NSNDP

October 15th, 2018

Op-Ed: The work’s not done this fall

The fall session of the Nova Scotia legislature began early, ended quietly, and didn’t do much to move the province forward.

The sitting was defined by two significant hospital decisions: the announcement in June that the New Waterford Consolidated and Northside General would be closed, and the McNeil government’s decision to redevelop the QEII in Halifax as a private-public-partnership (P3), thereby handing over ownership of the hospital to a private company, and ensuring the overall cost of the project will be more than if it had been built by the province itself.

An opposition Party like the NDP has two jobs in the legislature: holding the government accountable for its decisions, and suggesting improvements for the future.

My NDP colleagues and I have done just that over the past five weeks. Tammy Martin, especially, has spoken in the House many times about the Cape Breton hospital closures – demanding answers to the question of how the health care crisis is supposed to be improved by halving the number of sites at which emergency services are going to be available in industrial Cape Breton.

Just as misguided is the government’s QEII P3 decision. A private company will be selected to design, build, finance, and maintain the hospital for the next 30 years. But no private company can borrow capital at lower rates than the government, and no private consortium is going to undertake this without a contract line for management fees and profit. And the extra millions the project will therefore cost will not be available to address the rest of the health care crisis.

The ending of the legislative session does not mean the ending of the raising of our voices.

Tammy, I, and the rest of the NDP will continue to fight to save the community hospitals in Cape Breton. We will continue to work with residents and workers in nursing homes to reverse the Liberal cutbacks in long-term care. And we will continue to press for a Mental Health Bill of Rights, so that everyone in need of help can be guaranteed timely access to the counselling, support, and therapy they need.

The sitting may be over, but the work’s not done this fall.

Gary Burrill is Leader of the NDP.