For Immediate Release
25 May, 2023
Lela Evans, NDP MHA for Torngat Mountains, says Budget 2023-24 has failed her people where it mattered most.
“This budget did nothing to address extreme food prices, prohibitive home heating costs, lack of housing, patient access to adequate and timely health care, or barriers to education. I could not vote for this budget,” she said today.
“I cannot support a budget that leaves the people of my district having to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table, that leaves them unable to afford adequate safe housing,” said Evans. “We proposed solutions, like returning the freight boat to service until we have road access to deal with the economic and social marginalization that successive governments have allowed to continue. The minister responsible called it a non-issue.”
Evans says government inaction has direct impacts on real people.
“The budget does not improve access to mental health or treatment for addictions, and ignores the very real challenges of gender-based violence. These failures compound further in my district where people struggle with intergenerational trauma.
“Canada’s housing advocate called housing in Torngat Mountains a ‘human rights violation,’” Evans said. “We witnessed high school students being forced to do on-line courses so their teachers could be stolen from them to fill vacancies elsewhere. We hear continuously from patients bumped off medical flights, preventing them from getting to their appointments for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, broken bones, and other health issues.
“We called for improvements last year, this year during budget consultations, and again in the legislature. My greatest worry is for those who cannot afford enough food or energy to heat their houses. The refusal of this government to act when they have been told time and time again about the inequities in my district means that we are not a priority, and I could not support this budget.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca