Andy Fillmore elected Halifax’s next mayor

Three-term councillor Waye Mason concedes contest

Richard Cuthbertson · CBC ·

Former Liberal MP Andy Fillmore will be the next mayor of Halifax, fending off challenges from his nearest rivals in a crowded field of candidates to win Saturday’s municipal election.

He told a room full of supporters at a pub in north-end Halifax that he was “grateful and humbled” to be elected the next mayor of Halifax.

“This is Halifax’s time,” he said. “Our opportunity is here in every corner of HRM. We’ll embrace it, we’ll meet this moment.”

Fillmore, a city planner before he entered federal politics in 2015, has criticized the municipality for allowing new homeless encampments, and campaigned on pledges such as speeding up building permit approvals and improving the flow of traffic.

His nearest challenger, three-term councillor Waye Mason, conceded defeat roughly an hour and a half after polls closed.

As of 7:15 a.m. Sunday, Fillmore had garnered 42.4 per cent of the vote, with Mason at 25.0 per cent and councillor Pam Lovelace in third place at 16 per cent. Only four of 427 polls remained unreported.

In a news release issued Sunday morning, the city said the ballot validation process will resume at 11 a.m.

Fillmore, 58, is one of a number of new faces who will sit on Halifax regional council, with five incumbent councillors not running for re-election in their districts.

Halifax was among more than 40 towns and municipalities in Nova Scotia that held elections Saturday, including the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which elected Cecil Clarke as its next mayor.

Fillmore launched his campaign for Halifax’s top political job in July, but only stepped down in early September as MP for the federal riding of Halifax. His efforts to reach municipal voters included advertising at bus stop shelters and extensively on social media.

Mason campaigned on improving transit, cutting building permit wait times and boosting the supply of affordable housing. He and Fillmore crossed swords most prominently on homeless encampments.

Fillmore said the municipality’s approach, which has allowed designated tent sites, has encouraged homeless people from across the country to move to Halifax, a claim Mason said was baseless and not supported by data collected by the city.

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Fillmore said in an interview with CBC following his victory speech that key issues in the city are traffic congestion, which is making people late for work and delaying buses, the price of housing and the residential tax increase voted in by council.

“People have taken a look around the city and seen that the way we’re managing our growth is not working for us, it’s working against us,” he said.

He touted his background as a city planner, and said he plans to call Premier Tim Houston to tell him he has a “partner” in the mayor, council and municipality to “solve the housing crisis.”

That involves building more houses quickly, he said, by speeding up approvals, making available more low-cost land for development and removing roadblocks to things such as modular housing.

Waye Mason is shown with supporters Saturday in Halifax after conceding defeat to Fillmore in Halifax’s mayoral race. (Celina Aalders/CBC)

Mason said in an interview with CBC that Fillmore’s name recognition and extensive advertising were tough to overcome, and “we just weren’t able to bridge over that.”

He said during his 12 years on council, which dovetailed with Mike Savage’s tenure as mayor, the city has made great progress.

“We’re now an economic powerhouse and we’re the envy of the country,” he said.

Savage announced in February he would not be running again. Before entering municipal politics, he was the Liberal MP for the riding of Dartmouth-Cole Harbour. This week, Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Savage Nova Scotia’s next lieutenant-governor.

Fillmore spoke to supporters gathered at a Halifax pub Saturday night. (CBC)

Sixteen people ran for mayor, with another 63 contesting 16 council seats across the municipality.

Halifax council results

A number of council incumbents — Cathy Deagle Gammon, Becky Kent, Trish Purdy, Sam Austin, Tony Mancini, and Kathryn Morse — won re-election, some of them handily.

Incumbents David Hendsbee and Patty Cuttell appear poised to win, but a few polls were unreported as of Sunday morning.

Some races were tight, including District 9 (Halifax West – Armdale), where Shawn Cleary held off challenger Tonya Malay to win by 96 votes in a six-candidate race.

New councillors

In District 12 (Timberlea – Beechville – Clayton Park – Wedgewood), Janet Steele topped incumbent Iona Stoddard by roughly 1,000 votes.

In District 15 (Lower Sackville), incumbent Paul Russell lost by just over 200 votes to Billy Gillis.

The other new faces to council are:

• Laura White (District 7, Halifax South Downtown).
• Virginia Hinch (District 8, Halifax Peninsula North).
• Nancy Hartling (District 13, Prospect Road – St. Margarets).
• John A. Young (District 14, Hammonds Plains – Upper Hammonds Plains – Lucasville – Middle & Upper Sackville).
• Jean St. Amand (District 16, Bedford – Wentworth).

Unofficial results of the Halifax municipal election are posted here.

Richard Cuthbertson

Richard Cuthbertson is a journalist with CBC Nova Scotia. He can be reached at richard.cuthbertson@cbc.ca.

With files from Michael Gorman

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