District 6 voting guide: Incumbent Mancini vs. rookie Ogden

The boundary changes in District 6 will see the district move outside the circumference of the circumferential highway. The district used to have a little bit of the Centre Plan area, mainly North Dartmouth, but as the city has grown, this district has expanded North and East.

District 6 includes the Burnside Industrial Park, Shubie Park and many of Dartmouth’s famed thousand lakes. This district now has more lakes as it’s poached Topsail Lake and a large swath of Cole Harbour around Mount Edward, which used to be part of District 3.

But from a policy perspective, North Dartmouth has been the most significant community for District 6 in recent years, as its residents were the impetuous ones who encouraged the city of Halifax to start removing barriers to access municipal services that the city had put up in the name of fiscal responsibility.

To determine which candidates are equipped to face complex challenges like the ones presented in the former District 6’s North Dartmouth community, The Coast sent out a candidate questionnaire to see what each candidate knows about the issues facing the city ahead of the municipal election on Oct. 19. The Coast followed up with more detailed questions to test each candidate’s policy chops.

In District 6, both candidates answered the Coast’s questionnaire and performed well; thanks to a coin flip, this district deep dive will start with the incumbent.

First elected in 2016, Tony Mancini has proven himself a solid legislator over his past two terms. As could be predicted based on past council performance, Mancini also had strong answers to The Coast’s candidate questionnaire.

In the questions about the upcoming suburban plan, Mancini said he wanted to see height restrictions for suburbs as part of the suburban plan review. In a follow-up interview, Mancini clarified that he was only really concerned about the height around Lake Micmac (and Lake Banook even though it’s not in his district) because they are used for competitive paddling. He wanted to ensure that height didn’t affect the lakes as a venue for competitive sport. He explained that he’s not against tall buildings in principle or practice, except when anticipated, predictable negative outcomes exist for Dartmouth’s paddlers.

Mancini also deserves plaudits for some policy changes he championed over the past council term. The city of Halifax means tests its recreation programming. This is the fancy way of saying the city will help you pay for swimming lessons you can’t afford if you can prove you can’t afford the swimming lessons. The residents of North Dartmouth came to Mancini and explained that the municipal requirements to prove poverty were so cumbersome they prevented people in North Dartmouth from accessing things like swimming lessons. Mancini’s been trying to remove means testing as a practice in the HRM, but the HRM’s rec programming organization is a bit of a disaster. Each individual recreation facility has its own leadership. As a result, memberships to places like Cole Harbour Place don’t transfer to the Zatzman Sportsplex even though they’re both municipal facilities.

But after years of boring policy work by Mancini, on August 20, 2024, council received a report in which city staff determined that means testing is a problem. Then, the council approved some fixes expected in the upcoming budget season.

The challenger to District 6’s incumbent, Lori Ogden, also had really strong answers to the Coast’s questionnaire. She demonstrated a good understanding of why municipal policies like the Infrastructure Asset Management Administrative Order are required for the long-term success of Halifax as a city.

Ogden, who’s currently working as a courier, unsurprisingly demonstrated a very good understanding of the paradox of transportation planning in Halifax, writing, “Many of these residents work in the city, and *need* to take a vehicle to work due to the lack of other options in their area, or, if there is service in their area, it is unreliable. Businesses don’t care if you are being a good citizen and taking alternate ways to get to work; they just want you at work at the start of your shift.”

Although Ogden’s answers include many of the hallmarks of a promising rookie, some inconsistencies exist between her policy proposals and municipal powers of governance in the city. For example, while the city may want to deny demolition permits until replacement housing stock is available, such legislation is likely to be frowned upon by the referee of Halifax’s development, the Utilities and Review Board. Although this is a good idea, like many rookie policy ideas, it likely wouldn’t survive being turned into bylaws in the idea’s current iteration. Luckily for any rookie councillors with good ideas, the municipal bureaucracy exists to turn policy ideas into actionable policy, with the notable exception of transportation policy; Halifax’s bureaucracy is generally pretty good at converting policy ideas into policy action.

Ogden has a minor inconsistency in her answers about Halifax’s response to the homelessness crisis. She said some supports, like rehab, would not be a good fit for residential communities but also that unhoused people should be integrated “into space in local communities rather than encampments.” In an interview with The Coast about her answers, Ogden explained that her issue is not with integrating support into a community, but rather how the city communicated one specific proposal in the Port Wallace area of District 6. This is not a significant cause for concern as Ogden’s policy ideas are generally solid in the unhoused file. Still, it’s something to watch as Ogden learns to navigate the intersection of good public policy and volatile public opinion.

Analysis

Incumbent Tony Mancini has been a popular councillor for the past two terms. He has proven himself to be a competent legislator and is likely to be rewarded at the polls for that and his general likability. While Mancini faces criticism from some of District 6’s more progressive voters who take issue with his more centrist arguments (like his desire to de-task rather than defund the police), he’s the strong front-runner for District 6 at this point in time.

Although Lori Ogden is a strong challenger who has demonstrated the potential to be a good candidate, she faces an uphill battle against District 6’s incumbent.