Liberal majority committees refuse NDP proposals requiring they meet on schedule
“For six months the Nova Scotia government kept the legislature's most important all-party oversight committees shuttered, but they were finally back in session this week and the NDP members looked to keep it that way.
But the Liberals shut them down.
First, NDP MLA Susan Leblanc put forward a motion at Tuesday’s Health committee requesting the group stick to their monthly meetings and that none be cancelled without unanimous consent. The Liberal majority on the committee struck down the proposal.
A day later, the Liberal majority on the Public Accounts committee rejected a similar motion by NDP MLA Claudia Chender asking that the group convene monthly meetings by teleconference or video conference in the event that COVID-19 restrictions prevent in-person meetings. Tory members on both committees also voted in favour of the NDP motions.
The Liberal members voted unanimously to maintain the status quo, meaning the provincial government continues to have ultimate authority on whether those committees meet.
The McNeil government has abused that authority during the pandemic, said Chender, unilaterally shutting down committees charged with overseeing government spending and health care decisions when they are needed most.
Chender and the NDP are planning to propose legislation at the coming fall sitting of the legislature that would mandate committees to meet a minimum number of times a year.
‘We are in the middle of a health crisis and that health crisis has necessitated a massive amount of spending from a number of government departments,’ said Chender after the Public Accounts committee meeting.
‘That the government would not allow the Health committee and the Public Accounts committee, which are the only oversight mechanisms, to meet even virtually when every other province in the country has made allowances to do so should cause a lot of people pause.’
. . .”