If you think the fall sitting of the provincial legislature has been boring thus far, you’re not alone.
Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil charged the Dexter government of wasting time on “housekeeping” matters, while the “major issues” are left by the wayside. “We’re (making) minor changes to the Police Act … we’ve made other changes to legislation which really have been very minor in nature,” McNeil said yesterday.
McNeil dismissed the release of the Ross and O’Neill reports — two high-profile studies into emergency rooms and university funding models —as just that: Reports.
“What are they going to do with that report?” he asked. “Are they waiting for the House to get out?”
The session began on Oct. 28. In the subsequent 15 business days, the government has tabled 21 bills according to staff.
Many of those have been relating to relatively small matters, like the aforementioned amendments to the Police Act. Tabled by Justice Minister Ross Landry on Nov. 5, the amendments require police to report all victim information to Victim Services, a practice McNeil alleges was already in place. Others have been more substantial, such as changes to the Auditor General’s Act announced last week.
