The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Premier-Elect Tim Houston to finance new health-care commitments by eliminating waste in government expenditures.

“Nova Scotia won’t be better off if Houston creates a debt crisis in order to solve the health-care crisis,” said Renaud Brossard, interim Atlantic Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “We at the CTF want to help him out by pointing out some of the sources of waste in government which can be redirected towards better health care.”

The Taxpayers Federation is calling on Houston to find savings in government operations by:

• Scrapping the Yarmouth Ferry Subsidy ($15 million).
• Ending the wage premium provincial government bureaucrats enjoy over everyday Nova Scotians ($657 million).
• Eliminating corporate welfare ($44 million).

The Yarmouth Ferry is projected to cost Nova Scotia taxpayers $15 million this year, despite remaining docked for the entire season. Since 2015, Nova Scotians have sunk $64 million into the money-losing ferry route and paid for terminal upgrades in the United States.

Calculations from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show provincial government employees earn a 17 per cent wage premium over everyday Nova Scotians when adjusting for education. Bringing government employee compensation in line with the rest of the labour market would save Nova Scotians $657 million per year.

The government of Nova Scotia plans on spending $44 million to subsidize the province’s economic development agency, Nova Scotia Business Incorporated. Economists have found that eliminating regulatory hurdles and reducing business taxes are much more effective tools to create jobs and grow the economy than one-off business subsidies.

“Altogether, the government could free-up over $700-million to invest in health care and tax relief for Nova Scotians by implementing these common-sense proposals,” said Brossard. “We hope Premier-Elect Tim Houston will choose that path instead of saddling the next generations of Nova Scotians with huge debts.”