Tim Houston, one of Canada’s prime ministers, says that work is much more than it appears to be from the outside.
After eight years in the opposition seats, including three years as party leader, Houston has now served four months as Nova Scotia’s prime minister, after leading progressive conservatives to a decisive majority victory in last summer’s election. .
In a recent end-of-the-year interview, he reflected on his new role and the great challenges he will face in 2022.
“It’s really difficult to prepare for the number of problems that exist in the province at the same time,” Houston said.
“A lot is happening.”
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Like other leaders in Canada, the most pressing concern for Houston is managing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the recent surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. But there are a host of other issues on Houston’s mind: the environment, the province’s controversial logging, a shortage of affordable housing and the promise of the Conservatives’ campaign to transform the health care system.
The Conservatives came to power primarily because of their campaign’s singular focus on solving health care problems, including the lack of long-term care beds for the elderly, delays resulting from overcrowded emergency rooms in the hospitals and the shortage of health professionals. as nurses.
Houston said Nova Scotians should start to see some progress in 2022 regarding access to primary care. The government will link more patients with virtual care providers and recruit and retain more family physicians, he said. As of December 1, more than 82,000 Nova Scotians were on the waiting list to receive a family doctor.
The prime minister, however, did not compromise when asked about specific goals for health care in the new year. “I think you’ll see the needle move at least marginally on a lot of these things, but Nova Scotia should know that the focus is there.”
On the COVID-19 front, Nova Scotia recently tightened its restrictions on things like masking, collection limits and restaurant closing hours in the face of a significant outbreak fueled by the rapidly spreading Omicron mutation. The restrictions are in effect until at least January 12.
Still, Houston said he sees some hope, noting that doctors and scientists know more about the virus than they did at the start of the pandemic. “Variants always create new wrinkles, but we’ve worked quickly to understand more about them, and vaccination rates are high in Nova Scotia.”
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And the days of completely shutting down the economy with strict lockdowns are probably over, he said.
“There will be a time like now when we need to take action to slow the spread of this new variant, but there is no discussion that I have been aware of that is talking about something along the lines of stopping things as we have done in the last.”
On another prominent issue, climate change, Houston said the government will unveil a new plan in 2022, outlining how it plans to meet specific targets that were set out in legislation last fall. The targets include commitments to phase out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 53% below 2005 levels by 2030, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Houston is also on the lookout for another environmental file, which has ramifications for its own leadership in Pictou County. The environmental assessment process is underway for Northern Pulp’s estimated $ 350 million plan to reopen its dormant kraft pulp mill near the city of Pictou.
Among other things, the company is proposing to discharge treated effluent into the Pictou harbor estuary from the plant’s Abercrombie Point location, something that several people, including Pictou Mayor Jim Ryan, have said there is “very little tolerance.” .
Houston said he has personal concerns about that aspect of the plan, adding that the onus is on the company to show that what it wants to do is “right.”
“Anyone moving forward on any kind of plan that may have an impact on our water, beaches and way of life has a lot of work to do to satisfy Nova Scotia that there will be no impact.”
As the new year approaches, Houston, who is not ashamed to promote himself and his government as “progressive,” argues that Nova Scotians will see things being done.
“It is my hope that they will be surprised at how we are really executing what we said we would do,” he said, “because they are not used to that of governments.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 30, 2021.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
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