What is New Start Nova Scotia?
New Start Nova Scotia is a forum for discussing specific ideas to make our province a better place to live, work, learn and play.
From time to time we will provide proposals both in a short version to give the big picture and a longer version that explains the underlying thinking. Click here to see our most recent discussion.
We hope that you will engage in discussion of the ideas and urge your friends to do likewise. We also welcome reader generated ideas. Contributed material will be lightly moderated and made available on this website.
Thanks for participating.
Bill Black
Recent Discussions
If You Build It, Will They Come?
Monday, June 14, 2010
All Nova Scotians should be supportive of sound initiatives to help the economy of Cape Breton. The three political parties in Nova Scotia have endorsed the idea of spending $38,000,000 to dredge Sydney Harbour and are now urging Ottawa to come on board. Proponents have argued that the result will be the creation of 6,500 jobs, and if so this will be money well spent. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that.
Another Pension Bailout?
Monday, June 7, 2010
Reporters and other keen observers know that a news release late on Friday usually means that the government hopes it will not get much attention.
Thus on April 30 there was a little reported story that the Teachers Pension Plan is to receive a modest extra payment of $1.5 million from the province because it is in deficit. This looks very small compared to the $536 million payment into the Public Service Superannuation Plan (PSSP) announced a few weeks earlier. The associated financial reports were only released in May and a much darker picture becomes evident.
Healthy Conversation
Friday, May 14, 2010
In the aftermath of the US legislation expanding health care coverage for Americans, it is common for Canadian visitors to the USA to hear comments such as: “Well, now we have Canadian style health insurance”. The new American system is so complicated that it is difficult for anyone to understand it, but it is certainly not like anything we have in Canada.
