Facing some health-y choices

Here’s the?Atlantic?news we’re tracking this week, including a Nova Scotia election centred on health care and housing, good news on the blue economy and a school for wind workers. ?

The choice is yours

Nova Scotians will head for the polls on Nov. 26 after premier Tim Houston called a snap election that will almost certainly be fought on the issues of health care and housing. ?

Houston’s Progressive Conservatives made fixing health care its signature promise last time out, in the 2021 campaign, and put it at the centre of their agenda, adding long-term care beds, increasing the use of technology and trying to attract more doctors and nurses with bonus payments and faster credentialling. Opposition parties are likely to stress that the number of Nova Scotians on the wait list for a family doctor is nevertheless 45 percent higher than it was two years ago.?

Houston justified holding the vote ahead of the province’s fixed election date of July 15, 2025 — legislation his government pushed through early in its mandate — by saying he was trying to avoid a vote at the same time as a possible federal election. He also insisted his party needed a mandate for increased spending to deal with the housing crisis and the high cost of living. He’s already promised to cut the HST by a percentage point, a move that didn’t quite match the Liberal promise to cut it by two points.?

Nova Scotia’s election comes just weeks after New Brunswick Liberal leader Susan Holt became that province’s first female premier. That campaign also focussed on health care and housing. Holt told the CBC last week that her first priorities will be a cut to the provincial tax on power bills and cap on rent increases, moves to help overall affordability, and that health care will be the major focus of her government’s agenda. ?

Health wanted

A report last week from the Canadian Institute for Health Information?(CIHI) showed just how much work the Atlantic provinces still have to do on health care. The study, national in scope although Quebec data was not included, looked at a number of areas the federal government and the provinces have identified as priorities. On perhaps on the most notable measure, the numbers weren’t good. Five million people, or 17 percent of adult Canadians, struggle to find primary care. The numbers are worst in Atlantic Canada, with all four provinces trailing the national average and P.E.I. finishing last in the country at 27 percent.??

The same was true for the percentage of Canadians who received hip or knee replacements surgery within the benchmark 26 weeks — all four Atlantic provinces trailed the national average, with P.E.I. finishing last again at 28 percent.??

And for the percentage who accessed electronic health information; in that case Newfoundland and Labrador tied Manitoba for last place. There was some good news. On wait times for urgent surgery — specifically the percentage of Canadians who had hip fracture surgery within the benchmark 48 hours — all the Atlantic provinces beat the national average of 81 percent, with Newfoundland and Labrador leading the way. And P.E.I. had the biggest increase in the number of surgeries performed between 2019-20 and 2023-24, up 16.4 percent.?

But it’s the struggle to access to primary care that’s been dominating efforts in Atlantic Canada of late. The provinces have been trying just about everything to recruit and retain health care professionals, from signing bonuses and retention bonuses for doctors and nurses, to enhanced retirement benefits to easing requirements for foreign-trained doctors. But long and growing wait lists for family physicians are still the reality. (Nova Scotia had some good news on that front earlier this month, with a report that its Need a Family Practice Registry had fallen to the lowest level since 2022. Still, there were 145,114 people on the list.)?

Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser said she expected the numbers to start improving soon. Like many provinces, P.E.I. is introducing in primary health teams which bring doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and other health professionals together, a move meant to drive efficiency and attract doctors. “We’ve developed efficient procedures to quickly establish new [patient medical homes] and ensure widespread access,” said Fraser. “By 2027, we aim to have every Islander supported by a team of primary-care providers.”?

CIHI did report that both P.E.I. and New Brunswick saw a net increase in the rate of family physicians entering the workforce in 2021-2022. (Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador both saw a decline that year.) And the latest edition of the PPF’s Atlantic Canada Momentum Index showed that access for a family physician is one indicator where the region has showed positive momentum. Still, there clearly lots of work still to be done.??

The blue wave

COVE, the maritime technology hub based in Dartmouth, released its third white paper on the blue economy last week and it showed impressive growth in Canada’s “Ocean Enterprise” sector, defined as companies that develop, produce and use technology and services that support ocean-related activities and industries, from aquaculture and shipbuilding to tourism and ocean science.??

The paper showed the number of companies in the sector has grown 31 percent in the last two years, from 160 to 2022 to 209 in 2024, with the biggest increase (53 percent) in Nova Scotia, home to 1 in 3 of Canada’s Ocean Enterprise companies. Revenue for the sector is projected to come in between $1.8 billion and $2.0 billion this year, with employment exceeding 8,000 people. That’s a jump of 58 percent and 33 percent respectively, compared to 2020. And companies in the sector are confident growth will continue — 83 percent expect revenue to grow in the next 12 months and 73 percent anticipate they’ll hire more people.??

The sector still faces some challenges. Though companies see great potential in Artificial Intelligence (AI) — 69 percent expect to use it in the next two years — they worry about AI’s return on investment, and whether they have the technical expertise to make it pay. The report calls for more education and training, and for the fast development of a stable regulatory environment for AI. ?

Long-term investment is the sector’s biggest concern. The long timelines often involved in marine tech development means investment is hard to come by the level the sector needs. “Despite its rapid growth … the lack of adequate funding poses a major barrier to the sector’s continued advancement and innovation,” the report says.???

Even on that front, though, there’s been good news of late. Newfoundland’s Kraken Robotics said last week its latest share offering brought in $51.75 million, more than twice what it had originally targeted. And Planetary Technologies, a Dartmouth clean tech firm, announced it had raised US$11.35 million in venture capital and plans to double its staff from 20 to 40. The company has partnered with Dalhousie University on a project that sees it adding alkaline mineral powder — a kind of antacid — to water going through Nova Scotia Power’s Tufts Cove generating station. Deacidifying water enhances its ability to store carbon, and Planetary is trying to make that work at scale in ocean water to help fight global warming.??

Let ’em in

Ottawa’s plan to slash immigration got some poor reviews in Atlantic Canada last week. The federal government announced it would cut the number of permanent residents admitted to Canada from 485,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025, with further cuts in 2026 and 2027. (Its previous plan was to admit 500,000 new residents in both of those two years.) The move would mean a 0.2 percent population decline over the next two years, Ottawa said, and reduce pressures on the housing market. The cuts are in addition to previously announced reductions in the number of temporary foreign workers and international students that will be allowed in.??

For Atlantic Canada, where immigration and population growth have boosted the economy and reversed years of demographic decline, the move was seen as harmful, and unnecessary. Sarah Stoodley, the immigration minister for Newfoundland and Labrador, said her province has been asking for a bigger allotment of economic immigrants. “It’s not sustainable for Newfoundland and Labrador to have to withstand those kinds of cuts," she said. “Our economic prosperity relies on economic immigration. We need teachers, we need early childhood educators, we need residential construction workers. We don't have enough of them here.?We need to go elsewhere looking for them, and we need them [for]?the future of our province.”?

Arlene Dunn, president of the Saint John Construction Association and a former minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour in New Brunswick, said Canada should concentrate on building the infrastructure needed to support immigration instead of cutting back slots. “A reduction in numbers will be particularly detrimental on Atlantic Canada,” she told allNovaScotia. “With our aging population and low birth rates, we rely heavily on newcomers to fill workforce gaps, drive economic growth and support vital services. Limiting immigration will stifle these efforts and put further strain on an already shrinking labour market, hindering our region’s future prosperity.”?

Building success?

City council in Truro, Nova Scotia, has approved one of Atlantic Canada’s more intriguing real estate projects — the massive redevelopment of the Stanfield’s Ltd. underwear factory. The development will convert the factory and warehouse buildings into housing units while adding new buildings, new manufacturing space, a riverfront pathway and public plaza. The 600 or so apartments will bring much needed housing to a revitalized downtown area.?

Stanfield’s has been making underwear at the site for 140 years. Company founder?Charles E. Stanfield introduced Canadians to “drop seat” underwear, with its famous buttoned flap in the rear, and his sons developed “Unshrinkable” woolen long johns that proved a hit during the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s. The redevelopment drew some objections, given the property sits on a floodplain, but the fact that many of the buildings were erected before restrictions came in —?and the need to get housing built — overrode such concerns. “This family's commitment is for the next 50 to 100 years on this site, and therefore we want people to be living and thriving downtown,” company president Jon Stanfield told councillors.?

City council in Summerside, P.E.I., meanwhile, finally overcame its trepidation and passed a new official plan last week that will allow buildings with four housing units to be built in all residential areas without the need for zoning changes, council approval or public input. ?

Council had twice delayed the vote in the face of public opposition, and the meeting last week was packed with residents complaining that the move might change the character of their neighbourhoods. The change will allow Summerside to access $5.8 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, and should speed up development. "We know we have a housing supply shortage across this country,” said mayor Dan Kutcher.? “We have one here, and in order to address it, we need to continue to build.”?

Wind at their backs

More progress was made last week in building the infrastructure, both physical and human, for the burgeoning wind power and green hydrogen industries. The federal government announced $22.5 million in funding for EverWind Fuels Ltd. to help build loading facilities and pipelines, and to acquire tugboats, for its Point Tupper green hydrogen project. “It’s a huge show of support from the federal government,” CEO Trent Vichie told allNovaScotia. The new financing comes on top of a $125-million loan from Export Development Canada. The company hopes to have the initial phase of its $13.7-billion project up and running by 2026.??

New Brunswick Community College, meanwhile, is working on developing human resources for the industry. It opened applications for the province’s first wind and solar energy technician program. The first cohort of 25 students will start on the Saint John campus next September, and graduate in 2027. ?

New Brunswick last year announced a plan to add 1,400 megawatts of new wind power and 500 MW of solar power over the next 12 years. Jeff McAloon, co-owner of solar power company Smart Energy Company, told allNewBrunswick his firm has had to look “far and wide” for qualified workers. “Why not develop that talent pool here in New Brunswick so we can continue to take advantage of this massive industry that’s booming in front of us.”

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