Nova Scotia Liberal Party Leader Zach Churchill. Image: submitted.

Nova Scotia Liberal leader Zach Churchill toured Cape Breton Island last week.

He took the time to visit the paper mill in Port Hawkesbury to learn about their plans to use renewable energy and he met with elected municipal officials and healthcare workers.

Churchill says elected officials and health care workers he spoke with shared the concerns that many other Nova Scotians have about healthcare in the province particularly around access to timely healthcare.

Some doctors he spoke to have shown reluctance to criticize or give constructive feedback to the health authority out of fear of being reprimanded. “If our doctors don’t feel empowered to talk about challenges in our healthcare system or to talk about their ideas about how to solve these problems for fear of being punished by their administrative leader’s we have a big problem on our hands.” says Chruchill.

Another big concern is the vacancy of healthcare workers with an 80 precent vacancy rate of nursing staff in most hospitals. This is creating a crisis in the healthcare system because nurses are needed for hospitals and healthcare facilities to function, and problems will arise if vacancies are this high.

Churchill plans to bring these issues to the attention of parliament during the spring session.