Bill No. 68 - Municipal Government And and Halifax Regional Municipality Charter - Second Reading
MS. CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : This is a piece of legislation whose time has come. Some may note that we introduced a version of this bill in the last legislative sitting in response to a positive indication from the Premier and the Minister of Municipal Affairs that they were ready to fix the glaring hole in this area. The response to that bill at that time was that it didn't go far enough, that we weren't contemplating fathers and adoptive parents in providing leave to municipal councillors, so we've rewritten the bill because, again, this is legislation whose time has come.
This is a simple bill. It's needed because the current situation municipally is that councillors must put a request before council if they need to miss more than three meetings for any reason. In the case of parenthood, this means that a parent must beg leave of their council colleagues to have access to time to be with their children and adjust to the demands of parenthood and public life. That request is then put to a vote. One councillor has described this to me as a nerve-wracking experience. I call it humiliating.
As a society, we acknowledge that parental bonding is hugely important in the development of a child. As Nova Scotians and Canadians, we accommodate this via employment insurance for maternal and parental leave, which we just heard yesterday will be expanded to fathers. Everyone in this Chamber says they are committed to gender parity in politics. As elected officials are not eligible for EI or the like provisions, this bill amends this key gap, a gap which presents a clear barrier for young women and parents to entering politics.
This bill allows the time and flexibility for new parents to determine how to juggle the demands of parenthood and public life. Consistent with EI provisions and labour standards this bill allows for new parents, once a councillor has filed evidence with the Clerk of expecting a child, that a councillor may miss up to 52 weeks of meetings without requesting permission to do so.
As MLAs, we spend the majority of our time serving and representing our constituencies. We know that none of us could disappear for a year and hope to be re-elected but those of us with children also know that we often have to juggle responsibilities and timelines to balance work and family life, especially in the early days.
Municipal councils across Nova Scotia vary widely in composition, compensation, and the level of commitment demanded by councillors. We're therefore offering a broad, blanket prescription that will certainly be operationalized in different ways by different councillors in the months and years to come. Even today, with the historic number of women represented in this Chamber - the kudos for which go only to those women, their hard work, and their supporters, by the way - we are still not close to achieving gender parity. Not only that but we are looking at the elimination of the one order of elected governance where women have achieved and surpassed parity, that is our elected school boards.
In December, we sent a draft of this bill to all municipal councils in Nova Scotia. We've spoken with councillors across the province and recently presented to the Executive Council of the Halifax Regional Municipality, who were very supportive of this effort. Three municipalities - Inverness, Richmond, and Kentville - have all officially supported our bill. The Cape Breton Regional Council just yesterday passed a resolution supporting province-wide rules for parental leave for councillors.
There's growing support from our province's municipalities on this issue, and we should move forward with these changes to ensure that women and young people know that parenting is not a barrier to political participation.
The Parental Committee of the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities includes representatives from municipalities, the Status of Women, and Municipal Affairs, and was struck in December after the introduction of our bill. We know that the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities is hard at work on this file, but that is not an excuse not to legislate in this area. The report of this group has also recommended leave provisions for expectant parents. Further to that, the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities is suggesting that all councils create standing orders such that these rules could be operationalized council by council.
When I had the opportunity to speak to the vice-president of the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, I said to him what I'm saying to all of you in this Chamber. This is a piece of legislation whose time has come. Just as an individual councillor shouldn't have to stand before all of their colleagues and have them vote on their leave, the same as if they wanted to go to Disneyland or they were getting knee surgery, they also shouldn't have to vote council by council on whether these are provisions that ought or ought not to be implemented.
If a young person wants to run for elected office, they should be able to know that, legislatively, they will be protected and accommodated if and when they decide to start a family. It's common sense, and it's a glaring error.
We know that we also have this error at the provincial level. In this Chamber, there is no leave provision at all for an expectant parent, not just mothers but anybody. We're also working in tandem on this effort through the House of Assembly Management Commission, and we hope to have positive news from that group soon.
Again, we know that the Premier and the minister have been broadly supportive of these efforts, and we appreciate it. As my colleague the member for Sackville-Cobequid recently stated, if the government wants to bring in their own bill that looks a lot like this and pass it and give themselves applause, go right ahead. I'll applaud right with you, and I'll sign on.
I'm saying here today in this Chamber that this is a piece of legislation whose time has come. We are in a particular legislative moment. Inside and outside of this Chamber and all Chambers at all orders of government, politicians and staff are grappling with the ways in which we know that our political culture is still pervaded by patriarchy and misogyny. We know this.
We are in the moment of Me Too. We don't have an opportunity to talk about it in this Chamber. We haven't done it in this sitting, for obvious reasons. It is painful. It's painful to talk about. It's painful to believe that we have these structures that are still in place and that there are so many invisible and visible barriers to full participation in public life, especially for women. It has been in place for centuries, and it will take time to dismantle.
This is one small move in that direction but, practically and symbolically, my argument is that it's a very, very important move. Publicly, we have seen scandals pop up now and again in politics over the last few months. But privately we know, I would say especially the women in this Chamber, that these conversations are happening constantly. They are happening constantly.
Are we products and participants in a political culture that fully supports our participation? Here is an opportunity for all members of this House to show that the answer to that question is yes, we are members of that.
We have seen supports signalled. We have been told that the last version of this bill didn't go far enough. We have amended the bill. We have circulated it for feedback. We come to you now with what we fully believe is a simple one-page bill that fixes a glaring gap and barrier to women's support in the political process.
I'm asking all of you to please support this bill and let it move forward. It is a piece of legislation whose time has come.
Published by Order of the Legislature by Hansard Reporting Services and printed by the Queen's Printer.
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