The Nova Scotia Citizens’ Healthcare Network is releasing its election report card today and has given each of the three major political parties a near failing grade.
The release, obtained yesterday by Metro Halifax, shows the group gave the Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP a D each. The Green Party came out just ahead with a C-minus.
The network is a coalition of community groups whose goal is to prevent the privatization of healthcare. They assigned the grades according to how each party’s healthcare platform lined up with policy recommendations made by the group over the past year.
These recommendations address issues such as ER closures, healthcare privatization and a lack of spending on infrastructure
Kyle Buott, the group’s provincial coordinator, said the parties scored low because of their stance on ER closures and healthcare privatization, which Buott feels are among the most important issues.
“None of the parties did very well…because none of the parties [other than the Greens] actually openly said they supported public healthcare,” Buott said. “None of the parties have a clear plan [to deal with ER closures].”
Buott said the Greens stood out because they seem to favour transforming the healthcare system on a fundamental level. But they didn’t stand out by much, he added.
“We certainly have a lot of concerns that they didn’t cost out their platform adequately,” Buott said of the Greens.
