‘Beware Tim Houston, we’re coming’: “Special interests” rally held in Halifax

NDP Leader Claudia Chender spoke at the rally, as did Derek Mombourquette, who is the interim leader for the Liberal Party. Both spoke before heading inside where the legislature was sitting in the afternoon.

Chender outlined some of the changes the Houston government has tried to introduce, including a bill to fire the provincial auditor general without cause, plans to lift bans on hydraulic fracturing and uranium mining, and limiting freedom of information requests.

“I am so glad to see you all here telling them that is not what anyone voted for,” Chender said. “If you had asked me six months ago if I thought that a bill that would threaten to fire the auditor general would start a movement that would bring hundreds of people from right across the province to Province House, I would have said, ‘hell, no.'”

Houston has walked back some of his government’s proposed changes, including its stance on the auditor general and giving media access to interviews with ministers. Chender said those walk backs by Houston are proof that people speaking up is working.

“Your voice matters, even in a supermajority,” Chender said. “The role of the government is to express the will of the people and not the other way around, so stay strong, stay loud, and stay together.”

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