P.E.I. Legislature: Reading between the lines of a short fall sitting

Before the fall sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature began, Premier Wade MacLauchlan predicted the House would sit for five weeks — a long sitting with lots of debate around an ambitious legislative agenda brought forward by government.

In the end, the Assembly passed 26 bills — an impressive number — but it took just three weeks, with most of the bills being only minor adjustments to existing legislation.

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It's been seven months since the provincial election that gave MacLauchlan his current mandate, and the premier is busy implementing his plan to change Island governance, services and institutions.

But a scan of the work put forward by the House in the fall of 2015 doesn't provide much detail on the changes MacLauchlan is bringing forward.

Few details on education changes

There are some obvious indications as to where things are headed.

Among the most significant pieces of legislation passed, an amendment to the Electric Power Act will give government the option to own future electrical generating facilities in the province.

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A bill that would allow cabinet to disclose details of government loan write-offs was shelved at the last moment, after both opposition parties raised concerns that the wording of the bill would allow cabinet the option to not provide details if it chose to do so. (The bill remains on the order paper, and could be called by government during the spring sitting.)

But if you're looking for detailed information on the very substantive changes being made to the Island's education system, you won't find it in the one-page bill that allows those changes to take place.

Government announced a week before the sitting began it is dissolving the English Language School Board and will take direct control of English schools in the province. But what little additional information was provided on that plan was gained by the Official Opposition through question period and debate on that one-page bill.

Living within our means, but how?

A key to MacLauchlan's vision for P.E.I. is that he wants the province to begin "living within its means."

But as often as that mantra is repeated when government expenditures are up for consideration, MacLauchlan and Finance Minister Allen Roach haven't always been up front about the ways in which government spending is being curtailed to try to achieve a balance budget.

Case in point: when the budget was tabled in June, Roach told reporters there were "no cuts to positions" in the province's operating budget. In fact, government was planning to cut 28 teaching positions (most of the cuts were abandoned in the face of widespread opposition). This fall, there was much debate around cuts to potato disinfection services, a move which will affect 25 positions if government follows through at the end of the month.

Then there was MacLauchlan's assertion government would use existing resources to improve safety for children at risk of family violence. A coroner's inquest into the murder-suicide of a mother and her four-year-old son had suggested the province establish a child advocate, something every other province in the country has. MacLauchlan ultimately decided that wouldn't be necessary.

One thing was made clear this sitting. The province is $13 million over budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, meaning government is looking to further reduce spending so it can table a balanced budget in the spring of 2016. The reductions or cuts won't be trumpeted in news releases the way spending announcements are. But the opposition is likely to unearth some, and bring those to the floor for debate in the spring.