Premier’s solicitation of health-care ideas for cash criticized by opposition
Tim Houston and his majority Progressive Conservative government have long said they will accept good ideas, no matter the source.
With that in mind, the premier of Nova Scotia is providing a financial incentive for provincial health-care workers to submit ideas to improve the ailing system.
“We’re always listening to health-care professionals, those on the front lines,” Houston told reporters this week at Province House.
Houston said the idea is to attract submissions from frustrated health-care workers about making the system better.
“Let’s get them all on the table and try to fix them,” he said of the issues that frustrate health workers. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Houston said he picked up the idea in Singapore during a recent business junket.
Health-care workers and those in jobs linked to health care in Nova Scotia could claim a $1,000 cash prize for submitting their ideas for system improvement.
The Health-care Improvement Challenge contest started Monday and runs to Nov. 22, and eligible participants can submit one or more common sense ideas to help the system.
Shortlist
The ideas should be simple and easy to implement, with little to no funding required. Eligible submissions will be entered into a random draw for up to 50 prizes of $1,000.
From all the eligible submissions received, 20 ideas will be shortlisted by a review panel, and Nova Scotians can vote for their top 10.
Those ideas will be considered priorities, and the government will work with health-system partners to implement them, where feasible.
The premier said the initiative is certainly not an admission that what the government has done halfway through its mandate to fix health care has not worked.
“Don’t forget that the main responsibilities of the provincial government is health care, education . . . and as long as there is a provincial government here I hope that they are always, constantly trying to move the needle forward. Certainly as long as I have the privilege of being premier I will be trying to move the needle forward on health care.”
Houston said a bit of cash sometimes motivates people to put their thoughts about health care into words.
“They told me they received 214 suggestions within the first 12 hours,” Houston said. “I’m sure we will get a number more and I’m sure some of those will be actionable and I’m also sure that some of those will not. We want those actionable ones moving forward.”
Not surprisingly, opposition members do not think the premier’s idea-soliciting idea is a good idea.
“I don’t think that the best way to build health-care policy is through a raffle,” Liberal Leader Zach Churchill told reporters. “I think it’s desperate and it shows us that the ideas the premier ran on are not working. The fact that he’s now offering people $1,000 to help fix health care for him, he’s forgetting the fact that Nova Scotians are paying him $200,000 a year to fix it for them.”
‘Game show’
Churchill said good ideas are needed “but surely it’s better to look at evidence, it’s better to meet with professionals and have a very thoughtful process on how you’re investing in health care and how you are developing policy.”
“Having a raffle and turning health-care policy into a game show is not necessarily going to produce that.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the idea is “completely ridiculous.”
Chender said there are massive challenges in the province’s health-care system that need fixing.
“We have labour-force shortages, we have wait times, we have infrastructure problems,” Chender said. “These are big problems that need big fixes and they have big dollar amounts attached. Instead of deflecting and sweetening the pot for a number of people who are willing to send an email, (he should) do the job that people elected him to do and actually fix health care, actually make changes that are going to make an impact on the experiences people have in our health-care system because so far we haven’t seen it.”
Chender said the unions representing frontline health-care workers have submitted scads of ideas for action.
“Why don’t they start with enacting some of those. It doesn’t make any sense. I think it’s a distraction and I actually think it’s an insult to the idea that they are fixing health care in a meaningful way.”
Code of conduct
Education Minister Becky Druhan told reporters this week that she has talked with the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and to her department about the Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy.
“Safety is a significant priority and our students and educational staff deserve to have safe and inclusive spaces,” Druhan said. “I had previously directed the department to review the code of conduct to make sure it is up to date and current and includes everything that it needs to include to ensure that it supports our educators and staff and supports students to make sure that our schools are safe and inclusive spaces.”
Druhan said she doesn’t know how long the review will take.
The issue was raised in the House this week by Suzy Hansen, the NDP representative for Halifax Needham, who referenced information obtained from the department in a freedom-of-information request showing that 17,234 incidents of physical violence occurred in Nova Scotia’s schools from Sept. 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, an increase of more than 20 per cent.
The code of conduct defines violence as “using force, gesturing, or inciting others to use force to injure a member of the school community.”
Protect workers
The New Democratic Party introduced legislation this week that would make it illegal for employers to withhold tips from workers or to use tips as wages.
“With the cost of everything going up we need a government that’s prepared to help Nova Scotia workers and make sure they get the wages they deserve,” said NDP Leader Claudia Chender.
“Most people, when they leave a tip, assume it’s going to the person who served them or the team of staff who made them their meal. Many other provinces have protections like this for servers; Nova Scotia should do the same.”
