First of all, as mentioned above, if you want to get healthcare coverage in Nova Scotia, the only thing that matters is Nova Scotia's laws. For that purpose, it does not matter what Alberta's representatives tell you or even what Alberta's laws say.
Second, you cannot do this research by reading government webpages. These webpages are not the law and are not guaranteed to be correct. In fact, the webpage you quoted is wrong in the claim it makes that you quoted that "Private health insurance plans are prohibited from duplicating coverage for health services provided in Canada which are insured under the Canada Health Act". There is no such provision in the Canada Health Act, RSC 1985, c C-6. In fact, such a provision would probably be unconstitutional as relating to a matter properly within the authority of the provinces under Constitution Act, 1867, § 92(16). In contrast to the nonexistent federal provision, provincial legislatures
may have the authority to pass such laws and six provinces have such laws on the books. See
Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2005 SCC 35, ¶ 77. The
Chaoulli court found that Quebec's law of that nature was invalid, but the reasoning was specific to Quebec, so the other five provinces with such a law continue to enforce them. The quote from the government webpage is true for half of Canada, but it's wrong as a general proposition.
Just like you can't trust government webpages, you also can't trust what government customer service representatives tell you. These people are usually not trained in the law and, in my experience dealing with government agencies, often do not know what they are talking about.
Now that we've discussed what does
not matter, let's turn to what actually does matter, namely Nova Scotia law. The Health Services and Insurance Act, RSNS 1989, c 197, § 17(e) says that the Governor in Council may make regulations "defining residents of the Province for the purpose of this Act". Those regulations are the Hospital Insurance Regulations,
NS Reg 11/58 ("Regs"). According to the regulations, a person "who moves to Nova Scotia from a place outside Canada" is "entitled to ... [services] ... commencing on the day he becomes a resident of Nova Scotia". Regs § 2(b). For a person who moves to Nova Scotia from within Canada, he is not entitled to services until the "first day of the third month immediately following the month in which he becomes a resident of Nova Scotia". Regs § 2(a).
The key question then becomes: did you become a resident of Nova Scotia when you drove back there in "mid May"? A resident is a person "who is legally entitled to remain in Canada and who makes his home and is ordinarily present in Nova Scotia, but does not include a tourist, a transient, or a visitor to Nova Scotia". Regs § 1(m)(i). In order to secure services, you will need to show that:
- You make your home in Nova Scotia,
- you are ordinarily present in Nova Scotia, and
- you are not "a tourist, a transient, or a visitor to Nova Scotia".
It appears that none of these requirements of the Nova Scotia regulation have ever been interpreted by a court, so I just base the following comments on a plain reading of the provisions.
With respect to requirement #1, Nova Scotia is apparently the place to which you intend to return when you are away, and that may be sufficient for it to be your "home".
Turning to requirement #2, the word "ordinarily" describes a default state of affairs. If your travelling is out of the ordinary, maybe you can credibly say that you are ordinarily present in Nova Scotia in the sense that if you weren't travelling (which is unusual), you would be in Nova Scotia, which is your home. I express no view on this argument or any other argument.
Finally, with respect to requirement #3, given that you intend to return to Nova Scotia and consider it your home, you might not be "a tourist, a transient, or a visitor to Nova Scotia".
It sounds like the "is ordinarily present" requirement might be the toughest for you, but there are some plausible arguments there.
Now I will address the two final issues:
If you believe you meet the test for Nova Scotia residency in the regulation (and discussed above) but Nova Scotia will not give you insurance, what can you do? You may have to file an application for a declaration in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. While I have no experience with or knowledge of Nova Scotia civil procedure, I can say that in Alberta, this is a pretty fast process. You would file an application and affidavit, serve them, receive a hearing date within a couple weeks, attend the hearing, and if the judge is satisfied you meet the test, she can sign an order stating that you meet the test and then that will be binding on the government. This should not be interpreted as information about Nova Scotia civil procedure, which I know nothing about. The only points I am conveying in this paragraph are (i) the Court has the power to resolve your dispute with the government, and (ii) it won't necessarily be a lengthy process.
The only remaining issue is: What if you truly are not eligible for health insurance anywhere in Canada? You may be out of luck in that case, barring a constitutional argument. Section 6 of the Charter protects the right "to move to and take up residence in any province", subject to "any laws providing for reasonable residency requirements as a qualification for the receipt of publicly provided social services". Assuming these requirements interfere with your right "to ... take up residence" in Nova Scotia, the constitutional question would be whether these residency requirements are "reasonable".
You should retain counsel to assist you with these matters. I express no view on anything discussed here. I'm just trying to jump start your research, but you cannot rely on this information in lieu of retaining counsel.