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Group wants to move city foward
Group hopes to put Halifax at top of heap
By STEVE PROCTOR Proctor's Piece
Fri. Nov 23 - 6:18 AM
HOW DO YOU make Halifax the most vibrant and livable city in Canada in the next decade?
That’s the challenge a small but powerful group of Halifax business leaders has been quietly exploring for the past several months.
While city councillors have been fighting about cat licensing and cynics of all stripes have been celebrating or bemoaning the loss of the Commonwealth Games or Celine Dion, a dozen men and women have been spending their Saturday mornings trying to find a bigger, brighter vision for the province and create a way for the public to embrace it.
They’ve looked at what works around the globe and decided on a made-in-Canada strategy that has been working in Vancouver since 1937.
The non-partisan grassroots group is not ready for a public launch — they are still getting their legs under them — but on Thursday they confirmed there is an appetite for new ideas. Based on word of mouth alone, 150 people showed up at the Sports Hall of Fame before breakfast to learn about the Citizens for Halifax Society.
"There’s a problem with a lack of vision," said pollster Don Mills, who led the meeting. "People are frustrated about the lack of leadership they see. People want to get things done but the city seems stuck in neutral."
As he led the meeting, Mr. Mills made it clear the society’s goal was to engage people at all levels to come together to create a framework for the future that would lead to a more vibrant, optimistic and sustainable economy. The group is not about personalities, he insisted, and it would not become a forum for whiners or complainers.
What are the challenges that have necessitated the creation of a non-partisan group with political intentions? Mr. Mills rattles them off easily: City council’s focus on inconsequential matters, low community engagement, growing negativity, the loss of identity of the city under the HRM moniker and an overly large 23-person council with rural-urban divisions that impede progress.
What will the new group work toward? He rattles those off too: Healthy relationships with all levels of government, a safe, culturally diverse city that embraces innovation, sustainability and financial viability, a greater understanding of the needs of the disadvantaged, engaged citizens, and finding candidates to reflect those priorities in a civic election.
Mr. Mills said the issue of the rural-urban split needs to be addressed as soon as possible. By that he means splitting Halifax Regional Municipality into two sections: One rural and one urban.
"Until we figure that out, it doesn’t really matter if we can change the leadership."
Mr. Mills was doing the talking Thursday, but make no mistake, the group has depth. Charter members include credit union head Jamie Baillie, technology and marketing keener Malcolm Fraser, event organizer Robert Zed, former Saint Mary’s University president Ken Ozmon, SMU external affairs czar Chuck Bridges, IWK Foundation president Robbie Shaw, office furniture king Jim Mills and Barb Stegemann, Trade Centre Ltd.’s communications manager.
Mr. Mills cautions that the group is still in its infancy. Its website won’t be up for 10 days and he’d like to see a minimum of 1,000 members, each committed to paying a $20 membership fee, before an official launch in January. It is tentatively slated to coincide with celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of democracy.
I could be wrong, but with the buzz in the room Thursday and the way people were throwing out their $20s to sign up, I hope the group reserves a big room for its coming-out party.
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