Nova Scotia’s legislature has reopened with new rules after being closed for a week following a protest that delayed a budget vote.
Danielle Barkhouse, the Speaker of the House, says the decision to close the House to the public was a difficult one.
“We didn’t want to do this,” Barkhouse told reporters. “But as we all know, it was more than just singing. It was personal. It was attacks, and then it became something outside.”
Barkhouse announced Province House’s reopening on Thursday, saying the building is fully reopened but that access to the second floor will remain limited to those with a Province House pass, such as MLAs, accredited media and House, caucus and government staff.
However, those who were in the legislature on March 24 — the day protesters sang and yelled from the gallery to delay a vote related to the new budget — will be restricted from entering the galleries until the end of the sitting or the conclusion of the investigation by the sergeant-at-arms into the “identity of those who obstructed the House” on that day.
Visitors who obeyed the rules of the House of Assembly will not face consequences.
Province House has been closed since March 25, and Danielle Barkhouse, Speaker of the Nova Scotia legislature, has said the building will reopen when an investigation into the incident is complete.
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The March 24 demonstration followed weeks of protests in front of the legislature over budget cuts for arts, culture and tourism, and for Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.
Barkhouse has said that shortly after the gallery protest, some people blocked an elected member from leaving the parking lot. The legislature must remain closed to the public for now, she said last week, because elected members and staff deserve a workplace “free from threats.”
Though the investigation is ongoing, there will be additional rules in place for visitors during the remainder of the sitting, Barkhouse added in her speech to the House of Assembly.
Those rules include the prohibition of the use of cellphones, tablets and similar electronic devices in the gallery, and visitors may not sit in the front row of the east and west galleries. The use of cell phones and tablets is also restricted in the galleries, as well as reading, writing, drawing or speaking during debates.
Any clothing worn by visitors to the house must also be free of large wording or images which could be considered distracting to members of the house and staff. The visitor will have to remove the clothing in question or cover up the words or pictures. Failure to do so will result in the person being prohibited from entering or being removed from the gallery.
“My job is to focus on the members, the clerks, the pages, the sergeant-at-arms. It’s also the gallery, but the less distraction there helps everyone do their job better on behalf of the taxpayers,” Barkhouse adds.
Premier Tim Houston told reporters he respects the decision of the Speaker and security staff to reopen the house.
“It’s kind of the Speaker and the security staff at the legislature here,” Houston said, “They assessed the situation and made their ruling, I guess, and we just kind of live with that. I haven’t been too involved in that.”
Although opposition leaders were more critical.
Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender compared the closure of Province House to the closure of Parliament Hill to the public following a shooting in 2014, noting in that case it was only closed for two days. She adds, given the situation here, the House should’ve been opened a lot sooner.
“I hope that this government will take seriously their responsibility to be transparent. This is a government that has an allergy to transparency, and so we’re glad to see the house open again,” Chender said.
Interim Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Iain Rankin says he sees the reopening of the House as a positive step, but has concerns with some of the new rules, particularly the restrictions of messages on clothing.
“I would like to see it compared to the House of Commons rules,” Rankin said, “I know there is a rule there on restricting political messaging on clothing. So I’m very interested on how that is determined in the criteria around that.”
The restrictions will only apply to holders of a gallery pass and will be in place until the end of the session.
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