Progressive Conservatives from across Nova Scotia converged on Halifax the weekend of February 8, 9 & 10 for our annual meeting. The room was packed on Friday night for leader Jamie Baillie's keynote speech.

The weekend was a great time to connect and plan for the coming election campaign.
The PC Party has the most candidates nominated at this point: 25. We're also ready financially.

South Shore PC Candidates: Brian Pickings, Janet Irwin, David Mitchell

With two members of my campaign team: Bill Brooks (L) & George Broome (R)

With Shane Buchan (Kings South) & former Premier Hon. John Hamm

Here is the text of leader Jamie Baillie's speech Friday night. It really set out why a Progressive Conservative government is needed now in Nova Scotia and why Jamie Baillie and the PC team should form the next government.

February 8, 2013

PC LEADER JAMIE BAILLIE
2013 AGM REMARKS

(after an introduction by Jamie’s daughter Alex) 

Alex, thank you. You make me very proud.  

 If any of you ever wonder about the importance of stopping the growth of debt, and deficits, and passing the bills on to our children…remember my Alex…and yours.   

My name is Jamie Baillie. I’m a Chartered Accountant. And I can assure you that this speech does not contain a $27million error.  And we have a little game for everyone tonight. I want each of you to look under your seat, because you may be the lucky winner of the NDP’s missing $27million! Did you find it? But you know what is particularly galling about this? It isn’t the error. It isn’t the mistake. It is the cover-up that is wrong. We now know we have a government, that when faced with the decision to fess-up, or cover-up, chooses the cover-up. And that is wrong.  

The NDP say maybe they can balance the budget. They will keep racking up the tab for the next generation to pay. And that is shameful.  

The Liberals are no better. They won’t stop the string of deficit budgets either. In fact, they have been strangely quiet lately, while the debt keeps growing.  It seems the only Liberal we ever hear from, on anything these days, is Justin Trudeau! But let me tell you something. And this is important. Unlike Justin Trudeau…I will not exploit my natural good looks and sex appeal for political gain!  

  So the NDP, and the Liberals, are for running up the debt even more, YOU should know that only the new, modern, dynamic Progressive Conservative Party will balance the books and stop passing on more debt to our kids…once and for all.    

This time, let’s not just change political parties. Let’s truly change direction! 

   With the NDP, we know we have the highest taxes, and the highest power rates, in Canada. That is no surprise. But it is the record of corporate handouts…and giveaways… and bailouts…that no one saw coming.   Every dollar that the NDP took from you in higher HST went to big bail-outs, more bureaucracy, and even double doubles.

Yes. Double doubles. They are a whole new kind of corporate bail-out. The 4 government-run Tim Hortons' in our hospitals are losing money. Over $1.4 million a year. Now that takes a special talent…to lose money on a Tim Hortons. At Capital Health, they want to outsource these Tims, and the other food outlets, and put the money back into actual healthcare. But the NDP said no. 4 years in a row. No. Keep up the subsidies, they order. To Tims! The NDP give a whole new meaning to the term donut hole. Since he can even lose money on a Tim Hortons, doesn’t it make you feel good to know that when Darrell Dexter faces off with companies like the Irvings, Emera, Shell, Pacific West Forestry, Resolute Forest Products, and on and on…he’s using your tax money? Even Joan Jessome of the NSGEU has taken him to the cleaners…over and over again. They all did well this past year, unlike most Nova Scotians. These companies feel good when they face the NDP. And I doubt they’re worried about the Liberals.  

  We’re having a few laughs tonight about how the NDP and Liberals are alike. They really are pretty funny together. Like Ernie and Bert without the nice apartment. On all the tough issues, no one can tell them apart. High power rates are choking our economy… costing jobs . . . and squeezing the family budget. The Liberals run political attack ads about power. But when a reporter asked their Leader if his plan would really lower rates… he said No!. He hopes someday we have stable rates.  Now where have we heard that before? Darrell Dexter says his “bite the bullet” electricity plan is about stable rates. But they have gone up 25 per cent…and will keep going every year for the rest of this decade. That’s their kind of stable: up , up, up , up, up…! It may not be politically correct to say why our rates keep going up, which is why the Liberals and NDP won’t say it, but we tell Nova Scotians the truth about their power bills.These rate hikes are not driven by rising coal costs; they are driven by the expensive electricity policy of their own government, with the consent of the Liberals. Both the Liberals and NDP will cost you more and more and more…even though you’re already paying the highest power rates in Canada. Only the PCs have a plan to stop the increases. Even the CBC said so! Only we - the new, modern, dynamic PC party - will stop power rate increases in their tracks, and freeze them where they are. Not another job need be lost. Not another family need suffer. We will freeze rates by buying as much renewable energy as we can at the current rate, use more natural gas, and protect our economy and the jobs that go with it. The other 2 won’t. But WE WILL! This time, let’s not just change political parties, let’s truly change direction.   

 High taxes are also killing jobs and squeezing the family budget. The NDP raised the HST to the highest in Canada. They said they needed the money to balance the books. Since then, they have collected: A BILLION dollars in extra HST.That’s $1,000 each. Over $300m more in transfers from Ottawa.  And they borrowed another BILLION in new debt. But they still can’t balance the budget! No government in the history of Nova Scotia has had more money to play with, and they still can’t get it done. Suddenly that money-losing Tim Hortons is starting to make sense, isn’t it!?! So under the NDP we are stuck with a 15 per cent HST. Turns out the Liberals would keep the 15 per cent tax too. They complained about it when it went up, but they won’t reduce it. They complained about all the deficits too, but they won’t stop them. What a bunch those Liberals are. They complain and complain, but don’t have a clue what they, themselves would do. I remember the good ol’ days, when Graham Steele was in charge. He said he would reduce the government payroll by 1,000.    Well, Graham Steele is long gone, and guess how they are doing with this promised reduction? They are only off by 1,064. They aren’t serious about controlling the size of the bureaucracy. They won’t even outsource a money-losing Tim Hortons! The NDP won’t do it. The Liberals won’t do it. The Progressive Conservative Party balanced the budget of this province 8 years in a row, at the lower rate of HST. We’ve done it before. We will do it again. We will keep Graham Steele’s promise to reduce the government payroll by 10 per cent. We will freeze hiring, reduce the payroll, and control spending until the budget is balanced AND the HST is reduced…..for EVERYONE. We’ll even outsource those Tim Hortons! This time, let’s not just change political parties. Let’s truly change direction. 

This June marks 4 years of the NDP. That is the end of what most people consider to be their mandate. Or maybe they will hold on for 5? That would be unusual, but they seem strangely reluctant to call an election. They are running scared. Darrell Dexter desperately wants another 4 years to keep doing what he’s doing, The Liberals also want 4 years to keep doing what Darrell Dexter is doing: higher power rates, more deficits, the 15 per cent HST, and on and on…That is cold comfort to the 7,700 Nova Scotians who lost their job in the last year. It’s cold comfort to the thousands of kids who went to school in overcrowded classrooms this September. And it’s cold comfort to every single household that got an even higher power bill this month! They deserve real change. NDP or Liberal. Liberal or NDP. They are both the same. 2 sides of the same coin. You say tomato, and I say tomato. The Dynamic Duo of Debt and Despair. On all the important issues, you can’t tell them apart. So let’s be clear about how we are different…TRULY different, from the other 2 parties. Last spring, a strike threatened our healthcare, as 3,600 health-workers prepared to go off the job. Many important surgeries and medical tests were cancelled. Lisa Morehouse knows all this. She’s a single mother, raising a young child. She has cancer. Her treatments were about to start. Then a union contract dispute shut down the healthcare system. Her treatments were postponed. Lisa is here with us tonight. Mac and Marjory Fiander are here tonight. Marjory’s cancer surgery was outright cancelled. Mac wrote to the Premier: “Cancer doesn’t wait for anybody… this is totally unacceptable and immoral.” Darrell Dexter let the hospitals ramp down anyway. The Liberals said nothing…as usual. We are different. We will ALWAYS put patients first. We will keep those hospitals open. Not another surgery would ever be cancelled, or important test postponed, because of a contract dispute. A PC government would ban healthcare strikes and force both sides to work out their differences without holding patients hostage! Because we are for Lisa and Mac. Randy Arnold is also here. He’s visually impaired. Randy gets around on the Access-A-Bus. For 6 long weeks last winter, there was no bus. There was no easy way for Randy to get anywhere: to the grocery store, or the drugstore, or even to visit family and friends. There was a strike, a long strike…over money. Randy, and thousands like him who rely on the buses to get to work, or live their lives, paid the price. Randy said: “I hoped Premier Dexter would intervene on our behalf, but he wasn’t there.”  No. He wasn’t there. He was standing on the sidelines …with guess who…the Liberals again. Someone has to stand up for Randy, and his friends, and all the other hardworking Nova Scotians who take the bus to work every day… and keep those buses, and our economy, running. We will keep the buses running for people like Randy. We are for them. Give Randy a hand. We are with HIM. This time, let’s not just change political parties. Let’s truly change direction.

Now we have LaHave Manor, a non-profit group home for intellectually-challenged adults, located near Bridgewater. They face an imposed first contract, under the NDPs extreme new labour law. What happens when a contract is forced on a group home? What happens when real services, to those who need them the most, get cut to pay for it? This isn’t just a business issue anymore…it is a very human issue. And when it comes to the residents of LaHave Manor, our most vulnerable of citizens, they are the ones who pay! The NDP forced through First Contract Arbitration. The Liberals complained (again!) but now say they are OK with it, just not the kind the NDP have. Well, they have made their choices. They will allow these things to happen. But not us. We are for the people of LaHave Manor. We are for THEM. By the way, are you sensing a pattern with the Liberals? I hope at least there is some maple syrup with all this waffling! Or some sunscreen to go along with all their flip-flops. All Parties need to decide who they stand with. Clearly the NDP have picked the entitled, the special interests, the union leaders, and the comfortable. Columnist Lorne Gunter recently wrote this about the NDP: The NDP has largely become the defender of the tenured, the sinecured and the well paid... How true that is here in Nova Scotia. So we know who THEY are for. And the Liberals…well, who knows??? But WE are for Randy, and Lisa, and Mac, and the people of LaHave Manor, and all the men and women, who work hard, pay their taxes, send their kids to school, and need to know that it does not have to be this way! THIS time, let’s not just change political parties, let’s truly change direction.  

  Recently, the NDP finance minister said she was hearing from Nova Scotians that it is okay to break their promise and have more deficits. Do you ever wonder who these mystery people are, who keep telling them these things? Are they the same ones who told the NDP to please, please raise the HST?  Who is it that whispers these things into the ear of NDP finance ministers? It’s not me. I don’t think it’s any of you! I don’t even think it’s the Liberals, because that would mean they actually took a position on something! Turns out it was the Canadian Union of Public Employees! They put out a press release thanking the NDP for ‘taking a more open-minded approach to the question of balancing the books’. The question of balancing the books? It’s a question now???  Like should I wear the blue tie or the green tie today’?  Should I have the soup or a sandwich for lunch?  Should I watch the hockey game or the Big Bang Theory? THOSE are questions. And anyone can answer them. (well, except Liberals, they don’t want to take sides!) But to CUPE “Should I run up the debt by another billion and leave it to my children to pay?” is apparently a fair question. Alex? What do you think? Is that a fair question? No? I didn’t think so.  And the tie? Is this one okay? For years, groups like CUPE have told the government that it’s okay to run up more debt, And the NDP and Liberals listen and nod. Now we have the highest taxes in Canada, the highest power rates, too much debt, and too few jobs. Well I take my advice from Alex. And when it comes to creating jobs and keeping families here, I know who else I’ll ask for advice…….the small business owner, the factory worker, the taxi driver……and the teacher who watches her school get cut-back while the NDP bail out their own Tim Hortons. Because I am the guy who was raised in Truro, came to the city to go to school, and to work. and now represent the great constituency of Cumberland South. For THEM…I want to be the Premier of ALL of Nova Scotia, not just SOME of Nova Scotia. This time, let’s not just change political parties. Let’s truly change direction.  

  The best thing about the NDP and Liberals being the same is that it makes Nova Scotia’s choice easier. There is the NDP/Liberals…and there is the new, modern, dynamic Progressive Conservative Party. And we have a plan:    - Lower your taxes…so that your family can get ahead again.  - Freeze power rates…so that no more jobs are lost, or family budgets squeezed.  - Stop wasteful government spending…and invest in our kids instead.  - And turn Nova Scotia’s struggling economy around.    That is our plan, and together we are going to make sure every Nova Scotian hears it. There are all kinds of special interests out there who care more about other things besides jobs and the economy, but our plan does what is right for today’s Nova Scotia……including reviewing the liquor monopoly and all the stone-age liquor-laws that go with it. Think about it. We have a crisis in this province: Jobs are disappearing. Young people are leaving, our communities shrinking, our churches and schools facing closure, and the life we built is fading away. But in the face of all that, guess what your government spent its time on this month: cracking down on beer and wine hobby stores! Imagine! It is time to review the way beer and wine is sold in this province. It is time to move Nova Scotia into the 21^st century. It is time to question every aspect of this business. Why don’t we modernize our liquor laws?  Why can’t we buy beer and wine in our grocery stores? Or corner stores?  Why shouldn’t we look at the taxpayer investment in this business, and see if there is a better use for that money…like paying down debt…and improving services…and lowering taxes? There are no sacred cows. There is only opportunity, if we have the courage to try. The other 2 Parties don’t, but we do have the courage! And we will overhaul this business. This time, let’s not just change political parties, let’s truly change direction.  

  We will be the voice for those who have not yet been heard, those whose needs are ignored because they don’t shout loudly enough or protest in the streets. We will be the voice for those who want a job, to work hard, and get ahead. We will be the voice for those who want to send their kids to a decent school, with smaller classes, in small communities and large…with the extra help those kids sometimes need. And we will be the voice for that next generation, who sees mounting debt and knows the bills will fall to them to pay. Let’s do these things while it can still count, for my kids and yours. Who will balance the budget and then cut the HST? WE WILL. Who will freeze power rates and give families a break? WE WILL  Who will rip up job-killing labour laws and end red tape? WE WILL  Who will turn Nova Scotia’s struggling economy around? WE WILL. That’s right. WE will and THE NDP and LIBERALS won’t, because we have a plan: Lower taxes. Stop wasteful spending. More jobs.  Say it with me. All of Nova Scotia needs to hear you. Lower taxes. Stop wasteful spending. More jobs. This time, let’s not just change political parties. Let’s truly change direction!   

 Thank you, and Good night.     