🗞 Busy days on the harbour

Love what you read at The Coast? Help support local journalism and join our newest members, Jocelyn & Peter, and become a Coast Insider. Our exclusive membership unlocks access to more daily content and our all-new weekly City Hall newsletter where Matt Stickland gives you the full council rundown.

HARBOUR HAPPENINGS

Halifax is having its busiest cruise ship week of the 2023 season

As many as 35,000 cruise ship passengers could filter through Halifax this week—and no two days were busier than Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 26 and 27, when four ships brought in an estimated 12,500 passengers.

Then on Sunday, Oct. 1, five cruise ships are scheduled to arrive, which will set the record for the most of any day this cruise season. Among them are the giant Norwegian Pearl and The World, a sort of floating condo that describes itself as the “largest private residential yacht on Earth.” But the biggest cruiser of the day is none other than the Queen Mary 2, one of Cunard’s massive ocean liners.

Get all the details of what’s coming and going in Coast reporter Martin Bauman’s harbour traffic report.

Need to know

🏠 The province has announced an $83 million project that will create 222 new public housing units.

📡 The next step in wildfire prevention could come in the form of satellites that will have the ability to track wildfires across the country and provide updates every half hour. The $169 million project is a partnership between the Canadian Space Agency, Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

✈️ Autism Aviators, a Nova Scotia program aimed at creating accessible flying experiences for those with autism, is starting up again after being grounded during the pandemic.

📖 Find your new favourite book at AfterWords, Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, with Nicholas Herring, Mona Awad, William Ping, Amanda Peters, Charlene Carr and more.*

🎬 Love French + Acadian Food? So Do Oui! Devour! The Food Film Fest (Oct. 23-29) is back. Book your Devour! Weekend Getaway and get your tickets.*

*Sponsored Post

On The Coast

SPONSORED BY NOCTURNE HALIFAX

Volunteer with Nocturne!

October 12-15, 2023: From 6pm to midnight, experience Nocturne: Art at Night! Join us for a free fall festival in Halifax, as its streets burst with creativity and energy. Be the driving force—volunteer now and help shape the magic! Register today!

In other news

🧠 Dalhousie researchers have discovered that polypropylene tape can be used within electronic devices to help prolong battery life.

⛴️ Dartmouth-based Coast Guard ship the CCGS G. Peddle didn’t return to the water yesterday as expected due to delays in getting parts.

🧑‍⚕️ New homeless shelter “The Bridge”—located in an old Dartmouth hotel—is facing a healthcare worker shortage and doesn’t have the resources to fill the entire facility.

🗣️ CBC speaks with One North End executive director Rodney Small about how people feel the gentrification of the neighbourhood is pushing them out.

♠️ A group of Chester, Nova Scotia seniors attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cribbage session ever. Find out if they were successful here.

🎶 Nova Scotia Music Week has announced its official schedule. The festival will run from Nov. 2 to 5.

SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN HALIFAX

Fall in Downtown Halifax

Crisp air, cozy sweaters, warm drinks. There's just something about fall in Downtown Halifax.

In fact, the cooler weather makes it the best time to get out and explore our city.

To help you get started, we've compiled some great ideas of things to do this fall. Visit downtownhalifax.ca/fall to get started on your Downtown adventures!

COUNCIL ROUNDUP

Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Sept. 26 meeting

There are now 21 tents in Grand Parade; this is an increase of four tents from the last council meeting.

Speaking of the housing crisis, it dominated most of Tuesday’s council meeting since the federal Liberals, finally, decided to start using their power. What this looks like for the HRM is an increased amount of money for the Rapid Housing Initiative. All the city has to do to get access to this money is change zoning in the HRM in ways that are in line with all of councillors’ stated goals: Ending the housing crisis, fighting climate change, building complete walkable communities, etc.

So as you can expect, HRM city councillors tried really hard not to take that money, with councillors Paul Russell and Pam Lovelace having absolutely brutal meeting performances. Ultimately council decided that they should change zoning to take the federal money, but before doing so made some very, very short-sighted arguments against doing so.

Here’s everything that went down Tuesday.