Originally published by the Chronicle Herald:
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/9008259.html

By SILVER DONALD CAMERON
Tue. Sep 2, 2008

THE MAYOR of Halifax has very little actual power," explained the mayor of Hali­fax. “But he can use his office to bring people together, he can speak out on issues that matter, and he can lead by example."
The year was 1968, exactly 40 years ago. The mayor’s name was Allan O’Brien, and my profile of him was my first national magazine article, in the long-vanished Star Weekly.

I quote O’Brien from memory, but I know the substance is correct, be­cause I subsequently came to know him quite well. He was a splendid representative of Halifax, a deep­rooted Nova Scotian with a global vision and a powerful view of his city’s role in the world. He was a na­tional vice-president of the NDP, a dedicated advocate for social justice and a vigorous opponent of the Viet­nam War. Was it appropriate for the mayor of Halifax to speak out on such matters?

“We’re all very concerned about our own local issues, as we should be," he said. “But I don’t regard that as an excuse for ignoring the plight of our neighbours — anywhere in the world."

O’Brien sprang to mind recently when I read a speech by Brian Flem­ming to the fledgling organization called Citizens for Halifax (www.citi­zensforhalifax. ca). I don’t believe that the old City of Halifax was ever again led by a politician of O’Brien’s stature — and Flemming’s analysis of munici­pal politics today suggests that its clumsy successor never will be either.

As Flemming makes clear, Halifax Regional Municipality — let’s be blunt — is a disaster. I liked John Savage and I honour his memory, but his amalgamation of numerous small­er municipal units to form HRM and CBRM was a breathtakingly dumb idea.

As Flemming notes, Nova Scotia politics is dominated by rural Nova Scotia, which is deeply suspicious of the capital. By including all of Halifax County in HRM, Savage ensured that the same dysfunction now exists with­in HRM itself — and compounded the problems by instituting an unwieldy 23-member council, of which only four members are from the genuinely urban peninsula of Halifax, and none are elected at large.

The result is a city council in which the city has no voice. Decisions about pivotal urban issues are taken by rural councillors obsessed, says Flem­ming, with “potholes in Ecum Secum or Hubbards." Among the great achievements of this camel of a coun­cil is the passage, after endless hours of debate, of an unenforceable cat­control bylaw to set alongside the unenforceable dog-control bylaw.

This is scandalous. Small though it is, Halifax is a world city. Its history is about cataclysmic conflicts, the clash of empires, international trade, cul­ture and communication. Halifax is leafy and hard-edged, salty and intimate, bustling with students and artists and movers and shakers, small enough to be conve­nient, large enough to provide a genu­ine urban lifestyle. Its leadership needs to combine local pride with global vision, treasuring the city’s heritage while embracing its future as a model of sustainability and innova­tion. Instead, it’s obsessed with cat control.

Flemming offers no prescriptions for structural changes in HRM, but it’s obvious that we need somehow to separate the truly urban districts ringing Halifax Harbour from the outer reaches of what was once Hali­fax County. HRM is a shotgun mar­riage that serves neither population well. In the meantime, Flemming has some useful suggestions to make about one of the major issues affect­ing the city, namely transportation.

Flemming chaired the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel of 2001, and he contends the core of the transportation system is still the road network. He suggests numerous use­ful improvements in road transporta­tion — a tiered, closed-in highway along the railway cutting into the south end, a third Halifax Harbour crossing (possibly a tunnel), a bridge across the North­west Arm, pos­sibly the reloca­tion of the two container piers to the Shearwater lands in Dart­mouth.

His most impor­tant suggestion is the creation of an HRM Transporta­tion Authority to plan and co-ordi­nate transportation in the municipal­ity. The authority would be governed by an independent board of directors, including representatives from such heavy users of the roads as truckers and commuters. Flemming would also give the authority the power to sup­port viable alternatives to roads, in­cluding fast ferries from Bedford and Purcells Cove, light commuter rail service to Bedford and Lower Sack­ville, bike paths and buses.

Such an authority would benefit every part of HRM. The province would have to create it, but it’s hard to imagine why any provincial politician would oppose it. Even more impor­tant, it might be a first step toward liberating the capital from the paraly­sis that now grips it, a vivid example of the foresight and vision that a great little city so desperately needs.

Citizens for Halifax, this would be a great place to start.

Silver Donald Cameron’s website is www.sil­verdonaldcameron.ca