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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.