- HRM Votes: Andrea Hilchie-Pye, District 7 Contender Once Worked For Texan Democrat Politico
By Andrew Macdonald
There are six contenders in District 7, Southend/Downtown, vying for regional council. District 7 is home to the largest concentration of people on the Atlantic. The riding is also home to the vibrant business community capital of the region.
In this edition of The Macdonald Notebook, we do a journalism deep dive on District 7, where the incumbent, Waye Mason is running to become HRM mayor.
So once ballots are counted on election day October 19th, 2024, for the first time in 12 years District 7 will be sending a new candidate to Halifax City Hall.
We have already featured William Breckenridge’s campaign for District 7. In this article, we feature a news chat with Andrea Hilchie-Pye.
First off, while she gets asked the question, Hilchie-Pye is not related to the late great Truro car dealership titan, Gerry Pye.
Employed as a healthcare consultant, Hilchie Pye first got bitten by the political bug way back in 2001, when she worked for a Texas Democrat while living in that large state. More on that later in this article.
She grew up in District 7, and that is where she resides with her partner, David, and it is where she works.
In The Notebook on Sunday, we featured the biography of Hilchie-Pye.
I asked her why she wants to become a councillor for the district.
“The big thing I hear is what I also experienced is that we do not engage with citizens. We’re not actively asking people what matters and getting them involved in things that affect them – and that is really what is driving me to run, being that voice again and bringing that consultation back to the table,” Hilchie-Pye tells The Macdonald Notebook.
I asked if she is one of the front runners in the race. “It is a very competitive race.”
On the sign frontage wars – and signs do not vote – William Breckenridge & Peter Sonnichsen seem to have the most signs in the district. Both Breckenridge and Sonnichsen are also candidates.
“I would say I am getting a lot of great support. People are very open to talking, saying, ‘Yes, I voted for you’. So there is definitely support,” says Hilchie Pye, days before the Oct. 19th vote.
A healthcare consultant, she has a master’s in health administration and has a healthcare executive designation. “For the last three years, I have worked as a consultant in healthcare, with a private company in District 7.” She has also done project management.
The Top Three Issues
Regarding the three top issues facing voters in the district, excluding voters not being consulted and engaged, she says homelessness and tent encampments “is the number one issue” she hears at voter doorsteps’.
The second issue is how the city manages its growth and how it builds out and having the proper infrastructure in place to manage that growth and make sure we have services close to where that growth is available.
Her third biggest issue is traffic, transportation and how people are moved around.
“We hear about traffic a lot. We hear that our current transportation is not working for us. How we move people around the city is very important,” adds Hilchie-Pye.
I asked the contender how she would address the affordability of housing if she went to the regional council.
“It takes all of us at the table to bring our solutions together and I am not going to have all of them and I do not think any one would expect that,” she offers.
“There are a few things we can do to help offset affordability. We do know that the not-for-profit sector is really, really good at creating affordable housing. We have seen models that work. That is something the city can do, we can help support that more by looking at other fees we can reduce or remove. For example, if they do water hookups maybe we can look at that,” she adds.
“We can also look at where we can offset some of our city land and streamline that process,” to pave the way for housing.
“I was speaking with a councillor in Dartmouth, and one of the things he has been trying to do for many years – and is still in the process of trying to get is – is that there is a ballfield that is not being used. He would love to be able to repurpose it. But, (that project) has been stuck in the bureaucratic slow down of the system. How do we look at that, to help make things affordable.”
She does not favour a city plan to allow tents on the Halifax Commons or at Point Pleasant Park. In fact, she says “encampments are not the solution” to lack of housing.
“They are not the way we should move forward, at all. We need to find solutions to get people housed as quickly as we can, and there are some we can do faster than others,” adds Hilchie-Pye.
“Definitely we should not have tents in our parks. Parks are for the enjoyment of all of us”.
Andrea Hilchie-Pye.
Addressing traffic congestion
I asked Hilchie-Pye how she would address traffic congestion on Halifax Peninsula, and she says transit has to be made more convenient, to entice people to get out of their cars and travel on busses.
She mentions a former program, Free Rides Downtown, where busses travelled routes on streets like Hollis Street & Lower Water Street.
“Maybe we need to bring that shuttle back and make it a little bigger so people can jump in and jump off, and make it stop where people go, grocery stores or downtown for dinner. That is one thing to elevate some of the local traffic we are experiencing.”
She says large employers, such as universities and hospitals and the private sector could also have a dedicated bus route to the workplace.
“If we know a hundred people work downtown and come from ‘x’ community, let’s make sure we have a shuttle service dropping people off. It’s about thinking differently, to make it easy for people to make that choice.”
On bike lanes, HRM has received $25M from Ottawa, NS government and the municipality. Ottawa’s chipping in 40 per cent of that cost.
A recent poll found only 5 per cent support bike lanes being built around HRM, and CNIB has called for a moratorium on new bike lane construction until safety issues are addressed for visually impaired pedestrians.
Hilchie-Pye’s policy stance on bike lanes?
“It is interesting, this is probably one of the most contentious issues in the district. As for CNIB, and others disabled it is a challenge for them. Again, it is not that (the question) is for or against bike lanes. (The issue) is how do you build bike lanes that make sense?”
She says the Beaufort Avenue walking trail and bike lane “has been very successful. But in other places it does not make sense.”
“How do we integrate our bike path so that it makes sense, and also it addresses those barriers that affect other people,” adds Hilchie-Pye.
“It is an important piece of our transportation but it just is how we do it and make sure we build them in a way that makes sense.”
Toiling for A Democrat In Texas
Back in 2001, with a former husband, Andrea Hilchie Pye found herself living in the large state of Texas.
Unable to get a healthcare job, she was later head-hunted to work for a Democrat in Texas, giving her the political bug.
On her bio page, she says: “My political journey began in 2001 as an aide to Representative Bob Glaze in Texas. Although US politics is very different than politics in Canada – my time working across the aisle to develop legislation and advocate for solutions has taught me the importance of listening, building relationships despite opposing positions and delivering real results for people.”
Her former husband – she got married in 2000 – took a job in Texas, and she had just graduated with her master’s in health administration.
“I put my resume out and I had no luck. So I started networking and I ended up going to a health admin school down there, who said the Public Policy Institute in Texas was looking for volunteers….I ended up volunteering.”
That is when she heard Texan Representative, Democrat Dr. Bob Glaze was looking for someone to run his Capital office.
“I met Dr. Bob and his wife Jean and they hired me right on the spot. I was one of a handful of Canadians working at the Texas House. That is definitely how I got my political bug if you will. It was being able to navigate a system very quickly.”
Back then the Texas House sat for five months every two years. “You had to know how to quickly navigate because there are more ways to kill a bill, than make it law. How do you navigate bills passed? I was able to work with Representatives and Senators and their staff, and working with Democrats and both parties of the House.”
She says the work she is “most proud of” was providing bridge funding for folks coming off welfare, who go into the workforce.
“(Politicos) wanted to cut that funding. So I worked tirelessly to work with my counterparts in the Senate, and we were able to save that money,” she tells The Macdonald Notebook. “It got me really interested in politics.”
Dr. Glaze, the politician she worked for was also an entrepreneur, owned a ranch, and he also owned an oil operation.
