News release

Highlights of the Speech From The Throne, Second Session of the 59th General Assembly

Speech from the Throne

NOTE: The following are the highlights from the speech from the throne read today, May 4, by Lt.-Gov. Myra Freeman at the opening of the second session of the 59th General Assembly of Nova Scotia.

OUR COMMITMENT

Government recognizes that the decisions made today will have an impact on Nova Scotians well into the future. The values and principles that contribute to our pride as a people and our pride in our province will be respected. Our decisions will recognize government's rightful role, value diversity, be based on fairness, and be made with the greater good of Nova Scotians at heart. To that end, government remains firmly and fully committed to the following:

  • helping Nova Scotia families reach their full potential and making our communities stronger, safer, more caring, and better connected;
  • promoting the health and well-being of our citizens and preserving and protecting our valued quality of life;
  • creating a climate of greater optimism and bringing increased investment that will lead to greater prosperity that all Nova Scotians can share in;
  • strengthening Nova Scotia's fiscal health and well-being.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES, STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES, BUILDING BRIGHTER FUTURES

The health and well-being of Nova Scotians, their families, and communities is crucial, not just to an individual's quality of life, but to Nova Scotia's overall prosperity. That is why, with whatever resources we have available to us, we will work to make life easier. This will include:

  • a new children's Pharmacare program for working families of modest means;
  • providing more Nova Scotians with affordable housing and more parents with the child-care options they need and deserve;
  • increased funding for senior and low-income housing repairs and doing more to assist families who provide love and support to our foster children;
  • enhancing post-adoption services for children with disabilities, extend the bursary program for children in care, and raise the shelter allowance for income assistance recipients;
  • continuing to provide financial help so low-income diabetics can better manage their disease.

COMMUNITIES...THE BACKBONE OF NOVA SCOTIA

My government is proud of Nova Scotia's strong culture of volunteerism. And we will make it a top priority by:

  • making volunteerism one of the key principles of Nova Scotia's Community Development Policy;
  • appointing a minister responsible for volunteerism in order to provide clear leadership;
  • taking concrete actions to respond to the recommendations of the Nova Scotia Canada Volunteerism Initiative Network.

We will also work towards the development of sustainable communities and towards keeping this province a safe place to live and raise a family. Those efforts will include:

  • reviewing the process used when considering permanent school closures;
  • establishing a Youth Attendance Centre that requires young Nova Scotians in conflict with the law to participate in a range of programs designed to keep them from becoming re-offenders;
  • reintroducing the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, the Criminal Notoriety Act, and Crystal Meth Restriction legislation;
  • enhancing resources to more closely track potential serial offenders, and continuing to improve on-the-ground intelligence in the fight against organized crime.

LEARNING...THE GATEWAY TO SUCCESS

To help more of our students find success in school and life, and to provide them the opportunity for a better future here at home, government will:

  • increase funding for early childhood learning through to adult learning;
  • carry through with the commitments outlined in Learning for Life II;
  • expand existing programs to encourage trades training;
  • place greater emphasis on career counselling;
  • introduce more hands-on training and composite programming in high schools and communities;
  • support the diverse needs of students and take further actions to implement the recommendations of the Black Learners Advisory Committee Report;
  • work towards making the cost of obtaining a typical under graduate degree in Nova Scotia comparable to the national average within five years;
  • further enhance and more aggressively promote Nova Scotia's student loan forgiveness programs;
  • take measures to help more students of middle-income families access student loans.

PROMOTING GOOD HEALTH...PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH

Nothing is more important to Nova Scotians than their health, and the health of their families. That is why government will:

  • increase funding for health promotion activities;
  • continue to work to prevent Nova Scotians from making lifestyle choices that come with consequences (smoking, excessive drinking, drug use, and problem gambling);
  • continue our work to prevent injury and falls;
  • advance strategies that promote healthy eating, healthy sexuality, and increased physical activity;
  • enhance the provincial income tax credit for parents whose children participate in organized sport and recreation programs;
  • implement Nova Scotia's first Food and Nutrition Policy for Public Schools;
  • pilot a new program to strengthen physical activity leadership at the municipal level.

MEETING NOVA SCOTIA'S HEALTH-CARE NEEDS

We will make significant new investments in health care that will enable us to:

  • train and recruit the right mix of health-care professionals;
  • pay for the increased cost and utilization of cancer and other life-saving drugs;
  • provide more vital services, such as dialysis and palliative care, in more communities throughout our province;
  • release the Continuing Care Strategy.

A MODERN, COMPETITIVE, GREENER PROVINCE

Government will build a modern, competitive, greener province by:

  • supporting the conversion of the system which heats the Nova Scotia Hospital, the Dartmouth General Hospital and the Nova Scotia Community College;
  • spreading the word that Nova Scotia as a great place in which to live, invest, do business, get an education, and visit;
  • enhancing Nova Scotia's pride of place and global presence by emphasizing our best qualities -- our people, our products, and our province;
  • attracting information technology workers back to the province;
  • working to ensure that by the year 2010, every Nova Scotian will have broadband access to the Internet.

BUILDING OPTIMISM, BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE

Government will respond to the concerns of Nova Scotians. We will:

  • reduce taxes and regulate gas prices;
  • expand tourism marketing;
  • improve our highways, roads, and bridges;
  • implement our Better Regulation Initiative to eliminate over- regulation, duplication, and unnecessary paperwork;
  • launch the Gateway Strategy;
  • implement the key priorities of the 2006 Tourism Plan;
  • launch Nova Scotia's infrastructure strategy -- Route to Prosperity.

NOVA SCOTIA'S RESOURCE INDUSTRIES...ADAPTING TO CHANGE

Agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture remain the economic heart of many Nova Scotia communities. Government will help these industries by:

  • helping businesses develop value-added products and adopt innovative new technologies and processes;
  • working with the agriculture sector to review opportunities that move it to greater sustainability;
  • consulting with Nova Scotians on a comprehensive natural resources strategy.

NOVA SCOTIA, A PROVINCE THAT VALUES DIVERSITY

Government knows that the more diverse Nova Scotia becomes, the stronger it becomes. To this end, government will:

  • continue to implement the objectives of the Immigration Strategy;
  • continue to provide funding to not-for-profit organizations, community groups, and schools to help immigrant children and their parents succeed;
  • continue to advance and support programs in support of the French-Language Services Act;
  • work to meet the goals of the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia through the new Minister Responsible for Gaelic Affairs;
  • continue to work with the Mi'kmaq and other partners to advance the Mi'kmawey Debert;
  • continue working towards the signing of a framework agreement to establish a negotiation process on matters related to Aboriginal rights, including Aboriginal title and treaty rights;
  • continue to work with the federal government and the Mi'kmaq to close the gap between the quality of life experienced by the Mi'kmaq and other Nova Scotians;
  • implement the Racial Equity Policy in elementary schools;
  • develop a provincewide Heritage Strategy.

OUR ENVIRONMENT, OUR ENERGY, OUR PEOPLE, OUR PRODUCTS

Government will make the environment a priority. We will:

  • renew the Smart Energy Choices program to help Nova Scotians make better energy choices, lower their energy bills, and reduce our province's reliance on fossil fuels;
  • support efforts to generate electricity from renewable resources;
  • continue to implement and build on the Green Plan: Toward a Sustainable Environment;
  • build on the Drinking Water Strategy with additional supports over the long term for people with well water and on-site septic systems;
  • help improve and upgrade Nova Scotia's septage treatment facilities;
  • add five new nature reserves to Nova Scotia's diverse land base.

IN SUMMARY

Government looks to the future with optimism, knowing that the values we share, the vision we embrace, and the course that we have set will lead to a better, stronger, more prosperous Nova Scotia.

NOTE: The speech from the throne is on the website at www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/house_business/throne.html .

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