No Action on Healthcare, Affordability, or Housing Crises - QP
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, on what looks to be the last day of this sitting, it's worth recounting what has taken place over the last few weeks. In the course of this short legislative sitting, 6,440 people have added their names to the family doctor registry - and well over half of those are in the Central Zone.
The IWK and the QEII have both issued alerts about the state of the ERs. Accounts of the Cobequid and the Kentville ERs this week are no better - and those are the ones that we are lucky enough to have open. Still, the government has introduced no health care legislation, and we are no closer to getting people the care they need. In the Premier's words, some might call that disgusting.
I ask the Premier again: Why has this government allowed another sitting to come and go without any real progress in fixing the health care crisis?
THE PREMIER « » : The fact of the matter is that the management of the health care system doesn't happen through bills and legislation: It happens every single day by the health leadership team. It happens every single day by people working on the front lines of the health care system. We are getting things done in health care.
Also, as an added bonus for Nova Scotians during this short session, we protected Nova Scotians from a power rate increase. We got a telecommunications bill through to make sure that the telecommunications companies are held accountable to Nova Scotians.
We passed legislation, with no support from the Opposition - nothing but grumbling - to get housing built in this province. We're getting stuff done.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Let's talk about protecting Nova Scotians. Since this House has sat, temperatures have dropped, and people are now facing oil tank bills that could be $2,000 for a single fill. The Heating Assistance Rebate is a fraction of this cost, and only for the people whose incomes are low enough to be eligible. This government has said time and time again that they are looking at support to help people with costs this Winter, but there is still no word on when they will act. My question to the Premier is: Why hasn't the Premier helped regular people to heat their homes this session?
THE PREMIER « » : On one hand, we have an Opposition who says we are not doing anything. On another hand we have the same Opposition members, on the same day - sometimes in the same question - saying we are going too fast. The reality is that we are getting things done for Nova Scotians. Yes, there's more work to be done. We are reviewing the programs. We will continue to look for ways to support Nova Scotians. We'll list off a bunch, but we know there's more to be done. There's a lot of work to be done to support Nova Scotians. We're getting it done for Nova Scotians every day.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Since this House first sat on October 13th, less than a month ago, there have been dozens more people added to the list of people experiencing homelessness across this province. Despite this crisis, the Premier has not acted decisively to provide actual affordable housing, has not raised the minimum wage, has not indexed support to inflation. He has not committed to helping people to not have to choose between medication and food by pausing Pharmacare premiums and deductibles. People are falling behind. Why has the Premier allowed another sitting to come and go without providing real support to Nova Scotians?
THE PREMIER « » : Look, Nova Scotians are struggling, for sure. We know that and we feel that very deeply and very personally. It's happening in Nova Scotia. It's happening across the country. It's really happening across the world, the inflationary issues we have.
We are doing things to support Nova Scotians. The members might not want to acknowledge that, but we are doing things. We will also take extraordinary steps to get things like housing built. When people try to get in the way and slow it down, we'll push them out of the way, and we'll get housing built, because we're interested in making sure that we do everything we can to support Nova Scotians. We will not be distracted. We will do everything we can to support Nova Scotians.