A Halifax city hall podcast, hosted by reporter Matt Stickland. An irreverent look at city hall, the policies they put forward and the people who decide on them for us.
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Sep 28, 2026 · 26:57
This episode was supposed to have show notes but host Matt Stickland had to start going to early morning minor hockey practices again.
Sep 21, 2026 · 59:06
This episode was supposed to have show notes but host Matt Stickland discovered that the old MMORPG City of Heroes was still alive and now free.
Sep 14, 2026 · 51:40
This week's show is all about road safety because there were no meetings to cover this week and Halifax's road safety strategy isn't and will never work and we here at Grand…
Sep 7, 2026 · 1:06
It's a minute long. You can listen for detail as to why that is.
Aug 31, 2026 · 1:08:36
Big weekend in the garden and solo parenting means show notes just aren't a thing today, but are they ever? No, not really, but you get what you pay for.
Aug 24, 2026 · 7:22
Real show again next week! Book club is Sept 20th at 2pm at the 5k Cafe
Aug 17, 2026 · 1:19:23
In this episode there is a lot about e-scooters and some stuff about the mayor's office expense scandal that just won't go away. And we also compare and contrast two similarly…
Aug 10, 2026 · 1:14:33
This week is a field trip where host Matt Stickland goes on someone else's podcast to talk about city politics. The Community Game Plan podcast is put on by two real estate…
Aug 3, 2026 · 48:01
This week, Matt sits down with Paris Marx to talk about the parallels between tech and transportation and how big tech companies are ruining transportation. Here is that survey I…
Jul 27, 2026 · 1:09:46
Halifax's old CAO Cathie O'Toole quit a while ago, and Halifax's long-suffering public servant Brad Anguish has been filling in until a suitable replacement could be found. Well,…
Jul 20, 2026 · 4:57
Sorry, ran out of time for a real EP this week!
Jul 13, 2026 · 42:30
In another one of the summer series of shows this week host Matt Stickland sits down with the main author of the study "Rethinking traffic safety: the case for reducing kinetic…
Jul 6, 2026 · 56:48
Matt and council are both on vacation this week, so please enjoy this interview with book club book author Thi Nguyen.
Jun 29, 2026 · 1:04:37
Last week was a big one down at city hall with two bombshell Auditor General audits as well as a cricket debate, and parking fare increase. All of that is in the first half of…
Jun 22, 2026 · 1:32:32
In this week's episode of the show host Matt Stickland breaks down what went down at last Tuesday's council meeting. Then, after an ad break, Matt explains Fillmore's upcoming…
Jun 15, 2026 · 16:49
Sorry for the yelling and swearing. Turn down your volume. The next book club meeting is July 12 at 2 p.m. at MacDonald House on Lawrencetown Road.
Jun 8, 2026 · 36:14
This is a research deep dive episode where host Matt Stickland goes into the weeds to explain how low property taxes make housing less affordable. Did Matt get anything wrong?…
Jun 1, 2026 · 29:09
Very sorry about the lack of show notes here. Personal life being what it was this past week proper show notes will be added (maybe). No one expects show notes from analog radio.…
May 25, 2026 · 44:42
In this episode, host Matt Stickland goes deep on property tax policies and is forced to confront the fact that two of his long-held beliefs are, in fact, wrong. And a bit about…
May 18, 2026 · 33:07
You can take Halifax's road safety survey right here, if you want: https://www.halifax.ca/home/surveys I can't rememeber what else I said I'd link in the show notes. I'm honestly…
May 11, 2026 · 36:36
A slow week at city hall, but a big week for the podcast, as the Grand Parade is now (or will be on June 20) an award-winning podcast! But you can check out the BOPC presentation…
May 4, 2026 · 1:09:36
Did you know that show notes are like dinner? At first, they're super fun. You get to tell people about the show, but then it's like, eventually, you realize you have to do it,…
Apr 27, 2026 · 53:10
If you are a subscriber, you may have noticed that this episode didn't drop early for ya on the website. This is because something that Substack does as part of it's platform is…
Apr 20, 2026 · 48:54
If this placeholder text is still here, that means something went wrong with the website swap over the weekend, and I've run out of time to fix everything.
Apr 13, 2026 · 1:06:10
Things referenced: This Strong Towns PDX post Councillor Mitch Green’s Motion The agenda page with links to all of the transportation utility fee reports:…
Apr 6, 2026 · 56:17
Behold the episode in which host Matt Stickland recaps the glorious week that was March 30 until April 3, 2026, and be entertained. Want to know what else is entertaining? Book…
Mar 30, 2026 · 58:29
In this episode host Matt Stickland comes in hot with some big opinions on Halifax's new Integrated Mobility Plan. The audio quality in parts of the first half of the show are…
Mar 23, 2026 · 7:30
I did take the week off as threatened. But I did throw this together for reasons I explain in the show. Book club May 3 at the Old Triangle in Halifax. The book:…
Mar 16, 2026 · 48:21
This week is a return to normalcy which is to say clipped shows. This week starts off host Matt Stickland's opinion of this year's budget. And then after the ad break there's a…
Mar 9, 2026 · 1:17:29
It's been a full week of budget committee and a full weekend of SEDMHA hockey and a birthday party or two. Our team is taking a nap instead of writing show notes. We do hope you…
Mar 2, 2026 · 51:26
In this episode host Matt Stickland recaps last week's council meetings, the good, the bad and the austerity. Even by our lax standards these show notes are sub standard because…
Mar 1, 2026 · 56:46
Can't make book club today? Don't worry about it! Here's an interview with the author of Killed by a Traffic Engineer, Wes Marshall, who wrote this month's book
Feb 23, 2026 · 1:43:52
Man what a week that was! Mayor Andy Fillmore is on a tear during budget season and is clearly working as hard as he can to tank the city so we get a good draft pick next season.…
Feb 16, 2026 · 59:16
This week is a bit of an odd one, as it had five full days of council meetings and host Matt Stickland had five full days of plague in his house. The big moves by Cleary at the…
Feb 9, 2026 · 1:05:37
Budget season rolled on last week as councillors started debating the operational budgets of the city's various business units. Before getting into that host Matt Stickland gives…
Feb 2, 2026 · 1:41:48
Hello sportsfans, it was a busy week at city hall with a full meeting of council, and two budget committee meetings. Halifax is in dire financial straights and a win for bike…
Jan 26, 2026 · 50:39
Budget season is back in earnest this week so RIP to all of Matt's free time and that's one of the reasons the recap part of the show is so short. But because budget season is…
Jan 19, 2026 · 1:14:42
In this show, before the ad break we go over what happened on Tuesday's council meeting, with a brief sidebar into road safety and why councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon makes her…
Jan 12, 2026 · 10:20
No real show notes this week as it's late and family game night. Here's the link for the suburban plan though: https://engagehalifax.ca/suburban-plan
Dec 26, 2025 · 34:23
Merry Christmas ya filthy animals. The newspaper will be back on Jan 12. This podcast will be back then too, maybe the week before. We'll see how she goes.
Dec 15, 2025 · 30:58
Every week I fall a little bit more behind and it becomes harder and harder to do all the little things like write comprehensive show notes. So if you have questions about this…
Dec 8, 2025 · 1:30:24
These show notes will be updated on Monday (probably). The Val-d'Or Foreurs bus blew a tire on Sunday, which means minor hockey day down at the Metro Centre really jammed up my…
Dec 1, 2025 · 43:00
Another week of city politics another week of this podcast. If you're here for the rabbit hole on drugs, right here is season 2 episode 2 of On Drugs about the history of weed in…
Nov 24, 2025 · 1:02:33
It's everyone's favourite time of year, which means I've run out of time to do everything I need to do before Monday's deadlines, like write show notes. Are you looking for more…
Nov 17, 2025 · 38:59
Were you expecting the start of season four and a budget preview? Well PSYCHE! Two things happened. First, Remembrance Day was not great, but it provides some context for…
Nov 10, 2025 · 9:30
Short episode this week as Matt gets ready for Budget Season. In this episode, some hope, a budget season preview, preview, and another week where I go tell you to watch that…
Nov 3, 2025 · 39:48
In this episode host Matt Stickland recaps a relatively uneventful week in city politics. A lot of information about strategic plans, from HalifACT to Snow Clearing but not a lot…
Oct 31, 2025 · 11:25
In this special episode of the Grand Parade podcast, we feature the spooky YouTube video made by Kevin over at HFX By Bike. In that video (linked below) he explains in great…
Oct 27, 2025 · 40:46
This week is all about Road Safety and how Halifax has killed a record number of people this year on our roads. This violence is both publically funded at great expense and…
Oct 21, 2025 · 28:42
Hey, our road safety strategy is working as designed, which means it's working against it's intended outcome. As a result children and their parents are dying and only you can…
Oct 20, 2025 · 47:09
I gotta be honest here. It's 7pm on Sunday night and I have a beer league hockey game to go to and I can't skip it because I'm the goalie. If there is information you wanted in…
Oct 13, 2025 · 57:23
Another week at city hall and another week of the Grand Parade podcast. This week is a far less... let's say excited episode that runs back over the relatively mild municipal…
Oct 6, 2025 · 57:27
Fair warning, the failure of the Bus Rapid Transit pilot in 2022 (but formally at the last Transportation Standing Committee meeting) combined with the failures of council to do…
Sep 29, 2025 · 51:52
We are back fully recharged to talk about a wet and wild council meeting. It actually wasn't all that wet or wild, as the Dartmouth Cove motion was dealt with early and largely…
Sep 22, 2025 · 14:36
Apologies. Due to personal circumstances, physical illness and mental health, there will be no issue with the paper this week. More details on this and local roads in this week's…
Sep 15, 2025 · 46:58
Thanks to the sponsor of this week's show, there's not much in these show notes this week. In this episode Matt covers the three water issues council debated last Tuesday before…
Sep 8, 2025 · 31:19
Do you ever have one of those things where it's like a thing you do every week, but some weeks it's just like "OH MY GOD I HAVE TO DO THIS THING AGAIN!?" Not sure why I thought…
Sep 1, 2025 · 10:30
The show notes will be as short as this week's routine meetings. What does Mortal Kombat have to do with underground parking? Listen to city hall reporter Matt Stickland break it…
Aug 25, 2025 · 35:24
This week we get back to the more neo-traditional clipped show format, recapping the last week of council meetings. Sportswashing, fiscal sustainability, road safety, park…
Aug 18, 2025 · 46:00
Hey folks, I know I promised real show notes, but it turns out that was a lie. I find these hard to do and so far the feedback I've gotten on show notes is that no one reads…
Aug 11, 2025 · 1:03:35
Big week in Halifax politics as Morris Street bikeway was killed and then immediately reanimated by Halifax's council. More people are homeless now than they were last year and…
Aug 4, 2025 · 1:22:52
As threatened, we've taken the week off but to fill the void left by our absence, we're re-airing a fan favourite. Here are the show noted from the episode In this week’s episode…
Jul 28, 2025 · 27:48
Last council meeting in July council started some pretty beefy discussions about tax reform. During that debate in early July, mayor Andy Fillmore suggested Halifax could learn…
Jul 21, 2025 · 36:36
Council is on vacation, but Matt is not, and the last council meeting on July 8 was a beefy one with a lot of really important debates. Among those debates was one about strong…
Jul 14, 2025 · 37:00
We are back with another full show covering last Tuesday's (and Thursday's) council meeting.
Jul 7, 2025 · 15:32
Hello it's summer vacation season and I've been taking full advantage. This is a live to tape episode with a recap of last week's one meeting and a preview of Tuesday's council…
Jun 30, 2025 · 4:43
Just a quick programming note from Matt this week
Jun 27, 2025 · 25:15
On Saturday May 31, 2025 Halifax Wanderers travelled to Quebec City, to play York United in a Canadian Premier League on tour, regular season game. The Halifax Wanderers put on a…
Jun 23, 2025 · 39:42
As promised during the episode, here is how, in my opinion, the Traffic Calming Administrative Order should be amended. It would be beneficial to get rid of the TCAO all together…
Jun 8, 2025 · 23:32
Enough is enough please share this episode with everyone you know in Halifax.
May 26, 2025 · 29:01
In this podcast Grand Parade's city hall reporter Matt Stickland recaps what went down at city hall last week. There's a development on a heritage property, Halifax is making…
May 19, 2025 · 31:16
In this episode a recap of everything that happened last week. Can you tell that I'm writing this blurb too late on a Sunday? Yes, probably. For more info about city hall, head…
May 12, 2025 · 4:33
Short one this week as the Board of Police Commissioners meeting was cancelled.
May 5, 2025 · 39:29
Hey folks, bit of a lighter show notes this week because I've done a bonus show and had to put a newspaper to bed. See ya next week, don't forget to grab a copy of the first…
May 2, 2025 · 56:17
Since journalism is homework the job, after last episode where I explained in great details the issues with the HRM's planning, I felt obligated to explain how I'd fix it. For…
Apr 28, 2025 · 33:46
I suspect most people don't usually read the show notes, but if you're here for the study, scroll down. If you're here for information in this episode Matt Stickland, recaps…
Apr 21, 2025 · 12:10
Bit of a light week at city hall and since I forgot it was Good Friday, a bit of a lighter episode. Councillor Janet Steele is trying to get the city to protect and create more…
Apr 14, 2025 · 27:36
Last week was a relatively slow one as far as the schedule was concerned, with only a Tuesday council meeting and Thursday’s African descent advisory committee. Halifax now has a…
Apr 7, 2025 · 19:57
In a week dominated by breathless international news Halifax's city hall had a relatively slow week. This week there were only two meetings of consequence, which allowed the…
Mar 31, 2025 · 18:08
Now that budget season is done, as threatened, this show will now become a weekly roundup of what happened at City Hall last week. The obvious high/lowlight of last week was when…
Mar 27, 2025 · 24:28
Halifax's budget playoffs wrapped on Wednesday March 26 and Halifax has a budget! The budget itself was a political victory for our new mayor, Andy Fillmore, who promised to keep…
Mar 25, 2025 · 25:03
Halifax council’s budget meeting on monday March 24th was a stinker, quite literally, and also because council almost voted to make Halifax’s poorest people just a little…
Mar 22, 2025 · 29:13
It's the second intermission of the budget playoffs and a lot happened in Friday's debate. Council approved an armoured personnel carrier, the central library got it's reserves…
Mar 20, 2025 · 22:52
Mar 17, 2025 · 16:23
In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt flys solo to update folks on the future of the podcast and the future of Halifax's budget.
Feb 7, 2025 · 1:06:48
The wait is over, it's finally here budget season started on Wednesday. In this episode Matt and Martin dive into what's being going on at city hall from strategic plans, to…
Jan 17, 2025 · 46:42
This past week has been a huge one in municipal politics with Halifax's city council getting an update about how their strategic planning is going. Spoiler alert, it's going very…
Jan 11, 2025 · 1:01:23
It's been a busy start to the new year with with a few big ticket events for the hosts Matt Stickland and Martin Baumen to break down. The Board of Police Commissioners meeting…
Dec 12, 2024 · 42:18
In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt and Martin look back at the past two weeks in municipal politics and answer some hard hitting questions like: Will transit ever get…
Nov 27, 2024 · 54:58
At long last Coast reporter Martin is back after his paternity leave and he joins Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland to catch up on everything he'd missed since being out.…
Sep 14, 2024 · 57:05
After an impromptu summer break the Grand Parade is back! Host Matt Stickland sits down with the owner of Atlantic New Chris Greene to talk about how to interview candidates for…
Aug 12, 2024 · 40:31
In what was supposed to be the last episode of the HFX Votes 2024 election podcast series The Coast's city hall reporter Matt Stickland sat down with The Coast’s newsletter…
Jul 31, 2024 · 44:12
There are two types of people in this world. There are people who think that headline is needlessly dramatic, and then there are people who understand risk management. The Coast…
Jul 26, 2024 · 55:48
In this penultimate episode of the HFX Votes 2024 election explainer series, Matt interviews Risk Management expert Bruce Manion. This episode is a direct result of Halifax’s…
Jul 24, 2024 · 1:02:29
The HFX Votes 2024 series is in the process of wrapping up, with three episodes recorded yesterday to be released over the next few days. Up first is an interview with Céo…
Jul 18, 2024 · 55:45
In this episode of the Grand Parade Matt Stickland sits down with Wes Marshall, the author of Killed by a Traffic Engineer. His book is a meta analysis of traffic engineering…
Jul 12, 2024 · 1:01:14
In this edition of HFX Votes 2024 I sit down with two of the authors of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report: Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for…
Jul 9, 2024 · 47:26
In this episode of the Grand Parade's ongoing series of municipal issues explainer, I sit down with mayor Mike Savage to find out what the mayor does. This conversation bounces…
Jul 4, 2024 · 33:04
In part 2 of the HFX Votes 2024 episode on property taxes I sat down with Darrell Dexter, the former premier of Nova Scotia to ask him about why we have a property tax cap in the…
Jul 3, 2024 · 50:47
The Coast’s municipal election podcast explainers continue with a deep dive into property taxes and the property tax cap. In this episode, Matt sits down with local economist…
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