PDF Version

December

18, 2015 HOUSE

OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 1

Members

met in the Assembly Chamber on the afternoon of December 18, 2015 for the

Election of a Speaker.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS:

All rise.

Madam

Clerk, His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, has arrived.

CLERK (Ms. Barnes):

Admit His Honour the

Lieutenant Government.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS:

It is the wish of His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, that all present be

seated.

CLERK:

Members of the House of

Assembly, a Proclamation has been issued by His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor,

under the great seal of the Province, which reads as follows:

TO:

Sandra Barnes, Clerk of the House of Assembly and Elizabeth Murphy, Clerk

Assistant of the House of Assembly

GREETING;

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS

a general election of the Members of the General Assembly of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador was held on November 30, 2015;

AND

WHEREAS

the Office of the Speaker of the House of Assembly is vacant and it is it

expedient to call together the Forty-Eighth General Assembly for the Members of

the House of Assembly to proceed to their choice of Speaker;

NOW THEREFORE ,

I, the Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, do

authorize and direct you, the said Sandra Barnes and Elizabeth Murphy, or either

of you, to significant to the Members of the said House of Assembly to assemble

for the dispatch of business on Friday, December 18, 2015 at 2 o'clock in the

afternoon, and that it is my pleasure that they should proceed to choose some

person to be their Speaker and to present such person for my approbation when I

call the House Assembly together in session.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS:

All rise.

(His

Honour the Lieutenant Governor leaves the Chamber.)

CLERK:

Please be seated.

At the

close of nominations for the Office of Speaker at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, December

17, 2015, two candidates put their names forward. The candidates, in

alphabetical order, are Mr. Tom Osborne and Mr. Scott Reid.

Members

of the House of Assembly, pursuant to the Lieutenant Governor's direction and

the Standing Orders of this Assembly, it is my duty to call upon you to elect a

member to preside over your deliberations as Speaker.

Would

the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Pages please place the voting booths and ballot box

in position? Would the Pages please distribute the list of candidates to all

members' desks and place one in each voting booth?

Before

beginning the election, I will briefly outline the process to be followed, as

set out in the Standing Orders of the House. Members will be asked to proceed

from the back or third row of desks on their respective sides of the House and

file past the Speaker's Chair to the head of the Clerk's Table. At the Table,

each member will be given a ballot and asked to initial a list to verify that he

or she has received it.

In the

voting booth, please print or write legibly the surname of the candidate you

support on the ballot paper, place it in the ballot box at the end of the

Clerk's Table and return to your place. You can only vote for one candidate. So

please do not list or rank the candidates, and only write the surname of one

candidate on the ballot.

When all

members wishing to vote have done so, the House will recess while the Clerks

withdraw to count the vote. A majority of the votes cast is required to elect

the Speaker. If both candidates receive the same number of votes, there will be

another ballot.

Immediately before the start of the second or any subsequent ballot, a member

who wishes to withdraw will be given an opportunity to do so. When the count of

the ballot is completed, a five-minute bell will ring to call members back to

the Chamber. In preparation for the vote, the Sergeant-at-Arms will inspect and

lock the ballot box.

The list

of candidates should be now with each member and in each of the two voting

booths. We will now proceed with the beginning of the voting procedure. I now

ask those members who wish to cast ballots to proceed from the back or the third

row of your seating on your respective sides and then file past the Chair to the

Clerk's Table where the Clerk Assistant will give you a ballot, check your name

off the list and then please initial the list next to your name to indicate that

you have received a ballot. Proceed to the voting booth, write your choice on

the ballot, fold it and then put in the ballot box.

CLERK:

It is my understanding that

all members have now voted. The House will recess to the call of the bells,

while the Clerks at the Table count the ballots. The bells will ring for five

minutes to recall members to the Chamber when the results of the ballot are to

be announced.

Thank

you very much.

Recess

CLERK:

Accordingly, further to

suborder 4(11) of the Standing Orders, I declare Mr. Tom Osborne, Member for the

District of Waterford Valley, as Speaker for the Forty-Eighth General Assembly.

(Applause.)

(The

hon. the Premier and the hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition lead Mr.

Osborne to the Speaker's Chair.)

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Thank you, everybody.

I have

some brief remarks. There is a parliamentary custom that the Speaker is supposed

to resist while being dragged to the Chair by the Premier and the Leader of the

Opposition. I tried to look as though I was resisting.

The

truth is this is a position that I have wanted for some time and I believe

everybody who sat in the House prior to the election would have known that this

is certainly the position that I wanted. All current members, based on the calls

that I made two or three weeks ago seeking your support, I think it is no

surprise that this was the position that I aspired to.

It is

indeed an honour to be elected as your Speaker. I will thank my opponent today

because together we helped make history. This is the first time in this

Province's history that there was an elected Speaker to the House of Assembly,

so I thank you.

(Applause.)

MR. SPEAKER:

I want to assure all members

that it is my intention to be fair and impartial as I preside over the

deliberations in this Chamber. I also intend to bring a greater level of decorum

and a higher degree of respect to the manner in which we conduct the people's

business.

There

are forty members in this Legislature. It is indeed a huge honour to be selected

by the people of the Province to represent our respective districts. The people

of the Province have an expectation of us, and that is that we conduct our

business in this Legislature professionally. I hope that, collectively, we are

able to restore a greater level of respect for what this Legislature stands for

and our roles in this Legislature.

For our

new members, the task that lies ahead of you may at times seem daunting, but you

will quickly transition into your roles and responsibility. I am certain you

will have a greater understanding very soon of how the legislative process

works.

I want

to let all of you know that I am available to each and every member who has

questions or seek guidance. The Speaker's office is open to assist all members

of the House.

I also

want to congratulate all members for being elected. To our new Premier, to the

ministers who have been chosen to represent the Crown, to the leaders of the

Opposition and the Third Party, you also have very important roles to play in

our Chamber.

I want

to recognize as well the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair who today, as

the Premier presents her name, will take on the role of Deputy Speaker and as

well to the Member for Mount Pearl Southlands who will take on the role of

Deputy Chair of Committees. I know together we will make a great team in the

operations of the House of Assembly.

(Applause.)

MR. SPEAKER:

I want to recognize my wife

Daphne, my children Rhiannon, Reegan, Spencer and Casey, as well as our parents

and other members of our family and friends who have joined us today for the

special occasion.

It is

also customary to recognize former members of the Legislature when they visit

us. It so happens that the former Member for St. John's West who also happens to

be known as my mother, Sheila Osborne, is sitting in the Speaker's gallery.

(Applause.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Yesterday, when I was

explaining to Rhiannon and Reegan that I was running for Speaker and that there

was going to be a vote today in the House, they had some questions: What does

the Speaker do? I replied that we help with the operation of the House and keep

decorum. We help with decisions that are made with the motions put forward in

legislation.

Like

what? I said: Well, if there is a vote in the House, I preside over the vote. So

the next question: Are you going to have an office? I said: Yes, I will have an

office. Will you have a bowl of candy in your office?

(Laughter.)

MR. SPEAKER:

I said: Well, I am not sure.

So I was advised that my first role of business is to ensure that I have a vote

to make sure that there is a bowl of candy in the office.

All

those in favour, say aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

That

being our first order of business, I want to wish members a wonderful Christmas.

I am going to point out one other individual who is in the gallery today. My

assistant has been with me nineteen years, Susan Elliott. I know what little

hair I have left will probably be gone because she does not like the attention,

but she has helped me operate my office and helped ensure that I continue to be

re-elected, so I wanted to point her out today as well.

I want

to wish all members a wonderful Christmas. I want to as well thank the staff of

the House of Assembly who see us through the Pages, the Commissionaires, the

folks in the Broadcast Centre, Hansard, to political staff, and certainly to all

public servants. To those that are at home watching the proceedings today, I

wish you a very wonderful Christmas indeed.

Again,

thank you to all members of the House for bestowing upon me this honour. I will

serve you well.

The hon.

the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Congratulations on this, what has been truly, I believe, for the first time in

the history of our Province, an example of democracy working in our own House of

Assembly. I want to also congratulate the Member for St. George's Humber for

making this happen. Just one word to Rhiannon, the daughter of the Speaker: He

is the Speaker in this House, not your house.

It is my

pleasure today to move, seconded by the Opposition House Leader, that the Member

for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair be appointed Deputy Speaker for

the Forty-Eighth general session of this House of Assembly.

MR. SPEAKER:

It has been moved that the

Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair take on the position of Deputy Speaker

of the House of Assembly.

All

those in favour, aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, nay.'

passed.

The hon.

the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you again, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Opposition House Leader, that the Member for the District of

Mount Pearl Southlands be appointed Deputy Chair of Committees for the

Forty-Eighth General Assembly.

MR. SPEAKER:

It has been moved that the

Member for Mount Pearl Southlands take on the role of Deputy Chair of

Committees.

All

those in favour, aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

Those against?

carried.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Natural Resources, that this House now do adjourn to the

Chair's call.

MR. SPEAKER:

It has been moved and

seconded that this House do now adjourn.

All

those in favour, aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

Opposed?

This

House now stands adjourned to the call of the Chair.