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Nova Scotians overwhelmingly reject Power Company’s bailout request

Aug 31 2012

98 percent of survey respondents say shareholders, not ratepayers, should cover pension shortfall

HALIFAX, NS - After only one week, almost 500 Nova Scotians have taken part in the PC Caucus' 'Let's Talk Rates' online survey and an overwhelming majority of respondents reject Nova Scotia Power's request for ratepayers to bailout their troubled pension plan. 

When asked whether ratepayers should be forced to pay more to cover the power company's pension shortfall, 98 percent of survey respondents said no. According to Nova Scotians, it is the company that manages the plan and should be responsible for its balance sheet.

Read more: NS reject NS Power bailout request

Jul 31 2012

HALIFAX, NS – Progressive Conservative Energy critic Chuck Porter says the NDP still don’t know how much the Muskrat Falls energy megaproject will cost when it reaches our homes and businesses, but they’re stubbornly pushing forward with it anyway.

Porter says the NDP offered no proof of the megaproject’s cost, that we can afford electricity coming from it, or that it was the best option for Nova Scotia.

Read more: Muskrat Falls

NDP cut librarian services in Hants West

May 03 2012

HALIFAX, NS – Schools in Hants West are the latest facing reductions in services for students as the NDP continue to cut education funding.

Windsor Elementary School librarians will have their hours cut from four hours to 1.5 per day. Newport Station District Elementary School librarians will have their hours cut from three to 1.5 per day.

"The NDP are forcing school boards to make cuts to front line services in our schools and it's going to have a definite impact on our children," said Hants West MLA Chuck Porter. "While the NDP are adding to the Department of Education bureaucracy in Halifax, they're cutting dollars and jobs from our local schools. It's shameful."

Budget documents and a head count in the Education Department show increased staffing and funding levels in Halifax. The NDP deny it but have not been able to produce proof to show the department is smaller or reduced at all.

A freedom of information request for a full head count of all government of Nova Scotia employees shows an increase in administration at the Department of Education and an increase across government as a whole. The document shows in August 2010, the headcount was 193 employees at the Department of Education. A year later, the headcount was 196.

A second document, the Estimates and Supplementary Detail publication accompanying the 2012/13 budget shows that in 2011/12, there were 177 FTEs (full-time equivalents) at the Department of Education. This number can include more than one actual person and it is the “forecast” or actual number, not an “estimate” number. The 2013/14 budget funds 194 FTEs, for an increase of 17.