Tempers erupt over extended session

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This article was published 07/06/2018 (2874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a day marked by insults and bell-ringing, the NDP claimed that the Tories have violated MLAs’ privileges as the acrimonious impasse continued at the legislature Wednesday.

Premier Brian Pallister told reporters as the bells rang incessantly at 5 p.m. that NDP Leader Wab Kinew had clearly put his party’s work ethic on display Wednesday after bragging Tuesday they were willing to work through the summer.

The premier pointed out the New Democrats had voted against sitting Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to get emergency business done, they voted against sitting until 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and the bells were ringing because the NDP wanted to go home at 4:40 p.m.

“The opposition did put their work ethic on display for all Manitobans to see,” he said.

The legislature was supposed to break Monday until early October, but now it’s sitting for three more weeks in June, and maybe three more weeks in July. So far, nothing has been accomplished.

NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine earlier insisted that the Opposition wants to see and debate the government’s budget implementation bill — because it’s likely full of what she claims will be hidden atrocious and egregious cuts.

“What else is this government hiding in cuts?” Fontaine challenged, after pointing out that the budget implementation bill last year included cuts to transit and other municipal funding.

Pallister said his government can’t finalize its budget until Ottawa makes it clear what’s involved financially in all aspects of legal pot.

“We’re clearly in a historic period where the federal government has rushed the introduction of cannabis. It could have real ramifications,” Pallister told reporters.

Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen said Wednesday that if the session is going to continue for at least three weeks more, the Tories want to pass their controversial bill that would ban night hunting.

Pallister explained that banning night hunting, and some other business, would allow the house to “make productive use of the time” if MLAs are forced to sit well into the summer.

Fontaine argued that the Tories recalled the legislature in an emergency session to handle financial matters. The Pallister government immediately released its official notice, which cited “financial matters and other important undertakings which serve in the best interests of Manitobans.”

Bells rang throughout the legislature Wednesday afternoon after the government and opposition squabbled, and the NDP challenged rulings from Speaker Myrna Driedger. At 4:40 p.m., Fontaine moved adjournment, the Tories opted to keep working, and Fontaine demanded a recorded vote, setting off the bells for another hour.

The NDP initially said Wednesday it was OK with sitting Fridays during June, if there was a question period; Cullen offered 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays to get the business done, including a question period, and the NDP subsequently refused.

Cullen offered to sit until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday — normally the house adjourns at 5 p.m. — and again the NDP said no. In the house earlier, Pallister and several cabinet ministers responded to a wide variety of NDP questions by hurling back insults about the NDP’s integrity.

“He broke his word,” Pallister accused Kinew. “We’ll have to go back to the days of getting agreements in writing.”

Said Kinew: “We’ve seen how little the Conservatives like to work in June.”

Meanwhile, Christopher Adams, a political scientist at the University of Manitoba, said that procedural wrangling gets worse the greater the ideological split between government and the Opposition.

“This is just one of the pieces in the tool kit of the Opposition,” Adams said.

Adams could not recall the last time a Manitoba government had invoked closure, in which it uses its enormous majority to close debate.

“That wouldn’t be the greatest optic (but) I wouldn’t be surprised if we see closure. Once again, the premier drives the bus here,” Adams said.

“The government could use closure to cut off debate and force the end of a session, but this will lead to screams of a heavy-handed use of majority power and an attempt by government to escape accountability,” retired University of Manitoba political science professor Paul Thomas said.

Thomas said that within recent years, the parties agreed to new schedules and hours of debate intended to avoid having sessions extend deep into the summer.

Cullen says the Tories have met those terms. Fontaine says they haven’t.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca