It’s status quo for gasoline and diesel prices in Nova Scotia, as the Utility and Review Board announced there would be no changes today with the weekly setting of prices. The minimum pump price for regular self-serve gasoline remains at 162.9 cents per litre locally. The minimum pump price for diesel is 200.4 cents per litre in the local area.
The Nova Scotia government says it will provide 53.3 million dollars in funding each year to support those on income assistance who have a disability or serious medical condition.
Beginning in April, the Income Assistance Disability Supplement will provide an additional 300 dollars per month to people not currently in the Disability Support Program.
The province says the disability supplement will benefit about 15-thousand people.
The move is part of addressing remedies contained in a human rights review which found systemic discrimination against people with disabilities.
Nova Scotia’s premier says there won’t be direct financial help for customers out of pocket for fuel prepayments after Maritime Fuels filed for bankruptcy last week.
Tim Houston says the province isn’t interested in providing a “backstop” for the Halifax-based company and doesn’t want to set a precedent.
Maritime Fuels owes 2.5 million dollars in prepayments to customers, according to documents.
Houston says there is some help available for people who qualify under the province’s home heating assistance program, but the opposition Liberals and N-D-P say the program’s income thresholds need to be expanded to help all those affected by the bankruptcy.
The Nova Scotia government says two nursing homes in Truro will be replaced by new facilities expected to open within the next nine years.
The new builds will add an estimated 30 long-term care rooms for seniors in the area.
It’s part of the recent addition of 22-hundred rooms to the province’s long-term care infrastructure plan.
As of last week, more than 17-hundred Nova Scotians were waiting at home for placement in long-term care.
A sports note, the Pictou County Weeks Crushers lost 7-4 to Truro in Maritime Junior Hockey League action.
