Premier Houston is hitting the road this summer. He has seven stops planned, and every single one is at a Chamber of Commerce. Here is the reality: if you are not a member, you have to pay to get in.
A listening tour shouldn’t have a cover charge. By visiting only the rooms that can afford a ticket, the Premier isn’t listening to Nova Scotia. He is just listening to the people who already have a seat at the table.
A listening tour with a price tag is just a networking event. It validates those with influence instead of hearing from those who are struggling. While business owners talk, the rest of us are ignored. A renter in Spryfield cannot buy a ticket. A care worker in Sydney cannot afford the entry fee. A family in Amherst choosing between groceries and medicine certainly cannot. They do not have lobbyists or memberships. They just have rising bills and thinning services.
We have been sold the same lie for forty years. The promise is that if we make life easy for big business, wealth will eventually trickle down. But those leftovers never arrive. Instead, real wages stall while the cost of living skyrockets. Housing has moved from a necessity to an impossible luxury. Public services are being hollowed out. Healthcare wait times are climbing and staff are burning out. As funding disappears, privatization takes hold. We are trading our shared goods for someone else’s profit.
Remember the promises. He campaigned on affordability and fixing healthcare. He promised to tackle the housing crisis and make childcare accessible. He never campaigned on gutting our culture by slashing funding for libraries and museums, or leaving rural communities behind. This summer schedule makes his real priorities clear. It is not a tour for the people. It is a circuit for the business elite.
If he wants to know how Nova Scotians are actually doing, he needs to build a bigger table. He should park the bus at a community centre in North Preston, a church basement in Yarmouth, or a union hall in Glace Bay. No tickets. No dress code. Just an open door.
That is where the real facts live. He would hear about the single mom working two jobs. He would hear about the senior rationing pills. He would hear about the paramedic burning out and the young couple moving to Alberta because they cannot afford to stay.
Those are the real numbers, not GDP projections or chamber talking points. Government is not a business. Its job is to balance the scales, not tip them toward the wealthy.
Nova Scotians did not elect a premier for the boardroom. They elected him for the kitchen table. It is time he pulled up a chair.
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These are my opinions written to get you thinking about what actually matters in this province. Fairness. Accountability. Who gets helped and who gets left out. Agree with me or don’t. But let’s have a respectful conversation.