N.S. party leaders make promises for long-term care, small business and highway twinning

The Tories recalled the tragic string of deaths at Northwood, the New Democrats sat down with a small business owner, and the Liberals promised to ask Ottawa for cash to twin more highways.

It was a varied agenda on the campaign trail Wednesday from Nova Scotia's three major parties, but the topic each party chose to highlight was true to form.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, who has been focusing narrowly on health care this election campaign, stood flanked by two women who lost their father to COVID-19 at the Northwood long-term care home last year.

Darlene Metzler said her father, Gerald Jackson, was transferred to Northwood's Halifax facility about a year before his death. He was 84.

"I feel like the staff did the best that they could with what they had … but what they had wasn't adequate," she said.

Metzler highlighted an issue that has plagued the long-term care sector for years: understaffing. 

"When you have minimum staffing and you can't go to take a break or possibly to go to the bathroom, good gracious, how are you going to take care of the patients that have those high needs? Drop COVID on top of it and it's like a time bomb waiting to explode. And that's what happened, in my opinion," she said.

Houston said his party would hire 2,000 more long-term care staff and that he's open to raising wages for workers — in particular continuing care assistants who make up the vast majority of the long-term care workforce.

The PCs released an extensive plan for improving long-term care last year, which promises the construction of at least 2,500 new beds over three years. Houston said he remains committed to those plans.

"I know many people have become very cynical on this issue. Every election politicians make promises. We take this very seriously, we treat this differently," he said.

He said his plans to pump millions into long-term care set him apart from the Liberals, who denied funding requests from Northwood three times between 2017 and 2019.

"The long-term care sector put out report after report about their funding concerns and the inadequate staffing ratios, but they were ignored and ignored and ignored by the Liberal government," said Houston.

"Northwood was just one of many homes that pled with the government for more funding. They wanted and needed and knew they needed more funding to allow their residents the dignity of single rooms, but they were denied again and again and again."

In January and again just before calling the election, the Liberal government announced plans to build several hundred new long-term care beds and renovate or replace hundreds more.

NDP put small business ahead of big corporations

NDP Leader Gary Burrill spent his Wednesday morning at One Block Barbershop, a hair salon in north-end Halifax, where he asked owner Kat Cochrane about keeping the business afloat over the past 16 months.

Cochrane said navigating the pandemic "has been a literal nightmare," and government support was inadequate.

"It was a drop in the proverbial bucket," said Cochrane. 

"When you're left with not much notice to close at the end of the month, at the end of a tax period where your quarterly payments are due, you have two weeks of payroll you have to fork out, rent, all your first of the month expenses — to wait weeks for any sort of response, let alone any sort of aid from government, is unacceptable."

Burrill said the government could have provided more relief to small businesses if it had not given a corporate tax rebate in the 2020-21 budget worth $70 million.

"This was a fiscal mistake," said Burrill.

"If only the government hadn't given that $70 million away, [there's] so much that could have been done with that in the way of providing support, and there are of course many small businesses that are not going to come out of this at all because of the inadequacy of the support that was provided."

Burrill promised to eliminate the tax rebate and put the money, in part, toward small businesses.

On Monday, Burrill said some of the regained revenue would also go toward covering ambulance fees, which his party promised to drop.

More twinned highways from the Liberals

Liberal Leader Iain Rankin visited Antigonish where he said his party, if re-elected, would continue its highway twinning efforts. 

"We're building a ribbon of highway that is bringing commerce and talent and so many possibilities to Nova Scotia's cities, towns and villages," he said.

He targeted two stretches of highway: the 104 from Antigonish to Port Hawkesbury, and the 103 from Hubbards to Bridgewater.

The Liberal party estimated the total cost for the projects at $475 million. Rankin said he would ask Ottawa to pay for half through the national trade corridors fund.