The recently elected leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party is sharing his thoughts on his new job.
Zach Churchill says his first job will be representing his riding of Yarmouth, but after a number of cabinet positions he feels he was ready to take on leadership of the party.
Those positions include Minister of Health and Wellness, Minister of Natural Resources, and Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Churchill shared some early thoughts on his party’s prospects in the next election.
“It’s going to be tough, we’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do,” says Churchill. “I’m certainly not coming into this with rose coloured glasses on, I know how challenging this is going to be and the Premier has been fairly popular in year one.”
However Churchill says Premier Tim Houston has foundational challenges by promising big on healthcare.
He says they are failing to live up to the promises made.
Return of the Legislature
The Nova Scotia legislature was recently reconvened to discuss a proposed increase to MLA salaries.
The Progressive Conservative government passed a bill rescinding the pay increase during the emergency session.
Churchill doesn’t believe the situation was a true “emergency” and says he used the opportunity to discuss other issues.
“How our healthcare system has actually gotten drastically worse under this government,” says Churchill. “I personally got to ask the Premier questions on that and debate him on the current situation with healthcare, where we currently have people without a family doctor.”
He feels we have gone from a challenging healthcare situation to a near system collapse across the board.
Churchill says the best way to protect hospitals is to release more information about the COVID-19 situation in Nova Scotia.
Churchill spoke with our newsroom for Y95’s The Weekender. The full interview can be found here or on podcast forums like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
