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The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia’s budgetary submission is based on the priorities that were outlined in the Nova Scotia Alternative Budget (NSAB) 2026, released in January 2026. It also responds to the Nova Scotia budget tabled in 2026 and to the framing of government budgetary decisions in the 2027-28 budget tool and consultation sessions.

Budgets are about values and priorities

Every budget reflects values and priorities. The Nova Scotia Alternative Budget (NSAB) 2026 challenges the status quo and offers a bold, evidence-based vision for a fairer, greener, and more inclusive province. Developed by the Nova Scotia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-NS) in collaboration with over 60 working group members, the alternative budget shows how we can tax and spend differently to build a future where everyone prospers, not just the few. The 2026 alternative budget shows how the government can make investments to address the affordability crisis, housing insecurity, systemic inequality, and climate inaction, while prioritizing public services that support all Nova Scotians. 

In contrast, the government’s budget for 2026-27 reflects the same status-quo values that entrench privatization of public services, and create growth for growth’s sake promising a trickle-down will provide all Nova Scotians what they need. This approach lacks significant evidence-based investment to support Nova Scotians who are living in poverty, struggling with housing costs, cannot access affordable child care, or have unmet health care needs. This lack of investment, combined with planned multi-year cuts to public sector jobs and services, will not make life less expensive for Nova Scotians; it will make life harder.

The current budgetary consultations are hamstrung by excluding any discussion of raising additional revenue and by framing a narrow list of priorities, with no evidence for how they were chosen. 

Public sector cuts hurt

When the last budget was tabled, the government suggested that expenditure cuts are necessary and can be done without Nova Scotians feeling the impact. The government is Nova Scotians providing services, caring for those who are ill, caring for our parents and grandparents, educating our children, creating art, protecting and sharing our history, staffing our libraries, and supporting community members across the province to have a better quality of life. These cuts will hurt. Public services are social and economic infrastructure. When they are weakened:

  • Families pay more out of pocket;
  • Local economies lose good jobs, a majority of which are filled by women who will disproportionately be affected by public sector cuts;
  • Pressures increase in health care and housing, and;
  • It can cause long-term costs to government.

Resource extraction and data centres

The government is also signalling a greater reliance on natural resource expansion as the “path towards prosperity.” Resource development cannot substitute for the broad-based growth that comes from investing in housing, care, education, and community infrastructure. Jurisdictions that rely heavily on resource extraction often experience greater volatility and less inclusive growth. The risks to the environment and to our climate are too costly, especially given how low royalty rates are, and how few jobs there will be beyond the initial phase. The recent data centre announcement has similar risks and environmental concerns. Both, indeed, much of the economic development the government is prioritizing, are about selling Nova Scotia to the highest bidder, not about building a province where the people have a say, where there are good jobs in communities across the province, where there is public stake. The government is not only ignoring sectors of the economy with better investment returns; it is undermining them, including arts, culture, heritage, tourism, and the care economy.  

Cuts to community: Arts, culture, and libraries

The total cuts announced in the last Nova Scotia budget were just over $300 million this year, increasing to a billion dollars in year three. Nova Scotians reacted immediately to the impact these cuts would have. While the government reversed some of the cuts, the elimination of the publishing industry fund and cuts to arts and culture remain, causing serious hardship and dampening growth in parts of the economy that had shown significant returns on investment. 

The government has suggested that criticisms have overlooked spending increases in specific sectors. The government also said the tax cuts mean Nova Scotians keep more money in their pockets and that they, individually, are better able to spend it than the government. Rather, what has become abundantly clear is how much we can do together when we pool our resources through taxation. Witness how far $130 million that was cut went. That funding cut came from 287 grants. Statistics Canada data estimates that in 2023, Nova Scotia’s arts and culture sector contributed just over $2 billion in GDP and supported 16,000 jobs. Similarly, why cut the $700,000 publishers’ fund, when it is critical for not only telling our stories, but for good jobs and economic growth – an estimate of over $9 return for every $1 of government investment? 

Many other organizations have been cut, like libraries, because they haven’t seen budget increases in years, forcing difficult decisions to do less with less, the full effect of which we saw in the Annapolis Valley library system. These grant and program cuts, plus cuts to public-sector jobs, will have a ripple-out negative effect on our economy and society more broadly.

  • The government should reverse these arts and culture cuts.
  • The government should reverse and not proceed with planned cuts to either the public sector or broader public sector (largely non-profit). 

As we outline below, more investment is needed in critical sectors that will not only return on investment by creating new jobs and additional revenue; it must respond to the needs of Nova Scotians, while improving their quality of life, protecting the environment, and working to mitigate the effects of fossil fuel pollution (not make it worse).

Fiscal health: Government is not a household

The province has not run out of fiscal room. The problem is how the government chooses to spend and tax. The province has the fiscal capacity to make careful, targeted investments that yield a higher return. The government is not a household, and suggesting otherwise is a political statement meant to fear-monger; no household can raise income or access credit the way a government can, nor does any household bear the same societal responsibilities. The simplistic argument that a government should not spend beyond its annual means and should shrink its deficit or significantly lower its debt by cutting or not expanding services leaves households to fill the gaps. It subjects households increasingly to the whims of the market, with little protection and increasingly unsustainable personal debt loads. The government has the fiscal room, with debt-servicing costs at historic lows and a debt-to-GDP ratio that signals its ability to continue investing in critical infrastructure and public programs. The government claims we can only manage the deficit through cuts, but we know those cuts will weaken the foundations needed to address affordability. We can strengthen our fiscal situation by building a stronger, more inclusive, green, and caring economy.

A more balanced and sustainable path could be taken

The Nova Scotia Alternative Budget 2026 offers a more balanced, sustainable path.

As outlined in the NSAB, instead of austerity, the government could:

  • Improve tax fairness;
  • Invest in the caring economy;
  • Strengthen local economic development;
  • Reduce household costs, and;
  • Support stable long-term green growth.

By improving tax fairness and investing in the caring economy, including child care, housing, health care, transit, and education, Nova Scotia can improve affordability while supporting inclusive economic growth.

This or that: Benefiting the few or supporting the many

The Nova Scotia government recently celebrated the largest tax cut in the province’s history, costing $500 million in foregone revenue. But who really benefits? Our analysis shows that families in the lowest-income group (household income of $26,000 or less) save only $194 in 2026 compared to 2024, while those in the highest-income group (household income of $209,000 or more) save $2,234 in 2026 compared to 2024; for those families who would be considered in the middle-income group (households between ($61,000-78,000), the fifth decile, the tax cut averages $687.

The government should be more transparent about how its budgetary decisions benefit Nova Scotians, and which Nova Scotians. Some Nova Scotians are not suffering because of the affordability crisis. Rather, because this crisis is driven by price increases due to greed-flation, higher interest rates have also increased profits, stocks, and dividends for some Nova Scotians. 

We urge the government to make our tax system more progressive, invest what is needed for non-market housing, reduce poverty, and expand access to child care, health care, and public transportation. As we illustrate below, these tax changes, even in one year, would bring in just over $724.25 million, and we know that the investments we have costed would also bring in at least another $760 million based on Statistics Canada multipliers. Beyond GDP growth and revenue growth, the investments we outlined also reduce poverty, food insecurity and housing insecurity. 

Key taxation changes

Key investments needed 

The following investment recommendations are drawn primarily from the Nova Scotia Alternative Budget 2026, which includes a fully costed plan. The evidence is mounting on what inaction on many of these recommendations means, whether for children living in poverty who are more likely to experience life-long impacts, every year that the government does not lift their families out of poverty. Similarly, there are rising costs of neglecting to build public housing and provide enough funding for other nonmarket–non-profit/cooperative housing. This permanently affordable housing would have cost significantly less even five years ago, when we released our Housing for All report, let alone decades ago, when we first called for it to be a priority. 

1. Prioritize local economic development and inclusive labour market

Investment in “skilled trades,” including funding targeted at women and those underrepresented in the labour market, needs to continue. It is past time to recognize the value of all the skilled work and workers in this province, especially those long undervalued, such as persons with disabilities and Indigenous peoples. Governments have often overlooked the skill of caring because they have perceived it as women’s work, undervalued and underpaid, and a significant portion (221 million hours per year) remains unpaid—care that the government counts on to fill gaps left by underinvestment. Instead of creating good, green jobs that respond to local needs, the government relies on strategies to attract the next big company by providing payroll rebates, which have proven to result only in short-term job gains at a substantial cost. 

We recommend that the bulk of those payroll rebates be redirected, and that the government concentrate investment in local sustainable economic endeavours, including by: 

  • Creating the Nova Scotia Cooperative Investment Corporation, prioritizing import replacement and local procurement initiatives, and supporting new co-operative businesses;
  • Creating a Labour Market Planning Commission; 
  • Expanding and enforcing pay equity to the private sector;
  • Proactive enforcement staff for Labour Standards, and;
  • Proactive protection of working and living conditions for Temporary Foreign Workers.

2. Housing: End the crisis

The housing crisis in Nova Scotia is solvable, but it requires bold action. The Nova Scotia government must:

  • Build at least 3,500 non-market units each year for the next 10 years: Invest in deeply affordable housing owned and operated by public, non-profit, and co-operative sectors;
  • Expand rent supplements: Provide immediate support to reach 20,000 households at risk of losing their homes;
  • Enforce tenant protections: Establish a Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU) for the Residential Tenancies Act to investigate violations and ensure landlords meet their obligations;
  • Create a rental housing registry and licensing program: Ensure all rental properties meet minimum safety and livability standards through proactive inspections;
  • Hire 40 additional housing support workers, and;
  • Implement vacancy control: Strengthen the current rent cap to prevent significant rent increases when units are vacated and limit the growth of the rent subsidy program’s support.

3. Support local farmers: Food sovereignty and import replacement

Rising food costs and unsustainable farming practices are leaving Nova Scotians hungry and farmers struggling. The Nova Scotia government should:

  • Support non-profit grocery stores: Offer affordable, fresh, local food while supporting small-scale farmers;
  • Fund 10 new community food hubs: Teach people how to grow and prepare their own food, fostering food security and sustainability;
  • Ensure fair prices for farmers: Ensure farmers receive fair compensation for their work, creating a more resilient food system;
  • Establish an Agricultural Land Trust, and;
  • Expand farm water infrastructure grants.

4. Environment, energy security and energy renewables in the public interest

We need to accelerate the just renewable energy transition. Offshore wind power could transform Nova Scotia’s economy, but transparency and public benefit must come first. The Nova Scotia government should:

  • Issue a public bid process: Determine the true costs of developing offshore wind resources and ensure transparency in the bidding process;
  • Prioritize local benefits: Focus on energy projects that benefit Nova Scotians, and in particular, Indigenous people, not foreign corporations, ensuring meaningful consultation and respect for treaty rights;
  • Ensure energy security for generations: Develop an Energy Bill Affordability Program to provide affordable, renewable energy for the province;
  • Reverse changes to the Heating Assistance Rebate program (back to $600 and household income up to $75,000);
  • Modernize building code: no fossil fuels for new builds, allow balcony solar, and institute a rebate program;
  • Support grassroots initiatives to address the harms of environmental racism;
  • Establish an Electric Car and Bicycle Purchase Rebate Program, while cancelling the additional fee for electric vehicles, and;
  • Invest in 15 new community wells and water stations, while instituting stronger regulation to protect public water.

5. Health care crisis: Expanding community health centres among key solutions

Nova Scotians deserve accessible, community-focused public health care. The NSAB outlines key steps to improve the system that the Nova Scotia government should:

  • Expand community health centres: Transform “health homes” into democratically run Community Health Centres that prioritize patient needs;
  • Invest in mental health: Move toward the World Health Organization’s target of 12 per cent of health spending on public (not for-profit private) mental health services;
  • End privatization: Bring privatized services, like virtual care, back into the public system;
  • Pharmacare for all: Expand pharmacare for all Nova Scotians, starting with universal, free contraception, hormone therapy and diabetes drugs and monitoring equipment;
  • Improve staffing ratios in long-term care and fund recruitment and retention;
  • Advance disability-inclusive care (assistive and long-term supports; accessible communication and service delivery);
  • Eliminate ambulance fees; 
  • Invest in strategy of supports for recruitment and retention of paramedics;
  • Increase funding in 2SLGBTQIA+ health, including gender-affirming care;
  • Extend public health insurance to refugee claimants, migrant workers and international students, upon arrival;
  • Expansion of home care/home support services;
  • Invest in community-based harm reduction services and supports, and;
  • Invest in voluntary and evidence-based drug treatment programs.

6. Reduce poverty and improve income security 

Nova Scotia should develop a poverty elimination strategy, and immediately aim to reduce poverty in the next budget by:

  • Substantially increasing income assistance household base rates to lift people out of poverty (apply full rent to people living in tents);
  • Improving incentives to work: Further decrease earnings clawback to income assistance and stop clawing back Employment Insurance;
  • Offsetting increased living costs for low-income people: Increase the Affordable Living Tax Credit and equalize it for all persons in the household ($3217 per person), and expand eligibility;
  • Making Income Assistance available to refugee claimants, and;
  • Increasing disability supplement.

7. Arts, culture and heritage

Government should be investing in (not defunding) arts, culture and heritage, because they “contribute to community well-being, education, tourism, and economic development.”

Even if you want to consider only narrow economic arguments, Statistics Canada data estimates that in 2023, Nova Scotia’s arts and culture sector contributed just over $2 billion to GDP and supported 16,000 jobs. The Nova Scotia government should:

  • Fund artist-run centres, facilities and capital projects;
  • Reverse the cuts and increase project grants and operating funding provided by Arts Nova Scotia;
  • Invest in core operations assistance to cultural organizations;
  • Increase investment to archives, museums, and libraries to support maintenance and expansion of programs, and;
  • Reinstate the Publisher’s Assistance Fund.

8. Active, accessible and sustainable transportation

Nova Scotians need to get to work, drop off children at child care, run errands, visit family and friends, and attend community events. Unfortunately, the cost of transportation and the lack of accessible, available public options are blocking the connections Nova Scotians need to make daily. The Nova Scotia government should: 

  • Create Nova Scotia Transit Corporation;
  • Fund long-range bus routes within Nova Scotia;
  • Provide core funding to make HRM, CBRM and Kings Transit more affordable and accessible, and;
  • Continue building an active transport network.

9. Public education (pre-primary to Grade 12)

Government needs to strengthen publicly-funded education because it is losing its ability to level the playing field and ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve their potential. To do this, the government should:

  • Hire additional teachers to enable smaller class sizes;
  • Hire additional educational support staff, while increasing funding to support retention and recruitment;
  • Hire additional administrative support (photocopying, calling attendance, data entry, etc.), and;
  • Invest in air quality by installing carbon monoxide detectors to monitor air quality and adding HEPA filters.

10. Early learning and child care

The most significant support to making life more affordable for families with children has been the investment in early learning and child care. The CCPA-NS’s child care report highlights the need for systematic, centralized planning and increased federal and provincial funding to develop a non-profit, public, high-quality, affordable, accessible, and high-standard year-round child care system that meets the diverse needs of families in every community. The government should:

  • Fund a workforce retention strategy and provide additional financial support to ensure fair compensation;
  • Develop the Early Learning and Child Care Central Agency to oversee system planning and operational support, and;
  • Provide additional capital and core staff funding for a public, non-profit, quality child care system based on need, ensuring diverse options on public school sites across the province.

11. Post-secondary education

Public colleges and universities are essential to Nova Scotia, as a new report on the value of post-secondary education outlines. These institutions are “centres of teaching, research and discovery; they drive innovation and knowledge, attract talent and investment, and challenge us to think bigger. They are also vital economic assets.” Underinvesting in them is short-sighted and has long-term negative impacts. With the highest tuition fees in the country, university has become a significant barrier, leaving many students in debt. We urge the Nova Scotia government to:

  • Freeze university tuition fees and offset the loss of revenue to universities ;
  • Reduce NSCC Tuition by 50 per cent;
  • Convert Nova Scotia Student Loans to grants;
  • Increase post-secondary core funding tied to decreasing senior administrative positions;
  • Increase Nova Scotia Student Assistance Grants by $150/month;
  • Support for Indigenous Learners;
  • Create a dedicated Sexual Assault Post-Secondary Support Resource Fund, and;
  • Stop charging interest on all outstanding student loans.

12. Community services

Nova Scotia’s social safety net has major tears. Social worker caseloads, especially in child and family services, are out of control. Courts are backlogged. Prisons are overcrowded. The government should quickly plug holes and fix gaps while working toward more permanent solutions:

  • Increase child protection social work staffing levels to meet the Canadian standard caseload, and;
  • Follow through with the Child and Youth Advocacy office and include funding for its policy advocacy work.

13. Community inclusion infrastructure

The Nova Scotia government should invest in communities. We urge the government to: 

  • Provide core funding to non-profits/advocacy organizations for equity-deserving groups, and;
  • Increase funding to Communities, Sports and Recreation. 

14. Accessibility plan acceleration for persons with disabilities

The Nova Scotia government should invest to accelerate the implementation of the Accessibility Plan for Persons with Disabilities, accompanied by enforceable standards, timelines, and accountability mechanisms, including:

  • Mandatory accessibility compliance timelines by sector (housing, transportation, digital services, health care, and education);
  • An independent enforcement body with inspection and penalty authority;
  • Annual public reporting on compliance, disaggregated by disability type, and;
  • Ongoing co-governance with disabled people and disabled-led organizations.

15. Consumer protection, advocacy and support and public insurance

Nova Scotians pay some of the highest insurance rates in the country. The Nova Scotia government should:

  • Create a Public Insurance Company of Nova Scotia to offer affordable options for:
    • Auto Insurance: Reduce costs by removing corporate profits,
    • Home Insurance: Provide affordable coverage, especially as climate change drives up private insurance rates,
    • Pet Insurance: Offer better coverage at lower costs for pet owners, and;
  • Establish an Office of the Consumer Advocate.

16. Immigrant and migrant Services

  • Increase core funding for immigrant/migrant support service organizations;
  • Enhance settlement services;
  • Proactive protection of working and living conditions for Temporary Foreign Workers;
  • Create a province-wide Newcomer Family Support Resource Centre, and;
  • Make Income Assistance available to refugee claimants.

17. Justice services

The Nova Scotia government should properly fund Legal Aid services to improve access to justice for low-income people and reduce court wait times. Expand access to various alternative court programs, restorative justice and reintegration initiatives as follows:

  • Expand investment in the Wellness Court Programs; 
  • Invest in alternative and restorative justice programs; 
  • Invest in community and prison-based offender reintegration initiatives;
  • Expand Family Violence Court to other sites;
  • Increase investment to expand Legal Aid Services (Nova Scotia and Dalhousie), and;
  • Invest in core funding for non-profits providing support for individuals engaged with the justice system.

Conclusion

The government undervalues the impact of investments in public services, universal programs, and redistributive policies on Nova Scotians. Quality public services remove cost as a barrier to access services, while also creating public sector jobs that are more likely to be unionized, well paid, and provide benefits like pensions and health insurance. Expanding public services means paying less out of pocket for essential goods, but it also helps create economic security. 

The government should ensure that budgetary decisions on taxing and spending promote inclusion and are designed using a feminist, intersectional, anti-colonial, and anti-racist approach. An intersectional lens affirms disability inclusion as a matter of human rights, dignity, and justice, not conditional participation. Budgetary measures should seek to address discrimination rooted in gender stereotypes about women’s skills, abilities, aptitude, and gender roles in our society. Instead, we see spending and taxation decisions that will exacerbate gender inequity; broad tax cuts benefit men and higher-income earners more, and cuts to public sector jobs and services negatively affect women and low-income earners more than men and higher-income earners.  

The care economy is a powerhouse of the economy, “generating at least 12 per cent of GDP and 21 per cent of all Canadian jobs. A well-functioning care economy is key to the functioning of all the other parts of the economy.” The budgetary consultations that the government undertook this Fall only treated government spending as something that cannot be increased with no positive effect on economic growth, but what we know is that investments in the care economy “stimulate the economy and safeguard our health in ways that allow us to maximize our human potential while generating higher public revenues.” 

The government’s narrow focus on tax cuts, privatization, and resource exploitation may increase short-term economic growth for some. Still, it will also harm communities, the public good, the environment, and future generations. 

In contrast, a focus on “the caring economy” shifts the focus from supporting the few who benefit from economic expansion to supporting the many who want a more equal, democratic, and sustainable society.

The affordability crisis has emerged alongside growing prosperity for some. Now is the time to make our tax system fairer by ensuring everyone contributes according to their ability, generating enough revenue to lead us toward shared prosperity. We outline tax and spending choices that support a provincial budget that benefits the many, not just the few, and call on the government to adopt them. 

About CCPA-NS

The Nova Scotia office of the CCPA opened its doors in 1999. With the help of our loyal supporters and research associates, we continue to raise debate and propose policy alternatives that will get us closer to achieving a more economically and socially just—as well as environmentally sustainable—province and Atlantic region. The Nova Scotia Alternative Budget (NSAB) is a collaborative effort involving stakeholders from various sectors of our province, including frontline service organizations, other non-profit organizations, and academics with diverse expertise. The NSAB presents a compelling case for using taxation and public spending to advance social, economic, and climate justice. 

About the author

CCPA - NS