Sean Leslie | Email news tips to Sean
5/10/2012
BC Liberal House Leader Rich Coleman is calling for late-night sittings and the opening of a third debating chamber at the legislature to deal with a backlog of 21 bills that remain on the order paper.
This, with just eight days left in the spring session after Thursday.
Coleman doesn't buy the NDP’s complaint they don't have the bodies to debate in three chambers at once.
"They've got the people, you know, in a debate on committee stage. You have one critic usually and you have one minister, so two people, plus some staff, you don't need to tie up the entire chamber to do that. And I think it's part of making use of this place well – we're all here. "
So, some of the few remaining hours left for debate will be used to argue over the motions Coleman has tabled.
But NDP House Leader John Horgan says the opposition would be stretched too thin to give those bills proper scrutiny.
"Efficiency is all well and good if you're running a business. If you're setting the laws of the province of British Columbia, you should be respectful of everyone's opinion, you should be respectful of the opportunity to participate in debate. You can't be in three places at once. Efficiency is not what the legislature is about – comprehensive debate is what we're about."
Horgan says the legislature should keep working into June, but Premier Christy Clark has already ruled that out.
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