Tel: 443-8318 Email: |
Current Positions held: Member of the Assembly Matters Committee |
Diana with Don Allen, Frances MacDonald, Felicia Eghan and Ron Hirtle, four of the eight volunteers honoured this year at the 9th Annual Halifax Mainland North Champion Awards. |
News Release May 7, 2012 Diana Whalen, MLA LIBERALS OFFER SOLUTION TO AVALON UNDERFUNDING Liberal women's critic Kelly Regan and Diana Whalen, MLA for Halifax Clayton Park, say the loss of a legal support advocate at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax would not happen if the organization, and others like it, were properly funded. "Women's organizations, restorative justice groups and affordable housing programs are all underfunded," says Regan. "These organizations have to cope with power rate increases, wage increases and other cost pressures that force them into making very tough decisions – now women who have been sexually assaulted have one less advocate to offer them support because of this government's refusal to properly fund the organization." Regan says that Nova Scotia has the highest per capita rate of sexual assault in the country. "Nine out of 10 sexual assaults go unreported and Nova Scotia has the lowest rate of laying charges in sexual assault cases," says Regan. "Women cannot afford to lose the vital supports offered by places like Avalon." Liberal MLA for Halifax Clayton Park Diana Whalen says she has introduced a bill in the legislature that would help address the underfunding of victim support organizations. "Currently, more than 90 per cent of the money collected from the victim surcharge is absorbed into the government bureaucracy even though it was designed to support victims," says Whalen. "The bill we've introduced would direct that money away from the provincial bureaucracy and into services and programs to help victims – it could be used to save the position at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre." Diana Whalen News Release May 7, 2012 MCNEIL: PROVINCE MUST EXEMPT HRM PENSION FROM FULL SOLVENCY TEST Liberal leader Stephen McNeil says the province must extend similar pension solvency exemptions to the Halifax Regional Municipality as were extended to Dalhousie. McNeil wants the province to change pension regulations to exempt the HRM from the full solvency pension test, a test that determines whether a defined benefit plan would be able to pay all of the obligations due under the plan should the institution close. "We know the HRM is not going to disappear," says McNeil. "It makes no sense to subject the HRM to an exemption test designed to protect people if their employer closes or goes out of business." "We want the province to change pension regulations to allow jointly sponsored municipal pension plans, like HRM's, to be exempt from full solvency funding requirements." McNeil says the province's continued insistence on forcing the municipality to meet full solvency requirements, even though there is no threat of it disappearing, is unnecessarily costing the HRM precious resources that could be passed on to taxpayers. "The province is forcing the HRM into an unnecessarily expensive pension arrangement and this needs to change," says McNeil. McNeil says Nova Scotia places the most restrictive pension regulations on municipalities of all provinces. "When the province forces such unnecessary costs onto municipalities it's the taxpayer that suffers," says McNeil. "We want this issue addressed so that the people of the HRM are getting the best deal for their tax dollars." Diana Whalen |
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