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Question:
Community Benefit Agreements have been used successfully on
publicly-funded projects across the country – to build up local
labour, contractor and supply capacity, as well as to ensure that
underrepresented groups have access to training and good jobs.
What is your position on CBAs and can we expect them to be
implemented in any upcoming projects?

Premier McNeil:
Under the ICIP agreement, Nova Scotia is committed to reporting
on community employment benefits in at least three under-
represented groups (apprentices, Indigenous peoples, women,
persons with disabilities, veterans, youth, new Canadians, or
small-medium-sized enterprises and social enterprises). We
support this initiative with our federal partners. We also see
benefits through our Apprenticeship Procurement Program — for Question:
construction projects valued at over $1M, all subcontractors At this same meeting, you participated in a meeting of the Atlantic
whose portion of the bid exceeds $100,000 must provide proof premiers and recommitted to strengthening the energy corridor in
of engagement in the apprenticeship program. the region. Can you talk a bit about what that looks like?
Question: Premier McNeil:
At the Council of the Federation meetings earlier this year, yourself Our region is blessed with renewable energy resources, such as
and the other premiers came out and reaffirmed their commitment Muskrat Falls in Labrador. The challenge is in moving it around
to a national pharmacare program. Why is this important to your the region. We’d like to see an energy highway that would unlock
government and what are you doing to move the yardstick forward the benefit of these resources — potentially opening up new
on this file? markets and making more clean energy available in our region.
Premier McNeil: Our provincial and national economies are affected greatly by how
We have supported a national pharmacare plan for quite some we manage our natural resources, including hydroelectricity, oil
time. There are people without private insurance who also aren’t and gas, and minerals. We believe that getting these resources
part of current public pharmacare programs, and we’ve seen to markets, safely and on time, while protecting the environment,
cases where drug costs have put families under tremendous will contribute to a stable and strong economy and will further
financial stress. We’re willing to work with our federal, provincial promote Canada’s energy independence.
and territorial counterparts to come up with a cost-effective
national plan.

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