Week 1 of the Nova Scotia election campaign: the promises

McNeil on the campaign trail N.S. Liberal leader Stephen McNeil sits down with Steve Murphy on the first full day of campaigning.

Monday

Liberals: Leader Stephen McNeil begins his day in Halifax with an infrastructure announcement. The Liberals promise to spend $390 million over the next seven years on projects like road maintenance, highway twinning, and school renovation and construction. McNeil says this would be “the largest program of infrastructure modernization” in the province’s recent history. The Liberals estimate this will create thousands of jobs.

Key quote: “For the past several years, Nova Scotians have worked hard with their Liberal government to restore the province’s financial health. Thanks to that hard work, we are now in a better position to responsibly invest in our future.” – Stephen McNeil

Progressive Conservatives: Leader Jamie Baillie introduces the first “major plank” in his party’s platform: the $2 billion Rebuild Nova Scotia fund. Baillie says this 10-year fund will be 50 per cent federal dollars, and will be directed toward projects like the QEII hospital rebuild, highway twinning, and rural high speed Internet. The $1 billion of provincial funding will be realized by “anchoring the province’s debt-to-GDP” at the current rate for 10 years and maintaining balanced operating budgets, Baillie says. The PCs estimate this plan will create more than 22,000 jobs over a decade.

Key quote:  “I intend to be the premier to make the business case to Ottawa that we need them to work with us to rebuild our province’s infrastructure and put Nova Scotians back to work.” – Jamie Baillie

NDP: Leader Gary Burrill announces that his party will make a $120 million investment in front-line health care over four years to tackle the province’s doctor shortage. The NDP says there are 106,000 people in Nova Scotia without a family doctor and this investment will “move us very seriously” toward the goal of providing a primary care provider for every Nova Scotian. An NDP factsheet shows the party estimates it could staff 60 collaborative care centres with that funding.

Key quote: “A government of the New Democratic Party will make the providing of primary health care a singular focus and priority of our administration, and an NDP government will also be – I am happy to make this commitment – an active partner with doctors, patients and communities.” – Gary Burrill

Tuesday

Liberals: Leader Stephen McNeil promises investments that he says will encourage young people to stay in the province. Many of the initiatives were included in the budget the Liberals introduced last week, including doubling the Graduate to Opportunities program, which provides payroll subsidies to employers who hire young people. The total promise is more than $45 million.

Key quote: “These programs are a way of supporting businesses to lead in the growth of our economy and shape a workforce in Nova Scotia.” – Stephen McNeil

PCs: Leader Jamie Baillie says he will encourage all political parties to run more diverse candidates by increasing the per-vote subsidy for female, Aboriginal, or African Nova Scotian candidates by 50 per cent. Attacking the McNeil Liberals for running the fewest female candidates in this election (12, as compared to the PC’s 17 and the NDP’s 23), Baillie says he wants all parties to do more to ensure the House of Assembly reflects all of Nova Scotia.

Key quote: “When we’re not even discussing anymore the background of individual members of the House of Assembly, whether it’s their sexual orientation, whether it’s the colour of their skin, when that becomes a non-issue, I’ll know that we have succeeded.” – Jamie Baillie

NDP: Leader Gary Burrill makes an announcement about investing in long-term care. He accuses the McNeil Liberals of cutting funding to long-term care, and says they either don’t understand or don’t care about the impact of those cuts. Burrill promises the NDP will invest $8.3 million in long-term care facilities if elected.

Key quote: “There are priorities, like the lives of seniors living in nursing homes, that we have to see dealt with. And it is not appropriate to say that a balanced budget is so important that we cannot support the budget of diet and programming in nursing homes.” – Gary Burrill

Wednesday

Liberals: Stephen McNeil announces a Liberal government will create a pre-primary early learning program for all four-year-olds in the next mandate. Unveiled in the budget last week, the plan begins with an investment of $3.7 million next year to create 750 spaces in 30 locations. By the end of four years, it will cost $49.4 million a year and McNeil says it will save families up to $10,000 a year in childcare costs.

Key quote: “Currently there are children whose family can afford to provide them with this program, who are getting it. We want to make sure that every child, regardless of socioeconomic standing in life, that they get the right start.” – Stephen McNeil

PCs: Jamie Baillie attacks the McNeil government’s record on health care, promising to spend $13.5 million over four years to recruit and retain more family doctors and specialists. Like Burrill on Monday, Baillie is not able to say how many doctors will be hired.

Key quote: "We need more doctors now: Family doctors to get people to the front of the line and advocate for them in our system, and more specialists like surgeons to see that they get the surgeries that they need in a timely way.” Jamie Baillie

NDP: Gary Burrill makes a campaign promise about health care for the third day in a row. The NDP will aim to reduce emergency room overcrowding by promising to implement all recommendations of the NSGEU report “Code Critical.”

Key quote: “Health care, we understand, is difficult. We understand that it is complex, but it’s not impossible. Together we can make sure people get the care they need.” – Gary Burrill

Thursday

Liberals: Stephen McNeil promises an investment of $78 million over four years to create or expand 70 collaborative care centres. Another $5 million a year will go toward construction and renovation of clinics. McNeil says one of the biggest challenges facing every government is health-care delivery.

Key quote: “As long as I am the premier it will be my goal to ensure that every Nova Scotian has access to a family health care providing team.” – Stephen McNeil

PCs: Jamie Baillie promises to solve the problems with rural Internet access in Nova Scotia within his 10-year plan. The PCs will invest $150 million in total, and Baillie says half of that will be provincial funds. He expects federal and municipal governments will cost-share the other half.

Key quote: “We will begin in year one by building an open access fibre network, kind of like the highway of the Internet to all communities, and then tender out the provision of Internet services.” Jamie Baillie

NDP: Gary Burrill says an NDP government will follow the lead of Alberta’s NDP government in phasing in a $15 per hour minimum wage. Burrill says the minimum wage will go up by $1 per hour in the first year, and by $1.57 in each of the two following years. He says research suggests a higher minimum wage will actually help small and medium-sized businesses by creating a wealthier customer base.

Key quote: “In Nova Scotia we have such a significant part of our working population working for so little. So we know, for example, in Nova Scotia that 40 per cent of the people who live below the poverty line have a full-time year-round job.” – Gary Burrill

Friday

Liberals: Stephen McNeil commits to spending more than $34 million over four years to fund mental health care services. This includes expanding the SchoolsPlus program to all public schools, and creating a central intake system for mental health ($3.4 million over four years).

Key quote: “If there’s one thing I’ve heard from mental health providers, it’s your decisions have to be evidence-based, don’t make a decision because you think you’re trying to fill a political hole.” – Stephen McNeil

PCs: Jamie Baillie promises specific highway twinning projects under the Rebuild Nova Scotia fund. Over the next seven years, $759 million will be spent on twinning and safety measures. The twinning projects are very similar to what the McNeil Liberals have promised.

Key quote: “We intend to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the federal government that sees them covering half the costs.” – Jamie Baillie

NDP: Gary Burrill says an NDP government will immediately reinstate the film tax credit that was ended in the Liberals’ 2015/16 budget. Burrill says the Liberals created “chaos” for the industry when it created the Film and Television Incentive Fund in place of the tax credit. The NDP expects the credit to cost about $23 million in the first year.

Key quote: “We think this is the kind of an industry that requires serious investment by the province.” - Gary Burrill