NEW GLASGOW – Nova Scotia’s Liberal leader has a message for the NDP: “the honeymoon’s over.”
Stephen McNeil, who was in Pictou County Monday meeting with business and municipal leaders, as well as local party faithful, says he’s hearing more and more that Nova Scotians are falling out of love with the reigning New Democrats.
“There are a lot of angry people right now,” said McNeil, particularly surrounding last month’s MLA expense scandal. “I hope we can go forward and make changes to make things more open to the public – and I hope that while the public may be disappointed, they don’t lose faith in the public institution of government.”
McNeil says he’s hearing from Nova Scotians that they’re losing faith with the NDP, who swept the province to capture a majority government last June, partially due to this scandal.
That’s part of the reason he was in Pictou County Monday – to talk to people about their rising discontent with the ruling government.
“That’s why I’m here – to go out and gauge the community,” McNeil said. “Now the New Democrats had the opportunity to govern for nine months, and Nova Scotians have been disappointed and are looking to other parties. The number of mistakes have really resonated with Nova Scotians. The honeymoon period is over.”
The Liberals, who failed to capture any of Pictou County’s three seats in the last election, are attempting to gain ground based on this, he added.
“We have good people working on the ground, listening to what people have to say,” McNeil said.
With the government going back into session on March 25, McNeil expects the majority of this sitting will be taken up with the provincial budget – and he’s hoping it’s a budget that won’t see the tax rate increasing.
“I’m very concerned with the talk of a tax increase,” McNeil said. “We’ve called for a comprehensive tax review. We’re already not competitive and a rising tax rate won’t help.”
Nova Scotia, he says, isn’t in a good position for economic growth with the high gas tax, high personal income tax and high business tax.
The NDP has been sending Finance Minister Graham Steele around the province to get input from Nova Scotians on how to address the budget shortfall. McNeil doesn’t believe that raising taxes is the way to do it.
“It’s too simple to just look at taxes,” McNeil said. “It could lead to unintended consequences down the road.”
Source: The News (New Glasgow) online, Monday, March 01, 2010.
