NOVA SCOTIA GOVERNMENT IS THE ULTIMATE BIG SPENDER

Former Nova Scotia premier Stephen McNeil was the third highest paid premier in Canada in 2016. At the same time our new doctors received the lowest wages in Canada.

McNeil also amalgamated health boards throughout the province at a cost of $10 million and under his watch MLAs received a nine per cent raise on top of the inflation rate, which is more than seniors receive in a year ($7,364.19) when it comes to Old Age Security.

MLAs receive a pension after just two years of service, costing the tax payers an estimated $25 million. McNeil also managed to make seven trips to China.

The ferry between Yarmouth and Portland, Me., has been another financial black hole. First the provincial government paid to fix the dock in Portland, while also paying the Uniited States crew to operate it. Then cash went to Bar Habor, Me., to fix up another dock, construct a customs building and pay customs officers. The total cost to Nova Scotia taxpayers to date? About $72 million. The cost of management is unknown.

The total for all three of the above expenditures is $107 million. Maybe that money should have been used to keep our hospitals open.

Nova Scotia has 51 MLAs and our population is just shy of one million people. So on average we have one MLA for every 19,607 people. Other provinces in Canada have one for every 50,000 people on average. So we should have 20 or 25 MLAs for every 40,000 approximately. With that savings we could hire 13 more doctors.

Now Premier Iain Rankin wants to hire four more MLAs at a cost of $94,000 each, approximately the cost of four apartments, four offices and four secretaries. A trip to Halifax on a gas card used to be $120 per trip. Now we pay by kilometres which is approximately $400 per trip. MLAs also receive $50 per day for meals when in Halifax.

Now, Premier Rankin wants to spend $20 million to study problems in classrooms. That’s a lot of money. The teachers know what the problems are. Why don’t you ask the teachers?

There’s not enough taxpayers in Nova Scotia to handle all this spending. I see why there are so many complaints regarding the quality of our health care is this province.

Lawrence Bragg

Dalem Lake