HALIFAX – Questions about Andrew Younger’s dismissal as Nova Scotia’s environment minister took up nearly all of the 50 minutes allotted to the legislature’s question period Friday.
The opposition parties pressed for answers from Premier Stephen McNeil about a legal case involving Younger and whether his office had any role in giving advice on how to handle it.
The opposition raised questions after a recording of a conversation was released to the media. The conversation, sent to Global News by Andrew Younger, is between him and Kirby McVicar, the premier’s chief of staff. Younger said it was recorded in his constituency office on February 12, at the time, Younger was on a leave of absence.
In the recording, McVicar is heard saying “there is a path back, the premier will leave your name in executive council without portfolio so it’s easier when we get to that point.”
The recording of McVicar goes on to say “the premier wants the legal stuff to be dealt with and he wants you to come back and be a private member for this session.”
Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie devoted all of his party’s questions to the topic. In his first three questions he asked McNeil if he told McVicar to have the meeting, whether he gave McVicar instructions for the meeting, and whether he was briefed on the outcome of the meeting.
The entire Question Period exchange can be accessed on the legislature’s website.
The recording appears to show McVicar was paving the way for Younger to return to cabinet, said Baillie.
“Did the premier’s chief of staff really use the offer of a cabinet position to get Mr. Younger to either shut up or do whatever it took to make that trial go away,” he asked reporters after Question Period. “That is a very serious conversation that those two had.”
“The premier says ‘we don’t have the entire conversation,’ well then tell us all openly what was the rest of that conversation,” said Baillie.
After the 50-minute grilling in question period, Baillie said questions remain about what was said to Younger.
Outside the house McNeil told reporters he didn’t ask McVicar to have the conversation with Younger. And he rejected the suggestion that there was a quid pro quo deal for Younger to get back to cabinet.
“He went back in cabinet while the proceedings were still before the court if Mr. Baillie was correct, why was he back on executive council before it went away? It doesn’t make sense.”
He also dismissed the content of the short recording, saying it was only a portion of a conversation McVicar told him was about 20 minutes in length.
“You don’t have the entire tape so lets put it in the context of that, and this is the same member, quite honestly, that used a privilege to avoid going to a criminal case,” said McNeil.
However, Younger said the entire conversation was “pretty short” and challenged the premier to release proof of a longer conversation.
With files from The Canadian Press
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