The ongoing contract negotiations between the Nova Scotia government and physicians are critical to improving the health-care system, the newly installed head of the province's doctor association said Tuesday. Talks that began last Christmas are moving to a final phase, Dr. Colin Audain said in an interview. The last contract expired March 31.

Doctors Nova Scotia has announced its new president during the association's annual conference on June 10. The new president, Dr. Colin Audain of Halifax, is an assistant professor in the faculty of medicine at Dalhousie University. Audain graduated from Dalhousie medical school in 2002 and completed his specialty training at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2007.

In her retirement, Valerie Vaughan-Hines enjoys bird-watching from her porch and looking for a pair of bald eagles that have nested across the lake from her home in Mount Uniacke, N.S. But lately, the 65-year-old has been spending a lot more time than she wants to looking for a family doctor.