By Avery Mullen
Nova Scotia NDP leader Claudia Chender’s comment this week on housing minister John Lohr was succinct: “I think the Airbnb regulations need to be designed by someone who doesn’t profit from them.”
Progressive Conservative MLA Lohr said after the last election that he co-owns two rental properties with family members.
Chender was speaking at Halifax’s Local Source Market on Windsor Street to announce the NDP’s new proposal for a 2.5 per cent rent cap and a ban on fixed-term leases.
Her criticism of Lohr was leveled in the context of broader comments about affordability in general, and housing affordability in particular. Her critique of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party was equally pointed.
“The Liberals were in power for eight years, and they didn’t do anything to address the increasing cost of living at that time, which was something that my colleagues and I were very clear about in the House,” said Chender. “I’m not sure they take the problem as seriously as they need to.”
Nova Scotia Liberal leader Zach Churchill pointed out on the day of the snap writ drop late last month that new housing supply in the province has not kept pace with immigration figures. Final decisions around immigration are made by the federal government, but the provincial nominee program allows individual provinces and territories to effectively recommend people for permanent residence status with the intent for them to live in the jurisdiction that nominated them.
Chender, for her part, has argued the Nova Scotia government would have more funds to scale up its programs, such as affordability initiatives and social services if it curtailed some elements of its spending.
Last election, PC leader Tim Houston campaigned on a promise of improving the healthcare system and has ratcheted up spending on that front. In fiscal year 2020-2021, for example, the Department of Health and Wellness spent just over $4.8 billion. That figure has since risen to almost $5.2 billion, or $7.3 billion counting related services, such as long-term care services and support for seniors.
Nova Scotia NDP leader Claudia Chender greets supporters after a press conference at Halifax’s Local Source Market in the city’s North End. Avery Mullen/The Notebook
Chender characterized the PC’s spending decisions as sometimes marked by a lack of transparency and periodic conflict of interest allegations.
“I think that this government’s spending has been reckless, and in many cases useless,” she said. “We’ve seen a billion dollars spent outside the budget process, and what do we have to show for it? 145,000 Nova Scotians are still on the ‘need a family practice’ waitlist, and people still struggling with affordability around houses, an 18 per cent year-over-year increase in rents. We’re not seeing that money used efficiently, and that is our focus.
“We would commit to a transparent budget process and spending the money that Nova Scotians need to actually impact the challenges facing them.”
Auditor General Kim Adair has recommended the government tighten its conflict of interest rules on at least three occasions, most recently in March.
The amount of out-of-budget spending by the PCs has been, if anything, slightly higher than Chender’s estimate. In fiscal year 2021-22 and 2022-23, the province posted a total of $2.6 billion of over-budget spending.
Auditor General Kim Adair has been critical of some government spending. The Notebook/Avery Mullen
More controversially, Adair in February issued a scathing report detailing the provincial government’s ethically murky purchase of an unfinished hotel in Halifax’s Bedford neighbourhood. Hogan Court, the name of the street where the beleaguered project was located and the informal moniker for the building itself, was sold to assisted living operator Shannex for $46 million in the spring. But Adair described the Department of Health and Wellness’s original purchase of the property as a fiscally questionable deal with an anonymous seller and brokered by a third party that may have secretly arbitraged some elements of the transaction at taxpayers’ expense.
NDP leader Claudia Chender was accompanied by a resident of Halifax’s North End who expressed concern about rising food prices when she promised a new Affordable Homes Rebate for people with household incomes of less than $70,000, which her party estimates will save the average recipient about $900. Avery Mullen/The Notebook
Chender and her party have promised to waive the harmonized sales tax on groceries, as well as cell phone and internet plans. Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, endorsed the NDP’s proposal during a press conference and in a press release.
“When working people are struggling to afford the essentials their families need, they deserve real relief, not deep cuts to the services they count on,” said Bruske in the statement. “New Democrats’ plan to lower prices on essentials will give families more breathing room in their monthly budgets.”
