In this conversation with members of OBRA, Pam Lovelace, a candidate running for mayor, discusses her motivations and vision for addressing key issues facing the community, including housing insecurity, public transit, food deserts, and the impact of uncertainty on mental health. She emphasizes the need for collaboration between municipal and provincial governments to better serve residents, highlighting the lack of coordination as a major problem. Lovelace advocates for more inclusive decision-making, policies that consider the needs of children, and long-term solutions such as improving transit through light rail systems. She expresses her commitment to being approachable and working closely with the community to drive positive change.
Transcription:
[Céline]
So first I'd like to ask you, Pam, to maybe introduce yourself and let us know why you decided to become mayor.
[Pam Lovelace]
Oh, thanks. Pam Lovelace, Councillor for District 13, Hammonds Plains, St. Margaret. I'm not a career politician, but I have been Deputy Mayor for HRM.
And I'm running for mayor because I think our municipality is headed in the wrong direction. And Ocean Breeze is a great example of that. People are living in a lack of certainty for where they're going to be.
We've got people left behind, they're sleeping in tents, and we have had such little coordination between, and relationship between the provincial government and the municipal government. And obviously the municipality, we have our own little bailiwick here, the provinces, their bailiwick over there. And those silos are exactly why we're in the position that we're in with people like yourselves not having the certainty that you need and your children not being sure, can I continue to sleep here?
And that creates an incredible health and trauma and just anxiety within young people, but within all of us who are just trying to figure out, what do we need to do, not only to help you, but to stop this from happening in the first place, so that we don't end up in this same situation where dozens and dozens of units are just closed. And we're wondering, yourselves are wondering, well where do we go now? So I'm here because I want to find out how we can change this system, because the system is not working for you, it's not working for us.
And we need to be able to go to the province and exactly outline, here are the things that we need, whether it's legislative authority, whether it's different processes or regulations or what have you. But this is completely unfair, and so that's why I've stepped up. I really believe that we can fix the city, but that we need to do it together.
[Céline]
Well we're really glad you showed up, because we've put out invitations to all the candidates, and of the top three, you're the only one who's come. So we really appreciate being seen, that was part of the issue I think for a lot of Ocean Breeze residents, is we felt like we were part of a problem, but we weren't seen, we were just shoved off to the side. So it's good to go, first of all also, it's nice to see a woman running in politics.
[Pam Lovelace]
Thank you. I'm all for that.
[Céline]
I think you're the only woman, I believe?
[Pam Lovelace]
I am, out of 16, yes.
[Céline]
You're the only woman running out of 16.
[Pam Lovelace]
Out of 16, yes.
[Céline]
Well let's hope the next time there's a lot more.
[Pam Lovelace]
I hope so, and that's another reason why I'm running, to be an example for others to step up. And you know, it isn't easy, it's a lot of work. With that being said, I love this city, and I feel like there are far too many people who are struggling, far too many people who are left behind, because decisions have been made for decades, for a very select group of people, and those folks are the winners, and it's time for all of us to be the winners, and actually continue to build safe, connected communities, where people can live, work, play, have fun, and not be worried, you know, every night you put your head on the pillow, whether or not you can do this for another night, or will this be your last night here?
[Céline]
Absolutely, that's on my mind, a lot of people have been, and I think also the safety concerns, I know that, as you mentioned earlier, the mental health concerns about living with this uncertainty, there have been a lot more incidents of small crime in our little neighborhood, I know the children are a little angsty and anxious, there's not much for them to do here, we're quite removed, we're even in a food desert over here, our owners have declined us to be able to have a food pantry, so we try and bring food to the community any way we can, these are all things that the city might be able to help us with, there is city land around here that maybe we could put a food pantry on, I know we had approached Tony about this, but didn't get an answer from him, so hopefully we can move on that.
[Pam Lovelace]
Absolutely, I think that's important, food insecurity leads to a lot of anxiety as well, so it's working in other communities, I don't understand why we can't do that here, so I'm happy to help you with that.
[Céline]
And the schools too, we are worried, I know you have children in schools here, both of you, I don't, but I have a grandson in the school at Shannon Park, and I know the children are asking questions as they do about what's going to happen to their homes and their schools, so...
[Julie]
They don't want to go, so they're losing their friends.
[Céline]
For us, we can deal with it as soon as we think of our children, and it becomes a very emotional question.
[Pam Lovelace]
100%. And it's completely unfair to young people, and I've said this for years, that when we have policy, that policy should be written with the lens of a child in mind. Right?
I've said this for a long time, because at the end of the day, if we're creating policy that doesn't benefit a child, it's actually not going to benefit, there's going to be somebody that's left behind. So let's think about that as a community, how can we make sure we're making better decisions for the entire community, not just the selected few. I read also, and I know your policies also talk about transit.
[Céline]
I think, having moved here from Montreal, I was very disappointed in the transit here, because I honestly don't use it, because it's not reliable, and it doesn't go where I need it to go, or when I need it to go. So these are things too, for middle-income and lower-income families, that's very important to have access to. Our busing here is often disturbed and very difficult.
So what do you think you could bring for citizens? If you're elected next.
[Pam Lovelace]
So I think that Halifax Transit needs to be completely transformed into a Capital Region Transportation Commission, and we need to rethink how we're doing it. My husband came from Montreal, my family, my father and grandparents, they're from Hamburg, Germany. So you can get from one end of Germany and the other with trains, it is wonderful.
But we haven't had the political will in Nova Scotia to create mass public transit, and I think now is the time. We have to begin planning now, so that we can think about the next 50 years, and that means working with our budding municipalities that are sending thousands of people into HRM every day, but also looking at those areas where we can have those express routes cross-cut east-west, north-south. That's really essential to helping people actually get around the downtown area, but more importantly, helping those suburban outlying communities actually access services like hospital, university, and so on.
So I think we need to rethink how we're actually building this municipality, and it means being courageous and transforming what it is that we're doing, and having that critical lens and actually building for the community, and not thinking about after the fact. And that's why we need eight schools in the municipality, because we haven't been working with the province to be able to build up the development of the subdivisions, and then also before the subdivisions are built, actually put the schools in place, so the land is cheaper at the beginning of the subdivision process, rather than putting it in at the end, which is much more expensive, and causes a lot of stress for communities as well.
[Céline]
We're going from 400 addresses to 3,000, so that little school is not going to be able to handle the amount of kids that are going to influx here.
[Stephanie]
So that's the development of Shannon Park.
[Céline]
And Shannon Park, yeah, so...
[Pam Lovelace]
Right, exactly.
[Céline]
We need a large school.
[Pam Lovelace]
That's right, and that's why I'm recommending a capital commission, a capital infrastructure commission, so we're all sitting together and making decisions for how we're going to build up those communities, what services they need, what utilities are needed, and more importantly, what schools, health facilities, grocery stores, all that kind of stuff is important to have a complete community. And we want our seniors to be able to age in place, so they're not being shoved off to go somewhere else in the municipality, or another municipality, because they can't find housing in their home community. We do have quite a few seniors here, so...
[Céline]
Are there any questions you would like to ask, Pam?
[Julie]
In regards to trains, how would you plan on bringing the train system back? Because there's a lot of rural areas that do not have tracks anymore, so...
[Pam Lovelace]
Yeah, so I'm proposing light rail, not commuter transit, like you would see with VIA. VIA is on a CN track, and CN tracks will always have trade trains as their priority, not commuter. Even VIA, they know that they can never guarantee that their trains are going to be on time.
I'm advocating for a light rail system, like a monorail, similar to the SkyTrain. My vision in 50 years is we have a SkyTrain over the Bedford Highway going downtown. I believe that we need to start thinking bigger about how we're connecting each other, because if we don't, we're going to start seeing people leave.
We're going to continue to see low productivity because of congestion, and we're never actually going to be able to support a growing population. So trains, I think, is the only way to actually build up that momentum, connecting the airport to the downtown, connecting the downtown to the valley. Eventually, you know, we're talking a 50-year plan.
If we don't start now, it'll never get done.
[Céline]
Yeah, that's very well said. We're looking at going, all of us, when we leave here, 95% of the departments are fixed-term leaves, and then we have no other choices.
[Pam Lovelace]
And again, you know, looking at the restricted capacity of HRM legislatively to be able to wade into provincial legislation, we need MLAs who are going to step up to actually put forward changes in the legislature that acknowledge this crisis that we're in right now.
[Céline]
Well, we just had one try and go through. We tried to help our MLA, Susan LeBlanc, to stop this latest bill that went through that's going to, did not fix the fixed-term lease loophole, and is going to put a lot of people in more financial distress, you know? And it doesn't seem like anyone's listening.
So I think that's important that we open up conversations. And I like your vision of, you know, taking it from the children's point of view, from the citizens' point of view, not, you know, what the government can do for us.
[Pam Lovelace]
Well, and this is what we keep forgetting, is that it's the residents that are at the head of government. You're the voters.
[Céline]
Yes.
[Pam Lovelace]
Right? And so we need to put our voters back into the seats as board of directors and help us direct the municipality. Yeah.
Because again, decisions for the last 20, 30 years have been made by a select few group of people. And those folks are looking after themselves. So it's time for us to put people at the head of government again.
[Céline]
Right.
[Pam Lovelace]
So that's why I'm running for mayor.
[Céline]
We all need to get out and vote. Everybody needs to get out and vote. It's very important this year.
It's important every year, but for all of us to get some changes, I think that's really important. Anything else? Richard, do you have any questions?
[Richard]
I think we've covered it.
[Céline]
We're good.
[Pam Lovelace]
Thanks, Richard.
[Richard]
Thank you.
[Céline]
Is there anything you'd like to make a statement to the community?
[Pam Lovelace]
I just want people to know that I sincerely appreciate you reaching out to me and being able to spend some time with me so that I can understand more about your situation, how it is that I can help. And I just I want people to know that I'm approachable. I answer my phone.
I answer my emails. And if there's anything that you think that I can do for you, please reach out to me. You can find me at pamlovelace.ca or you can text me. You can call me at 902-237-1747. The only way to create change and create a better community is for all of us to work together. And I'm here because I want to work with you.
Thank you.
[Céline]
Very well said. Thanks again, Pam, for coming out and meeting with us today. Good luck in the race.
[Pam Lovelace]
Thanks so much.
[Céline]
It was a pleasure to talk to you today.
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