N.S. premier restores legislature scrums amid accusations of assault on press freedom

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston arrives for a first ministers meeting in Ottawa on Jan.15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has agreed to resume taking part in media scrums in the legislature after facing accusations he was curtailing press freedom.

Two weeks ago, Houston ended the long-standing tradition of government ministers having informal exchanges with media -- known as scrums -- outside the legislative chamber.

His government decided journalists should instead gather in a government building across the street and wait for cabinet ministers to appear at a designated time. Houston said this arrangement would allow reporters from outside the city to join the questioning via online link.

But the move prompted a boycott of the formal media availabilities by some members of the press gallery and was labelled a “frontal assault on press freedom” by the Canadian Association of Journalists.

During a meeting Thursday with press gallery representatives, Houston agreed that he and his ministers will return to participating in scrums, but the location will move from the hall outside the legislative chamber to a nearby room where committee meetings are often held.

“We want to make sure Nova Scotians have access to information and that you folks can do your job properly,” he told journalists during a scrum in the new location later in the day. Houston was standing behind a podium, a new addition to the informal newsgathering huddle.

“We will find a way where we can strike a balance, where we can still reach additional outlets that might not be in the city and still make sure that Nova Scotians have access to good information.”

Houston’s decision to end scrums had been met with opposition from those who advocate for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

On Tuesday, Canadian Association of Journalists president Brent Jolly said the ban was “lose-lose” for the public’s right to know.

“It is deliberately designed to force journalists and news organizations into deciding: should they cover the affairs of the legislature or trek off site to hear a minister regurgitate sanitized talking points?” his statement said.

Media scrums with politicians started before Confederation.

In 1866 the new Parliament Buildings in Ottawa included a press gallery perched above the Speaker’s chair. A pair of offices were provided in the northwest tower. More importantly, reporters would routinely stand outside Sir John A. Macdonald’s office, notepads in hand, even before he became Canada’s first prime minister.

Since the beginning, politicians have complained about this sometimes rough ritual, but scrums remain a daily fixture in the foyer of the House of Commons when Parliament is sitting and they are common in most provinces.

Suspicions about the Houston government’s motives for the initial change were amplified when news emerged this week about a Progressive Conservative member’s fundraising letter that asked Nova Scotians to help the party thwart “special interests” and “bypass the media when we need to.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.