Bill No. 136 - Financial Measures (2019) Act. - Second Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak briefly on this bill. I'm sure my colleague and the minister both look forward to hearing from more folks at Law Amendments Committee who are impacted. I would agree with my colleague in the Official Opposition that this is a thin bill with a lot of content, so we will take some time to digest all of the various things that are contained here.

Certainly it has a theme, and it has a theme that I would say is consistent with the theme of this budget, which is around this notion that we hear of red tape reduction.

In downtown Dartmouth, the Premier and the federal minister and the mayor recently had a panel discussion - to which I was not invited, but where I appeared anyway - to discuss red tape reduction, which is great. We've heard it in our committees, the members of this government consistently put forward that topic - it's something they are proud of and I have no quibble with that, Mr. Speaker.

But I would say that it's only half the story. When the government talks about red tape reduction, that red tape reduction relates to companies - here we see it in the Corporation Registration Act, we see in other areas. But, Mr. Speaker, I would contend that red tape reduction ought not be limited to the part of the budget which I think I am right in saying is not the majority of the budget items, that relate to corporations and corporate stimulus. What we don't see is red tape reduction in all the aspects of this government that relate to social services and to the many important programs this government offers for the citizens of Nova Scotia.

Mr. Speaker, we're making things easier for business, but we don't seem to be making them easier for people. We're not cutting the red tape for people who need income assistance. Everyone in this Chamber will know through their constituency offices, the headaches involved in receiving income assistance and maintaining a decent life while receiving those benefits in the myriad forms, and visits that are required by folks who often don't have transportation, may not have the appropriate education, and don't get a whole lot of help.

We don't see that red tape reduction with the WCB, Mr. Speaker, as we heard this morning in Question Period. We don't see it for people facing health issues and complex emergency care requirements, people who are presenting to emergency rooms to be told that their particular issue can't be dealt with there. And, we don't see it for vulnerable parts of this province and vulnerable constituencies of this province that require specialized supports.

Just for a moment to single out the autism community, this government actually has a number of supports that they offer for people who need extra respite care and services as a result of a diagnosis of ASD or other similar diagnoses. What I hear over and over again, Mr. Speaker, is that they don't know how to find those services. No one tells them that those services are available. That is red tape. That's red tape - we have services that are hard to access, that are difficult to find, and even if you can find them, are exceedingly complex and burdensome to apply for.

Even here in our own Assembly, Mr. Speaker, as we discussed recently, we haven't somehow found the funding required to make the proceedings of the committees of this House accessible to the people of Nova Scotia. I contend that that's red tape - that to access the proceedings of the people's House is the right of the people of Nova Scotia, yet we make that exceedingly difficult.

As the member for Clare-Digby pointed out, we have a YouTube channel. It is partially populated with one of our committees - and that's a great start. But all of our committees should be available to everyone in the province, Mr. Speaker. They should be available on the Web, they should have CART services and they should be able - we want to encourage people to understand what goes on here.

Mr. Speaker, we'll have more to say on the Financial Measures (2019) Bill after hearing from Law Amendments, after third reading. I think the changes being made and the red tape being reduced only tells part of the story.

So, with those few comments I'll take my seat.