Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil says taxpayers shouldn’t have paid the $7,500 bill to fly three experts to Halifax to testify on a proposed bill that would relax the rules of a program that bans problem gamblers from casinos for life.
McNeil says it was inappropriate for the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation to have paid to have the witnesses from the Responsible Gambling Council appear before the legislature’s law amendments committee on Monday.
READ MORE: Changes to Nova Scotia’s Gaming Control Act on the horizon
He says the government had “no idea” the Crown corporation had decided to pay for the travel costs.
McNeil said it’s not a practice that should happen when hard working Nova Scotians regularly appear before the committee at their own expense.
He said he has instructed Finance Minister Karen Casey to go to the gaming corporation and have them find the funding in their operation.
WATCH: New UBC research tackles gambling addiction
But the premier wasn’t clear on what that means, given that the corporation is funded by casino and lottery revenue that is also supposed to flow to the government.
Comments