The writ has dropped and Canadians will officially go to the polls next month.

Candidates are already hard at work since the writ was dropped last week.

But what are the challenges they face? And what issues matter most to Maritimers?

Nova Scotia recently missed out on several training opportunities that could have helped bolster anesthesiology services in the province after a health-care group tasked with overseeing the issue couldn’t agree on the offers.

At least 42 people had died of the flu in Nova Scotia when the Public Health Agency of Canada alerted the province of an atypical flu strain immune to the latest vaccine.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, got the April 5 alert recommending that he spread the word to doctors and other health care professionals in Nova Scotia to prescribe antivirals when treating people with the flu