For Immediate Release
May 1, 2019
Alison Coffin praised: Stands up for health care and tuition freeze
ST. JOHN’S – NL NDP Leader Alison Coffin received praise for her performance at Wednesday night’s televised provincial election debate, in which she focused on making everyday life more affordable for the people of the province. She discussed her plan to improve health care and mental health services, which includes an increase to staffing levels in the province’s health care system.
“I know, New Democrats know, that everyone deserves to be able to afford the necessities of life,” said Coffin. “We should not have to worry about whether health care will be there when we need it, or if we’re going to end up choosing between buying food and paying our light bill.”
Throughout the debate, Coffin also focused on making post-secondary education accessible for everyone in the province by eliminating tuition fees, a necessary step to ensure access to good paying jobs.
“We need to ensure post-secondary education is affordable, accessible, and high quality. We need to progressively reduce tuition fees,” added Coffin. “We need to attract graduates to stay and work in NL. We need to ensure these jobs are good paying.”
Coffin reminded viewers of the poor decisions made by successive Liberal and Conservative governments that failed to put people first.
“The Liberals are hoping you will forget the levy they imposed, the millions of tax dollars they handed over for big businesses and foreign companies, and the political patronage appointments, said Coffin. “The Tories want you to forget that they brought us Muskrat Falls. The single biggest financial fiasco since Churchill Falls - which the Liberals gave us. Enough already.”
Coffin hopes that this debate sparks even more interest in this campaign. For the remainder of the campaign, she will continue meeting people at the doors and hearing about what matters most to them.
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For more information, please contact Nina Amrov, Press Secretary: phone (709) 746-7455 or e-mail news@nl.ndp.ca