Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is turning his government’s focus toward local natural resource development as fears grow about the possible impacts on provincial revenues from potential U.S. tariffs, slowing population growth and any changes in federal transfer payments.
That shifting focus could include re-examining long-standing bans in Nova Scotia, including on uranium mining, fracking for natural gas and the moratorium on oil and gas exploration on the lucrative fishing grounds of Georges Bank.
“[We] can’t expect Nova Scotia to prosper when we ban industry after industry after industry,” Houston told reporters during a news conference in Halifax on Wednesday.
“I will look at what can be done safely. That’s the lens.”
Houston’s office called the news conference ostensibly to discuss potential new tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States. Instead, the premier spent the bulk of his time discussing a letter he provided members of his caucus during a meeting earlier in the day.
Premier outlines mandate plans for caucus members
The letter, which is attached at the bottom of this story, is described by his office as an outline of the Progressive Conservatives’ mandate for their second term in office.
It discusses the challenges facing the province and the need to become more self-reliant by pursuing untapped opportunities that previous governments “lacked the courage to act” upon.
Houston writes that pursuing natural resource development can provide the province with more revenue to address the needs of the public and increase prosperity.
“We must take the ‘no’ out of Nova Scotia. Special interests have captured too many parts of our economy and have had an outsized voice in policy creation. That must end. Outright bans of entire sectors are lazy public policy and we will reverse bans and focus on meaningful, mature discussion.”
The former NDP government legislated a ban on uranium mining, although there has been a moratorium for even longer. The former Liberal government introduced legislation to ban fracking in 2014. The moratorium on petroleum development on Georges Bank, meanwhile, has been in place since the 1980s and has been renewed by successive governments ever since.
Feels like ‘a bait and switch’
Last year, then-energy minister Tory Rushton said he wanted to bring permanent protection to the area.
Houston told reporters on Wednesday that a failure to pursue more natural resource development — something that did not factor into his party’s platform during the recent provincial election — risks reducing government services or increasing taxes to account for revenue shortfalls from other areas, such as if U.S. tariffs become a reality or if federal transfer payments were to decline.
Transfer payments from Ottawa account for a third of Nova Scotia’s revenue.
“That’s the reality,” said Houston.
“If you’re looking at our aging population, the costs to deliver health care — look at the percentage that health care is of our provincial budget —