Virtual Presentations to Law Amendments Committee - Accessibility and Transparency

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Madam Speaker, I am very glad to have this timely opportunity to speak to an issue that our caucus has been speaking to in one way or another since I was elected over four years ago and that is the issue of the accessibility and utility, really, of our committee structure.

Here in Nova Scotia, we have a unique legislative committee, and that is the Law Amendments Committee. That committee gives this House the unbelievably important opportunity to hear representations from the public on the bills that are before us.

Madam Speaker, I have to say that I was reflecting today ‑ someone said to me yesterday, wow, I didn't know the Legislature was going to be like this - I didn't know we were going to hear stories and that there were going to be so many tears and so much thoughtfulness. And that has changed. That is new, I would say, even since I've been elected.

I think, as we have more diversity in this Chamber, we have more opportunity to hear people's stories and those stories reflect different life experiences and those stories move us in different ways because they are stories that many of us may not have heard or experienced before, as the member for Cole Harbour just mentioned. We have these unique life experiences, but notwithstanding, I would submit that we still don't have a fraction of the representation in this Chamber alone that would allow us to truly understand the impact of the legislation that moves through this House ‑ the People's House ‑ on behalf of the people of Nova Scotia, which the Premier just today said is the goal of the Progressive Conservative government, to be able to properly understand its impact.

So, for that reason, the Law Amendments Committee is not just unique but, I would argue, of singular importance in our legislative process. This brings me to the text of our motion, which is to allow virtual presentations to the Law Amendments Committee.

I will frame this by saying that when I was elected, Madam Speaker, there was no capacity - the technological capacity of this House, of this Chamber, of our legislative structure, was out of date.

I think if you talk to Legislative Television, they'll probably still tell you they would love a serious infusion of capital that would allow them to continue to update. We know even in our constituency offices that updating technology and updating computers is very expensive.

But the House staff and Legislative TV in particular, really underwent a pretty Herculean feat when the pandemic hit. When we were allowed to convene as committees again - which we were prevented from doing for quite some time, I should say - they made it possible that we could do that in a safe way.

As with everything else we have learned to do over the last couple of years of COVID‑19, almost, it was to meet virtually. We can see each other's faces. We can hear each other's voices. We can experience a presentation from someone in as close as possible to a simulation of them being in the room.

That was a huge leap forward, the accessibility of that committee, in two ways. One, it allowed everyone who doesn't live in HRM to actually present to that committee. As we saw just the other day, but which has been the pattern for at least a decade - I'm sure beyond - there is not proper, - well there is proper but there is not particularly sufficient notice given, usually, for the convening of that committee.

In this case, we are given an announcement that a committee is going to meet on a Friday evening, and that committee is going to meet on a Monday night. That's not a lot of time. Sometimes it's even less notice than that. The reality of that, Madam Speaker, is that realistically only people in HRM with no work conflicts, babysitters, who are able-bodied, I should say, or not without barriers to transportation or mobility, can actually come into this House and present.

We were able to overcome all those barriers in a fell swoop by allowing people to make virtual presentations. On October 7th, the Premier told reporters he wanted that to continue. As someone who has spoken out about and sits on many committees in my time in this House, I have to say, I was thrilled because it's the right thing to do.

We spent a lot of time even getting to the place where we could have CART services, where people could watch video. Previously there was only an audio stream that was available at those committees, or Hansard much, much, much later. The first step in that accessibility was those CART services, the video stream, which airs live on YouTube. This was the next step.

There are these two streams. There is creating accessibility for people in rural Nova Scotia, which I would suggest is the vast majority of the constituents of the governing party, and there is also creating accessibility for those who are mobility-impaired or who otherwise would have challenges in presenting to this House.

To that end, I will say, in 2018, I think it was, or 2017 - just before I was elected, this House passed an incredible piece of accessibility legislation. Number one, that bill would not have been passed if it wasn't for the Law Amendments Committee, the amazing advocacy that took place in that committee. What came out of that was the Accessibility Directorate and consultations, which all are aimed at creating an accessible Nova Scotia by 2030.

This is really low-hanging fruit. We need to be leaders in this effort. The fact that the Premier would walk back a commitment, not to creating but to maintaining accessible access to the Law Amendments Committee for everyone in Nova Scotia - for people in rural Nova Scotia, for people with mobility issues - is really strange. That's the only word I can think of.

Again, we are left to wonder, why would that happen? The only thing we can think of is that we want to hear from people, but not too much. We want the public to have input but not that much input, just a little bit of input, particularly if it's input that we know is not going to be favourable to the government.

The students and teachers and educators of this province have a long history, which has been exercised pretty recently, of showing up in big numbers when they don't like a piece of legislation. They have indicated in no uncertain terms that they are not fans of the Elections Act amendment that the government introduced, Bill No. 1. What did they do? They started to organize, and they wanted to present. A teacher can't drive here from Pictou County, can't drive here from Shelburne, can't drive here from any number of other places for a Monday night meeting that goes until 11 o'clock at night. They can't do it.

We're going to hear, Madam Speaker, from the governing party that they can still write a letter. Again, I would ask the members of this Chamber to think about how many letters they get. While it is important that we read the correspondence that comes to our office, there is a different level of persuasion and a different level of access that is allowed when you can be in dialogue with a person, when a person can present to you in person, when they can ask a question, and when you can respond to that question.

Madam Speaker, it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day. We had this conversation a lot when we were locked out of this Legislature for almost a year. We heard from a different government, "We can't do it, it's not going to work" when everyone we knew was working from home with Zoom, when all of our children were going to school virtually. This is the same conversation again. My eight-year-old knows how to have a Google Meet. Anybody in this province at this point knows how to do this, how to videoconference.

We have the capacity, we have the will, and we have the ability. The only thing stopping us from making this important crown jewel of a committee accessible to all Nova Scotians, regardless of disability, regardless of the place that they live, is the Premier deciding he doesn't want it to be accessible.

I invite the Premier to change that decision. He said they're looking at it. I hope he continues to look at it. I really hope, for all the people who aren't able to voice their concerns on a piece of legislation, that they change this decision. (Applause)