Masks are no longer mandatory in New Brunswick, but the Legislative Assembly Committee has voted to keep them on and limit public access to the forum.
People’s Alliance leader Kris Austin announced the decision on March 17, saying in a statement he was disappointed because it “made no sense to keep people from entering the legislative assembly and sitting in the gallery during the next session.”
“After all, it is the people’s house and they have a right to visit and see their political representatives at work during question period and other times such as the unveiling of the next provincial budget,” said Austin.
The emergency order was lifted on March 14, effectively ending all protective mandates for the province, including masks indoors and in schools.
Interim Liberal Leader Roger Melanson said the decision was made by the committee but didn’t directly address why it was made on Thursday.
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According to Melanson, MLAs are asked to wear masks on the floor of the legislature, and can only take them off when speaking. Anyone who doesn’t want to wear a mask will have to sit in the gallery — which is the reason the public cannot be inside the legislature.
“It’s a matter of doing it gradually,” he said.
Asked about whether the differing mask policies create a double standard, Melanson said public health had made it clear individuals and employers can make their own rules about COVID-19 protections.
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard made a similar argument, saying Public Health allows individual entities to choose their own COVID-19 policies to enforce.
“I know that other entities as well will be doing the same thing,” she said to reporters on Thursday. “So, I think that there is a ‘proceed with caution’ feeling out there and I think we have to support it.”
Despite the assertion masks would be required, constitutional lawyer Lyle Skinner said MLAs can still go onto the floor without masks until the assembly passes a motion for the requirement.
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“Absent a decision of the Legislative Assembly, all mask wearing rules proposed by LAC for MLAs are merely voluntary guidelines and have no legal basis during a Parliamentary proceeding,” he wrote in a blog post about the issue.
He also said the public has no right to the proceedings inside the legislative assembly.
“The assembly or LAC, via its delegated powers, can exclude public access to proceedings or the building for any reason,” he wrote. “In this case, the rationale is not necessarily in the name of public health but to ensure that the individual privileges of MLAs who choose not to wear masks in the house are not infringed.”
The legislature returns on March 22 for the provincial budget speech.
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