GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
Date: Wednesday May 13, 2009

Stephen McNeil
Liberal Leader

Now, more than ever, it is important that Nova Scotians know that their
tax dollars are being spent prudently. It is important that they have
confidence that their political leaders will put their needs first.

A Liberal Government will make the changes needed to bring
accountability back to government.
Today I want to share with you several measures which I believe will
make a real difference.

A Liberal government will introduce legislation for fixed sessions of
the Legislature and fixed election dates for Nova Scotians. Most
importantly, we will set a firm date for introduction of a budget.
The spring session of the Legislature will sit by the second Monday of
February…with a budget presented by the third Tuesday in February. The
house must also sit by the first Monday in October.

Fixed session dates and a locked in budget date are important to Nova
Scotians.

It provides clarity and certainty to the very institutions and
organizations that we depend on - for our health care, for the education
of our children, for the services we most cherish.

Year after year those institutions and organizations are left in limbo
- trying to make important decisions about services and staffing in a
vacuum. It is not fair. It is simply not fair to our universities, our
school boards and our district health authorities. It’s not fair to
our municipal governments. In this economic climate they need clarity
and certainty.

A fixed date for the budget is very simple step we can take to ensure
responsibility and make our government accountable.

A Liberal government would require the Auditor General to audit the
provincial finances prior to an election to ensure Nova Scotians receive
an honest and transparent fiscal picture.

We will also end the practice of March Madness.

It has become a MacDonald Government tradition to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars at the end of the fiscal years with no oversight by
the House of Assembly.

A Liberal Government will improve the transparency of government by
reducing the fees for Freedom of Information Requests from 25 dollars to
5 dollars. We will also review the appropriateness of wait times for
FOIPOP requests.

We will also freeze current user fees. The MacDonald Government has
increased user fees with no reason and no explanation. Nova Scotians
know what an increase in user fees is under the MacDonald Government -
it is a sneaky way to tax people.

We will create an All-Party Committee on House of Assembly Reform and
Renewal to engage the public.
The committee will recommend changes to the practices of the Nova
Scotia Legislature to ensure the highest level of citizen engagement and
involvement.

We believe these changes will make government more accountable to the
people of Nova Scotia.
We believe it will increase confidence that their tax dollars are being
used prudently with the proper amount of oversight.

That is leadership in action - and a plan for future that will make a
real difference.