Wrap to Legislature week went a bit sideways for the NDP government, as they push through elimination of one week for Legislature work

BC Liberal MLA Todd Stone challenged the need to eliminate
a week of Legislature sessions this month as part of the final day
of debate this week in the House

The way the week was seemingly supposed to go at the BC Legislature, the current Premier John Horgan was to deliver his farewell to the legislature speech, that as Mr. Horgan prepares to shift to the side to make way for incoming NDP leader and Premier designate David Eby.

However, it appears that Mr. Horgan took ill towards the end of the week so the speech was deferred to a later date, the NDP House leader hoping to bring things to a smooth conclusion this week as the Government puts a pause on the legislature for the next two weeks.

That plan kind of went sideways though as this week came to an end, first as the BC Liberal and Green opposition members spent the latter stages of this week at the legislature suggesting that the extension of the traditional Remembrance Day  week to another four days of missed work was not a helpful thing to the overview of legislation. 

MLA Todd Stone spoke for the BC Liberals on that theme:

It's hard not to look at this through a cynical lens. It's hard not to look at this as anything other than a government that increasingly, bit by bit, is chipping away at the accountability mechanisms in this place. British Columbians want more accountability from government, not less. 

They expect us to be here and do our jobs. 

To that point, I want to be crystal-clear that our caucus is ready and willing to sit for an additional week of time or, frankly, for as long as it takes to ensure that there is appropriate scrutiny on this very important legislation that is before the House, not to mention

And I don't have any advance notice of this at this point, but with four days left in the parliamentary calendar, I think it would be unbelievable if we show up on that Monday of the final week of session, if there's no additional time added at the end of it, if any net new legislation is introduced on top of what's already needing to be canvassed. 

So again, I'll end my comments on this note. We urge the government to reconsider this motion. We urge the government to not cancel these four days of session. We urge the government to step back and stop this continuous degrading of the accountability measures of this place. We urge the government to recommit itself.

Adam Olsen spoke for the Green Party and he was equally upset at the approach that the Government was taking towards using the Legislature.

If this government is going to continue to demonstrate that they don't have any respect for those democratic principles, if they're going to continue to show disrespect for those processes and those protocols that have developed and evolved over time because of their usefulness to a well-functioning democratic institution, they should just get rid of them. They're not necessary. All we have to do is move a motion, use the majority, push it through. 

Two weeks off instead of one week off. Come back to a House of utter chaos. Members running around all over the place, wondering where we are, at what debate, when. Bells, potentially, ringing consistently. 

Meanwhile, a bill that is being debated clause by clause on the amendments to child welfare will be jammed into a corner room somewhere in this Legislature. Major amendments to the health professions, another room off in the corner. 

The reality is that we are seeing this government use closure and time allocations on massive pieces of legislation. As the as the Opposition House Leader mentioned, many clauses of those bills never had the scrutiny that is required in order to be able to ensure that those clauses withstood the test — the test that we have to put them through on this side of the House, the test that British Columbians expect a well-functioning democratic institution is putting those legislative clauses through. 

I'm going to, I think, reiterate the comments that were made by the Opposition House Leader in asking the government to reconsider this motion. It's unnecessary. It's actually an affront to our democracy in many ways as has been highlighted. I don't think that this House should accept this motion in any way. I think that we should be here. 

We need to — unless, of course, there's a motion to suggest that Friday, November 18, become a statutory holiday, which is and would be a reason why we wouldn't be in this House…. It's the reason why we're not going to be here next week, because when there is a statutory holiday, members remain in their communities to be able to participate in whatever that statutory day is. 

Next week we have, of course, as we are wearing the poppies, we have Remembrance Day. Members will be in their constituencies to take part in those activities. 

Unless we're creating a new statutory holiday for the new Premier-designate, there is no reason for us to not be here that week, doing the work on these multiple pieces of legislation that are in front of us.

Following some final points to the topic from the Opposition side, the call for a vote to bring an end to the week and put in place the two week break seemed to catch the NDP government somewhat flat footed and lacking in math skills, with not enough members in place to win a vote, requiring a Division call and the echo of bells through the Legislature.

A curiosity of the day that caught the attention of CHEK TV correspondent Rob Shaw

Something requiring some fancy footwork if you will by the NDP to wrangle enough MLA's into the chamber to win the day.  

A process which took the House Leader close to twelve minutes to secure the required bodies for the vote.

In the end, the NDP did get sufficient members to push through the two week break.

The lead up to the vote and the calls to reverse the plan to eliminate the lost week of legislature time can be reviewed through the Legislature video archive. 

The discussion starts at the 3:55PM mark of Thursday's proceedings.

The lengthy break coincides with the swearing in of Mr. Eby as Premier on November 18th, a subject which also made for some conversation on Thursday afternoon, the opposition members noting of the rather lengthy process of the changeover that the NDP has taken since Mr. Eby was named leader of the Party and Premier Designate. 

Mr. Eby will take his seat as Premier in the Legislature when they resume the Fall sitting on November 21st, with just a few days of time in the Chamber before the government brings an end to the session.

It's pretty apparent why the New Premier may want to bring the fall session to a close, it has been a rough one on the government side.

The opposition parties have been hammering the Horgan government daily during this session, challenging the Government a number of areas. 

From health care to housing to public safety and more and in many cases, as Premier Horgan headed towards his exit, the ministers for those files faced some tough questions and in some instances did not fare well as both the BC Liberal members and those from the Greens scored some hits on government policy and delivery.

The BC Liberal Caucus made it clear on Thursday that they aren't pleased how the Premier Designate is taking to his duties In these early days of the Eby era.

In the weeks ahead Premier Eby will be looking to put his stamp on the cabinet, so changes as they say are a comin', though while he may change some of the office holders, the issues of concern will remain and the Opposition no doubt will find ways to ensure that the issues of the last six weeks remain front burner topics with our without a Legislature session.

Some of the notes from the last few days will make for our review later tonight from our political blog D'Arcy McGee which explores how the  Legislature media is covering the controversies and policy announcements.

You can find those notes from our Victoria Viewpoints archive.

More noes on the work of the Northwest members of the Legislature can be reviewed from our archive page.