Premier proposes mostly virtual House sitting for prorogation

Stephen McNeil's last time in Province House as Nova Scotia premier could be a very intimate gathering.

MLAs are scheduled to return to the legislature Friday for the first time since March, just long enough to qualify as a fall sitting before the lieutenant-governor, at McNeil's request, arrives to prorogue the session and officially bring it to an end.

Nova Scotia is the only province in the country with a legislature that has not sat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter sent to government House leader Geoff MacLellan and subsequently forwarded to the opposition House leaders, McNeil proposes that participation Friday be predominately virtual — with just him, the Speaker, the lieutenant-governor, the sergeant-at-arms and clerk of the House present in the legislative chamber.

"In Nova Scotia, the prorogation procedure requires that I be physically present with the lieutenant-governor for the prorogation ceremony," McNeil wrote in the letter obtained by CBC News. 

"As you know, the Halifax Peninsula-Chebucto region is now subject to specific COVID-19 restrictions in the Health Protection Act order ... given the rise in cases in the region. Although the principle of parliamentary supremacy means the order cannot prevent the House of Assembly from convening, the order can be honoured to the greatest extent possible, and the reality of the pandemic acknowledged, in how we conduct the business of the House."

News of McNeil's letter came as a surprise Wednesday to House Speaker Kevin Murphy, who said he only learned of the premier's proposal when CBC News reported it.

Murphy said he had not been told to change plans and prepare for a mostly virtual sitting. 

"At this point, I have not received any communication from the premier, the government House leader or anyone else," he said. "So at this point, the House is being recalled, due to meet on Friday morning at 9 a.m."

The three House leaders negotiated for months on a plan that would allow activity to take place at the legislature, while adhering to public health protocols for physical distancing and masking. 

In his letter, McNeil said those physically present in the chamber Friday will be masked and practise physical distancing. There will be no hand-shaking or exchange of paper.

The premier also said the Office of the Lieutenant-Governor and Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health, "have been consulted and both have indicated this is possible."

Workplace exceptions

The public health order as it relates to the five-person gathering limit does not apply to workplaces where physical distancing is possible. 

NDP House leader Claudia Chender noted the exception when contacted by CBC News about the premier's letter. 

"The gathering limits that we have for public health do not apply to the legislature, do not apply to workplaces," said Chender. "We know that teachers are in classrooms every day. We know that people are in offices every day and they're doing their work and they're doing it in the safest environment that they can."

McNeil's proposal would see the other MLAs attend Friday's sitting virtually.

"The quorum rule of the Rules and Forms of Procedure of the House of Assembly (s.6) requires the 'presence' of 15 members," said his letter. "'Presence' includes virtual presence, and quorum can be achieved digitally."

That latter point isn't actually part of the rules of the House of Assembly. For that, McNeil relies on a report by a committee of the House of Commons from May that considered alternative approaches to conduct federal legislative business during the pandemic.

Tory House leader skeptical

Although eager to follow the advice of Public Health, Tory House leader Allan MacMaster was skeptical of the premier's claim that public safety was his primary concern, or that this was a sudden change of plans.

"I think that he knew a long time ago what he had planned for this fall," MacMaster said from his home in Troy, N.S. "You'll recall if we went back to last spring and said there'd be no election in 2020, well, nobody knew at the time, but he was planning to step down this year.

"He probably knew at that time that that was the last moment to be in the legislature, as well." 

MacMaster suggested the premier was using the pandemic for "political reasons."

Committees will keep meeting

Unlike in Nova Scotia, where the government shut down almost all committee business throughout the spring and summer, the House of Commons used virtual meetings to continue doing committee work. McNeil rejected that suggestion at the time when it was advanced by opposition members.

The return of legislative committees in September coincided with the start of the school year. Committees initially met in person, but recently switched to a virtual format.

MLAs recently voted to continue committee business even after the legislative session is prorogued.

Murphy said a virtual sitting would require a change to the standing orders of the House, also by conducting a poll of MLAs.

"It would be the House that would decide any changes," he said. "Basically a poll would be created and under these circumstances, it would probably require unanimous consent of every member."