RESERVE MINES - Not surprisingly, two different Cape Breton MLAs from opposite sites of Province House hold opposing views as to the success of the recently-completed fall session of the Nova Scotia legislature. 

Inverness MLA Allan MacMaster serves as Deputy Premier, Finance Minister, Minister Responsible for Labour Relations and Minister of Communities, Culture, Heritage and Tourism in the Progressive Conservative cabinet of Premier Tim Houston.

Speaking to LJI reporter Adam Cooke for the weekly Telile Community Television series Roundtable, MacMaster suggested that the recent legislature sitting has allowed the government to continue making strides on its stated health-care improvement goals. At the same time, MacMaster declared that the Houston government is taking several steps to address Nova Scotia's housing crisis and a rise in affordability issues that have forced many onto the streets in a visible public fashion. 

The Inverness MLA also praised the government's recent investment of $47.3 million into cellular networks used by emergency responders within the trunk mobile system for such local communities as Framboise, Forchu, West Bay and Marble Mountain. MacMaster expressed hope that further developments in this regard can occur when the province appears before the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) this February to demand improved cellular and internet service in Nova Scotia. 

By contrast, the NDP MLA for Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier, Kendra Coombes, dismissed the claims that Houston's government has adequately addressed health care, housing and homelessness concerns in any part of the province. She also criticized the PC administration for scheduling several midnight sessions of the legislature to deal with what Coombes described as less important matters that could easily be debated and discussed during a typical daytime session. 

This week's Roundtable also features a segment from the latest regular meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council, dealing with physician-recruitment efforts for the town. The Cape Breton South Recruiting For Health (CBS-RFH) Committee is requesting that the town and neighbouring Richmond County write letters of support for a physician that wishes to set up his practice in Port Hawkesbury but would likely not come to Nova Scotia if this does not come to pass. 

Acting on the advice of town councillor Jason Aucoin, Port Hawkesbury councillors agreed unanimously to send a letter of support for this physician and his relocation plans to the Healthcare Recruitment Navigator for the Cape Breton South region, Gina MacDonald.