Nova Scotia's new education advisory council to be appointed Thursday

A vote will be held Thursday toappoint the members of Nova Scotia's new advisory council on education more than two weeks after the start of the school year and months after the planto replace elected school boards was announced.

The timing of the vote had opposition members askingTuesday whyEducation Minister Zach Churchill didn't provide thenames of the 12 members sooner.

New Democrat MLA ClaudiaChender said government members firstheard about the council, known as PACE, last winter.

The committee received the names last week.

Chenderagreed it's important to get PACE in place, but she said the government should've had the names available for the last committee meeting. She said the Liberals'approach to finalizing the council shows "sloppiness."

The governing Liberals wanted to vote on appointing the council's members ahead of a mandatory seven-day waiting period from the time the names are forwarded to the all-party committee a move thatrequiresunanimous consent.

In a letter last week to the committee's chair, which was sent to committee members and obtained by CBCNews,Zach Churchill askedfor the waiver so PACE couldbegin its work "immediately now that the school year has started."

Tory MLA EddieOrrellsaid during the meeting the information easily could have come to the committee sooner.

"I know [Churchill's]a busy man, but to use the excuse that he's in Yarmouth and you can't get a signature on these papers," said Orrell.

Opposition members refused togrant consent to the waiver Tuesday, meaning the vote would have to wait. The committee wasn't scheduled to meet again until the end of next month, but Jessome asked forunanimous consent to an opposition suggestion to vote Thursday on the names instead.

"I think we can all agree that we want to get going on this ASAP,"Jessometold the meeting.

"We've got a job to do here. I think we can all put [bickering] aside for 10 minutes."

Jessomehad his hands full at times, as debate devolved into partisan spats. Liberal MLA HughMacKayaccused the opposition of politicizing the issue.Chenderreminded him it was the government who ended the school boards, promised the new committee, is selecting the members to be voted on and won't commit to making the meetings public.

12 names upfor consideration

In his letter to the human resources committee, Churchill wrotethat PACE will "ensure regional and diverse voices have a role in advising the minister on needs, challenges, and opportunities in the education system, as well as regional or local matters that affect education, and such other educational matters as members wish to bring to the attention of the minister."

CBC News has learned the names of the 12 peoplethe government hopedtoput forward for consideration Tuesday. They are:

• Archy Beals
• Michael Drew
• Christopher Gilham
• Suzy Hansen
• Nastasya Kennedy
• Lynn Levatte
• Margaret (Joan) MacDonnell
• Brent Noiles
• Stephen Parsons
• Maura Ryan
• Hendrika (Hetty) van Gurp
• Gin Yee

The chair of the councilwill be paid $800 per year, while members will received $600 per year, according to Churchill's letter.

Call for more transparency

Meanwhile, Tory MLA Alana Paon said she's concerned about the lack of transparency around who is picked for committees in general and their background.

Paon noted MLAs are required to file and sign disclosure forms and she'd like to see similar consideration for people appointed to agencies, boards and commissions, including whether they've donated to political parties.

"They're positions of trust and obviously we need to know a lot of background about these people that take on these positions."

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