First Session, 41st Parliament

(2017) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 1

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

CONTENTS

Election of Speaker

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

The House met at 10:04 a.m.

This being the first day of the first session of the 41st Legislative

Assembly of the province of British Columbia for the dispatch of business, pursuant

to a proclamation of the Hon. Judith Guichon, Lieutenant-Governor of the province,

hon. members took their seats, after having taken the prescribed oath and having

signed the parliamentary roll.

Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor requested to attend the House, was

admitted to the chamber and took her seat on the throne.

[10:05 a.m.]

Hon. A. Wilkinson: I am commanded by

Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor to announce that she does not see fit to

declare the cause of her summoning you at this time and will not do so until you

have chosen a Speaker to preside over your honourable body. Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor hopes to be enabled to declare, during the afternoon, her

reason for calling you together.

Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor retired from the chamber.

Election of Speaker

Clerk of the House: Good morning,

Members. Much has been said about the speakership in the Legislative

Assembly of British Columbia since May 9. A lot of what is being talked

about is wrong. A lot of what has been examined by way of confidence

motions, casting vote and the way this place functions is and has been

wrong. This place has 87 members — 87 members who are equipped and skilled

to run their own Legislature the way they see fit.

The Attorney

General and Minister of Justice has just advised the House that pursuant to

section 37 of the B.C. Constitution Act, the Legislative Assembly’s first

order of business, prior to the opening of a new parliament, is the election

of a Speaker.

The Speaker is

the highest office to which a member may be elected in this House. The

person so elected represents and embodies the House in its relations with

the Crown. This is the reason for the title “Speaker” — very early on, the

need for the amorphous mass of commoners who formed the parliament to have

one person who could report their opinions to the King.

The message

read the by hon. Attorney General and Minister of Justice has been in use,

with little variation, since 1713, during the reign of Queen Anne. Before

that time, the Sovereign usually came down on the first day of a new

parliament, and on one occasion, Queen Anne came down three times — to open

the parliament, to approve the Speaker and to declare the causes of summons

in a Speech from the Throne.

The position

of Speaker is at the heart of the Westminster system of parliamentary

democracy. It is an essential element in our parliamentary

system.

The Speaker of

the House of Commons at Westminster was originally so called because their

function was to speak for the Commons in all external proceedings, such as

communication with the monarch.

[10:10 a.m.]

For over seven

centuries, parliamentarians have recognized the need for a Speaker to

impartially administer the rules of the House and to serve as the guardian

of the rights and privileges of the House and all of its members.

The first

known Speaker in the Commons at Westminster to whom the title was expressly

given was Sir T. Hungerford, during the reign of Edward III.

The member who

is elected Speaker does not become a non-party member of the Legislative

Assembly. However, the Speaker does not play a politically partisan role and

exercises restraint in any comments they make outside the House. The Speaker

must be prepared to assert independence from the government to ensure that

the rights of all sides of the House are protected in the course of the

parliamentary process. This is reinforced by the Speaker not attending

caucus meetings nor party conventions.

The Speaker

also has a number of statutory duties to perform, including but not limited

to vacancies in the membership, granting of exemptions to members from

attending court proceedings relating to parliamentary proceedings and

certificates regarding the stay of proceedings communicated under the

authority of the House. The courts are enjoined to take judicial notice of

the Speaker’s signature.

The Speaker is

also the conduit between the independent legislative offices and this House.

Today in British Columbia, the Speaker presides over the sittings of the

House and, as a presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, acts with

both authority and impartiality. The Speaker’s authority needs to be

respected, and rulings and decisions cannot be challenged.

Section 40 of

the Constitution Act states: “The Speaker must preside at all meetings of

the Legislative Assembly, unless, under the Standing Orders of the

Legislative Assembly, the Deputy Speaker or another member

presides.”

Section 43 of

the act states that “all questions must be determined by a majority of votes

of the members present other than the Speaker,” which further separates the

speakership from the general membership of the House.

The role of

the Speaker is always evolving to meet the requirements of each new

parliament. In serving each parliament, the fundamental responsibility of

the Speaker is to administer the business of the House with fairness and responsibility and respect for all members.

The Speaker’s

role has also evolved to meet the growing administrative requirements of a

modern legislature. The Speaker chairs the parliamentary management board,

the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee, which approves

financial and administrative policies and budgets for members, caucus

services and assembly departments.

Members of the

Legislative Assembly, today you will be electing British Columbia’s 38th

Speaker since our province joined Confederation.

Now I would

like to provide historical context on the speakership in this place. British

Columbia has had 37 Speakers since the first, James Trimble of Victoria

City, was elected in 1872. B.C. was the first Commonwealth parliament to

elect a woman Speaker — Nancy Hodges, Victoria City — in 1950. And in 1994,

B.C. elected the first black person to serve as Speaker — Emery Barnes,

representing Vancouver-Burrard. The longest-serving Speaker was Norman

William Whittaker of Saanich, who held the office from 1937 to

A Speaker

often serves for a parliament until he or she resigns or, heaven forbid,

they die in office. Even in death, the Speaker cannot escape the clutches of

this place. Members are fond of referring to Speaker Higgins’s photograph in

the Speaker’s corridor, where it was thought that despite his death, he was

dressed, propped up and a photograph taken of him. I’m here to tell you that

he was not dead then, although he looked like it, but he is now, having

served as Speaker from 1890 to 1898.

Members of the

Legislative Assembly, pursuant to Standing Order 11, it is my duty to inform

you that only one candidate has declared his intention to stand for the

election of the Speaker. Therefore, I wish to announce that Steve Thomson,

the member for Kelowna-Mission, is declared elected Speaker for the duration

of this parliament or up until a new Speaker is elected.

[Applause.]

[10:15 a.m.]

I will also

advise the House that the member for Kelowna-Mission provided my office with

a copy of a letter dated June 21, 2017, in which he resigned as a member of

the executive council, effective immediately.

Mr. Speaker,

on behalf of the Table, I would like to congratulate you on your new office.

We look forward to supporting you with your new responsibilities.

Hon. S. Thomson took his place in the chair.

Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members,

I’d like to humbly thank all the members of this assembly for the great

honour that you’ve bestowed upon me today by asking me to be your Speaker.

In keeping with the tradition of high office, I will endeavour at all times

to carry out my duties with fairness and integrity in all aspects of the

work.

I now ask for

your patience while I declare a short recess in order to assume the

appropriate attire.

The House recessed from 10:17 a.m. to 10:21 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Mr. Speaker: Thank you,

everybody. I’d like to recognize the Premier of British Columbia.

Hon. C. Clark: Thank

you, Mr. Speaker. Watch out for the button for the ejector seat

there.

I have

the honour of being the first person in this House to be able to

congratulate you on your election and elevation to the role of Speaker.

I know from having worked with you for six years now that you bring

unique experience to this role. You’ve represented your constituents

well and conscientiously in this House, and you have represented our

entire country on the rugby field. You bring integrity. You bring

compassion. You are a man who stands on principle, but a man who also

finds a way to bring people together. As I often say, politics needs

more rugby players.

I think

all members will agree that even when this debate becomes contentious

and the pressure has been on in question period and in other moments in

the House, you have sometimes stood alone amongst us as someone who

brought calm, who brought fairness of thought, who brought a level of

decorum to this House that, sadly, has become a little unfamiliar over

the years, and you’ve been an example to everybody here.

As the

eyes of our province and our entire country are on this House like never

before, I can’t think of a better choice to set the tone or a bigger man

to enforce the rules. I am very proud, Mr. Speaker, to call you a

colleague and a friend. While it may take some time to get used to

calling you “Mister,” I know that you will bring all credit to this new

role that you’re taking on today. My very best to you, and

congratulations on behalf of everyone in this House today.

[Applause.]

Mr. Speaker: The Leader of

the Official Opposition.

J. Horgan: Well,

thank you very much, hon. Speaker. It is the most important decision we

can make today, and, of course, it is the most anticipated decision that

British Columbians have been waiting for, for the past six

weeks.

It has

been a rocky time. In my 12 years as a member of this place, I’ve only

known two Speakers. Tremendous respect for both of them, Bill Barisoff

and the member for Richmond centre or north centre — the one over there.

I’ve only known two Speakers, and I’ve had the highest regard for them

and the challenges they face keeping this raucous place in order. I

share the view of the Premier that, among us all, I could not think of a

more respected and better person to take on this very important

challenge in the days and weeks and months and years ahead.

Now, I

have to say, on behalf of my colleague from Oak Bay–Gordon Head, to have

a rugby guy in the chair is absolutely appropriate for

the raucous time ahead in the days and months and weeks and

years.

[10:25 a.m.]

It is

something that you and I have talked about in our four years as

colleagues here. I’ve found you always to be respectful, as the Clerk

suggested, and fair with all members during question period. Outside of

this House, when there were issues in your files that needed to be

discussed privately, you were always there. I greatly respected that,

and I know all members of the House feel the same way.

There are

24 new members in this place, and they will see, through your leadership

and your guidance and your deference and respect for all of us, the type

of leadership we will need in the days and weeks and months and years

ahead.

With

that, I want to say that it’s not just the cool hat you get to wear now

— which is, I think, coveted by all members — but it’s also our

gratitude for taking on this challenge and our respect for the decisions

you’ll be making in the days ahead. Thank you so much for taking on the

job.

Hon. M. de Jong: I move

that the House do now adjourn until two o’clock, when the Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor will deliver the throne speech.

Hon. M. de Jong moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House

stands adjourned until two o’clock this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 10:26 a.m.

The Official Report of Debates ( Hansard ) and webcasts of

proceedings

are available on the Internet. Chamber debates are broadcast on

television.

Copyright © 2017: British Columbia Hansard Services, Victoria, British

Columbia, Canada