NS party leaders roll out promises on election trail

At a rally in Halifax on Saturday morning, NS NDP leader Gary Burrill laid out some of his party’s key priorities.

If elected, Burrill says the NDP immediately want to repeal Bill 75, which imposed a contract on 9,300 unionized teachers earlier this year.

READ: Thousands of Nova Scotia teachers rally outside province house, protesting Bill 75

“In our province, people have to have the right to free and fair collective bargaining,” said Burrill.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "In our province, people have to have the right to free and fair collective bargaining," said Burrill.

“It is one of the signature failures of the McNeil Liberals, that in three and a half years, they have not managed to negotiate successfully a single major union contract. When they have got a matter resolved, it’s because they have legislatively imposed a settlement.”

READ MORE: ‘People ought to have a better life’: NDP Leader Gary Burrill’s quest for a new Nova Scotia

Burrill said the NDP would put classroom caps in place, a move that would cost $9.3 million annually. They also want to add millions in additional resources for Nova Scotia schools.

“We have said for some months that we’re in favour of unleashing a small army of educational specialists in the public school sector in Nova Scotia,” said Burrill.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have said for some months that we're in favour of unleashing a small army of educational specialists in the public school sector in Nova Scotia," said Burrill.

Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie spent the day identifying problems in rural Nova Scotia.

“Stephen McNeil and his government have ignored rural Nova Scotia. They’ve cut health services, doctors — even the roads have been allowed to crumble,” he told Global News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Stephen McNeil and his government have ignored rural Nova Scotia. They've cut health services, doctors — even the roads have been allowed to crumble," he told Global News.

Baillie said rural areas in the province deserve to get ahead but cannot. If elected, Baillie said the PCs will create a $2 billion infrastructure fund to put people back to work.

READ MORE: First week of N.S. election wraps up as focus shifts to mental health, highways and film tax credit

They want to make things like shoulder and ditch maintenance as well as pavement and gravel patching a priority for rural and secondary roads in Nova Scotia.

“We’ve identified road work as one of the major priorities for our infrastructure fund. That includes rural roads. Our rural communities have faced a real loss of jobs and young people, but we have to maintain the infrastructure we have — we have to protect what they have, and that means investing in our roads,” said Baillie.

Nova Scotia premier and NS Liberal leader Stephen McNeil spent Saturday campaigning in Debert, Springhill, Amherst and Truro.

READ MORE: ‘I didn’t train to be the premier’: Liberal leader Stephen McNeil as he prepares for Nova Scotia election

Although McNeil did not make a policy announcement during the campaign stops, the Liberals did send out a news release on Saturday afternoon which stated that if elected, they would continue cutting red tape for small business by working to reduce regulatory costs by $25 million by the end of 2018.

The Liberals also want to increase the income threshold for small businesses from $350,000 to $500,000, something that was mentioned in March during a pre-budget speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

WATCH: Nova Scotia budget to feature lower small business taxes, balanced books

2:00 Nova Scotia budget to feature lower small business taxes, balanced books

According to Elections Nova Scotia, more than 1,000 people have already cast their ballots. Election Day is May 30.

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