The union that represents thousands of health-care administrators in Nova Scotia has invited its members to join a lunch-hour protest today. The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union says the demonstrations outside 11 hospitals, including Aberdeen Hospital, will draw attention to the fact that these workers’ contracts expired almost three years ago. The union also says the administrators are among the lowest-paid health-care workers in Atlantic Canada
The provincial health minister says the province’s growing list of programs aimed at recruiting health workers from overseas has considered the ethical questions involved. Michelle Thompson announced that the province’s immigration system would fast track foreign students if they’re in programs training them to be pharmacy technicians or paramedics. And earlier this year the province’s nursing regulator said it would move licensing more quickly for nurses from seven countries, including Nigeria and the Philippines. Thompson says the programs aren’t aimed at taking away trained workers from developing countries, but rather are recruiting health workers who have already indicated they want to be in the province.
Communities hit last year by post-tropical storm Fiona can access up to nine million dollars in federal funding to help bolster facilities that can offer refuge to residents. Federal Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings says the money will help designated facilities purchase such things as power generators, satellite phones, blankets and cots, and make necessary improvements to serve the public. Applications received by November 17th will be given priority consideration in funding through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Eligible areas include Pictou, Antigonish, Guysborough, Cumberland and Colchester Counties; PEI; and the Magdalen Islands.
Nova Scotia will remove the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax from the construction of new rental apartment buildings. Premier Tim Houston says the province will mirror the federal government’s plan to remove G-S-T on rental housing starts. The measure is aimed at lowering the cost of labour and materials for homebuilders. Houston says his government will remove the tax for two years and then reassess the effects on the market.
The 39th annual telethon for Atlantic Canada’s largest children’s hospital raised more than seven million dollars for the I-W-K Health Centre in Halifax. The I-W-K Telethon for Children, broadcast on CTV, saw Maritimers pledging a record-breaking amount. Jennifer Gillivan, president of the I-W-K Foundation, says the telethon is the hospital’s largest annual fundraiser. The money will be used to buy equipment and improve education, research and innovation.
