HALIFAX - A Liberal MLA introduced legislation Monday that will retroactively restore survivor benefits to 50 widows of the mining disasters in Springhill and other industrial accidents in the province.
Currently, those Springhill widows whose spouses died before 1985 and who subsequently remarried were stripped of their survivor benefits. A Supreme Court of Canada ruling changed the parameters in 1999, but Leo Glavine feels the 14 years worth of benefits that were lost should be returned.
"It was wrong to exclude remarried widows from receiving that small survivor benefit in 1985 and it's still wrong today," said Glavine. "These women raised their families while struggling with limited incomes and fighting for these benefits for decades."
Glavine believes the NDP will, in fact, pass this piece of legislation.
The last time the bill was introduced in December of 2007, current NDP Deputy Premier Frank Corbett confirmed that his party supported the bill and wanted to see the widows retroactively reimbursed.
