N.S. election: party leaders spar over immigration, housing and health

The leaders of Nova Scotia’s NDP and Liberal parties are taking purpose astatine the Progressive Conservatives’ migration policies, which they accidental are outpacing the province’s wellness attraction and lodging capacity.

During a debate-style lawsuit connected Monday organized by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said immigrants’ chances astatine occurrence are threatened successful a state that is without capable wellness care, acquisition and lodging infrastructure.

“I’m from an migrant household — 3rd procreation Lebanese. My household was capable to thrive present due to the fact that we had a house. We had the health-care strategy we needed. And our schools were there,” helium told the concern crowd, 1 week up of the Nov. 26 election.

“It is not a pro-immigration strategy to person colonisation maturation targets that transcend our capableness erstwhile we each cognize that we’re bursting astatine the seams,” Churchill said.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, who is moving for a 2nd word arsenic premier, has acceptable a people of doubling Nova Scotia’s colonisation to 2 cardinal radical by 2060.

In the astir caller fiscal year, the authorities welcomed astir 12,000 immigrants done its nominee program, a fig that Churchill says exceeded the migration department’s targets by 4,000 people.

Churchill accused Houston of treating immigrants arsenic a root of gross for the province, which helium said “is not right.”

“The lone crushed we person been increasing gross and our system is based connected colonisation growth. That’s not good,” Churchill said.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she is besides acrophobic that immigrants are being acceptable up to conflict due to the fact that of the difficulties successful accessing wellness attraction and uncovering an affordable home.

Houston, she said, “likes to speech astir the challenges of maturation and a program — but the program isn’t working. We don’t spot the homes and hospitals and schools and health-care workers and doc clinics that we request to code the maturation that we’re seeing.”

Houston acknowledged that the state is facing struggles related to colonisation growth, but countered that the concern is amended than the alternative.

In the past, “we’ve seen challenges of diminution successful this province. When we were depopulating, and schools were closing, and businesses were closing — we’ve seen that. As premier, I judge the challenges of growth.”

The Tory person said the state has acceptable up “really strategic” migration streams, with a absorption connected newcomers who volition enactment successful wellness attraction oregon successful skilled trades.

Regarding his opponents’ disapproval astir the deficiency of affordable lodging successful the province, Houston repeated his assertion that “the solution to the lodging situation is much housing,” and defended his government’s grounds connected expanding supply.

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“We’re connected a bully path. We person a plan. The program is working,” Houston said, adding that the authorities has been making advancement connected its people announced successful 2023 of gathering 40,000 caller homes implicit 4 years.

Chender countered that portion caller homes are being built, their outgo puts them retired of scope to astir Nova Scotians.

“I sound connected doors from 1 extremity of this state to the other, and radical say, ‘Yes, there’s towers going up. No, I can’t unrecorded there. I can’t spend it. My kids can’t spend it. My parents can’t spend it,'” she said.

The NDP has pledged to physique 30,000 caller affordable rental units by moving with non-profits and co-op lodging providers. Instead of “constantly warring with Ottawa,” she said, an NDP authorities would physique homes by “leveraging national funding.”

The 3 leaders besides sparred implicit wellness care, with the NDP and Liberals pointing retired that the province’s household doc wait-list has doubled to 145,000 radical since Houston’s Tories took authorities successful August 2021. That number, however, is down from a grounds 160,234 radical successful June.

Churchill said that contempt skyrocketing spending connected wellness care, “outcomes that substance support getting worse and worse and worse.”

“Talk to a doc you know, speech to a caregiver you know. Talk to a patent who’s been successful an exigency country oregon idiosyncratic who can’t get a household doctor. Ask them if they deliberation the health-care system’s getting better.”

Houston defended his record, saying “the needle is moving” connected wellness care, with astir 2,000 much nurses successful the state compared to 2021, and that he’s peculiarly arrogant of his government’s taxation recognition for IVF attraction and his run committedness of establishing a menopause clinic.

This study by The Canadian Press was archetypal published Nov. 18, 2024.