JIM VIBERT: Tories working to present ready alternative to Liberals under Rankin – TheChronicleHerald.ca

That didnt take long.

The day after Nova Scotias Liberals made Iain Rankin their leader, and the next premier, the official Opposition Progressive Conservatives issued a news release referring to the provincial government as the Rankin-McNeil Liberals.

The intent is clear.

Rather than a revitalized Liberal government, with a fresh, new leader, the Tories want Nova Scotians to see a tired, old government, eight years in office and sporting a record thats spotty at best.

The pandemic permitting, 2021 promises to be a very political year. A federal election is a distinct possibility and, in Nova Scotia, a provincial election is a near certainty.

The Liberals enter the fifth and final year of their current mandate in June, and Nova Scotian voters have not been kind to governments that push elections beyond the traditional four years.

While the governing Liberals watch for a welcoming window for that election, the opposition PCs are working like Trojans to position themselves as the alternative thats ready to govern.

After spending 2020 sidelined by Premier Stephen McNeils refusal to call the legislature, or even allow its committees to meet from March to September, the Tories are determined not to be further eclipsed by the Liberals leadership change.

For starters, they rolled out an advertising campaign, beginning with a spot that aired locally during Sundays Super Bowl game. The ad features PC Leader Tim Houston, a somewhat perplexing tagline Its not politics, its personal but most importantly it points to four areas where the Liberals may be vulnerable and where the Tories have, or are developing, substantive proposals.

Those are health care, mental health, seniors and jobs.

The Tories goal is to be seen by Nova Scotians, not merely as the governments critic, but as a party with a clear plan to fix the problems that the Rankin-McNeil Liberals created. Rankin has been a Liberal MLA since McNeils government arrived in 2013, and a minister from 2017 until he resigned from cabinet in October to seek the leadership.

So far, the PCs have released their plans to address seniors issues and mental health, backed by fairly substantial papers by opposition standards detailing their proposals. This week theyre expected to release a primary health-care plan. A jobs plan is also in the works.

The cornerstone of the PCs mental health plan is the creation of a new department focused exclusively on addictions and mental health.

They propose to increase spending on mental health and addictions by about $100 million-a-year and extend access to professionals, like psychologists, to Nova Scotians without private health insurance or whose insurance is insufficient to meet their needs.

Drawing on various studies, the Tories point out that every dollar spent on mental health results in twice the savings down the road in avoided health-care costs.

The partys most interesting proposal related to seniors is the establishment of a new level of care called supportive care for seniors who need more than can be provided by the provinces home-care network, but who dont require the level of daily care provided in nursing homes.

The Tories are proposing a significant capital expenditure close to half-a-billion dollars to build new long-term care beds.

They point out that new beds are urgently needed now but will become even more so over the next decade when 20,000 Nova Scotians will reach the median age for seniors to enter nursing homes. The province currently has about 8,000 long-term care beds and more than 1,400 Nova Scotians are waiting for one.

Some folks may question the political wisdom of dubbing the government the Rankin-McNeil Liberals when Premier McNeil is leaving office as popular as hes ever been. Why associate the untested incoming premier with the popular outgoing premier?

The Tories are betting that the perception of a government thats grown long-of-tooth and lazy will overcome any residual goodwill for Premier McNeil.

And, they may have taken to heart the words William Shakespeare put in Julius Caesars mouth: The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.

A modern political translation might go something like: The misdeeds of politicians live on. Their successes are forgotten once theyre gone.

Journalist and writer Jim Vibert has worked as a communications adviser to five Nova Scotia governments.

RELATED:

Visit link:

JIM VIBERT: Tories working to present ready alternative to Liberals under Rankin - TheChronicleHerald.ca