Halifax’s District 8 did not have a good 20th century. The district, which covers most of Halifax’s north end, is now home to some of Halifax Regional Municipality’s coolest locations, like Agricola Street and the Hyrdostone District, and part of the currently under-construction Cogswell District. But in order for Halifax to be able to build these cool districts, things had to blow up.
The Hydrostone would not exist today if the sailors of 1917 were better ship drivers. Due to some congestion in the Narrows the Imo, bound for New York, was forced to use inbound shipping lanes to exit the harbour. The Mont Blanc, chock full of ammunition, was entering Halifax in the appropriate lane. The two collided, and the Mont Blanc burned for 20 minutes, giving off thick black smoke and attracting spectators to the shore before it exploded. The Halifax Explosion pummeled much of the city, levelling the Richmond neighbourhood. During rebuilding, the city laid out a community of houses made with concrete hydro stones, paving the way for Richmond to take on a new identity.
Not all of the 20th century destruction in Halifax’s north end had rising-from-the-ashes rebirths like the Hydrostone. Back in the early 1900s there was a New Yorker who had a vision for the future of New York. This vision was to provide wealthy neighbourhoods quick and convenient car access to public parks, and put those parkways through the parts of town that were, you guessed it, poor communities of non-white or non-Christian residents. Not content to the let New York have all the fun implementing systemic racism, the city of Halifax tapped Gordon Stephenson to do some “urban renewal” here. Stephenson told the city that Halifax could be improved if it removed “blighted” communities or “slums” and replaced those communities with a highway straight to downtown. This would help wealthier whiter residents in their cars while removing some poorer communities. It was a win-win for everyone but the people who lived in the path of the highway, who just so happened to be, you guessed it, mostly African Nova Scotian.
Speaking of systemic racism thrust upon African Nova Scotians, District 8 is also home to Africville. Even though people had been living in Africville since the 1800s, the city never provided municipal services like garbage collection or water to the community. And just in case you’re wondering why municipal elections are important, instead of voting to provide municipal services to Africville, the council of the day voted to condemn it, demolish it and build up some industry. Adding insult to injury, there are reports of the city using garbage trucks to help people move out of their homes, and yet more insult, Africville hasn’t really been developed, so the forced evictions probably weren’t necessary.
Heaped on top of the challenges facing the city as a whole, the councillor in District 8 also has to navigate the legacy of systemic racism. To determine which council candidates are equipped to face the complexity of the District 8 job, The Coast sent out a substantial questionnaire to see what each candidate knows about the issues facing the city ahead of the municipal election on Oct. 19. The Coast followed up with more detailed questions to test each candidate's policy chops.
The good and bad news for residents of this district is that there are are a lot of strong candidates vying for your vote, so without further ado, let’s get into it.
Anika Riopel
The person who submitted the best response to The Coast’s candidate questionnaire is District 8 candidate Anika Riopel. Her answers were as strong as one would expect from a candidate who’s been involved with local advocacy for the better part of seven years through groups like the Ecology Action Centre. In her 15-page response, Riopel demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the issues facing the city, and what the city needs to do to overcome these challenges. Riopel was also very close to catching the trick question in the questionnaire which has so far only been caught by a candidate in District 5.
Riopel thinks the city’s plans, like the Regional Plan Review, are good ways to fix the issues facing the city, but they lack a bit in powers of implementation. She thinks the regional plan could be strengthened by “prioritizing zoning and investment in transit-oriented hubs and corridors, implement BRT and the all ages and abilities (AAA) bikeway network, to truly build transit-oriented complete communities. This is the only way to address the demands of rapid population growth and escalating needs.”
Riopel also went through city policies with a fine tooth comb, getting down to the level of detail of suggesting specific clause changes to the Housing Accelerator Fund bylaws. Right now the city “shall consider” the safety of pedestrians and bike riders while planning, instead of a stronger clause like “the HRM shall plan for pedestrian and bike rider safety.”
In a follow-up interview with The Coast, Riopel went into the weeds on some of her policy proposals. One of the more unique policy suggestions Riopel had was the creation of a community space zone. In this hypothetical, places like art galleries or theatres could be zoned as community spaces. Which would mean if a place like Bus Stop Theatre became a casualty of capitalism, that space could be preserved as a community space in future development. This first draft of a policy idea would change a lot were it ever brought to council, but Riopel’s ability to think creatively inside the box of municipal powers is impressive.
Anika Riopel’s website can be found here: anikariopelhrm.ca
Virginia Hinch
Virginia Hinch is another District 8 candidate with very strong answers to The Coast’s questionnaire. Hinch correctly identified most of the issues facing the city, and demonstrates an excellent understanding of the political problem that prevent Halifax from enacting the bold change often promised by its strategic plans. In her response to the questionnaire she wrote: “It’s impossible to be all things to all people and often council—not unlike other governments—will try to action too many, sometimes seemingly contradictory, things.”
Hinch also has a very good understanding of one of the main political problems in the HRM, which is the lack of trust people have in the municipal government, an issue particularly pronounced in District 8 for reasons highlighted in the intro. In a follow-up interview with The Coast, she explained that when the city is doing planning exercises local communities need to be given agency, so communities buy into how the city evolves into the future.
The municipality has faced a lot of very valid criticism for the way it has historically done public participation. The city has made small steps, like allowing public participation at all committee meetings, but there is also a larger public engagement strategy being worked on by the municipality. On top of being a strong all-around candidate, Hinch’s voice would be a welcome addition to the public engagement policy refresh. Because as the city tries to give people agency, the city will need to do a lot of work to build trust that the city is truly interested in giving agency to people whom the city previously called a blight.
To that end, Hinch thinks if projects like the New Roots Community Land Trust are properly supported by the city, it would go a long way to start building some of that lost trust.
Virginia Hinch’s website can be found here: virginiahinch.ca
Evyeneia Dexter
In her answers to the questionnaire, Evyeneia Dexter also demonstrated a strong understanding of the issues facing the municipality and what the HRM’s current strategic plans are trying to do to fix the city. In her response to why the city is perpetually in a budget crunch she wrote: “To make Halifax the city we all want to live in requires more money than we bring in and we have to make tough decisions on where to spend it, as municipal tax rates are already amongst the highest in the country.” And in a follow-up interview, she rounded out this answer by identifying the cost of Halifax’s current infrastructure and lack of cost recovery as additional factors putting pressure on the budget.
Dexter wants to see the city have policies that are aimed at better sustainability. She points to her experience as a hairdresser, which produces a lot of garbage that is normally recyclable. Foil used for dying hair is normally recyclable, but that gets complicated if there’s hair dye on it. Her salon paid a private company to take the garbage and recycle it. As waste collection is a municipal responsibility, the city has started looking at specialized garbage policies, and is currently exploring some form of extended producer responsibility. In the policy world there are incentives and punishments to try and change behaviour, and extended producer responsibility is more on the punishment end of the policy spectrum. For her part, Dexter would want to see if there was any way the city could provide some incentives, like partnering with specialized recycling companies that can expand the amount of garbage diverted from landfills and make our economy a little more sustainable.
Evenyeia Dexter’s website can be found here: evyeneiadexter.ca
Stephen MacKay
The bike mayor of Halifax, Stephen MacKay is also a candidate in District 8. MacKay had strong answers to The Coast’s questionnaire, and as a long-time road-safety advocate was particularly strong in the transportation policy section.
For MacKay, one of his priorities would be to prioritize the planned bike infrastructure spending in the municipal budget to expedite getting more biking infrastructure built. And while it’s unlikely that MacKay would be able to get Halifax’s road-safety spending priorities changed single handedly, he has shown an ability to organize to enact the change he wants to see in the city. For those unfamiliar with MacKay’s past activism, his neighbourhood used to have a lot of crashes. He and other local residents asked the city for stops signs or traffic calming or something to help, but nothing was coming. Tired of municipal inaction, MacKay organized his community to put green bins in the streets as impromptu traffic calming. Like magic, the city installed stop signs at the dangerous intersection within a week.
Stephen MacKay’s website can be found here: stephenmackay.ca
David Fright
District 8 candidate David Fright had a relatively strong showing in ourquestionnaire. His answers on the suburbs were a bit weaker than one might hope, considering re-imaging the suburbs is going to heavily featured in the next council term. But that’s not really a deal breaker for a candidate vying to represent Halifax’s north end. In a follow-up interview with The Coast, Fright explained that he lives by Agricola Street and since almost everything he needs is close by, he doesn’t make too many trips to the suburbs. But he was able to explain that suburban infrastructure is quite expensive, and was able to reason out that the low density of suburbs combined with the property tax cap are combining to limit municipal revenues from property taxes.
Fright is a rookie showing promise, and with his background in economics and energy he’s very well versed in solving the economic cost of waste when it comes to lost heat. It’s likely that should Fright be successful in this election, he would be able to translate that skillset into solving the economic cost of waste when it comes to municipal development patterns.
David Fright’s website can be found here: davidfrightfornorthendhalifax.ca
Jon Frost
District 8 candidate Jon Frost had a moderate understanding of the issues facing the city and what Halifax’s strategic plans are trying to fix, but his answers were a little light on detail. For example, in answer to why the city is perpetually in a budget crunch his answer was “we have not addressed Property Tax system, and neglected to raise tax when needed.”
Jon Frost’s website can be found here: frost4district8.com
Trayvone Clayton
Trayvone Clayton's website can be found here: trayvoneclayton.ca
Analysis
Residents of District 8 can feel fortunate that they are spoiled for choice. Most of the candidates in this district are quite strong and would represent the district well in the upcoming term.
As with any area that has a lot of candidates and no incumbent, this race is likely to come down to the ground game and who can best identify supporters and get them out to the polls. Were elections technocratic affairs with a heavy focus on policy, it’s likely Hinch, Riopel or Dexter would take this race. But a campaign’s ability to get out their vote is a real wild card. When Lindell Smith first won this district in 2016 he did so with 3,418 votes, which was a whopping 51% of the vote and far ahead of second place Patrick Murphy who got 16.8% or 1,115 of the votes.
