Halifax expected to hit half a million residents this year

Nova Scotia's population is continuing to climb, but municipal leaders say more money is needed to close an infrastructure gap that's holding back housing and healthy growth.

On Wednesday, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said upcoming Statistics Canada numbers will show that Nova Scotia's population rose by 33,249 people this year. If the current trend continues, Savage said about 80 per cent of those people will be in Halifax — pushing the city past 500,000.

"We never thought we'd have a problem of too much growth," Savage said in an interview Wednesday.

He was speaking on a panel about the impact of this growth on municipalities at the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities (NSFM) conference in Halifax.

Savage said while he welcomes the rising population, planning is key to ensure a healthy society. More funds for infrastructure like wastewater systems and transit for Halifax, and other communities, is vital, he said.

"We can't just build units to store people, we need to build communities in which they can really live," Savage said during the panel.

People tenting in public spaces have become the "harshest evidence" of the unintended consequences of this growth when not met with enough support, Savage said. He said new provincial money for shelters and public housing is still not enough.

Nova Scotia's population as of April 1, 2023 was 1,047,232. That's expected to rise to about 1,080,400 by the end of this year.

The provincial government has a goal to hit two million people by 2060.

Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell spoke during the open questions section of the panel, calling on the province to make sure infrastructure dollars are tied to housing announcements.

Mitchell said the town has approved the creation of 2,500 housing units, but shortcomings in sewer and water services are holding them back.

"We have lots of developers lined up to build housing. It's that the pipes in the ground literally aren't big enough to do it," Mitchell said.

Across Canada municipalities are looking for a bigger share of sales and income taxes,  saying provincial and federal governments have greatly benefited from that pool of money growing as populations go up.

"We just need to reallocate money to make it more effective and efficient to to fill that gap," Mitchell said.

This year, the province saw an unexpected $2 billion in extra revenue largely tied to a growing tax base, while Savage noted Halifax's revenue jumped about $54 million.

Jill Balser, the provincial minister of labour, skills and immigration, was a panel member Wednesday.

She said there's room to keep increasing the population while planning with municipalities to upgrade the services they need and still maintain roads and highways.

"They don't have to be worked on in isolation," Balser said.

She also pointed to the province's initiatives to recruit more tradespeople, and make it easier for skilled workers to immigrate into Nova Scotia, as important pieces of the puzzle to support housing and growth.