When journalists recently asked whether the Nova Scotia government is willing to institute paid sick days in Nova Scotia, premier Stephen McNeil flat out refused. There’s a federal program that takes care of it, he said. That’s not quite how it works, NDP labour critic Kendra Coombes tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.
““We need to advise you that the people who complained are not feeling comfortable with your behaviour.” Another story by Kendall Worth on the uncalled for harassment by security guards and police of people with mental health issues.
Judy Haiven suggests that we postpone this year’s Christmas holidays. That way we we can meet around a picnic table, outdoors. Dr Strang tells us that during Covid, outdoors is the safest place to socialize. In July, there could be visits, outside activities, trips to the beach or the playground, all relatively safe gatherings. Remember how Covid cases across the country dropped precipitously over the summer of 2020?
Dr. Jamie Livingston: “As a criminologist, I’ve studied issues at the intersection of the mental health and policing systems for a decade and have been aware of the Nova Scotia approach for almost as long. It seems to me that the Nova Scotia mental health crisis response model has been frozen in time, refusing to evolve and innovate as new approaches, evidence, and demands emerge.”
“The question is: What is a welfare recipient whose only social contacts are people they know from soup kitchens and food banks supposed to do when at very short notice they need someone to come with them to the emergency room?” Kendall Worth to the rescue!
Questions around the relationship between the spread of Covid and class sizes caused these mathematics professors to run some simulations. The model made a very surprising prediction: as class sizes go up, the negative impacts of COVID-19 go up exponentially faster. The worst scenario, by a wide margin, was the 30:1 ratio in the primary school setting.
Danny Cavanagh: One of our most significant concerns is that just over 25% of Nova Scotia workers do not have Workers’ Compensation coverage. Now is the time to bring those exempted workers without coverage into the system. They must be a priority.
Federal Crown attorneys in Nova Scotia have exercised their discretion to withdraw or refer simple possession charges to restorative justice programs. So why are police still charging people for possession of substances for personal use under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act?
Kendall visits Progressive Conservative Party MLA Steve Craig in Lower Sackville, to find out about poverty in that area and discuss mental health issues that affect people on income assistance.
Judy Haiven: “Now McNeil and Dr Strang are screwing down the lid on long term care facilities so that Covid cannot creep in, but neither can the joy of living and the celebration of long lives lived. Relatives and long term care residents are demanding a loosening of restrictions and a respect that, so far, this government has not paid them.”