Bill would protect workers from protests

Tim Houston and the Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation on Oct. 14 to protect patients, health-service providers and staff of health-care facilities from protesters who interfere with access to hospitals and other services.

“They shouldn’t feel threatened in any way, shape or form when they are going to work, especially our healthcare professionals who, like all Nova Scotians but disproportionately so, have been through a lot,” Houston told reporters.

“This is all designed to make sure that our health-care professionals know that their government supports them in having a safe and healthy workplace.”

The new legislation will prohibit protests and other disruptive activities at healthcare facilities and the homes of patients who receive health-care services at home.

The legislation will establish a 50-metre safe-access bubble zone around facilities such as hospitals, mentalhealth services, home-care services, long-term care services, clinics, doctors’ offices and pharmacies.

Peaceful protests can occur outside that perimeter.

“The balance in this legislation is that people have the right to protest and organize but there are places where that should be done and there are places where that should not be done,” Houston said. “People will remember when their protests at Dr. (Robert) Strang’s house, and that was highly inappropriate in my mind..”

Iain Rankin, leader of the Liberal party, said the legislation is necessary and that his party was looking at a bill of its own to create a buffer zone to protect health-care workers.

Houston said there would be no exemption for unionized protests or strike action by health-care workers of the buildings where they work.

“We’ll have to look through the details, I’m not sure if all protests should be banned,” Rankin said. “There are different reasons why employees are protesting for labour reasons. People have the right to collective bargaining and the right to protest and I think that is foundational for our democracy.”

Gary Burrill, leader of the NDP, said the principle that the bill is based on is a good one, to protect staff and patients from protests intended to interfere with Nova Scotians accessing hospitals and other health-care services.

“If the piece of legislation were found to invoke that kind of a ban (labour protests and pickets), I think there would be serious Charter questions,” Burrill said. “I think not only our party would have concerns with it, I think the courts would have concerns as well.”

The premier said previous anti-vaccination protests played into the establishment of the legislation.

“One of the things we heard loud and clear on the healthcare tour from front-line health-care professionals is that there are often situations where they feel unsafe, actually at work from patients that are agitated or people accompanying patients who are agitated,” the premier said.

But the intent of this legislation is to provide the 50metre buffer zone around the areas where people enter the workplace.

“If somebody breaches it, they will be breaking the law. That will be an issue for law enforcement.”

Penalties will be similar to the Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Act, which prohibits protests at abortion services clinics.

The legislation stipulates that a person who breaks this specific law would be subject to a fine of up to $5,000 for a first offence and up to $10,000 for a second offence.

“They are meant to be a deterrent and people that are disrespectful to other

Nova Scotians and certainly our health-care professionals when they are at work or travelling to work, they should know that that is not Ok.”

The legislation is not limited to the current state of emergency, which came into effect in March 2020.