N.S. premier defends new agency CEO appointment as opposition questions transparency

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston was grilled for making an appointment to a new government agency.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston faced a lot of questions around the appointment of Karen Oldfield as the CEO of the newly created Accelerate Nova Scotia agency.

Since 2021, Oldfield had been working as the interim CEO at Nova Scotia Health, but that position is now filled by Dr. Nicole Boutilier, who had been serving as executive vice-president with NS Health.

Oldfield has close connections to the provincial Progressive Conservative party and served as chief of staff to former PC Premier John Hamm but regardless of the political history, Houston has no doubt Oldfield is the best person for the job.

“Maybe we could bring somebody else in and they could spend a year trying to figure out, ‘Well, what did you do and how did you do that, and what were the challenges and what were they?’” said Houston.

“But why would we do that when we have the architect of all that right here before our very eyes?”

When pressed further by reporters, Houston wasn’t clear on how Accelerate Nova Scotia will operate within the government and how it will be staffed but did say it was his plan to create the new government agency.

Opposition were quick to criticize the hiring of Oldfield without an open competition for the job being held first.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender questioned why the PC government is prioritizing a new government agency when it is facing a $1.2-billion deficit and making cuts to longstanding government programming.

“I’ve never heard of Accelerate Nova until last week,” said Chender. “I think that the fact that we can’t find $350,000 to keep libraries open across our province, but we can invent a new department and give essentially that salary to someone who is a close political ally of the premier is raising eyebrows all over our province.”

Becky Druhan, the Nova Scotia Liberal health critic, said the Houston government hasn’t done a good job explaining what Accelerate Nova Scotia is doing for the people.

“The reality is, Nova Scotians deserve health care that works before we work on health care that sells,” said Druhan.

A government press release says Accelerate Nova Scotia “aims to secure strategic partnerships, attract investment, and create new markets, establishing the province as a national and international leader in health innovation.”

A government spokesperson told CTV Atlantic News that Accelerate Nova Scotia responds directly to the Executive Council Office and Oldfield signed a two-year contract that pays her $310,000 per year.

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