The Progressive Conservative Party wants donations to help them skirt around reporters.
In a fundraising email, Minister Leah Martin asks for money from members to help “withstand NDP attacks, overpower the special interests and professional protestors, bypass the media when we need to, and stay on track with our plan.”
Claudia Chender, leader of the official opposition and the NDP party, said the government not wanting to talk to reporters should send a chill through the entire province.
“The media is here to report unbiased information, and what the government is saying is that they are raising money because they do not want that unbiased reporting to take place,” said Chender.
“They would prefer to tell people what they would like them to hear.”
Since January, the party has repeatedly targeted so-called “special interests,” which they reference again in the fundraising email. The province hasn’t named who they are, but a recent paid advertisement in the Chronicle Herald implied they were environmentalists, who may oppose the government’s recent decision to lift bans on hydraulic fracturing, which means drilling for natural gas, and exploring for uranium across the province.
Province breaking tradition of legislature scrums
The letter comes as several media outlets are protesting recent changes to how the government makes the premier and ministers available to reporters.
For years, new outlets could speak to cabinet members outside of the legislative chamber, including in scrums, where several outlets set up microphones or cameras and ask questions of a politician at the same time.
Now, the province will only let reporters at the legislature talk to ministers in a moderated room across the street at One Government Place.
Several outlets are boycotting the media availabilities across the street.
The premier said that room lets reporters phone in from across the province to speak with him or other ministers, if they request those ministers ahead of time.
On Wednesday, our Acadia Broadcasting newsroom was the only outlet to ask questions of the premier and of the Justice Minister through the virtual Zoom link to the media availability. There was one reporter in the room who asked questions of the premier.
Premier Tim Houston said times have changed, and where there used to be about a dozen reporters in the legislature press gallery, now there are only a handful.
“It’s tough for certainly rural media, just with funding pressures and staffing pressures to cover everything. So by making ourselves available in a format like this, where they can phone in and ask questions, we’re trying to be more accessible to a broader range,” said Houston.
Most people not worried about scrum changes, says premier
Houston said the recent budget showed the government spending a lot on things like housing and also cutting taxes for Nova Scotians, and that’s what matters to everyday people.
“The issues around whether the premier scrums in one room or scrums in another, it’s not something that is keeping most Nova Scotians awake,” he said.
Premier Tim Houston said it would be difficult to find a premier more accessible to media than him.
“I take questions all day, every day, in the legislature, outside of the legislature, on the street, Tim Hortons, whatever,” said Houston.
He added that, if people want to pick apart the PC party fundraising letter, they should take a look at the ones from the NDP and the Liberals.
