Kerian Burnett MSI Congratulations

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 22, 2024:

Speaker, Kerian Burnett, a migrant worker from Jamaica, got very good news recently. She finally got her MSI card in the mail. This was the result of a multi-year fight to get health coverage in the wake of her 2022 cervical cancer diagnosis. As a migrant worker in the strawberry fields, Kerian was not eligible for MSI, and her two surgeries cost $81,000. In 2023, Kerian was approved for the Interim Federal Health Program. In January of this year, she was granted a work permit through to July 2025. That work permit made her eligible for MSI. Though Kerian now has medical coverage, many migrant workers do not, as their work permits are not long enough to qualify. Kerian and No One is Illegal, Halifax/Kjipuktuk, which has supported her through her treatment and fight for coverage, are calling on the provincial government to immediately provide migrant workers with MSI coverage when they arrive in Nova Scotia. I congratulate Kerian on receiving her MSI card. I wish her good health, and I stand in solidarity with No One is Illegal and migrant workers, and their call for MSI for all.

Susan Leblanc Asks What will Goverment do to Ensure Measles Vaccine Supply

SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang recently urged Nova Scotians to check their immunization status, and for many to update their measles vaccination. Now we’re hearing that pharmacies and primary care providers are overwhelmed by demand. There are simply not enough doses of the vaccine. Kari Ellen Graham, a pharmacist in Halifax, has said, “The bottom line is you could try your pharmacy, although most pharmacies are out . . . a lot of doctor’s offices are now out.” How are Nova Scotians supposed to protect themselves and follow the advice of the Chief Medical Officer if there are no shots available?

HON. MICHELLE THOMPSON: First of all, I want to clarify and go on the record that there are shots available. There is MMR vaccine in this province. There is no shortage. Because of the demand, the orders that physicians and pharmacists have, they’ve gone through those orders more quickly. It’s simply reaching back out to the BioDepot, explaining that they are out of the vaccine, and ordering more.

SUSAN LEBLANC: It would be great if people could access the vaccine through mobile health units in cases where pharmacies and primary care providers are not a viable option, but according to Nova Scotia Health Authority’s website, many parts of Nova Scotia do not have mobile immunization clinics scheduled until April, and many are not even offering the measles vaccine. Measles cases across Canada are on the rise- we’ve heard this. Nova Scotians should not have to wait several more weeks to access the recommended vaccination. What is this government doing to ensure that all Nova Scotians have access to the vaccinations they need when they need them?

MICHELLE THOMPSON: Nova Scotians have a variety of different ways in which they can access vaccines. They can access them through the mobile clinics, they can access them through primary care providers, they can access them through pharmacists. There are a variety of different ways. There is no shortage. There is high demand, which has caused offices and folks to go through their supply, but there is no shortage of the vaccine. If individuals require more vaccine- whether they have a pharmacy or whether they have an office- they simply need to reach out to the BioDepot and increase their supply.

Honouring Bruce Anderson on his Retirement

On March 22 I rose in Province House to give the following members statement:

I rise today to pay tribute to Dartmouth North resident Bruce Anderson on the occasion of his retirement after nearly 40 years of service at Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Bruce is a third-generation worker at BIO, working as a multi-disciplinary hydrographer. His colleagues describe him as an unfailingly pleasant, welcoming, knowledgeable co-worker who has been silently responsible for so much of what is great about working at their office. He organizes monthly coffees, open houses, retirement parties, pizza parties, and a giant Christmas potluck. He tracks people’s birthdays and special events and provides onboarding for every new employee. He does it all with good grace and humility. know his co-workers are sad to see him leave, but I also know they will wish him a very happy retirement. I ask the whole House to join me in wishing Bruce Anderson a very happy retirement and, wish him all the best in the hopefully less busy years to come.

Ramadan Greeting

The Ramadan greetings I made in the and brought to the Dartmouth Masjid Iftar this past Friday:

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on March 11, 2024, with the first sighting of the crescent moon in Saudi Arabia the Sunday prior. Ramadan is a month of fasting, prayer, giving, and coming together as a community, deepening connections to faith and each other. It is a time for spiritual rejuvenation - fitting, as we enter Spring - reflection and growth. I know that during this Ramadan, many of our Muslim brothers, sisters, and siblings will be holding the people of Palestine from all faith backgrounds in their hearts and prayers, and I extend my own prayers in solidarity. On Friday night, I will be attending a Ramadan iftar at the Dartmouth masjid, one of my favourite events of the entire year. I ask this House to join me in extending a wholehearted Ramadan Mubarak to the vibrant Muslim community in Dartmouth North.

Susan Leblanc asks the Minister to address nursing burnout and add locums

SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Wellness. This province spent $126 million last year on travel nurses who work for private agencies. I can table that. Despite this large sum, our nursing shortage is not going away. The Nova Scotia Health Authority continues to have over a thousand nursing vacancies. Too many of our nurses are having to work 24-hour shifts, while others have to work up to six days a week. This is leading to burnout and nurses leaving the line of work. The travel nurse program is making it worse. On top of burnout, local nurses are working next to travel nurses who are making much more money. Why is this government continuing to throw money at private nursing agencies when the perceived solution is clearly not working?

HON. MICHELLE THOMPSON: We know that there is a provincial and national nursing shortage. We have to use travel companies right now. There is no other alternative. It allows us to keep beds open. There has been an underinvestment in nursing education for a number of years, which has resulted in this nursing shortage. We are raising the number of seats. We are recruiting. Our Patient Access to Care Act is bringing people in from all over the country. If we were to walk away from travel nurses, we would have to close beds in this province, which we’re not willing to do. What I can tell the member is that we’re one of the first jurisdictions in Canada to actually limit the use of travel nurses, and we’re anxious to see what that will result in as the time moves on.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Janet Hazelton, the president of the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union, has presented a clear solution to this government. She would like to see a nurse locum program in place of their reliance on agency nurses. In a committee earlier this week, she said, “It’s very doable. All it’s going to take is for the unions and the employer to sit down and negotiate this. We just have to do it.” I can table that. When asked about such a program, the department said talks have been limited. Will this government listen to what nurses are saying and implement a provincial nurse locum program?

MICHELLE THOMPSON: Moving the same number of people around in a different way in the province is not going to help our nursing shortage. We have done a number of things. We’ve increased the number of seats. PACA - which that member voted against - will bring nurses from all over this country to Nova Scotia, enabling them to work within five days. We are looking at immigration strategies. We have to raise the supply of nurses. We need to train them. We need them to come and move and live and work here. We have a competitive contract. We are an incredible environment to work in. There are a number of things that are happening through the new collective agreement and by the employers to improve conditions for nurses, and I am confident in our ability to address the nursing shortage.

Eviction Applications in Dartmouth North

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 20 to draw attention to the high number of addiction applications in Dartmouth North: Madame Speaker, on February 27th I co-hosted a tenants’ rights information session with Dalhousie Legal Aid and ACORN at the Dartmouth North Public Library. This was our second well-attended tenants’ rights event since the Summer of 2023. At the event, Dalhousie Legal Aid community legal worker Mark Culligan presented some shocking but not surprising stats about eviction applications in Dartmouth North. After FOIPOPing landlord eviction applications between 2018 and 2021, Dal Legal Aid sorted them by postal code. The B3A region, Dartmouth North, consistently had more eviction applications than any other. In 2018, B3A applications made up approximately 12 per cent of all eviction applications; in 2019, 16 per cent; in 2020, 17 per cent; and in 2021, 12.5 per cent. The next-highest percentages range from 5 to 7 per cent. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell how many of the evictions went through. In my office, we help many tenants fight unjust evictions, as do Nova Scotia and Dalhousie Legal Aids. These numbers only confirm that this Legislature must do more to protect people in Dartmouth North and across the province from unjust evictions.

Recognizing the Take Action Garden Group

On March 20 I rose in the Nova Scotia legislature and gave the following members statement:

Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the children and the leaders of the Take Action Society garden group. In 2012, the Take Action Society - a community action group in North End Dartmouth - created a garden from an unused tennis court behind Harbour View Elementary School. The garden includes a teaching greenhouse and an outdoor classroom that can seat up to 150 people. Every year, students grow seeds in their classrooms, which they then transplant into the garden in the Spring. In the Summer months, families and children from the community help care for the garden and share in its harvest. The garden also supplies food directly to the community through its Dirt to Door program and donations to the local food bank. I ask the House to join me in recognizing these amazing young gardeners of the Take Action Society garden group and the Take Action Society as a whole. I cannot wait to see - and taste - what you grow this year.

The Practice Movement Centre in Dartmouth

While the Practice Energy Movement Centre is located in Dartmouth South, one of the co-owners, Laura Kieley, lives in Dartmouth North. Thus, I feel qualified to make this statement. Recently, the Practice, co-owned by Amy Tattrie, was awarded the Canadian Choice Award for Best Yoga Studio in Dartmouth. The Canadian Choice Award recognizes small and medium-sized businesses that are at the heart and soul of this country’s business community. Located along the shore of Lake Banook, the Practice aims to create space for community, movement, and stillness through yoga, cathartic cardio, and meditation. Just over a year ago, members of our very own NDP caucus and staff attended a yoga class at the Practice in support of the YWCA. I ask the House to join me in congratulating Laura, Amy, and the Practice team on receiving this great honour and thank them for keeping Dartmouth and we in the NDP caucus moving and mindful.

Fixing Healthcare Fast Enough?

These are some of the statements I made recently about the state of Healthcare in Nova Scotia at the March 19, 2024 Health Committee meeting:

I have to say that the people who have been waiting for Primary Care who end up getting their Primary Care from a you know a doctor with a text message in Calgary or standing in line for 3 hours at a walking clinic or going to a mobile clinic and hoping to God that they're going to get there in time. It's not good enough and for a government that's been elected to fix healthcare to not be able to say by the next election this is going to be what we've done or this is where we want to be and then you can vote to tell us if you think we did a good job or not. I just find it, I find it unreal actually and I I just like it's not good enough. I know that everyone is working so hard but it feels like to the people who aren't attached or don't have like you know a a when someone feels sick that they make a choice not to contact, not to try to get an appointment because they know they're going to be waiting for hours and hours and hours or whatever. Oh we'll just see how I feel tomorrow. That's not a good state.

Lifespan of A Mattress OutFest

I gave this members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 18, 2024:

Mx. Speaker OutFest is the largest queer arts festival in Atlantic Canada, and it will take place in Halifax from April 23rd to 28th. OutFest Emerging Stage will feature the inaugural production of Lifespan of a Mattress, written and partially performed by Dartmouth North resident Sara Graham. Sara and the play’s director, Rooks Field-Green, are the co-artistic directors of Think of the Worst Theatre. In Lifespan of a Mattress, Aubrey, played by Sara, is a chronically ill person traversing the medical system and queer relationships while trying to keep their room tidy, all from their very own bed. The play has various mask-mandatory shows between April 24th and 28th to make sure that more people can have a chance to take in that show. Think of the Worst Theatre is also hosting the Crafters Resistance Community Quilting Workshop during this year’s Mayworks Kjipuktuk-Halifax Festival. Throughout April, attendees will work on three quilts, which will represent buildings in Halifax that could be housing. I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating Sara, Rooks and all involved in OutFest, and thank them for their contributions to art and culture in Nova Scotia.

Dartmouth High Hockey Food Drive

I gave this members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 18, 2024:

Mx. Speaker, at the end of February, members of the hockey teams at Dartmouth High School collected food throughout Montebello, Keystone, Crichton Park, and central Dartmouth neighbourhoods for their joint food drive. Together the teams gathered over a full pallet of food plus monetary donations that they donated to the Dartmouth Community Fridge, Margaret’s House, and Feed Nova Scotia. Those who donated were entered into draws for prizes from the Zatzman Sportsplex and downtown Dartmouth Stone Pizza. As the Dartmouth High School Spartans hockey wrote on Facebook - and as I have spoken about many times in this Legislature - food insecurity affects many people in our own community of Dartmouth North and throughout Dartmouth. I am always inspired by the youth of Dartmouth North, and I am especially proud of these Dartmouth High students who are doing their part to end food insecurity.

Walter Borden publishes The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7:

Speaker, New Glasgow-born Walter Borden is a provincial and national icon of stage and screen. He also occupies the centre of my very first memory of seeing theatre when he toured to my elementary school and performed in the gym in Shad Bay. In 2023, Nimbus Publishing released Borden’s semi-autobiographical play, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, which he has been creating over the course of the last 48 years. The play draws upon Borden’s life experiences as a Black gay man and civil rights activist alongside the likes of Rocky and Joan Jones. It is considered one of the first Canadian theatrical productions to delve into male homosexuality from a Black perspective. Excitingly, The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time is the first of three books acquired by Nimbus to be penned by Borden, the next two being a poetry collection called Africadian Mi’kmaq Songs in the Key of the Universal Anthem and a memoir entitled A Word or Two Before I Go. I look forward to learning more about Walter Borden’s life or, as he calls it in The Last Epistle of Tightrope Time, “some itty bitty madness between twilight and dawn.”

Deepwater world premiere from Villains Theatre

I gave the following member statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 7, 2024:

Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to Villians Theatre’s new theatrical production Deepwater, which was written by Dartmouth North resident, Dan Bray, and directed by another Dartmouth North resident, Burgandy Code. The play will make its world premiere at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax from March 13th to 17th. Deepwater is an original, dark mystery, which takes place in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Audiences accompany a police inspector as she looks into a seemingly inexplicable tragedy involving a reclusive marine biologist and her young daughter. The play explores the unknowable nature of life and relationships, and the ways that humans and deep sea creatures alike must create our own light in the darkness. @brayowulf is the co-founder and artistic director of Villains Theatre. He is a Merritt Award-nominated and -whinning playwright, and interdisciplinary theatre and visual artist. Burgandy Code, a Merritt nominee and winner herself, is a 37-year veteran of the theatre in Nova Scotia - an actor, director, dramaturge, playwright, and teacher. I am thrilled that both of them have chosen Dartmouth North to call home. I wish them lots of good wishes and broken legs on the opening of Deepwater.

PWHL Nova Scotia Players

The Professional Women’s Hockey League premiered on January 1, 2024 with a game between Toronto and New York. On that historic New Years day, there were many players from Nova Scotia on the ice, as there has been since. Nova Scotians making her-story in the PWHL include: Toronto players Captain Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton, defender Allie Munroe of Yarmouth, and goaltender Carly Jackson (CJ) of Amherst. Jill Saulnier of Halifax plays forward with New York. As I speak, the PWHL Toronto is actually on an eight game - yes eight game! - winning streak, the longest current winning streak for men’s or women’s professional hockey. Yarmouth’s Allie Munroe also got her first goal of the league on Wednesday night, contributing to the 3-1 win over Boston. Tonight, on International Women’s Day no less - Toronto goes up against the league's current #1 team Montreal, and Montreal’s “Captain Clutch”, Marie-Philip Poulin. I wish all of the Nova Scotian players just the best inaugural season and thank them for being possibility models for all of the young women and gender conforming youth - like my daughter - who play hockey in this province and around the world.

Misogyny is everywhere, and it's in the budget

Below is part of my speech about misogyny in politics, the legislature, and in the budget:

I want to be clear about what we’re talking about when we talk about misogyny. [3:30 p.m.] Misogyny, in and of itself, the word, Speaker, is not unparliamentary. It is a word. It is a thing. It’s defined as this: It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised for thousands of years. It is reflected in art, literature, human societal structure, historical events, mythology, philosophy, and religion worldwide. I didn’t just make it up. I didn’t just pretend that I knew way more than everyone else in this Chamber and decide to slap a word onto what I experienced yesterday in the Chamber. It’s a real thing. Misogyny and sexism are sometimes hard to see because they’re insidious. They’re omnipresent. It’s everywhere. We’re so used to it that we don’t even notice when it’s happening. That’s because of misogyny. It’s because of patriarchy, and because of all the reasons. It’s colonization. It’s the things that have created our society and the way it is, and this budget suffers from it. There is not a woman on this planet who hasn’t in some way experienced it -even women who have great partners. Even women who have had great lives, who are powerful women, and who have never experienced overt sexism have experienced misogyny or internalized misogyny. It’s hard to see sometimes, but there’s no denying the effects. It’s why women earn less than men. It’s why women are judged on their clothing. It’s why women are judged for their career choices or for even choosing to have a career, and not stay home and take care of the kids, or to stay home and take care of the kids and not have a career. Basically, women can’t get any of that right, ever, according to someone. It’s why women are disproportionately the victims of assault and harassment. It’s why I could not leave the hospital when I had my baby -because I had to call my ex-husband and get him to tell me the date of our divorce so I could prove that I was divorced from him before I left the hospital with my baby. Come on. It’s why we constantly second guess our instincts and ask, “Was that okay?” after I speak or say something that I really believe in. “Do I look okay?” “Was that okay?” “I feel a little fat today.” It’s why we’re told to smile more. It’s why when we question the merits of a powerful man’s policy decision, that powerful man will call us negative and question our reputations rather than engage in the merits of the arguments. We see this all over in politics. Women and particularly women leaders -leaders of parties, leaders of countries, leaders of provinces -are characterized as negative, and that characterization is misogyny. When I attend these Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians meetings -I would love to be able to go to Australia next year, although I don’t know that my leader is going to let me go on that trip, but that’s another story -I would love to be able to say that Nova Scotia is all set for women to join this Legislature, all set for women to open businesses, all set for women to do everything they can to live their best lives. But I can’t do that. I would love to be able to say that whether you’re in the government or in the Opposition, or whether you hold important, powerful positions in non-partisan offices like the Auditor General, being at the helm of Elections Nova Scotia, or being the Information and Privacy Commissioner -no matter what part of politics you want to engage in -I would love to be able to say that your voice will be valued and that you can count on the fact that Nova Scotia makes policies and laws that are created using a gender-sensitive lens. Unfortunately, when I go to those meetings -when I represent our Province and our country on the international stage -I will not be able to say that. I would love for this government -whether it be the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board or someone else in the government -to table the documents and the lens throughwhich this budget has been examined according to gender. Show us the metrics. Show us the documents. If ministers are asked in Estimates, “Has your budget gone through a gender-sensitive lens?” and they say “Yes,” then show us where. Show us how. Show us the questions. Show us how we examined every line of this budget to make sure that it honours, protects, and uplifts women. There should be nothing less in this Chamber, and we should stop being misogynists.

Question to Minister: Why won’t the government support teachers and stop burnout

SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, Nova Scotia’s population is growing, and enrolment in our schools is increasing in step. This is putting immense pressure on our teachers. A recent survey from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union found that 84 per cent of Nova Scotia teachers have considered leaving the profession in the last five years due to burnout, a lack of resources, and several other factors, and I will table that. My question for the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development is: What is this government doing to protect our teachers from burning out?

HON. BECKY DRUHAN: It is incredibly important that our staff team of 20,000 across the province -10,000 of whom are teachers -and others feel supported to be able to provide the support and education that our students need. Our government knows and understands this. That is why we have spent so much time connecting with, listening to, and acting on the advice, recommendations, ideas, and suggestions of teachers and educators across the province. Speaker, I’m excited to tell you about all the things that we’ve heard. I have met with over 60 staff teams in meetings. I’ve been to dozens of schools, and they’ve given us ideas, like how we add more food to schools. We’re introducing a lunch program based on that advice.

SUSAN LEBLANC: I’m going to table an op-ed by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union president, Ryan Lutes, which talks about the need for another way to support teachers, which is making sure that we support our substitutes. One way to take the pressure off our schools is by addressing the chronic shortage of substitute teachers. The wages of Nova Scotia’s substitute teachers have not kept pace with the steep increase in the cost of living. In fact, they have not even keptpace with the wages of substitute teachers in other provinces. Our substitute teachers are some of the lowest-paid across Canada. I will table that op-ed. My question to the minister is: Will this government give Nova Scotia’s substitute teachers the pay raise they need?

BECKY DRUHAN: Speaker, I’ve said on many other occasions that I value and respect the bargaining process, and so I’m certainly not going to engage in that on the floor. The question of substitute teacher pay is one of the types of issues that can be at the table as teachers bargain, so I am not going to address that. This is something that I’ve spoken to with those thousands of teachers I’ve talked to. While we await that bargaining process to unfold, we’ve taken action. Based on the request of teachers across the province, we’ve increased the term subs, so that we now have term substitute teachers across the province who are available to be deployed into classes when they’re needed, as they’re needed. They build relationships in schools, and that’s something we’ve done on action directly on advice from teachers.

Couch of HOPE

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia legislature on March 6, 2024:

Speaker, in the absence of a truly universal mental health care program in Nova Scotia, accessing timely and affordable or free mental health care is a significant challenge for Nova Scotians -a challenge that is being alleviated in part by a not-for-profit in Dartmouth, the Couch of HOPE. In 2020, when founding counsellor Michelle Labine and her colleagues noticed that their sliding-scale counselling spots were all full, it became clear that more radical action was required. At the same time, Michelle’s group practice was hearing from Master’s of Counselling students who needed clinical practicum hours, and that’s when Couch of HOPE was born. Clients dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, relationship issues, grief, life transitions, and more meet with a counselling therapist intern who is supported by a practicum supervisor and professor. In 2023, Michelle was named the United Way Invisible Champion for her work with Couch of HOPE. Recently, Couch of HOPE partnered with the North Grove to offer appointments to people there on site.

I ask the House to join me in expressing my deep gratitude to Michelle and the whole Couch of HOPE team for doing their part in making mental health care truly accessible in Nova Scotia.

Alan Collins Film Retrospective

I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia legislature on March 5, 2024:

Speaker, Alan Collins is an established filmmaker living in Dartmouth North whose work explores themes of identify, culture, and art. Alan’s films have recently been the subject of a retrospective held at Christ Church in downtown Dartmouth on the last Friday of every month, followed by a question-and-answer with the director himself. Featured so far in this roundup of Collins’s work is 1989’s One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers; The Beauty of My People; and Drowning in Colour: The Art of Wayne Boucher, about Nova Scotia abstract artist Wayne Boucher. Coming up in the series is My Life So Far, about Alan and his wife Violet’s daughter, Cassandre, whom they adopted in Haiti, followed by a very Dartmouth film, Terminal, which documents a day in the life of the Dartmouth bridge bus terminal in 2014. The retrospective will wrap up with the documentary Searching for God in India, andthen Relative Happiness, based on the novel by best-sellingCape Breton novelist Lesley Crewe. I ask the House to join me in congratulating Alan Collins on this rich retrospective and thanking him for his contribution to Nova Scotia through film.

Dense breast screening

On March 6, 2024 I spoke in the Nova Scotia Legislature about the need for follow up screening for people with dense breasts. Here’s what I said:

Mme Speaker, I rise today to call on the government to change the policy regarding follow up breast screening for people with dense breasts. Currently in Nova Scotia, people with breast density category C or D (that is, the densest breasts), are made aware of their breast density rating. That means, that when they get a regular mammogram, any signs of cancer or other issues could be obscured by the dense breast tissue. The problem is that in NS, if someone has dense breasts, they don’t have access to screening that could detect cancers accurately and prevent spread of the disease. I represent a women, and probably many women, in this situation. Women whose cancer was undetected because they couldn’t get access to follow up breast screening, and was in stage 4 before they were diagnosed. Cancer, if detected early, has a much better chance of being defeated. A person’s quality of life is generally going to be better with less treatment. Cancer is cheaper to treat if detected early. It only makes sense that we offer followup screening to all people with breast density C and D. I urge the government to change this policy as soon as possible.

Question to Minister: Fixed term lease loophole forcing Dartmouth renters to move

SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Residential Tenancies Act. Last week the final tenant was evicted from a nine-unit Dartmouth North building after the landlord refused to renew a series of fixed-term leases. As a result of having to move, Keely Corrigan saw her rent more than double. It went from $754 to $1,525, and I will table that. Without the abuse of fixed-term leases, Keely could have stayed in her rent-capped unit instead of moving into a unit she will struggle to pay for. My question for the minister is: Does the minister believe that this is the intended and appropriate use of fixed-term leases?

HON. COLTON LEBLANC: Of course, I recognize that when a tenant does face the end of their lease, it does put them in a very difficult situation. It does cause a lot of stress. Again, I have spoken at length about the intended use of fixed-term leases on the floor of the Legislature. It is the time and place for them, and as a member of this government, I continue to support that intended use. We know that the low vacancy rate in the province is causing a lot of stress in the housing market. And that is why, as a government, we are focused on the true solution that is adding more housing stock to the housing market -a $1 billion investment over five years to add an additional 40,000 units. And that’s why I am proud of the leadership of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Speaker, this is not an isolated incident. This story has played out time and time again in my office and surely in many others around the province. Residents are being displaced from affordable units, often into unaffordable or precarious housing or, in fact, into homelessness. This government seems to think that handing over funding to developers and landlords will result in trickle-down affordability. We’ve had nearly three years of this philosophy, and all we have to show for it in Dartmouth North is a series of renovated buildings that have doubled in price. My question to the minister is: Why is this government failing to preserve the precious few affordable housing units we have left?

COLTON LEBLANC: I certainly do not want to speak for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing but, again, I go to the true solution. We are focusing on more housing, more places that Nova Scotians can call home. Contrary to what the member opposite is saying, we are making a number of investments in the housing market, whether it be modular or public housing, whether it be new public housing, whether it is supporting student housing projects across the province, whether it is new or affordable housing projects, whether it’s removing the provincial HST portion on new construction for purpose-built multi-unit apartments. We know we need more housing. That is the solution to the housing crisis.