Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore is very optimistic about Budget 2025 which Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government tabled Tuesday, by federal Finance Minister Francois Philippe-Champaigne.

Fillmore is the former Liberal MP for Halifax, and in an interview with our newsroom said it was fun to watch the speech, Tuesday night.

“I had nine federal budgets while I was there, so it was fun to see all my old acquaintances and all the energy. And yet, I was very happy to be back home at Halifax and not in the mix of it all there,” said Fillmore.

He did say that the Budget tabled clearly identifies that municipal infrastructure is critical to solving the housing crisis and getting the homes we need to get built.

“It acknowledges that municipalities can’t shoulder the cost alone. So, that’s what’s really important about this. Municipal infrastructure is a key for a strong economy,” said Fillmore.

He said it is not only critical for things like housing but productivity, trade and climate resilience as well – and it is expensive.

“The federal government is now going to help us in a new and improved way,” added Fillmore.

The budget also included $30 billion toward military spending, which according to the mayor, is good for us.

“Halifax is home to Canada’s largest armed forces base. It’s home to the fifth division of the Canadian Army. It’s home to 12 Wing Shearwater. It’s home to Irving Shipbuilding. It’s home to the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship. It’s home to the NATO Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic,” explained Fillmore.

“We are a navy and military town and the Prime Minister’s commitment to get the NATO spending up to 2 per cent of GDP and beyond, can only be good for Halifax. So, I think this is really important.”

Coming up for Halifax Council is the municipal budget, and they are going to do a “first bite at the apple” near the end of November.

“The mission that I’m on is to make sure we are living within our means,” said Fillmore.

He said it’s important that we do not fall back on old habits when assessments and population was growing rapidly, because things have flattened out a bit.

“We have a lot of big ticket infrastructure items that we need to pay for and it’s going to require a discipline to focus on our core services – all the things that we need to do- and we may have to do a few less of the things that we like to do to get those things done,” added Filmore.

The budget, he said, is already 10 per cent bigger than last year, which means some difficult choices.