SEAN FRASER — LIBERAL PARTY
Q: What would your party do to improve rural economic development?
A: To help grow rural economies, we are investing in major infrastructure projects that will put people to work in the short term and help create the conditions for long-term economic growth. The twinning of Highway 104 will create jobs and help improve the efficiency and safety of our roads. Projects like the NSCC, Pictou campus expansion, or the new Centre for Innovation in Health and Institute of Government at StFX have employed hundreds of people and will help train a skilled workforce for the next generation.
We must also ensure we have favourable conditions for small businesses, which represent a majority of commercial enterprises in rural Canada. We have lowered the tax rate on small businesses from 11 per cent to nine per cent and put in place a number of supports that help them scale up. Locally, I have been working to secure funding for an innovation hub in our community, which I expect to be finalized in the short term, in order to support new startups that will create jobs for members of our community.
We are supporting our growing seafood sector by putting in place additional protections for the fishery, including legislating the owner-operator fleet separation model. We made new efforts to build our wharves as well and are creating a new Atlantic Fisheries Fund to support initiatives that will help grow the local seafood sector.
We have a massive opportunity to invest in the green economy. Our community has companies creating environmentally friendly products for sale around the world. By expanding programs to facilitate the green economy, we can help create good-paying jobs at home.
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: Improving access to high-speed internet in rural communities is essential if we are to ensure that rural Canadians can benefit from the same advantages their urban counterparts enjoy. We now live in a world where many opportunities exist for our community members, without requiring that they move across the country or around the world to take advantage, so long as they have reliable access to high-speed internet.
I have been working to create funding opportunities in Ottawa for highspeed internet in rural communities and have seen two projects funded locally to date. In addition, we have committed to making the necessary investments to connect 95 per cent of businesses and households in Canada by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2030 and backed these commitments with $6 billion in funding to make it happen.
Q
: What would your party do to improve mental health care and resources for people in Central Nova?
A: I was very proud to support Bill C-211 which led to a national framework on mental health for veterans and first responders and is having a huge impact across Canada.
Our government has earmarked $130 million for investments in mental health in Nova Scotia. The decisions of how this money will be allocated will be determined by the province, but the additional funding will help ensure they have the resources required to deliver more effective services. In addition, we have committed to setting clear national standards for access to mental health services so Canadians can get the support they need quickly, when they need it most.
Q
: What would you do to assist the provincial government in its efforts to recruit and retain doctors?
A: The top concern I hear about in our communities is the quality of our health-care system. Specifically, I hear real anxiety over our region’s ability to attract and retain family doctors. One of the most difficult aspects of being a federal representative is to see this frustration amongst local residents, knowing that another level of government holds the responsibility to address the issue. That said, there is still an important role for the federal government to play when it comes to tackling the issue of health care.
One of the main areas the federal government can make a difference is to enhance the transfer of funds to the province for health care. We are committing to invest $6 billion to strengthen Canada’s public health-care system by making targeted investments, including for the purpose of extending access to family doctors. While the day-to-day decisions remain with the province, we will help give them the funding they need to connect more community members to a primary care provider.
We made the largest transfer of federal funding for health care to Nova Scotia in the history of our province last year, which exceeded $1 billion for the first time. We provided an additional targeted support of $288 million for mental health and in-home care and are moving forward with a universal Pharmacare system, which will free up additional resources in the system.
The combined effect of these investments is an annual increase to the health transfer of approximately 4.1 per cent. This increase does not include the additional $6 billion we are committing to as part of the 2019 campaign platform.
Q
: What can be done to help keep young Nova Scotians working and living in Central Nova?
A: For a generation, too many people from our part of the world had to head out West to find work. Over the past three years, this trend has reversed, and more young people are coming to Nova Scotia than are leaving. The Canadian economy has added over a million jobs since 2015, including major job gains in Nova Scotia.
We have contributed to this job growth by cutting taxes for small businesses and pursuing new trade deals. We are also fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, investing in innovation, and building new infrastructure to enable further growth.
We are boosting social supports to take financial pressure off workers and families so they can more easily make local opportunities work for them. The Canada Workers’ Benefit supports low-income residents that are working to make ends meet. The Canada Training Benefit helps employees with the cost of upgrading their skills, which allows them to seek better-paying work opportunities. The Canada Child Benefit gives money every month to nine out of 10 families, which provides financial security for parents who grew up here and want to raise a family at home.
In Nova Scotia, many of our young people study here and leave so they can afford to pay off their student loan. We have reduced the interest rate on student loans, stopped requiring students to enter repayment before they earned enough money to do so, and increased Canada Student Grants by 50 per cent to help reduce the debt burden on students.