Travel to Nova Scotia

The (Halifax) Historic Property core region is one of the most defining elements on the Halifax Waterfront. Any development that mitigates the authentic experience and preservation of this area would be very short-sighted and detrimental to tourism over the long term.

- Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia

It is now standard practice in big business to develop for the sake of development. In other words, ripping down the old and building the new seems to be the ultimate way to drive the economic engines. And if this isn’t happening then the economy is in recession.

During the past ten years Nova Scotia has lost dozens of historic buildings including two gas stations that date back to the 1920’s. But those are new compared to the buildings from the 1800’s that are suffering the wrecking ball. And why is this happening? Because the powers-that-be figure that tearing down historic buildings, ones that have been saved by previous administrations, is the only way to retain or gain a good tax base.

And what happens when the developers lose? They throw fits. This is because they have spent tens of thousands of dollars on architects and consultants so why wouldn’t they? The real problem is that there are no hard and fast rules about dealing with historical landmarks. The rules seem to change with each mayor:

1973: The city council formally supported the preservation of the Historic Properties ares north of Duke Street from Granville Street to the water. This recognition made Halifax a leader in preserving history.

2002: The Heritage Canad foundation, a national organization dedicated to preserving the architectural heritage and historic places of Canada, chose Halifax to host its conference. They found that vacationers want to visit historic areas and their preservation is vital.

2008: Armour Group wants to destroy the main buildings and keep the facades. This will take in the last original area of Halifax.

What TIANS is saying is that the Armour Group should not have been lead on to believe that they could destroy old properties for the sake of a new development. Armour Group and certain city councilors argue that there is not enough office space in Halifax. Actually, Halifax has over 1,000,000 square feet of vacant land in downtown Halifax.

There are a lot of stupid moves in Halifax planning. (The Cogswell exchange was one of them) Rather than destroy the heritage properties why not look at the available land? Because you know what happens to many buildings that are destroyed in Halifax? They become parking lots. And tourists can only park once.

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1.00 USD = 1.25377 CAD

The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS) wound up its annual event with a promise of an injection of $2.5 million into tourism marketing. Tourism Minister Bill Dooks announced that the Nova Scotia government funding will help tourism entrepreneurs “create niche opportunities.” This includes wine tours, agri-tourism and cultural initiatives.

I agree that changing some marketing strategies is needed. In fact, it’s about time that the internet and social media was brought in because that is essential for marketing these days, from tourism to selling cars. The old ad featuring “a quaint seaside town with tourists eating lobster while a lone bagpiper wails in the distance” is great for embellishment but not for the full thrust of marketing. And even if this worked in the past you can’t keep icing the same hockey team year after year. And I think the 2008 TIANS conference has brought this home.

There have been some huge kicks in the stomach to Nova Scotia tourism: high Canadian dollar, Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative ( passports needed to return to the U.S.) and the $.140CDN litre gas prices last summer. However, things seem to have been settling down in the past few months, individual happenings that could reverse the sinking fortunes of these tourism operators.

1. Passports Aren’t so Bad: The WHTI is here to stay. In the “post-911and Mumbai world” travelers are being ever so skittish. But now that Americans are getting used to the passports this should ease things a bit. After all it’s been almost a year and we did get used to be frisked at the airport.

2. High US Dollar: The U.S. dollar is back to being $1.25 Canadian and that’s a 25% savings right there.

3. Low Gas Prices: In addition, gasoline is at a 5 year low and, although it won’t stay that low for long, it won’t skyrocket like it did this year. That was fueled by speculation and the speculators are in deflation right now.

However, the other big problem is the spreading of the tourism buck. Halifax is flush with cash because it’s a convention center and all roads lead here. This doesn’t do much for Cape Breton, Wolfville or Liverpool who rarely get any spin-off from this. The farthest people want to travel is an afternoon trip to Peggy’s Cove.

Now is the time to re-invent Nova Scotia from the “Corner Gas” of eastern Canada with it’s “made in China” gifts. We have more than that here. We just have to get it across to the Americans and Europeans.

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One of the biggest threats to Halifax tourism is not the transportation or lack of accommodation - it is the wanton destruction on Heritage buildings. In fact man of these buildings are bought and torn down so the companies do not have to maintain them while they think of what they will with them. So these irreplaceable buildings come down and Halifax is becoming “The City of Parking Lots.”

Last month Armour Group lost a squeaker of a vote in city council for their Queen’s Landing project on the waterfront. It required that the last complete block of heritage buildings from the early-to-mid 1800’s be gutted and a complex would rise using the facade of the old buildings. In other words they just want the outer front shell to show their concern for heritage.

HRM by Design is a program to set forth “a clear and predictable land-use by-law and accompanying guidelines that set the rules on the height and design of future downtown Halifax developments.” Te biggest part of this will be the ability for the public to have input before the developers spend all the money on the preliminaries. This will prevent the “fighting-every-step-of-the-way” type of consensus building. Here is what their website states:

HRMbyDESIGN intends to articulate an urban design strategy that:

• Establishes a clear and compelling vision for our city’s future.

• Fosters high quality, sustainable development and vibrant public spaces.

• Brings clarity and predictability to development review processes.
• Introduces new design guidelines.

• Establishes incentives for good design and development.

Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia thinks that this will take the power out of hands of the people and put into the paws of the developers. They believe that heritage will then be squandered.

Well, that said, Ben McCrae of Armour Group struck first. Upset by losing his deal he ordered that demolition be carried out on a wood-structure building that was part of his proposed development. I’m not sure whether it was to be part of the facade but that’s moot now. It is now another parking lot.

So, do tourists want to see big shiny buildings or old buildings with character? In addition, are those people who oppose buildings like “Twisted Sisters” to be classified as Luddites? May HRM by Design will solve a few of these problems.

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This year Quebec City is celebrating its 400th birthday which, for North America, is an amazing hallmark. Jamestown, in Virginia, was settled earlier but hung on by its fingernails for years while the French administered Quebec into a thriving community from the get-go.

The organizers of celebrations rely on getting the word out to draw people. This accomplished by offering events, both spectacular and introspective, which will make the people glad they came. In Quebec’s case it was the big outdoor Urban Opera, a $6.3 million show which would go from July 3-6. As well, the event was counting on Pope Benedict XVI to come and celebrate the first North American Catholic settlement north of Florida.

However, the Pope must have better things to do because he turned down the offer. And now the Urban Opera has been canceled. It seems that the Quebec 400th anniversary society have realized that very few people had the expertise to carry out the event and that it was “almost impossible” to go ahead for technical and logistical reasons. The international profile has already been hampered by the fact that the Queen — Canada’s head of state — won’t attend the festivities since she was apparently not invited by the Canadian government.

Nevertheless, Quebec City is such a beautiful place that any celebration will will draw crowds. The Winter Carnival is proof of that.

So put Quebec in your plans for this summer. From Halifax it’s a leisurely 2-day drive.

Events, Historic Towns

Okay, so it took me a while to get to my own back yard! So now I can let you know that Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and the largest city in the Atlantic provinces (this may be a “duh” for most of you. With its steep streets, beautiful harbor, and the historic Citadel overlooking the city, Halifax is world-renowned for its beauty and character. Visitors are treated to a city with a close connection to the sea, and Halifax thrives on its maritime history having one of the world’s largest natural harbors. As the major international air terminal Halifax is also a gateway to the rest of Nova Scotia.

Established in 1749, Halifax was begun as a post to watch what the French were doing in the area. It was not that anyone in England particularly cared for the region. They tried settling the place with Swiss and German farmers but forgot to tell the poor seasick travelers that it was difficult to plow rock! Nevertheless, most of the newcomers (who the British thought were a good way to spread protestant precepts into the area) moved further south to the Lunenburg area.

I think the big draw to Halifax is the whole package: history, restaurants, music and lifestyle. You don’t need to go too far to find anything. There are great beaches within a 1/2 drive either up or down the coastline. Most of the sights and museums in the town are completely walkable and anything else (Titanic graves, mall shopping) can be seen within a short bus ride.

History buffs will have a field day because almost every North American war, plus the two World Wars, were supplied from this port. Convoys to and from Europe hooked up with their escorts here and this is shown vividly at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The tours and tour escorts are second to none in Halifax and so you will be rewarded with a great knowledge of history.

Another reason to come here: they have great grog shops (entertainment bars)!