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HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia legislature has been closed to the public after singing protesters disrupted a budget vote Tuesday night.
Saf Haq says she and about 40 others broke into song before midnight Tuesday when the legislature moved to vote on a budget-related bill that would result in a series of cuts to government programs, delaying the vote.
Instead, it was voted on Wednesday afternoon, without members of the public in the gallery. The Progressive Conservatives used their dominant majority to pass the appropriations act, which authorizes government spending included in the new budget.
Haq said she protested Tuesday because the cuts approved in this budget will hurt vulnerable Nova Scotians and the province’s vibrant arts and culture scene.
“I’m concerned for the future of Nova Scotia … I love the arts, my partner is a filmmaker … I care about Indigenous sovereignty and African Nova Scotian rights and I’m pissed at how this government is going about this budgetary process,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
The protesters’ song begins: “it’s OK to change your mind, show us your courage, leave this behind,” referring to the controversial budget. “It’s OK to change your mind, and you can join us, join us here any time.”
The song was the latest in a series of demonstrations against the February budget over cuts to programs in arts and culture, museums and tourism, and for Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.
Haq said that after about 15 minutes of singing late Tuesday night the speaker adjourned and the vote did not go ahead.
“We all sang this song that we all know because we were all at the rallies where we all learned it together. Singing is such an incredible tool of resistance because it’s really hard to stop someone when they’re just singing,” Haq said.
The Speaker’s office said in light of Tuesday’s protests and “other security incidents throughout this sitting” the legislature will be closed to visitors for the remainder of the week. It will remain open to media, scheduled presenters, elected members and staff. The closure will be reviewed at the end of the week, the Speaker’s office said Wednesday.
Speaker of the house Danielle Barkhouse told the legislature Wednesday she decided to close Province House to the public because MLAs and staff deserve a workplace “free from threats.”
“Recently, there have been several incidents … both inside the building and outside, around the grounds and parking lot, where MLAs appear to have been targeted solely to frighten, threaten or intimidate them. This is unacceptable,” she said.
“And last night, staff who make our work here possible, were understandably frightened in their workplace.”
Halifax police said they were called Tuesday night at 11:35 p.m. by the Department of Justice to attend a demonstration that had formed at Province House. When the legislative session ended for the night, demonstrators blocked the exit and prevented vehicles from leaving, police said. One man who continued to block the exit was arrested for mischief and later released without charges, police said.
The Speaker said in addition to taking the “unusual” measure of closing the gallery to the public, she’s requested more police and security within and surrounding Province House.
Haq said the closure is “cowardly,” and that the demonstrators’ concerns should be heard by their elected representatives.
“This shutdown further illustrates the chaos within this government.… The people are angry and deserve to be heard,” she said.
NDP leader Claudia Chender said safety is important, but for herself and her caucus colleagues, “safety has never been an issue in this house.”
Chender said she didn’t see anything in the Tuesday protest that she’d consider frightening.
“I can’t speak for staff…what we witnessed from the floor of the house was a gallery full of people breaking out into song. That did not feel dangerous to myself or my colleagues.”
Chender slammed the government’s move to vote on the appropriations act late at night while the premier is out of town, and called it a “travesty” that the budget-related act was passed Wednesday afternoon, still without the premier present.
Tim Houston is at an energy conference in Texas that began on Monday, and was scheduled to return Thursday.
Chender said “what’s most telling is that we voted on a budget this morning without the premier or the finance minister in the house. It’s a strange government that can’t stand behind their budget enough to have either their premier or finance minister even be present for the vote.”
Finance Minister John Lohr told reporters Wednesday he was absent from the vote because he was in a meeting.
“I will make sure I’m there at every future vote… Absolutely I support the budget,” Lohr told reporters.
Interim Liberal leader Iain Rankin said Tuesday’s attempt at a late-night vote tells him that government is not proud of this budget.
“Trying to pass a budget without the premier here, in the middle of the night, they don’t want Nova Scotians to be watching what they’re doing. And that backfired on them,” he said, referring to the singing protest from the gallery.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2025.
Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press
