The Progressive Conservatives are promising to spend almost $40 million on increasing access to mental health services in Nova Scotia.
Leader Jamie Baillie says the $39.7 million would be spent on in-school mental health services, emergency centres for people suffering from mental health crises, increasing the number of mental health courts and creating a mental health research institute.
Baillie says he would also create a $250 tax rebate for people who rely on a psychiatric service dog, if his party takes power May 30.
READ MORE: Our complete election coverage
Baillie couldn’t say where the centres would be located, but said they need to address wait times for psychiatric care that are up to a year in Cape Breton.
The NDP, meanwhile, promised today to expand dental care coverage for children under 18.
Health care is becoming a dominant issue in the provincial campaign, with doctors holding a rally Sunday in Sydney Mines to highlight physician shortages and fears of a hospital closure.
Premier Stephen McNeil is campaigning in the Halifax area today, while NDP Leader Gary Burrill plans to hold events in New Waterford, Sydney and Antigonish.