Mike Savage’s campaign is only a day old, but it’s already claimed its first casualty.

David Boyd, cab driver, mayoral candidate, and Vegas of the East visionary, has pulled out of the race. Boyd tells me he just didn’t like chances with Savage in the race, and will be endorsing the erstwhile Liberal MP. Boyd garnered just over 2,000 votes – about 2.4 per cent – in the 2008 election, running against Sheila Fougere and Mayor Peter Kelly.

Meanwhile, Savage has been making appearances on every local television and radio program in the wake of his announcement yesterday. A lot of the focus seems to be on the support he’s received across party lines – Alexa McDonough, for example, or former Progressive Conservative Natural Resources Minister Tim Olive.

Kelly is refusing to go on the campaign trail just yet – he does, after all, have some pretty serious issues to focus on. The transit strike has stretched to day six, for instance. Halifax Water looks like it could be next. And some taxi drivers – led by Al DesLaurier – are threatening to keep their roof lights off should the municipality get rid of the taxi zones.

That’s why I’m glad Halifax regional council decided to meet today, after all. These issues and more will be discussed in the open, ventilated and well-lit … wait, what? They’re discussing most of that in camera? Well that makes sense, I suppose.

That brings us to this week’s In Camera Council Count! Today’s closed-door session will update council on negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 (of course, there hasn’t been any negotiations, so that should be quick), an update on negotiations with CUPE (which represents Halifax Water workers), and a private and confidential twin to this report about buying some land in Lawrencetown. 

We’re now up to six in camera meetings on the year – truly an impressive feat, since council has only met four times in public. Hooray New Era of Openness and Transparency!

Premier Darrell Dexter remains in Atlanta, Georgia on a trade mission with the Council of Atlantic Premiers.

The standing committee on community services meets from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. with Dianne Swinemar, the executive director of Feed Nova Scotia.

Energy Minister Charlie Parker has announced the next round of approvals for the province’s community feed-in tariff (COMFIT) program. COMFIT provides a set rate per kilowatt hour for smaller scale renewable energy projects. Those eligible for the program include “municipalities, First Nations, co-operatives, universities, community economic development funds and not-for-profit groups” who want to reduce their energy consumption.

So, which one of the above groups does Bowater Mersey fit into? The beleaguered Brooklyn mill has just been approved for a combined heat and biomass project. Are things so bad at Bowater that they’re now considered a non-profit? I’ll be looking into this later today. 

And that’s your Tuesday. I’ve had this song stuck in my head for like three weeks now.