Waye Mason

Waye Mason is a Canadian businessman, educator and former politician from Nova Scotia. He was a member of the Halifax Regional Council from 2012 to 2024, Deputy Mayor from 2018 to 2019, and a candidate for Mayor of Halifax in 2024.

Early life and education Mason was born and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He has earned a Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie University, a Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary's University, and a faculty diploma from the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC).

Career Musical career Mason began his career in the music industry as a campus community radio volunteer at CKDU, the radio station of Dalhousie University. During this time, he was also chair of the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU).

In 1993, Mason founded the record label and distributor No Records, The label operated until 2004. In the late 1990s, he worked as a marketing director for Halifax on Music, a music festival which operated from 1996 until 1999. This festival inspired him to establish the not-for-profit Halifax Pop Explosion Association in 2001 to operate the Halifax Pop Explosion festival, serving as executive director of Halifax Pop Explosion until 2010. He defeated incumbent councillor Sue Uteck by 96 votes, with Uteck attempting to reclaim her seat four years later in the 2016 Halifax municipal election. Mason won the 2016 election with 61% of the vote compared to Uteck's 33%. He served as deputy mayor of Halifax for one year, beginning on 14 November 2017.

Before the 2020 election, the district was renamed Halifax South Downtown to "bring greater clarity" while keeping the same boundaries, a move Mason requested with colleagues from council. In 2020, Mason was reelected for a third term in District 7, with 62% of the vote.

In 2022, Mason introduced a new bylaw forcing convenience stores in residential neighbourhoods to close by 11pm, receiving unanimous support from council. Mason said that convenience stores "can be quite disruptive to the community especially if they're serving pizza and have a lot of folks coming back from downtown, congregating outside eating said pizza". The bylaw appeared to target two specific stores, Triple A and Jubilee Junction, which made the majority of their sales after 11pm. The bylaw received significant pushback from students and residents of the area, with hundreds of people signing petitions created by the affected stores.

Following the decision of mayor Mike Savage not to run for a fourth term, Mason entered the race for Mayor of Halifax on 10 June 2024. His mayoral campaign was endorsed by fellow councillors Lisa Blackburn, Tony Mancini, and Iona Stoddard; his campaign manager was Mat Whynott, who had helped run the previous mayoral campaign of Savage.

Mason placed second in the mayoral election to Andy Fillmore, a former Member of Parliament. Out of 16 mayoral candidates in the 2024 Halifax municipal election, Mason received 25% of the vote.

After politics In February 2025, Mason became Executive Vice President of ATN Strategies, a Canadian strategy and research firm. He was promoted to President of the company in December of the same year.

Family Mason is the son of the Canadian Vice-Admiral Lynn Mason.

Mason's grandfather, John Burton Waye, served in the Second World War with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division as an engineer. In 2016, Mason travelled to the Netherlands where he retrieved a helmet that belonged to his grandfather. The helmet was badly damaged from when a military vehicle his grandfather was driving in was struck by a German mortar. He survived the attack, but was left permanently deaf in one ear. Mason stated that his grandfather spoke little of his time in the war, and discovering the events he endured in the decades after his death was an emotionally impactful experience.

Electoral record

2024 Halifax mayoral election Candidate Votes % Andy Fillmore 52,618 42.52 Waye Mason 30,889 24.96 Pam Lovelace 19,767 15.98 Jim Hoskins 7194 5.81 Darryl Johnson 4668 3.77 Greg Frampton 2647 2.14 Other candidates 5952 4.81 Total 123,735 100Source: Halifax Regional Municipality

2020 Halifax municipal election Candidate Votes % Waye Mason 3728 62.11 Jen Powley 1882 31.36 Craig Roy 287 4.78 Richard Arundel-Evans 105 1.75 Total 6002 100 Registered voters/turnout 18,512 32.42Source: Halifax Regional Municipality

2016 Halifax municipal election Candidate Votes % Waye Mason 2962 61.16 Sue Uteck 1590 32.83 Dominick Desjardins 259 5.35 Rejected ballots 32 0.66 Total 4843 100 Registered voters/turnout 15,566 31.11Source: Halifax Regional Municipality

2012 Halifax municipal election Candidate Votes % Waye Mason 1949 32.29 Sue Uteck 1835 30.41 Gerry Walsh 1796 29.76 Dawgfather PHD 357 5.92 Mike Macdonnell 98 1.62 Rejected ballots 22 0.36 Total 6057 100 Registered voters/turnout 17,912 33.82Source: Halifax Regional Municipality

Publications