Government putting transparency 'to the test' with health committee: MacLellan

Nova Scotia's Liberal government has committed to getting a new health committee up and running as soon as possible, though the parameters for that group — including whether its meetings could be publicly broadcast — have yet to be decided.

If the committee were to convene in the legislative chamber at Province House, the meeting could be broadcast on LegTV.

MacLellan said he's aware of the level of public interest and that would be considered when the House leaders meet later this month.

"We've made the commitment about openness and transparency — despite the way it's been framed and reframed — so we'll put that to the test in those conversations."

Speaker rules against opposition

Just last week, the Liberals were accused of being less than transparent when they used their majority in the public accounts committee to change the way the agenda is set, restricting the ability to call witnesses to only subjects covered by chapters in the auditor general's report.

Until then, members of all three parties were free to submit topics and witnesses of their choosing.

Premier Stephen McNeil has repeatedly said the move would make the committee more transparent, but opposition members accused the Grits of muzzling a committee that has created numerous headaches for the government resulting from witness testimony.

Tory House leader Chris d'Entremont asked Speaker Kevin Murphy to overturn the motion on a point of privilege.

Murphy ruled Tuesday that he would need a report sent to the House from the committee before he could deal with the matter. He also ruled that the Liberals did not change the rules of the committee, but instead acted within the committee's mandate to set an agenda.

"It does remain open to the committee to adopt other agenda items in the future and nothing precludes any member of that committee from proposing motions for other agenda items," Murphy told the House.

'It's just impossible'

D'Entremont said he was disappointed with Murphy's ruling.

"I was hopeful that he would kind of try and see it our way," he told reporters at Province House.

"How are we ever going to get a positive motion put through that House to get it to the Speaker? It's kind of difficult to get our voices heard in this respect with the way he's suggesting — it's just impossible."

D'Entremont said the government has successfully changed the way the committee works by limiting the number of meetings and who can be called based on the number of chapters produced by the auditor general.