Legislative committee meetings to be live streamed this fall

Legislative assembly hopes live streaming committee meetings will encourage people to tune in

Image | Rick Gibbs/CBC

Caption: Clerk assistant Emily Doiron says government wants the Coles Building live streams to "keep the feel" of committee meetings held in the J. Angus MacLean building. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)

All legislative committee meetings held when the house is not in session will now take place in the Coles Building legislative chamber and will be live streamed starting Sept. 1.
The Coles Building is where the legislature now sits, while Province House is under renovation.
Emily Doiron, a clerk assistant with the Legislative Assembly, said the legislative assembly received a request to live stream committee meetings earlier this year.
Members of the all-party Standing Committee on Legislative Management met and agreed to the request.

Image | Rick Gibbs/CBC

Caption: Live streams will be available through Facebook and on the government's website. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)

Doiron said minimal changes will be required for the Coles Building chamber to accommodate the streams.
"A lot of the technical infrastructure was in place in the chamber which was the reason for the decision to have them held here," she said.

Available on Facebook too

In live streaming the committee meetings in the Coles building, Doiron added, government wants to "keep the feel" of previous committee meetings held in the J. Angus MacLean Building across the street.
"We want to ensure the members of the committee can see the the presentations and the witnesses, and that the witnesses feel comfortable and can see the members while they're presenting."

Image | Rick Gibbs/CBC

Caption: The Coles Building legislative chamber will now host all government committee meetings, held when the house isn't sitting. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)

Committee meeting streams will be available on the government's website and on Facebook live.
Legislative sittings are already streamed live.
"We're encouraged to see people using these services, so we're hoping that when we start the live video broadcast of committee meetings that there will be an uptick of that from the public."