Atlantic Canada's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 24
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ATLANTIC CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2026)
Halifax Regional Municipality turns staff into stars
K
irk Symonds loves
talking trash. It’s what
he does for a living.
Symonds is manager
of education and
promotion for Halifax Solid Waste
Resources, a division of Halifax
Regional Municipality (HRM).
It’s his job to explain the complex
workings of the solid waste
program to the public.
“I manage a team of five
educators,” he says. “Our job is to
communicate to the public how
to use our waste system, to answer
questions and to notify residents
of changes or bad weather. I also
manage our advertising and promotion, which is significant, and
my staff are at events constantly.”
When we decided to use
social media as a forum
for educating, I was
shocked at how much
freedom we were given
to do it.
— Kirk Symonds
Manager, Education &
Promotion, Halifax Solid
Waste Resources
The program Symonds heads
up might be one of HRM’s
most innovative. His team has
developed a popular social media
channel to distribute information
to residents and a series of 35-to90-second Ask Ally vignettes that
have helped turn some of HRM’s
employees into viral media stars.
The spots — about 60 to date
Halifax Regional Municipality encourages employees to grow and develop within the organization, offering
them access to a variety of educational opportunities.
— also help HRM get valuable
information to residents about
everything from the intricacies of
sorting solid waste to techniques
for keeping bears out of green
bins.
“We consistently hit, just on
Facebook alone, somewhere
around 70,000 to 80,000 views,”
says Symonds. “It’s a wonderful
way for us to get our message out.”
Halifax Solid Waste’s social
media channel is certainly innovative, but Symonds gives most of
the credit to HRM for allowing it
to happen. “When I came to HRM
six years ago, there wasn’t a whole
lot of municipal social media. You
did not see municipal employees
on camera. When we decided to
use social media as a forum for
educating, I was shocked at how
much freedom we were given to
do it.”
Today, Symonds — who regularly appears in Ask Ally videos and
other social media offerings from
HRM — often gets recognized at
public events. “I have an enviable
position,” he says. “I get to be on
camera, represent HRM, have
some fun and try to entertain and
educate. But the real reason we
can use social media like we do
is because of the support we get
from our director, from our
executive director, from HRM
council and the chief adminis-
trative officer.”
Ally Chant is the star of Ask
Ally. She joined HRM three years
ago after being lured away from
her native Cape Breton where she
was education manager for an
environmental group. She admits
she’s been like a kid in a candy
store ever since. “I like to joke I
have more fun at this job than is
legally allowed,” she says.
Along with creating and producing Ask Ally with Symonds, Chant
spent her first three years at HRM
facilitating courses and teaching
residents concepts like gentle
living techniques and the circular
economy.
Recently, Chant reached
