QP - Public Sector Cuts

CLAUDIA CHENDER : Speaker, this government claims their budget is about defending Nova Scotians, but in order to pay for their financial mismanagement, they are making a 30 percent cut to the public sector workforce over the next four years. Communities across this province will see at least 1,000 full-time jobs eliminated this year alone. Public sector cuts will impact Nova Scotians working in health care and education, where staff are stretched thin. The cuts will disproportionately impact women, who make up over 63 percent of the Public Service.

My question is simple: Who is going to defend Nova Scotian jobs and services from this government?

HON. TIM HOUSTON (The Premier) : The people who work in the civil service, the people who provide services to Nova Scotians, they're good people. They're hard-working people. These are tough decisions, for sure.

The reality is that coming out of COVID, the civil service has grown quite significantly. It can't continue to grow forever. When we could invest more, we invested more, but the world reality is a little different right now. We have to, as a government, respond to that too.

The member opposite has put forward a number that's quite inflated, probably to try to scare people a little more.

There certainly will be cuts. A lot of the change will come through attrition as well, Speaker. We're managing the situation as best we can, but we certainly respect those who work in the civil service.

CLAUDIA CHENDER : I look forward to another session of PC math. Bluenosers - good people - are receiving layoff notices already. It didn't have to be this way. After five years of government, this province's finances are a mess, and the results people were promised have not been delivered. For the first time in 30 years, our credit rating has been downgraded, and this government's answer? Deep cuts to post-secondary institutions, our innovation sector, our cultural sector, L'nu Affairs, African Nova Scotian Affairs, Gaelic Affairs, inclusive education, the domestic violence court, and family resource centres, to name a few.

This government created these tough times. Why are they asking Nova Scotians to pay for it?

THE PREMIER : The world is uncertain. I wonder if the member thinks we created the tough times in B.C. as well, where they're raising taxes - major cuts in B.C. I wonder if the member thinks that this government created the challenges in Ottawa as well, which have major difficulties - or in New Brunswick, next door.

The reality is Canada - North America - is feeling the impacts of the global uncertainty that's taking place. We're doing the best that we can manage through this, Speaker.

The member did leave one cut out that I think is important: $700 million in taxes put back in the hands of Nova Scotians because they know what to do with it better than government does.

CLAUDIA CHENDER : That tax cut is a joke, Speaker. A big piece of that number that the Premier just quoted is the Your Energy Rebate that the NDP government brought in that they're repackaging and pretending is going to save Nova Scotians money. I know the Premier spends a lot of time outside of the province - 100 days last year. I'm here talking to Nova Scotians. This budget cuts $130 million in operating grants. Deep cuts to people and places across our province; libraries, museums, theatres, galleries, our film industry, our tourism infrastructure. This government isn't defending Nova Scotia. They're gutting it. This is only the first round of planned cuts.

What is the government going to ask Nova Scotians to do without next?

THE PREMIER : Maybe a little history lesson is in order for that one time the NDP was in government. Raised taxes, significant cuts to the civil service, wage freezes to the civil service for three years, Speaker. They left a mess in the power rate situation that we are still trying to clean up. A deal they cooked up on private jets, flying around with Emera executives.

Right now in this province, the austerity budget that the member is talking about has a $1.2 billion deficit. Spending is still up year over year. What would the member have us cut? The School Lunch Program that has delivered nine million lunches? Would the member have us cut investments in affordable and public housing for the first time in a generation? What about the medical school in Cape Breton? Does the member want those cut?

THE SPEAKER : Order, please. You know, a little appreciation when somebody is talking, no matter who it is. You like me sitting here screaming "toaster?"