The province’s transportation minister and the MLA for Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie says officials with the provincial government are excited for a very productive sitting.
MLAs return to Province House for the 2018 spring session Tuesday.
Lloyd Hines says education changes, a budget, cannabis legislation and regular agenda items will all be brought up.
He says it’s pretty clear the Liberals are interested in helping children, considering the Glaze Report has been discussed.
Hines tells The Hawk they hope to make things better for both teachers and students.
“We need to try to improve the system for the children, but also, in doing that, for the teachers too,” he says. “(They’ve) made it very clear to us that not everything was working to their satisfaction.”
Hines says MLAs can’t sit during March break by law, so the budget could be tabled following that period, depending on the rest of the agenda.
Randy Delorey, the province’s health minister and the MLA for Antigonish, says they’ve been receiving a lot of feedback on education and marijuana.
Meanwhile, Allan MacMaster, the Tory MLA for Inverness, says this will be one of the busiest legislative sessions in years.
He says electoral boundaries will be discussed, in addition to education and marijuana.
MacMaster says there are some local topics on his mind as well.
“I think some of the biggest issues locally are roads, as always,” he says. “Also, high-speed internet, cellphone service, and of course, health care.”
MacMaster says possible education legislation will probably have the spotlight, at least at the start of the sitting.
Cape Breton-Richmond MLA Alana Paon did not respond to our requests for an interview ahead of the new session.