On the Nova Scotia campaign trail today, healthcare took center stage as the major parties criticized each other’s records and outlined their plans for addressing the province’s healthcare system. Each party emphasized their approach to solving what they describe as urgent issues in healthcare access, recruitment, and wait times, while calling out their opponents’ perceived failings.
Photo L to R: Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, NDP Leader Claudia Chender
Progressive Conservatives
The PCs focused on the Liberal and NDP track records, blaming both parties for long-standing healthcare challenges.
They accused previous Liberal and NDP governments of cutting healthcare budgets, discouraging healthcare workers, and contributing to a doctor shortage.
PC Candidate Barb Adams emphasized that under Tim Houston’s leadership, the PCs are working to restore the system, pointing to measures like opening a new medical school campus, expanding pharmacy care clinics, and reducing administrative tasks for doctors.
The PCs defended initiatives like virtual care options, partnerships with tech companies, and private-public collaborations for surgeries, asserting these changes are building a more reliable healthcare system.
Liberals
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill announced a plan to expand access to primary care by building 20 new collaborative care clinics and expanding 20 more.
Citing successes in the Municipality of Clare’s primary care model, Churchill said the Liberals would replicate this approach province-wide to attach patients to primary care providers and reduce the doctor waitlist.
Churchill argued the PC government’s approach has been costly without improving access, with the waitlist for doctors doubling. The Liberal plan includes incentives for physicians joining collaborative practices and bonuses for allied health workers who commit to five-year terms at these clinics, aiming to make care more accessible and sustainable.
NDP
The NDP criticized Liberal Leader Zach Churchill’s promises as a repeat of previous unfulfilled commitments.
The NDP referenced previous Liberal pledges to support collaborative care without setting concrete budgets or timelines, along with hospital closures and increases in waitlist numbers. Citing past Liberal promises on cutting wait times that went unachieved, the NDP expressed skepticism over the Liberals’ renewed focus on collaborative care.
The NDP positioned itself as the party holding others accountable for broken promises, urging voters not to trust past pledges and instead focus on sustainable reforms.
