Premier Stephen McNeil said fewer than 100 words during proceedings at Nova Scotia’s legislature during the pandemic.
That’s because on Friday morning, the province’s legislature sat for the first time since the spring, but only to discontinue the current session.
Lt.-Gov. Arthur LeBlanc briefly summed up what the Liberals deemed as their accomplishments during the session, before turning it over to McNeil to prorogue.
With the prorogue, any bills that were on the table but not passed died on the order paper. Standing committees must also come to a halt for the duration of the prorogation.
After the quick sitting, McNeil dipped out of Province House to a vehicle idling on Granville Street. He refused to answer questions from reporters.
“I regret to see him leave his position on such a belligerent and small, small level,” NDP Leader Gary Burrill told reporters after the session was prorogued.
Burrill said the premier is capable of “more truthful and constructive conduct” than what he’s been showing recently, but has taken a selfish route.
“I think when the premier has expressed this view, which he has many many times, he has betrayed how superficial and small his understanding of democracy really is,” he said.
“In particular, he betrays and does not understand that the premier is not the sun, moon and stars of democracy in our system.”
While three NDP MLAs sat for the short session Friday, Burrill didn’t as part of the agreed plan for a safe sitting.
Meanwhile, PC Leader Tim Houston was the only person to sit for his party. He joined the three NDP members, 15 Liberals and two independents.
Houston said on Thursday evening, Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, made it clear that the legislative chamber was subject to the five-person gathering limit.
PC Leader Tim Houston says this legislature should be leading by example and what the Liberals just did is the exact opposite of what should have been done. pic.twitter.com/n4Qq2VCpqR
— Nicole Munro (@Nicole__Munro) December 18, 2020
“In the Liberals haste to trample democracy, they essentially tripped over their own feet,” Houston said.
“On the one hand, we’ve now seen that the premier’s political agenda supersedes public health orders, so this is the first time we’ve seen public health on one hand and Liberal agenda on the other hand.”
Houston said the only reason why he was present Friday was to “make sure that there was no funny business on the floor.”
But both Houston and Burrill said this all could have been avoided with virtual sittings during the pandemic, which the opposition has been calling on the premier to establish for months.
“They had lots of time to figure out virtual,” Houston argued.
“They didn’t want to so they didn’t because it didn’t suit them to answer questions. It didn’t suit them to debate policy and that’s unfortunate.”
On Feb. 16, 2021, the house is to return under a new premier, after a new Liberal leader is chosen Feb. 6.
