Four sittings into the spring session at the Nova Scotia Legislature and already there are multiple cases of COVID-19 confirmed inside Province House.
As of Wednesday, five positive cases have been reported among MLAs, which prompted the House Speaker, Hon. Keith Bain, to propose a recess until Tuesday to determine the best plan forward.
Government House leader and PC MLA Kim Masland said all three major parties were against the move to recess, but are potentially looking to implement a hybrid session.
“That strictly means that members who are maybe ill or have COVID would be able to appear virtually, so they can continue to represent their constituents,” said Masland. “We are not prepared to recess the house.”
Nova Scotia lifted most public health restrictions on March 21 — dropping restrictions like gathering limits and mask requirements.
Although masks are still required inside the legislature, new rules were implemented over the weekend after a positive case of COVID-19 was identified.
That prompted the Province House to temporarily suspend all visitors in the legislature for at least one week.
The Liberal Party, and NDP House leader Claudia Chender confirmed there are now five cases of COVID-19 reported among MLAs.
The Liberals confirmed a member of their party had tested positive, while the Progressive Conservatives wouldn’t say if any members of their party had tested positive, suggesting that it’s a private health matter, while all members of the NDP caucus were present at the legislature on Wednesday.
“There are MLAs that are out, but certainly I wouldn’t discuss any members’ private health information,” Masland told reporters.
Chender said the government is now trying to determine their next steps, as no contingency plan was put in place ahead of the spring session.
“Prior to this sitting the Premier announced, essentially that COVID-19 was over and that we should all go about our lives,” said Chender. “We stopped receiving regular statistics and we were told that the mandates had been lifted and we were told that it was back to business as usual.”
Over the weekend, Liberal House leader Derek Mombourquette said a proposal was made to move to a full virtual sitting and said that it came directly from the Premier’s Office.
“We don’t agree with a full virtual sitting,” said Mombourquette. “Public health has removed restrictions and the government has removed restrictions. As our children go to school and staff go to school and our healthcare workers are working then so should we.”
All three house leaders will continue to meet and discuss work options like a hybrid sitting that would allow some MLAs to sit virtually if needed.
Premier Tim Houston said the spring session has to continue and MLAs who are out with COVID-19 should be able to continue to do their work virtually.
“I am very strongly in favor of a hybrid session to make sure that every voice and every Nova Scotian has the chance to have their voice heard through their MLA,” said Houston.
To change the rules of the legislature at this stage, would require approval from two-thirds of the MLAs.
That means the PC’s would need support across the floor to move to a hybrid sitting but it’s not clear how quickly a hybrid session could be established, given the technical and logistical support required.
“We have been told very clearly by the speaker office and by the clerk, that an immediate move to a hybrid sitting is in fact impossible,” said Chender. “It’s impossible procedurally and impossible logistically.”
For now, the spring session at the Nova Scotia Legislature will continue to sit in person but that could change.