Labour bears brunt of McNeil’s eulogized tough decisions
Richard Starr looks at Stephen McNeil’s anti-labour legacy and sees little reason to think that there will be a fundamental reset under premier Iain Rankin.
austerity
Lenora Steele: On $5-million and the commodification of healing
Lenora Steele: “Listening dumbfounded to him allocate, from the public purse, $5-million in women’s venture capital I was staggered at the heartlessness, at the cheek, while just over here, yes, here, right here in front of us a woman sits on the side of her bed, a hospital phone in her hand calling a taxi to take her to a low-budget motel for the night. Her breast removed yesterday, she has no way home and must spend the night alone in Truro.”
No money to pay for food: a mother’s trip to the IWK while on social assistance
For an out of town mother on income assistance taking a child to the IWK for tests or surgery, especially if it requires an overnight stay, is a logistical and financial nightmare. Meal allowances haven’t changed since 2008, and even then they were terribly inadequate.
Back to school in a pandemic – Safety means smaller classes
School has started, but it’s not too late for governments to listen to the experts (teachers, medical professionals, parents) and make plans to transition to smaller classes now before a second wave hits us and forces us to shut down schools entirely, writes Molly Hurd.
Premier McNeil, rather than firing shots at labour, what happened to us working together?
Danny Cavanagh: Economic recovery cannot mean listening to the same old voices. These voices led us to an economy with a widening income and gender gap, heightening rates of poverty and homelessness, increasing violence and inequality, poorly underfunded and inadequate public and social services.
Back to the future: On the follies of lean healthcare and undercapacity
Larry Haiven asks how prepared our health care system was for the demands of the current COVID-19 pandemic. If a system runs close to emergency at the best of times, how can it respond to a real emergency? An emergency like COVID-19?
The pandemic is leading people to see things in a clearer, truer way – An interview with Gary Burrill, leader of the Nova Scotia NDP
Last week (and well before last weekend’s mass shooting) we talked with NDP Leader Gary Burrill, about being a progressive party in opposition during a crisis, what COVID-19 reveals about the state of the province, and how to oppose the push for more austerity that will occur once the crisis is over.
Judy Haiven: Government cuts to long term care and architectural design carry much of the blame for high infection rates at Northwood
What really happened at Northwood? A government that made many cuts to long-term care, and architects of nursing homes have a lot of explaining to do, writes Judy Haiven
Government should do much more to protect institutionalized people with disabilities during the pandemic
We rightly hear a lot about the COVID-19 related risks faced by people incarcerated in Nova Scotia’s jails and prisons. What is more or less forgotten is that the 800 to 900 citizens labeled as living with disabilities who live in institutions in this province are facing the very same risks.
Letter: We can have the country we want and deserve
Joanne Bealy considers the state of the world and our province and issues a call to action. “We need people who don’t usually speak out to join those who do and for everybody to stand together for the good of all of us. It’s time to let it be known that the disenfranchisement of minority groups, intended or not, is not OK. One step forward, maybe two back, but on we go. We can have the country we want and deserve. It is our choice.”