Bringing decorum, civility to P.E.I. legislature a challenge

On the evening of Easter Monday, April 6, now-Premier Wade MacLauchlan took to the stage at the North Shore Community Centre for his own nomination for the district of York-Oyster Bed, and to announce there would be a general election on May 4.

"Back in November, right here in this hall, I said that we would call on our better nature, that we would offer a new tenor in politics, that we would take the high road," MacLauchlan told the packed, partisan crowd.

"We have done that and will continue to do it. Prince Edward Islanders want that from all of our political leaders and parties, and will reward and thank those who live up to that promise."

But it's challenging to get others to adhere to their better natures, MacLauchlan told the crowd.

On the night that the election was called I know that the premier decided he'd take a swipe at me, and I did take exception to it because this is the premier who was going to do business different here.- Steven Myers

The Progressive Conservative Opposition had recently raised the issue of MacLauchlan's conflict of interest declaration. He had 60 days from taking office to file it. The time frame hadn't expired. MacLauchlan hadn't filed. The opposition was concerned about an election being called before the declaration was made.

"Folks, I'm not sure that Mr. [Steven] Myers is in a very good position to be assessing my work habits," MacLauchlan said, about to deviate momentarily from the high road.

"I have three cabinet roles in addition to being premier and party leader, while Mr. Myers and Mr. [Rob] Lantz are job sharing.

"From everything we've heard from either of them for the past five weeks, which has not been all that much, it seems like they are auditioning to continue as leader of the Opposition. Everything they have to say is negative, backward looking, and made up on the fly."

Opposition leader Steven Myers, who did indeed retain that title following the election, waited almost two months to respond to those comments.

Last Thursday he had his chance.

Opposition leader didn't forget

Wade MacLauchlan has long talked about bringing a higher level of discourse to the provincial legislature. But as things got underway Thursday, in advance of the first question period under MacLauchlan, the opposition had other ideas.

"On the night that the election was called I know that the premier decided he'd take a swipe at me, and I did take exception to it because this is the premier who was going to do business different here," Myers told the House as part of his opening statement for the sitting.

"I was disappointed, I felt it was a complete lack of respect, and I did use it as motivation through the whole campaign because I thought if I ever got the opportunity to get back to the floor of the legislature and face the premier on it, perhaps I could show him how I didn't forget."

'Somewhat disappointed'

And that's how the leader of the opposition signaled the tone he meant to take during question period: if the premier wasn't going to stick to the high road, then neither would he.

At one point Myers's constant needling during a response by MacLauchlan really seemed to throw the premier, who stopped, hesitated and started over before deciding to plow through to the end of his response even though few in the chamber could hear him over the voice of the Opposition leader.

Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker, a newcomer to the House, obviously wasn't impressed with what he saw during the first part of question period that day. Before presenting his first questions as leader of the third party, he addressed the issue of civility.

"During the recent election there was considerable excitement and optimism, I believe, among the electorate for a renewal of our decorum here in the House," he told his colleagues.

"I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed in what I have seen in the first session here. I think the public of Prince Edward Island is hungry for some civility in this House and for members treating each other with respect. To disagree indeed, and you will indeed find some searching questions from me, but let's disagree with civility, please."

Speaker demands respect

Buck Watts became speaker on Wednesday, the first day of the first session of the 65th General Assembly of the P.E.I. Legislature, after an historic four-way election for the position.

On Thursday, Watts seemed to be trying to get a feel for the technical requirements of his position. By Friday, he was prepared to assert himself, let the House know how much heckling and incivility he's prepared to endure — apparently not much.

After shutting down Opposition House leader Colin LaVie with nothing more than a withering stare, he turned his attention to Steven Myers, whose heckling this time was directed at the Minister of Health & Wellness, Family & Human Services Doug Currie.

"The minister has the floor," the Speaker declared, sounding as if his store of patience for the sitting may have already been used up. "The minister has the floor. I ask you to respect … if you don't have respect for me, you have to show respect to the Speaker, and if you do, I will have respect for you."

Productive QP

Despite the memories of historic slights and the chastisements handed down by the Speaker, question period last week was quite productive. Some of the new opposition members were given a chance to shine, including Jamie Fox and former PC leadership candidate Darlene Compton.

They're given to a more direct form of questioning, rather than the dramatic flair that seemed to become the hallmark of the previous opposition.

Some of the things we learned last week via QP: the P.E.I. government has not signed a funding agreement with Ottawa over funding to build a new energy connection to the mainland, even though the feds have offered $50 million for the project; also, that seven Island potato farms have applied to a joint federal/provincial fund to help pay for metal detectors, and another 20 farms are interested in doing so.