nova scotia minister lohr says 'pause on the ability for the public to put complaints in' not undemocratic
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municipal affairs minister john lohr said changes to the municipal code of conduct were necessary.
ryan taplin
/
the chronicle herald
municipal affairs minister john lohr said he doesn’t believe a change to the municipal code of conduct that takes away the public’s ability to file a complaint is undemocratic.
on oct. 7, the nova scotia government announced changes to the code of conduct for elected officials to address feedback from municipalities regarding the complaints and investigation process. lohr said changes in the complaint process were necessary.
“it was because of the administrative burden associated with the volume of complaints received and the fact that there were multiple complaints from the same subject,” he said at thursday’s cabinet briefing. “there were issues with confidentiality, there were financial impacts for our municipalities, so we put a pause on the ability for the public to put complaints in.”
when pressed about whether the change is undemocratic, lohr said he “didn’t think so,” adding that the province is committed to reviewing the process. in a news release announcing the changes, the province committed to conducting a full review of the framework in 2027.
code of conduct regulations were introduced by the province on oct. 21, 2024.
“the reality is that we didn’t have a process set up until a year ago and there was some learning happening in the process, and we will continue to work on it.
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“there are ways that our citizens can do things like this now, but in terms of what a future code of conduct process looks like, i can’t commit precisely. i can say we will go through that process with our municipal partners.”
changes to the code of conduct include:
- complaints may be made by a council member related to the conduct of another elected official in the same municipality
- council members may not submit a complaint on behalf of another person or entity
- multiple complaints may not be submitted by a council member on the same subject
- when multiple complaints have been received about the same subject, the investigator must consolidate the complaints into a single investigation, where appropriate.
- “with the change, the councillors, wardens and mayors can still access the program and make a complaint themselves about the conduct of a councillor or mayor or warden, but right now we have closed off the public ability to participate.”
lohr added that the changes do not apply to complaints and investigations already in progress.
drought conditions have ‘become predictable’
kim masland, the minister of emergency management, said the province has treated this year’s severe drought conditions as an emergency but nova scotians need to understand that the issue has become predictable.
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she said the province has given out about $700,000 worth of bottled water vouchers to municipalities.
“if someone does not have water, they can buy the water themselves at their local store and take the receipt to the municipality and the municipality sends it to us for reimbursement.
“this a one-off program to meet the needs this year,” said masland.
“it will not become a departmental program. we need to understand that these drought conditions are no longer one-offs and have become predictable. we have to make sure we have the policies and programs in place for homeowners in communities for this. that will come from the department of environment and climate change.”
parts of nova scotia have experienced a once-in-every-50-years event, according to the canadian drought monitor. september data from the monitor, which uses federal, provincial and regional data sources, shows most of the province has seen less than 40 per cent of normal rainfall.
masland said the province has not declared the drought a state of emergency but support would be in place if a municipality called one.
the province is monitoring the severely dry weather conditions, said lohr.
“we stood up the department of emergency measures on account of the experience of the first term of our government in terms of water resources and drought,” said lohr. “that is a concern of every nova scotian and our concern as well. we are constantly reassessing that.”
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lohr said municipal programs exist to help residents across the province drill wells.
“there is existing legislation which allows municipalities to create programs to help their residents with drilling wells,” he said.
“they can put the cost of that, depending how they structure that through a program, on their municipal taxes. we know there are several municipalities that have done that and we know there are more considering doing that.”
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