The premier says he, and other provincal officials, advocated for a joint public inquiry into the Portapique mass shooting all along.
Stephen McNeil says those conversations just happened in private.
McNeil says it wasn’t possible to push the federal government publicly.
“It was critical that we kept them at the table,” he says. “Those families deserve the answers to the questions that they have, many of which are related to federal agencies.”
McNeil says none of those federal agencies could be compelled to testify at a provincial public inquiry.
He says they were confident a review could achieve the same goal but heard the demand for a full public inquiry loud and clear from families, community members, and residents across the province.
McNeil says he’s glad the joint federal/provincial public inquiry will go forward with full support from both levels of government.
That’s not the only news from Thursday’s post-cabinet press conference.
McNeil says provincial officials aren’t going to wait to start trying to reduce the deficit, they’re going to start looking at the recently announced $853 million 2020/2021 budget deficit this year.
“Lessen the size of the deficit obviously,” he says. “We’re going to continue to work in insuring that we, again, are delivering programs that we’ve committed to, but at the same time trying to control those costs of government.”
McNeil says the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 makes this kind of planning challenging, but it remains important.
