Andy Fillmore On The Highs And Lows Of His First Year As Mayor Of Halifax

We sit down with newly elected Mayor Andy Fillmore after his first year for a wide-open conversation about what it takes to steer a city that’s growing in every direction: more people, more jobs, more pressure on streets and services. He talks frankly about trading the heat of Parliament for the hands-on grind of City Hall, where a mayor is one vote among many and every policy hits a sidewalk, a bus route, or a household budget.

We dig into mobility first. Halifax is in a loop where buses are stuck in traffic and riders default to cars. The mayor lays out a clear case for bus rapid transit—express routes, priority, comfort—and the provincial congestion review now underway on the peninsula. We also tackle the grid: how well-meant restrictions can slow the whole system, why data matters, and how to balance safety with movement. If you’ve felt the drag getting across town, this is the roadmap, warts and all.

Housing and budgets keep the stakes high. The city needs roughly 8,000 homes a year and is building about half that, with infrastructure capacity—water, wastewater, stormwater—now a key bottleneck. Add major defence spending set to flow into Halifax, and the urgency doubles. The mayor explains last year’s flat tax rate, this year’s 10.5% pressure from inflation and contracts, and his push to protect core services while partnering with the private sector—think smarter ferry models and transit hubs with amenities—to keep costs down and quality up. We also get into the assessment cap’s market distortions and why revenue reform isn’t about raising more, but raising better.

Along the way we talk civic culture: what makes Halifax kind and welcoming, why the waterfront still stuns, and how to grow without losing our feel. You’ll hear candid reflections on early missteps, lessons in council diplomacy, and a clear view of what quality of life should mean here: affordability, safety, things to do, and transit worth choosing. If you care about how Halifax moves, builds, and stays itself, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and tell us: what would you cut or fund to keep the city on track?

Your Dream Home Does Not Have to Be Just A Dream. Today's show is brought to you by Kimia Nejat of Exit Reality Metro. Kimia is the realtor who knows how to get things done. Buying or Selling? Go to afternoonpint.ca/kimia and we will set up an introduction

Does Your Business Need a Boost With Foot traffic? Hosts for An Event? Or Even Actors For A Production? Or the Production itself? Go to https://www.afternoonpint.ca/services and see some of the services that the Afternoon Pint team offers. 

Transcript

New Mayor, New Setting

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Cheers, cheers. Cheers, everybody. Nice to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Welcome to the afternoon fight. I'm Mike Tobin.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

I am Matt Conrad.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

And I am uh Mayor Andy Fillmore.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Mayor Andy Fillmore.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

The last time you were on our show, you were mayor candidate, Andy Fillmore.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I was mayor wannabe, yeah. And uh I did want to be. And that was uh what was that last summer sometime, or maybe sep maybe September.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

It would have been uh yeah, it would have been yeah, it was September that we had you on. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

About a year ago out in Sackville. That was a very good conversation. And uh yeah, nice to be back with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Yeah, 100%. Last our last episode with Steve Murray was just over there at the old triangle, right? That's right. Yeah, my gosh. And this is uh a pretty nice looking spot. This is our first time here, uh my first time in the mayor's office.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Welcome to the mayor's office. Yeah, it's a pretty nice place to come to work every day. Very lucky. We I can keep an eye on what's going on in the grand parade, as you can see. Yeah, and right now the Christmas tree is all lit up. It's looking wonderful out there. There's a menorah that's got a couple of candles lit, and uh the place is looking pretty festival.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

And your staff all likes you. They all think you're a good guy. Yeah, they all seem very happy and relaxed out there. So that's a that's a good vibe, right? I'm glad you noticed that. Feel like we're in a safe space here.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I will I will say that you know, anyone who thinks that politicians don't keep their word, when he was on the show, he did say that you made you just it it felt like a throwaway, but you said we'll do a podcast at City Hall if I win. And here we are.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Here we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Politician keeping his word. We're drinking non-alcoholic beer, though. We are drinking non-alcoholic beer, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Because it's a dry zone, and I mean that that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

City hall's dry, so thanks for rolling with that. But you picked uh you picked a very nice uh option here. So thank you for for that.

From MP To Mayor

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, the crafty rattlers are pretty good one to have at the end of a day. Pump house crafty rattlers. Shout out to Monkey Nova Scotia. There you go. Yeah, so yeah, let's uh let's roll into this stuff, though. We got we got uh a lot of things to talk about, and we know you're a very busy guy, so we thank you very much for having us on here and doing this. So um yeah, so let's start with uh rewind a little bit. You went from uh uh uh Parliament Hill to City Hall.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So and boy, my arms tired.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

So much has happened in that time, though. Like so, I mean, we're gonna get you unpack it a little bit, but I mean just uh uh anyone listening who because sometimes we get people from other countries, um we've had you know you you uh decided to not re-offer as MP, decided to run for mayor, uh we had Justin Trudeau resign as leader and prime minister. Right. Carney Wynn now is in possess in in in the position where he's uh uh one seat away from a majority, which is also pretty crazy. And here you are, and you've you've been in the seat now for a little over a year.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, about 14 months, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, so uh unpack everything, like you know, about the whole moving from federal to municipal.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Well, I'll say it's been uh a lot of fun to watch all the goings on in Ottawa from Halifax. I'm so glad to be here and and not in the midst of all of the uh of all the excitement. But um it was quite uh a drama, wasn't it? Watching uh Justin Trudeau withdraw, watching Mark Kearney's ascension, watching the near-majority election on uh on election night, and uh people getting back into politics that had resigned, and uh a leader expecting to be prime minister who didn't quite make it, and and now right up to the this past week with another yet another floor crossing, putting the prime minister within one seat of uh of a majority government. So it's been fun to watch it. I'm glad I'm watching it from here in Halifax.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Right. That that's what I was gonna ask is like uh, you know, like any is there anything in the back of your head thinking like, oh, maybe I should have stuck it out there?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Not in the least. You know, there's a little bit of nostalgia, you know. I I made a lot of friends up there on on all sides of the aisle, and I see them uh going through the this uh the fun and games, and there is some nostalgia for sure. But no, I was I did nine years of that, and I resigned my seat to run for mayor, and it was a great decision.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah, I think I think the the Shannon who took over in your spot is seems to be doing a pretty good job so far.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

She is. Uh Shannon worked at HRM for many, many years. She led the sustainability department, and she's bringing that ethos to Ottawa, and she's doing a great job.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, you guys just like tagged each other in or something.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

That's right. Isn't that funny? And it's it's a the story goes back even further because you'll remember that Mike Savage had been an MP and became mayor. And so who knows what's next for Shannon? Maybe she's uh she'll be our our mayor down the road.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

She'll be the next one running the place. There we go. When Andy's ready to what do you think's like the biggest mental ship going from uh um you know federal politics to municipal politics?

Council Culture Shock

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Yeah, well, everything's very much more local, right? Uh in the other in the other job in Ottawa, I was um I had my focus on Halifax, but on those national issues like employment, like immigration, like national defense. Um so even though they're they're local, they are they are a piece of a national puzzle. In council, it's local with a capital L. It's you know the rec center in my district, it's the sidewalk outside uh my my house, it's the pothole, the bus, you know, it's it's extremely local. So that's very different. However, you know, I think you guys know that my career for over 20 years before politics was city planning.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

So I'm kind of right back in my in my sweet spot, back in my comfort zone here, um, being the mayor of a of a city of a half million that's the fastest growing city in the country and that is going to continue to be, and that is just so full of opportunity. I'm I'm thrilled.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Were you a city planner here in Halifax? Or were you where did you do city city planning? I was.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

I did city planning. I studied at Dalhousie, but I I cut my teeth down in Boston on a project called The Big Dig, and then worked in Maine in a very small rural community for a few years and moved home uh to Halifax in 2005 and worked at the city for seven years, led the creation of the downtown plan, the HRM by design downtown plan it was called. That's what that necktie is over on the wall over there.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Oh, okay. Yeah, cool. I don't know if the camera will be able to get it. No, probably not.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Uh when I when I uh left the city in 2012 after delivering the downtown plan, my team had the the downtown concept plan printed on a necktie and mounted in that shadow box. So that's my full circle moment there of being back here at HRM.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Very cool. Yeah. Well, uh, in terms of the transition, like what do you feel? And maybe it maybe there was nothing, but what do you feel was like the biggest surprise uh entering into municipal politics versus federal politics?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, I'll I'll I have an answer for that. You know, uh one thing that you you learn to do in federal politics during debate is to bring your A game. Like you bring the passion, you're you bring your research, you you're on your feet, you're speaking with passion and and conviction. Um and um that's how I turned up in the council chamber. Uh and uh boy, uh it turns out that's not exactly a common uh common way to do it. So I learned that uh folks are expecting a much more sort of calm and measured, uh uh maybe more um uh le I don't want to say less enthusiastic, but less uh um expressive way of expressing your your opinion during debate. So I've learned to tone it down a little bit so I don't ruffle feathers and and catch people off guard.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

I think it can be a good mix between the two because council can be pretty dry and pretty slow. I would say I'd say council would be more civil, wouldn't they be? Oh, they're definitely more civil, uh, because I don't know if you've ever watched uh the House of Consumer. I mean, I mean I mean it's it's quite a performance, is what I should say. It's a quite performance, but it's formative art. It's not even like the when when you're standing up there and you're talking to Mr. Speaker, and yeah, that's one thing. That's a bit of a performance. The stuff I don't like, and you know, you get the you get your little jabs in there sometimes, which is funny. Uh can be funny, but what I don't like about it, because we have these people who we've elected to kind of serve as our government and all that, is the stuff that's in the background, right? The cat calling and the insects and the heckling. Yeah, I think that should just be wiped out. There's none of that in council?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

No, no, no, no, no, there's actually not. Uh I mean sometimes people um have side conversations that can be distracting, but uh when you're in the chair, you try to you try to give a little hand signal to to because when someone has the else has the floor, they do find that distracting. They could lose their train of thought, and you can see the people who have a little consternation on their brow. You so I try to address that and keep it uh keep it all fair. But I don't miss the heckling. That was really um speaking of distractions. Oh my gosh, you're trying, you're on your feet trying to give a speech or make a point, and you're getting all kinds of things hurled at you, but it does toughen you up, I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

I bet. Yeah, I bet it does. So we got a re rear view real quick. So this is episodes coming out in 2026, dry January. So Pump House, please send me another case of these. Uh uh uh but uh but you know, what was one of your biggest accomplish accomplishments for 2025 that you think you did?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Uh here in HRM in the in the new job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Well, I will say one of our listeners wrote on our Facebook, because I said on my Facebook said we're talking to you today, and he said, I'm going back to listening to the episode that he was on because you made a commitment about what the things you'd like to do in your first hundred days. He says, Let's see if he accomplished the things that he wanted to do in his first hundred days.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I I should have re-listened to I should have listened to that too.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

I you're you're you're you're a good company, man. I don't remember what you said.

Year-One Wins And Misses

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah, all right. Well, I mean it was it was to have you fellas back in about a year or so. We have checked out boxes. Check that out box checked. Um well the I would say, you know, when you when you run to be elected, you run on a platform. And the platform um I believe is like a contract with the people that you're asking to vote for you. And in my contract that I made, I said that I would do everything that I could to hold the tax rate flat in my first year. And I did. So we were delivered a a budget that did not have a flat tax rate. In fact, it had a uh fairly good increase. And over the months of debate of uh with my colleagues, I was able to beat it down to a zero percent increase on the tax rate. So promise made, promise delivered. I feel good about that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yep. Yeah, well, and we'll we'll get to the the the upcoming one that we'll talk about that one a little bit because yeah. But um, yeah, I think that's a that's a good thing. I think that's much needed. People are struggling, right? Increasing taxes. And I mean, yeah, we like I said, we can get to that other stuff, the other solutions further down, but I'll go I'll jump over to the next bit.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

So this is just a hit and a hit and a miss, or uh, what's one thing in 2025 looking back that you kind of regret or wish we could reverse or work harder on in 2026 that we just don't really have got right yet.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Listen, I'll take some responsibility here. Um I I mentioned a few minutes ago that uh you know about the way I turned up in the council chamber with a lot of energy and uh some pretty big ideas, and um, I think that kind of rocked some of my colleagues a little bit. They they um you know let let's say this HRM has a new mayor for the first time in 12 years. Half the council is new. I started a new job, a new position for the first time in a decade. There is a lot of change happening right now, and so I I reflect on how I showed up in that change. And uh I I'll wear it that I I wish I had, if I could go back, I would have shown up a little bit more in a more conciliatory uh way with my colleagues to try to get them to believe and support some of the things that I believe and support and the things that I ran on. Um, because I think my my early enthusiasm might have been a bit off off-putting for people.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yeah, but I in fairness, there's probably a lot more you all have in common than what you don't have in common. Isn't that not true?

SPEAKER_00 12:01

That's absolutely true. Right. That's absolutely true. We're often, even though we're saying it differently, often we're saying the same things. And so it's worth taking time to to listen carefully to each other and to and discern what it is that we actually agree on and and act on those things.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

That and that's I guess some of the thing is like the um uh I know we had a couple comments on when we when they said we were talking to you, like a couple people did make comments and saying how they uh the the way you kind of came in was almost kind of like uh like is that really how uh mayor should kind of come in and charge you and all that stuff? And I know there was the whole like uh strong mayor or super mayor, super mayor, yeah, whatever it was. I don't know if you got a cape if you get that or not, but like the um I got lots of kryptonite because of it, I'll tell you that. That's good. I mean that being said though, uh maybe maybe there was a healthy balance or something that in there. That being said, I I personally didn't dislike the energy that you brought to it.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Um because you have the exact same energy though.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

You're I had the same energy because I ran in 2020, right? For council, yeah. And uh I probably would have brought the same energy that you would have because I do think that we need a little bit of shakeup and a little different thinking and things like that here. Um like I said, that in-between, not quite you know, cat like not quite quite uh Parliament Hill, but a little bit more than what we got going on, kind of thing.

Governance Reform And “Strong Mayor” Debate

SPEAKER_00 13:28

So yeah, yeah. Well, you you mentioned uh strong mayor powers. That's what they're called in Ontario. I I always refer to them as accountable mayor powers here, um, or even accountable governance. Um, and so the the challenge that I saw and that I tried to articulate was um people in every district in HRM voted for uh by a pretty good margin. I didn't quite double my nearest competitor, but pretty handy to doubling my nearest competitor in terms of the vote count. Um, voted for a mayor with a really clear platform on affordability, mobility, and housing. And um when it gets down to it, uh there's there there's no way for the mayor to expressly direct any kind of change. You have to work through the council process, bring people along. So you are very much one vote of 16, one vote of 17, chair of the board. And I think that I think it's a reasonable question to ask that in the 20, the complicated 21st century, with challenges breathing down our neck, with opportunities coming at us lightning fast, is uh a governance structure that was designed for a smaller, slow-moving city serving us? And that and that was the question that I was asking.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah, I mean, uh like I think I think reform of some sort could be viewed as. Um how do you feel about like how Quebec does it? Because they bring in parties. There's parties in municipal politics in Quebec. How do you what do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, there are other cities in Vancouver. I was just chatting with the ex-mayor of uh Vancouver on the weekend, Gregor Robertson, who's now Canada's Minister of Housing. Uh, we were talking about that. Um, I I don't I I was happy to leave partisan politics behind. Now, could there be organizing ideas that sort of uh that that bring people together uh in candidacy so that you know if if we can all agree that my gosh, there is a housing crisis and we do need to get bus rapid transit going, well then wouldn't that be good to express that to the community so they can say, you know, there's a group of people that will actually act on the things that we are that's important to us. So I wouldn't I wouldn't put it along partisan pol party lines, but I might say that there is room for organization around ideas.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah. Well, that's uh I think that's the thing. I mean, really you have to be a you know a good negotiator to be sitting on council.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

You do it's it's a game of relationships. Um and and and I learned a lot about that this past year. It really it really does turn on on those on those personal relationships. And so the trick is how do you live up to your your own ideals? I'll I'll just talk about myself. My how do I live up to my ideals? How do I live up to what I promised the voters I would do in that contract called a call to campaign? Yep. Um but in a way that I have to um navigate that with 16 other opinions and and perspectives. It's not always easy, and that's why you don't win every vote.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

No, exactly. And I think I think a lot of people don't really fully realize that because they think mayors, they think mayors do have these authorities or whatever it may be, right? Your one vote.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

You're a tiebreaker, basically. I think it's true that the majority of HRM residents believe that the mayor is the boss, and uh, and that's not the case.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

No, yeah. Yeah, so I mean that's a thing. Uh it's uh so yeah, maybe there's some sort of some sort of reform in there, but I think that's a good conversation. I think it's a good conversation to have.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm gonna move like and ask about some pressure points that are going on in Halifax right now. You know, I know people are going to be listening to this episode and they're probably gonna be, you know, are they gonna ask some of these questions? So we're just gonna dive in through through some of the things. Uh, but first I want to say, like in your own opinion, how would you describe the state of Halifax in a sentence or just a blank statement? Like, how are we doing right now and how do you think we're going to get through 2026?

State Of Halifax: Opportunity And Growth

SPEAKER_00 17:34

I think we're doing a good job of managing the challenges of growth. Uh, and I believe we are faced with remarkable opportunity in the in the years ahead. So I think Halifax is in a great place. I I would stack it up against any other Canadian city, ain't even going beyond Canada. Um, we uh we are a place that the world has discovered. Um we are we have a physical natural beauty here that people envy and and want to be part of. The um this the tech and startup community has found us. There's the ocean cluster community that's found us, there's biotech, there's the research, uh, AI now now and now defense. This brings us to defense. You know, the NATO has set up their one of two defense innovation accelerators uh of the North Atlantic in Halifax, one of two globally. Potential bill. And that exactly, and that's tapping into the existing aerospace and defense cluster that we have here, building the ships of tomorrow's Navy, and we are in an incredibly enviable position to win the in-service support contract for Canada's future submarine fleet. And that is going to be like shipbuilding all over again.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

That's billions and billions and billions of dollars into our con and there's also some other stuff, like other tech stuff that's going on in this city. I mean, we last year we had uh William Burt on. Right. And he was talking about how he was taking uh carbon out of the air and actually inserting it into the water. Yeah. And like that's being done here in Halifax.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

It is. Uh over at Cove, uh, they're they're doing I'm just blanking on the name of the company. Do you think it's gone? It's a good name, but yeah, they're they're they're good. Sequestering carbon.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Carbon Cure is another company that does something similar. I mean, there's so many of these great companies.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Into concrete, that's exactly right. But uh, but yeah, Cove and the Oceans Cluster are just unbelievable right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, exactly. So there's a bunch of tech stuff that's going on. I mean, we obviously we know that there's uh just next door is uh is Volta.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Yeah, right. Absolutely. And we did a couple things there as well, lots of great incubation and development going on there. We're 100% for development in Halifax, so we applaud seeing that kind of stuff happen. Now, one of the big hairy things is uh traffic, right? I uh even today uh I don't want to tell you. I mean, but uh uh there was an accident in one spot, I had to go another route, and then oh dear, like you know, wherever you go in this city, you know, right now expects to to take a significantly longer amount of time to get there. How are we going to even start to entangle this this this web of getting down to the peninsula?

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah, and what a what an important question. Um, and the we're not gonna solve any problems uh unless we can speak candidly and transparently about those problems. So so that's what I've been doing, and I'll continue to do that, whether it's traffic and transportation or any of the other things. Um we need to get bus rapid transit going in Halifax. That is the next level of sophistication that our transportation system uh requires. The the way that um congestion is and the way the the bus service is now, people are, you know, the buses are stuck in congestion. So people are are making the choice. I may as well be in my car. And of course, that's just reinforcing the congestion, it's slowing the bus. So we're in a we're in what some people might call a doom loop here, but it's we can get out of it. Um when we build that bus rapid transit system, you know, it's those are express buses with fewer stops, they're comfortable buses. You might you can imagine maybe a fold-down table to put your laptop on and a and a coffee uh cup holder for your coffee. You're doing work on your commute or you're you're communicating with your with your people in your life on your commute. Um that's gonna be a game changer for us. Um, but there's something even more immediate and interesting, and that was you might have noticed that this past week, what day are we now uh Tuesday, it was last week, um, the provincial minister of transportation, Fred Tilley, announced that he has released an RFP seeking uh uh an engineering or some such company to do a review of congestion on the peninsula of Halifax. I did see, yeah, I saw that. And and so that's an example of the provincial government taking an interest in the well-being and economic functioning of the capital city, which I think is entirely appropriate. Yeah, and will yeah, willing to be a partner with us to make some to make some moves to improve congestion and move people around a little bit better. We we we don't know what that study is gonna uh show. Um I think it'll have to do with new new commuter routes. Um it possibly could be the way the premier would get his uh his uh often talked about light rail system started. Um it could be new bus routes, it could be um improving the function of intersections with smart signalization. Um and then the minister has has identified a couple other things that he might try to.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

So we're not sure, but we're working on it as well. Well, they're working on it. You're looking at everything.

Traffic Gridlock And BRT Vision

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So this is a perfect moment because I made this comment on one of the radio stations that announced this study. Sure. So I'm gonna give you a hard time a little bit, but not you directly because this happened before you were in municipal politics. But it is a frustration of mine. Uh and you said talk candidly, so I'm gonna talk candidly. Driving up Quimpool in going inbound between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. or 9 a.m. You cannot turn right, not left, right to go down to the until it cannot to go into the south end. The frustration with that is that it bottlenecks. So for me, looking at it, there's only two conclusions why I come to that. The wealthy in that neighborhood has petitioned their counselor to prevent rush hour traffic to drive through their neighborhood, or someone has intentionally bottlenecked the like to bottleneck it. Because when you look at grid systems, the idea is that you should be able to take off routes to spread the traffic out so they're not all coming through. This directly does the opposite of that. You're either not letting my wife who takes that route every day. Are you trying to get a job in the transportation? Absolutely not. No, what I'm trying to do is get those signs taken because I think it's not right.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yeah, you so I was having this conversation just this weekend about the importance of a functioning grid in a city, you know, a grid that uh presents you with choices left, right, straight at every intersection that you get to. Right. Um, and that's how you keep people, buses, bikes, uh anything, trucks, delivery service vehicles, everything fire trucks, uh, ambulances moving is uh through the choice that a grid offers. And as soon as we start to monkey with the grid, you know, no right turn on red or uh, you know, restrict timing, make introduce complications into the grid. The functioning of the grid breaks down and things start to move less slowly, you have a less efficient, less efficient city. Uh you gave two options why it might have happened. I think it's I think it's the latter of your two options. Um the previous council gave really clear direction to city staff to put uh pedestrian safety ahead of all other considerations. And so those no right turns on reds are in the name of pedestrian safety. Now interesting.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

So this is not right on red.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

This is right at all. Can't turn right at okay. All right. This is right at all. So okay, so that's a that's a similar issue, related issue. Um uh now I lost my train of thought, buddy. Sorry. That's okay. I know what I'm like, I do that too. That's all right. Oh, I was gonna say the but the data is showing since the introduction of these these controls, and particularly the no right on red, yeah, there there's really not a positive indication of change. Like the data doesn't show that things are better. So um uh data probably shows that congestion's worse. In fact, it does show that. So, you know that the um I think we have some consideration to do of whether we're doing this right, whether we're uh we're actually serving all of the people that use the roadways, whether they're pedestrians or cyclists or or all the other user groups that I just mentioned, yeah, in a way that everybody can have their needs met without sacrificing the needs of some of those groups having their needs met.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

So I'm gonna go ahead and take those signs down because Mayor Andy said that they this is not right. We'd take them down. Okay, yeah. How about you doing uh some short videos there with this episode? Yeah, it's just gonna be that. It's like just take them down. You're on your own, cowboy. We won't do that to you. Okay. But one thing is that we do obviously another part element of traffic is that there's a lot of people moving here. Um, that's another big thing. There's two things there. So, how do we handle infrastructure and population growth and housing?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, well, that's a big question. Pretty open-ended. So, we right now we have to be building around 8,000 units of housing per year across.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

What are we doing now?

Funding, Taxes, And Tough Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_00 26:08

We're barely, we're not even cracking 4,000. We're just like just below 4,000 for the last three or four years. So we've got a lot of work to do to move faster. And some of that has to do with uh approvals time, some of that has to do with rezoning of land. Um, but more and more it has to do with Halifax Water's ability to provide water, wastewater, and stormwater service to these growth nodes that we have, these growth areas uh in the suburban areas. So um this is becoming serious. This is this has the potential to impact our economic competitiveness. Um, I, you know, before we got started today, I was talking to you about how the federal government is going to be making massive investments in national defense to meet NATO commitments, and Halifax, as home to the largest armed forces base in the country and home to all three branches of the service, um, is going to benefit disproportionately from this massively increased defense investment. That's gonna bring all kinds of more people working in the field, more families. It's gonna drive housing growth at a at a rate that's disproportionate to to other areas in Canada. And we need to be on the ball in making sure that we can service all these areas.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Yeah. I I that's I mean, yeah. I mean, we that if you're if we're truly only doing ha less than half, then I mean we're we're just not keeping up at all. So I mean, yeah, uh, I knew I do and I do know it seems like different levels of government kind of seem to be pointing the finger saying, like, well, we need these approvals, we need these approvals, but we we also need the workers.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

And we need the workers, and we need a governance system that works. Yeah, and uh, and we need uh federal and provincial assistance to pay for the uh to pay for the infrastructure because um we can't put it all on the municipal taxpayer, and um it is a it is a collective responsibility that uh we have fun a functioning capital city.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Great segue to the next. The the 10.5% question. Oh okay. You go for it, Matt. Get it in there. Oh in here.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

I'll I'll cool I'll cool it down after Matt here. I'll come to something warm in the back. Oh, no, no, listen, listen.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

He got he got it beaten down to zero last time. Do you think he can do it again?

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Yes, please. God, so I it's a it's gonna be a tough slog this year, but I'll here's here's what I'll tell you. Um, so that the very day that council approved the 0% rate increase last year, I had another motion ready to go. And that motion was okay, council join me in directing the staff, like vote with me, and they did. And we directed staff to uh for this year's budget, no increases other than collective uh bargaining agreements, uh contracts that are already signed, and inflation. So just allow for increases of those three things. And and staff came back uh a month ago um and said, we just did those things you said, and that's a 10.5 increase on the average tax bill. Right. So that's how much things are costing right now. So now to get that back, to beat that back, because people can't afford 10.5.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Um, in light of how you know water rate increases and power rate increases and all those things, inflation and interest rates, um, we're gonna have to beat that back. And that is gonna mean some tough choices about then what are we gonna cut? What are we gonna cut? And so bike lanes. We've got a we've got a strong opinion there.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

I I don't actually, you know what? I actually do not have a strong opinion on bike lanes, but that seems to be what everyone's talking about online.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

It it is probably the number one comment when you're looking at a lot of I mean, what's going on with the roads, and then there's complaints about bike lanes.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Well, let's let's look and see what uh what comments this conversation generates from your from your listenership. I'd love to see that. Yeah. Um, so we're gonna have to cut something. And so that that same motion um that I that I had passed last summer also directed the staff to start to define for the council in this budget process what are our core services and what are those extras that we've just gotten used to adding on. Yeah, because they all cost a lot too. So I it's my belief that we need to pair back the things that are outside of our core mandate, refocus on core services, um, refocus on diversifying our revenue streams to relieve pressure from the tax rate and uh deliver residents a budget they can afford.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Could this be more opportunities for private organizations that want to help deliver those services?

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Absolutely it is. I was just in Boston uh talking to the uh transit authority down there about the way they've invited the private sector into ferries. So they're using ferries at at peak hours in the morning and night to move uh commuters all around Boston Harbor. In between peak hours, those same boats, private operators are taking people out to harbor islands.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Call my buddy Dave get the speedboat, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Well watching tours, you know, going out. You can imagine going out to Sanbro Light. Uh yeah. So there's a huge opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

That was brought up in the comment today when I was as someone said uh privatization. Privatization of transit. I don't know if it works just because transit's a money loser, right? Not in the grand scheme of things, but in a direct like thing where we know we need to get people to work. I think those people think whatever pay.

Revenue Limits And Assessment Cap

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Yeah, I think if you did it private on a small scale, it could be successful. So if you actually had probably more people doing it on a smaller scale, it probably more like say if you had to be able to do it. Keeping the boats busy all the time, right? Yeah. Yeah. You had somebody going from Sambro into the city every day, right? Doing that loop run, but everybody was on board in the community and it worked for the majority of the people that needed to be.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

So that's one way to bring the private sector into to relieve the burden on the taxpayer through transit ideas. But another one is you know, let's say we're building a new transit terminal. Uh, why wouldn't we go to, I don't know, Tim Hortons or a dry cleaner chain and say, we're building this building. Why don't you come in and partner with us? Um, you uh you help to share the cost of the building, you're gonna provide a service to our transit users. It's gonna make transit more attractive to use. Um, and uh and then we relieve burden on the taxpayer because you're helping to pay for it all. So that kind of private sector collaboration, like a cafe in a in a public library, another example helps to uh keep the tax rate low.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

If you put pints at all of the metro transit stations across the city, I'll I'll just stop driving. I think that would be a huge incentive for me.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

It's funny you mention it because one of the things that the private operated boats in Boston Harbor do is you can uh you can get a pint of beer on your commute home. Uh and it's uh it's perfectly legal.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Listen, there was a mayor who once made some beer, you know, in this city. Oh, yeah. I've heard a few times down there. Yeah, he's on the wall a couple times down there, and I think he'd be all for it. Yes, that's right. Uh mayor key. I I I bet you it wasn't dry back then. Oh no, it wasn't dry back then. No. So, okay. Um with all the uh evolving stuff and everything, um actually one thing before we go into that, because I hope there like with the development that we're going to see and the development that we're hoping to see and the natural assessments of things going up. I mean uh sh those are must not be keeping up with if you're saying that oh we did just these things, the buildings that are gonna get built that people are gonna be paying now higher property tax on. All that must be taken into effect and into consideration uh with this whole kind of the funds and all that stuff, right? So so even with those new developments, those new those higher taxes, this vacant lot is now assessed at$3 million, not you know$150. Yeah, that's most of it and all considered and taken into effect.

Community, Welcoming City, And Quality Of Life

SPEAKER_00 33:44

It's a complicated equation, but it is. And will it surprise you to learn that the the the revenue growth from increased assessments from last year to this year's budget in HRM was only six million dollars? Um so the assessments, the raise, the rise in assessments has really slowed down. Um and we could rely on a much higher number for years and years than than that number. And so that's hurting our our revenues. One of the challenges is that we operate under the um the assessment cap, which is suppressing our incomes and suppressing the tax rate and distorting the market. And one of our counselors, counselor steele, has passed a motion just earlier in December that we that uh directing our staff to study the assessment cap and to um explain how it's distorting the market and how it in what ways it is disproportionately impacting first-time home buyers and newcomers and rewarding people of long tenure who've been in their home for 20 or 30 years that really don't need the help. Um so that's that's a very interesting and rich uh topic. But um things like that distort the our ability to raise revenues, and um that's why I'm very focused on on um diversifying our revenue sources in some of the ways we've talked about.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Very cool. Yeah, great answer. Yeah. Um yeah, well, I guess what we can do before we move on. Well, I before the 10 questions, I said warm and fuzzy stuff. So I mean, you know, let's just talk about the the the people, uh the citizens of Halifax here um for a moment. And I'm sorry, Matt, this isn't really on there, but like, you know, we've we've grown to be a much more diverse place over the last five or so many years. Um, you know, what can we do to make sure we're staying Halifax in the sense of promoting the kindness? I thought having the nice agent here uh last year was one of the best things we've got. Wasn't that great? Yeah, right? Like, you know, I I really want to see and make sure that this maritime city keeps that one thing of friendliness towards one another despite differences, despite whatever. Um, any insights and how we can uh improve that going into 2026?

SPEAKER_00 35:46

I think just keep doing what we've always done. And um I said I always hear from people who are visiting about the kindness of Maritimers, the kindness of Haligonians. And as far as I can tell, when people are moving here, whether they're coming from other parts of Canada, whether they're coming from around the world, they they notice that too and and they're adopting that. So we all just need to keep on doing the things that we do. Um that's kind of a that's kind of uh a way of being in the world answer. Um, but if I could if I make it physical, I'm a city planner, like what else can we do? So there are things that make this place what it is, you know, like the like Barrington Street and the waterfront and the scale of some of our neighborhoods. So we also want to be protecting and cherishing those things. We have to allow growth and change and all that, but uh we can be we can be discerning about where and how that goes. And we have something called the regional plan that does a really good job at of showing where and how growth should happen and how we interconnect communities and so forth. Um, so we can grow and stay true to who we are and what's attractive, what makes us attractive on the world stage.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

We to kind of add to that, what do you think Halifax can do as a like the regional uh municipality that what we can do for our part to help attract the people we want to bring here? Yeah, like for example, tradespeople, health professionals, and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yeah, so uh I would say talk to your elected provincial and federal representatives about that. Um, I, you know, we we the federal government made a decision to to sort of slow the faucet on on immigration growth in Canada while th services like healthcare and housing caught up. I think it's temporary. The the faucet's going to be eased back on shortly. Um I'm very pleased to see that there is already a focus on skilled labor, whether that's in health or whether that's in building trades. Um so there is a focus, like we're being more discerning about bringing in the skills that we really need to, for example, build all the infrastructure we need to build, to build the housing that we need to do and to deliver health care to people that are aging and can't.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Is there anything that you that you think that you guys, like you know, our council can do to like so you can't immigrate anybody, but you can wave the flag of like here's where you want to be, kind of thing?

Rapid-Fire: Personal Insights And Reflections

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah, and I I have to give credit to the former mayor Mike Savage. He uh he really f uh his primary focus was on creating a uh a a welcoming city that uh acknowledged diversity and acknowledged that our diversity is our strength, to borrow a phrase. Um and so that's really important. I've continued his um every year he had a a welcome event for uh international students, for foreign students. Yeah. So I I'm carrying that on. I had it back in September down at the West End. We had um I think 500 international students came and uh uh it was a wonderful, a wonderful evening. So um the more we celebrate uh the multicultural uh role of Halifax in a as a leading city and a multicultural country, then I think we are gonna continue to attract people, which we need to do for our economy.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

100%.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Just jump right before the bottom of the 10 questions here, Matt, because we don't want to run out of time, unfortunately. So um Yeah, we're going 10 questions? Well, just before there was just one other thing here. I I love this question. You know, um, as mayor of Halifax, what's quality of life? And what does that actually mean to you and what every citizen should have in our city?

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Sure. Look, it's um it's affordability for one thing, um, making sure that people can afford the services they need, whether that's the rec the rec program after school or the but getting on the bus or the ferry that they need, uh, the tax rate, the rent, uh, all those things are uh those are all elements of affordability and quality of life. Um there's also the cleanliness and safety of the city. So that feeling you get when you walk down a street, like this place is clean. Someone cares about this place, you know, like this place is looking good. Um, that's quality of life. Things to do in the city, like an amazing central library, a killer uh waterfront, um a place where arts and culture can thrive, like our our indie music scene is like second to none in the country, you know. That's quality of life. Um, how we how we meet the needs of a growing population, a growing community, getting enough houses built, connecting communities with transit that's enjoyable to ride, that's quality of life. Um, and I I'll go back, I'll finish it maybe by by uh what you said a minute ago about um about what it is to be what is it, what's the magic about this place? How we are nice to each other and how how people want to be here because we're welcoming.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

100%. It's my favorite place to be.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Me too.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Yeah. So thank you for all that. I mean, we asked you a lot of tough questions there in a short time. We jumped through a lot of different themes and topics. That's kind of what we do. So now we're gonna go into the 10 questions.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

All right, the dreaded 10 questions. It's not so dreaded, these are pretty.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

This is the lightest part about it. Yeah, okay, all right, good. All right, Matt. Can we start? Sure, I'll start.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Yeah, okay. So the this is the great donor debate. Halifax, obviously, official donaires, right? Uh, it's our our official food. But when nobody's looking, where is Andy ordering donaires from?

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Listen, man, you're gonna get me in trouble. There's no there is a very there is no safe answer here. Um I'll tell you uh uh I I have allegiance to two and I spread myself pretty equally between the two and they are Tony's which is my OG from when I was a kid yeah um and and then King of Donair also yeah also I I I I I should have won a donair eating contest when I was MP at King of Donaire on on Quimpo Road but uh um some some dodgy judging uh cost me the win so I still bear a little bit of uh those Nahases I tell you all right so this is just real talk term limits yes or no should Halifax Council members have term limits and would you apply them to yourself also that's a good question there are no term limits at any order of government anywhere in Canada so that's a very American construct um and I think right now people are kind of looking down there and going thank God for term limits uh you know um but I sometimes you you think about that in in Canada I I I don't know I I think at the if I'm lucky enough to serve for eight years here I'll be uh of an age where I'm I'll be ready to to to pass the the torch on to somebody uh who's ready to to put a lot a lot of energy into it so I I'd be okay with that but um but that really is one of those questions you have to take to the public to to to figure out how they how they feel about it. Yeah cool oh that's fair okay uh question number three so mayor's hours are you solving cities probably solving the city's problems at 6 a.m or doom scrolling them at midnight both yeah there is uh this is I turned to one of my uh to one of my colleagues a few days ago and I was I had gotten this cold that you can still hear in my throat a little bit and I turned to her and I said remember the the part in our career where we actually had something called a sick day oh yeah so my God so the hours are a little bit crazy um you know my my team works with me on weekends and evenings uh we we uh they get to rotate but it's always me um but they're they're incredible but the hours are long but that's the price of admission and you have to turn up yeah yeah people people uh send you into this job with their vote and they have uh a reasonable expectation that you're gonna be there for them and and uh it's not just the work at the desk with the hired policy work that's really important it's also heading down to the Legion and saying hello to folks and shaking their hands so all those things are important. Oh that's good yeah one day in Halifax someone's in town for 24 hours what's the one thing they absolutely have to experience or they didn't really visit Halifax in your opinion I've mentioned the waterfront a number of times so I'm gonna say you gotta you've got to walk that waterfront from one end to the other and get a sandwich or stop into our restaurant and have a pint.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Easy night yeah absolutely the waterfront is awesome my four year old always loves he loves going down and just walking the waterfront every weekend yeah the Evergreen Fest there the other week was fantastic something the fire fire pit something yeah yeah uh all right question number five so where's the best view in the city?

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Oh I was very lucky uh a couple of years ago I got invited uh to climb up inside the tower one of the towers of the McDonald Bridge oh there's a little ladder in there you open a door out at the roadway level and you get a harness on and it's it felt like it took 15 minutes to get up there but once you get up on the top there's actually a walkway at the top of the tower. So next time you're driving across look up there and you can kind of see the railing. Yeah it might be covered right now because of the construction but it's up there and you can look one way across Dartmouth to the horizon you can look across Halifax right across the peninsula to over Cowie Hill and all the way to the horizon that way you can see right out to the mouth of the harbor harbor and the the curve of the earth on the horizon there. It's uh oh is that is that those uh that's not on my other show yeah okay any that sound that sounds like the Halifax's version of the Skywalker yeah there you go um yeah so you're up oh sorry I lost my thing you just go ahead because I got to get back okay sure so question number six so what does uh what does turning your brain off actually look like for you oh I'm a uh I'm a carpenter I've I've uh I've I'm furniture designer and builder I've built a few kitchens I've uh built some additions and do a lot of uh my own renovations so that's my meditation is uh is woodwork uh getting out my pencil and drawing a plan and then getting down to my workshop and and actually building it so that's man I'm building a deck at the spring if you uh need some time to relax come on over I just finished my front deck in time for the snow to fly and I I didn't even have a chance to sit on it and the snow came yeah right on made a new friend today that's great yeah question number seven oh my gosh yes so so no politics here man this is just the physical okay physical okay who wins a fight Andy film or Tim Houston and why just a phone nah right I I've been thinking a lot about these questions I'm a I'm a stocky guy I've got this very strong core high muscle mass Tim's lanky he's got reach he's got reach he's got this like if he if he didn't keep his chin down right come down to a game of cunning I feel like it'd be like a pit bull if you could get in under those uh get in under those armpits you could probably just wreck the body bring them down I'd get in low and get in low and yeah yeah and work them down but you know what I what I'd rather think about is what who what victories could he and I have together who could who could he and I bring down together what could we work I I believe I believe you guys get along actually quite well so that's why I thought this question was funny.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

We didn't ask it because we we think that you guys actually want to fight each other we do just to be clear. We have a lot of the same objectives and we make a pretty good team I think so great way to make good friends after a good fight in yeah in fact actually we we wanted to actually have you guys on together but it's hard to line up two very busy people's schedules yes 100% yeah so question number eight so we did talk about the super mayoral you know with the Cape powers and everything like that. That's boring.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

Let's talk about if you were a superhero what powers would you like to have oh I I have my whole life I've wanted to fly uh so uh that that would be the one to be able to to rise up above and and look down and and I and uh and like and see where you are see the city see how the how the blocks all work together um I used to try when I was young I used to try to train myself to dream in in in this way I'd read a I'd read something about it you can like if you work on it you can kind of like oh yeah push your dreams in certain directions and I would always try to fly yeah I've I've done it too and I've done it don't do a different another plane yeah you know the Weezer guy did it a lot the lead singer Weezer went to a deep deep depression flew to Nepal black blankets over the windows trying to live in a dream world all the time what's it called what it's called oh mine's a very happy dream it's it's you're soaring it's it's very uplifting yeah there's a great movie about it as well lucid dreaming question number nine lucid dreaming okay so uh question number nine uh what's one decision in politics whether it be mayor or uh in federal that kind of still weigh weighs on you a little bit that you kind of maybe we're kind of like I still think about that and I wish I did that differently geez that's a good one um uh you know I a a vote that I I I maybe cast the wrong way there probably have been one or two that uh that information there actually was one um uh we had to legislate when I was a member of parliament we had to legislate one Christmas and and you you might remember this maybe twenty eighteen or so we had to legislate Canada Post back to work at Christmas time yeah and because Christmas was going to be canceled there were trucks backed up full of and um so I voted I voted that way and later in talking to some of the the post the postal union members that I represented here in Halifax um it turns out that that MPs were given incomplete uh information and had I uh slowed down to get complete information I might have voted differently on that particular one that's that's one and then um I do have an abiding worry that uh you know um becoming an MP it's hard on your family and my daughter was very young when I made that decision. And I don't think people realize that how hard it is. Yeah yeah it's rough and so that and that caused my relationship with her some harm and we've been lucky we've been able to rebuild it but uh uh she's uh 19 now and it's great now uh but it wasn't for a long time yeah and so I you know I I would advise people to be careful about that decision if they have families and and I sometimes wonder if if I would have done it differently.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

That's a really good answer and actually really kind of good of you to be honest about that actually yeah yeah great answer.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

Yeah absolutely so question number 10 before we get to our very very last but this is the question number 10 over to you Tobin okay yeah um how Halifax's theme song so you know every city needs a soundtrack or a vibe what do you think it can't be Barrett's privateers that's silver plate we we we've we got that song it's a great song but we got to move away from that this year. What's the new Halifax theme song for 2026?

Closing Cheers And Hopes For 2026

SPEAKER_00 50:06

We built this city on rock and roll baby here we go starship love it when I was doing when I was leading the downtown plan some friends actually gave me a t-shirt with disco sparkly letters that said we built this city on I still have this t-shirt very cool I'll start to wear it again I think I think you definitely should 2026 I hope we see that t-shirt I agree so last call so last call uh this is something that we've been asking everybody in 2025 I think we're gonna keep rolling with it in 2026 just because we really really enjoy it and that is what is one piece of advice that you were given in your lifetime that you'd like to share with us oh golly um yeah uh and I've grown to live by it it's that when you are trying to make a complicated decision uh get to an answer whether it's on a council floor or in parliament or it's a community consultation or it's around your family dinner table uh nobody no one person has the right answer all by themselves. And the way to look at it is that everybody who's in that group like your family, the the council chamber everybody has a piece of the answer. And to get to the truth you need to listen and slow down and take the time to put those pieces together and that shows you the truth. That shows you the right answer.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Yeah I like it.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

Words to live by I like it too well that is it cheers to you thank you very much uh mayor Fillmore and to a successful 2026 we hope the best for you and we hope the best for Halifax so absolutely and for our show Matt Cheers to season season four thank you for kicking it off with us I think you're doing a great job it's a really hard job to do and I don't think people give that enough thanks guys I really appreciate it I wish you a great season four thanks for for doing this and we'll look forward to doing another time cheers okay