This week’s episode of the Insights Podcast features a candid, wide-ranging conversation with Andy Fillmore, who recently celebrated one year in the job of Mayor of Halifax.
He talks about the challenges of delivering on the mandate he was elected on with the current council governance format and the weak mayor powers.
There have been few past mayors elected who have had the kind of relevant experience that Fillmore brings to the job.
He was the first urban planner hired by the municipality after spending more than a decade in the US doing urban planning.
While at the municipality, he led HRM by Design, the blueprint for the city’s development.
He was also the Vice President of the Waterfront Development Corporation and played a leading role in the plan to develop what is now Halifax’s extraordinary waterfront.
He served for nine years as Halifax’s MP, during which he transformed Halifax from among the lowest recipients of federal investment to one of the highest, helping attract NATO’s DIANA to Halifax and opening up Georges Island to tourism.
He brings ambition and big-picture thinking to the job.
He has a focus on housing & homelessness, affordability, transit & congestion, urban growth & planning. And he offers his views on the current debate about bike lanes. Don’t miss this conversation.
