Dear Minister Porter:  

Congratulations on your new appointment as Minister of Municipal Affairs. You may have heard of our group The Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness or NSEF. We are a board consisting of business professionals, educators and members of the public. The NSEF has many people involved in our organization with many volunteers who help us in the education of our citizens across the Province regarding the under-funding of Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia by our own government. As Minister of Municipal Affairs, we would like to sit down with you to discuss our issues at your earliest convenience. The almost $2 billion that the province receives each year from the equalization transfer from Ottawa is being severely misappropriated by the N.S. Government. The NSEF is committed to exposing this practice to the people of Nova Scotia. 26% of this transfer is provided because of the deficiency in the fiscal tax capacity in municipalities related to property and it is not being provided. CBRM receives only $15 million and then pays back almost $19 million in taxes and by our calculations; we should receive between $260 and $300 million per year of these funds. We start each year with a negative $4 million. Here in CBRM we pay 87% higher residential taxes and 67% higher commercial taxes than that of HRM. The province receives $7.3 million to combat homelessness per year and here in CBRM, we have the highest rates of homelessness and we receive just over $200,000. CBRM has one of the worst performing economies in the country. We have an extremely high unemployment rate of over 15% while HRM enjoys a low 5.8%. CBRM also has one of the highest insolvency rates in the country. We have one of the highest child poverty rates in Canada as well as the worst roads that are almost impossible to navigate and the list goes on and on. P.E.I. is roughly the same population as Cape Breton and they receive $419 million per year from Equalization and they have a very productive economy because their government is distributing these funds to benefit all citizens.  

The following are quotes from the Federal Government with regards to the Charter of Rights and  Freedoms as well as the human rights act.  

Charter of Rights and Freedoms:  

36. (1)  

Without altering the legislative authority of Parliament or of the provincial  

legislatures, or the rights of any of them with respect to the exercise of their legislative authority,  

Parliament and the legislatures, together with the government of Canada and the provincial  

governments, are committed to  

a)  promoting equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians;  

b) furthering economic development to reduce disparity in opportunities; and  

C) providing essential public services of reasonable quality to all Canadians.  

-- Marginal note: Commitment respecting public services  

(2)  Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making  

equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to  

provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of  

taxation.  

Human rights act of Nova Scotia  

Purpose of Act  

2  

The purpose of this Act is to  

(a) recognize the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family;  

(b) proclaim a common standard for achievement of basic human rights by all Nova Scotians;  

(c) recognize that human rights must be protected by the rule of law;  

(d) affirm the principle that every person is free and equal in dignity and rights;  

(e) recognize that the government, all public agencies and all persons in the Province have the  

responsibility to ensure that every individual in the Province is afforded an equal opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life and that failure to provide equality of opportunity threatens the status of all persons; and  

(f) extend the statute law relating to human rights and provide for its effective administration.  

1991, c. 12, s. 1; 2008, c. 59, s. 1 

Thank you for your time today Minister Porter and as you can see from the above documents, The Nova Scotia government is literally breaking the law against the people of Cape Breton and rural Nova Scotia. This planned decline of our economy must stop as when we see our hospital boards, school boards, etc leave this island, we also see the jobs associated with them leave. We hope to hear from you in the near future on this important issue to our residents.  

Regards,