Acting Clerk Retires, New Clerk Appointed

Speaker of the House of Assembly Kevin Murphy announced today Nov. 5, that Annette Boucher, acting chief clerk of the House of Assembly is retiring and her last day at work will be Dec. 18.

Ms. Boucher has served as acting chief clerk since February following the retirement of former chief clerk Neil Ferguson.

Ms. Boucher has served as an assistant clerk of the House of Assembly and a legislative counsel since November 2010. Prior to this she served as registrar for the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Ms. Boucher received the Premier’s Award of Excellence, the highest honour of the Nova Scotia civil service, in 2006 as the first individual recipient of the award.

“On behalf of the members and her colleagues in the House of Assembly, we wish her well in her retirement,” said Mr. Murphy. Mr. Murphy also announced today the appointment of James Charlton as the new chief clerk.

Mr. Charlton has served as the chief legislative counsel for the Province of Alberta since 2019 and as a legislative counsel in Nova Scotia from 2011 to 2018.

Mr. Charlton holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of New Brunswick and a masters of laws degree from the University of Toronto.

“I want to congratulate Mr. Charlton on his appointment and look forward to working with him in his new role,” said Mr. Murphy.