NDP says it’s time to rein in Nova Scotia Power, provide school lunches
“Every month I have less money for other things – recreation, food, medication and travel.”
Janet Brush Halifax
resident living on fixing income
Janet Brush says skyrocketing rent makes it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but it doesn’t look pretty,” says Brush, 77, who lives alone on a fixed income in Halifax.
Taking part in a recent provincial New Democratic Party affordability news conference, Brush said she was evicted last year from her two-bedroom apartment by virtue of the fixed-lease loophole in the existing rent cap.
She eventually found a smaller one-bedroom apartment, sold much of her furniture and moved in at a rent that was $245 more per month than she had been paying for the two-bedroom unit. That rent will increase by $75 a month in May, in accordance with the now five per cent rent cap, she said.
Brush said she already spends 48.5 per cent of her monthly pension income on rent.
“Every month I have less money for other things – recreation, food, medication and travel,” Brush said.
“Next year, it (rent) will be another $75 or $80 a month, whatever five per cent works out to. When the rent cap comes off, I try not to even think about it because I just can’t imagine what I’m going to face then.”
Nova Scotia established a two per cent temporary rent cap in November 2020 to deal with the COVID pandemic.
The current Progressive Conservative government last March extended the cap to the end of 2025 but increased the cap to five per cent, starting Jan. 1 of this year.
“Last year, my combined pensions increased by less
than $100 per month, so at age 77 I'm looking for parttime work,” Brush said.
FEELING PAIN
The NDP points to recent reports that show more and more Nova Scotians are feeling the pain of rising costs.
The province has the highest child poverty rate in Atlantic Canada and 43 per cent of households struggle to afford power, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said.
Power rates have increased by more than 14 per cent during the past 12 months and another one per cent hike is likely later this year.
The cost of groceries increased by more than six per cent last year and 13 per cent the year before that; the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax went up by 11 per cent in 2023; and the province is now one of the least affordable jurisdictions in Canada.
Chender said Nova Scotians want to get by on their own but wages are not keeping up with inflation and housing and energy costs continue to skyrocket.
PRIORITIES
“We need a government that prioritizes building an economy where Nova Scotians can actually provide for their families, where utilities benefit the public, not just their shareholders, where governments give families a break when they need it, where every child in this province has enough to eat and where we know that we’ll be able to keep our houses warm and the lights on when times get tough,” she said.
The NDP highlighted three areas in which the government must act to address the affordability crisis.
“First, the government must finally ensure that all students in this province actually have access to healthy, nutritious food in schools by implementing a school lunch program,” Chender said.
Food procurement costs, participation rates, and potential federal funding are factors in costing a school lunch program but the Manitoba government recently announced $30 million in funding for a universal school nutrition program and the NDP says a similar investment would be necessary in Nova Scotia.
Secondly, the NDP caucus called on the Tim Houstonled government to give families a break by cutting down on the unnecessary fees for basic identification cards, drivers’ licence renewals and vehicle inspections.
“We’re calling for motor vehicle inspections to be extended from two years to five and the fees for licences and vehicle renewals to be waived,” Chender said.
It’s estimated vehicle inspections, curently priced at $29.15 for passenger vehicles, would generate $2,196,000 in revenue for the provincial government in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The frequency of motor vehicle inspections varies between provinces, with Nova Scotia requiring an inspection every two years.
Thirdly, Chender said the Houston government must address the nearly half of Nova Scotians who can’t afford to pay for power and other necessities.
“We need to rein in Nova Scotia Power and make sure that it works for Nova Scotians by creating a lowincome energy rate and restoring the funding to the Heating Assistance Rebate Program that was inexplicably slashed this year,” she said.
Chender said Nova Scotia Power’s profits must be tied to keeping power rates affordable, improving the grid so Nova Scotians can get the power they pay for and to get Nova Scotia off coal and on a path to a cleaner future.
The lower rate would likely have to be subsidized by other residential and corporate customers.
The Houston government raised the Heating Assistance Rebate Program to $1,000 from $200 for the 2022-23 heating season but reduced it to $600 for the current 202324 heating season.
The NDP has plenty of proposals for longer-term solutions, Chender said.
“These are a few things that we are talking about today going into the (spring legislative) session that we think are immediately actionable,” she said. “It goes without saying that we will be looking for a significant increase in income assistance rates.”