Proposed legislation would continue to shut community councils and advisory committees out of housing and planning decisions in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) if the Nova Scotia government claims an overriding interest. A package of legislative amendments bundled into the newly tabled Bill 253 includes an extension to the temporary provision that sidelines satellite bodies that make recommendations to HRM Council.
The Nova Scotia government characterizes the omnibus bill, which contains amendments to 14 provincial statutes, as an effort to reduce red tape, remove antiquated clauses and tidy up language. It would also authorize the new name of the Department of Growth, Development and Defence Industries (previously the Department of Growth and Development) and clarify that certain Ministers are responsible for certain Acts.
“Individually, many of these changes contained in Bill 253 seem modest, but together they help create a government that is faster, more efficient, and more responsive to the needs of the residents of this province,” Timothy Halman, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Service Efficiency, told the legislative assembly during last week’s debate with the second reading of the bill. “Rather than making a series of small changes one at a time, this bill brings together a number of practical administrative improvements in a single package, allowing us to modernize government more effectively.”
A proposed change to the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter would prolong provincial suppression of some HRM Council’s authority. Earlier legislation gave the Province authority to override some of the typical steps in the planning approval process for a period that had been set to expire on Nov. 25, 2026. Bill 253 would continue to curtail local authority to refer some planning and housing matters to other bodies for input prior to HRM Council’s debate and decision-making process for another three years, until Nov. 25, 2029.
Opposition MLA Becky Druhan argued there’s no evidence the measure has fulfilled the government’s justification for imposing it — which was to deliver more housing supply.
“This is a continued infringement by the Province on what is typically a municipal responsibility,” she said during the legislative assembly debate. “I also have to question how is this service efficiency? This is a question of government control, not a question of efficiency.”
The omnibus legislation also includes a tweak to Nova Scotia’s Condominium Act to clarify the required threshold of consent from owners when changes are proposed to a condominium’s common elements that would alter ownership boundaries, rights to exclusive use and/or the proportional division of financial responsible. An amendment of a condominium corporation’s declaration of condominium, filed with the provincial registrar, is required before such undertakings can proceed.
The Act already requires a minimum of 80 per cent of owners to agree via a recorded vote if proposed additions, improvements or alterations to the common elements are “substantial”, equating to at least 25 per cent of the total value of the property. The proposed amendment would require the same 80 per cent margin of consent for proposed changes valued at a lesser amount.
