QP - Cutting rural transit programs

CLAUDIA CHENDER : Nova Scotians know that it's expensive to get around our province, especially in rural communities, so it's shocking to see this government cut both Community Transportation Assistance Program and the Public Transit Assistance Program, which help fund rural transit. When funding for these programs was announced in 2023, the General Manager of Trans County Transportation said, "Without the support of the Province of Nova Scotia, we would not be able to maintain our mission of operating a safe, affordable and accessible alternate transportation service to our local rural communities."

My question to the minister is: How does cutting rural transit defend Nova Scotians?

HON. FRED TILLEY : We recognize the importance of rural transit. We recognize the importance of transit across Nova Scotia. The cut that the member refers to is a 20 percent cut, but we feel that we're still able to deliver our mandate. We've contributed over a half a billion dollars to roads. We've contributed over $2.5 billion in the last five years to building up roads in this province. Community transportation - we're working with our partners to ensure that they stay active and are able to deliver their programming.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: With respect, funding roads is not funding public transportation, something which people need across this province. This government has also made massive cuts - in fact, has eliminated the Student Transit Pass Program in HRM. The funding item left only gets them through the end of this year, when they have been told it will be cancelled.

This is an innovative program that lets students ride the bus for free, reducing traffic, encouraging independence, offering stable funding to transit when HRM is currently considering service cuts to this vital service, and building a generation of transit users. The total cost to the province for this program was $1.2 million. That won't even balance the budget or pay for the staff in the Premier's Office. What is the rationale of cutting this program?

THE SPEAKER : The honourable Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

HON. BRENDAN MAGUIRE : Obviously when you make decisions like this, they're tough and they do weigh on you. The truth is that the program is not cut. What we've done instead of sending $1.2 million to HRM for every single student in Halifax, is we send $600,000 to OSD to ensure the kids who need it the most have access to the bus passes.

The truth is that we didn't know how many kids were using bus passes. We had no information from HRM on that, but now we know through the department OSD that the kids and families who need it the most will get bus passes.