Government actions gets tongue lashing
Premier Wade MacLauchlan and his government got an oldfashioned tongue-lashing in the legislature this week.
The premier had little choice but to sit there and listen as Speaker Buck Watts told him the way the capital estimates were tweeted on the website of the Liberal party before they were actually delivered in the legislature showed “disrespect” to the house. The premier has no authority to discipline the speaker nor can he remove him from the post, as Watts was elected by the majority of MLAs. Georgetown-St. Peters MLA Steven Myers had asked the Speaker to rule whether the release violated the privilege of the members. Myers also complained about an advertisement in last Saturday’s edition of The Guardian in support of the Liberal candidate in the District 11 byelection that contained information about the budget. Since the ad deadline was the day before the budget was introduced, he said the Liberal advertising agency also had advance knowledge.
The veteran Speaker said Speaker’s rulings in the House of Commons and other Canadian legislatures left him little choice but to rule the breach of protocol did not constitute an abuse of parliamentary privilege. However, he added “I am not at all pleased with the events surrounding the introduction of the capital estimates.” The Speaker said he witnessed people other than MLAs who had the capital estimates before they were made public. As well, he said the department of finance had a link to the capital budget a full 32 minutes before it was read.
The Speaker was also critical of the fact the provincial cultural policy was announced at a coffee shop rather than in the legislature. There is a long-standing custom that major government announcements take place in the legislature when the house is sitting. Kensington-Malpeque MLA Matthew MacKay had asked the speaker whether the government action violated the privilege of MLAs.
As with the capital estimates, Watts said previous Speaker’s rulings across the country left him with little choice but to rule there was no breach of privilege. However, he also wrapped the government’s knuckles, saying there was a disturbing trend among successive governments of making announcements outside the legislature and he wants it to stop. Watts urged the government to review its policy related to such announcements as well as the protocol regarding the release of the capital estimates.
“If members, in the conduct of your responsibilities on behalf of Prince Edward Islanders, do not have respect for each other and this parliament, you can’t realistically expect those outside this place to show respect for the work you conduct her on their behalf,” he told the house.
It was hardly what the Liberals wanted in the dying days of what is expected to be a tight four-way byelection in Charlottetown-Parkdale Monday.
Watts has been preaching the need for MLAs to conduct their affairs in a less confrontational manner and to show more civility towards each other .
He could simply have ruled there was no breach of privilege and left it at that. However, he clearly has too much respect for the non-partisan role the Speaker is supposed to play to take the easy road for his party.