HRM mayor’s job has plenty of appeal
With Mayor Mike Savage officially out, the next generation is sniffing around the starting gates and kicking the dirt to gauge their support and decide if they will enter the race for mayor.
It is wide open now that the popular incumbent has announced he won’t reoffer. That will be an attractive prospect to new candidates.
No one has officially declared their intention to run, but one name made a big splash this week.
Halifax MP Andy Fillmore appeared on everyone’s social media radar with a slick video pitch to build a housing development on the Canada Post sorting plant lands in the north end of Halifax.
It is no coincidence that Fillmore made this pitch in the same week he has been dropping some not-so-subtle hints that he is thinking about taking a run for the job of mayor.
A seasoned politician, Fillmore is launching trial balloons around Halifax and reading the response to shore up his support before throwing his hat in the ring.
As a member of Justin Trudeau’s flagging Liberal government, it’s not hard to imagine he might be considering his future career options after almost a decade as Halifax MP.
The federal election doesn’t have to be called until the fall of 2025 but, with dismal numbers in the polls, the NDP wavering on its agreement to prop up the Liberal minority and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre surging in the polls, things don’t look promising for a Liberal MP.
He could be fleeing the Good Ship Liberal before it sinks, taking his seat with it.
As a former urban planner for the City of Halifax and Dalhousie University, Fillmore’s proposal for developing the Canada Post land is well thought out.
The area is central, serviced with water, sewer and transit, and close to hospitals.
The 11.8-hectare parcel — now occupied by the postal depot, the Mayflower Curling Club, retail outlets, a service station, parking lots and a warehouse — is large enough to accommodate 5,000 units and 10,000 residents.
The area has been identified by city staff as underutilized land and a potential future growth node in the north end.
The idea is still just a proposal. Canada Post would have to move its depot, and residents would have to be consulted on the densification of the area.
This wasn’t Fillmore’s only splash this week.
He also announced a federal program to help Nova Scotians buy heat pumps. The feds will kick in with $15,000 and Nova Scotia will match that amount, making $30,000 available to low- and medium-income households.
Fillmore has certainly raised his profile and set a tone for a run at municipal politics if he decides to offer.
Other names we have seen for a potential candidacy are councillors Waye Mason and Pam Lovelace.
Earlier this year, Mason announced he wouldn’t be running for council.
He had suggested that he might be interested in running for mayor if Savage decided not to, but he’s recently walked that back, saying now might not be the right time for him.
Lovelace is councillor for Hammonds Plains and Upper Tantallon, communities ravaged by the wildfires last May.
One hundred and fifty houses were destroyed, and residents had to flee smokefilled corridors surrounded by fire. Lovelace has been lobbying council to build emergency exits in her district.
She hasn’t yet announced her candidacy. Halifax still hasn’t had a woman mayor so Lovelace would make an interesting candidate.
Savage and Mason aren’t the only municipal politicians leaving their posts.
Councillors Shawn Cleary, Lindell Smith, Lisa Blackburn and Tim Outhit have said they will not reoffer.
None have hinted at a run for mayor.
There is still plenty of time for new names.
The deadline for nominations doesn’t come until early September. Municipal elections across Nova Scotia will be held Oct. 19.