Afternoon Pint

Mayor Andy Fillmore - Managing a Booming City With Some Big Challenges.

We sit down with newly elected Mayor Andy Fillmore after his first year for a wide-open conversation about what it takes to steer a city that’s growing in every direction: more people, more jobs, more pressure on streets and services. He talks frankly about trading the heat of Parliament for the hands-on grind of City Hall, where a mayor is one vote among many and every policy hits a sidewalk, a bus route, or a household budget.We dig into mobility first. Halifax is in a loop where buses are stuck in traffic and riders default to cars. The mayor lays out a clear case for bus rapid transit—express routes, priority, comfort—and the provincial congestion review now underway on the peninsula. We also tackle the grid: how well-meant restrictions can slow the whole system, why data matters, and how to balance safety with movement. If you’ve felt the drag getting across town, this is the roadmap, warts and all.Housing and budgets keep the stakes high. The city needs roughly 8,000 homes a year and is building about half that, with infrastructure capacity—water, wastewater, stormwater—now a key bottleneck. Add major defence spending set to flow into Halifax, and the urgency doubles. The mayor explains last year’s flat tax rate, this year’s 10.5% pressure from inflation and contracts, and his push to protect core services while partnering with the private sector—think smarter ferry models and transit hubs with amenities—to keep costs down and quality up. We also get into the assessment cap’s market distortions and why revenue reform isn’t about raising more, but raising better.Along the way we talk civic culture: what makes Halifax kind and welcoming, why the waterfront still stuns, and how to grow without losing our feel. You’ll hear candid reflections on early missteps, lessons in council diplomacy, and a clear view of what quality of life should mean here: affordability, safety, things to do, and transit worth choosing. If you care about how Halifax moves, builds, and stays itself, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and tell us: what would you cut or fund to keep the city on track?Send us a textSupport the showFind The Afternoon Pint on Youtube Facebook Instagram & TikTok Buy merch, get out newsletter, or book some of Afternoon Pints Media Talent on our website: www.afternoonpint.ca #afternoonpint #entrepreneur #popculture #authors #actors #politics #money #music #popular #movies #canadalife #madeincanada Your follows likes and subscribes help support Canadian Made Media. Please drop us a line and let us know if you are enjoying the show.

Afternoon Pint Christmas Special - A Christmas Carol Reimagined, Music Stories and More!

For this years Holiday Special, The Afternoon Pint presents a radio-play reimagining of A Christmas Carol —written in-house and brought to life with the help of the three 48 Hour Film Festival winners known collectively as Shwing Entertainment. Mike turns his crankiness up to 11 for Scrooge while Matt works his improvisational muscle by preforming as all of the ghosts.We then have some addtional stories from the AP content creator team.  Laura Flemming, shares the beautifully strange and haunting original Christmas tale about a mysterious abandoned home that has a soul called  “The Foggy House.”Don't Over Think It Chip  then tells a story about wishing for the impossible —The Toronto Maple Leafs winning the  Stanley Cup.And just when you think it couldn’t get any wilder, we wrap things up with a brand-new original song, “Sex, Drugs, and Christmas Time,” performed by the incredible Christina Martin - This may be our wildest Christmas Special to date. Thank you to all the folks that helped us out with this one, and to our sponsor, Kimia Nejat of Exit Reality, who has supported our show since day 1. Happy Holidays from the Afternoon Pint! and please share this episode. Send us a textSupport the showFind The Afternoon Pint on Youtube Facebook Instagram & TikTok Buy merch, get out newsletter, or book some of Afternoon Pints Media Talent on our website: www.afternoonpint.ca #afternoonpint #entrepreneur #popculture #authors #actors #politics #money #music #popular #movies #canadalife #madeincanada Your follows likes and subscribes help support Canadian Made Media. Please drop us a line and let us know if you are enjoying the show.

Steve Murphy - What will 2025 be remembered for?

What did 2025 really change? We sit down with Steve Murphy for a clear-eyed year-end that swaps noise for signal. The conversation starts with community—Christmas Daddies turning 62 and a bold decision to sell seized U.S. liquor to fund food banks—then widens into the defining fault line of the year: leadership tone and what it does to a country.Politics loomed large without swallowing the local. Steve unpacks why style and truth-telling matter as much as policy, and how that set the stage for Mark Carney’s centrist moment. We dig into Quebec’s shifting currents, vote migrations, and the surprising places affordability now hurts most—from trades to homeowners staring at double-digit property tax hikes. Even Canada Post becomes a mirror for modern reality: less mail, more parcels, and a humane case for restructuring that protects people while matching the service we actually use.The Atlantic lens brings fresh ground. Weather swung from drought to downpour, scorching berries and boosting certain grapes, while EVs and chargers quietly tipped from novelty to normal. City-building gets practical: Halifax needs a multipurpose stadium, a mid-size performance hall, and eventually a larger arena—not as vanity projects, but as social infrastructure that anchors tourism, keeps doctors and students here, and gives families reasons to gather. The airport’s expansion and new direct European routes prove demand is real; now we match it with venues, roads, and a plan.Energy sits just beyond the horizon and right at our feet. Wind is a serious bet. Tidal is a fierce engineering problem begging for a Nova Scotia answer. Solar may not be our ace, but a portfolio of renewables could be. Through it all, we keep circling back to something simple: kindness is strategy, not sentiment. It draws visitors, calms politics, and holds space for the work ahead.If you value grounded analysis, local stakes, and a conversation that respects your time and intelligence, press play. Then share this with a friend who cares about Atlantic Canada’s next chapter. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what headline from 2025 will history say mattered most?Send us a textSupport the showFind The Afternoon Pint on Youtube Facebook Instagram & TikTok Buy merch, get out newsletter, or book some of Afternoon Pints Media Talent on our website: www.afternoonpint.ca #afternoonpint #entrepreneur #popculture #authors #actors #politics #money #music #popular #movies #canadalife #madeincanada Your follows likes and subscribes help support Canadian Made Media. Please drop us a line and let us know if you are enjoying the show.

Don Mills - How Atlantic Canada Can Pay It’s Own Way

We sit down once again with Don Mills for a frank, energized conversation about a new private-sector panel tasked with one job: raise productivity and close the prosperity gap with the rest of Canada. No spin. No bureaucratic maze. Just a focused plan to turn our energy potential, resource base, and export channels into real incomes and real jobs.We dig into the big levers. Energy sits at the core: offshore wind, onshore wind, tidal, hydro from Labrador, nuclear in New Brunswick, and proven natural gas reserves. Don argues we need a modern transmission grid, predictable approvals, and clear timelines to unlock billions in capital. He challenges myths vs facts around fracking and mining by pointing to decades of safe practice elsewhere, remediation bonds that return mine sites back to nature, and the productivity gains that large capital projects can deliver. The goal isn’t to bulldoze environmental standards—it’s to replace uncertainty with clarity so investors build here instead of passing us by.We also talk about the economic engine already working in our favour: Halifax Stanfield. With direct international routes, belly freight for seafood exports, and a billion dollars in upgrades, the airport shows how strategic assets compound over time and shift us from “nice to visit” to “smart to invest.” From there, we zoom out to the fundamentals: right-sizing a decade of public headcount growth, aligning regional efforts instead of fighting in provincial silos, and pacing population growth to match services. The labour challenge is real, which is why Don makes a strong case for the trades—electricians, pipefitters, and technologists will be the scarce skills that make big projects possible.Underneath it all is a cultural reset: move from saying no by default to asking how we can do it responsibly. Startups and newcomer founders are already there—thinking global, shipping products abroad, and raising the bar on ambition. If we build the grid, streamline approvals, and keep the conversation rooted in facts, Atlantic Canada can pay its own way, lower tax pressure, and fund more doctors and teachers without leaning on transfers.If this vision resonates, share the episode, leave a review, and hit follow so more Atlantic Canadians can find it—and join the chorus calling for smart growth.Send us a textSupport the showFind The Afternoon Pint on Youtube Facebook Instagram & TikTok Buy merch, get out newsletter, or book some of Afternoon Pints Media Talent on our website: www.afternoonpint.ca #afternoonpint #entrepreneur #popculture #authors #actors #politics #money #music #popular #movies #canadalife #madeincanada Your follows likes and subscribes help support Canadian Made Media. Please drop us a line and let us know if you are enjoying the show.

Dr. Andrew Travers - How One Canadian Province Is Helping Redefine Health Care

We sit down at Garrison Brewing with Dr. Andrew Travers, Nova Scotia’s EHS medical director, to unpack how a care-first 911 system can calm panic, deliver treatment faster, and often avoid an unnecessary ambulance ride. From text-to-video assessments that let clinicians see a wound in real time to nurse and physician callbacks that build a safe plan without leaving home, Andrew shows how “time to care” now trumps “time to arrival.”We explore Integrated Health Programs and the paramedic “Jedi” who operate single-response units, treat on scene, and coordinate with doctors to keep patients safe and out of crowded waiting rooms. The numbers are striking: roughly a third of 911 calls end without transport, and specialized units non-transport most cases while maintaining safety. Andrew explains the public utility model that powers EHS, why Nova Scotians own the system, and how moving lifesaving treatments upstream—like thrombolytics for heart attacks or early antibiotics for sepsis—saves lives and dollars.The conversation widens to prevention and community health. Using real-time surveillance to spot opioid hot spots, connecting callers to 211 for social supports, referring seniors directly to falls clinics, and enrolling frequent callers in special patient plans—this is EMS as a network, not just a ride. We also tackle burnout with practical tools like debriefs and “green/yellow/orange/red” mental readiness checks, and we look at AI that hears distress in a caller’s voice or reads a pulse through a phone camera without replacing the human connection that makes care humane.Subscribe for more conversations that challenge old assumptions about emergencies, healthcare access, and what “good care” looks like in 2025. If this episode gave you a new way to think about 911, share it with a friend and leave a review so others can find it.Send us a textSupport the showFind The Afternoon Pint on Youtube Facebook Instagram & TikTok Buy merch, get out newsletter, or book some of Afternoon Pints Media Talent on our website: www.afternoonpint.ca #afternoonpint #entrepreneur #popculture #authors #actors #politics #money #music #popular #movies #canadalife #madeincanada Your follows likes and subscribes help support Canadian Made Media. Please drop us a line and let us know if you are enjoying the show.