Timothy Halman

In 1946, Viola Desmond took a seat at the Roseland Theatre and refused to give it up. That one brave act helped spark the civil rights movement in Canada. Viola stood tall against injustice and opened doors for generations of Nova Scotians who followed. Today, we honour her legacy and keep working to make our province a more fair and equal home for everyone.

Global companies are realizing there's opportunity to grow their business in Nova Scotia. A new Amazon facility under construction in Dartmouth will bring more than 1000 new, full-time jobs here to the province. All while enabling faster deliveries for consumers. More jobs. More opportunities for Nova Scotians. Good news for our province.

REMINDER: The Seniors Care Grant is back and ready for Seniors to apply! Eligible seniors can receive $750 to help with things like household and healthcare services and home heating costs. Be sure to share this with a loved one who you may think is eligible or apply yourself when applications open on and you can do so online, at an Access Nova Scotia location, or at your Local MLA's office. This is one more way we are helping Nova Scotians with the cost of living. Check if you're eligible and apply today: novascotia.ca/apply-help-hou…

I am pleased to announce that a tentative agreement has been reached with CUPE educational support workers. Both parties came back together this evening to negotiate with the shared goal of reaching a fair deal and preventing any impacts to students, their families, and all staff in our school system. Both sides listened and together found a way forward. CUPE is now taking this tentative agreement back to their members with a recommendation to vote yes. Most importantly for Nova Scotians, this means school operations and programs across the province will proceed as usual next week, which is the best and most important outcome for our students. I’d like to thank everyone at the table for the long hours it took to arrive here, and I look forward to CUPE members now having the chance to have their say.

Dear Nova Scotia students and families, I am sorry to report that we must now step up preparations for alternative learning, including online instruction, because of the increased risk of a school support staff strike next week. These workers, such as custodians, bus drivers, early childhood educators, and educational assistants are our friends and neighbours. We also respect the collective bargaining process, as evidenced by our track record that includes more than 400 settlement agreements since 2021 with very little labour disruption. But reaching an agreement requires movement from both sides. We have generally had proactive, focused partners across the table. Our negotiations with this specific union are proving difficult. Our bargaining teams negotiated with CUPE for 12 hours, from 7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday. During this time, Government emptied the tank, tabled three different wage offers and made numerous concessions and moves toward the various CUPE asks. The parties did reach agreement on important issues, including occupational health and safety training and resources. That is good. However, despite that progress, CUPE would not move from its demand that the wage pattern, which CUPE itself helped establish just months ago, now be abandoned. Department staff tell me CUPE is now saying that, instead of the established pattern, they insist on an additional 6.3 to 20.2 per cent increase in wage on top of the wage pattern. For perspective this could mean an additional $200 million per year if applied across the broader public sector wage pattern. This comes at a time when provincial deficits are already leading to difficult cuts. The fact that CUPE received three new offers and did not present even a single wage counterproposal to our offers is sad. But to make matters worse, they also refuse to put the current offer before their members and let them vote on it. Here are just some of the things that the current offer made by government on behalf of taxpayers makes available to the members: - Wage increases ranging from 8.26 to 18.46 per cent over four years. - Increases of up to $3.77 an hour for some members. - Increases to student support workers who work the 190-day school year, bringing some up to the equivalent of $67,000 per year with dental, medical, pension and vacation benefits. -Protection through a clause that would match qualifying higher wage settlements during the two years with scheduled increases of 1.5 per cent. This is a very fair offer. Despite this, CUPE is maintaining a wage demand outside the established public sector “pattern,” a pattern CUPE itself has helped establish through other agreements. Their demand would eventually cost taxpayers nearly $200 million every year over and above the investments of $33.5 million already contemplated in the offer. The unfortunate reality is that for the Government, as we saw with the protests around the recent budget, there are limits. We must be fair to workers while protecting our ability to fund classrooms, healthcare and other essential services. This year’s public education budget is $1.4 billion, an increase of more than $55.5 million. The recent long term care strike remains a troubling reminder of what prolonged disruption means for families. During that dispute, CUPE leadership also declined to put an offer before its members. We cannot afford to repeat that experience with students. I urge CUPE to show flexibility and give the workers themselves an opportunity to vote on the offer. If a strike forces schools to move online, students and families will bear the consequences. Children who depend on additional support would be particularly affected, and working parents would face difficult choices. CUPE has not yet provided the required 48 hours’ strike notice. A disruption is not inevitable, but I want families to know that we are actively preparing for one. Sadly, this preparation is already impacting student learning. I expect everyone to return to the table prepared to negotiate in good faith. Ours is a fair agreement that respects workers, taxpayers, and students. There are more than 132,000 students and their families depending on this, so I am prepared to personally be at the table tonight to push for a deal.

Congratulations to Lorne Doerkson on being elected as the next Premier of British Columbia. This is a critical time for our country. I look forward to working with Premier Doerkson to break down barriers to trade between provinces, develop our natural resources, strengthen Canada's self-reliance, and create good-paying jobs.

On HMCS Kootenay Day, we stop to remember the nine brave crew members who lost their lives and the 53 injured in 1969. The heroics of the crew saved lives and kept their ship afloat during the worst peacetime tragedy in Canadian Navy history. Today, we honour those lost, the survivors, and their families.