Karla MacFarlane, interim leader of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party, has been moving outside the bounds of her riding as MLA, looking to consult the people of Nova Scotia, as the leadership race for the party looms.
MacFarlane has hosted –and is hosting – a number of town hall style consultations throughout the province, with the intention of “getting to the ground-level and letting the people of Nova Scotia speak their minds.”
“People are deeply concerned. So many do not have a doctor,” said MacFarlane, describing one of the most common anxieties of Nova Scotians she has consulted – health care.
Having heard some of the voices of the people already, MacFarlane said one of the most urgent concerns of people, across the province, is Nova Scotia’s ailing health care system and the many issues plaguing it at this time.
“We’re a small province of 950,000 people and we know that healthcare is a big issue,” said MacFarlane, who noted that the concerns she has heard have varied, from area to area.
“Some areas feel they may not be doing bad with doctors, but we don’t have a dialysis unit, so there are a number of people in the community who have to travel to Halifax to receive treatment,” said MacFarlane.
Among the challenges people face, MacFarlane said a lack of long-term care facilities – and a lack of beds or seniors in those facilities – is another issue that has frequently come up in her consultation of the residents of Nova Scotia.
MacFarlane herself has no plan to run as leader for the PC party, so her tour is an effort to equip the next leader of the party with the knowledge to do their job effectively, as leader of the opposition.
Another issue that has recurrently come up is that of cannabis legalization – one MacFarlane says is too rushed, and poorly planned.
“Some people are confused because they thought it would actually be legal by July 1. There’s a lot of confusion as to what then rules and regulations around the legalization of cannabis,” she said.
MacFarlane said that a more prudent approach to legalization would have been a “six to nine-month awareness campaign, organized prior to legalization. That was what I requested during the spring session of legislature.”
