The Nova Scotia Department of Community Services (DCS) backed off a clandestine plan to cut medical services for disabled Nova Scotians living in special care homes late Friday Thursday afternoon, hours before it was to take effect. The province had planned to implement the unannounced cuts over the Canada Day long weekend, but shelved the plan hours after the Canadian Press News Agency sought comment from DCS Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse. Operators of special care homes were told the policy was "on hold" in late afternoon emails from frontline care coordinators. The policy would have curtailed coverage for a wide range of medical...

30 June, 2011

Yesterday, I posted about the pitfalls facing a minister who receives an official complaint from a well-known political ally, and critiqued Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse for her navigation of these tricky waters. Reader Mark Austin offers a broader assessment of the minister: While you are right on your scoring of Minister Peterson-Rafuse on her recent public foray, I think you have to award her a few points for being willing to communicate off the cuff. She strikes me as sincere and earnest. I would give her back one point for that. So, 1-1. Last week, at the Taking...

01 November, 2010

Being a cabinet minister requires adroit balancing skills. On one hand, a minister sometimes performs duties that border on the judicial, and must do so impartially. On the other, a minister has political responsibilities to the governing party and its allies. To judge from her public comments about an impending investigation into allegations of abuse at group homes operated by the Colchester Residential Services Society, Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse has an imperfect grasp of both roles. The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union complained that managers of the Colchester homes had failed to react, or failed to react quickly enough, to...

31 October, 2010