This House Would Recognize That The NDP Should Lose the 2009 Nova Scotia Election

I would like first to begin by pointing out that the opposition has completely ignored, or possibly not seen, the point of my last argument. I made out possible situations as to why the NDP may not win an election, but that is all of course dependent on their performance during the elect. My opponent should know that given the status of Nova Scotia's ridings situations, its political history and tendencies, and the mechanics of party politics in this country, the NDP have a significant disadvantage during this election. His argument of, "just watch me", is therefore only an assumption, and a boisterous one at that. As well, I never compared Mr. McNeil to Michael Ignatieff, but wished to point out that federal politics has an unmistakable effect on provincial politics. The popularity of Mr. Ignatieff in Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals now sit comfortably at 40%, is an asset to Mr. McNeil, not only because unlike other provinces, the NS Liberals are affiliated with the federal party, but because of the inevitable support that will drift towards the Liberals out of it. As to his ascertain that I have not mentioned the Tories. It is true, but only because I do not believe I could win an argument by butting heads between the two parties. My opponent misses the entire point of my argument The fact of the matter is, the Liberals represent a credible threat to the NDP. I do not wish my opponent to fool himself as Premier MacDonald has; this is not a two-way race between the Tories and the NDP. It is a mangling of political parties that will draw off one another, and the fact of it is, the Liberals are best suited to take away from both. Competition between them shall rage on, and the NDP will most likely lose some seats to the Liberals. That is not an assumption; it is a fact of political battles. I do not wish to address my opponent's criticisms of Premier MacDonald, because as I stated earlier, I do not believe that by butting heads between the two leaders, will I win this debate. But I wish to address his comments about Justice Minister Cecil Clark, in which he is absolutely correct. But I wish to direct him to the NDP's plan to correct this problem, and finally fix the Nova Scotian justice system. . http://www.ns.ndp.ca... I forgot, there isn't one. No where is there a single reference to the ongoing problems with the justice system in Nova Scotia, especially with the mistakenly freed inmates. It appears that when the NDP criticize, they don't like to make a solution. I guess it just isn't the NDP way. The opposition mentioned about the NDP environmental plan, with cap-and-trade systems. They plan on working with the majority of Canadian provinces to build a cap-and-trade system, yet that is all it is - going with the majority. The cap-and-trade system has many faults to it that the NDP refuse to admit. They want to stick with the plan that the federal government - the Conservative federal government - tries to implement while other provinces like British Columbia institute carbon taxes *and* cap-and-trade systems, working both ideas best they can. BC knows that being just another premier in Stephen Harper's hand is not right. Where is Dexter's leadership on the environment? It is with Gordon Campbell, Liberal Premier of British Columbia The NDP plan for health care is admirable. But I have only one question; where do they expect to pay for all of this? Darrell Dexter says that he will work to keep emergency departments open, shorten wait times for surgery and all sorts of other neat tidbits that would truly help Nova Scotians. But he has no plan on how he would help pay for the expenses of increasing doctors and nurses at hospitals, the wages they need to work 24/7/365 to keep those emergency departments open; the expenses of "travelling surgical teams"; the expenses of almost all of his health care reforms. The very document where they lay out these plans does not mention one single number in relation to how much this will cost, and how much Nova Scotians will pay. (. http://ndpcaucus.ns.ca...) The government on the other hand has handed out a specific, costed health care strategy that has and will continue working to give Nova Scotians the care they deserve. As of November 2008, the PC strategies have helped drop residential care facility's wait times by 13%, by adding 100-million dollars in new equipment and services. (. http://gov.ns.ca...) This is only one part of the PC plan, a plan that the NDP itself endorse. The Continuing Care Strategy. (. http://www.gov.ns.ca...) Where is Darrell Dexter's fiscal responsibility with health? With Tory Premier Rodney MacDonald. I was going to talk about the NDP economic plan here, but I find nothing wrong with what it says. The problem is though, as I stated above with their health care plans, the NDP have not costed any single bit of their platform. There is no mention of any numbers, except for bringing up the Manufacturing and Processing Tax Credit to 10%. There is no numbers to support anything else. Let me point something out to my opponent. This the NDP page on 'Investing in Jobs': . http://www.ns.ndp.ca... This is the government's plan: . http://gov.ns.ca... Notice the difference yet? It isn't just because the Tories are in power either. This is just some Liberal media releases on finances, also appearing with numbers: . http://www.liberal.ns.ca... . http://www.liberal.ns.ca... Now, I would like the exemplify the federal NDP page on 'Corporate Taxes': . http://www.ndp.ca... They mention something about the tax rate, and the rest turns into rhetoric, with nothing showing how they will implement those reforms, or how much it will cost everyone. I would like now to point out the governing Conservative economic platform: . http://www.conservative.ca... Now, I would like to show a federal Liberal website that watches over that Conservative economic platform: . http://onprobation.ca... The key difference here between the NDP and the Conservatives and Liberals, both provincial and federal, is that the latter two *include* numbers. If there must be no further proof of Dexter's inability to lead, I believe this would be it. Just as Jack Layton failed in his attempt to become the next Prime Minister with a groundless economic platform, Darrel Dexter will fall on the same premise. I give Dexter credit for including statistics on his tax credit plan, but that is clearly not all he intends to do. If he were a real leader, he would show Nova Scotians the cost of all his programs, and exactly how much it will cost them. But clearly, the leadership isn't there. Where is Darrell Dexter's leadership on supporting the economy, and actually showing that he can support the plan to support the economy? With Premier Rodney MacDonald, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Stephen McNeil and federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Everywhere but the NDP.