{"id":61115,"date":"2025-12-17T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=61115"},"modified":"2025-12-17T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:30:00","slug":"column-trade-energy-affordability-and-healthcare-gains-among-2025-achievements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=61115","title":{"rendered":"Column: Trade, Energy, Affordability, and Healthcare gains among 2025 achievements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is the column submitted by Premier Tim Houston’s office for December<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that time of year again. The Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated and there is a mad dash to get as much done as possible before slowing down for two important priorities \u2013 <\/strong>spending time with family and watching world juniors hockey.

Whether you make New Year\u2019s resolutions or not, this is a time of year when folks reflect on the highs and lows of the year that\u2019s soon to pass.

Between wildfires and a strained relationship with the United States, we certainly had our challenges this year.

But as my Dad always said, there is nothing so bad in this world that some good can\u2019t come of it.

Our Province led the country in breaking down internal trade barriers and took important steps to unlock our natural resources so that we can play our part in Canada becoming an energy superpower and bring good-paying jobs and opportunities to Nova Scotia communities.

We brought a new focus to buying and supporting local. Because of Nova Scotia Loyal branding, folks know when they\u2019re supporting Nova Scotian businesses.

Our government also fulfilled promises made in the last election campaign to lower taxes, remove the bridge tolls, implement free parking at hospitals and offer free shingles vaccines for seniors.

We continue to make incredible progress in healthcare. In January 2025, there were 110,000 Nova Scotians on the Need a Family Practice list. As of December 1, that number is down to 68,490, which is about 6.5 per cent of the population.

We always said that the investments in health were going to take time, but we are seeing momentum on this front.

Helping people in our communities in their time of need is certainly part of the holiday spirit, but it\u2019s also the Bluenoser spirit. As Premier, I\u2019m so proud of the people who step up and support their neighbours. We saw the way communities responded during wildfires.

In many ways the Christmas season is a reminder of who we are as Nova Scotians. Whether it\u2019s toy drives, food hampers or bringing holiday cheer to our seniors \u2013 communities step up and take care of each other.

If you find yourself browsing for last minute Christmas gifts this year, keep an eye out for local. You\u2019ll be certain to pick up a quality product and support a neighbour in doing so.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and your family. Here\u2019s to a prosperous 2026!

Tim Houston
Premier of Nova Scotia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The following is the column submitted by Premier Tim Houston’s office for December. It\u2019s that time of year again. The Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated and there is a mad dash to get as much done as possible before slowing down for two important priorities \u2013 spending time with family and watching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,997,12],"tags":[4787,3935,1621,1715,48,2517,1254,3644],"class_list":["post-61115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-columns","category-featured","tag-4787","tag-affordability","tag-energy","tag-healthcare","tag-n-s","tag-premier-tim-houston","tag-tim-houston","tag-trade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}