One year has passed since a New Democratic government was elected to lead our province. Darrell Dexter promised an era of change to Nova Scotians.
As leader of the Progressive Conservative party, I acknowledge that Nova Scotians wanted change. Our party has accepted that, however, the guaranteed change by the NDP which included transparency, accountability, and genuine leadership, has not materialized.
The Premier was given an opportunity that anyone would welcome, a majority government. Nova Scotians gave him that opportunity. In the best interest of Nova Scotians, I wished him well. Nova Scotians' expectations were high, based on the promises that the NDP made, and the real hope that the new government would deliver and honour their commitments.
It has become obvious that the first year of NDP government has been disappointing, and, in fact, has revealed that those commitments and those promises have not been kept.
Equally disappointing is that Nova Scotians were misled during the campaign and are now regretting the decisions made on June 9, 2009. To be specific, Nova Scotians will experience a two per cent tax increase on July 1. During the election campaign the NDP promised there would be no increase in taxes. During debates in the House of Assembly this government was made aware of the negative impact such a decision would have on the economy of the province. They ignored that solid advice and Nova Scotians now have less disposable income and our province has lost its competitive edge in respect to neighboring provinces.
Secondly, within the first year of government, one billion dollars has been added to the provincial debt as a result of two deficit budgets. This is one thousand dollars per Nova Scotian that has to be repaid by you and me. During the campaign, the NDP promised to present a balanced budget.
Thirdly, emergency rooms continue to experience closures. During the election the NDP promised to keep all ER rooms open 24/7 across the province. They paid a consultant $100,000.00 to give them information that the Department of Health already had. Since forming government ERs across the province have been closed more than 19,000 hours. This hurts every Nova Scotian directly or indirectly, and was not what Nova Scotians were promised.
The poor decisions and lack of leadership shown by this government have caused Nova Scotians to pay more for less, work harder for less, and lose hope about the future for them and their families.
