Premier blasts Halifax council, cites 'serious disconnect' from citizens
Tim Houston indicates province is examining whether to give mayor more power
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has issued a scathing appraisal of Halifax regional council, saying there's a "serious disconnect" between the decisions being made and the desires of citizens, and indicating the province is examining whether to give the mayor more power.
The premier on Thursday focused on traffic congestion in the municipality, particularly a decision this week by council to move ahead with a bike lane project on a downtown street that would eliminate a vehicle lane and make the stretch one-way.
"If you talk to people on the street and said, 'Do you think this is a good time to slow traffic down? Should we do something to create more traffic problems in the city?' I don't think that's what they're looking for, but that's what they're getting right now," Houston told reporters.
His comments come as Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore this week said that stronger mayoral powers could help him tackle issues he was elected to fix, and voiced concerns about what he viewed as the amount of power in the hands of "an unelected" chief administrative officer.
In Nova Scotia, mayors have just a single vote around the council table. But in Ontario, for instance, they can make decisions without the majority of council, hire and fire senior officials, and table their city's budget.
Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr told reporters on Thursday he first broached the topic of strong-mayor powers with former Halifax mayor Mike Savage in 2021, but he said Savage turned down the idea.
Lohr indicated a willingness to discuss the idea more broadly with representatives from the Federation of Nova Scotia Municipalities.
HRM Coun. Sam Austin said he has two concerns about the potential of Houston's government making such a major change to the way municipal governments operate.
One, he said, is whether members of the civil service can provide good, unbiased, professional advice if they're worried about the mayor's ability to fire them.
"The other one is a fundamental democratic piece, which is one person — no matter who you are — can't encompass all the different kinds of diversity and views of this municipality," he told reporters.
"The 17 of us collectively at city hall — mayor and council — you get closer to that ideal than any one person and I worry that if you're empowering the mayor, what voices, what perspectives then get diminished and lost in that process."
Austin said any type of change should come with public consultation first.
His council colleague, Shawn Cleary, noted that changes to the way the municipality operates are supposed to come with consultation between the province and HRM.
"By their own friggin' law, [the provincial government is] supposed to consult with us, they're supposed to engage with us if they change the charter," he said during debate at council on Thursday.
Houston said the mayoralty is the only municipal position that all voters can cast a ballot on. People expect a mayor to execute on their campaign platform, he said, but many voters are surprised at how little power comes with the role.
Asked if a potential move to strengthen mayoral power could be extended to other Nova Scotia municipalities, Houston replied the "logical conclusion" is that any level of government "should have the power to work for the citizens."
On Wednesday, the municipality's chief administrative officer, Cathie O'Toole, told council she would be retiring in the fall, but said in an interview the resignation mid-contract wasn't due to the discussion of strong-mayor powers.
Bike lane vote
Houston keyed in on a 13-4 vote by council on Tuesday to continue with the redesign of Morris Street that will see it turned into a one-way, despite a push by Fillmore to rethink the project by adding a single bike lane and maintaining two-way traffic.
"When you look at some of the decisions that that council seems to be making, they don't seem to be focused on citizens, they seem to be focused on something else. I don't know what that is," Houston told reporters.
Houston said the province is considering using Bill 24, which was passed this spring but not proclaimed, to overrule the city's decision on Morris Street. The legislation would allow the province to override decisions by municipal councils related to transportation.
A number of councillors said at the meeting Tuesday that various options for bike lanes on Morris Street were examined in the past and the one-way traffic system was viewed as the best.
Provincial opposition leaders said Thursday that the government is criticizing the municipal council for traffic woes while continuing to sit on a provincial report that outlines potential solutions for congestion in the capital city.
Public Works Minister Fred Tilley could not say when he would release the report, which his department has had for months.
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With files from Michael Gorman
