🗞️ School support staff vote in favour of strike

Hey Halifax,

If you haven’t been watching the latest season of Top Chef Canada, it’s time to start because our local Queen de Cuisine Moira Murray is absolutely sauteeing the competition so far. 

I know what you’re thinking, if only someone wrote a full profile on the prolific Halifax chef so that I could know more about her before I watch…

In the season 11 premiere, for the first time ever contestants had to START with the notoriously most difficult challenge—Restaurant Wars. The chefs were totally gagged to have to tackle it so early in the game, but our girl put together a handmade pasta with fresh ricotta and roasted mushrooms that blew the judges away. 

She was unfortunately on a team with the most 2009-coded toxically masculine French guy. He put blue cheese on his dessert and the judges were like “ummm, we’ll take our ice-cream without feet thanks,” but he didn’t get eliminated because the team won.

Then in the episode 2 Quickfire Skills Challenge, Moira separated the shit out of half a dozen eggs to advance to the final cook-off, where she made a steak tartare with confit yolk puree and crudites. The judges liked it, but she didn’t win because they said they didn’t taste enough egg. Which—it was an egg challenge—so, fine.

In the elimination challenge, she made scallops with a miso and mustard glaze with smoky ham broth as a nod to her grandma, who “made a mean ham dinner” at Christmas and who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Heartbreaking. The judges got to eat hers directly after being served fully raw chicken, so they extra loved it. Scallops were on point and the broth was bangin’—if a teeny bit sweet for one judge—and Moira was in the top 3 favourite dishes of the day and the skinny lady judge said it was a 10/10.

If you’re still reading, you must like food on screens! So why not check-out the 14th Annual Devour! The Food Film Festival. It runs through Sunday in Wolfville.

Have a delicious day!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 19°

Tomorrow: ☁️ 11°

Next Day: ☀️ 13°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

EDUCATION

School support staff vote 94% in favour of a strike

School support staff from eight Canadian Union of Public Employees locals have voted overwhelmingly in favour of job action. This means 5,000 education workers across the province could walk off the job if their union determines this is the necessary next step.

The Nova Scotia School Board Council of Unions includes the presidents of all eight CUPE locals who represent school support staff in every public school across the province. 

In a release issued yesterday, CUPE and the NSSBCU said 94% of their members voted “Yes” last week to authorize a strike mandate from their union, which shows members are “resolute in their demands, and in their solidarity.” 

CUPE is currently negotiating a new collective agreement with the province’s minister of education, Becky Druhan. 

In yesterday’s release, Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia, said "the treatment of school support staff is indicative of the state of public education in Nova Scotia—even working full-time, the province is not paying these workers enough to live. On top of that, they are overworked, understaffed and, as we know, at risk for workplace violence every single day.”

In August, CUPE and the NSSBUD issued a worker-led review of the problem of violence in schools, called Safe Staff, Safe Schools.

CUPE told The Coast Wednesday that, contrary to past rounds of bargaining where education workers have negotiated “at a common table that included not only the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development but also the provincial government when negotiating big ticket items,” this round CUPE is negotiating separately with all eight regional centres for education and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial—the French school board known as CSAP. 

“This is frustrating and delays the process,” says CUPE. If the RCEs and CSAP are not “empowered to make the hard decisions that the government normally makes the call on, we are not prepared to have our members be delayed.”

🤔 Need To Know

💸 Nova Scotia is reducing the harmonized sales tax (HST) rate by one percentage point to 14% starting April 1, 2025—premier Tim Houston says this will be the largest tax break in the province’s history.

🥾 Hike Nova Scotia’s Trail Tromp fundraiser is October 26 at the Cole Harbour Heritage Park (tickets $25 to $100). Hike, meet special guests, win prizes!*

🏪 Walmart Canada says employees will continue to be paid for shifts amid the store closure in Halifax due to a worker being found dead—but added they will “consider other alternate work arrangements” if the store stays closed longer than anticipated.

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY BEST OF HALIFAX

Speak now Halifax

Don’t miss your chance to have your say in The Coast’s Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards! Voting is now open, but it won’t be for long. You have until Nov 3 at midnight to vote or forever hold your peace.

NEWS + OPINION

Nova Scotia’s digital health network is on track for a cyber attack

The digital health network in Nova Scotia is at serious risk of cyber attacks due to a lack of efficient cybersecurity.

That point was made clear by NS Auditor General Kim Adair as she presented her report to the House of Assembly on Tuesday, undertaken to analyze the security of a system which is becoming increasingly prevalent as the provincial government seeks to use digital technologies to deliver healthcare services.

A summary of her report claims the three government organizations responsible for the security of this network—the Department of Health and Wellness, Cybersecurity and Digital Solutions, and Nova Scotia Health—are all at fault for a lack of accountability, a tolerance for accepting cybersecurity risks for sensitive health information and a failure to manage those risks accordingly.

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer has details on what the Auditor General’s report found, and draws comparisons to another province that was caught unprepared for a cyber attack.

🗞️ In Other News

🇨🇦 Prime minister Justin Trudeau was smiling as he walked out of a weekly caucus meeting where some MPs had planned to confront him about his leadership—he says the Liberal party is “strong and united.”

🩺 A Halifax doctor has stepped up to help a local woman who's been stuck in limbo when it comes to getting a kidney transplant; Geri Mendes has end-stage kidney disease and was told she couldn’t get a transplant without a family doctor.

🚨 A 33-year-old man has been charged with stunting after police say they clocked him driving 65 km/h over the posted speed limit. The fine for stunting in Nova Scotia is $2,422.50 and six points are assigned to the driver’s record.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Tyler Morrison Roasts Canada: Tyler Morrison has established himself as one of the funniest comedians in Canada, headlining comedy clubs across the country with a hilarious brand of "working-class comedy." A contributing writer for Netflix’s Emmy nominated Roast of Tom Brady, he is considered by many to be the most prolific roaster north of the border, and he’s at Halifax Live on Friday. | Oct 25 | 8pm | $25

🗓 Playdium’s Halloween Hangout: Witness mind-bending Halloween magic, embark on a thrilling scavenger hunt, snap some boo-tiful family photos, indulge in sweet Halloween treats and let your little monsters unleash their creativity at the colouring station! | Oct 26 | 1pm | Free

🗓ReJigged Festival: Back for its 15th annual celebration of Celtic music and dance, this year's lineup is not to be missed. Taking place at Andrew's United Church in Halifax, the festival features musicians and dancers who are shaping and defining the landscape of traditional dance and music. | Oct 26 | From $40

🗓Trans-Canada Highwaymen: Experience the supergroup born out of four bands that were all over Canadian rock radio in the '90s: Sloan, Odds, Barenaked Ladies and The Pursuit of Happiness. In this concert, they pay tribute to their favourite songs by covering classics from 1969 to 1975. | Oct 24 | 8pm | $44.80

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Silver Shadow cruise ship leaves Halifax for Canadian seas at 12:01am.

➡️ The MSC Surabaya III container ship leaves Halifax for Newark at 2:30am.

🛳️ The Tirranna vehicle carrier arrives in Halifax from Southampton at 5:55am.

🛳️ The Nolhan Ava cargo ship arrives in Halifax from St. Pierre at 8:15am.

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

🛳️ The MSC Sandra container ship arrives in Halifax from Montreal at 4:15pm.

🛳️ The NYK Rigel container ship arrives in Halifax from Antwerp at 7:50pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🍾 The weekend is right around the corner, so it’s time to start thinking about brunch! The Pint Public House has bottomless mimosas (yes, you read that correctly) and delicious brunch dishes like Eggs Benedict and Chicken and Waffles.

🥪 Check out the lunch feature at Brooklyn Warehouse: steak sandwich on baguette, mozzarella, peppercorn demi, sauteed mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🎓 “Do you feel a sense of belonging as a Black student at SMU? Do you feel valued?” The Black Inclusion Strategy Working Group at Saint Mary’s University asked Black students, staff and faculty these and other questions while compiling the first-ever study on the barriers faced by SMU’s Black community and their experiences of racial discrimination in their academic and working lives at SMU. The Coast’s Lauren Phillips has more on the Black Inclusion Strategy Working Group at SMU and how it revealed that racist comments are the norm on campus.

🎤 In our series of lists detailing The Coast’s Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards nominees, we have our Best New Artist / Band category—seven incredibly talented musicians or musical groups that have begun to make a name for themselves through their art. The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer goes over these seven artists to help you vote in our Best of Halifax awards.

That’s it!

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