Put an End to Spiraling Rent Increases with Rent Control

By establishing rent control that cuts in half the allowable Tim Houston rate increase (2.5% from 5%). We’ll also close the Houston fixed-term lease loophole that has allowed landlords to exploit Nova Scotia’s tight rental market and charge double-digit rent increases.

Provide $900 Housing Rebate for Renters and Homeowners

By bringing in a new rent and mortgage tax rebate for low- and middle-income households. The Affordable Homes Rebate will help hundreds of thousands of renters and homeowners by providing an average annual rebate of $900 when their household incomes are under $70,000 a year – so it will benefit approximately half of all Nova Scotia households.

The NDP will establish rent control that cuts in half the allowable Tim Houston rate increase (2.5% from 5%). We’ll also close the Houston fixed-term lease loophole that has allowed landlords to exploit Nova Scotia’s tight rental market and charge double-digit rent increases.

Protect Renters From Unfair Evictions and Renovictions

By reversing the Conservatives' loosening of eviction rules, establishing eviction and renoviction protection that works for both tenants and landlords, and creating a new Residential Tenancy Enforcement Unit, as was recommended by the government’s own consultant.

Create a Path to Home Ownership through a Rent-to-Own Starter Home Program

That combines more home construction with lower up-front costs for first-time buyers. We’ll work with the growing factory-built home construction industry to deliver high quality, energy efficient, affordable homes to first-time home buyers with a household income of less than $100,000 per year. Using available public land and pre-built homes will allow us to offer houses for rent immediately. Rents will be used to build equity in the home for the new owner.

Build more Non-Market and Co-op Homes

Claudia Chender and the Nova Scotia NDP are ready to tackle the housing shortage and have set an ambitious initial goal of 30,000 new affordable rental homes. We’ll do it by:

• leveraging federal funding to make our province’s dollars go much, much further;
• working with municipalities to identify land they can commit to needed housing construction and to speed up and standardize construction planning and approval timelines, getting to “yes” faster and without delay;
• enabling municipalities to levy a tax on vacant lots that are zoned for residential development but where developers are delaying builds;
• cutting red tape and encouraging more development across all non-market housing

Providing immediate relief with a Gas Tax Holiday

By cutting the gas tax, saving you 15.5 cents per litre at the pump every time you fill up. We will keep this cut in place while inflation is high and as we work to bring down your costs.

Removing the Provincial Portion of the HST on Phone Bills, Internet and Groceries

To reduce monthly costs for all Nova Scotians, particularly seniors on fixed incomes and young and single-parent families struggling to get by.

Reining in Nova Scotia Power and Lowering Your Power Bills

The Nova Scotia Energy Poverty Task Force suggested a bill assistance discount to income-qualified households of 50% for both electricity and fuel oil. We’ll implement that recommendation, providing a 50% discount on your power bill for electricity and oil, saving the average household $1,000 annually.

Removing HST on Heat Pump Purchases to Reduce Your Home Heating Costs

By removing the HST from the purchase and installation of heat pumps, providing upfront savings so that people can make the switch to more efficient power sources.

Axing Unnecessary and Outdated Licensing Fees

We'll waive fees for driver's licences, license plate renewals, basic identification cards, and change of name/address requests.

Lowering Costs and Improving Public Transit Options for Commuters

By making the Halifax Harbour ferries free. We’ll expand transit options in the HRM by fast-tracking the recommendations included in the HRM Rapid Transit Strategy, including more rapid bus lines, more ferry routes, and more options to get you home to your family faster.

Doubling the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Finance Grant and Making it Permanent

Doubling the Cape Breton Regional Municipality finance grant from $15 to $30 million, and making it permanent.

Raising Income Assistance Rates and Helping Nova Scotians Make Ends Meet

With an immediate monthly increase of $100. We will tie rates to the annual rate of inflation, and then work with the community to develop a long-term Poverty Reduction Strategy for Nova Scotia. We will also move those receiving the “essentials rate” up to the “boarder rate”– nearly doubling the amount that they receive.

Building Family Doctor Clinics Around Your Health Care Needs

New Democrats will ensure that Nova Scotians can get the health care they need, when they need it. We pioneered doctor clinics, and we’re committed to making primary care available to everyone who needs it

• Opening 15 collaborative Family Doctor Clinics across the province in our first year. These clinics will connect every Nova Scotian currently on the waitlist to primary care.
• Continuing to open 15 clinics per year, over three years (total of 45) to ensure doctors and patients can choose where to provide and receive care.

Connecting You to a Family Doctor Faster by Moving to Automatic, Location-based Attachments

Through a universal, automatic attachment model, seen around the globe as the best way to create primary care connections and the fastest way of reducing family doctor wait times.

Attracting, Training and Retaining more Doctors, Nurse Practitioners and other Health Professionals

By offering new recruitment and retention incentives in return for a long-term Nova Scotia residency guarantee.

Helping the Helpers through a $1,400 Refundable Income Tax Credit for Caregiving

Helping the helpers through a $1,400 refundable income tax credit for caregiving that recognizes the reality that the vast majority of health care now takes place in the home, provided by friends or family members.

Reducing the Cost of the Prescriptions You Need

By providing free contraceptives, eliminating Seniors’ Pharmacare premiums; waiving the deductible families pay for prescription drugs and devices covered by Family Pharmacare; making the HIV prevention medication PrEP universally available to anyone who needs it.

Lowering the Cost of Home Cancer Care and Cover Home Cancer Drugs

Lowering the cost of home cancer care and cover home cancer drugs through our Nova Scotia Pharmacare program.

Removing Expensive Parking Fees at Hospitals

Removing expensive parking fees at hospitals for families of a loved one needing care and the workers providing it, reducing stress and financial burden in our health care system.

Defending and Expanding Access to Reproductive Health Care

By making surgical abortion procedures available in underserved regions. We’ll address delays to abortion access across the province by increasing the number of sonographers. And we’ll reduce the stigma of abortion by regulating anti-choice crisis pregnancy centres and by making health-focused information more available.

Improving women’s access to health care by:

• Enhancing maternity care through a new midwifery strategy
• Helping prevent cervical cancer by detecting it earlier through at-home HPV testing
• Safeguarding women against health care risks like heart disease and osteoporosis, and reduce the risk of cancer, by providing free menopause treatment with HRT

Delivering Supportive, Safe, Quality Care when a Mental Health Crisis is reported to 911

By fast-tracking the expansion of civilian-led and health-focused crisis response teams across the province – this will free up police resources and help reduce stigma for those suffering from mental illness.

Cutting the Small Business Tax Rate to 1.5%

Cutting the small business tax rate to 1.5% from 2.5%, so businesses can invest more in their growth and hire more workers to take advantage of opportunities.

Creating Real Incentives to Support Local Business

Creating real incentives to support local business through a buy local program that is inclusive and allows entrepreneurs, rather than corporations, to thrive.

Investing More in Training and Apprenticeships

Investing more in training and apprenticeships to help make sure Nova Scotia has the highly skilled and well-qualified workers businesses are looking for.

Protect Our Diverse Coastlines

The Houston government has left 13,000 kilometres of coastline vulnerable after abruptly abandoning the Coastal Protection Act. We will bring back, pass and enforce that Act to better protect our coastline from climate change and private development impacts.

Help Fight the Climate Crisis

By transitioning Nova Scotia to renewable energy like wind and solar. We’ll speed up the transition to net-zero buildings, and make it easier for people to become part of the solution by offering rebates for moving off coal and fossil fuels for their home heating.

Deliver more child care where it’s needed

By establishing a pilot program with four new publicly-owned and operated child care centres in underserved areas. We’ll also provide capital funding to schools for more child care spaces closer to home for parents, and make child care opportunities fairer for all through a centralized waitlist.

Make schools work better for students, parents, teachers, and staff

By enforcing indoor air quality standards, requiring regular water quality testing, and providing capital funding to improve student safety and comfort. We’ll act immediately on the Auditor General’s recommendations to reduce school violence which has increased an alarming 60% over the past seven years. And we’ll make sure more students get the one-on-one help they need in the classroom by reducing class sizes – that means accelerating new school construction in high-growth areas and using factory construction to build and add entire new, comfortable and energy-efficient classroom wings to existing schools.

Improve public long-term care services for seniors

By fast-tracking long-term care beds for seniors because, right now, there is a shortage of around 2,000 single rooms for seniors needing long-term care. We will build a single long-term care room for every senior who wants one. We’ll also take the profit out of long-term care by prohibiting public money from being spent to fund new beds in for-profit homes. And we’ll improve the care seniors receive by hiring more well-trained care staff so that we increase the minimum daily hours of direct care in every part of the province.

Standing up for equity-seeking groups

By fully funding the 2SLGBTQIA Action Plan in order to fight stigma and discrimination particularly for 2SLGBTQIA youth. We will fund organizations that fight Intimate Partner Violence and support Nova Scotians experiencing gender based violence to ensure that survivors of sexualized violence have access to trauma-informed counselling. And we’ll end the misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements and protect victims of sexual assault from the personal and institutional cycles of abuse, bullying, and bad behaviour.