Category Legislature

The Atlantica Party will introduce a balanced budget law in Nova Scotia. This will ensure all budgets are balanced or surplus budgets. The new law will also ban any borrowing by the provincial government unless it is to service the existing debt load. 

“Government has no business borrowing money”, said Jonathan Dean, Leader of the Atlantica Party. "Unlike most entities the government with assent of the Legislature has the power to increase revenue by raising taxes. If government wants to overspend then it must raise the funds through new direct taxation of Nova Scotians.”

The Atlantica Party is the only Nova Scotia political party that supports citizen led binding referenda. 

“The Atlantica Party believes citizens have the right bring forward issues for a binding vote,” said Jonathan Dean, Leader of the Atlantica Party. “This will allow the citizenry to push issues forward despite political game playing by the old-fashioned parties.”

The Atlantica Party will reform Nova Scotia MLA salaries and benefits. 

The public needs to be involved in reviewing the salary and expense regime of their representatives. When one becomes a public servant paid from the public purse, one must accept a fair and public element to remuneration and benefits. The Atlantica Party's mission of a smaller, transparent, and accountable government means our representatives need to set an example of lower costs and less waste.

The Atlantica Party will end the routine secret voting in the Nova Scotia Legislature. 

Secret voting in the Legislature is not the exception but the overwhelming rule. Over a six-year period, out of 853 votes, only 12 were recorded, while the other 841 were kept secret and not disclosed. Nova Scotia taxpayers have a right to know how their representatives vote.

The Atlantica Party (AP) supports making the election cycle predictable by legislating fixed elections dates in Nova Scotia. AP also supports calling the election day Joseph Howe Day.

Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada without some form of fixed election dates. However, there are many benefits to a standardized election cycle:

The Atlantica Party supports making Nova Scotia a leader in fulfilling Freedom of Information requests. 

Once again, Nova Scotia lags behind the rest of the country by not having its Information and Privacy Commissioner independent. "Government information is funded by taxpayers and therefore the property of Nova Scotians," said Jonathan Dean, Leader of the Atlantica Party. "If someone requests a copy, the government has no right to withhold it."

The Atlantica Party will reform Nova Scotia's electoral system and make elections fairer. 

With more than two parties competing in elections, the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system has broken down and no longer accurately reflects the wishes of Nova Scotians. 

The Atlantica Party will reform Nova Scotia MLA pensions.

The Atlantica Party's mission of a smaller, more transparent and accountable government means our representatives need to set an example of lower costs and less waste. Therefore, an Atlantica Party government will replace the current 22 to 1 (that is, taxpayers contribute directly and indirectly 22 times more than the MLA) pension scheme with dollar for dollar personally directed RRSPs where MLAs and taxpayers contribute equally. 

The Atlantica Party calls for all votes in the Nova Scotia Legislature to be free votes. 

Like free speech, voting in the Legislature should be completely free. Without free voting, our democracy is a sham since party interests come before the people's interests. Currently, MLAs have their vote dictated by party functionaries, or they face discipline, including denial of caucus posts, committee positions, travel and all kinds of legislative, budgetary and constituency favours. There is also the risk of not having nomination papers signed, a premature end to a political career and expulsion from the party. 

The Atlantica Party will make Nova Scotia MLAs recallable as part of its Political Revolution. 

The news abounds with recalls of defective consumer items, vehicles, food and health products. But there is very little about recalling a politician. We can recall bad turkeys overnight, but we cannot recall a bad MLA!