McNeil and Baillie offering more of the same

Only NDP can fix health care crisis

HALIFAX – Dave Wilson, NDP candidate for Sackville-Cobequid, says neither the Baillie Conservatives nor the McNeil Liberals have any credibility when it comes to addressing the crisis in health care.

“The NDP has the only plan that will address the crisis in health care by hiring more family doctors, opening new nursing home beds, keeping ERs open, reducing wait times and making sure people get the mental health care they need,” said Wilson, a former Minister of Health. “Jamie Baillie is hoping people have short memories when it comes to the last Conservative government that cut health care, fought with health care workers and couldn’t keep emergency rooms open.”

After the province's last Progressive Conservative Government, Nova Scotians inherited:

• A crisis in ERs with long waits and frequent closures;
• A lack of jobs for nurse practitioners;
• A government that dictated instead of negotiated with nurses and other health care workers (Bill 68 and Bill 1);
• An abandonment of our seniors, with limited options and reluctance to lift the freeze on nursing home beds;
• Stalled key hospital redevelopment despite dangerous conditions at Victoria General Hospital.

“The McNeil Liberal record is 106,000 people without access to a family doctor, emergency room closures throughout the province, families waiting hours in emergency rooms and seniors not getting the care they need,” said Wilson.

The Liberal record on health care is:

• Record waits in ERs; more ER closures; stalled Collaborative Emergency Centre expansion;
• A government that wants to dictate not negotiate -- that doesn’t listen to doctors, nurses or other health care providers;
• Seniors left abandoned, with a new freeze on nursing home beds;
• Key hospital redevelopments stalled again, after Liberals cancelled redevelopment plan launched in 2011.

“The other two parties are offering more of the same," added Wilson. "Only the NDP has a plan what will fix the health care crisis and make real investments in the priories that matter most to families, seniors and young people.”

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