Huddle’s Top Ten Stories From Halifax In 2020
It has been, as the kids say, a year.
Covid-19 arrived and, like an old friend that shows up to crash on your couch and just never leaves, completely disrupted our lives and hijacked all our plans.
Huddle readers clearly felt that. Nearly all of our most-read stories from Halifax this year were somehow pandemic-related.
Our readers gobbled up news about where and how Covid-19 was affecting Nova Scotians and paid keen attention to stories quoting the premier as they searched for clues about his government’s plans.
But although the pandemic hung over everything in 2020, other things did happen. A few of our most-read stories touch on them — from new development in the downtown core to apparent tax handouts to big corporations.
Here’s a list of our ten most-read Halifax stories from 2020.
1) Why A Halifax Landlord Nearly Doubled The Rent For One Of His Tenants
Burbling beneath the Covid-19 headlines this year was Halifax’s deepening housing crisis, perhaps best personified by Gracie Fogarty.
In October, Fogarty’s landlord hit her with a $650 notice of rent increase, leaving the gas station attendant “totally petrified” she would be forced to live on the street.
The supply of new housing being built in Halifax hasn’t kept pace with the growing population, leading to rock-bottom vacancy rates. It’s making it harder for people like Fogarty to find affordable places to live. Covid-19 has only amplified the problem.
Stories from Fogarty and others eventually pressured the provincial government into capping rent increases and halting “renovictions” for the duration of the pandemic.
2) Halifax Businessman Stuck In Barbados Calls Situation ‘Catastrophic’
Local business owner Scott Colwell was in Barbados in early March when Covid-19-related shutdowns began.
As Huddle first reported, Colwell was unable to find a flight out of the country and was left scrambling to manage layoffs, pay bills, and form a plan as business at his restaurant dried up almost overnight.
His plight is a telling snapshot of the chaos small business owners were thrust into when Covid-19 first hit the region.
3) Why Halifax Homes Are Getting Pricier During The Covid-19 Recession
Covid-19 also had wild and unexpected impacts on Halifax’s housing market.
A few months into the pandemic, with the economy all but shut down, the first signs emerged that house prices were actually going up.
Throughout the year, pandemic-fueled supply-and-demand strains accelerated an already hot market, eventually leading the Canadian Mortgage and House Corporation to issue a warning about over-evaluation in the city.
4) Here’s How The Bedford Superstore Dealt With Its Covid-19 Case
The Bedford Superstore was one of the first big businesses in Halifax to identify a Covid-19 case in one of its employees.
After news of the infection broke, management ushered shoppers out of the store and shut down for a deep clean.
So much about Covid-19 was still unknown at the time, so readers were particularly interested in Huddle’s account of what went down that day.
5.) McNeil Wants Open Borders With All Provinces By Mid-July, Atlantic Bubble Sooner
In June, as the first wave of Covid-19 began to wane in Nova Scotia, the debate over when and how to lift public health restrictions intensified.
Free movement in and out of Nova Scotia was still almost entirely banned, but cash-strapped businesses — especially tourism-reliant ones like restaurants and hotels — we’re pleading for fewer regulations.
It’s why heads turned when Premier Stephen McNeil said in a press briefing he wanted borders open to the rest of Canada within a few weeks.
The “Atlantic Bubble” he mentioned at the time became a saving grace for the province, however, travel to the rest of Canada remains restricted.
6) How One Customer’s Review Caused This Restaurant To Sell Out Of Food
Like nearly all businesses, Sydelle’s Fish and Chips struggled to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But in April, one customer’s online review caught fire and sent a surge of new customers to the business, giving owner David Nicholson a much needed financial and emotional boost.
7) Major Waterfront Development Approved in Halifax
In July, a much-anticipated development project along the Halifax waterfront was given the go-ahead by the city’s design review committee.
Southwest Properties’ Cunard project would have been a 16-storey, mixed-use complex featuring a combination of retail space and more than 250 residential units.
Less than two months later, Halifax Regional Council rejected the project after citizens appealed during the next stage of the approval process.
8) N.S. Premier ‘Won’t Think Twice’ About Shutting Down Economy If Covid-19 Spread Continues
In November, the second wave of Covid-19 hit Nova Scotia.
The province had returned to some measure of normalcy as infections fell to nearly zero, but the sudden spike of new cases would eventually burst the Atlantic bubble and prompt a new round of public health restrictions.
Just before that happened, Premier Stephen McNeil gave the province a wake-up call when he said, unequivocally, he wouldn’t hesitate to shut down the economy to curb Covid-19’s spread.
9) Did Nova Scotia Ease Restrictions Too Soon? This Halifax Politician Says Yes
In May, the provincial government took its first tentative steps towards easing first-wave lockdown restrictions, allowing people to use public parks and trails.
While many took the news with heaving sighs of relief, Richard Zurawski, who was a Halifax councilor at the time, questioned the decision.
He said Covid-19 was still around — and still dangerous — and argued the government was caving to businesses interests that wanted to put economic health ahead of public safety.
10) ‘Sneaky’ Policy Change Gives Multinational Brewing Company Local Producer Status In N.S.
In July, Huddle broke the news that the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation had changed an entire policy so that “commercial breweries” could be considered local producers.
The only brewery affected by the change was Labatt, which is run by the same multi-national corporation that owns Budweiser, Corona, and about 200 other beer brands.
The change meant Labatt qualified for the same tax breaks that were once reserved for small, local breweries, meaning the company could avoid paying about $750,000 in taxes every year.