Presentation To Nova Scotia Law Amendment Committee

November 8^th, 2012

Province House, Halifax

For the past 21 years my organization the Canadian Taxpayers  Federation has been fighting across Canada for three fundamental principals.

Lower Taxes,

Less Waste, and

More accountable government.

It was under the our priority of more accountable government that our Federation in a letter to the speaker outlined the two principals fundamental principals that we wanted to see in any bill that eventually came before the legislature with regards to electoral boundaries.

First, that the size/number of total number of ridings in the legislature be reduced; and

that all taxpayers should be represented equally inside the legislislature, just as we expect everyone is treated equally outside the legislature. It was in our opinion simply undemocratic to have some ridings build by legislation to ensure maximum representation for one group over all others.

And, so for the past 14 months we have taken this message first to the select committee on establishing an electoral boundary commission as well as consultations by the boundary commission and hearings the commission’s first draft.

Now after all that, and reading through bill 94.

We believe this bill is a victory for the taxpayers of Nova Scotia, as it creates a legislature that ensures that all Nova Scotians are represented roughly equally, and takes a small step in reducing the overall size of the legislature.   

Now this is not to say that we believe the bill is perfect. We wanted to see a much larger reduction in the number of MLAs. We asked for in our various submissions reductions that were in line with recommendations the independent UARB made regarding municipal councils in Halifax and Sydney. But none the less, the fact that the commission listened to our concerns, and made even a small change we believe is a step forward.

And so we shouldn’t in this case let the perfect get in the way of the very good set of recommendations from the commission and reflected in this bill. 

In our presentation today we would like to take the opportunity to address three major concerns expressed since the release of the terms of reference for the boundary commission and the commission’s final report. 

First, some have argued the government had not fully consulted on riding changes, particularly with regards to minority representation.

However the truth of the matter is this has be one of the most consulted on pieces of legislation that has been before this sitting of the house.

By my count, if you add together just the scheduled consultation meetings and public hearings, there has been over 60hrs of various meetings devoted to listening to the views of Nova Scotians.

That does not include the ability for members of the public and stakeholder organizations to participate by written submission into the commission and the legislture’s select committee.

Also it should have come to no ones surprise that the make up of the legislature would be under review and possibly change, given this is mandated once every 10 years. Our group, has been following this issue for some time and ensured our voice is heard, and so too was that same opportunity available to others who feel strongly about the issues of representation.

So while I know there will be voices who will disagree with aspects of this bill, one can not argue that the opportunity did not exist to have their voice heard.

Second we applaud the government for ensure that the final report reflects the wishes of the elected legislature.  

Let me take the opportunity to salute the Minister of Justice for refusing to accept the first draft report from the Boudary commission.

Like the terms of reference or not, the unelected/appointed commission had no authority to thumb its nose at the government which was duly elected by the people of Nova Scotia.

It would have set a horrible precedent had that first report been allowed to stand in direct defiance of the legislature.

There is perhaps no other organization or stakeholder group like ours who speaks up louder than ours attempting to galvanize public opinion against policies that we believe negatively affects the taxpayer…but at the end of the day it’s the governments right to make those decisions.

And in this case the government was forced to make those decisions because unlike in pervious legislatures when parties generally agreed on the terms of reference, in this case there were fundamental differences, and therefore government had no choice but to use its majority.

And while it would have been better to have all party agreement, it is certainly the right of the governing party to use its majority.

Lastly, I know some stakeholders have discussed a legal challenge to this bill.

We ask the government to ensure that any organization receiving government money, does not use public funds to launch its law suit. If organization wish to lobby or influence a public policy they should relay on their own ability to raise funds to conduct that effort.

In conclusion, let me thank the committee again for allowing our group to appear today.

We believe this current bill while not perfect, certainly reflects the final report from the electoral boundary commission, but more important we believe that this bill reflects the very foundations of Nova Scotia, that we get the best government at the lowest possible cost, and that all Nova Scotians no matter what their back ground be represented equally in the legislature and treated equally out side of it.

Thank you very much for your time…