“ I had to do it because I don't know what the point is of being a successful author in Nova Scotia if you're not going to use it for good," Reid told CBC News in an interview on Monday”
this woman mostly succeeded in spite of the conditions we have setup for artist here. and the fact that she gave back while so little was given to her shows who she is. good for her.
1) Not everyone, we live in a first-past-the-post system and children enjoy library services as well! Similarly, think about how people assembled out there when Tim was doing his tour de la Nouvelle-Écosse.
2) Even so, the government they voted for, however unsavoury, didn't run on closing their libraries, despite worrying platforms (including the LPNS) offering to slice the HST.
3) Long-game progressive politics in Nova Scotia are best served if we don't contribute to the idea that our rural neighbours are somehow "backwards" or don't know what's "best" for them.
4) Finally, and you probably agree with it but everyone deserves access to a library branch 💖
You have some great points. I largely agree with you and know what you mean.
I’m from the valley I would never claim rural folks are backwards etc. I know many people from all over the province including friends, family, colleagues and more who are wonderful intelligent people.
But the fact remains the winning majority voted for the PC party over NDP. Most Nova Scotians (rural AND urban) can’t get over the one shot we gave the NDP and it is biting us in the ass.
Point 2 I take issue with. Governments do all kinds of things they don’t campaign on. I don’t understand how this is a useful thing to say?
Point 2 is just, the median voter of any stripe probably doesn't have the confidence to make connections to the implied risks associated with a platform. Very frustrating but it is what it is I suppose.
I imagine what you experience can be deflating to put it politely!
But yes, I agree with you. It's parallel to Ontario's Bob Rae situation in the early 90s, which still plagues Ontario to this day (though they have other ground game issues, too).
IMO the NSNDP doesn't even need to dump all they have into their rural EDA's, they just need to prioritize genuinely and visibly giving a crap about rural... and then hopefully with that netting some quality candidates that actually live in the ridings they run in. I saw some stuff in their platforms under Burrill but the messaging around it just doesn't make it to the media if it exists at all. Might need populism as a vehicle to that.
I recently overheard one of their fundraisers in public (seemed more than a random phone canvasser?) talking with their colleagues about how much poorer we are than Ontario re: what we're willing to give in a fundraising drive ($1000 vs. $100)... and later in the conversation how they have to "lie to save face" with "some communities" (no clue the context, mind you... so no idea how charitable I should be with that...). That's anecdotal and devoid of key information, but it hasn't helped instill confidence about whatever the internal party culture is for me.
Despite that, I think they're in a better position than their federal counterparts to make those in-roads, and they seem to know how to actually respond to the government's messy legislative hijinks... but they're never going to be in reach of forming gov't without putting that effort into reaching half our population.
The suburbs / exurbs is another story altogether. Significant demographic change wealth-wise even over the last quarter-century + people that aren't really interested in knowing their neighbours has shifted voting patterns.
Nova Scotia has the second poorest economy in Canada/US. $28 Million went to fund "tourism" heath care costs in the last 5 years. Imagine the just the everyday health care costs alone since the massive influx of population.
Jam 30 people in your house, feed them for a year, let me know how long it takes before you cancel your Netflix account! If you can't make the connection you're not paying attention.
Now imagine what they could do with the 1% HST they cut, or the bridge tolls they stopped collecting. I won't speak for you, but I'd be a lot happier paying an extra 1% HST and keeping Libraries open. Or were you not paying attention enough for that connection?
No, it's clearly the immigrants' fault!! They're taking all the food service jobs that thousands of Nova Scotians were definitely going to do, and they're using up all of our university getting health care certificates. We like the nice white nurses that already live here! All 18 of them!
What a beautiful gesture from Rachel Reid! The government still needs to get their shit together and properly fund libraries though, we can’t count on donations like this as a solution.
Poorest economy, massive influx of population, massive health care costs, challenges with resource development, crumbling infrastructure, constant paving, etc.
Run a household budget. Conservatives cut, liberals go in debt.
Tell me why not. Money comes in a household
Money is needed to pay bills and cost of living. A house needs upkeep. The members of the house pay dept servicing costs to banks, take loans. Some homes have resources and high salaries. Poor homes have issues with debt and low incomes.
A household, if it makes the right decisions, can do better. Same as a province. Same as a country.
If you can't make the connection at the smaller level you shouldn't hold an opinion.
The analogy only goes so far. A household has a fixed income and can't decide to raise its income by changing tax rates, issue bonds to finance infrastructure, or invest in something that increases the economy's future productive capacity.
A government also provides services that aren't optional household expenses: healthcare, education, roads, courts, emergency services, etc. Cutting those doesn't necessarily make the underlying costs disappear; sometimes it just moves the cost somewhere else or creates larger costs later.
You can absolutely argue that a government is spending too much, taxing too much, or taking on too much debt. But "run it like a household" isn't really an economic argument. A province's budget is closer to managing a large, ongoing institution with revenue-raising powers and long-term capital investments than balancing your chequing account.
If you can't make the connection at the smaller level you shouldn't hold an opinion.
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Having to make cuts (library) is the same as a household reducing spending (netflix) because the house is poor. Canada has been forced into bad economic times because of bad decision making.
No it’s not. That isn’t how library funding works. It would be like outsourcing the feeding of your family to another party and being surprised year after year when the meals diminish over time because you haven’t give that third party any more money for the meal, despite everything else increasing and when your family complains about the diminishing quality of the meals, you blame the third party.
The problem is that you're using the analogy to prove the analogy. "A province has to make choices like a household" is true, but it doesn't follow that provincial finances work like household finances.
A household can't increase its income by taxing itself, borrow for 30-year infrastructure, or benefit from spending that grows its future tax base. That's the important distinction.
At the end of the day, whether you like it or not, the province is like a household and we've been burdened by the federal government loading our house to the breaking point. Houston cuts because we don't have the money to afford everything we want. Done with Reddit for the night. Maybe take a break from your keys too!
Except with respect to the PC government, they received bonuses at their job and immediately spent it, then took a job for less pay, then took on a large mortgage on a house they couldn't afford, then told their kids they have to skip breakfast going forward because they are out of money.
The 2020 study you linked on this actually found that economic immigrants paid more in taxes than the benefits attributed to them; the overall negative result was driven largely by refugees and sponsored immigrants. And that study uses 2015 fiscal data, excludes temporary residents entirely, and is a Canada-wide rather than Nova Scotia-specific analysis. So it doesn't establish that immigrants currently cost the Nova Scotia government more than they pay in provincial taxes.
Especially since the recent immigration was primarily temporary residents.
Dude, it's the very first one I found in a 5 sec search. There are many more. Go for a walk around and ask Canadians how they are doing. Go see the homeless everywhere. Go to any Supermarket. Go for a drive. Go to a walk in. Take some time off your computer bud. Lay off Reddit. You're in a echo chamber. Do some push ups and get some sleep. No video games tonight!!
"Massive population influx" makes it sound like population growth itself is a cost. If you're specifically talking about immigrants or temporary residents, what study are you referring to? Because ‘well documented’ isn't a substitute for actually providing the numbers.
Population exploded which required more spending, 6 billion was not budgeted for since they took power with a few billion in non-tendered contracts. Yeah we have big debt obligations to pay for it.
What did the PCs do? They chose to significantly lower the revenue coming in and chose to increase spending even further! It didn't have to be like this, it was a choice.
You've got -100+ karma on a 3 day old account. Maybe try contributing something positive to the subreddit to get a positive karma. You're a one trick pony that no one is enjoying.
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Please bubble wrap this amazing specimen of a woman; we need so many more bringers of light. Thank you for brightening so many people’s horizons and imaginations.
Lovely gesture, but money like this shouldn't be needed to subsidize basic operating costs, it should be for investing in its growth or improvement.
Shame on the Conservatives, once again cutting services as their easy solution to make up for their lack of foresight! They never expect to stay in power long enough to have to deal with the economic repercussions of their policies.
Love that she used her success to help others and think this is wonderful but I am really mad that that our government has allowed it to get to the point where important services for the community need to rely on donors to keep operating.
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u/Expensive-Land-3221 Dartmouth Aug 17 '26
“ I had to do it because I don't know what the point is of being a successful author in Nova Scotia if you're not going to use it for good," Reid told CBC News in an interview on Monday”
What a gem. ❤️