N.S. ending plebiscites for ‘dry’ communities
New Brunswick taxpayers should be treated like customers, the provincial Tories say in a campaign platform that touts modest spending and takes direct aim at initiatives brought in under the incumbent Liberal government.
In the platform released Tuesday, the Tories said there would be no new taxes, and promised to reduce wait times for knee and hip replacement surgeries by 50 per cent.
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs said voters should be treated like valued customers, and his government would be transparent and “put the province before politics.”
“I came from a company where you had to deliver results in order to survive, and that meant that customers, if they wanted your service and to pay for it, you had
A Prohibition-era law that has for decades required “dry” Nova Scotia communities to hold plebiscites on whether to change their liquor rules is coming to an end.
Nova Scotia’s Liberal government announced the change to its Liquor Control Act on Tuesday, making it the last jurisdiction in the country to end the unusual ritual.
The law had called for votes when a business wanted to make or serve alcohol in a dry town, or the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. sought to open an outlet in communities where the sale is restricted.
There are about 100 communities — mostly in rural areas and some too small to support a bar — where the dry laws remained in place since the 1920s.
As of Jan. 1 of next year, their municipal governments can quickly end this status if a brewery or liquor store wants to set up.
Nova Scotia has been the only to give better service,” said Higgs, an engineer and former finance minister who worked for Irving Oil Ltd.
“They’re paying the bills but they’re not getting the service to reflect the amount of money being spent.”
Higgs vowed to have a balanced budget in two years. He’s also committing to less than $200 million in new spending over the four-year mandate.
“It’s a very small addition, but it’s based on real services, it’s based on reducing wait times, it’s based on improvements in mental health and it’s based on areas where people actually feel it,” said Higgs in a phone interview.
“It starts with an election platform that is responsible.”
The platform said a Tory government would achieve 85 per cent Grade 2 literacy by 2022, and establish a Teacher Freedom Act that gives teachers and principals province that restricted where liquor can be sold or produced through provincial legislation. Other provinces have long relied on municipal zoning or bylaws to impose restrictions.
The list of communities that were considered dry has been based on an old map in a government office in Halifax that is supposed to show which ones are still locked in Prohibition.
But the names are so faded that the document is of little use. the power to choose curriculum plans.
The party also specifically targets several initiatives introduced under the incumbent Liberal government.
It said they would scrap the Liberals’ school nutrition policy banning junk foods and instead give schools the freedom to choose nutritious food options, and eliminate a school closure trigger that requires a district to study any school with enrolment of fewer than 100 students.
Greg Byrne, a spokesman for the Liberal campaign, called the platform “vague” and said it does not provide detailed costing for the initiatives they’re putting forth.
“If he’s going to balance the budget (in two years), he’s going to have to make some significant cuts, and I think people want to know what those are going to be,” said Bryne.
But Higgs said that everything
When an application is made for a rural liquor licence, research is often required to determine if the area is still dry because the electoral boundaries have been redrawn many times over the years.
There’s also a different list of officially dry communities when it comes to the operation of liquor stores.
Since taverns were first legalized in Nova Scotia in 1948, over 280 plebiscites have been held by was costed that the party could obtain numbers on.
“When you’re in government, you have access to more information,” he said.
The Liberals issued a news release Tuesday accusing Higgs of having a “secret plan” to layoff 500 teachers and close 79 schools during his time as finance minister, based on a 2013 report by accounting and consulting firm EY.
But Higgs said his government decided not to act on the report at the time, and suggestions that he may adopt its findings if elected premier are “a lie.”
“It seems like an act of desperation,” he said of the Liberals’ attack. “It’s one thing to study and understand what avenues you may or may not pursue. We chose not to pursue it, and I have no intention of pursuing it now.”
Byrne said a Liberal platform would be coming soon, likely sometime next week. the province’s alcohol and gaming division.
As Finance Minister Karen Casey made the announcement on Tuesday, she noted recent plebiscites have had poor turnouts and have seen lopsided victories to end the liquor restrictions.
It has also been two decades since any area voted against allowing the loosening of liquor restrictions.
“The requirement dates back to Prohibition, and has become outdated,” said Casey.
“They can be costly and they can add months in the time it takes to obtain licences and permits.”
The province has seen a flourishing of wineries and small craft breweries in recent years, adding impetus to the Liberals’ desire to eliminate the plebiscite practice.
Earlier this year, the community of North River, N.S., voted heavily to go “wet.”
Similar one-sided victories occurred in Annapolis County’s District 3 and in District 4, according to Elections Nova Scotia results.
The U.S. ambassador joined the small Newfoundland community of Appleton Tuesday as it marked 9/11 with a service honouring those killed and those who opened their homes to thousands of stranded passengers.
Ambassador Kelly Craft said the events in Newfoundland following the U.S. terrorist attacks told the true story of the CanadaU.S. friendship.
“Forget what you read about NAFTA negotiations and Twitter wars, that’s not who we are,” Craft said in her prepared remarks, referencing the nations’ ongoing trade spat and President Donald Trump’s jibes against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Sure, it’s business and it’s important, but Gander is the place that — in a snapshot — illustrates the Canada/U.S. relationship.”
Derm Flynn, who was Appleton’s mayor at the time, said he was feeling melancholy Tuesday as he reflected on the intense days 17 years ago when 38 widebodied jets carrying about 7,000 passengers arrived nearby at the Gander International Airport.
The central Newfoundland town was inundated with people when U.S. airspace was closed following the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, forcing planes to touch down in Gander.
“When everyone started calling for volunteers, everybody was there to help out,” Flynn said in an interview, moments before the annual service got underway. “And as a result of 9/11, we got to meet some wonderful people and became friends with a number of them.”
Flynn helped plan the memorial service, which was held on the banks of the Gander River and included both Craft and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball.
In her prepared remarks, Craft said she couldn’t resist accepting the invitation to visit Appleton and Gander, about 20 kilometres apart.
“Today, on this day in particular, there is no place I would rather be,” she stated. “Gander will go down in history as being the place that embodies the meaning of friendship and humanity.”