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NS Liberal Leader Looks Back At Year of Accomplishments |
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Written by NS Liberal Party
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Thursday, 29 December 2005 |
Nova Scotia Liberal Leader, Francis MacKenzie, is pleased with the progress his caucus made in 2005 on behalf of Nova Scotians. He is looking forward to another year of Liberal accomplishments both in and outside the Legislature.
"I am particularly pleased with our work during the spring and summer to make sure 2200 seniors, unfairly charged $487,000 in Pharmacare premiums, got their money back," said MacKenzie. "And of course, more recently we introduced legislation to protect children from the dangers of ATVs. We brought the issue to the forefront and pushed it onto the government agenda. Although government and the NDP chose politics over the safety of children, we will continue to strongly oppose and monitor government's inaction."
MacKenzie also pointed out Liberal bills and projects that received special attention in the spring and fall sittings of the House of Assembly to advance our health care system. A bill to improve self-managed care in the province was introduced in April 2005 and received government support. The bill enables people with disabilities
to hire their own attendants with monies received directly from Home Care Nova Scotia.
"Our work on the Involuntary Treatment Act will help save families and lives," said MacKenzie. "This bill is of critical importance, helping Nova Scotians when they simply cannot help themselves."
The mandatory use of safety-engineered needles entered the Legislature during both sittings of the House. Liberals received support from NS Nurses Union, NS Federation of Labour as well as thousands of front-line health care workers and groups from across the country.
Energy dominated the agenda for several months, as the Liberal Energy Strategy: Answering the Challenge was being formulated for launch in October. Special focus in the plan was given to finding long-term solutions to the overwhelming costs of energy and the necessity of several green initiatives.
"I'm proud to say that our caucus took a tough stand against Nova Scotia Power this year," added MacKenzie. "We opposed both rate increases and went so far as to introduce legislation restricting them to one rate increase application per year in hopes that government would see how wrong it is to put Nova Scotians through another hearing and make them face the potential for another increase in the same year."
In 2005, the caucus also continued its work on initiatives that began in 2004. Included in this was the move to have video lottery terminals removed from uncontrolled environments province-wide. Liberals also called for mandatory defibrillator availability in municipal, provincial and privately owned facilities. |
