HALIFAX -- It’s been 282 days since MLAs last sat in the Nova Scotia legislature.
A one-day sitting is scheduled for Friday -- just long enough for the House of Assembly to be prorogued until the spring.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston said a plan had been previously agreed upon amongst house leaders as to how a sitting of the legislature would look. That plan involved some members of each party attending the legislature.
"It was in our mind that would still carry through to proroguing of the legislature on Friday morning, just like what was agreed with the premier's team,” said Houston.
Late Tuesday, Premier Stephen McNeil proposed that he be one of only five people allowed in the chamber for the ceremony, excluding all members of the opposition parties.
"If you go back to what Dr. Strang said, if you can work virtually you should, and if the legislature can't operate virtually, I'm not sure what workplace can,” said McNeil.
"If there's a physical sitting of the legislature tomorrow, then we have to have a presence from the PC party,” said Houston.
The premier said Thursday afternoon that opposition leaders were trying to force him to break public health protocols.
"I got a letter from one of the caucuses, the NDP caucus, comparing the work they do to health-care workers. Think about that for a minute -- they're comparing the work they do to nurses,” said McNeil.
NDP Leader Gary Burrill said the premier’s characterization of their letter is untruthful and manipulative.
"The premier seems to think that it is unsafe for him to go to his work in a building the size of a hockey rink if he's going to share it with one other MLA. That doesn't seem reasonable to me,” said Burrill.
Both the PCs and the NDP say they aren’t opposed to meeting virtually, but are waiting for clarification from the Speaker of the House about exactly how the prorogation ceremony will unfold.
