A new home care program is paid for and ready to go, but the provincial Liberals are accusing the Tories of waiting until an election to get it going.
On Wednesday, deputy health minister Cheryl Doiron confirmed at a public accounts committee meeting that the program was ready to go and just waiting for cabinet approval.
The program would provide extra compensation to people who take care of family members.
Liberal health critic Dave Wilson accused the Conservatives of sitting on the program so they could unveil it as an election plank.
“Why delay if the program is ready to go? Obviously the delay is there because they want to lay this out as a big, shiny item in their election platform which is coming up in the not-too-distant future,” Wilson said.
“It’s pretty obvious to me that it’s politics. They’re playing politics with the lives of Nova Scotians.”
Health Minister Karen Casey denied the program was being delayed until an election. She said the government is waiting to work out tax issues to make sure recipients won’t be negatively affected.
“(We’re making) sure that the allowance we give for that to happen has no impact on the recipients’ level of income,” Casey said.
“If someone’s income is going to be impacted … we need to know what that implication is.”
