Premier deems 10-day fall session a success based on impact of legislation

The fall session of the Nova Scotia legislature ended Friday with Premier Tim Houston as focused on lashing out at the federal government as he was championing any of the six pieces of legislation from his government.

Over the 10-day session, the Tories passed an omnibus bill that, among other things, changes the approval process for shellfish and marine plant aquaculture projects, establishes new rules around burn bans and outlines the process to regulate offshore wind development.

A bill that extends the provincial rent cap of five per cent until the end of 2027 received as much attention for what it did not include as what it did. That's a mechanism to close a loophole allowing landlords to get around the rent cap and increase rates by as much as they want when a fixed-term lease ends and a new tenant takes over an apartment.

The government also went against calls from landlord and tenant groups in announcing it would not create a tenancy compliance and enforcement unit, despite commissioning a report that showed how it could be done and how it would help.

• N.S. rent cap extension useless due to fixed-term lease loophole, housing advocates say
• NDP accuse province of putting landlord profits over affordable housing.

Houston said his government is doing everything it can to address the current needs people in the housing market are facing.

"We always wish we could do more," he told reporters. "We're trying to do as much as we can to support Nova Scotians."

The government has "struck the best balance for right now" but remains "sympathetic to some of the situations," said Houston. He's heard the arguments for and against fixed-term leases, but Houston said the government is focused on removing barriers to more housing construction.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Houston and his government are doing the bare minimum when it comes to confronting the housing crisis.

"They can talk about housing starts all they want, but the reality is that supply isn't online and it isn't going to help any of the people who are coming to us with these issues," she told reporters.

The fall session was the shortest of Houston's tenure as premier since forming government in 2021, other than the few days he recalled the legislature in 2022 for a rare summer session to block a pending pay raise for MLAs.

But Houston said he judges his government's performance by the substance of the bills passed, not how long MLAs are at Province House. He said legislation that increases job protection and bills focused on economic development are meaningful.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said Houston and his Progressive Conservative government fell short even by their own standards in a session he classified as "a real nothingburger."

Churchill said Houston's repeated attacks on the federal Liberals related to the carbon tax, funding for the Chignecto Isthmus and taking asylum seekers — and attempts to connect those to Churchill and the provincial Liberals — is proof that the premier is not focused on Nova Scotia's most pressing issues. He said they include the housing and affordability crisis and continued strain on the health-care system.

"And so if you don't have answers, if you don't have real ideas to help with this — like I think is the case with Tim Houston — you're not going to want to be here to answer questions from the opposition," Churchill told reporters.

One opposition bill passed this session, legislation by the NDP that recognizes domestic violence as an epidemic in Nova Scotia. Houston originally said he didn't see the need for the bill but changed his mind after being confronted at Province House by advocates.

Early election speculation

With MLAs returning to their constituencies, speculation now turns to whether Houston will respect his own fixed election date of July 15, 2025, or send Nova Scotians to the polls early.

• Houston no longer wedded to fixed election date his government set in 2021

The Tories did themselves no favours in the speculation department by passing a motion on Friday saying that the 2025-26 provincial budget would be introduced on the first day of the spring session. Such motions normally come on the first day of a spring session.

Although the premier said he's not focused on an election, Chender said there's no reason for the government to pass such a motion unless an earlier election is in the offering.