Will Halifax still be a democracy on Wednesday?

Editors note: As mentioned in the podcast last week there is no issue of the paper this week. Part of the reason for the week off is that there is backend admin to do. But part of the reason is that it is very hard to cover city hall right now and not become overwhelmed with existential dread.

On Tuesday council will vote again on the Morris Street bike lanes but this time it has nothing to do with bikes.

Council has, for years, debated and researched what to do about bike lanes on Morris. After years of research and consultation and a half dozen democratic votes by your elected representatives, Halifax made a decision about Morris Street. There are tradeoffs—there always are—but after a few years of our democratic process council made a choice that they think is best for the city. This is democracy in action.

But for some reason premier Tim Houston seems to hate the fact that Halifax’s city council made a democratic, evidence based decision that is likely to improve the city. Council flexing it's power of municipal democracy on Morris Street made Houston so mad that he sent a letter demanding Halifax undo years of work and democracy in favour of his personal vision for a worse Halifax with more pollution and congestion. In his letter he explains that if council doesn't voluntarily give up their power to make the city worse he will take their power away so he, personally, can make the city worse for you and I.

Even though at one time this debate about Morris Street may have been about a bike lane, safety, or the economic benefits of truck traffic, this debate is now about democracy.

After Tuesday's council meeting our council will either try to use their power to implement the democratically decided bike lane on Morris Street, or Halifax’s city councillors will be cowards and let themselves be threatened by Houston and vote to give up on Halifax.