Nova Scotia Liberals return to legislature as 1st anniversary nears

If a week is a lifetime in politics, how long is a political year? Not long enough, if you're a government about to complete the first year of your first mandate.

It's definitely not long enough if you've promised every Nova Scotian a doctor by the end of year one.

That's where Premier Stephen McNeil finds himself, just shy of the first anniversary of his election win of Oct. 8, 2013. But ask McNeil if he's satisfied with that first year and he barely hesitates.

"We're happy," McNeil said, sitting in his office on the seventh floor, overlooking Province House.

"For some Nova Scotians we haven't moved fast enough. For others, we've moved too fast."

The premier points to his government's essential services law as the single largest accomplishment of his first year in office. He said it will have the most lasting impact.

Bill 37 affects almost everyone who works in a facility that provides health care in this province. It affects nurses, paramedics, home support workers and anyone who works in a special care facility or daycare.

Turning that bill into law meant MLAs had to sit around the clock and government members had to endure the taunts of union members who encircled the legislature.

McNeil is also proud of the Liberal decision to put programs that provide support to businesses at arm's-length of politicians. That work started last year but will continue this fall.

Accused of 'blowing' first year

McNeil feels his government has a firm grip on government spending, even though Finance Minister Diana Whalen recently imposed a one per cent rollback of spending — after bureaucrats failed to deliver on the government's initial one per cent cut.

"We've now made changes that we believe are long term," said McNeil. "They're looking beyond the next mandate. They're really about what does the future look like for this province."

Not surprisingly, Nova Scotia's opposition parties see things differently.

The Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats say the party in power has accomplished little.

Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie accused the Liberals of "blowing their first year in office." He's promising to "hold the government to account" for that in the fall sitting that starts Thursday.

"With so much hardship, with so many people unemployed, with so many Nova Scotians going out west for work, we want to focus on the things they have done that hold us back," he said.

For Baillie, the best example of that is the Liberal decision to strengthen the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. Nova Scotia Energy Minister Andrew Younger has promised to set that policy in law.

The previous New Democratic government imposed the moratorium in 2012 but Younger could change the policy with the stroke of a pen. Creating a law to formally impose the moratorium means only the legislature could lift the ban.

Don Mills, the president and CEO of Corporate Research Associates, agrees with Baillie that the moratorium is a "misstep."

"It sends the signal that Nova Scotia is not open for business," said Mills.

Merging health authorities

The head of the research firm does give the Liberals credit for bringing in the essential services law, calling it McNeil's "biggest accomplishment." Mills said it will reduce the number of contract disputes and eventually save the province money.

McNeil is getting ready to take on the unions again this fall.

The Liberals are moving ahead with plans to create one province-wide health authority. It will mean laying off dozens of vice-presidents and a number of CEOs who head the nine existing district health authorities.

The law is also expected to dictate which unions will represent which workers. The aim is to reduce the number of contracts the government has to negotiate — which will ultimately save money and time.

It's a consolidation the New Democratic Party opposes.

"We still have ERs closing around the province. We still have long wait times. We still have doctors' shortages," said Maureen MacDonald. the interim leader of the NDP.

"We're not getting any attention on that because they're preoccupied with governance issues."

In the Liberal platform presented last year, first-year promises included a doctor for every Nova Scotian, a one per cent cut in spending as well continued funding for the ferry between Yarmouth and Maine.

Not every Nova Scotian has a doctor, that one per cent cut still hasn't been achieved and the Nova Star burned through its entire seven-year subsidy this summer.

Those year one promises will slide into year two's to-do list — a reminder that a year isn't as long as you'd like once you take over the reins of government.