{"id":103134,"date":"2026-03-25T16:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103134"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:48:06","slug":"n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. legislature closed to the public after singing protesters delay budget vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia legislature has been closed to the public after singing protesters disrupted a budget vote Tuesday night. Saf Haq says she and about 40 others broke into song before midnight Tuesday when the legislature moved to vote on a budget-related bill that would result in a series of cuts to government programs, delaying the vote. Instead, it was voted on Wednesday afternoon, without members of the public in the gallery. The Progressive Conservatives used their dominant majority to pass the appropriations act, which authorizes government spending included in the new budget. Haq said she protested Tuesday because the cuts approved in this budget will hurt vulnerable Nova Scotians and the province&#8217;s vibrant arts and culture scene. &#8220;I&#8217;m concerned for the future of Nova Scotia \u2026&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F25%2Fn-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia legislature has been closed to the public after singing protesters disrupted a budget vote Tuesday night. Saf Haq says she and about 40 others broke into song before midnight Tuesday when the legislature moved to vote on a budget-related bill that would result in a series of cuts to government programs, delaying the vote. Instead, it was voted on Wednesday afternoon, without members of the public in the gallery. The Progressive Conservatives used their dominant majority to pass the appropriations act, which authorizes government spending included in the new budget. Haq said she protested Tuesday because the cuts approved in this budget will hurt vulnerable Nova Scotians and the province&#8217;s vibrant arts and culture scene. &#8220;I&#8217;m concerned for the future of Nova Scotia \u2026... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F25%2Fn-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N.S. legislature closed to the public after singing protesters delay budget vote - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N.S. legislature closed to the public after singing protesters delay budget vote - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lyndsay Armstrong The Nova Scotia legislature has been closed to the public after singing protesters disrupted a budget vote Tuesday night. Saf Haq says she and about 40 others broke into song before midnight Tuesday when the legislature moved to vote on a budget-related bill that would result in a series of cuts to government programs, delaying the vote. Instead, it was voted on Wednesday afternoon, without members of the public in the gallery. The Progressive Conservatives used their dominant majority to pass the appropriations act, which authorizes government spending included in the new budget. Haq said she protested Tuesday because the cuts approved in this budget will hurt vulnerable Nova Scotians and the province&#8217;s vibrant arts and culture scene. &#8220;I&#8217;m concerned for the future of Nova Scotia \u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T20:48:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/25\\\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/25\\\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"N.S. legislature closed to the public after singing protesters delay budget vote\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-25T20:48:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/25\\\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":873,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/25\\\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/25\\\/n-s-legislature-closed-to-the-public-after-singing-protesters-delay-budget-vote\\\/\",\"name\":\"N.S. legislature closed to the public after singing protesters delay budget vote - 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