Halifax | 9
Halifax’s future development. HRM hopes
to mitigate the impact of climate change
with the aforementioned green initiatives,
but has also modeled the impact of sea level
rise and used the data to plan future devel-
opment accordingly. He freely shares this in-
formation with the military, scientific com-
munity, and public, acknowledging that this
data has made its way into land use bylaws,
which ensure that private contractors build
on safe land.
It is of paramount importance that de-
velopment in Halifax simultaneously strives
forward, yet never disregards its rich histori-
cal framework. One of the key issues for the
Council is figuring out how to reinvest and
reinvigorate the downtown core while main-
taining its integrity as one of Canada’s oldest
cities. The team in Halifax feels that this is
accomplished by understanding the condi-
tion of the assets they currently have (such as
is the case with the waterfront), understand-
ing the levels of service the public wants, and
investing wisely.
SHIPS START HERE
The biggest coup in Halifax’s recent his-
tory, however, was the landing of a massive
shipbuilding contract with the federal gov-
ernment in 2011. The projected $35-billion
contract will mostly go to Halifax’s Irving
shipbuilders, but the contract will have eco-
nomic ramifications across the country for
the next few decades. The Greater Halifax
Partnership projects that in a typical peak
year during the contract Nova Scotia’s real
GDP will increase by $800-million, as com-
pared to the $569-million increase among
other provinces. Furthermore, the Partner-
ship estimates that by 2016, the contract
may create as many as 10,000 jobs per year.
The contract is, however, actualizing itself
slowly. Defense Minister Peter MacKay
inked the first $9.3-million in July 2012, a
preliminary contract with Irving designed
to facilitate the review of existing ships
and plan the execution phase. But it was, as
MacKay said, “the starting gun . . . [that] her-
alds the creation of countless good-paying,
long-term jobs”. The Halifax motto: “From
the Sea, Wealth” has perhaps never proved
so prescient. In all eventualities, the capital
that can’t decide if it is a small big city or a
big small city has, undoubtedly, just become
a little larger.
