N.S. government passes budget following 14-day spring sitting

Premier Tim Houston's Tory government wrapped a lightning-fast spring sitting at the Nova Scotia legislature on Wednesday by passing a budget that includes billions of dollars for health care, but no increase to income assistance rates.

MLAs sat for a total of 14 days and the government passed six pieces of legislation, along with the bills required to put the provincial budget into action.

The government's budget includes $14.4 billion in expenses, $6.5 billion of which is related to health-care in the form of services, wages, construction projects and major retention bonuses for nurses.

Houston told reporters that while money will be an important part of making good on his promise to fix the health-care system, he also has high hopes for the Patients Access to Care Act, which is intended to speed up the licencing process for health-care professionals and make it easier to expand the scopes of their practices.

"There's a lot of work to do, there's no question about that," he said.

"But I think Nova Scotians know that we're active, we're looking for innovative solutions and we're dedicated. We want to get this fixed for Nova Scotians. We will."

The legislation was not without controversy. Professional regulators supported the intent of the law, but said it could jeopardize public safety, based on the way it was written, by potentially forcing them to licence people who are not competent or have disciplinary issues in other jurisdictions.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson has said those concerns would be addressed in regulations that guide how the law is used.

The government also passed a bill to extend the cap on rent increases until the end of 2025. As of January, it's expected to increase to five per cent. Opposition members and housing advocates have argued that the cap will not achieve its goals because fixed-term leases are being used to raise rents beyond the limit.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the government's budget leaves the most vulnerable members of society worse off, which means the health-care system will face further pressures.

"We know that the vast majority of acute cases in our hospitals, the sickest people in our hospitals, are coming from low-income backgrounds," he told reporters.

"This government has frozen income assistance for two years in a row. They have not brought anything in to help with food insecurity and we think what they've done for non-market, affordable housing is really minimal and isn't going to have an impact."

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she's disappointed the government didn't pay attention to the concerns of health-care regulators, creating potential risks to the public.

Chender said the government's budget included $1.5 billion in unexpected revenue and yet the Tories failed to take concrete measures to address cost-of-living pressures, affordable housing or getting family doctors for more people.