Nova Scotia NDP urges public to weigh in on government's 'overreaching' bills

Keith Doucette · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 1:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A bid of contentious Nova Scotia authorities bills — including 1 that would assistance a prohibition connected fracking and uranium mining — travel earlier a legislature committee adjacent week, and the province's Opposition person is urging the nationalist to marque its dependable heard.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said radical and groups with concerns should be Monday's meeting, during which 7 bills are up for review, touching connected subjects specified arsenic assemblage governance and the medication of the civilian service.

"This is your accidental to talk straight to the authorities astir the issues that substance to you," Chender said astatine a quality league connected Thursday astir the nationalist bills committee hearing.

She referred to astir of the bills nether reappraisal arsenic "a suite of overreaching and concerning laws."

The province's bans connected fracking and uranium mining person been successful spot for decades, Chender said, adding that she doesn't privation authorities reversing the policies to beryllium rushed done the legislature without due nationalist consultation.

"It is important that this authorities (takes) the clip to perceive to Nova Scotians," Chender said.

Premier Tim Houston has faced beardown pushback to respective of his government's caller proposals, including to bounds the independency of the auditor wide and summation barriers to accessing documents and records.

In response, Houston has said helium would retreat respective proposals that would person allowed the authorities to occurrence the auditor wide without origin and veto the nationalist merchandise of reports. The premier said past period that the amendments had go "something they weren't intended to be," and nary longer supported them.

Houston followed up 2 days later, telling the legislature that determination would besides apt beryllium changes to a measure that the province's state of accusation commissioner said would weaken the public's close to entree authorities records and documents. He did not supply specifics.

Tricia Ralph, whose word arsenic privateness commissioner precocious ended, had taken contented with what she said were "broad" changes the authorities wanted to implement, specified arsenic permitting departments to garbage entree requests connected the ground they are trivial, frivolous oregon vexatious.

Chender said Thursday that her enactment has yet to spot thing successful penning connected the government's volition to locomotion backmost immoderate of its much arguable proposals.

"They person not seen acceptable to stock immoderate of those amendments which makes it precise hard to recognize if these are successful information the changes that Nova Scotians privation oregon the changes that ought to beryllium made to marque this authorities utile and productive," she said.

In an emailed statement, authorities location person Brendan Maguire said committee members connected Monday volition perceive to comments from the public, but won't amend the bills during the hearing. Changes volition beryllium made erstwhile the bills instrumentality to the legislature, helium explained.

"This volition see removing the sections pertaining to the auditor wide and tweaking the state of accusation amendments based connected feedback from the erstwhile commissioner," helium said.

The legislature resumes sitting adjacent week aft a week disconnected for the province's March schoolhouse break.