aug 8 | 8:00pm | $34.20

🗓 Halifax Seaport Beerfest and Fizzfest: It’s time to get fizzy with it! Enjoy refreshing hard seltzers, pre-mixed cocktails and sodas to go along with the extensive assortment of delicious craft beers and cider. Grab your 5oz. mug and taste away in search of your new summer favourite. | Aug 8-10 | $49.17

🗓 The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival: The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival welcomes Nate Bargatze to the Garrison Grounds, along with Gerry Dee and Derrick Stroup. | Aug 9 | 6:30pm | $89.50 

🗓 Etuaptmumk (Two Eyed Seeing) - A talk by Elder Dr. Albert Marshall: A trail-blazing educator, Elder Marshall has been an important voice in environmental protection and the continuance of Traditional Knowledge Systems and languages. In his presentation, Elder Dr. Marshall will discuss why and how we should approach topics through the lens of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), a guiding principle in recognizing the importance of all knowledge traditions, especially traditional Indigenous Knowledges.  | Aug 9 | 7:00pm | Register online

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🛳️➡️ The Vivienne Sherri D. container ship arrives in Halifax from Portland at 12:15am and leaves for Argentia at 3:00pm.

🛳️➡️ The Contship Art container ship arrives in Halifax from New York at 6:20am and leaves for Kingston at 10:00pm.

➡️ The Palmgracht cargo ship leaves Halifax for Davisville at 10:30am.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🇫🇷 Treat yourself to something fancy with the Tartar at Agricola Street Brasserie: Atlantic beef, egg yolk, whipped bone marrow truffle purée, cornichons and grilled sourdough bread.

🍌 Start the day off sweet at Peppercorn’s with the mouthwatering Banana Caramel French Toast: cinnamon challah french toast, topped with warm bananas, drenched in rich caramel sauce, sprinkled with crunchy pecans and topped with a pat of peanut butter.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🍷 On Tuesday, bartenders, servers and certain festival staff serving alcohol across the province were given a deadline of Dec. 1 to complete the Serve Right Responsible Beverage Program, offered by the Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council. The Serve Right program costs $69-$85 to complete online. It can also be made available in person, Service Nova Scotia minister Colton LeBlanc tells The Coast, through either restaurants and bars coordinating this for their staff or mandating that their employees request and complete it outside of work. Lauren Phillips has more about the new mandate and how it will be enforced.

🏳️‍🌈 The Halifax Pride Society has been announced as the hosts of Canada Pride for 2027. Every few years, a pride organization from across the country is chosen to host Canada Pride, awarded by Fierté Canada Pride. The announcement came during the recent Canada Pride event in Vancouver, which took place from Aug. 1-3.

🌬️ All eyes are on Debby in the Maritimes as the tropical storm—which has already caused catastrophic flooding and loss of life in Florida when it hit land as Category 1 hurricane—moves into the region with potential impacts by this weekend.

That’s it!

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