As MLAs push for public debate, a return to the House presents a logistical quagmire

The return of the New Brunswick legislature to quasi-normal business later this month won't be a return to procedural normalcy.

A small number of MLAs could convene in person on May 26, but if all 47 MLAs need to participate, they might meet virtually, or in person in a larger off-site venue where they can keep a safe distance from each other, according to Speaker Daniel Guitard.

"Everything's possible," Guitard said, although he added that holding the legislature in an arena would raise other logistical issues.

"I only have seven people including myself," he said, far less than the House of Commons staff in Ottawa, where MPs have met via the video chat app Zoom.

"We'll have to make sure whatever we come up with is feasible with the resources we have."

The legislative administration committee, with membership from all four political parties, will meet Wednesday to sort out the options for how to comply with COVID-19 rules.

"We'll put everything on the table," Guitard said. "We'll have a discussion with the four parties and the staff and we'll try to come to an agreement."

'If there are bills, there will be a debate'

Progressive Conservative house leader Glen Savoie said he's not sure that legislation can even be voted on virtually, "but I think in this new world that we live in, we have to certainly discuss these things and see if that's viable." 

Question period will return, and legislation will go through the normal debate rather than the abbreviated procedure used during two brief pandemic sittings.

"If there are bills, there will be a debate," said Liberal House leader Guy Arseneault. "I can say from my point of view I think there has to be a debate. It's not going to be a political debate exactly. We're not going to politicize the response to the COVID crisis." 

The "thorniest" issue with a return to normal procedure, said Green Party Leader David Coon, is the committee stage of debate on bills, when proposed amendments, printed on paper, are usually handed back and forth on the floor.

Having multiple MLAs touch the same sheet of paper creates a risk of infection, Coon said.

"Perhaps we'll be trying out some things out here with an eye to what else we can build into a long-term arrangement that allows the legislature to function into the future while we're still dealing with the virus," he said.

Brief sittings

The legislature has convened for only two very short sitting days since the Progressive Conservative government's budget was passed in a hurry, with no debate, on March 13.

On March 17, MLAs sat briefly to pass legislation postponing municipal elections and two provincial by-elections as well as several other bills.

And on April 17, in a 25-minute sitting, they passed two other COVID-19 bills, including one protecting workers who have to stay home because of the virus.

There was no question period and no debate on any bills on either day, an adaptation only possible with the unanimous consent of all MLAs.

To speed up the sitting days, the government gave opposition parties private briefings in advance on the bills instead and listened to their feedback.

"I think it's time now that we go public," Arseneault said. "We have to be more transparent and accountable."

Liberal and Green patience with the expedited procedure has worn thin now that the Higgs government has implemented some measures, such as a ban on temporary foreign workers, that they did not support.

COVID-19 concern

Savoie said he'll want to be extra-cautious because his mother, who has a compromised immune system, lives with his family.

"I want to hear what everyone has to say, but I want to know I'm not at risk of bringing something bad home to my mom," he said. "That's a hundred percent where I'm going to be."

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin was not as enthusiastic about the resumption, though he said he respects that the democratic process must start up again.

"I was fully supportive of the legislature resuming for emergency legislation that was tied to COVID-19 but the whole make-up of question period and that sort of thing is going to be tricky," Austin said.

"I just want to make sure that it doesn't take away from our work, and the government's work, on COVID-19." 

14 needed for quorum

Legislature rules require only a minimum of 14 members to conduct business, and on both of the abbreviated sitting days the numbers were at or near that quorum.

That might allow near-normal logistics in the house, except it could mean some ministers who the opposition wants to question won't be there, Coon said. They might need to wait nearby in case they're called on.

"I don't see why we can't sort out the details to enable us to do whatever work that needs to be done," he said.

Based on the adjournment motion on the last sitting day on April 17, the House was scheduled to come back Tuesday, May 5, but the final decision rested with Guitard.

All four parties agreed he should postpone the date to give legislative staff more time to figure out how to organize the procedure.