Kevin Deveaux was the first person in Nova Scotia to raise a concern that the House of Assembly was not sitting during the 2020 Pandemic. As other national and provincial parliament adjusted their work to public health mandates and continued to conduct their important functions, the NS House was the last Parliament to reopen in Canada.

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“A global expert on parliamentary democracy says the work MPs and MLAs do on our behalf is essential and should continue, especially during times of emergency.

Kevin Deveaux, a lawyer and former NDP MLA who has advised governments around the world on how to become more democratic, is worried most legislatures, including Nova Scotia’s, are shuttered indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said they should instead be viewed as essential services that stay open, ensuring that good decisions are made during a time of great difficulty in terms of public health and the economy.

“You can’t wait months and years to look back and say, ‘Did we make the right decisions?’”

The Nova Scotia Legislature adjourned on March 10. The legislature’s public accounts committee sat on March 11 to discuss contaminated sites, but since then all work at Province House has been shelved, including the tabling of a report by Nova Scotia’s auditor general…”