I was on our Waterfront for 'Nocturne: Art at Night'.

Can we take a moment to applaud how awesome our downtown and waterfront has become? A cool Fall evening with people milling about, soft lights, and amazing eateries.

I'll describe it as world class.

LUNENBURG — Nova Scotia seafood processor High Liner Foods Inc. says it has signed a deal to be bought by Japanese company Umios Corp. in an agreement valued at $804 million.

Under the agreement, Umios, one of the world’s largest seafood companies, will pay $27 per share in cash.

High Liner shares closed at $15.08 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.

Umios plans to establish High Liner Foods as the core platform for its North American business, while maintaining its headquarters in Nova Scotia, the companies said.

The companies said Umios is committed to maintaining High Liner Foods’ workforce and operations, established brands and customer relationships.

“We ... are committed to preserving the heritage of this historic Nova Scotian and Atlantic Canadian business,” said a statement from Umios’ president, Daisuke Yasuda. 

I love Halifax. I really do. Which is why there's one thing about this city I've never quite understood.

I lived here for two years, starting in 2020, and one of the things that surprised me most was just how car-dependent it was.

I'm not anti-car. I own a car. I drive. But Halifax always felt particularly difficult to get around without one. And even when you did drive, it seemed to take forever to get anywhere.

So I'm back in Halifax for work, sitting in my hotel room after driving around all day, and thought I'd do some Googling. Turns out it wasn't just my imagination.

According to the 2026 Halifax Index, the average 10 km car trip takes 26 minutes, the third-longest among the Canadian cities compared.

And according to TomTom's 2025 Traffic Index, drivers in Halifax lost an estimated 111 hours to rush-hour congestion over the year.

To put that into perspective, that's roughly 29 extra minutes per workday, compared with making those same trips when traffic is flowing freely. Over a year, that's more than four and a half full days spent in traffic that you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.

And that's just the rush-hour commuting scenario TomTom uses. It doesn't account for all the other driving people might do to get groceries, run errands, visit friends or get their kids to activities.

When I lived here, I remember being really excited about projects like the Macdonald Bridge cycling flyover and the city's plans for rapid transit. More sustainable ways to get around, fewer cars on the road, less congestion, and more options for people who don't want to drive everywhere.

Now I'm back, and the Cogswell redevelopment is substantially complete, at least the major road reconstruction. That project hadn't even started construction when I lived here.

Which is kinda wild when you think about it.

Halifax managed to tear down an entire elevated highway interchange and rebuild that part of downtown, but still hasn't delivered the improved Macdonald Bridge cycling connection that was being discussed years before.

According to the city's own website, the bikeway connector was approved in 2017, and construction on the Halifax side is now planned for 2028.

And now I'm reading that the long-awaited Bedford ferry, which was supposed to be operating around 2027 or 2028, has been pushed back to 2030.

I know infrastructure is complicated. I'm not suggesting a cycling connection or a ferry terminal is something you can just throw together over a weekend. There are land issues, budgets and engineering challenges. But compared with tearing down an entire highway interchange and rebuilding part of downtown, you'd think these projects would be a little more straightforward.

And I'm certainly not criticizing Cogswell. I think it's a great example of Halifax investing in a more walkable, connected downtown. It's genuinely impressive what they've done with that part of the city.

But that's kinda what confuses me.

Halifax is such a progressive city in so many ways. There's a real sense of community here, an appreciation for the environment, and an openness to doing things differently that I've always loved.

So why does it feel like the infrastructure that would actually give people alternatives to driving takes so long to happen?

And I don't think this is just about cyclists or transit users. Surely making it easier for people to get around without a car would make life better for everyone, including those who still need to drive. Fewer cars competing for the same road space seems like a win for everybody.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a Halifax-bashing post. I genuinely love this city, and I think it gets an awful lot right. I've just never understood this particular contradiction, especially in a city that seems so forward-thinking in so many other ways. I was sorta just surprised that these two projects aren't event close to fruition.

Are there projects that you're excited that are actually happening? And what or who is stalling the other ones? Anyway, off to Le Bistro By Liz.

Counter 6 or 7 fire trucks, 3 police and one ambulance. I think it's close to the grain elevators but not sure

What is up with L&M in Bedford??

It’s not a new thing, at all, it’s always been the case there, but rude… condescending… superior… for a bunch of people who’ve got music degrees and yet you never see anywhere outside the store, they sure think they’ve got it going on.

I usually have a tech do bass guitar setups for me. It’s just one of those things I prefer to not have to do, and Doug (now retired) always did such a great job. Anyway, in I trot with an American Fender in need of a new set of strings and a set up. The strings were bought elsewhere because L&M’s selection of bass strings is basically three brands and if you don’t like them, you can go to hell. The bass was also bought elsewhere because their in-store bass selection and used instrument prices typically suck, and good luck finding a five string P bass. The guy at the counter makes an issue of checking the serial number to see whether it was bought there or not, sees it was not, looks down his nose at the computer and in a snotty tone tells me he sees it was not bought at L&M so no performance warranty to cover the setup. Like I could have told you that if you’d just asked. I asked if it’s possible to buy a performance warranty, and again in a snotty superior tone he tells me no, impossible, those are only available if an instrument was bought at L&M. I mean - it’s an unmodified recent year American Fender, what a great revenue and customer retention scheme it would be if they did offer that kind of program.

That’s not the first time I got this kind of attitude about instruments not bought at L&M - I have 8 American Fenders currently, and have owned as many as 13-14 good quality reputable instruments at one time in the past, including a great EBMM - six of the current eight were bought used, elsewhere - FB marketplace, Talkbass, or Reverb. I browse Gear Hunter regularly and rarely do I see anything there that is of interest and not priced ludicrously. One of my current 8 however was bought there, and the other L&M purchase was actually bought new, also online because the local stores never ever stocked that model. Anyway, I’ve brought several of these in for setups at previous times and have consistently received the same kind of snobbery.

I overheard one of their sales people telling a mom who was buying a bass for her son that the Mexican Fenders weren’t very good and that the American Fenders were the only ones worth buying. They of course didn’t have any American Fender Basses in the store at that time, so she of course had to leave and go elsewhere.

I’ve had the live sound guys poo poo our band’s choice of Chinese-made, Amazon-purchased KZ IEMs because they weren’t Shure. No, they’re a third the price and have five drivers and sound great, that’s why they’re not Shures.

I can’t remember many other specific examples, but some of the guys there have been particularly bad with this over the years. The short skinny guy with straight hair and glasses stands out, but I haven’t seen him in a while, I presume he found something else to do with his music degree.

I never run into this kind of attitude at the Halifax or Dartmouth stores, just Bedford, and it’s been consistent at Bedford going back to when they were Musicstop. Same staff, though some have left over the years, and tbf some were not bad at all, quite good. But the guy I dealt with the other day is new, and it’s that same old attitude.

Anyone else?

Tomorrow, Halifax Regional Council will consider a staff report that could fundamentally change the vision, quality, and delivery of the Regional Centre All Ages and Abilities (AAA) Bicycle Network. Below is the contents of an email we sent today to HRM Councillors and the Mayor outlining our concerns regarding this report.

Hello everyone. As the title says im currently looking for a therapist. Ive had lne for a few years and they are lovely but im unsure if they are what I need.

Im looking for someone a little more forward in the approach. I have some hard things I wanna talk about and struggle to bring up, as I felt like in my sessions I was more just. Talking randomly. And sometimes not even going anywhere.

Any recommendations?

This is a bit of a vent and also curious if anyone else has thoughts.

I went to the trunk-or-treat event yesterday at the fire station. We got there right when it started at 3 and it was insanely busy. A super long line had formed and we asked around if it was just for the fire truck (which it seemed to lead to) or if it was for the whole event, and was told it was to enter the event.

I waited in line with my very eager but patient 2 year old for nearly an hour. Suddenly, when we were almost at the fire truck, the entire line of people behind us just decided they didn't need to wait and left the line and headed straight for the cars! I have a feeling what happened was that someone told them the line was just for the truck?

At that point we just said fuck it and let my kid go through the fire truck and headed home. We were just there at a really bad time, if we'd been further ahead in the line we would have gotten in, if we'd been further back we could have just joined the crowd that decided they didn't need to wait, instead we waited our turn and just as we were getting close everyone else decided they didn't need to wait anymore.

I'm really glad it was well attended, I know it's no one's fault, it was just a frustrating experience. Does anyone know what happened?

tl;dr version:

• Some candy (chocolate, xyitol) can be toxic, so clean up the wrappers and such
• Avoid candles as pets might knock them over
• Shut your pet in a room so they doesn't escape when trick-or-treaters come visiting
• May be better to use a festive colllar instead of a costume to avoid stress
• May be better to leave your pet at home while trick-or-treating as kids running around and decorations might stress them out

So why can't we see more vet prices without calling?
 
This is the part I find frustrating.
 
Obviously veterinary care isn't one-size-fits-all. A senior dog with health problems isn't going to have the same surgical needs or costs as a healthy one-year-old dog.
 
Required costs + recommended costs + optional costs.
 
Then we can actually compare.
 
And I'd love to see more crowdsourced transparency around this.
 
If you've recently had a pet spayed/neutered or received routine veterinary care in HRM, consider sharing your itemized bill or estimate in the comments with the clinic, date, animal type/weight, and what was included. Obviously remove your name, address, account number and any other personal information first.
 
Individual bills aren't the same thing as official price lists, but enough real-world examples could give Halifax pet owners a much better idea of what things actually cost and what questions to ask.
 
More price transparency helps everyone make informed decisions about veterinary care.

I’ve been craving 돼지국밥 (dweji gukbap) and I am wondering if there are any restaurants that might have it. I’ll be in Halifax next week for halcon.

Otherwise, what are your Asian restaurant recommendations? :)

The weekend is over. Leeeeeet's get ready to grumbllllllllllle!

A weekly mega-thread for whatever is grinding your gears, local or non-local annoyances, complaints about the weather/local politicians/fast food nightmares/that guy who cut you off on the way to work, dumb stuff your neighbour did, etc.

This is a rules relaxed space, but we will still be monitoring for personal attacks, doxxing, and stuff that doesn't fit the theme of the thread.