Nova Scotia legislature wraps sitting marked by protests over budget cuts

Claudia Chender, the official Opposition NDP leader, said the premier “has basically not bothered to show up” to the legislature this session, missing more than 40 per cent of the sitting due to travel.

It’s been a session of “firsts” for Houston’s government, she said, explaining that he’s faced a level of backlash from the public that he hadn’t experienced before.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a premier not vote for his own budget,” she said, referring to his travel-related absence. She said it was also the first time the legislature had been closed to the public for more than one day.

A protest over the budget cuts in the visitors galleries on March 24 began with singing and ended with some people blocking an elected member from leaving the parking lot, house Speaker Danielle Barkhouse said. In response, she closed the building to the public for more than one week and then reopened it with new restrictions, including a ban on reading, writing or sketching during debates.

As well, Chender said, “It’s the first time we have seen such broad, reaching budget cuts” that ministers could not defend.

The NDP leader said she hopes the premier listened to the hundreds of Nova Scotians who protested or wrote to his office or to members of his caucus, because trust in government is “definitely at an all-time low.”

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