{"id":62951,"date":"2026-03-10T22:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=62951"},"modified":"2026-03-10T22:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:22:22","slug":"houston-admits-government-too-clinical-as-53-6m-in-supports-reinstated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=62951","title":{"rendered":"Houston admits government \u201ctoo clinical\u201d as $53.6M in supports reinstated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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HALIFAX:<\/strong> Premier Tim Houston said Nova Scotia is restoring millions in funding for programs supporting seniors, people with disabilities, and educational initiatives after hearing concerns from Nova Scotians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier Tuesday, Houston announced the province would reinstate $53.6 million in grants and funding as part of the 2026-27 provincial budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restored funding includes $21.4 million in grants to support seniors and people with disabilities and to help African Nova Scotian and Indigenous students access educational opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another $10 million will go back to organizations that support those groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the province is re-establishing $22.2 million in funding to community programs serving seniors, disability groups, and African Nova Scotian and Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a phone interview Tuesday evening, The Laker News asked Houston if there was one story he and his staff heard from Nova Scotians and families with those with disabilities about the real-world impact the earlier cuts could have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was one story,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was listening to a number of stories about what would be the practical impact\u2026 really hearing about what the impacts could be on their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat made us say, \u2018Well, we can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He acknowledged the initial decisions created stress for many families and organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sorry for the stress that was caused over the last couple of weeks, but we\u2019re happy we\u2019re able to fix it and move forward together,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back at the earlier cuts, the premier said the government may have focused too much on financial considerations during the budgeting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn trying to deal with those financial challenges, we probably got a little bit too clinical at a time when we needed to be more human,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston was also asked about concerns in the arts and culture sector, where some workers have lost jobs following recent budget decisions. He said the government continues to value and support the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are big believers in the arts and culture sector for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs Nova Scotians we all value that sector, it\u2019s a little bit about who we are,\u201d Houston said, noting the province is investing about $66 million in the sector this year, up from approximately $50 million when he first became premier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite reinstating the funding, the province\u2019s projected deficit will now stand at $1.24 billion before contingency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston also said the government is not considering reversing its recent tax relief measure. This includes the one-per-cent reduction in the provincial portion of the HST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur taxes are high,\u201d he said, noting he has heard from many young people asking the government not to increase taxes but instead control government spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premier said the government will continue trying to strike the right balance between supporting Nova Scotians and managing the province\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HALIFAX: Premier Tim Houston said Nova Scotia is restoring millions in funding for programs supporting seniors, people with disabilities, and educational initiatives after hearing concerns from Nova Scotians. Earlier Tuesday, Houston announced the province would reinstate $53.6 million in grants and funding as part of the 2026-27 provincial budget. The restored funding includes $21.4 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[8095,10516,9749,10517,10518,50,5507,10519,2517,300],"class_list":["post-62951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-african-nova-scotian","tag-arts-culture","tag-budget-cuts","tag-disability-groups","tag-grants-and-funding","tag-halifax","tag-hst","tag-indigenous-students-education","tag-premier-tim-houston","tag-seniors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62951","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=62951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}