Nova Scotia election promise tracker: What has been promised by three main parties?

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This article was published 25/11/2024 (695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Voters in Nova Scotia go to the polls on Nov. 26. At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats in the 55-seat legislature, the Liberals held 14 seats, the NDP had six and there was one Independent.

Here’s a look at some of the promises announced by the three major parties on the campaign trail:

Progressive Conservatives:

— Cut the harmonized sales tax by one percentage point, to 14 per cent, by April 1. (Announced shortly before election call.)

— Increase the basic personal exemption on the Nova Scotia income tax to $11,744 from $8,744.

— Increase minimum wage in 2025 to $16.50 per hour from $15.20 per hour.

— Remove the tolls from the two Halifax harbour bridges at a cost to government coffers of $40 million.

— Open a Halifax-based medical clinic to treat the symptoms of menopause, which would cost $4 million to set up and $2.4 million a year to operate.

— Establish a 30-member provincial travel nurse team to help areas with nursing shortages, part of an estimated $5.3-million pilot program to begin at the end of 2024.

— Reduce the minimum required down payment for first-time buyers on a home costing up to $500,000 to two per cent from five per cent under a loan program administered by local credit unions.

— Launch a universal shingles vaccine program for people 65 and older.

— Make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres at a cost of $8 million.

— Impose a cap on electricity rate increases that will be based on the average of rate hikes across the country.

— Reduce the small business tax rate to 1.5 per cent from 2.5 per cent; increase the small business tax threshold to $700,000 from $500,000.

Liberals:

— Cut harmonized sales tax by two points, to 13 per cent. (Announced in February)

— Establish the position of ethics commissioner with order-making powers; give more resources to auditor general.

— Grant order-making powers to the privacy commissioner so that rulings related to access to information requests and other privacy matters can be enforced.

— Implement fine of $250,000 for any governing party that defies law on fixed election date.

— Remove the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on all food that isn’t already tax-free, such as snack foods, granola products, and rotisserie chickens, at a cost of $11 million annually.

— Provide about $10 million in subsidies for independent grocers and food retailers in the form of grants and low-interest loans to help them expand and compete with big retailers.

— Build 20 new collaborative care centres and expand services at 20 existing clinics to help tackle the province’s family doctor wait-list.

— Offer a one-time $15,000 bonus to professionals such as pharmacists and therapists who commit to five years of service in the new collaborative care centres; double the existing incentive for doctors to $10,000 a year from $5,000.

— Lower provincial income taxes by raising the basic personal exemption amount to $15,705.

— Establish a public inquiry into illegal fishing; introduce a minimum fine for people caught buying illegally harvested lobster; create a dedicated fisheries enforcement unit and separate commercial fisheries office.

— Build 80,000 new homes by 2032 to help alleviate housing shortage.

— Replace the federal carbon price with an Atlantic region cap-and-trade model for large industrial greenhouse gas emitters.

— Make public transit free across province. (Announced in September)

— Promote flexible work arrangements to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

— Improve rent controls and close loopholes in the province’s regulations for fixed-term leases.

— Establish a provincial rent bank to provide zero-interest loans to renters who can’t pay their bills.

— Reduce immigration levels to align with provincial Labour Department targets.

— Create a minister of women’s health.

— Provide the public access to free menstrual products at all provincial buildings.

— Spend $300 million on local infrastructure and housing needs in Cape Breton.

NDP:

— Ban fixed-term rent leases and immediately slash the province’s rent cap in half to 2.5 per cent in order to prevent large annual rent increases.

— Establish rent control and provide a tax credit for renters from low and middle-income households.

— Prioritize the use of prefabricated housing to expand public housing stock. (Announced in May)

— Increase loans to help with down payments on homes, to 10 per cent of purchase price (up from five per cent), for a maximum of $50,000; extend the repayment period to 25 years from 10 years. (Announced in May)

— Reintroduce Coastal Protection Act to protect coastal areas, dunes and salt marshes, as well as to restrict development along parts of the 13,000-kilometre coastline at risk of heavy erosion.

— Offer an affordable homes rebate that would help households with incomes of less than $70,000 save an average of $900 per year on rent or mortgage payments.

— Create a compliance and enforcement unit for resolving tenant-landlord disputes.

— Open 45 doctor clinics across the province to provide primary care at a cost of $60 million in the first year of the plan.

— Remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all groceries, cellphone and internet bills and for the purchase and installation of heat pumps.

— Double the municipal finance grant to $30 million from $15 million in their first year of government.

— Establish a rent-to-own home program for Nova Scotians who earn less than $100,000 annually, with about 500 new homes built in the first year by using prefabricated construction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2024.