Houston government’s budget heavy on cuts and light on results for Nova Scotians: NDP

HALIFAX —NDP Leader Claudia Chender made the following statement in response to the 2026 Budget:

“Reviewing today’s budget, I’m deeply concerned for how our province is going to weather the next few years. It’s incredibly frustrating because we did not need to get here. I’m not sure who Tim Houston is defending with this budget but it’s not everyday Nova Scotians.

Unlike many provinces across our country, the Houston PCs inherited a balanced budget and have had an unprecedented amount of revenue in their five years, more money to work with than any government in history. What we’ve seen today is that this money has been squandered.

Five years into this government, and power bills are up by about $400 a year for the average family, rental housing is expensive and tight, and there is still almost no path to home ownership for young families. Emergency rooms across this province are closed more that they’re open, and parents don’t have the affordable childcare that other families across the county have access to.

With this budget, the Houston government is repackaging a tax break that disproportionately benefits the richest Nova Scotians and pretending its new savings in people’s pockets.

There is no money to help Nova Scotians with their power bills, no reversal to their cruel cut that kicked 46,000 people off the Heating Assistance Rebate Program. There is no guarantee that money budgeted for “affordable” housing isn’t going to subsidize private sector developers rather than non-market housing providers. So far, this government’s approach hasn’t brought down housing costs or put more Nova Scotians on a path to home ownership.

The cuts we’re seeing today run wide and deep. This government is looking to cut the public service by 30 per cent over the next 4 years—those are jobs, services and programs that help run our province. Meanwhile, they’re padding the salary of their backbench MLAs and significantly expanding their own Ministerial budgets to hire political and Public Relations staff.

They’re making cuts to our film and TV industry, tourism, arts grants, cuts to libraries, cuts to municipalities, cuts to the scientific management of our natural resources, and troubling cuts to education that will make it harder for parents and teachers to support our children.

This government isn’t defending our traditional industries, isn’t defending everyday Nova Scotians concerned about affordability, and isn’t protecting our rural communities or arts and culture workers who are seeing the majority of cuts and job losses. It isn’t defending our innovation and post-secondary sectors responsible for a massive share of high-productivity jobs in this province. So, Nova Scotians are left wondering, who are they defending?”

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