Court action sends 'very negative message,' says N.S. premier as PCs defend suit

Premier Stephen McNeil is holding firm that documents related to the deal between his government and Bay Ferries need to be kept secret, despite a court action filed Monday by Nova Scotia's Official Opposition.

"It's taxpayers suing taxpayers," McNeil said Mondayaboutthe decision by the Progressive Conservative caucus to file the Supreme Court motion.

Although a newsrelease by the Liberal caucus called the court action "a political stunt," the premier would not.

"There is an avenue they've chosen to take, but I believe it's sending a very negative message to the private sector globally that proprietary information will be taken by the Conservative government and disseminated openlyto all to see," he said.

Last month, the provincialTransportation Department refused to comply with aformal recommendationby Nova Scotia's privacy commissioner to reveal how much taxpayers are paying Bay Ferries to run its service to Maine.

But McNeil said being forced to divulgethat information would hurt Bay Ferries by allowing competing companies to know what fee it was charging Nova Scotiataxpayers.

"Disclosing that to competitors puts them at a disadvantagenot only [with]this ferry, but in other public contracts that they apply for," he said.

'Has to be done'

Tory Leader Tim Houston arguedtaxpayers havea right to know how the Liberals are spending their tax money.

"It's something that has to be done," Houstonsaid Monday after making a public show of hand-delivering the court papers to the Law Courts in Halifax.

"Taxpayers of Nova Scotia shouldn't have to take the government to court to find out how the government is spending their money."

Houstonsaid his caucus decided to take a stand in light of recent moves by LiberalMLAsto limit topics coming before legislature committees and to cut the number of meetings of what was once the most powerful committee at Province House,the public accounts committee.

"Just seeing the erosion to democracy that's been happening over the last couple of years, somebody has to take a stand now and I think the Liberalgovernment was betting that nobody would," said Houston.

"But somebody has to do and that's us."

In 2016, the Progressive Conservatives and reporters from AllNovaScotia.com and Global filed freedom-of-information requests in relation to theprovince's 10-year contract with Bay Ferries.

When their requests were denied, the parties appealed to Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully's office for a review. Last December, Tullyreleased a report admonishingthe Transportation Department for withholding the information.