BARRY RANDLE — GREEN PARTY
Q: What would your party do to improve rural economic development?
A: An important aspect of our Mission Possible policy to the ongoing climate crisis is rural economic development. One thing that absolutely must happen is a move away using fossil fuels to generate electricity. What we propose is replacing the current monopoly system with a more regionalized power grid ... this would lead to many jobs in rural areas. Another critical aspect is the retrofitting of homes for maximum energy efficiency. This not only would result in huge energy savings for homeowners but again many more jobs. Food security is another important aspect thus support for small scale regional farms and markets would further rural economic development. From https://www.greenparty. ca/en/mission-possible Q : Access to high-speed internet has been brought up as a topic of concern in rural areas. What would your party do to address those concerns?
A: There is a huge digital divide between many urban Nova Scotians and those in rural areas. The Green Party recognize that high-speed internet access for all is critical to being able to function and be aware in the 21st century. That being said, many of the issues in rural areas are physical and geographical and many attempts have been made to fix this divide by many different companies with variable success rates. There is a solution to this and that is to use cellbased data coverage networks; however, this is prohibitively expensive for many residents.
To this end the Green Party, in recognition of the extremely high cost of data to Canadians, pledge to break the monopoly of Bell and Rogers over the data stream. By offering various options to consumers, prices will drop and become more in line with the rest of the world. This diversification will spread the network out, free up resources, lower costs and improve reception for those even in the most isolated of pockets in the region. Q : What would your party do to improve mental health care and resources for people in Central Nova?
A: Mental health services are as critical in every way as physical health services. The closure of the mental health wing at the Aberdeen hospital in New Glasgow has left a serious hole in our health-care safety net that many people have fell through. It is essential that these services be re-instated as soon as possible. The state of mental health care nationally is an embarrassment and is consistently found to be grossly inadequate.
“Greens subscribe to the World Health Organization’s definition of health as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Our present health care system addresses only one dimension — the treatment of disease and/or trauma by qualified professionals in publiclyfunded medical facilities.
“Greens applaud the creation in 2007 of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The MHCC has estimated that mental illness costs the Canadian economy $50 billion per year. We support the call from the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations that the MHCC’s mandate be extended for another ten years (2015-2025) and to ensure a focus on the mental health of youth.” From https://www. greenparty.ca/en/policy/visiongreen/people/health-care
Q What would you do to assist the provincial government in its efforts to recruit and retain doctors? A: From https://www.greenparty.ca/en/policy/vision-green/ people/health-care
“Experts tell us that spending more money does not necessarily produce better results. Economies of scale can be achieved through creating centralized wait lists, moving from a paper system to electronic technology to share information, addressing the staffing shortage and in some cases, the facility and equipment shortages. These steps can help in reducing wait times, but the truth is that Canada does not have enough doctors, nurses, radiologists, and other health care providers. Short-sighted, government cut back on the training of doctors in the 1990s and failed to help fast-track the certification of foreign-trained doctors and nurses. Now Canada ranks among the lowest of 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in the ratio of doctors and acute care beds per thousand people. In some parts of Canada, 60 per cent of people have no family doctor. It is a matter of training more doctors and ensuring better allocation of doctors − more family doctors, fewer specialists, and channeling more doctors into working in rural areas.”
Greater recruitment of overseas physicians who are looking to come to Canada and increasing the medical training programs (with loan forgiveness programs to those who choose to practice in rural areas, will go a long way towards improving the doctor shortage in Nova Scotia. Active recruitment programs would also be a great help. By allowing other professionals, such as mid-wives, doulas, foreign medicine practitioners etc. to receive funding for their services across the country will greatly help free up the resources of the physicians we have in place and improve access to the system. Q : What can be done to help keep young Nova Scotians working and living in Central Nova?
A: Young Nova Scotians have been leaving our area because they believe that there is no future for them here, no way to provide for their families. By implementing our plans for rural economic development we will provide these opportunities for them to stay. We also plan to implement a guaranteed basic income program across the country to give all Canadians greater financial security and the ability to live comfortably where they choose, not just where they feel they should be.
With the 300 million dollar pledge (announced by Elizabeth May and Paul Manly) for energy sector worker retraining and the diversification and regionalization of the energy system then many of those who chose to leave for Alberta will have the ability to return and find the employment opportunities that they have trained for.