HALIFAX – A key member of outgoing Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil’s cabinet says she too will leave politics once the next provincial election is called.
Finance Minister Karen Casey, who is also deputy premier, made the announcement following a cabinet meeting Thursday, saying that after 15 years representing the riding of Colchester North, she is ready to retire and wants to spend more time with her four grandchildren.
Casey said while she had been pondering her future for some time, she only made a final decision over the last week.
“Fifteen years, I think, is a good amount of public service to give to my constituents,” Casey told reporters. “I’m happy with the work that we (government) have achieved, and it’s time to let somebody else represent Colchester North.”
Casey, a former teacher, also served in the education and health portfolios and was named deputy premier in 2017.
Over her time in the education portfolio, she was instrumental in the Liberal government’s move to rein in contract demands by the province’s teachers — a battle that ultimately saw the imposition of a contract that ended a two-month work-to-rule campaign by public school teachers in February 2017.
As finance minister, Casey also played a part in helping the government table five consecutive balanced budgets.
“I learned a lot personally in the finance portfolio, but there were challenges there, and I quite like a challenge,” she said.
McNeil, who is leaving politics next month, said he counts Casey as a personal friend and believes she played an “integral role” in helping return the province to fiscal health.
“We have really run a duo operation here in lots of ways,” McNeil said. “She is one person that I have always sought counsel of in my most difficult days.”
Casey was a former interim leader of the Progressive Conservatives and defected to the Liberals in January, 2011 at McNeil’s invitation.
“That allowed me to join a caucus and a leader … whose values I thought I shared,” said Casey. “What motivated me? It would be knowing that my ideas and those of my constituents and me as a person would be respected.”
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Casey confirmed she would stay on until the next election, which must be called by the spring of 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2021.
Blaine Higgs, who is seeking a third term in office as premier, said today he wants all students to enter adulthood with a better understanding of how money works.
The new curriculum would teach students about budgeting, bank accounts, interest rates, inflation, mortgages, leases, loans and RRSPs, among other things.
Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Susan Holt pledged that, if elected to govern, her party would overhaul the province’s approach to mental health and addiction care by adding community outreach workers to deliver frontline support.
She says these frontline workers would help school psychologists, which she said are in short supply.
Later in the day, Green Party Leader David Coon said a Green government would impose a 2.5 per cent rent cap as part of a broader plan to increase the supply of affordable housing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
Macron arrived last night from New York and had an informal dinner at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s home at Rideau Cottage.
The two are having a formal meeting on Parliament Hill this morning before travelling to Montreal, where Macron will visit Quebec dignitaries and see the Port of Montreal.
The visit comes as both leaders face a rise in populist movements and discontent that has challenged each country’s policies on climate change and immigration.
It also follows a March vote by France’s senate to reject the European Union’s trade deal with Canada, against Macron’s wishes.
Macron last visited Canada in 2018 for a meeting of the G7 leaders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick leaders return to the campaign trail today after Wednesday night’s leaders debate.
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs spent much of the debate on the defensive, explaining why his promise to cut the harmonized sales tax by two percentage points wouldn’t hurt services.
Higgs, who is campaigning for a third term in office, said citizens know how to spend their money better than government, adding that his party will find “innovative” ways to improve the health system.
Liberal Leader Susan Holt says the promised cuts will cost $450 million a year and risk pushing the province toward privatized health care.
Today, Green Leader David Coon is scheduled to announce his plan for affordable housing in Fredericton, and campaign in his riding of Fredericton-Lincoln.
Holt is set to make an announcement on mental health, and then campaign in Higgs’s riding of Quispamsis, north of Saint John.
Higgs is scheduled to visit the Fredericton sports facility called Willie O’Ree Place.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
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