{"id":103162,"date":"2017-05-19T02:40:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T06:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=103162"},"modified":"2017-05-19T02:40:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T06:40:47","slug":"confident-mcneil-fends-off-attacks-in-nova-scotia-leaders-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/19\/confident-mcneil-fends-off-attacks-in-nova-scotia-leaders-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Confident McNeil fends off attacks in Nova Scotia leaders’ debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liberal<\/a>
Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil fended off multiple attacks on his record Thursday as Nova Scotia’s major-party leaders clashed over health care, education and the economy during a leaders debate. (Twitter photo<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil fended off multiple attacks on his record Thursday as Nova Scotia’s major-party leaders clashed over health care, education and the economy during a leaders debate.<\/p>\n

During a 90-minute televised debate, Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie and NDP Leader Gary Burrill targeted McNeil’s broken promises on doctors and the film tax credit.<\/p>\n

But McNeil brushed off the barrage with confidence, a generally calm demeanour and an ability to hold the floor. He pointed to his achievements while in office.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s not turn back now,\u201d he said, looking into the cameras during his closing remarks. \u201cWe are in a time where we can make strategic investments and continue to build what we’ve accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, his opponents pointed to what they painted as his penny-pinching, top-down style with teachers and other public-sector union while in government.<\/p>\n

Both Baillie and Burrill wove into the debate their disapproval over McNeil’s handling of issues while in power, especially related to health care.<\/p>\n

Baillie questioned McNeil’s 2013 promise that every Nova Scotian would have access to a family doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou promised them a doctor,\u201d Baillie told McNeil, who cited a number of other promises he’d been able to keep.<\/p>\n

Baillie said one of the hardest calls he’d had to make was to Kim D’Arcy, whose husband, Jack Webb, died Feb. 1 after he had languished for six hours in a chilly emergency-room hallway and was bumped from his room by another dying patient during five days of struggles in Halifax’s largest hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more doctors. We need them urgently,\u201d Baillie said.<\/p>\n

Burrill asked McNeil if he would admit the province has a health care crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I believe there’s a crisis? No,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cAre there challenges? Of course there are.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil defended his record, saying the province’s health system has improved during his term, and his government has taken measures to train and bring more doctors to Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n

His government reduced administrative costs by merging health authorities, he said.<\/p>\n

McNeil said a re-elected Liberal government would invest in collaborative care teams to ensure all Nova Scotians have access to primary care.<\/p>\n

McNeil also defended attacks on his labour relations record, arguing he has to represent all taxpayers at the negotiating table.<\/p>\n

Burrill said teacher morale \u201cis at an all time low,\u201d and promised to reopen negotiations with the provinces teachers, cap class sizes and hire more specialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s give teachers the real discipline and attendance policies they deserve and let’s get mental health into classrooms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Baillie criticized Burrill’s promise to make community college tuition free.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking education free means we’re going to train people to go somewhere else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nova Scotians go to the polls May 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX \u2014 Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil fended off multiple attacks on his record Thursday as Nova Scotia’s major-party leaders clashed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":82111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16],"tags":[12466],"class_list":["post-103162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-stephen-mcneil","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}