Nova Scotia NDP releases election platform focused on affordability, housing, health – Halifax | Globalnews.ca

The Nova Scotia NDP has released its election platform, which emphasizes affordability and housing and commits to spending an additional $2 billion over two years.

Its pledges include building 30,000 new affordable rental homes and temporarily removing the provincial tax on gasoline while inflation is high.

Party leader Claudia Chender says the measure would save drivers 15.5 cents per litre at the pump, but she did not say at what point the tax would be reintroduced.

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Chender says, if elected, the NDP would address affordability by increasing income assistance rates and removing the provincial tax on phone bills, internet and groceries that are not already tax-free.

To tackle health-care access, the NDP says it would open 15 new collaborative family doctor clinics in its first year in power, with 15 additional clinics added in each of the next two years.

When asked if Nova Scotia can afford to spend $2 billion on the NDP platform’s planned spending from 2025-2027, Chender says inaction would carry too great a cost.

“Nova Scotia can’t afford not to fix the housing crisis, can’t afford not to fix our access to primary care, can’t afford not to make sure that everyone can pay the bills each month,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.