A woman with a new scotland in income assistance who managed to force the province to pay her air conditioning says that it is frustrated that other low -income people will not obtain the same relief.
“I feel very sad. This policy should be amended,” said Julie Leggett in an interview on Wednesday, as temperatures increased to 32 C in some parts of the south of Nueva Scotia.
Last October, the 44 -year -old player from New Glasgow, NS, won an appeal to receive provincial funds for air conditioning due to health conditions. She successfully argued that without the small unit she bought last summer, the heat would cause her chronic pains to intensify.
But the decision of the Board of Income Assistance Appeals did not force the province to cover the cost of the air conditioners for other low -income people who have health problems that could worsen for heat.
Leggett raised his concerns during the November Electoral Campaign, arguing that government policy should be changed to help people deal with heat waves, which have increased in frequency and intensity.
The progressive conservative leader Tim Houston, whose party won the elections of November 26, had said in the campaign that he would seek to add air conditioners to a list of special needs covered by the Social Assistance Program.
On November 5, the prime minister said that the air conditioning “would be something we should see and we would be happy to see that.”
But a spokesman for the Social Development Department said Tuesday that the Government “was not planning a change in this policy.”
Leggett said the decision undermines the intention of the Employment Support Law and Income Assistance, which offers provincial funds for articles “prescribed as essential for the requesting for the applicant.”
Ultimately, he said that the decision ignores the cost for the health system if people cannot maintain reasonable temperatures in their homes. “It requires more medical attention resources to take care of people whose diseases get worse” during heat waves, he said.
Lina Hamid, a member of the PND PND legislature, said in an email on Wednesday that the lack of policy adjustment is creating risks to many citizens.
“The extreme heat is dangerous and is a threat to health for the newly” as we face more extreme temperatures as we see this week, the government must take this problem seriously. “
“The prime minister said his government would analyze making a change and that the fact that the department does not have plans to update the policy to help those who are fighting in the heat is deeply worrying.”
Jacqueline Wilson, lawyer of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that political leaders must understand that, due to climate change, cooling systems are becoming as essential as heating systems in Canada.
“There is this understanding of the air conditioning as a luxury article and it simply is not so, I would not say that heating someone’s apartment at a minimum level in winter in Canada is a luxury,” he said.
“It is absolutely necessary to keep people safe.”
In Ontario, people with disabilities or certain health conditions can receive provincial funds for air conditioners. However, he said that his organization has received reports that access to financing varies, describing the provincial Ontario system as a “mosaic.”
His group has joined forces with the Defense Center for Ontario tenants and the low -income energy network to ask provincial and municipal governments to demand owners to provide access to a cooling system during extreme heat periods.
“The best way to advance to ensure that everyone has access to cooling as necessary is to create cooling standards that can be applied,” he said.
