We're ready to go here in Lunenburg.

Our M.L.A., Pam Birdsall, was the first NDP candidate to be nominated back in October, and since the 2009 election we've been fund-raising on a regular basis to the point where we're starting campaign with almost as much money in the bank as was spent during the entire 2009 campaign.

Pam has been a terrific constituency M.L.A., getting promptly back to constituents who contact her office with concerns, and she's been around the riding so much, she gets the same response no matter where she goes....'You're everywhere!!'

And the opponents?

The Conservatives have the son of a former M.L.A. (who lived in the Lunenburg riding but represented Lunenburg West) Brian Pickings, while the Liberals are running Suzanne Lohnes-Croft.

Bring on the election!

This is one of the many ridings that won't be going Liberal or P.C. on election night!

Well, I hope they win...and that, if they do, they start governing as New Democrats for the first time.

Austerity is austerity is austerity...and it's NEVER supposed to be something a center-left government does.

Austerity is what happened in Saskatchewan after Tommy Douglas and the CCF took over in 1944.  Tommy knew they had to live within their means, and then build a better future.

It took time, but the gains they made to improve the lives of that province's citizens have been felt for generations since!

Yes, the Dexter government has made some mistakes; but for a first-time government, we have fared a lot better than a certain province between 1990 and 1995.

David Young wrote:

Austerity is what happened in Saskatchewan after Tommy Douglas and the CCF took over in 1944.  Tommy knew they had to live within their means, and then build a better future.

It took time, but the gains they made to improve the lives of that province's citizens have been felt for generations since!

There's a difference. The CCF, while balancing the budget, was able to make noticeable changes that benefitted the people of Saskatchewan while they were in office. Austerity, on the other hand, is when a government basically slashes services that were in place, on the pretext of balancing the budget. Ever notice that across the political spectrum, budgetary concerns are cited for not spending on what citizens need, yet there is always enough for special favours for the interest groups that got the government elected?

What is up with the Dexter government being unpopular anyways? Ken Summers has [url=http://rabble.ca/news/2012/05/nova-scotia-ndps-tax-cuts-lead-austerity-b... the austerity push of the Dexter government,[/url] yet there was a report by the CCPA which claims that there are initiatives that have reduced poverty in the province. So either Dexter has betrayed the NDP base more than any other provincial NDP leader in the country, or they are spectacularly inept at communicating their accomplishments. Either way, the Nova Scotia NDP needs to be held accountable. Failing that, the message will go stronger that the only way for the NDP to win is to water down its principles and ideals.

janfromthebruce wrote:

Also remember that the NDP balanced the budget but their is still the debt to pay down, the debt brought to you by previous Conservative and Liberal govts.

Jan, you surprise me. Paying down the debt is deflationary, that is, a way of cooling down the economy so employees won't be able to bid up their wages. Why would you ever want to pay down the debt?

I wouldnt have bothered taking exception with mere cheerleading.

But saying that austerity budgeting is not austerity budgeting is another matter, plus the saccharine rationalizations to buttress it.

The education cuts were slash and burn. And stacking 1.3% cuts up to 1.7% fewer students is willful sophistry. Many of the larger cost factors are not under the control of school boards, and do not go down at all with small incremental student decreases. So the cuts have to come out of the big ticket item: teachers and support staff IN the classroom. The numbers of positions cut is substantially more than the 1.7% population decrease.

A pause was taken in the slash and burn in the last budget. But we'll be right back at it if the NDP does not back away from the promised HST tax cuts... which will require rescinding the legislation, by a minority government [should they survive the election].

Bringing back funding for children's dental is good. But its also cheap and flashy. You would never see promises from this government that classroom tracher position cuts will never exceed student populaton decreases. What you will keep seeing is more spin that no teachers have to be laid off- as if that is the same thing.

How can you not be excited about this:

Quote:

The NDP will:

• Deliver better health care where and when you need it.

• Fight for good jobs and stronger communities.

• Keep the HST off home energy and take it off more family essentials.

• Give our kids a better start by focusing on what matters most.

• Stand up for seniors by protecting and enhancing the services they need.

• Build the Maritime Link for green, local, tax-free energy.

• Keep the budget balanced to protect services for you and your family.

And where does promising HST tax cuts fit in?

The legislated start of them is 1% next April. Total of 2% tax cut beginning April 2015.

That is $160million in NEW cuts, starting in a year and running on into the future. Make that $320million from 2015 on.

bump [getting around/over that TAT schmozzle]

In Nova Scotia (as elsewhere) there's no real difference between Liberals and Conservatives, so what applies to one, applies to the other just as much.

No, Charles has it right.

The Liberal cuts in the 90s were deeper than anything the Hamm and MacDonald governments did.

Besides. the bathwater shared among Dippers that there are no differences between the other parties, would never cut it for messaging.... even if it happened to be true [not saying that it is].

And that is still true even if in 2009, and MAYBE still now, an awful lot of voters in the end voted for the NDP laregely because there isnt enough difference between PCs and Libs.

Not to mention, that sword cuts two ways, and we are about to find out if a lot of voters have decided that goes for all three of them... so how much reason do I have to have to vote NDP again, eh?

Hunky_Monkey wrote:

Ken Burch wrote:

Well, I hope they win...and that, if they do, they start governing as New Democrats for the first time.

Austerity is austerity is austerity...and it's NEVER supposed to be something a center-left government does.

 

And now that we've turned the corner and got our books in order, we're able to invest in key areas that New Democrats care about.  Topping the list for me is restoring funding to the children's dental care program that was cut by the Nova Scotia Liberal Party and further expanding the program.  Did you know that, Ken Burch? 

This wouldn't be the first time voters have elected an NDP government to fix a province, only to kick them out of office once the job is done and the government can start re-investing in its citizens. Romanow had to clean-up the Devine disaster after 1991. After 16 years of restraint, in the midst of a resource boom, voters gave Lorne Calvert and his pharmacare the bird and elected Brad Wall and the Conservatives redux.

Centrist wrote:

Looks like the incumbent NS NDP gov't is utilizing the exact same strategy as the incumbent MB NDP gov't and the incumbent BC Lib gov't utilized in their respective successful campaigns. That is, the NS NDP is painting their NS Lib rivals (leader and party) as "too risky" for a change. Not familiar enough with NS politics to ascertain whether that will be an effective strategy or not. 

Quote:

The acknowledged front-runner, McNeil has been the subject of ads by the governing New Democrats over the summer that cast doubt on his ability to lead the province.

A video on YouTube labelled McNeil as "not worth the risk" while highlighting several verbal gaffes and contradictions. That video followed a television attack ad that ran in the spring that showed McNeil's face fading to black as a large question mark emerged from the background.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/08/nova-scotia-election_n_3888854.html

Doesn't the Liberal leader want to open up the electricty market to "competition?" Judging from the outcomes of this neoliberal wetdream in Ontario, Alberta, Australia, and many US states, it is very "risky" indeed.

janfromthebruce wrote:

well it appears they are running a lazy campaign and just not up to the job. Oh look here:

The NS NDP actually purchased that front page - a very effective political ad IMHO. The BC Libs did the same thing here in BC during the May campaign, albeit they were somewhat lambasted for it pretending it was a real newspaper headline when it wasn't:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/liberals-buy-front-page-newspaper-ad-touting-debate-win-1.1376932

Another interesting thing about the NS election, is that within 48 hours of the election call, one can now vote 6 days/ week throughout the campaign. Never heard of that before. Here in BC, we have only 4 advance voting days just prior to e-day.

http://globalnews.ca/news/789354/n-s-voters-to-begin-casting-ballots-48-hrs-after-election-call/

Centrist wrote:

...Another interesting thing about the NS election, is that within 48 hours of the election call, one can now vote 6 days/ week throughout the campaign. Never heard of that before. Here in BC, we have only 4 advance voting days just prior to e-day.

This is akin to the federal election advance poll voting situation, where one can vote very early and every day of the week up to 6 days before the election. I have done this twice, once when I was living overseas. The one time that I voted at the Returning Office in the very early days of the campaign, I was handed a blank piece of paper and told to write the candidate and/or party of my choice (I forget my exact instructions, but I was surprised at the time). Having had the time to think the situation over, these instructions made sense, given the logistics of the situation: until the close of nominations, no ballot can be printed. I had to hope that the candidate who had won the NDP nomination would actually get nominated (that was done without problem), or my ballot would be counted as spoiled. It's an interesting component of "Special Ballot Voting" in federal election reports that I have wondered about -- the number of people who thought they were voting for a candidate who turned out not to actually be a candidate by the time nominations closed.

The Nova Scotia provincial election advance poll voting rules are similar to the federal rules, but have some differences.

Perhaps there are a lot of people who are so annoyed at the pollsters, that when someone calls, they tell the pollsters one thing, and then do another.

Youd think they would have done more than one poll by now... Im not sure we can write the poll off tho. Im seeing the same one term gov process at work in nearby NB. It seems unlikely that the Alward tories will survive next years election and be like the Graham Liberals before them one termers. Even though they had the courage and fortitude to hike income taxes to pay for our services. We can say these govs are mess cleaners but people hate to only see any messes cleaned up. I think Dexter should have had at least one major progressive policy established in his first term to run on. And risk not meeting his deficit targets to do so by a couple years.

Its not good enough to be just about cleaning up the mess from the previous gov.

BC isnt a good example here imo. Dix hammered himself in that campaign by suddenly going hard left green in the midsts of the election. When BC was never that green to begin with. Dont count on the liberals winning there as any indication of how Dexter will do. If Dexter wants a win he needs a major policy not just a tactic of lets not go back to the bad liberals. The libs had time to change their front ranks like they've done in NB where they are polling highly here as well.  They're very quick to swap out leaders that lose and put out a facechange and whats a big plus for them they havent been in power in NS for a long time. 

Im pretty worried for Dexter now.

Ya but Danielle Smith had bigots and weirdos in their lineup. A new ultra right wing party with scary written all over it. Short of a few libs coming up as racists I dont think they will screw up as bad as she did. Remains to be seen but Id be surprised...

PrairieDemocrat15 wrote:

Hunky_Monkey wrote:

Ken Burch wrote:

Well, I hope they win...and that, if they do, they start governing as New Democrats for the first time.

Austerity is austerity is austerity...and it's NEVER supposed to be something a center-left government does.

 

And now that we've turned the corner and got our books in order, we're able to invest in key areas that New Democrats care about.  Topping the list for me is restoring funding to the children's dental care program that was cut by the Nova Scotia Liberal Party and further expanding the program.  Did you know that, Ken Burch? 

This wouldn't be the first time voters have elected an NDP government to fix a province, only to kick them out of office once the job is done and the government can start re-investing in its citizens. Romanow had to clean-up the Devine disaster after 1991. After 16 years of restraint, in the midst of a resource boom, voters gave Lorne Calvert and his pharmacare the bird and elected Brad Wall and the Conservatives redux.

Just to clarify, I wasn't calling for the NDP to be defeated...just that they make sure that they don't act in the second term(if they get it)anything at all like they did in the first.  They were elected to represent the previously unrepresented...those with little, or at least those with less.  You don't win on the votes of people like that and then ask those people to make MORE sacrifices. 

Yes, Nova Scotia had a financial shortfall.  That's why Dexter's government was supposed to raise taxes ON THE RICH, not give the rich even MORE tax breaks.

It never works for a center-left government to do things on economics that a center-right government would do.   Anytime the NDP wins somewhere, it's a vote AGAINST supply-side, for God's sakes.

If I lived in Nova Scotia, I'd be campaigning for Dexter...but I would admit, to those in the party base who expressed anger about how they'd been treated, that they had a right to that anger.  

And it would help a lot if, at the very least, Dexter would get up and say"ok, we've now made all the cuts we're ever going to make". 

What has the ns ndp done about creating jobs?

Or is that why the liberals are going to form a majority government in ns?