Liberal Leader John Hogan and Liberal candidate Shaun Maclean were in central Labrador on Tuesday. (Maddie Ryan/CBC)
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal Party rolled into central Labrador for the first day of their election campaign, an area where they say is close to a key campaign issue.Â
The party is pushing the tentative new Churchill Falls deal as the centre of its campaign, and in Happy Valley-Goose Bay Tuesday, after slinging pulled pork sandwiches at a nearby meat shop, Liberal Leader John Hogan served up a new promise: to establish a Churchill Transformation Readiness Strategy for Labrador.
“With any megaproject around the world there are always unintended consequences,” Hogan said as people trickled out of a seniors’ boil-up event.
Many of the visitors of Kinsmen Park on Tuesday evening would remember the fallout of Muskrat Falls, with effects still felt in the high cost of living, dwindling housing supply and drug issues in the region.
Newfoundland and Labrador would see more than $225 billion over 50 years if the Churchill Falls deal between N.L. Hydro and Hydro-Québec is finalized.
Hogan said he’ll make it a priority to ensure past mistakes aren’t repeated if re-elected.
“We’re looking to make things better as we go through this exercise again,” said Shaun Maclean, the Liberal candidate for the Lake Melville district.
The transformation strategy would involve recruiting members to a committee and taking suggestions from the community on better preparing the area for a megaproject, Maclean explained.
Retired educator Doug Abbass said the potential Churchill River developments are at the top of his mind as he prepares to vote on Oct. 14.
“The very first contract we had with Churchill Falls unfortunately didn’t go our way, and we can’t lose on this one,” Abbass said, after preparing lunch at the Kinsmen Park event.
“I would be disappointed if everybody wasn’t of the same mind.”
Health-care money, no cuts
Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative Leader Tony Wakeham spent the first campaign day making promises to spend big money on health care — without any reduction to public spending.
“You do not cut your way to a prosperous future in Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said while speaking with reporters in St. John’s Tuesday.
Wakeham announced a slew of health-care initiatives adding up to $46 million in new spending, including a program he says will reduce reliance on out-of province travel nurses. According to a report issued by the auditor general earlier this year, the provincial government has spent $241 million on agency nurses since 2022.
PC Leader Tony Wakeham talks health-care spending at a campaign stop in St. John’s. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)
According to a news release, the PCs say their government would spend $5 million to increase access to nurse practitioners, and $3.8 million on a program to encourage registered nurses and nurse practitioners to move to rural and remote areas — an ongoing challenge for the province’s health authority.
To begin addressing that challenge, Wakeham said his government would offer nursing students full-time jobs when they start school. He said his government would add 50 seats to Memorial University’s nursing program, double the nurse practitioner program, expand MUN’s medical school and offer paid work terms for health-care students.
According to estimates from the Progressive Conservatives, those initiatives would cost $12 million.
To keep graduates in the province, Wakeham said his government would spend $16 million on a tuition refund program.
Following in the footsteps of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative government, Wakeham said his government would make parking free for patients at hospitals and other health-care centres across the province. The change would cost approximately $1 million, part of the $4.6 million the PC Party is proposing to spend to cover health-care travel costs for patients.
PCs promise ‘faster’ health care with list of new actions — totalling $46 million
PC Leader Tony Wakeham seemingly signalled health care is his party’s priority, outlining sweeping new measures designed to get more people connected to doctors and get the treatment they need. The CBC’s Terry Roberts reports.
The party is also proposing $5 million to increase access to nurse practitioners, along with $4.4 million to buy four new MRI machines.
Wakeham isn’t done with announcements — he told reporters to expect an announcement about tax cuts later this week.
Last month, former finance minister Siobhan Coady said the province’s deficit had climbed to $626 million. Wakeham didn’t say if his party plans to balance the budget any time soon.
“I intend to help people balance their budgets first,” he said. “That’s my priority.”
Ban on corporate, union donations
NDP Leader Jim Dinn also spoke about money on Tuesday, but instead focused on the money that goes to political parties.
Dinn promised, if elected, to ban corporate and union political donations and establish a personal donation cap of $1,750 in the province. He called it a matter of political transparency and accountability that would restore trust — and end what he called “insider politics.”
NDP Leader Jim Dinn was also in St. John’s on Tuesday, promising his government would implement a ban on corporate and union political donations. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)
“He who pays the piper calls the tune, and it’s about access,” Dinn said in St. John’s.
“Who is going to get access to a cabinet minister, to the premier? Is it going to be the person who’s facing homelessness? Or is it the donor who’s just spent $50,000 on the campaign? That’s what transparency and accountability is all about.”
Tuesday wasn’t the first time Dinn has brought up donations over his campaign.
On Sept. 5, Dinn noted donations made by Newfoundland Power and Fortis to both the Liberals and PCs, and committed to an investigation of rising power rates in the province.
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