PC government uses supermajority to change N.S. legislature rules

Progressive Conservative MLAs used their supermajority in the Nova Scotia legislature Wednesday night to change the rules governing debate in the House.

Opposition leaders say the move risks weakening debate, while government MLAs have said the changes are intended to make the operation of the legislature more effective and efficient.

Government House leader Brendan Maguire introduced Resolution 5 last week — the same day the provincial budget was tabled — without any advance notice to or consultation with opposition members.

Among other things, the resolution gives the government the ability to limit the length of time for debate, a procedure known as time allocation. The government can also end debate with notice, a procedure known as invoking closure.

How things will change

Under the new rules, the amount of time MLAs have to speak on a bill would be reduced from an hour to 15 minutes when closure is invoked.

Other changes include reducing the amount of time opposition members are allowed to ring bells ahead of a recorded vote, a tactic that has been used by all parties — including the Progressive Conservatives when they were recently in opposition — to delay votes by up to an hour.

Under the new rules, bells can only ring for between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on what step a bill has reached in the lawmaking process.

Government members have said ringing the bells for the sake of ringing them does not contribute to the debate process.

In another change, the law amendments committee will now be known as the public bills committee. Although members of the public will still be able to present to MLAs and share feedback and suggestions on legislation, committee members will no longer be able to propose amendments during the process.

Waiting to see how government responds

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it all amounts to "a fundamental change" in the way the legislature works.

"We are making it much more difficult to debate bills in this House and to bring contrary views to the government into this house and ultimately to hold the government to account, which as opposition is what we're elected to do," she said in an interview following the final vote on the resolution.

Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said there was no question about how the final vote on the resolution would go because the government has more than the two-thirds support required to change the rules without the help of any opposition MLAs.

Mombourquette said the question now becomes what the government will do next.

"The biggest thing for us is that you never want to limit debate on important topics," he said in an interview.

"We knew this was going to pass — obviously, with the supermajority — so now we're going to see how they're going to use it."

Maguire declined an interview request following the vote.

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Chender said there can be value in prolonged debate, pointing to the fact that while the resolution has been the focus of MLAs, the public has had time to learn about Bill 1, omnibus legislation Premier Tim Houston introduced last week.

Initially, that bill included provisions that would have allowed the firing of the auditor general without cause and the ability for cabinet ministers to suppress reports from the AG's office.

Houston announced plans this week to pull back that portion of the bill. He also indicated on Wednesday plans to change controversial amendments in Bill 1 related to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act after the privacy commissioner expressed concerns and called for consultation.

"That's happening because there's been an extended time between the introduction of the bill and our ability to debate and to let people know about what's in that bill," said Chender.

Those same opportunities will not exist under the new rules, she said, because of the speed at which the government will be able to move legislation through the House.

"It's going to make law that is less representative and ultimately it's a government that's less accountable."