Fillmore’s riding has two Black communities that he’s economically depriving.
Rather you like him or not, since getting into office in 2015, Andy Fillmore has brought money into his Halifax riding by the boatload. He has championed large scale development contracts, infrastructure spending and lobbied the federal government to fund massive construction projects. The spending will put Halifax on the map not only nationally but internationally. In an interview with CBC, Fillmore boasted that the Halifax riding “was at the bottom of the barrel in spending and now is the eighth most-invested federal riding in the country.” If you live in Halifax, you are acutely aware of the difference in the short time Andy has been our Member of Parliament for Halifax.
With all the economic success that Andy helped bring to Halifax, -credit also goes to the municipal and provincial governments. – There is one group that has been left on the outside looking in. The African Nova Scotian community has not benefited from the financial win-fall. Our Black adult and youth unemployment rates are horrendous. The child poverty rates are appalling, and we still earn considerably less -44 cents- on the dollar to our White counterparts. Additionally, the massive infrastructure projects are designed and built by non-Blacks. The Black community literally receives nothing of benefit. Economically it has hurt the Black community as many of us are being pushed out.
Here’s the thing… That’s precisely why Fillmore has the best chance to be re-elected. For these simple 5 reasons.
#1 Politics is simply the allocation of resources. -Who gets what- and a politician is the person who allocates those resources. Fillmore has received support from groups and corporations that he strategically allocated funding and resources since being elected in 2015.
2# The local media in Halifax has been very kind to Fillmore. He has made several political blunders that the media didn’t know or refused to report.
3# Fillmore uses a slick political style that is unmatched in Halifax. He shows up at events that have the possibility of gaining his political capital and stays away from events that are considered controversial. His weekend door-to-door campaigns has also worked wonders; that coupled with the Liberal party machine, has made him a formidable opponent.
4# For all myths of Halifax having a “progressive” reputation, it always was and still is a haven for White privilege. Virtually all of Fillmore’s funding and resource allocation announcements have been directly for the White population of Halifax, with the Black community being excluded. The White population will obviously like to see more of this and will surely reward him for it.
#5 Last but definitely not the least reason why Fillmore will retain his seat is due to the complacency, lack of political maturity of Halifax’s Black population, and the betrayal of the city’s Black “leadership.”
Fillmore is a frequent visitor to BBQs and events held by the Black community, taking selfies and smiling in the face of the community. As every politician travels the BBQ circuit, none of those communities are economically deprived. The Black community, however, is bursting at the seams when it comes to poverty. Black residents’ clamour around Fillmore, not to ask about a Black agenda, tangibles, or to allocate resources to the community, but to take selfies. These are the same people who express discontent that the community is being gentrified and complain they lack the resources they need to obtain gainful employment, start a business, or buy a home.
The Black political leaders are also guilty of this but on a larger scale. While Fillmore has been allocating Billions of dollars exclusively to the White community, the only two Black politicians sat back and did nothing. The Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, Liberal Tony Ince MLA Cole Harbour – Portland Valley, who did nothing to ensure that the federal money coming from Fillmore to the province included resources for the Black community. He has sat idly by as announcement after announcement came with not even a whisper of the Black community receiving any benefit. The same goes for Lindell Smith, Councillor District 8 – Peninsula North, who also sat silent as he’s seen the neighbourhood he grew up in and now represents, being economically starved, while Fillmore overfed the White population. The impotence of the Black politicians to even make a fuss has allowed Fillmore to deprive the community of much-needed resources.
And possibly most devastating has been the Black organizations who received trinkets from Fillmore. Some got federal money to spruce up their offices or to hire a new staffer. These “Black” organizations act as gatekeepers and buffers between Fillmore and the broader Black community. The few complaints that came -mainly from our news outlet- that Fillmore was economically depriving the Black community was subverted by Fillmore saying he gave a Black organization money.
Should Fillmore be re-elected -which is highly likely-the Black community in Halifax is getting what they deserve, which is nothing. Actually, it’s worse than nothing, because, with the resources that are piling into the city, the Black population faces certain annihilation.
If you are Black in Halifax and understand there is something fundamentally wrong, you have a few choices. Leave Halifax. Or you can simply do what the Jewish, Arab, Asian and LGBTQ communities have done. Control the politicians in your community and make them allocate resources and tangibles specifically for you. At this point, voting for another party won’t cut it as they have not been properly vetted. If you are seriously interested in having an economic agenda that will benefit the Black community, check out the step-by-step guide on our YouTube page. The Black Agenda Part one.