Bluster aside, Mcneil gets what he wants
It looked for a while this week like Premier Stephen Mcneil wasn’t going to get his own way and — as is his wont — he didn’t take it well.
But then, aided and abetted by an obsequious Speaker Kevin Murphy, Mcneil got what he wanted from the legislature Friday morning; he got it in fewer than 30 minutes and, shamelessly, the Liberals claim those few minutes constitute the fall session of Nova Scotia’s House of Assembly.
All’s well that ends well for Nova Scotia’s autocratic — authoritarian? — Liberal premier who, under various pretexts, kept the legislature locked down since early March.
This week, Mcneil proposed that only five people gather physically to prorogue the legislature Friday morning. The five were the premier, Lieutenant-governor Arthur LEBlanc, Murphy and the legislature’s clerk and Sergeant-at-arms. Other MLAS could participate, or as it turned out spectate, virtually.
Opposition and government house leaders have been working for months on how to safely reopen the legislature, and they’d developed a plan that never got used.
Mcneil’s five-person proposal came out of the blue this week. When opposition parties balked, Mcneil wrapped himself in his COVID cloak, accused the opposition parties of playing politics with the pandemic and raged that the PCS and the NDP were forcing him to break public health protocols by attending the house with more than the five people present.
RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
Mcneil’s righteous indignation on Thursday looked very much like hypocrisy by Friday when Liberal MLAS outnumbered opposition members in the house by almost five-to-one.
The only Tory in the place was Opposition Leader Tim Houston, and there were two or three New Democrats present.
When Houston attempted to raise a point of privilege in the house, Murphy, who has an unblemished record of sycophancy to the premier, refused to recognize — that is, call on — the opposition leader.
Members’ privileges are a big deal in the house, so it’s customary for the speaker to recognize members who want to raise a matter of privilege.
In 40 years covering and observing the legislature, I can’t recall a speaker ever refusing to hear a point of privilege. It’s likely happened, but it is rare and Friday it was done purely to deny the opposition leader the floor in the legislature.
Is “silence descent” the first or second rule of despots?
Nova Scotia’s is the only legislature in Canada that hasn’t met during the pandemic.
By keeping the house closed, the Liberals avoid the public airing of a multitude of issues they would prefer to duck.
The growing housing crisis, chronic and persistent issues in longterm care, support for businesses trying to survive the COVID depression, nation-leading child poverty rates, and the crisis in mental health are just a sampling of the issues Tories and New Democrats want to address in the legislature.
Denied the political drama of the legislature, the political spotlight in Nova Scotia searches for the next best — or the only other — political show in town, which, at the moment, is the Liberal leadership.
CHANGE IN STYLE
Whether by design or happenstance, clearing the political playing field for the Liberal leadership was good fortune because the race really can’t withstand much, if any, competition for attention.
The three contenders for the premier’s job met virtually for the second of three planned debates Thursday night, and despite some rule changes to try to liven things up, it was as about as flat, bland and uninspiring as the first try.
Labi Kousoulis is running on his record as a Mcneil cabinet minister and a businessperson. He’s released an extensive and growing policy platform.
Randy Delorey emphasizes experience, too, particularly as health minister because, he says, COVID will be the preoccupation for the next premier.
Iain Rankin’s the one candidate who doesn’t seem to think the current government is infallible and his emphasis is on a green and socially-inclusive post-pandemic recovery.
All three of the leadership hopefuls tout engagement with Nova Scotians as a strength and promise a collaborative approach to governing. If nothing else, that suggests a change in style from Mcneil’s domineering personality and unwavering assurance of his own rectitude.