Some reflections on the past year under COVID from the premier to get us started @peileg today.

We've got the operating budget coming tomorrow, then the house breaks for our first "legislative planning week." #peipoli
Bevan-Baker starts off QP asking the premier what he'll do to "reign in" minister who provide false statements in the house. I think both his examples are Myers. Including the time he told the house the process for special warrants is to spend the money, then apply (it's not).
And over to said minister, with a question stemming from debate around a Green bill yesterday. Bevan-Baker asks Myers what role small modular nuclear reactors will play in getting #PEI to net zero? We don't know, answers the minister. We'll be having convos with NB.
Small nuclear not expected to be commercially available in Canada before 2030, Bevan-Baker notes, so he asks the minister why he's even talking about this, when #PEI's plan is to reach net zero by 2030.
Myers says he's figured out what Greens are up to today -- they're trying to make the point that nuclear is bad, and "the Tories want to build a bomb over there." #peipoli
Howard trying to make the point that wind is cheaper than nuclear, and a proven technology. The debate keeps going back to the legislation Howard brought forward yesterday, and I missed that debate and haven't wrapped my head around it yet.
@beaton_michele trying to nail down how much the housing boom/crisis on #PEI is padding govt tax revenues. Beaton wants the province to implement a vacancy tax. We're working on it, responds the finance minister.
The percentage of mortgages in arrears in Atlantic Canada is twice the national average, Beaton says. Compton says she'll get those numbers, but says property taxes (which were deferred last year) are up to date.
Hal Perry with a Q on decision by the province to suspend COVID support payments to community care facilities. In his area, he says those facilities are looking after long-term care clients because there aren't enough long-term care spots. And they have increased pandemic costs.
Minister says those facilities have the opportunity to apply for funding if they have increased costs. Perry's questions are straddling some line between concern for increased costs from COVID and a lack of long-term care spaces sending clients with increased needs to comm. care.
Henderson hopes it's not too "politically incorrect" to ask premier a question about health care. Wants details on 3 "medical neighbourhoods" announced in throne speech. 3 to begin, says premier, directed toward areas with greatest #s on patient registry. More deets tomorrow.
A suggestion from Henderson that the govt has "given up" on recruitment of doctors. We haven't, says premier, couldn't be further from the truth. (He did candidly say the notion of a doctor for every Islander was out of reach, thus jumping onto this collaborative care model.)
King says he doesn't understand why the previous government didn't move forward with collaborative care. (They were, they just weren't particularly forthcoming in explaining what was happening.)
And the premier, who yesterday urged all parties to dial down the rhetoric talking about mental health, is now dishing out some grade-A political rhetoric about doctor recruitment & the patient registry, and what the Liberals did with this file.
.@CornwallHeath asks the premier to explain how priority groups are identified for vaccination. Wants to make a case to get blood service workers on that list. Premier says he hasn't asked Dr. Morrison to bump anyone up on the list, he's taken her advice on this.
MacDonald saying RCMP are asking to be prioritized. From what we've heard from CPHO, police are one of the priority groups for #PEI.
Deagle bringing an example of a family from his district, says a family member in desperate need of mental health support was able to get 30 minutes on the phone with a psychiatrist, and has waited months with no follow-up.
The needed therapy -- dialectical behaviour therapy -- isn't available for lack of resources, Deagle says.
Bernard making a bit of a stir in the chamber with a claim govt is defunding mental health supports for post-secondary students. Says of a $200k commitment from Liberals, the 2019 public accounts show no money was spent. And she says budget line was removed by Tories.
The education minister is insisting there will be funding in tomorrow's budget for this. She adds that she was really disappointed the official opposition didn't include students or the school system on its list of priorities.
And as QP ends, former finance minister Heath MacDonald rises on a point of order based on what the Greens just said about Liberal spending on post-secondary mental health supports.
Here I was girding myself to try to figure out what @RenewableSteve is proposing in his two bills on electricity and at least one of them has died. Now a motion from the Greens calling for IRAC to answer to the legislative assembly, which is an interesting proposition. #peipoli
I get the feeling it's become significantly harder for an opposition party to get a bill passed in this house.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Kerry Campbell

Kerry Campbell Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kerrywcampbell

12 Mar
#PEI 2021-22 budget comes with a $112M deficit — but has a built-in, $50M COVID contingency fund.

Deficit for current fiscal year — initially pegged at $172M — now expected to be $120M, in part because province didn’t spend all 2020-21 COVID contingency funding. #peipoli Image
This is a spending budget, with at least two more years of deficit spending in the long-term plan. That plan for #PEI only extends to 2023-24, when the province is projecting a $28M deficit. Govt calls it a plan to "get back to a more balanced budget." #peipoli
Read 12 tweets
12 Mar
Today we start to see some form take shape around the shadows of ideas put forward 2 weeks ago in the #PEI throne speech. Honestly I thought from the start there were a lot of interesting mentions there, which may or may not turn into the policies / programs they suggest.
In health care, more details around the province's move to collaborative health care, perhaps where these 3 'medical neighbourhoods' will be located (where the patients on the registry are). Details around the seniors health strategy & new programs to facilitate aging in place...
We've learned since throne speech day the commitment to add 300 childcare spaces this year is just govt fulfilling its 2-year-old promise on pre-k, which, well I think there's a case to be made to go beyond that. Maybe we'll learn what govt means by a "fixed rate" for ECE centres
Read 6 tweets
10 Mar
1/x The point of a carbon tax is to make it costlier to burn fossil fuels, thus by comparison making actions that harm the environment less (biking, taking the bus, working from home etc) more cost-competitive...
2/x When former premier Wade MacLauchlan came back from the Paris climate summit in the first year of his mandate, he was gung-ho about the "war effort" required to combat climate change, talk of tightening belts etc.
3/x But when it came time for #PEI to adopt a carbon price (which the province refused to do until forced by the feds literally on the last possible day), the tone changed dramatically. Govt was at that point insistent that tax paid by #PEI drivers would be returned to them.
Read 34 tweets
9 Mar
Set for a new week here @peileg. This is day 7 of the sitting, and after this week the house will break for March break. A break week is a (dare I say exciting?) new development here at the #PEI legislature. Of course in prior years the house wouldn't be sitting this time of year
Anyway, the new legislative calendar includes a break week every 4th sitting week. assembly.pe.ca/sites/www.asse…
.@nicolammacleod is joining the small but mighty @CBCPEI leg team today. She wrote this story, based on debate we heard last Friday in the house:

cbc.ca/news/canada/pr…
Read 38 tweets
14 Dec 20
A story I wrote Friday on #CERB eligibility / repayment has sparked considerable debate about the program & CRA efforts to reclaim some benefits.
I just wanted to share some links / info to expand on what's in the story in terms of govt messaging around eligibility.../ #cdnpoli
This hinges on whether those with self-employment income were directed to calculate net income (instead of gross) to determine eligibility. CRA told us "To be clear, there has been no change to this position during the lifecycle of the CERB." .../
From CRA: "This requirement was publicized on Canada.ca since the beginning, specifically under the category “Self-Employed and Independent Workers” on the Question and Answers page." And they provided the following link.../ canada.ca/en/services/be…
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!