MEDIA ADVISORY: Panel Discussion Nov. 13 – Transparency and the right to know how our money is spent

Halifax – Please join us for a public panel discussion on November 13, 2018. Hear more about the call for public accountability legislation in Nova Scotia, and improved disclosure rules for the procurement of public services and infrastructure. LOCATION: Halifax Farmers Market, 2nd Floor TIME: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 13, 2018 PANELISTS: Keith Reynolds, Policy Analyst with the Columbia Institute Chris Parsons, Coordinator of the Nova Scotia Health Coalition Christine Saulnier, Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia Moderated by Erica Butler, freelance journalist and transportation columnist with the Halifax Examiner. A more transparent and cost-effective approach to public procurement will ensure we can afford all the hospitals, highways, education, long term care and other public services we rely on. Nova Scotians should demand new disclosure requirements and reporting standards for P3 contracts. There should be no secrets when public money is spent on … Read more…

Why pay more to get less? P3 deal wrong way to build highway

Nova Scotia highway workers, represented by CUPE 1867, launched a radio ad today asking the province not to use a public-private partnership (P3) to construct a new stretch of Highway 104. The Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) will construct a twinned, four-lane highway that will be a 38-kilometre stretch from Sutherlands River to Antigonish. In July, the Liberal government has announced that it intends to use a public-private partnership (P3) deal to finance the $285 million project. “Nova Scotia could build and twin even more kilometres of highway if the government would use public procurement,” says Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia. “Minister Lloyd Hines has stated that the P3 deal will include more than just the design and build aspects of the project,” says Wanda Power, CUPE national representative. “According to the minister, the deal will also include the financing, operations and maintenance.” Steve Joy, president … Read more…

Member update on health care bargaining

Council of Nursing Unions Concludes Face-To-Face Bargaining

Scheduled talks concluded October 30, for the Nova Scotia Council of Nursing Unions. The Nursing Council met this fall with the Employer group, a group of 19 representatives from the IWK and the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) on September 4, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21, and October 10, 11, 12, 17, 18,19 and 30. The 20-member Nursing Council is comprised of acute care nurses from NSNU, NSGEU, CUPE, and Unifor. The Council of Nursing Unions bargaining committee includes 11 members from NSNU, seven NSGEU, one from CUPE and one from Unifor. The Council and the Employers made significant progress in the last two months with some outstanding issues yet to be settled. Issues that have not been resolved at the negotiating table will now be sent to the independent, third-party mediator-arbitrator (William Kaplan) for a final and binding award. Mr. Kaplan has set aside November 19-22 for Nursing Bargaining … Read more…