| 1911 | 46,619 |
| 1912 | 46,619 |
| 1913 | 47,109 |
| 1914 | 47,109 |
| 1915 | 47,473 |
| 1916 | 50,000 |
| 1917 | 50,000 |
| 1918 | 50,000 |
| 1919 | 55,000 |
| 1920[164] | 65,000 |
An index of the growth of practical civic interest upon the part of citizens is revealed by the comparison of the numbers participating in political action by means of the vote. Recent figures for Halifax are:
| Year | Purpose | Eligible voters | No. voting | Percentage of Indifference | Percentage of Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | For Mayor | 7,632 | 2,769 | 63.80 | 36.20 |
| 1919 | For Mayor | 8,890 | 4,264 | 52.10 | 47.90 |
| 1920 | For Mayor | 11,435 | 5,491 | 51.99 | 48.01 |
Instead of the disaster resulting in disheartenment and a gradually diminishing civic interest, the percentage of indifference is smaller and the percentage of interest is larger for 1920 than for 1919, and the percentage of interest for 1919 is larger than that for the previous year. The number of eligible voters also shows increase. “The campaign [for 1920] has marked a new era .... and will make it easier to institute new reforms.”[165]
Of further sociological interest is the change affecting city-planning, civic improvement, housing, health, education and recreation.
In the realm of city-planning[166] and civic improvement, Halifax is awaking to the importance of taking advantage of an opportunity which comes to a city but seldom save through the avenue of disaster. The present Town-planning Board was formed as a result of the Town-planning Act of 1915. A board of four members, including the city engineer constitute the committee. The limits of the area to be brought under the scheme were still undecided when the explosion came. The disaster “hastened the resolution” of the Board. “When the disaster came it seemed that things would have to come to a head.” Mr. Thomas Adams, the Dominion Housing and Town-planning Advisor, was brought to Halifax to help determine what should be done. “The disaster simply had the effect of bringing to a point certain things which were pending at the time. If that event had not occurred we would by this time be into a scheme, though possibly not so far as we are.” Today the limits of the area have been defined and the scheme is nearly ready for presentation to the Council for adoption. The Dominion Town-planning Advisor's assistant reports that real progress has been made in the Halifax plan dealing with the proposed zoning of the city into factory, shopping and residential districts, the provision for future streets, street-widening and building lines, and suggestions for park and aerodrome sites. In the devastated area he has remarked progress in street-opening, in grading of the slope and in architectural treatment of the houses. Five hundred trees and three hundred shrubs have been ordered to be planted in this area. The whole area is under the control of the Relief Commission, for the Act appointing the Commission gave it the powers of a Town-planning Board.
The disaster may thus be said not only to have hastened the resolution of the existing committee, but to have produced two planning-boards instead of one. Each must keep in mind the true ideal. For it is not the “City Beautiful” idea, but that of utility that is fundamental to city-planning. It is a principle to reduce to the minimum the social problems of community life, to accomplish Aristotle's ideal—“the welfare and happiness of everyone.” In so doing civic beauty will not be neglected. “Scientific, sensible and sane city-planning” says an authority “with utility and public convenience as its primary consideration produces beauty—the beauty that is the result of adapting successfully a thing to its purpose.” It is in accordance with this principle of civic art that the terminal area is being developed—a work designed by the same architect who planned the Chateau Laurier and the Ottawa Plaza with such aesthetic taste.
To “deep cuttings, spanned by fine bridges, and bordered with trees and pleasant driveways, after the manner of Paris,” and to a “waterfront as stately as Genoa's, a terminal station with a noble facade, overlooking a square and space of flowers,”[167] the future will also bring to Halifax
more street-paving, sidewalks, parks, fountains, hedges, driveways, cluster-lighting, statuary, buildings of majesty, spaciousness and beauty. Wires will be buried, unsightly poles will disappear.... With time will come all these things which stamp a city as modern, as caring for the comfort of its people, their pleasure and rest, and health and safety. All these things come with time, effort, development of city pride, and the concentrated desire of a people for them.[168]
The question of housing is recognized as an old Halifax problem. It was already an acute one when the blow of the catastrophe fell and multiplied the difficulty a thousand-fold. The Relief Commission has grappled with its end of the problem, namely, the housing of the many refugees who were first accommodated in lodgings and in temporary shelters.[169] The old sombre frame-constructed buildings of the pre-disaster days are being replaced with attractive hydrostone. A hard-working wage-earning community is stepping out of indifferent structures into homes both comfortable and well-ordained.