Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston addresses party members at Village Taphouse in Bedford on Oct. 27.RILEY SMITH/The Canadian Press
On the third day of the Nova Scotia election campaign, the three major political parties focused on affordability.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston announced Tuesday that if his party is re-elected to a second term it would remove the tolls on the two bridges that span Halifax harbour starting April 1. His promise comes days after he pledged to cut the harmonized sales tax by one percentage point, to 14 per cent, also beginning the first of April.
Tolls on the Angus L. Macdonald and the A. Murray MacKay bridges, operated by a Crown corporation called Halifax Harbour Bridges, range from $1 for those with passes to $1.25 for drivers who pay cash at the toll plazas.
Houston said his latest promise, which would cost about $40 million a year, should alleviate traffic congestion and save time and money for drivers of the 110,000 vehicles that cross the bridges daily.
“I would prefer to think of that as both a $40-million tax cut for Nova Scotia drivers and a $40-million investment in reducing traffic time and giving more time back to you (drivers),” he said.
However, Houston couldn’t say definitively what effect removing tolls would have on traffic, explaining there are a “lot of moving parts.”
“In many ways it’s like whack-a-mole, but we will keep whacking the moles,” he said.
“I’ve certainly been stuck behind people at those tolls who don’t have the right change or whatever, and I’ve seen how that backs things up pretty quickly. I think the focus on just moving at least that (traffic) freely through, I think that will help.”
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Claudia Chender spoke to reporters about affordable housing at an apartment and townhouse complex in Dartmouth that’s being redeveloped. The renovations to Ocean Breeze Village is leading to the gradual displacement of hundreds of tenants from “truly affordable” homes, Chender said.
“Tim Houston could have done so much more to protect these residents,” Chender told reporters, flanked by two people who live at the complex.
“His government could have bought the land when it went up for sale and preserved these affordable homes, could have worked with housing organizations and non-profits to ensure these affordable units remain available to the community, but they didn't. They didn’t do anything.”
Chender says an NDP government would protect renters – with a tax credit and with rent control measures that prohibit landlords from jacking up rents after a tenant moves out – and would increase the supply of affordable homes.
Also on Tuesday morning, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill spoke to reporters outside a meat store in Dartmouth and promised to remove the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on all food that isn’t already tax-free, such as snack foods, granola products, and rotisserie chickens. The measure would cost the province $11 million annually, he said.
He also pledged to provide about $10 million in subsidies for independent grocers and food retailers, claiming the grants and low-interest loans would help them expand and compete with big retailers.
Churchill promised in February that if elected a Liberal government would drop two percentage points off the provincial portion of the HST on all goods and services.
“People are hungrier than they were three years ago, and we have to find a way to take the taxes off … and use public money to support local producers,” he said.
At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats in the 55-seat legislature, the Liberals held 14 seats, the NDP had six and there was one Independent. Election day is Nov. 26.