Trevor Zinck’s first appearance in the legislature as an independent MLA yesterday was marked by a new investigation and hints the Dartmouth North MLA will call for a former colleague’s resignation.
Earlier in the day, the CBC reported Nova Scotia Auditor General Jacques Lapointe will look into the expensing of unpaid bills that Zinck was kicked out of the NDP caucus for last week. Zinck now sits alone, behind the Liberals on the House of Assembly floor. Though several NDP members shook his hand and spoke with him as he arrived, Zinck had more criticisms of his old party.
Last week he said he was kicked out because the NDP worried he would vote against the upcoming budget. Yesterday Zinck accused Speaker Charlie Parker, who is in charge of looking into the bills, of sicking the auditor general on him. Parker is an NDP MLA, but is supposed to be unbiased in his role as speaker. Zinck said Parker was siding with the government by quickly turning the matter over to the auditor general.
“That speaks, to me, that the speaker has actually overstepped his boundaries,” he said. “And it’s very unparliamentary.”
Zinck said he’s considering tabling a motion in the house to call for Parker’s resignation. Parker said he was just following procedure.
“I’m just trying to be fair to Mr. Zinck and to everybody involved here,” he said. “I spoke to four different lawyers on this and every one of them has advised me that I should turn it over to the auditor general so that has been done. I also wrote a letter to Mr. Zinck on Friday advising him of that move and giving him an opportunity to respond.”
