The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Autumn Hunter, has upheld a complaint from the opposition benches over the government’s conduct after it abruptly pulled a bill due for debate in the House.
For the third time in two weeks, the government withdrew a bill set for introduction to the House at short notice, and after many MPs had made special arrangements in order to attend the sitting.
Yesterday evening, Leader of the Opposition and former Premier, Sir Ethan McAllister, lodged a formal complaint with the Speaker. In his complaint, Sir Ethan stated, ‘This disorganized and, frankly, disrespectful conduct makes a mockery of our government and this House.’
The government was due to introduce the Official Languages Bill last night, which would make English the official national language of New Ulster while affording protected minority status to French. When it withdrew the bill, the government said it was doing so as ‘errors in drafting’ had come to light. There was no explanation given for previous withdrawn bills.
Today, Speaker Hunter agreed with the complaint and reprimanded the government. In her letter, Ms Hunter said the government was ‘neglecting their duties’ and added the sudden withdrawal of bills was ‘preventing proper parliamentary scrutiny’ of government business. The Speaker closed saying she expected the government to ‘do better’ in future.
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