Three candidates are seeking your support in the riding that includes the Town of Oxford. All were contacted, and asked:
“Why should Cumberland South elect you / your Party in the upcoming election?”.
Here are the responses, in the order they arrived in our mailbox:
I’m Larry Duchesne and once again I’m the NDP candidate for Cumberland South <https://larryduchesne.nsndp.ca>
What makes me the best choice for MLA is not so much who I am, but what I stand for.
I am a lifelong New Democrat. I was attracted by the NDP’s progressive social policies and its commitment to improving lives for working people. I have volunteered with the party in a wide variety of ways; Regional Representative on the provincial executive; President of the Cumberland South NDP; and Treasurer of the Cumberland-Colchester NDP. For a few years in the l9980s I was leader of the Island NDP (PEI)
I grew up the Sackville-Bedford part of Nova Scotia and have lived in River Philip since 2010 when I retired from teaching. I taught mainly in northern Ontario and Quebec and have also substituted in Pugwash, Oxford, Springhill and
Amherst.
I volunteer with the Oxford and Area Food Bank as a worker and Board of Directors member. I am a volunteer teacher-instructor with Tantramar Seniors’ College: French Conversation and Discussions in French. I am a loyal member of the Springhill pickleball gang.
These past couple of years I have been an activist with the organization Don’t Spray Cumberland County which calls for a moratorium on aerial spraying of lands that have been clearcut and planted with softwoods.
My number one concern these days is for the environment and climate change. We need to act faster to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I think a carbon tax is a useful way to get everyone involved in the fight against global warming. Maintaining healthy, biodiverse forests will also help.
In this election I am part of a New Democrat team that is working to make life more affordable and fair for everyone.
Thus far in the campaign NDP leader Claudia Chender has promised to remove the GST on all groceries, internet services, cellphones and heatpumps. An estimated saving of $1,300 annually per family.
An Affordable Homes Rebate would save an average of $900 for homeowners and renters earning under $70,000 annually. The NDP will bring in stricter rent controls to limit annual increases to 2.5%, end fixed-term leases and establish a compliance and enforcement unit.
The NDP will The Coastal Protection Act into law and enforce it, ending the current practice of development too close to water and causing damage to coastlines, ecosystems and properties
The PCs promised to fix health care. Instead they have managed to make access more complicated. Meanwhile, the waiting list for a family doctor has doubled in the last 3 years.
The NDP is calling for a system of community-based doctor clinics which would ensure all Nova Scotians are connected to a team of health professionals who know them and their health history. Fifteen clinics will be added each year of our term in office. This will people almost immediately and it does not reduce our commitment to everyone having a family doctor.
Progressive Conservative candidate Tory Rushton
https://www.facebook.com/ToryRushtonCSPC
Incumbent; Minister of Natural Resources & Renewables at dissolution.
Liberal Party Candidate Liam MacDonald.
https://liberal.ns.ca/candidate/liam-macdonald
Liam was born and raised in Cumberland County, having attended school in Oxford, and has deep family ties to the region- especially Springhill. Outside of his civic involvement and academic pursuits, Liam is a young man with new, fresh, and bold ideas.
His decision to run to be your MLA is rooted in the many frustrations he sees in his community. From healthcare to housing, from skyrocketing costs to the unanswered drug deaths in our rural communities— these are the worst problems we are facing with no end in sight.
The RCMP must be held accountable for their failings in relation to these many deaths. Young people in our communities are dying and seemingly nothing is being done or talked about by our government. He would propose a Commission on Public Safety as a Private Member’s Bill in the Legislature to probe these failings and find a way to move forward and end this crisis.
His party’s platform is the most aggressive of any other party in cutting taxes and making life more affordable for all Nova Scotians: lowering HST to 13%, lower than any other party is willing to commit to; scrapping the HST on all products sold in a grocery store, not just produce and prepared foods; scrapping the Carbon Tax in Nova Scotia, something that we tried to do already but were blocked by Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives.
Further, his party has the best plan that goes the furthest to deal with affordable housing, with a plan to build 80000 homes by 2032, setting a target of 11000 built per year. They will be affordable and in various formats, such as coop housing or administrated by not for profit groups.
The Nova Scotia Liberals also plan to lower the small business tax to 1%, lower than any other party is willing to commit to, as well as increase the deductible limits from $500000 to $700000.
It is definitely time for Justin Trudeau to go, Liam is no fan of his. But luckily, Justin Trudeau is not his leader, if the Nova Scotia Liberals form government after November 26th, Justin Trudeau does not become Premier— Zach Churchill does.
We have more than a plan to make a plan, and if you really look at it: ours is the best in no uncertain terms and Liam intends to deal with issues no one even touches on.
It has been about 1000 days since Tim Houston’s PCs formed government in our province, and what has happened in that time? Has healthcare been fixed? Has the promise of universal mental healthcare been delivered on? You could go down the list of the promises made and the promises broken, but just think back to day 1, promise 1: Tim Houston promised us all a fixed election date, July 15 in 2025, yet here we are.
Ask yourself, what do you see for our province with another 1000 days of a Tim Houston PC government? Liam sees more broken promises and no progress. Help make Liam the youngest MLA in Canadian history by electing him on November 26th and just say no to Tim Houston’s lies.
For all the information you need to vote, or on the 2024 Provincial election process, visit Elections Nova Scotia.
