Health bill debate to continue Friday at Province House

Union protests against the government's health care bill continued Thursday after a long night for provincial representatives.

The government started business at the legislature at midnight and continued into the wee hours in order to thwart efforts by the Opposition parties to delay passage of its bill to merge district health authorities.

Early Thursday afternoon, union protestors once again lined Hollis Street in from of Province House shouting their opposition to the bill.

New Democratic Party MLAs tried to amend the proposed law — but government members voted down every proposed change. That left NDP House Leader Frank Corbett shaking his head.

"Some of our amendments weren't earth shattering. Similar to issues around the governance, that they'll be, they'll hold meetings in public, that they will get the AG to audit the books once a year. Those things are, I think, kind of mom and pop issues. I don't know why they didn't look at them," says Corbett.

Although the NDP could have held up the bill all night and well into today, the party decided to call it quits after three hours.

Corbett said his MLAs had made their point.

The fact the NDP held fire may have bought the party some good will from the government benches.

Government House Leader Michel Samson is promising to have another look at some of those amendments.

"The amendments came in a little late so we are going to be looking at them and there may be a possibility that we'll have a look at them again for tomorrow at third reading," said Samson.

He wouldn’t say which amendments the government might be willing to accept.

Meanwhile, the four unions fighting the province's plan to reorganize health care are now split.    

Three are still lobbying the province to set up a common bargaining table for same-category workers.

But the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union — the fourth and largest union — wants health employees to have the final say.

Joan Jessome, the president of the NSGEU, is particularly upset with the Nova Scotia Nurses Union which stands to gain the most members in the reorganization.

"Just by the design of the legislation, they will end up with every single RN and LPN in the province. So yes, I am critical of that because that union should be asking for a vote and so should the Unifor and so should CUPE. The bargaining association is not there. The premier said no. I don't know how many ways you have to hear no before you understand it's gone," she says.

Jessome says she'll now fight only for her members and will let the other unions fight their own battles.

Discussion on Bill 1 resumes Friday at 9 a.m.