For Immediate Release
2 May, 2024
Today in the House of Assembly, the NL NDP Caucus voted against the Liberal budget. NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) says that the 2024 Budget was ho hum and did not go far enough to address the many crises people across Newfoundland and Labrador are facing.
“We keep hearing about the historic amount of funding this government is giving to serious issues like health care, housing, and cost of living, but we have yet to see any real action to help lift people out of crisis,” said Dinn. “This budget, does not give the people of the province hope that the Liberal government truly understands the struggles they are facing.”
“We still have people living in tents, with a housing minister who victimizes the homeless and puts blame on volunteers who are trying to help them find safe, long term housing. We see continued crisis in mental health care, with government still riddling off 811 as an “effective” measure to help those impacted by mental illness. We don’t see anything in this budget that will help address the 1900 vacant health care positions. Nothing to address the cost of living, or the cost of healthy foods. This budget simply falls flat.”
Liberals were more concerned with ensuring media coverage on budget day than actually delivering for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
“This government likes to puff up their chest rather than actually listen to solutions. Instead, they stand on their soapbox, refuse to engage in meaningful debate, and make empty announcements as a way to try to deflect from of their failure to address the issues facing the province.
“As we said when we first heard the budget from outside of the House of Assembly, there is nothing life changing in this budget. There’s nothing to show any willingness to solve the problems people are feeling every day.”
Read the NL NDP’s Budget asks here:
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca