’Well-liked’ Flin Flon MLA headed to Speaker’s chair in legislature

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This article was published 08/11/2023 (697 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A northern New Democratic Party MLA will be the next Speaker of the house.

Tom Lindsey, who represents Flin Flon, was the only nominee for one of the top roles in the legislative assembly and will be acclaimed Thursday in the chamber.

The former critic for labour, northern affairs and natural resources has represented the constituency — which includes 15 First Nations — since 2016.

In a ceremony Thursday afternoon, Lindsey and his trademark horseshoe moustache will be escorted to the Speaker’s chair by Premier Wab Kinew and deputy leader of the Opposition Kelvin Goertzen.

The one-time mine worker, union steward and worker-safety representative is a good choice for Speaker, said a former political insider.

“To be an effective Speaker, you have to be liked on both sides and you have to be viewed as a reasonable guy,” said Deveryn Ross, who was former premier Brian Pallister’s deputy chief of staff.

“You have to have experience and familiarity with the rules and (Lindsey’s) got all of that.”

Shortly after the Oct. 3 election that put the NDP in government, Ross predicted that Lindsey would end up in a prominent role.

“He’s well-liked and he’s got a good sense of humour, which is really important in that job because there are many times when it’s frustrating and it’s easy to blow your stack,” he said.

The Speaker is paid the same $56,390 premium as a cabinet minister on top of the MLA base salary of $102,998.

As question period emcee, referee and overseer of the functioning of the legislative assembly, the job comes with a steep learning curve without the benefit of any rehearsals, said Myrna Driedger who had the job from 2016 until the official start to the election campaign in early September.

“The rubber hits the road when you’re sitting in that Speaker’s chair and you have to make sure everybody’s following the rules,” said Driedger, who did not run for re-election after serving as the Progressive Conservative member for Roblin since 1998.

And there are many, many rules set out in the 116-page Rules, Orders and Forms of Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. The Speaker poses all questions for debate, and conducts all votes once debate is concluded. When members raise points of order, matters of privilege or urgent public importance in the house, the Speaker decides whether they are in or out of order, and provides appropriate rulings.

“Another challenge is what is happening in the house regarding civility and heckling and disrespect for the institution of democracy,” said Driedger, who has had to rule on rude and aggressive gestures in the chamber and an alleged shoving incident at an event in the building’s rotunda.

“It’s not just here in Manitoba, but things have really changed right across the world in many ways — the lack of stability, the lack of decorum; sometimes just the absolute hatred people have for each other — it never used to be like that.

”People used to debate the policies, but now it’s gotten into a very personal level and so a Speaker has to watch very carefully that rules and people are respected.”

Driedger took to social media earlier this week to call out “disgusting and undignified” behaviour in the House of Commons after an MP was accused of giving another member the middle finger.

“I like passionate debate but you can’t cross the line into personal attacks and that does happen. And sometimes there’s disrespect towards the Speaker for holding the house to order because some people may not think rules apply to them,”she said.

“You have to have order in the house and you have to be absolutely impartial and fair. That’s going to be tough for some people…. It depends on whether you’ve still got a lot of partisanship running through your body.”

Driedger’s social media presence changed once she went from being an opposition health critic challenging the government to an impartial Speaker after the Tories took the reins of government in the spring of 2016.

“What a Speaker needs to do is earn the respect of the house and you earn it by fairness,” she said.

“I had to change all my media to nice, happy things, which was actually better for my mental health because I didn’t have to get into some of the toxicity that is on social media right now.

“Right now politics is pretty fragile, democracy is pretty fragile and I expect there to be elected people that step up to show more respect, more civility, because if we can’t do it, how in the world are we going to expect better behaviour from people around us or in our province?”

Driedger’s responsibilities included keeping the legislative assembly functioning when the global pandemic hit and public health restrictions prevented Manitobans from gathering. It was a challenge that resulted in the introduction of technology allowing members to meet virtually and for members of the public to have more online access to proceedings.

“Once you get into that role, it is far bigger than what people would think,” she said. “Sixty per cent of the job is all the administrative aspects of running an organization. It’s human resources, it’s respectful workplace policies. We work with lawyers all the time. So there’s a legal component to it. It is a quasi-judicial role when you actually have to write rulings for the house.”

And it’s not as simple as it might seem, Driedger said. “You’re not just ceremonial. There’s so many facets to it, and you have to be careful that you don’t become the story.”

House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota resigned in September after he invited a man who fought for the Nazis to attend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Parliament.

“You always want to be careful what you say when you say it,” Driedger said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca