Local MLA Ken Allred hit the nail on the head with his comments about the worrying state of debate in the provincial legislature, according to opposition parties.
In a Gazette story on Wednesday, Dec. 14 Allred argued there was little debate in the legislature and that it has become a place purely for political attacks. While the opposition agreed with him that it was broken, they did not feel they shared any of the blame.
All of the parties also said the limited debate has continued under Premier Alison Redford’s government.
“The government used closure to ram through its bills and in terms of how she treats public debate on her proposals, Alison Redford is probably worse than any previous Conservative premier,” said NDP leader Brian Mason.
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said Allred was absolutely right with his assessment.
“The PCs, after forty years in power, have lost all respect for the opposition, they have lost all respect for legislative debate, they have lost actually all respect for the public.”
Smith said Allred’s willingness to speak out gives him credibility.
“The fact that on occasion he has stood up and put the views of his constituents ahead of the PC party is, I think, part of the reason why many people on all sides have admiration for him.”
Liberal house leader Laurie Blakeman, who has served in the house for 15 years, said she believes the government has simply been in power too long.
“It is part of their internal culture. I don’t even know if they know they are doing this, because it is so ingrained in what they do.”
Allred said the partisan nature of the legislature has stopped both the government and the opposition from acknowledging the other’s good ideas.
“You never want to give the other guy a leg up.”
In a year-end interview Premier Redford said she has seen a lot of debate that wasn’t really about the issues in front of the legislature.
“The last couple of sessions I think there has been an awful lot of back and forth that hasn't really been either constructive or about serious public policy debate.”
Redford said she hopes that will change in the year ahead and said her government will be willing to hear MLAs from all parties on the issue.
“I would like to think that we could elevate the standard of debate in the legislature,” she said “If MLAs are prepared to engage in a real discussion than we are going to be responsive, we are going to make sure that is part of the process that we respect.”
Smith said the government is responsible for the tone in the legislature and it comes from a lack of respect for the process.
“They don’t respect the role of the individual MLA, they don’t allow for free votes and meaningful debate and amendments.”
Mason said the government engages only in a show debate and isn’t interested in opposition suggestions.
“The government does not generally debate its own legislations, it leaves it up to one or two people to respond to what the opposition is saying and the rest of them just sit there waiting for us to run out of time.”
Blakeman said the government drops legislation on the opposition and gives them little time to read and understand it.
“When I am accused of blathering on stalling for time, that is what I am doing, so we can get on top of this information.”
Noting Allred as an exception, Blakeman said government MLAs rarely engage with the opposition in real debate or even seem to consider putting in proposed changes to legislation.
She said that culture has an impact on the tone of debate.
“Frankly, you get annoyed, you get upset when you see something through and the government is not going to listen to you, they are not taking anything you said into consideration.”
