Independent MLA candidate for Richmond, Alana Paon, says it’s vital that the riding continue to be represented by a French-speaker.
Paon is one of only two candidates in the riding that speaks fluent French; she’s also the president of L’assemblée parliamentaire de la Francophonie (APF) in Nova Scotia.
“If you don’t have someone who’s an elected official, who can communicate in French, you’re not going to have a seat around that table,” Paon says.
She says, she’s used her position with the APF to advocate for more French services in Acadian communities.
“There’s special funding that comes with being in a protected Acadian constituency — you can’t negotiate or discuss those funding opportunities if you can’t communicate in the language.”
Paon says, the number of French speaking Acadians has been dwindling for generations because prior to the conception of the conseil scolaire acadien provincial — the province’s French school board — several generations of Acadian children didn’t have the option to learn in their mother tongue.
In addition to issues of culture and language, Paon says, the riding is plagued by the healthcare crisis.
While out knocking on doors, she’s heard stories of people dying at home while waiting for an ambulance.
Paons says, political parties like to point the finger at one another — but they’re all to blame.
“We all knew that we had an aging population coming down the pipe for decades now and successive governments have not planned for that,” Paon says. “We’re in the crisis that we’re currently experiencing because of that.”
She says, in order to begin tackling the healthcare crisis, elected officials need to be able to communicate directly with health care professionals, rather than the unions and organizations that represent them.
