The independent MLA for Cape Breton-Richmond says she followed the rules when she missed almost half the days of the legislature’s fall sitting.
Alana Paon, who missed 10 of 21 sitting days during the previous session, says each of her absences were approved by the Speaker.
She says she wasn’t required- or even asked- to explain them.
Paon tells The Hawk other MLAs have been absent, but the speaker hasn’t talked to members of the media about them, and he’s never asked about her absences.
“I’m more than happy to speak with him if he ever asked me, or if he would like to know,” she says. “If he’d like to have that conversation with me, I’m more than happy to sit down and speak with him, with the understanding that again, some matters are really private.”
Paon says MLAs have the right to a private life.
