The following is a release from the NS PC Party.
HALIFAX: Nova Scotians looking for a family doctor, struggling to pay their bills or unable to afford timely universal mental health services, will be provided with solutions under a Tim Houston PC government.
The platform titled ‘Solutions for Nova Scotians’ will recruit doctors and rebuild the economy, update the education curriculum to focus on environmental stewardship, financial literacy, and diversity teaching, and enact the toughest environmental penalties in Canada for individual and corporate littering.
“Healthcare is the issue in this election,” says Houston, “but for too many Nova Scotians, the problems don’t stop there. We have put together solutions to problems that have been ignored over the last eight years.”
Anchored by the largest investment in seniors’ care in the province’s history, Houston’s promises will invest more than $553 million into the province’s economy and chart a course to balance in six years.
“No one cuts their way out of an economic downturn,” says Houston. “A failure to make the right investments could severely damage our healthcare system and our economy. We are focused on providing solutions for Nova Scotians.”
The PCs unveiled solutions to recruit trades workers, immigrants, and bring home Nova Scotians who had to move away for work. With a population goal of two million people Nova Scotians by 2060, Houston has committed to IVF funding for couples struggling to conceive, a $500 tax credit for kids in sports and the arts, and the Better Pay Cheque Guarantee, which will deliver higher wages for workers and incentivize companies to do business in Nova Scotia.
“This is not a platform of promises, it is a platform of solutions,” says Houston. “This is an ambitious plan to grow our province and we are not going to take the easy road. This won’t be the ‘same old, same old.”
Houston’s solutions have a local focus, and will reverse the destructive pattern of ignoring local voices by centralizing decision-making in Halifax. Houston stressed that services can’t be delivered without community involvement.
“We’re encouraging Nova Scotians to buy local products, we’re showcasing local communities with tourism dollars, and we’re restoring local decision making to schools and physicians,” says Houston. Government might live in Halifax, but it belongs to everyone.”
Other innovative Solutions for Nova Scotians include:
- Establishing a chronic illness treatment and prevention program with in-home treatment.
- Increase the affordable housing supply by dedicating unused NS Lands.
- Providing cancer treatment coverage for volunteer firefighters.
- Opening operating rooms beyond 9-5 hours to shorten surgery wait times.
- Double the budget for rural roads.
“This is the time to fix the health crisis, jumpstart our economy and invest in Nova Scotians,” says Houston. “We are the only party with the courage and the solutions to do that.”
QUOTES
“I’m incredibly impressed with the time, effort and thought that has gone into Tim’s plan for the economy of Nova Scotia. It is this kind of exciting and innovative thinking that is needed to grow the economy.”
-Jack Mintz, Canadian Economist
on ‘Solutions for Nova Scotians’
“Election campaigns are at their best when they generate bold ideas. This is a bold idea. I have long believed that tax incentives offer more potential than cash grants. This proposed tax incentive looks to encourage local businesses, local purchasing power and population growth.”
-Donald Savoie, Canadian Economist
on ‘The Better Pay Cheque Guarantee’
