N.B. Legislature to take over public gallery when it returns next week

When MLAs return to the provincial Legislature next week some will be sitting in the public gallery in order to ensure physical distancing.

A proposal put together by the Legislative Administration Committee (LAC) for how to safely house all 47 MLAs will require masks for moving around the tight hallways of the Legislature and take over the second floor gallery, normally reserved for the public.

About 29 MLAs will sit on the floor, spaced out at least two metres away from one another, with the rest sitting a floor up. Modifications have been made to allow those sitting in the gallery to be seen and heard, enabling them to participate in debate and vote on legislation.

READ MORE: New Brunswick to receive fiscal update when legislature resumes

“They’ll have access to mics and cameras will be set in a way in the chamber that everyone speaking will be on camera,” said Green Party leader David Coon.

“The way the seating will be arranged everyone will be able to get there without having to climb over everybody or come within two metres. It should work out well.”

Parties will each be responsible for determining which MLAs sit where, and will rotate allowing everyone a chance to sit on the floor.

“Each caucus is working out their rotation so everybody gets a fair shot at sitting on the floor during the course of the day and week,” Coon said.

READ MORE: ‘Embrace the risk’: New Brunswick details plans for daycares to reopen

The Legislature has sat only twice since March 17 to pass emergency pieces of legislation. Both times a bare quorum of MLAs met and using unanimous consent moved bills through all three readings to royal assent in under half an hour.

Among pandemic-related business a fiscal update is expected at the outset of the sitting from finance minister Ernie Steeves.

Government house leader Glen Savoie says that several bills stuck at various stages of debate will move forward as well. Included in that group of legislation is education minister Dominic Cardy’s mandatory vaccination bill, that would remove non-medical vaccine exemptions for public school children.

“There still is some legislation that is, quote unquote, in the system right now, either at second reading or at the committee stage,” Savoie said.

Liberal leader Kevin Vickers says the economy will be the primary focus for his caucus when they return, including what role the government will play in the recovery effort moving forward.

“Now it’s time to move on to the economy and I think caucus feels that it is important for New Brunswickers to have a venue that is open and transparent and they can see what exactly the state of the finances are,” he said.

READ MORE: No new cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick; all cases have recovered 

“We see that as critical and more importantly to provide our ideas and recommendations to present to the government to get the economy up and running again.”

Vickers is without a seat in the Legislature, but has spent the last few months sitting on the all-party cabinet committee on COVID-19. It’s an experience he says will inform the conduct of the party moving forward as they shoot for a more collaborative and less-partisan tone on the floor of the Legislature.

“We are committed to ensuring next week when we go back that we conduct ourselves, given that there’s a pandemic ongoing, in a very responsible non-political, non-partisan matter,” Vickers said.

“All New Brusnwickers are counting on all of us to do what’s best for New Brunswick.”

The leader of the People’s Alliance, Kris Austin, is also hopeful that the spirit of collaboration party leaders have shown over the previous months will continue.

“I think the objective of all of us, at least for this sitting, is to really focus on where we’re at now with the pandemic and the state of emergency, the government’s response,” Austin said.

“I don’t think now is the time to delve too far into hyper-partisan or controversial issues that don’t relate to what we’re doing with the state of emergency.”

But with Cardy’s vaccination bill still to be discussed, avoiding controversial issues may be impossible.