Liberal spending priorities misdirected

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, along with local MLAs Derek Mombourquette and Geoff MacLellan, has chosen to invest enormous human and financial resources in relocating the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Marconi Campus to downtown Sydney.

Meanwhile, according to the Cape Breton Post, Cape Breton children and youth will be forced to travel to Halifax for emergency mental health services as soon as Dec. 1.

So there’s nothing for the mental health crisis faced by Cape Breton youth, but land developers will make millions as NSCC students deal with new commuting and parking headaches.

Remember how MacNeil handled the QE11 Outpatient Centre in Bayer’s Lake this past spring? That one involved a real estate developer and large donor to the provincial Liberal Party who made millions flipping land to the province for a site that the HRM chief planner said was “nearly impossible to provide adequate transit service.” http://www.cbc. ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ health-facility-bayers-lake-public-transit-report-1.4140866

The McNeil Liberal government ignored HRM concerns about public transit and traffic volumes, and the deal had to go through.

Why can’t MLAs Mombourquette and MacLellan do more for the children of CBRM instead of creating a traffic and commuting nightmare for Sydney? How do MacLellan voters feel about the extra drive time to a Sydney campus?

Follow the money on this one. I predict lots for well-connected Liberal real estate developers and nothing for the serious mental health issues of Cape Breton children and youth.