NDP bills seek more consistency to Province House schedule
“When the Nova Scotia legislature is sitting for long hours for successive days, NDP House leader Claudia Chender knows she has a plan she can rely on so her three children have care while she's at work.
But not everyone has the financial means or social network for that. Chender, the MLA for Dartmouth South, said that creates a barrier for many people when it comes to considering a run at public office.
The NDP recently tabled bills that would see fixed hours for the days the House sits, and fixed calendar dates for when the spring and fall sittings take place.
Right now, those times and dates are at the discretion of the government. The NDP bill would have the spring sitting run from early February to late May and the fall sitting from early October to late November.
The only argument against the change is political, said Chender, particularly when something that could generate negative press is happening. In recent years the government has routinely sat for extended hours, in some cases around the clock, to rush through bills that generated controversy.
‘When they can control the agenda, when they can control … whether an act comes up for debate at 9:30 at night after [reporters'] filing deadline has passed, when most people are not watching Legislative Television or listening to the radio or watching TV, that's advantageous for them,’ she told reporters Tuesday at Province House.
. . .
Chender said the lack of a set schedule also creates an advantage for the government because it means opposition MLAs have less time to prepare for sittings at the legislature.
One of the NDP bills would also do away with a procedural loophole the government used during the most recent fall sitting.
. . .”