{"id":62774,"date":"2026-03-02T13:48:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=62774"},"modified":"2026-03-02T13:48:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:48:53","slug":"n-s-ndp-pc-government-isnt-fixing-womens-healthcare-its-cutting-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=62774","title":{"rendered":"N.S. NDP: PC government isn\u2019t fixing women\u2019s healthcare, it\u2019s cutting it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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LOWER SACKVILLE<\/strong>: On Monday, NDP Leader Claudia Chender and women advocating for better health care called on the Houston government to immediately create a provincial women\u2019s health strategy so that all Nova Scotians can get the care they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, only seven per cent of Canadian research funding goes toward women\u2019s health, and in a recent survey from the IWK, 70 per cent of respondents said the current system doesn\u2019t meet their healthcare needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of looking for opportunities to fund more research into women\u2019s bodies and experiences, or providing more support for mental health and caregiving, the Houston government cut women\u2019s health research and trauma-informed care at the IWK, as well as the Caregiver Benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen and gender diverse Nova Scotians deserve better. We matter. Our health matters,\u201d said Chender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTim Houston got elected on a commitment to fix health care and today we\u2019re demanding that he keep that promise, for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in this budget is more cruel cuts for those who can least afford it. We already don\u2019t have the mental health care we need, and research in women\u2019s health is sorely lacking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Caregiver Benefit is already an insulting amount for Nova Scotians who are caring for loved ones. Their tireless work keeps more people out of our hospital system, and instead of supporting them, this government\u2019s response is a 20 per cent cut. Honestly, it\u2019s hard to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite a commitment to fix health care, the Houston government still hasn\u2019t delivered the promised Menopause Centre of Excellence, there is no free birth control or take-home cervical cancer screening tests, and the dense breast screening that is available in other provinces doesn\u2019t exist in Nova Scotia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 15,000 women in the province are waiting for routine care, including mammograms at the IWK Health Centre, right now. These women will be waiting, on average, for 3 years just to see a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen women don\u2019t get the care they need, it affects our families, our communities and our economy,” said Susan Leblanc, the NDP Critic for the Office of the Status of Women. “This work can\u2019t happen piece-meal and progress can\u2019t ebb and flow with changing governments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We need a provincial women\u2019s health strategy and evidence-based direction to inform and drive the work of government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Democrats have tabled legislation to create a taskforce of health care professionals, policymakers and researchers involved in healthcare for women and gender diverse people, and patients with experience of women’s health issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LOWER SACKVILLE: On Monday, NDP Leader Claudia Chender and women advocating for better health care called on the Houston government to immediately create a provincial women\u2019s health strategy so that all Nova Scotians can get the care they deserve. Right now, only seven per cent of Canadian research funding goes toward women\u2019s health, and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[965],"tags":[3124,1378,2491,10443,2517,10473,10474],"class_list":["post-62774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-hants","tag-claudia-chender","tag-n-s-ndp","tag-n-s-pc","tag-pc-government","tag-premier-tim-houston","tag-womens-health","tag-womens-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62774","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=62774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}