Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore walks along the city's waterfront in June.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
The huge submarine purchase planned by the Liberal government will mean a boost in defensive capabilities on all three coasts. It will also mean a major ramping up of the country’s traditional sub bases on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts: in Halifax and in Esquimalt, B.C.
Twelve new submarines will mean an increase in navy sailor numbers, as well as maintenance facilities that themselves must be staffed. There will be related jobs and spillover spending. But the boom will bring with it difficulties, and the two regions must prepare to meet the moment.
While Greater Victoria, which counts Esquimalt as one of its 13 municipalities, has seen slowing growth, Halifax continues to experience rapid population increase. The city is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the country, with a corresponding chorus of complaints about traffic and housing, the price of which can force young people to leave.
The coming surge associated with the sub order will pile additional pressure on the city and a weekend report in The Globe and Mail expressed doubts “whether a city built on a 19th-century foundation can support the weight of its newest national ambitions.”
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Mayor Andy Fillmore has his own concerns about Halifax’s institutional ability to be ready. The mayor, a former city planner elected in 2024, warns that city hall must change to meet the future that is steaming toward it. He worries about what he calls a culture of restraint among city staff, and a cautious and measured ethos on city council.
“Middle powers like Canada are being called to collaborate to gird against the rise of strongman regimes,” he said in an interview last month. “Canada is being called on to play a role in that, and in turn Canada is calling on Halifax and Halifax must deliver. So there is an urgency and an imperative here.”
Last year Mr. Fillmore appeared set to receive boosted powers from the province, which would have helped him drive through his agenda, though Nova Scotia ultimately did not introduce the legislation. While the mayor is on the record as supporting such powers, his current line is that it’s “not the reality on the ground right now.”
As with many municipalities, the mayor of Halifax holds one vote at city hall and must secure backing from councillors to advance his agenda.
That has led to frustration by Mr. Fillmore. He fumed last year, incorrectly, that the chief administrative officer, the city’s top bureaucrat, was the person actually in charge in Halifax. “I report to the CAO,” he told a CBC radio program.
In fact, the CAO is hired by and reports to council. However, Mr. Fillmore is correct that the mayor is the only person on city council with a mandate from voters across the municipality. And that the current structure leaves the CAO no obligation to tailor city efforts to the mayor’s agenda.
That should change.
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While Nova Scotia did not actually table strong-mayor legislation, media reports suggest the model being considered was similar to Ontario’s approach. That province allows mayors to pass some bylaws with minority council support, strengthens their hand in creating the city budget and gives them the power to hire and fire senior city staff.
A part of this plan that would be worth resurrecting is mayoral authority to hire and fire top bureaucrats.
Clearly, this is a power that would have to be used sparingly. A perception that these jobs were a partisan revolving door would stop good candidates applying, which would hurt the city. However, it may not be necessary for mayors to play the heavy. Just knowing that they serve at the pleasure of the mayor would presumably leave the CAO open to the merits of his or her agenda.
It would be unwise to overstate the difficulties facing Halifax, which remains a very successful city. A survey done recently for a local economic development organization found that three-quarters of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their life in Halifax. The city, which has not quite half the province’s population, accounted for 93 per cent of Nova Scotia’s net real GDP growth last year.
But Halifax is facing real challenges as it grows. It must prepare for a future that is already here, and will only get more difficult.
To help the mayor lead that charge he needs the power to hire a senior team that can meet that challenge, for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Canada.
Editor’s note: On July 3, Halifax Regional Municipality announced that it had selected a new chief administrative officer. An outdated reference appeared in the Tuesday editorial.