Bilingual translation service considered for legislature
Posted Apr 15, 2010 06:08:34 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s a move to make the Nova Scotia legislature more bilingual and it comes on the heels of a minor faux pas.
Earlier this week the Minister for Acadian Affairs started speaking in French during question period in the legislature.
Tory interim leader Karen Casey says she made a light-hearted comment about not understanding – but noted a bigger problem.
“We either ensure that the practice works and that everybody respects it, or we look at some other way to make sure we are able to be understood by our listeners in both languages,” said Casey.
Liberal MLA Michele Samson is now calling for a change.
“When the minister answered a question that was put to him in English in French I think he raised a point that needs to be addressed in this province,” he said. “When he did that the speaker didn’t understand him, the majority of the members of the house didn’t understand him, and that can’t continue.”
Casey has invited her fellow leaders to discuss implementing a translation system.
The chamber is already wired for such a system but lacks a translation booth and translators.
