By Keith Doucette
An NDP government would ban fixed-term leases, establish rent controls and immediately cut the province’s temporary rent cap in half to 2.5 per cent, said Leader Claudia Chender on the fifth day of the provincial election campaign.
“For too many people, the cost of rent pushes them out of the communities they love,” she said. “These protections will save renters money, keep our communities affordable, and most importantly, help people plan for their futures.” »
Chender criticized the Progressive Conservative government’s record on housing, saying the average one-bedroom apartment in the province costs $2,000 a month, while overall rent has increased 18 per cent over the last year.
The government’s decision to extend the temporary cap on rent increases until the end of 2027 is insufficient, she said, because landlords can use fixed-term leases to increase rent.
A fixed-term lease does not automatically renew at the end of its term, after which landlords can increase the rent as much as they want if they are renting to someone new. Critics of fixed-term leases say they encourage landlords to evict tenants in order to raise rent beyond the cap.
While there is no way to know exactly how many tenants in Nova Scotia have fixed-term leases – this type of residency data is not tracked – Chender told reporters that at every door in which his party struck, residents expressed anxiety about financial means and maintenance. a place to live.
Meanwhile, another affordability issue was the focus of Liberal Leader Zach Churchill on Thursday, when he announced his party would reduce provincial income tax by increasing the personal exemption amount of base at $15,705 – which would cost the government $348 million.
Churchill said something needs to be done to reduce taxes in the province, which he said are among the highest in Canada at a time when people are struggling with the cost of living.
“We know that over the last three years, Nova Scotia has gone from being one of the most affordable places to live in the country to one of the most expensive,” he said. “This has created a real affordability crisis for seniors, for families and for young people. »
The current exemption is $8,744, and for people earning less than $25,000 per year, the province provides an “adjustment,” which increases the basic personal amount by $3,000; the adjustment gradually decreases and ends for people earning more than $75,000.
Churchill said a Liberal government would double the adjustment for people earning less than $75,000, costing $55 million a year.
The Liberal leader said his party would stick to his promise to cut income taxes – and stick to his promise in February to cut the harmonized sales tax by two points – even if it led to a “short-term” budget deficit .
Earlier this week, the Progressive Conservatives promised a tax cut that would increase the basic personal exemption to $11,744, while just before the election was called the party promised a one percentage point reduction of the HST – commitments that Churchill called “half measures”.
In an interview Thursday, Conservative Leader Tim Houston scoffed at his opponent’s suggestion.
“We are proposing a reasonable plan that we can implement while still maintaining a level of services,” Houston said. “Mr Churchill can say whatever he wants, I have to be reasonable.”
Houston traveled to Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Thursday, where he announced his party would establish a provincially-led travel nursing team to help areas facing nursing shortages.
Houston said the team would eliminate the need to hire travel nurses from private companies and would be made up of Nova Scotia Health employees who would have access to the same pay and benefits as other nurses in the public system .
The program would begin as a pilot project by the end of the year, involving a team of 30 nurses who would staff hospital emergency departments at an estimated cost of $5.3 million.
“We have to be smart and systematic in our deployment,” Houston said. “There will probably be some learning and we will take advantage of that and if we need to change it (the program) we will.”
At the time of the dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats of the 55 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the Liberals held 14, the NDP had six, and there was one independent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 31, 2024.
— With files from Cassidy McMackon in Halifax.
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Last modification: November 1, 2024