MHA reduction 'cynical' move, but smart, for Tories

The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is soon to reduce the number of seats, and now it's a matter of who's going to take credit for that legislation making it through the house.

Government sat in the house for an all-night session into Friday morning, eventually passing a bill to reduce the number of seats in the legislature.

Premier Paul Davis announced last week he intended to cut 10 MHA seats. However, Bill 42 passed with amendments to the original plan.

• All-nighter leads to deal to cut House of Assembly seats to 40
• Paul Davis to slash 10 seats in N.L. legislature

In this week's episode of CBC's On Point, John Hogan, former executive member with the provincial Liberals, said the move by Davis was a "cynical" move in order to "have a go" at the Liberals.

"But after what happened last night and the compromise, I think it's probably Dwight Ball that comes out looking the best here," said Hogan.

"He's gotten the idea passed in the House of Assembly, he's protected the four seats in Labrador, which is the amendment he wants, he's protected the integrity of the process … so the Liberals and Dwight Ball are the ones I think that come out of this this morning looking like they get everything they want."

I'm going to claim that we're the guys that scored the touchdown, not the Liberals.- Shawn Skinner, former PC MHA

However, former Tory cabinet minister Shawn Skinner said the move shows a commitment by Premier Davis and the PCs.

"I'm going to claim that we're the guys that scored the touchdown, not the Liberals," said Skinner.

"This is about political reform. Premier Davis, during the leadership, talked about a number of elements of political reform. When I was in the House of Assembly, people questioned the number of MHAs that were in the house so at some point somebody had to tackle the issue."

Skinner added that the timing was opportune for the Tories, calling it a "surgical" move to inflict some damage to the opposition Liberals in a move that the public generally approved of, prior to the next provincial general election.

'Be careful what you ask for'

Meanwhile, Lana Payne, Atlantic director with Unifor, said the move was a smart one for the Tories, but she's worried the move may not be in the best interests of the province.

"It really reinforces this notion of cynicism that people have about politics, particularly the idea that this legislation gets changed in the hallways, very little time for debate, and now really we have a commission that will do nothing but draw lines," said Payne.

"If you were truly interested in democratic reform, there are other places to start with that, including the House of Assembly."

Payne added that the Liberals may have the "biggest problem" with the new district boundaries.

"You've got a lot of confusion now of which — we have people who have been nominated for seats that may not exist in three months, so this creates a bit of a problem of, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it."

Hogan, Payne and Skinner were on the panel for the latest episode of On Point with host Peter Cowan. Catch the full episode Saturday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. NT on CBC Television.