Saskatchewan NDP urges Moe to address high food prices in light of scurvy cases

HALIFAX – The leaders of Nova Scotia’s NDP and Liberal parties are taking aim at the Progressive Conservatives’ immigration policies, which they say are outpacing the province’s health care and housing capacity.

During a debate-style event on Monday organized by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said immigrants’ chances at success are threatened in a province that is without adequate health care, education and housing infrastructure.

“I’m from an immigrant family — third generation Lebanese. My family was able to thrive here because we had a house. We had the health-care system we needed. And our schools were there,” he told the business crowd, one week ahead of the Nov. 26 election.

“It is not a pro-immigration strategy to have population growth targets that exceed our capacity when we all know that we’re bursting at the seams,” Churchill said.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, who is running for a second term as premier, has set a target of doubling Nova Scotia’s population to two million people by 2060.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, a number that Churchill says exceeded the immigration department’s targets by 4,000 people.

Churchill accused Houston of treating immigrants as a source of revenue for the province, which he said “is not right.”

“The only reason we have been growing revenue and our economy is based on population growth. That’s not good,” Churchill said.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she is also concerned that immigrants are being set up to struggle because of the difficulties in accessing health care and finding an affordable home.

Houston, she said, “likes to talk about the challenges of growth and a plan — but the plan isn’t working. We don’t see the homes and hospitals and schools and health-care workers and doctor clinics that we need to address the growth that we’re seeing.”

Houston acknowledged that the province is facing struggles related to population growth, but countered that the situation is better than the alternative.

In the past, “we’ve seen challenges of decline in this province. When we were depopulating, and schools were closing, and businesses were closing — we’ve seen that. As premier, I accept the challenges of growth.”

The Tory leader said the province has set up “really strategic” immigration streams, with a focus on newcomers who will work in health care or in skilled trades.

Regarding his opponents’ criticism about the lack of affordable housing in the province, Houston repeated his assertion that “the solution to the housing crisis is more housing,” and defended his government’s record on increasing supply.

“We’re on a good path. We have a plan. The plan is working,” Houston said, adding that the government has been making progress on its target announced in 2023 of building 40,000 new homes over four years.

Chender countered that while new homes are being built, their cost puts them out of reach to most Nova Scotians.

“I knock on doors from one end of this province to the other, and people say, ‘Yes, there’s towers going up. No, I can’t live there. I can’t afford it. My kids can’t afford it. My parents can’t afford it,'” she said.

The NDP has pledged to build 30,000 new affordable rental units by working with non-profits and co-op housing providers. Instead of “constantly fighting with Ottawa,” she said, an NDP government would build homes by “leveraging federal funding.”

The three leaders also sparred over health care, with the NDP and Liberals pointing out that the province’s family doctor wait-list has doubled to 145,000 people since Houston’s Tories took government in August 2021. That number, however, is down from a record 160,234 people in June.

Churchill said that despite skyrocketing spending on health care, “outcomes that matter keep getting worse and worse and worse.”

“Talk to a doctor you know, talk to a nurse you know. Talk to a patent who’s been in an emergency room or someone who can’t get a family doctor. Ask them if they think the health-care system’s getting better.”

Houston defended his record, saying “the needle is moving” on health care, with almost 2,000 more nurses in the province compared to 2021, and that he’s particularly proud of his government’s tax credit for IVF treatment and his campaign promise of establishing a menopause clinic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.

EASTERN PASSAGE, N.S. – A former Nova Scotia NDP candidate criticized for social media posts about Israel is now running as an Independent in the Nov. 26 provincial election.

Elections Nova Scotia lists Tammy Jakeman as an Independent candidate for Eastern Passage, the riding south of Halifax she had represented for the NDP.

The NDP announced earlier this month that Jakeman was no longer running for the party in Eastern Passage, after the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs alleged she made “hurtful” posts.

In a press release, the centre shared screenshots of a social media account with Jakeman’s name, including a post responding to the Auschwitz Memorial saying Israel was responsible for the deaths of children in Gaza.

The account appeared to be deleted and Jakeman did not respond to a request for comment at the time.

Jakeman ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in Eastern Passage in the 2021 general election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.

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FREDERICTON – A rent cap, tax cuts, and payments to nurses are among the election promises the New Brunswick Liberals say they will fulfil in their first 100 days in office.

In its throne speech Tuesday, the new government said it will earn the trust of New Brunswickers by rapidly completing a series of pledges made on the campaign trail, which ended Oct. 21 with Susan Holt and her Liberal team winning a majority.

Within the first 100 days in office, the Liberals will implement a rent cap, remove the provincial tax on electricity bills and new multi-unit housing, and scrap a “clean fuel adjuster” that the premier says adds four cents a litre to the price motorists pay at the pump. As well, the new Liberal government will distribute retention payments to nurses to show them “the respect and appreciation they deserve.”

“Your government understands that trust does not come easy, but they are ready and willing to work hard to earn it,” the Liberals said in their speech, read in the legislature by Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy.

The government says its priorities will be health care, affordability and housing, education, economic development, the environment, and “trusted leadership.”

During the election campaign, the Liberals promised to breathe life back into the ailing health-care system by opening 30 community clinics over the next four years. Community clinics bring together doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health-care professionals under one roof.

In Tuesday’s speech, the government said it is “committed to support” 10 community care clinics in 2025 — in Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John, Edmundston, Campbellton, Carleton North, the Acadian Peninsula, St. Stephen, Sussex, and Sackville. The Liberals said their goal is to open clinics in Woodstock, the Kennebecasis Valley, Blacks Harbour, and Blackville “into 2026.”

The government said it would extend operating room hours to ensure hospitals “are used to their fullest potential.” Another health-care promise is to create centralized wait-lists and connected digital records management systems.

Looming over the Liberals many promises is the province’s financial outlook, which dimmed last week when the new finance minister projected a deficit of $92.1 million for the current fiscal year, a reversal from the $40.9-million surplus budgeted last spring by the Progressive Conservatives. René Legacy blamed the deficit on higher-than-expected spending in the health department, particularly on private nursing companies.

Legacy said the government will look for ways to shrink the deficit.

Tuesday’s throne speech included mention of First Nations, many of which had been critical of the previous government. The Liberals said they will invite First Nations leaders to create a forum for “culturally safe and equitable health care” for Indigenous people.

And the new government said it would create the position of mental health advocate, who will help people struggling with mental health to navigate the care network.

The Liberals also said they would expand access to mental health court — which is part of the provincial court in Saint John, and deals with cases involving people with a mental illness or intellectual disability. Increased access to the court, the Liberals said, will promote “alternative pathways for justice” and reduce the rate of people re-entering the justice system.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.