Budget 2027/28

With one of the highest food insecurity rates across the provinces, it’s clear that Nova Scotia is in a crisis. In 2025, more than 275,000 Nova Scotians, or 26.2% of the population, experienced food insecurity, a number that’s expected to continue to rise.

It’s also clear that more food is not the solution to food insecurity. Targeted policy built to support our most vulnerable community members is essential. This means focusing on root causes such income poverty and the spiraling cost of living. In our budget submission to the government of Nova Scotia, we’ve laid out key policy levers to be engaged in order to help tackle this ongoing crisis.

Our first policy lever is focused on income-based solutions to food insecurity. Incomes in Nova Scotia are severely inadequate to survive off – both for those receiving income support and for those earning wages. With current income assistance supports leaving Nova Scotians in deep poverty, our first policy recommendation is for the government is to strengthen the Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) program). Strengthening the ESIA program would allow households to meet their basic needs. Our second recommendation is to improve the access and impact of the Poverty Reduction Credit Program. As it stands, many struggling households do not qualify support, and for those that do, the impact of these programs continues to weaken over time. Our third recommendation is to reverse the 2025 cuts to the Heating Assistance Rebate Program. Recent cuts to this program have made the affordability crisis significantly worse, with almost 8,000 households suddenly losing financial support, despite the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing rising energy costs. Our final income-based recommendation is for the government to expand the Nova Scotia Affordable Living Tax Credit (NSALTC). While the NSALTC was originally launched in 2010 to provide financial relief for HST to lower income households, it has not evolved to meet changing community needs.

Making income-based interventions such as these actually have the power to reduce social services spending, making investments like these key for all Nova Scotians.

We’ve also signaled to the provincial government that a target to reduce food insecurity is essential as we work to build a future where no one needs charity to eat. Without a clear target to measure or understand impact and change, and without coordinated actions between all government departments, services will continue to be piecemeal.

In our submission, we also laid revenue generation recommendations, namely the reinstatement of the 1% HST reduction. While touted as a cost saving measure for Nova Scotians, the reduction has resulted in significant governmental revenue losses with negligible savings for the average Nova Scotian.

The priorities listed above are key to creating a strong income floor for all Nova Scotians and are essential to building a future where no one needs charity to eat.

You can read our full budget submission, along with past submissions and reactions HERE.