Halifax's new mayor talks traffic problems, future additional encampment sites

Halifax’s new regional council met in chambers for the first time on Tuesday, after being officially sworn in earlier this month.

The council has eight new faces, including the incoming mayor and former Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, who won the municipal election in October.

As Halifax’s newest mayor, Fillmore says it’s a title he’s not sure he will ever get used to.

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“I was asked the preference between ‘Your worship’ and ‘Mr. mayor’ or ‘mayor,’ and I chose the more informal ‘mayor,’” said Fillmore, during an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis on Wednesday.

Many issues were brought to the table during the council’s first meeting, including the possibility of new future encampment sites and traffic issues.

The future of additional encampment sites

During his first full meeting as mayor, Fillmore brought up a motion to remove the nine future encampment sites council identified back in July.

“At that time, it was very likely the right decision. There was a feeling that there would be a great number more people moving into tents in Halifax and that there needed to be some place safe to accommodate them,” he said.

“But the conditions have changed dramatically now, many more options that are more elevated than tents that have better supports around them. So, things like tiny homes and Pallet shelters, enhanced shelters that are indoors and warm with wraparound supports, and many, many more options are available now.”

Fillmore said following informal conversations with some housing partners, it appears there’s already enough capacity where more encampment expansion sites are no longer needed.

“The solution to this is not more tents and more encampments. The solution to this is moving people indoors. And so, that’s where this renewed partnership, as a result of this municipal election with the provincial government, comes into play,” he said.

“So, my team and I are in constant contact with the provincial Department of Community Services and the ministry there, and it’s very clear that options other than tents are emerging and it’s really time that this issue be put back with the jurisdiction that it belongs, which is housing of course being a provincial matter of jurisdiction.”

However, the new mayor says there are still things the city can do to support the housing crisis, which he says is allowing more homes to be built at a faster pace.

Traffic issues around the Halifax Regional Municipality

Traffic issues are a topic Fillmore says he’s heard a lot about since being sworn in.

He said he has some immediate solutions in mind to help the problem, including making improvements to transit.

“That would make it a viable alternative to people who are choosing today to use their cars. If we look around at the congestion, we see that it is mostly single-occupant vehicles that are causing the congestion, so if we can provide a transit option that is more usable and user friendly and reliable, then I think we can really do a lot,” he said.

As far as how that can be accomplished, Fillmore says the first step is introducing a bus-rapid transit system.

“So, this is unlike the bus lanes that we see through the city now which compete for the same roadway with traffic and get into right turning motions and all those things that slow the buses down. The bus-rapid transit would be in their own separate right of ways, which allow the buses to move very quickly and free of traffic signals.”

There’s been a lot of talk about the option of commuter rail, which Fillmore says would cost significantly more than the bus-rapid transit option.

“The bus-rapid transit solution is about a tenth of the cost of light rail and would be in place in about a third of the timeline. So, in three or four years rather than a decade, and can move the same number of people,” said Fillmore.

“I would say the cost is so extraordinary for light rail at this moment that it would consume I think the entire federal national fund that’s now been created for transit only in Halifax.”

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