In the fall sitting of the House of Assembly in 2008, the provincial government repealed an old law regulating the practice of midwifery.
Then-health minister Ross Wiseman introduced the repeal bill at second reading and promised to replace it with a new law:
We envisage under the new legislation midwifery being an autonomous profession, separate and apart from nursing. [Hansard, 01 Dec 08]
The Health Professions Act – passed by the House of Assembly in 2010 – made it possible for government to set up midwives as a small, self-regulating profession.
After another four years, you’d think we might be a bit closer to what Wiseman originally promised. If you thought that, you’d be wrong.
