A Dartmouth councillor is calling the contentious buzz around making a busy street in downtown Halifax one way, a political circus.
In his E-news letter for August, Sam Austin says the premier’s ultimatum to reverse course on the vote, is an “uninformed knee-jerk reaction” and “political posturing”.
“The premier making hay in media interviews, the premier’s letter being immediately released to social media rather than having it sent through normal intergovernmental channels and the PC Party running an online petition,” says Austin. “None of this is how governments normally engage which each other. None of this is how anything constructive ever gets done.”
Regional Council voted to change Morris Street one-way last month in favor of bikes lanes going in both directions – a decision, Austin says, that came with a lot of consultation.
However, the move had Premier Tim Houston claiming council has a “serious disconnect” between how council serves the citizens of HRM and their decisions.
Houston then issued a letter threatening to use Bill 24 on the vote to reverse it if council doesn’t change their mind by August 6.
Council will revisit the Morris Street decision when they meet again Tuesday, August 5.
Austin says the letter, along with “disparaging comments” about council, a press conference and media appearances is a lot of activity, but the province provided nothing to HRM when the decision was actually made.
He adds, the decision on Morris Street was not on a whim and did not come out of “thin air”, only the province was silent on the issue until the vote went through.
“We had zero feedback from them. I want to extend my apologies to the premier that we were unable to read his mind,” says Austin.
Strong Mayor Powers
There has been a lot of chatter about giving strong mayor powers to Mayor Andy Fillmore in recent weeks.
They would give Andy Fillmore veto power on municipal decisions with little council support.
Premier Tim Houston has used the decision on Morris Street as an example as to why he might implement them.
Austin says the idea of strong mayor powers has become a campaign by Andy Fillmore and he’s very concerned about what they might mean for democracy.
“Making senior staff and the CAO directly responsible to the mayor alone risks politicizing the civil service and undermining the quality of advice that council gets in making decisions,” says Austin. “This is a power grab.”
Austin says he has been on council for the past nine years and these last few weeks have been unprecedented.
“It’s been very chaotic and divisive and nothing like the last eight years.”
