Sheila Miller in Virginia Waters

Issues

We have critical issues facing our province and i want to advocate on your behalf. These include:

CHILD CARE AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Child care and early childhood education programs are a highly cost effective means of strengthening society as a whole, and ensuring that children get a good start in developing to their fullest potential.

There are approximately 60,000 children between the ages of 0–12, and 49,000 of those have parents in the workforce. Meanwhile, there are fewer than 7,000 child care spaces available in the province. Clearly, there is a shortage of child care spaces. Another key issue is the lack of trained early childhood educators.

A New Liberal Government will increase the number of child care spaces available by investing in competitive wages for the Early Childhood Educators.

Please see our Red Book for further information on the rest of our fresh initiatives for all people in the province.

PENSIONS
There are 24,000 public service pensioners in the province, and a large portion of the public service will retire in the next five years.

The unfunded liability in the province’s public pension plan is currently $3.9 billion. The Government has been trying to play catch-up in recent years by contributing more, but this only covers a portion of the interest on the liability. The unfunded portion of the liability continues to grow and all these factors have a major effect on the province’s net debt.

The current government promises to invest a third of any budget surplus into the unfunded pension liability. That is unlikely to happen, as Finance Minister, Tom Marshall, forecasted deficits of $496-million and $309-million in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively.

The NDP has not yet released a plan to deal with unfunded pension liability, in their policy platform or by public announcements. Their fiscal policy is limited to a few statements, saying they will balance the province’s budget each year, largely by introducing a 3 per cent surtax on petroleum royalties.

A New Liberal government will address the unfunded pension liability issue by establishing an arms-length Review Commission to examine equitable solutions. We need to show our pensioners respect, and ensure they can live with dignity in their retirement years.

For the Canadian Pension Plan, a New Liberal government will work with Ottawa to ensure that both CPP and private sector pensions are adjusted to reflect demographic changes that is fair for pensioners. There has to be a balance between pension contributions and benefits pay-out.

I’m Sheila Miller, your Liberal candidate in the upcoming provincial election.

For 25 years I have lived, raised my family and operated a business in the district including A Child’s Place Childcare Center and the first bilingual childcare centre in the city, Mes Amis Childcare Center.

As a concerned professional, I have been publicly active serving on committees and boards advocating for childcare issues with government. I have been an active member and Vice-President of PACAL (Provincial Association of Childcare Administrator's Licentiate).

I ask for your vote in the upcoming provincial election. Please contact me if you need a ride to the polling station or if you have any questions!

Sheila Miller

Muskrat Falls

People of this province deserve another, and more transparent, review of the Muskrat Falls mega-project. There has been a review of Muskrat Falls which was completed by Navigant Consulting and paid for by Nalcor Energy - which is the province’s energy company that will fund, and benefit from, this project.

It is projected that the Muskrat Falls project will cost $4.5 billion, which would bring our provincial debt to $12.5 billion. The current government says it will be the cheapest option for energy. It is not. There are others, including the recently rejected Argentia wind farm.

There are no identified markets for the energy that would come from Muskrat Falls. and Nova Scotia will receive the energy practically free. Nova Scotia power company, Emera, will pay $1.2 billion to construct an underwater power line, but in return will get 35 years of free energy. However, Dunderdale said, on record, Muskrat Falls power will be almost double for people of THIS province.

Please see Muskrat Fails for further information.

Issues

Message from Sheila

Friday, September 23, 2011

Muskrat Falls

NL Liberals site

Please contact with any questions, or a lawn sign

Headquarters

Blog Archive