Provincial NDP Leader Claudia Chender was in Antigonish last night for a Town Hall Meeting at St. FX University to gather input from area residents ahead of the upcoming fall session of the Nova Scotia Legislature.
Chender has been holding similar meetings across the province recently.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender at the Town Hall Meeting at St. FX University. (Ken Kingston photo)
Questions from the public touched on a number of topics including offshore wind and green hydrogen production, income disparity, recruitment of new graduates from Nova Scotia universities, health care, Nova Scotia Power, government funding to support the not-for-profit sector, climate change, public education and agriculture.
In her opening remarks, Chender says an issue that is top of mind with Nova Scotians is affordability. Chender says everything is more expensive, including housing, groceries, and in some communities higher water rates. But across the province, Chender says power is costing more.
Chender says the NDP will propose at the fall sitting that Nova Scotians should get a 10 per cent rebate on their power rates.
Chender says her party will also introduce a bill that could hold third party private companies possessing customers’ personal information accountable for data breaches.
Chender told the audience one issue she’s hearing a lot about, particularly in rural Nova Scotia is the government’s surprise mining agenda put forward just after the provincial election.
Chender says she is also hearing calls from municipalities to proclaim the Coastal Protection Act.
Chender says also concerning is legislative changes made in the last session of the house that impacted university governance and funding. Chender says it is dangerous to mix politics and education.