N.S. housing minister agrees to small changes to proposed law on development in Halifax
CBC
Nova Scotia's Housing Minister John Lohr has proposed minor changes to a controversial bill he introduced two weeks ago.
Once passed, the amendments to the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter and the Housing in the Halifax Regional Municipality Act will give the province greater power over development in the capital city.
Municipal councillors denounced the proposed law known as Bill 329 as an "autocratic intrusion into municipal affairs."
Although the amendments proposed on Friday do not change the thrust of the bill, one of the changes could mean a lot to three businesses that suffered damages in last spring's wildfire.
The owners of Moulding Warehouse, Giant Steps Children's Centre and Forestkids Early Learning in the Tantallon area have been lobbying the city for a property tax break because their businesses were either heavily damaged or destroyed by the fires.
"We lost everything," said Donna Buckland, the owner of the Giant Steps. "We lost a spot for 68 children."
"Every child in that area has some kind of memory of being in the building."
About two weeks ago, HRM staff recommended against tax concessions for the three businesses because the city's charter did not allow for it.
Friday's amendment, agreed to by all three parties in the House, clarifies the charter to give the municipality the green light to offer a tax break to businesses that have suffered major fire damage.
Lohr said the amendment gets rid of contradictory sections in the bill and added "greater certainty" surrounding commercial property tax breaks.
"We all care about those businesses that have been impacted and if there's something that we can do, then we want to do that to help them."
The Liberal MLA for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, Ben Jessome, proposed the change.
"I think it's wonderful," Jessome told reporters after his amendment passed. "Even a little bit helps with respect to their pocketbooks and trying to rebuild."
Buckland said she was excited to hear the House had cleared the way for a possible tax break.
Most people would prefer to spend the Christmas holiday weekend in warmth and comfort — but a Philadelphia man is going to spend it trudging 120 kilometres in the cold across Windsor-Essex.
Long before the first Calgary Stampede, the city attracted a different kind of cowboy.
After waiting four years to get his son the support the family says he needs to navigate school with learning challenges, a father from London, Ont. is fighting to make equitable healthcare and education a fundamental right.
Waterloo region and Guelph are under two yellow weather alerts warning of freezing rain changing to heavy rainfall Sunday, Environment Canada says.
A survey recently conducted on Prince Edward Island turned up a type of freshwater snail that experts say has never before been identified in the Maritimes.
A downtown Toronto long-term care home is rebuilding with a new design that considers lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, going beyond the province’s standards — but some say those standards are out of date.
It’s another wet and stormy day for much of Newfoundland and Labrador.
It’s been years since the tiny but aggressive European green crab made its way over to the Magdalen Islands, and some researchers in Quebec are warning it could be headed for the Gaspé next.
An early morning fire on Boxing Day has displaced almost 40 guests at a motel in Nanaimo, B.C.
Michael Hage scored on a power play 44 seconds into overtime as Canada survived a blown late lead to pick up a 2-1 victory over Latvia at the world junior hockey championship Saturday in Minneapolis.
Firefighters responded to an e-scooter fire at Casey House just before 3 p.m. Saturday.
One man is in custody after two people were killed near Grande Prairie, Alta. early Saturday morning.
Toronto police identified the victim of a stabbing in Liberty Village on Friday night.