HALIFAX — The lawyer for a former Liberal member of the Nova Scotia legislature says his client intends to plead guilty to a charge of impaired driving.
Don Murray appeared in Halifax provincial court on behalf of Hugh MacKay, former member for Chester-St. Margaret's, to indicate his client will appear on Feb. 22 before Judge Ann Marie Simmons to formally enter a guilty plea.
MacKay in 2020 had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are connected to an alleged impaired driving incident from Nov. 22, 2018.
However, the trial dates were put off due to COVID-19 and to an abuse of process motion filed by his defence, which was rejected.
MacKay was a backbencher from 2017 to 2020 in the Stephen McNeil government, but quit the caucus after he was charged.
He sat as an independent until the 2021 provincial election, when he didn't re-offer.
In a separate case, MacKay pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit, in relation to an incident on Oct. 13, 2019. He was fined $2,000 and prohibited from driving for a year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2023.
The Canadian Press
