HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia legislature has reopened with additional restrictions to the public more than one week after a rowdy protest in the visitor galleries.
House Speaker Danielle Barkhouse says visitors will not be permitted to read, write, draw or sketch during house debates, because she says those activities can distract elected officials.
Barkhouse says those rules are similar to existing restrictions in the public galleries at the House of Commons in Ottawa.
The legislature had been closed to the public since March 25, a day after a late-night protest that included singing and shouting from the galleries.
In response, the Speaker now says visitors are no longer allowed to sit in the front row of the east and west galleries, adding that an existing ban on clothes displaying words will be strictly enforced.
Barkhouse announced the new restrictions, which also prohibit the use of cellphones and tablets, in a speech today on the floor of the legislature.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2026.
