Latest news with #CommunicationsNovaScotia
CTV News
09-05-2025
- CTV News
Nova Scotia's CAT ferry service to Maine announces sailing schedule for summer 2025
The CAT ferry, which operates between Yarmouth, N.S., and Bar Harbor, Maine, is pictured. (Communications Nova Scotia)
CBC
04-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Proposed changes to Civil Service Act raise job security questions
Recent emails from the premier and his top deputy minister to members of the public service, coupled with legislation being debated at Province House, have some bureaucrats wondering about job security. Among the many proposed changes in Bill 1 are amendments to the Civil Service Act, which would give deputy department heads the ability to fire non-unionized bureaucrats without cause. Compensation would be based on years of service, but the thresholds would be determined in regulations yet to be released. As the legislation makes its way through Province House, it coincides with recent emails public servants received from Premier Tim Houston and his top deputy, Tracey Taweel. Houston writes that Nova Scotia finds itself in a period of significant change and that the province needs "a strong, innovative public service." "The simple reality is that the public service must change," he writes. "The world is changing and so must we." Looking for problem solvers The premier goes on to say that he believes all workplaces have two types of people: problem solvers and problem stretchers. "Our province needs you to be a problem solver who is sympathetic to the needs of the Nova Scotians you are serving with a devotion to finding a solution to their challenge or issue. Our civil service needs problem solvers and I have faith in you to be a problem solver." Taweel's email talks about engagement opportunities for employees to share thoughts on how to make the public service "a more agile, innovative, and productive workforce." "In times of economic challenges, our ability to be efficient is key, and the growing expectations of citizens demand heightened responsiveness, creativity, and collaboration. We must be a driving force in creating solutions that anticipate and address the future for the citizens we serve." NDP Leader Claudia Chender told reporters last week that the public service is supposed to be non-partisan. She said the letters from Houston and Taweel, along with the contents of Bill 1, put that at risk. Bill 1 also formally dissolves Communications Nova Scotia, the government entity required by legislation to produce non-partisan communication materials for the public. Government communications will now fall to the executive council office, which supports the premier and cabinet. "If they aren't seen as solving the problem in the way the government wants it solved, which we've already seen this session is not always the best way — they walk it back all the time — well, then they might get stretched right out of government," Chender told reporters. Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said he's hearing concerns from civil servants about the situation, a sentiment multiple government employees have shared with CBC News. But Twila Grosse, the cabinet minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, said there are no threats implied by Bill 1 or the letters Houston and Taweel sent to staff. "The whole idea is involving our employees, giving them the opportunity to give us ideas, again, as to how we can become more innovative, how we can become more agile, how we can become more responsive to the changing needs of Nova Scotians," she said in a recent interview. Grosse said the government wants the changes proposed to the Civil Service Act in Bill 1 to "give us greater flexibility" to be able to respond quickly to "changing needs in the public service." The province's largest union is also monitoring the situation. Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said new governments often reach out to members of the public service at the beginning of a mandate. But Mullen said the timing is interesting given what's happening with the U.S. government as public employees there are being asked to justify what they do at work. "It's kind of alarming to read that you're looking at problem solvers, problem stretchers — those kinds of concerns resonate with our members for sure," she said in a recent interview. Mullen said her members are watching what's happening to non-unionized workers as the NSGEU engages in bargaining with the province and has concerns about the status of job security language in their next contract. Taweel was not made available for an interview. A statement attributed to her said the government wants "to ensure that employees understand how valued they are and how important their views are in modernizing the public service." It goes on to say that there will be no penalties for employees who decline to share ideas or whose ideas "are not actioned." "Civil servants interact with people every day," said Taweel. "Listening to the ideas and experiences of those who understand the system and have ideas to make it better can only help improve how we serve and support Nova Scotians."
CBC
18-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Nova Scotia government giving itself the power to fire the auditor general
Premier Tim Houston's government is using its supermajority in the legislature to give itself the power to fire the auditor general without cause and make reports from the office private. The changes are included in one of two omnibus bills the government tabled on Tuesday, the same day the provincial budget was released. The Government Organization and Administration Act makes a number of changes, including setting out previously announced plans by the Progressive Conservatives to do away with Communications Nova Scotia, the government agency that was required by legislation to produce non-partisan materials for the public. Responsibility for government communications, labour relations, and priorities and planning are now all being pulled under the control of the executive council office, the government entity that supports the premier and cabinet. The bill would also make changes to the Freedom of Information Act, giving the head of public entities the ability to refuse applications deemed to be frivolous and vexatious or not specific enough. There would be appeal mechanisms. The province's fixed election date, the first piece of legislation Houston introduced after becoming premier in 2021 but did not adhere to, would also be repealed as part of the omnibus bill. But it's the changes to the Auditor General Act in the omnibus bill that could be the most significant. They would allow the government to fire the auditor general without cause if it has the support of two-thirds of the MLAs in the legislature. The Progressive Conservatives comfortably clear that threshold with 43 of 55 MLAs in the House. Other amendments would give the attorney general, a role currently held by Lunenburg West MLA Becky Druhan, the power to designate any records or information in an auditor general's report as being subject to solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, settlement privilege or public interest immunity. Speaking to reporters, Druhan could provide no examples of past auditor general reports that inappropriately revealed confidential information. "Government holds a significant amount of information and there is always the possibility that there is confidential or privileged or private information that does need to be protected," she told reporters. Druhan said she hoped not to need to exercise the new government powers. Further power is also being extended to cabinet ministers so they can request that part or all of an auditor general's report be made private if, in their opinion, it would be in the interest of public safety or any other public interest. After the auditor general confidentially submits the report, it would be up to members of the legislature's public accounts committee to determine whether part or all of the report should remain confidential. The government currently holds a majority on that committee. The changes would also bar the auditor general from releasing their report until the premier and cabinet have had it for two weeks. The changes also give the government the power to shorten or lengthen that time period. A spokesperson for Auditor General Kim Adair said in a statement that Adair was not consulted about the proposed changes and she is seeking a meeting with government officials to understand the impact the changes would have on her independence. NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the changes seem designed to strike at that independence and represent a consolidation of power by Houston. The auditor general is supposed to be an independent watchdog for government spending that assesses how the government is functioning and spending the public's money, said Chender. The changes tabled Tuesday "should send a chill through Nova Scotians who believe that they have a responsible government," she said. "The auditor general evaluates the finances of the province and those are your finances, those are our finances," she told reporters. "They don't belong to a cabinet minister, they don't belong to the premier, they belong to the people of Nova Scotia, and the people of Nova Scotia deserve to understand how decisions are being made, how their money is being spent and what the independent expert opinion on those expenditures is." Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said "it's alarming" that the government wants to remove the independence of the auditor general. "We all know that the independence of that office is very important," he told reporters. "It keeps the government accountable." Mombourquette noted it was an auditor general's report in 2009 that revealed thousands of dollars in inappropriate spending by some elected officials in Nova Scotia. That report led to resignations, criminal charges and convictions for some MLAs. Premier Tim Houston would not answer questions from reporters about the proposed changes and walked away when he was approached at Province House. The premier has refused to speak to reporters in the legislature since the session opened, instead making himself available only in a government-controlled media room across the street from Province House. He is the first premier in living memory to do so.
