Mr. Speaker, in the last election the people of Nova Scotia declared that the Liberals were irrelevant, so I thought that Liberal members could use a primer on what the current issues are down home.
The health care crisis is getting worse, not better. The Dartmouth General Hospital will soon be no more than a glorified triage centre and nursing home. There are too few nurses, too few doctors. We have the highest tuition and some of the biggest student debt loads in the country.
People are worried about their drinking water. They are scared about the chemicals in our harbour and time bombs like the tar ponds. They want federal environmental standards that stop people from getting sick. We are all ashamed that one in five of our children is living in poverty.
These are the relevant issues and problems in my community. They call for better programs, not better public relations. They call for representatives who will speak out, not apologize and duck and weave. I am proud to raise issues which are relevant to the people of Dartmouth. So let's rock.