The 2016 Liberal budget was quite a different beast from the 2017 budget on which the Liberals are running for re-election. Sure, it shared with the current version the obsession with achieving balance at the expense of public sector wages. But aside from that, it was leftish, featuring new spending on income assistance, childcare and disability supports.<\/p>\n
The Liberals seemed proud of those initiatives, too. Childcare was such a big deal the Premier announced it at the Liberal annual general meeting. In 2016 the increase in assistance rates was declared \u201chistoric,\u201d and the modest increase in spending on disability supports rated several mentions in the budget. At the time, I wrote a piece here<\/a> posing the question: \u201cToken Gesture or Welcome First Steps.\u201d Sadly, based on the 2017 budget, the answer has to be \u201cToken Gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n Income assistance<\/strong><\/p>\n The tokenism of last year\u2019s gesture on income assistance is pretty obvious. The Liberals expect to spend slightly less on this program in 2017-18. When inflation is taken into account, this amounts to a 2.2% cut. Families with children will be cushioned from the effect of budget austerity by increases in the federal Canada Child Benefit that came into effect last year. But the most needy \u2013 single recipients with no child benefits \u2013 will be at the mercy of the shrunken income assistance allotment. Moreover, because their incomes are too low, they get nothing from the modest tax cuts contained in the budget. And low-income Nova Scotians will find little solace in the budget\u2019s commitment of $2 million this year \u201cto fund a plan to address poverty in Nova Scotia.\u201d<\/p>\n Childcare<\/strong><\/p>\n The story on childcare is more complicated. The Liberals are increasing the overall allotment for early childhood development by just under $8 million. That may look impressive – until you consider two factors. First, the child-care system the Liberals started to fix with their 2016 budget cried out for significant investment. Wages for child care workers were the lowest in the country as were subsidies to low-income families. Fees were high, and the number of regulated spaces insufficient. The other confounding factor is that the Liberals seem to be putting nearly half of the new money into expanding school-based pre-primary programs for four-year-olds.<\/p>\n The idea of pre-primary for four-year-olds has been around for a while. The Conservatives piloted it in 2005 but cancelled it three years later. In 2014 the Liberals re-introduced it in eight schools in low-income neighbourhoods. But the place of pre-primary in an improved early learning and child care system wasn\u2019t even dealt with in \u201cAffordable, Quality Child Care: A Great Place to Grow,\u201d the government\u2019s five-year day care plan released just last June.<\/p>\n But that was then. Now pre-primary seems to be using up much of the oxygen in the early learning room. Once worthy of top billing at the Liberal AGM, child care received a few mentions in the budget. But pre-primary – with the Premier\u2019s promise to make it universally available by 2020 at a cost of $49 million- was the marquee promise on day four of the election campaign.\u00a0Whether this is good policy or just electioneering I don\u2019t know, not being an expert. But as an advocate for people, like my son, who have developmental disabilities I do know a bit more about the third area that received prominence in the progressive-sounding 2016 budget \u2013 the disability support program.<\/p>\n Disability supports<\/strong><\/p>\n Transforming the disability support program over ten years from one characterized by long waiting lists and a gross over-reliance on institutional care into a community-based system serving all those in need was an initiative of the Dexter government. The McNeil government adopted the policy direction but last year\u2019s budget marked the first time any new money was added to achieve the transformation- $2.2 million \u201cto help Nova Scotians with disabilities transition out of facility-based care into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n If anyone hoped that this was the start of something big, she would be disappointed by the 2017 budget. Nova Scotians with developmental disabilities were not among the chosen winners. The 2016 modest start was followed by a modest 2017 follow-up. Funding for transformation increased only slightly, with $2.1 million going to create 12-16 small option beds and the rest \u2013 about $750,000 – to assist about 25 individuals who must also rely on family support or some other community network.<\/p>\n If things go as planned this year, a mere 50 individuals will have been helped to live in the community at the end of year four of a ten-year process. But wait lists have increased from 1,100 to over 1,340 in the past year, and Nova Scotia continues to be a shameful anomaly with some 550 individuals still housed in large institutions, even as all but a few provinces have closed such facilities. Meanwhile, the Minister has tried to excuse the lack of progress with dubious claims about \u201ctragedies\u201d that occurred in other provinces when institutions were closed too quickly. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s an over-used expression, but appropriate in this case. In their drive for re-election, the Liberals have thrown those 2016 budget initiatives under the campaign bus. They have been triaged out by the more traditional political necessities such as \u00a0highways, tax cuts and handouts to business.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n