Policing and health care and housing at the top of Yetman’s agenda

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A need for more police officers is one of the most pressing issues in the district of Harbour Grace-Port de Grave, says PC Party candidate Walter Yetman.

The small businessman and former mayor of Bay Roberts addressed a list of topics posed by The Shoreline last week, ranging from the deficit to the proposed new Churchill Falls deal.

Regarding where the money will come from to cover all the promises being made by the parties, Yetman said it comes down to choices.

 “It’s where you allocate money,” he said. “And from what we’ve heard over the past few months, there has not been proper allocation of money.” 

Yetman said people are living month to month with little left over, arguing it behooves the government to spend those taxpayers money properly.

“You have to spend it on the important things,” said, citing healthcare, road safety, and public safety as examples. “We have to make steps, but these are essential dollars that need to be spent.”

Yetman said the Liberal government made the deficit seem smaller than it was by recording revenue that was supposed to be spread out over a period of 30 years into this year’s ledger. Yetman reckoned this year’s deficit could be 800 million dollars or more. 

The Liberals are campaigning on the promise that revenue from a proposed new Churchill Falls deal with Hydro Quebec will help solve this province’s budget woes. But Yetman said the deal has yet to be given an independent, transparent review of its merits and faults.

“The public needs to know what’s going on here,” said Yetman. “They need to be fully aware. This is so important to the future of the province… We can’t have the Liberal government get in and sign this M.O.U. and move on. That can’t happen.”

As for healthcare, Yetman said it has declined over the last decade with Newfoundland and Labrador recently being rated as having the worst in the country. Some 163,000 people in the province do not have a family doctor, he added, and 8,500 are waiting for an MRI.  

“We’re going to launch a province-wide program to bring registered nurses and nurse practitioners into rural, remote, and underserved communities,” said Yetman. “We’re going to make sure everyone can see a nurse practitioner for free, with no strings attached, no cost.” 

The PCs also plan to add spaces to the school of nursing, double the nurse practitioner program, and expand the medical school. 

“We want to make sure that these people attending school stay in the province,” Yetman said.  He noted the PCs are also planning, if elected, to offer jobs to health care students at the beginning of their studies, along with paid work terms, and tuition refunds. 

“These incentives need to be there,” he said. “We want to go in and plan for these things.” 

He added the PC Party will also help people with the cost of travel for healthcare.

Then there’s housing.

“There’s a lot of NL housing that needs to be fixed,” Yetman said. “Steps need to be taken for that, but it will need an investment. It will need an investment and people to do the work.” 

Getting back to the need for more police officers, Yetman said throughout his career in municipal government, council advocated for more police resources in the area. 

“We’ve had a lot of discussions with the RCMP. We know that the crime rate has increased in this area,” he said. “The party has committed to hiring 46 — that includes 21 RNC and 25 RCMP.” 

More resources are needed to deal with drug-related crime, he added, such as mental health crisis units and drug addiction services. “This will take people out of the criminal system,” said Yetman. 

Yetman said the Province also needs more Crown attorneys to deal with the backlog of repeat offenders.

Yetman said it is an honour to be able to knock on residents’ doors and find them willing to have a conversation. 

“Everybody has a choice,” he said. “This is an opportunity to make a choice.”