King PCS release $138-million platform

PCS expect a deficit, with most spending devoted to health-care initiatives

A re-elected Dennis King-led Progressive Conservative government plans to spend $138 million on platform commitments in its first year.

The PCS, who released their platform late in the day on March 24, also anticipate they would run a deficit budget this year if King wins the election.

In addition to the $138 million, the platform includes an additional $119 million in capital spending commitments, which would be incurred over the long-term.

Taken together, this adds up to $257 million in spending promises.

King did not hold a press conference or conduct an interview with Saltwire Network on March 24.

A representative of the PC campaign confirmed the platform assumes the province will run a deficit in the 20232024 year. Details on how big this deficit would be are not included in the platform.

About $55 million in platform commitments are focused on health-care initiatives. This included an $11.5-million commitment to hire 100 new health-care workers for medical homes and an additional $10 million to open new medical homes for unaffiliated patients.

Other costly promises in the platform include $9 million in tax cuts, $10 million in spending on a new cleantech energy program, $20 million to transition school buses to electric and another $20 million to complete a high school and intermediate school in Stratford.

The Green party platform contains $151 million in new spending commitments in its first year. The Liberal platform contains $57 million in new spending commitments in Year 1 and another $96 million and $137 million in years 2 and 3.

Here are the key commitments from the PC platform:

HEALTH CARE

• Allow physician assistants and nurse practitioners work in ERS.

• Allow patient advocates to work in emergency departments.

• Make Maple/virtual care apps free for all.

• Free tuition for primary/ advanced care paramedics.

• Add 16 more medical homes by end of 2024.

• Attach all 28,000+ Islanders with no family doctor to a medical home in the next two years.

• Open more nurse practitioner-led walk-in clinics.

• Provide free tuition for paramedics, RCWS, LPNS in return for two-year return in service.

• Launch an emergency medicine residency program.

• Free licences to health professionals who have left the workforce to entice a return to work.

• Launch an associate physician licence to allow foreign-trained doctors to practise under supervision of licensed physicians.

HOME CARE AND SENIORS

• Create a $1,500/month primary caregiver grant to help families keep loved ones in their homes longer.

• Establish a program to connect seniors living at home with more health and community supports.

• Add 50 more staff to public home care over two years.

• Provide $500 rebates per year to home-based medical alert systems.

• Double seniors hearing aid rebate program from $3,000 maximum to $6,000 maximum.

• Increase seniors tax credit to $6,510 and raise the threshold to $36,000.

HOUSING

• Launch a rent-to-own program to finance renters to purchase their home after 24 months.

• Provide $25 million in funding to municipalities outside of Charlottetown area to help buy land for housing and retrofit community centres and arenas.

• House all Islanders on the housing registry within the next two years.

• Provide first-time home buyers with up to $2,500 toward closing costs.

• Reduce building permit wait times to maximum of 30 days by Jan 1, 2024.

• Increase housing challenge fund by $50 million to provide more financing for “quick-start” housing.

• Expand the Discover Carpentry program of the Construction Association of P.E.I.

EDUCATION AND CHILD CARE

• Establish a $20-million infrastructure fund to create more regulated child-care spaces.

• Build childcare centres in all new public buildings until wait lists are eliminated.

• Create grants to encourage developers to build childcare centres into multi-unit buildings.

• Spend $25 million on school infrastructure over three years.

• Expand the Stratford High school plans to include an intermediate school.

• Increase the George Coles Bursary to $3,500 per year.

AFFORDABILITY AND ECONOMY

• Increase the basic personal exemption from $12,000 to $15,000 over four years.

• Roll back property taxes to 2020 assessment rates.

• Advocate the federal government to reduce ferry and bridge tolls to $20.

• Introduce a $500 volunteer tax credit.

• Expand eligibility for the heat pump program to include those earning under $100,000.

• Spend $20 million on upgrades to the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

• Establish “labour incentives” for hard-to-fill positions in tourism.

ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND ENERGY

• Install more EV chargers at “critical infrastructure locations” and warming centres.

• Create a 25-year coastal management plan.

• Implement all recommendations of the emergency forestry task force.

• Plant 1.3 million trees per year.

• Transition all school buses to electric by 2030.

• Invest $10 million into provincial parks.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY

• Provide a four-year core funding agreement to the Black Cultural Society of P.E.I.

• Provide dedicated funding to the Autism Society of P.E.I.

• Hire a temporary foreign worker protection officer.

• With L’nuey, create an online learning course to preserve the Mi’kmaq language.

• Establish a community legal aid service.

• Continue to fund 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations.