N.S. NDP leader pledges to undo budget cuts during campaign-style speech

NDP Leader Claudia Chender told a crowd of about 200 supporters on Saturday that if her party wins the next general election in Nova Scotia, it would undo cuts to arts and culture included in the most recent provincial budget.

Over the course of a 35-minute speech, Chender positioned her party as a government-in-waiting. She said people elected Premier Tim Houston and the Progressive Conservatives five years ago based on a promise to fix health care, a promise she says has not materialized.

Instead, Chender said wait times in emergency departments have increased and closures persist, while women are experiencing long waits for mammograms and to see gynecologists.

“The danger is not just in wait lists and empty emergency rooms, it’s that people start to accept this as normal, to expect less, to stop believing that governments can build systems that work for everyday people,” she said.

“And I reject that completely.”

Choices show a pattern

The Houston government inherited “the strongest financial position” any Nova Scotia government has ever had, but has spent the province into a record-setting deficit that at last check topped $1.3 billion, Chender said.

As a result, she said, the government’s most recent budget cut some of the things Nova Scotians hold most dear, she said, including tourism, arts and culture.

Chender took aim at the government’s decision to remove resource development protections without prior public consultation, its failure to reach an agreement with the federal government to cover the cost of birth control, and for the cuts included in the budget.

All of those things were choices and “after enough choices like that we start to see a pattern,” she said.

“A government that is always announcing something, always promising that better days are just over the horizon. But once you get past the slogans and the press conferences, there’s not much there.

“Not substance, not follow-through, and not enough attention to the problems that Nova Scotians are dealing with right now.”

A provincial election is unlikely to come for at least another year, if not longer — and the NDP’s nine seats in the legislature are well behind the 42 held by the Progressive Conservatives. Still, Chender said a clear choice is developing between the two parties.

“People are looking for people who understand their lives, who will tell them the truth, who will fight for them and actually mean it. They are looking at us.”

Following the speech, Chender told reporters that the budget cuts to arts and culture “do not even come close” to addressing the deficit that’s grown under the PCs. She said the financial challenges can be addressed through better budgeting, transparent spending and “financial responsibility.”

Chender said there are major opportunities in Nova Scotia through the promise of increased federal defence spending, but that will also require growing the research and innovation sectors. She also called for more effort to grow sectors that already generate jobs and revenue for the province, including traditional industry and tourism.

Party organizers pointed to favourable polling numbers, increasing membership ranks and recent fundraising results as reasons for optimism.

Audited financials for the three major parties show the PCs took in $460,300 in contributions in 2025, while the NDP was not far behind at $445,663. Contributions for the Liberals last year came in at almost $246,000. All parties usually taken in less money in non-election years than they do in the lead-up to a campaign.

MORE TOP STORIES