HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil announced Wednesday he will extend MLA Andrew Younger’s temporary leave from provincial cabinet and will also suspend his ministerial pay.
Younger, Nova Scotia’s energy minister, requested the leave last month to deal with unspecified personal matters.
Media reports say he was the victim of an alleged assault.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Younger said information in the reports is “inaccurate and speculative”, and he does not plan to comment any further.
He said the issue of his receiving pay while he was on leave had become a distraction for the government.
The length of the extension to Younger’s leave, which McNeil said he personally granted, is undetermined
Opposition Leader Jamie Baillie said Younger should be removed as a cabinet minister. He said he believes McNeil was pulled “kicking and screaming” into the decision to suspend Younger’s pay.
“When you are the premier and running the province, you need to know your ministers who are running the province with you are able to focus on the people of Nova Scotia and not be distracted,” he said.
Michel Samson, the economic development and tourism minister, has assumed Younger’s cabinet portfolios in the meantime but is not receiving additional pay.
With files from The Canadian Press and Natasha Pace, Global News
- Alberta to overhaul municipal rules to include sweeping new powers, municipal political parties
- Grocery code: How Ottawa has tried to get Loblaw, Walmart on board
- Military judges don’t have divided loyalties, Canada’s top court rules
- Norad looking to NATO to help detect threats over the Arctic, chief says
Comments