N.S. premier, health minister, to kick off provincewide tour on health care Monday
Monday marks the kick-off of the Progressive Conservative's Speak Up for Healthcare tour across Nova Scotia where Premier Houston and his health minister will tour the province gathering feedback from front-line health care workers.
"We just want to make sure we’re really listening to opportunities that they see, challenges that are in front of them and I’m excited actually to tour the province and hear from them,” said Houston.
He says his new government is very focused on making changes in the healthcare system, something that was the cornerstone of their recent campaign.
"I said during the campaign and I feel it even stronger now, we will give everything we have to make sure that we improve healthcare in this province," he said.
Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak says the provincewide tour emphasizes healthcare remains a priority for the Houston government.
“Even though Tim Houston said during the debates and during the campaign that the problems won’t be fixed overnight, the expectations are high. And in fact, the PC’s themselves promised a major increase in funding, more than $400 million in the first year of their mandate," said Urbaniak.
Urbaniak says recruiting and retaining health care professionals is going to be critical for the government.
"They’re going to have to announce that they’re filling the gaps and that they’re filling the shortages. That they’re bringing Nova Scotians home, that they’re recruiting people with compatible credentials elsewhere and that they’re working with communities to settle those professionals across Nova Scotia. That’s going to be really critical in the next few months," he said.
The president of Doctors Nova Scotia agrees recruitment is a big issue facing the province.
"If you don’t have workers to keep your system going, you can make all the changes you want and you’re not going to get anywhere. You need the people to support the work you want to do and to maintain the quality of the work you want to do," said Dr. Heather Johnson.
She says the tour is a good way for government to start a mandate.
"To me, to see the people that I talk to in the hospital over the past week - the doctors, the nurses, the paramedics - all thinking that they might get a chance to bend the premier’s ear about things they think are important, that gives people a sense of ownership in the planning and those are the pieces that are going to increase morale and improve it after what we’ve been through the last couple of years of things really being more difficult,” said Johnson.
The Speak Up for Health Care tour will take place from September 20 to 23.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.