Union: Houston’s 2025 Budget Maintains Status Quo Shrouded in Secrecy

HALIFAX-KJIPUKTUK, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CUPE Nova Scotia is once again disappointed to see the Houston government prioritize private profits while leaving the struggling public services behind.

“This has become the status quo,” said CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen. “The conservative government promises to spend millions of dollars fixing health care, fixing housing, fixing the concerns of Nova Scotians, and then turns around and gives that money to private companies who care more about their bottom line than helping Nova Scotians.”

For example, among the millions of dollars earmarked for improving the health care system, $45.8 million was allocated to increasing the number of beds in long term care. Five of these homes are already in construction and slated to open this year, all of which are owned and operated by private companies though they are funded by Nova Scotians tax dollars.

The same consideration, however, was not given to the public sector institutions. Long struggling public services such as home support, which has been in bargaining for over a year and currently boasts a nearly 1000-person waitlist, received cuts to their budget. Hospital support workers, who have also been in bargaining for months, received no additional funding. We value the physicians and nurses who did receive funding, we understand that they are a vital part of health care, but hospitals don’t work without support workers.

“There always seems to be money waiting to be spent when the government wants to make a multimillion-dollar deal with some private company,” remarked McFadgen, “and yet when our hard-working public sector employees ask for a raise, suddenly the government has no money left. I wonder why that is?”

This budget release comes on the heels of the third consecutive report from the auditor general, Kim Adair, calling out the Houston government for continuously spending outside their budget and not following the standard procurement process. Adair also highlighted three examples of multi-million-dollar tenders that were simply not included in the data provided to the auditor general’s office or publicly disclosed until she noted they were missing.

“First Houston limited the amount of time the Opposition party could speak in the Legislature,” said McFadgen. “Then he announced that he’s getting rid of the government’s non-partisan communications department. Today, he excluded well known advocacy groups that often share differing opinions about his policies such as the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives Nova Scotia (CCPA NS). That’s a pattern—a scary one.”

Every year, politicians, unions, media, and community organizations attend a reading of the budget before it is released to the public so they can ask questions of government staff and seek clarification. This year, the CCPA NS, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE), and the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour were not invited. When they reached out to the government for their usual invites, they received no response. Advocacy groups with a history of agreeing with the Houston government were present.

“A government that doesn’t want to share information with all their people is a government I don’t trust, regardless of the party,” finished McFadgen. “What does this government gain by leaving these voices out?”

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