COVID-19 cases among MLAs and staff halt budget work in Nova Scotia Legislature

Premier Tim Houston won’t call it so, but opposition party members say there's a COVID-19 outbreak at the Nova Scotia Province House.

Five MLAs have tested positive for the virus and other members who are close contacts are isolating until test results come back.

At the end of Thursday’s question period, Nova Scotia House Speaker Keith Bain recognized an empty chair at the clerk's table.

“I want to announce by agreement of all the house leaders, there will be no estimates today or tomorrow,” said Bain from the speaker’s chair.

A key member of the Legislature staff has now tested positive and so the government is short-staffed and forced to cancel budget estimate meetings for the rest of the week.

“That is something we are trying to work on,” said Bain to reporters. “To see if someone else is available who might be able to fill in as clerk.”

It could be tough to find a replacement to work inside the Province House with COVID-19 cases on the rise. At this point, only the opposition parties are willing to acknowledge there’s an outbreak at the Legislature.

“Based on common sense we have an outbreak at Province House,” said NDP House Leader Claudia Chender. “We have a number of MLAs who are sick and a number of others who have been in close contact with them and we expect cases to rise."

Liberal House Leader Derek Mombourquette says the Houston government should have had a COVID-19 contingency plan in place before the spring session started.

“We should have had a plan in the event there was an outbreak in the Legislature,” said Mombourquette. “Obviously there is an outbreak in the legislature. We have MLAs, we have staff and we have others who have been impacted.”

Premier Tim Houston says he expects all three house leaders to come to an agreement soon, and switch to a hybrid in-person and virtual model, to allow MLAs who are sick to still participate in budget sessions.

It’s anticipated that a resolution will be tabled as soon as possible. But in the meantime, Houston says it's business as usual and he doesn't like the idea of calling the situation inside the Legislature “an outbreak.”

“Using outbreak as a word is something we should be very careful of,” said Houston, adding that the house leaders will likely come to an agreement soon, as protocols get ironed out.

“We advanced the idea of a hybrid session last week,” said Houston. “Obviously those discussions picked up in intensity over the weekend and there was no appetite from the opposition parties to have a hybrid session.”

Liberal leader Iain Rankin said a hybrid model is reasonable the details just need to be settled and agreed upon.

“I’d like to see consistency with other workplaces, ultimately in Nova Scotia,” said Rankin. “But if there are ministers that can't be present for especially estimates, it's really important they have an opportunity, so a hybrid type of system to allow them to call in for questioning, I think that's something we should consider.”

The House Leaders will meet again to discuss the procedures for the proposed hybrid model and it's expected that resolution could be tabled soon.