Andy Fillmore didn’t think his office could get any busier, but somehow — even with the doors closed to the public — 2020 defied expectation.
The Halifax member of Parliament spent the year logging countless hours on the computer, taking virtual meetings, while his team helped individual constituents successfully apply for federal social assistance benefits, rolled out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not work his office would regularly engage in one-on-one, but he said he’s grateful 2020 presented the opportunity.
“This gift of being able to spend the last nine months here in Halifax has just been enormous,” he told Global News, sitting in his office before the House of Commons adjourned for the holidays. “It has been a remarkable demonstration of how much we can all get done virtually.”
Despite a full calendar in 2020, he added, his work on COVID-19 is only starting to get underway. With vaccine rollout signalling the start of the pandemic recovery phase, he’ll soon be in the hot seat as parliamentary secretary to the minister of infrastructure and communities.
“Once we move past vaccines and get into the recovery piece, infrastructure will be huge,” he explained.
“The way that we use our public spaces in cities and communities is being completely reimagined.”
Fillmore said the pandemic has thrust many of society’s “fault lines” into the spotlight, including a lack of affordable housing and access to basic services, like wireless internet and transportation.
“I have to say, the (opportunity) that’s closest to me, given my background, is the way we think of and conceive of our communities,” said Fillmore, an urban planner by trade.
In August, the federal government announced $31 million in funding for quick community projects that make life easier for residents during the pandemic, like new public Wi-Fi hotspots, pop-up sidewalks, bicycle lanes or public benches.
While non-profits quickly put forward their proposals, Fillmore said the program has an added benefit: piloting these changes for more permanent implementation when the COVID-19 crisis has passed.
“So a pop-up bike lane right now that we’re funding might be funded as a permanent separated bike lane in the future because we’ll have the proof of concept at that point,” he said.
Another pandemic opportunity the two-term parliamentarian has spotted is the conversion of office space to housing in Halifax’s downtown core.
Lack of affordable housing took a front seat in political discourse in Nova Scotia in the fall of 2020 as rent increases and evictions returned with the end of some emergency freezes that were later reinstated.
“In speaking with business owners downtown, they’ve got a couple thousand square feet of Class A office space that’s sitting empty right now,” he explained. “To me as a city planner, it means we have a huge, ready-made supply of office that can be quickly converted to housing.”
Fillmore, who was a city planner in the Halifax Regional Municipality, said many downtown buildings have mixed-use zoning, so turning them into residential units wouldn’t be complicated. It’s not in his jurisdiction as a federal MP, however, he said he can support such initiatives by facilitating conversations and the funding to match.
“We do have the power to make positive upstream federal policy, for example, around funding like the Rapid Housing Initiative, that funds the conversion of existing buildings from other uses to residential.
“We can make those things available to communities and I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of that.”
In 2021, Fillmore will lead the development and implementation of Canada’s National Active Transportation Strategy — a task given to him by Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna.
While his focus right now is on the future, he said it’s important not to dismiss some of the good things that happened in his constituency in 2020.
He named the opening of George’s Island, the completion of the design competition for the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the opening of the new downtown YMCA among the highlights.