Several people spoke out against the Nova Scotia government’s omnibus bill at the Public Bills Committee meeting on Monday.

Some of those changes included how the province responds to Freedom of information requests and changes that would let the government fire non-unionized civil servants without cause.

Pat Clahane says she’s worked in civil service for nearly 30 years. For many of those years, she says she was a lawyer with the Justice Department.

She said this is like a “nuclear bomb” that could destroy the whole bill. She’s concerned that someone like Robert Strang, the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, will have less job security compared to someone who works at Tim Horton’s, because those workers have a union.

She’s worried that some employees would be afraid of losing their jobs if they do something the government does not like. She said there may be other problems with the bill, like a lack of government consultation on certain issues.

“But to me, it is the nuclear bomb that, even if all the other stuff got fixed, can submarine it big time,” she said.

She said she does not have a record of making protest signs and showing up in the streets, but she joined in a prtoest becuase of some of the proposed legislation, which was a “unique” experience for her , she said.

Education Minister Brendan Maguire said most departments have gotten more funding and more staff in recent years, so they are not looking to cut any jobs.

Changes to Freedom of Information requests

The other issue front of mind for several at the committee was changes to how the government responds to Freedom of Information requests.

The PCs want to give public bodies and government departments the power to dismiss Freedom of Information requests they deem are “vexatious” or “frivolous.”

The previous privacy commissioner suggested vexatious and frivolous requests were an issue. But she said the privacy commissioner’s office should be able to decide which ones to dismiss.

Maguire said that three people have filed hundreds of requests, which is overwhelming to staff.

However, the legislation before the house would not give the power of dismissal to the commissioner’s office.

Premier Tim Houston recently said they would make changes to the bill after a meeting with the commissioner’s office, but it’s unclear what those changes would be.