The Community-Of-People-I Advocate-For Has Very High Expectations for Opposition MLA’s During This Current Sitting of The Nova Scotia House of Assembly

By Kendall Worth!

 

 

 

 

Even though opposition MLA’s do not have the same authority that government MLA’s have, opposition MLAs can still raise questions to Minsters during Question Period, in the House. This current session of the House is getting started with lots of unfinished business of ESIA transformation which did not get touched during the first 4 years of the Houston Government. For more on what “did not get touched” , see this post, s and this post which includes evidence that some form of transformation was still happening at points during the first 4 years.

As I reported in this post, The Nova Scotia House of Assembly went into a new session on February 14^th, 2025 -- AKA Valentines Day. There is a piece in this post that touches on the reasons why Section 6.1.8 of the Employment Support and Income Assistance Policy Manual needs to change. I hope all MLA’s whether in government or opposition, pay attention to this post, because I touch on the relationship between several pieces of unfinished ESIA transformation business. I talk in general more about why major changes are needed to this policy in my posts dated May 22, 2022 (Part 1) and May 24, 2022 (Part 2)

The community-I-advocate-for sees this as just one out of several pieces of unfinished business of the ESIA transformation, begun under the former Liberal Government 2013 till 2021 because:

#1 – If 2 Income Assistance Recipients decide to live together in a romantic relationship, as reported in a post, February 13, 2025, they will loose $591.00 of their Income Assistance as a result. The punishment of people in a relationship is one out of the many ways that ESIA encourages /tells Income Assistance Recipients, that being lonesome and living in social isolation, is OK. This blog post elaborates further on why social isolation is not OK.

#2 – An Annual Review of Income Assistance recipient’s circumstances, is required by law and policy in Nova Scotia, when you are collecting Income Assistance. I reported on this here, and here. This part of the policy makes Income Assistance recipients feel like they have to be careful what they disclose to the Case Worker about their personal lives. Income Assistance caseworkers have been know to use enforcement of their part of the policy, as an opportunity to not mind their own business during annual reviews. In some of my other unrelated posts, I talk about the stigma that Income Assistance Recipients face. This action of an income assistance caseworker only makes Income Assistance Recipients feel further stigmatized.

Everything I have mentioned is only small pieces of the puzzle about why there is such high expectation from Income Assistance Recipients for Opposition MLA’s this time around. Who else will speak for us? Now to get into the unrelated reasons for them to speak up.

The reality is in the last year Income Assistance rates, esp those with barriers to employment, have gone up. As reported in my January 09, 2025 BLOG post, the Standard house hold rate is now $1005 a month. Also we have seen 60% of Income Assistance Recipients qualify for that $300 supplement that began in April 2024 and is now $316.00 a month. Do not get me wrong, I do agree this is improvement from past rates, but what about other pieces of the Transformation?

Other unrelated questions that need to be raised during this sitting of the house include:

• What is being done to create and improve the stock of affordable housing in this province? For the latest on the Nova Scotia Crises see: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-houseing-crises-in-nova-scotia.html and for one suggestion for improvement see: https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/2025/02/one-solution-to-housing-crises-in.html

• Now that the Department in charge of Income Assistance has changed it’s name from Community Services to Department of Opportunities and Social Development, what plans are there for changes in the department and/or program structure or benefits are in the works? Why was this name change Necessary?

• Throughout this whole so-called transformation the process of qualifying for Special Diets has never been changed or addressed. See this post and this one, for more on why questions around special diets need to be asked. The question is: Are there any plans in the works to finally address this issue relating to Bureaucratic nonsense and systemic issues around qualifying for the Special Diet allowances as well as raising the Special Diet rates?

• And what about the addressing what needs to change within the DSP Program. The following posts, Here Here and here which address the needed changes.

• And finally, now that the Department in charge of Income Assistance is called Department of Opportunities and Social Development, it would only make sense for the Career Seek Program to be re-invented, and provide a lot more people with educational opportunities. See this post for more on why. It results in this question coming directly from IA recipients: Will the Department have a whole other look at this program, and make changes to program structure and to make it easier to qualify?

We are are at a point in time, where a lot of anxiety is expressed daily, Cconcern and worry for an Income Assistance Recipients’ futures is high. Let’s hope that those concerns can be raised through questions, by the NDP and Liberal MLA’s, during this current sitting of the house.