LETTER: McNeil government ducks accountability

To the Editor,
To do my job, I rely on information that I can assess, trust, reach conclusions about and ultimately understand why, or why not, government made certain decisions.
That’s how we, the Official Opposition, hold the government to account.
Like me, to do your part for democracy and make informed voting decisions, you also rely on information that you can assess and understand.
Unfortunately, democracy is suffering lately in this province. The McNeil government has stopped sharing information and has instead become obsessed with hiding it.
We see it in the decimation of the Public Accounts Committee. We see it in information requests that come back as pages and pages of blacked out information.
None of this is good for any of us. 
This week, rocked by criticism and controversy, the Liberal Members of the Legislature no longer seem to be just hiding information, they are now hiding themselves.
Typically, the Liberal cabinet ministers meet every Thursday to discuss the business of government and to make ministers available to the media for questions. This week, the Liberal government did not hold its regular meeting and was not open to questions from the media.
They are avoiding talking about issues of accountability and transparency.
This week, we found out that that Bay Ferries will no longer be accepting reservations for the ferry service from Yarmouth to Maine until they can guarantee a sail date. We also found out that after disagreeing with the results from two Nova Scotian courts, the Liberals went to the Supreme Court of Canada to try and stop the public from being able to read documents that explain instructions they gave to former government lawyer Alex Cameron.
There must be something terrible in those documents if they’re going to these lengths to keep the information hidden. And the Liberals? They won’t face the cameras. They’re hiding what they’ve been hiding.
Every time this Liberal government hides information, they are systematically dismantling a key pillar of democracy.
The flow of information that is necessary to ensure accountability.
 
Tim Houston
Leader Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party