House is now in session: five things to watch By: Jessica Botelho-Urbanski Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018

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This article was published 01/10/2018 (2280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba MLAs head back to the chamber as the fall legislative sitting begins Wednesday, with a new key player joining the cast of characters.

While bills left on the back burner from the spring session will be revisited, what may ultimately be the most interesting part of the new house routine will be the official inclusion of a third party. The Manitoba Liberals will have their leader, Dougald Lamont, sitting at the front bench.

Here are five things to watch for as the legislative session resumes:

Opposition expands

The Liberals will get double the questions they were previously allotted during question period (up to two from one) since they now have official party status thanks to a fourth member, Lamont, being sworn in over the summer.

By Tuesday, the house leaders — Kelvin Goertzen (PC), Nahanni Fontaine (NDP) and Jon Gerrard (Liberal) — hadn’t come to an agreement on the order in which parties would ask questions. House Speaker Myrna Driedger thus acted as adjudicator and decided the setup.

For the policy wonks: NDP members will ask the first four rounds of questions, followed by one Liberal round, then a PC round. Liberals will then get to ask another question, followed by questions from the NDP and government.

The last set of questions will go to the official Opposition, except on two Wednesdays where independent MLAs Mohinder Saran and Steven Fletcher will each get a turn.

Driedger said she will re-evaluate the rotation at the end of the session.

Bills, bills, bills

The NDP delayed passage of five bills earlier this year that will be up for debate again in the fall.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew announced the Opposition’s first procedural delay of Bill 16 (Climate and Green Plan Implementation Act) in April. The move made it so government couldn’t start collecting carbon taxes until Dec. 1, as opposed to Sept. 1. It saved taxpayers money, but also meant $60 million in missed revenue for the government, Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said at the time.

Four more bills — Bill 8 (Government Notices Modernization Act), Bill 12 (Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act), Bill 24 (Social Services Appeal Board Amendment Act), and Bill 27 (Fiscal Responsibility and Taxpayer Amendment Act) — were also delayed by the NDP and will be revisited.

The controversial Wildlife Amendment Act (Bill 29), which seeks to restrict night-hunting, also hasn’t passed muster yet.

Rookie in the ranks

Colleen Mayer was appointed Crown services minister Aug. 1 and has kept a low public profile since. She’s the only first-time cabinet minister in the PC government, and will be fielding questions from the opposition for the first time.

Mayer has done at least one media interview (with the Brandon Sun) since taking her post, but declined many more requests, despite being the minister responsible for frequent newsmakers Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation.

The rookie minister was also the subject of an NDP complaint filed Tuesday to Manitoba’s commissioner of elections and its conflict of interest commissioner.

The NDP alleged she accepted an illegal corporate donation from the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba during a recent PC golf fundraiser. A government spokesperson said the allegation didn’t have merit. The NDP could still raise questions about the issue in the house.

On their best behaviour?

When the legislative session broke for summer in June, MLAs were getting increasingly restless and going on the attack about perceived harassment in the workplace.

Female MLAs from each party made accusations about experiencing or witnessing toxic behaviour in the house, including Liberal MLA Judy Klassen and NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine, who accused Premier Brian Pallister of glaring and using an intimidating tone of voice.

The Speaker’s office is currently reviewing the respectful workplace policy and has asked for input from all political parties.

Driedger mused earlier in the year a code of conduct for the chamber may be necessary, though she said heckling has scaled back in recent years.

Mandate letters MIA

Pallister has shuffled his cabinet twice since taking office in May 2016, but has yet to publicly update his cabinet ministers’ mandate letters.

Though Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton’s portfolio was a new addition in August 2017, after Eileen Clarke’s duties as Indigenous and municipal relations minister were divvied up, his mandate letter still hasn’t been posted more than a year later.

In August, a government spokesperson told reporters new mandate letters would be available before the fall sitting.

On Tuesday, the emailed response changed to “currently being finalized, will be posted in the coming weeks.”

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca  Twitter: @_jessbu