South Coast Today - ndp

Income security tops NDP issues for spring legislative session

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:55:45 +0000

Income security issues at top of leader's agenda

At a media conference Wednesday, newly elected Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill announced a number of measures the NDP will bring forward in the Spring legislative session. These measures are designed to reduce inequality, protect public health care and protect our environment. The agenda was iterated in a news release distributed prior to the news conference.

“Stephen McNeil’s austerity agenda is hurting Nova Scotians. The NDP Caucus will work diligently to hold the Liberals accountable while introducing a positive, progressive agenda for our province,” says Gary Burrill. “Income inequality is a major crisis of our times. Government must take urgent action to increase wages, eliminate poverty, and close the gap between the rich and the rest of us.”

Burrill announced four pieces of legislation the NDP will introduce:

- Legislation requiring the government to develop a plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

- A Grocery Security Act which will make sure all Nova Scotians have enough income to get their food at a grocery store or farmers market, not at a food bank.

- Legislation requiring the government to do a study on the question of a Basic Income Guarantee for all, as has been discussed by the Federal and Ontario Liberals

- A bill to eliminate the HST on funerals.

NDP Health Critic Dave Wilson, MLA for Sackville-Cobequid, also outlined the NDP priorities for protecting and strengthening public health care.

- Legislation that prevents government from making major changes to Seniors’ Pharmacare without a vote of the legislature.

- Encouraging the Liberals to pass Bill 43, the Voluntary Blood Donations Act, to ban pay-for-plasma clinics as has been done by the Liberal governments in Ontario and Quebec.

- Holding the Liberals to account over the major increases in wait times for home care and long term care.

- Opposing the use of P3s for health care infrastructure, including legislation to shed light on the details on any P3 scheme so the public has access to all the information.

Burrill spoke on behalf of NDP Environment Critic Denise Peterson-Rafuse, who is away from the legislature for health reasons.

The NDP will introduce an Environmental Bill of Rights, which will ensure all citizens have the right to information and public participation on environmental issues that affect them and their communities.

“Climate change is a major crisis of our times, and the NDP’s Environmental Bill of Rights will give citizens the tools they need to hold polluters accountable,” says Burrill.

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Can Thomas Mulcair make NDP supporters proud of their party again?

SCT STAFF — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 09:52:25 +0000

The weekend before last year's Oct. 19 election, before voting began, all three parties believed they knew what the results would be. They had the latest public opinion polls plus their own internal surveys. The Liberals understood that a last-minute movement of voters to them from the NDP plus the enthusiasm of younger voters for Justin Trudeau meant a majority was theirs. The Conservatives realized their government was as dead as Monty Python's parrot -- kaput, defunct. And the NDP leadership believed it was going to win easily, at least in Quebec.

Both Tom Mulcair and his team revelled in this expectation. The leader waxed excitedly about the huge turnout for his meetings in Quebec, surely presaging the NDP's second successive sweep of the province. A senior adviser assured anguished New Democrats that 50 Quebec seats were in the bag. Since virtually every public poll agreed the NDP was by then chopped liver, partisans listened but more plausibly believed the campaign was now totally delusional.

SEE FULL STORY ON RABBLE.CA

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NDP taking a turn to the left

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 15:50:58 +0000

Nova Scotia New Democrats have taken a decisive turn to the progressive left with the election of Gary Burrill as the new leader of the NDP.

The post has been vacant since the fall of 2013 when Premier Darrell Dexter's government was roundly defeated by the Liberals under Stephen McNeil, reducing it from majority government to third-party status. Dexter lost his own seat in Cole Harbour and resigned as leader of the Nova Scotia NDP on November 23, 2013.

Since then Maureen MacDonald, MLA from Halifax-Needham, has been serving as the interim leader of the party.

In a three-person contest with MLAs Lenore Zann and Dave Wilson, Burrill emerged with a clear win securing the first and second choice preferences of 1,343 members (of 2,269 voters) in an election that employed ranked balloting and in which a record 74.2 per cent of eligible NDP members voted. Lenore Zann came second while Dave Wilson finished in third place.

SEE FULL STORY BY CHRISTOPHER MAJKA ON RABBLE.CA

SEE GARY BURRIL STORY IN HALIFAX EXAMINER

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McNeil caught fibbing on film tax credit?

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 12:24:14 +0000

Screen Nova Scotia and the NDP are both accusing Premier Stephen McNeil of misleading the public about changes to the province’s Film Tax Credit after he told News 95.7 this week the sector experienced no growth under the old regime of tax breaks.

“Under the old model, the government was continuing to put more and more money into an industry that wasn’t experiencing any growth,” McNeil said on Thursday.

On Friday, the NDP released a document from a Public Accounts Committee presentation in 2014, when a review was underway of Nova Scotia’s tax system by former Ontario cabinet minister Laurel Broten.

SEE FULL STORY FROM NEWS 95.7
http://www.news957.com/2016/01/15/ndp-screen-ns-both-accuse-premier-of-misleading-public-on-tax-credit-changes/

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$3.3 million funding cut unprecedented blow to NDP?

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:53:32 +0000

The NDP has been hit with a $3.3-million loss in House of Commons funding for vital research staff, political and strategic aides in party leader Tom Mulcair’s office and other caucus work after the Commons governing board of MPs and Cabinet ministers realigned House budgets following the October general election.

The cut in funding areas, each set through formula following every federal general election and based on the number of MPs each party sends to the new Parliament, promises to be an unprecedented blow to the NDP, which is still on the hook for a total of $3.9-million in impugned spending on caucus satellite offices and mailings to electors that the House governance challenged in 2014.

SEE FULL STORY FROM THE HILL TIMES

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Social service funding cuts, consultant contracts bother NDP

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 18:15:42 +0000

In a news release Wednesday, NDP MLA Marian Mancini is asking Communities Services Minister Joanne Bernard to justify giving $1.5 million to consulting firms to review her department after cutting $446,000 from nine charities that support our most vulnerable. The McNeil government, says Mancini, has also placed a two year freeze on income assistance.

“Really what are this Minister’s priorities?” says Mancini. “People on income assistance, people who rely on organizations like the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind for support, and people who have had their bus passes taken away by this Minister deserve an explanation for this apparent double-standard.”

Mancini adds, “This Minister has been in charge of Community Services for two years. Why is she just embarking on this review now? If the Minister was truly committed to bringing substantive change to her department than this work would have finished long ago.”

The news release adds that CBC is reporting that the Department of Community Services issued two tenders worth $1.5 million dollars, to seek advice on how to “transform the province’s welfare system.”

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Shell game in NDP ads for South Shore-St.Margaret's?

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 21:40:03 +0000

"Canadians are entitled to expect that "political advertising" and "election advertising" will respect the standards articulated in the Code."

The large, colour ads in the Halifax Herald regional paper from South Shore-St. Margaret's NDP candidate Alex Godbold have created a minor stir among some voters in Shelburne, some of whom contacted SCT to voice their apprehension. The most vocal critic is a former provincial official, fervent political "watcher" and former municipal candidate himself, who asked not to be identified. "It's like a shell game, where the hand is faster than the eye," he said in an interview.

In the rush of any campaign, it is not uncommon to have some missteps in campaign advertising, but a review of the offending ad suggests that there may be other forces at work.

The ad, according to campaign manager and long-time NDP staffer Joanne Cook, is a mainstay of the campaign and an essential part of the campaign "messaging". It also appears as a major part of the primary campaign "flyer." Cook declined to say specifically who created or approved the ad.

Under the bold headline, "To defeat Stephen Harper on October 19th, make your vote count.", the ad insists that "it's Alex and the NDP who can defeat Harper,"

The ad then displays a very bold bar graph showing the NDP almost neck-in-neck with the Conservatives and the Liberals far down the bar from that pair.

"When I saw the ad, I presumed that there had been a new poll overnight and the NDP had suddenly shot up in popularity," said the former provincial official. He did not notice what he called the "miniscule" fine print under the bar chart.

The fine print is only 20% the size of the primary headline and notes that the data used is not current data, but was from the 2011 election and adjusted to reflect new riding boudaries.

While it may not breach any specific Canada Elections Act standards, the ad does not come close to passing the "smell test" of the Canadian Code of advertising Standards, which clearly states that "Canadians are entitled to expect that "political advertising" and "election advertising" will respect the standards articulated in the Code."

The Code is not concerned with the intent of the advertiser or the precise legality of the presentation, but rather focuses on the representation as received or perceived, i.e. the general impression conveyed by the advertisement.

When questioned about the possible problems with the ads, Cook seemed unconcerned, but told SCT that there was "absolutely no intention to mislead anyone."

The Code says that advertisements must not contain inaccurate, deceptive or otherwise misleading claims, statements, illustrations or representations, either direct or implied..."

The organization, Truth in Advertising, has as a goal to "out" deceptive marketing and promote honest advertising. In the "fine print" section of their web, TINA.org says that the first principle if that fine print isn’t supposed to contradict other statements in an ad or clear up false impressions the ad might leave. In other words, says the group, "what the headline giveth, the fine print is not supposed to taketh away."

"I think the ad was designed to confuse us," added the former official.

A media relations worker with elections Canada could not confirm whether the deceptive ad violated any provisions of Canadian Elections Act.

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Better offshore drilling protection needed, says MP candidate

SCT and news sources — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 19:30:49 +0000

“The approach of the Harper government has been to undermine proper assessment in these areas, and decisions by the Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency and the CNSOPB are suspect as a result.”

NDP MP candidate Alex Godbold says it’s clear due diligence has been absent in setting the terms for Shell's drilling program in the waters of the Shelburne Basin, offshore from Shelburne, in the South Shore-St. Margarets riding.

“Giving Shell 21 days to cap a blow-out appears singularly irresponsible,” says Godbold, “given the threat to our fishery on Browns and Georges Bank and severe impact all along the South Shore. In the Alaska offshore, Shell can cap a well in 24 hours!”

“I am also not satisfied that Shell's plans for dealing with a blow-out take proper account of the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon disaster - particularly its plan to use dispersants, which have a largely cosmetic, not curative, effect.”

Milloins of litres of highly toxic Corexit was pumped into the Deep Horizon wellhead at the advice of Ken Lee, pro-oil DFO scientist working at Bedford Ocean Institute and now working in Australia. Despite Lee's assurances that Corexit would evaporate before causing any habitat damage, the chemical is implicated in the deaths of millions of aquatic species and the spoilation of hundreds of thousand of hectares of frgile wetlands on the US coastline.

Godbold says the current membership of the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board fails to give proper attention to environmental and social concerns.

“The approach of the Harper government has been to undermine proper assessment in these areas, and decisions by the Canada’s Environmental Assessment Agency and the CNSOPB are suspect as a result.”

Godbold would also like to see widespread, accessible public hearings so communities most affected can be heard.

“A lot of South Shore residents have told me they’re worried about this issue,” says Godbold, “and I share their concern .”

A concert and "speak-in" protesting the 21-day timeline is planned for 2:00pm Saturday on Shelburne's waterfront. See more info here: /content/concert-speak-save-coast

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National Seniors Day feted by NDP candidate

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 18:21:53 +0000

“New Democrats understand the importance of taking steps today to ensure that no senior grows old in poverty and isolation."

In an October 1 news release from the Alex Goldbold (NDP) campaign, the South Shore - St Margaret's MP candidate asserts that the New Democratic Party of Canada honours seniors and celebrates October 1 as National Seniors Day

“Canada is a better country because of the sacrifices that seniors have made to raise families; defend and share our values; as well as build the institutions and services that benefit all Canadians,” said Godbold, “That’s why Tom Mulcair recently announced our plan to support more seniors with healthy and secure retirements, now and for future generations.”

The NDP’s commitments, says the release, will make a real difference and have a positive impact on the lives of Canadian seniors.

The plan, adds the release is fully costed and will:

Create more than 40,000 homecare support spaces and provide more nursing home beds and better palliative end-of-life care;
Establish a national Alzheimer’s and Dementia Strategy that supports screening, early diagnosis and more research;
Recruit 7,000 health providers and build 200 more medical clinics;
Introduce universal comprehensive public drug coverage;
Rollback the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 67 to 65;
Work with provinces to strengthen CPP and QPP benefits;
Ensure promised pensions;
Protect pension-income splitting for seniors and adjust rules for RRIF withdrawals to give retirees more flexibility with their finances;
Help lift thousands of seniors out of poverty with new funding for the GIS;
Honour veterans and show them the respect they deserve including a commitment to reopen veteran’s affairs offices and update and improve the Veterans Charter.

“New Democrats understand the importance of taking steps today to ensure that no senior grows old in poverty and isolation,” said Godbold. “The NDP is the only party with a national seniors’ strategy designed to boost seniors’ financial security and improve their quality of life.”

An NDP government, aded the release, will understand the needs of Canadian seniors so that they can feel secure in retirement and live in dignity.

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Election horse race narrows

SCT and news sources — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 15:21:24 +0000

FROM THE HILL TIMES: After being pushed one way and pulled another, voters ended August very close to where they started at the beginning of the month with the horserace even tighter now than when the campaign began.

The Duffy trial motivated opposition supporters and dampened the Conservative opportunity to grow. The leaders’ debate helped the Greens, Liberals and Tories to some degree but didn’t actually hurt the NDP. Most Canadians feel we are at least probably in a recession, but those who are most engaged in the issue feel the Conservatives are best able to manage that recession.

While the horserace numbers are similar but closer, there were several major shifts in underlying numbers that put the Liberals in a better position now than a month ago. However, the NDP retain the largest pool of potential supporters

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