Nova Scotia NDP leader Claudia Chender said she’s left with more questions than answers after the premier skipped attending the Halifax Pride Parade over the weekend.
Even though Premier Tim Houston didn’t attend, she said the Progressive Conservative Party could have showed support for the LGBTQ+ community.
“I think the most important thing that’s called for from political leadership of all parties right now is a message of unity, a reassurance to all Nova Scotians in what is a pretty divisive time that they are seen and recognized and celebrated by our government ” said Chender.
She said other provincial conservative governments and the federal conservatives have introduced policies and legislation that is troubling in terms of equity for people in the LGBTQ+ community, she said.
“At the end of the day, I think we’re left with many more questions than answers.”
In an emailed statement, Houston said he was advised by the RCMP that if he attended the Pride Parade, there may be a security risk to him and the public because of protesters.
However, Halifax Pride sent an email out to people in the parade that explained there may be a demonstration, but parade viewers and participants should be respectful and not engage with protesters.
“Pride staff and board will be present throughout the parade route, and are instructed to get to the point of stoppage as quickly as possible to engage with demonstrators,” the email said.
The Pride team also said they would handle any situations and revaluate if they needed assistance from police.
Halifax Pride also said on social media that they didn’t know the conservatives were not participating anymore, and they said they didn’t “identify or communicate any safety concerns.”
Pro-Palestine protesters did block the road near the end of the parade.
Chender says her float was closer to the front of the parade, so she had reached the end of the parade and got off the float when protesters blocked the road.
But she said her team thought something like this might happen, considering that protesters recently stopped the Toronto Pride Parade.
“I don’t think there was any safety concern,” she said.
She said the protest was peaceful and she supports peoples’ right to speak freely.
However, if there was a real safety concern for the Liberal and NDP parties, then she finds it strange that the RCMP and the conservative party didn’t mention this.
Other conservatives could have been in parade, says Chender
But if the security risk was only if Houston was in the parade, then she wonders why other people in the conservative party didn’t participate.
The RCMP only provided security advice to the conservative party because the party reached out to them, according to an emailed statement from the government.
Chender also wonders why the government could have put out a message or a social media post about why they weren’t attending the parade.
Houston and the conservative party participated in the 2022 Pride Parade. The 2023 parade was canceled.
“But they weren’t here this year. And the question is why not? And we have not received a sufficient answer about that,” said Chender.
