Affordability or bust: Nova Scotia election campaign all about cost of living – Halifax [Video]

A lot has changed in Nova Scotia since the Progressive Conservatives won a dominant electoral majority in the 2021 election with a targeted focus on health care.

And while the health system is still struggling — more than 145,114 people are waiting for a family doctor — the affordability crisis has moved up the list of priorities for voters to compete with health care for the top issue ahead of the Nov. 26 election.

“People’s ability to afford groceries and a place to live — that supersedes just about anything,” Jeffrey MacLeod, a Mount Saint Vincent University political science professor, said in a recent interview.

Robert Huish, a political scientist at Dalhousie University, agrees. “Nova Scotia has traditionally been a place where cost of living was below that of other parts of the country. Now we have rents that rival Toronto and exceed Montreal,” he said.

Tim Houston and the …