Liberals change legislature's hours; move question period to mornings

Conservative Lisa MacLeod first proposed changing the hours the legislature sits to eliminate the often tedious and sparsely attended night sittings - which sometimes went as late as midnight - to make politics a more family-friendly and attractive career for young moms like herself.

But MacLeod said Thursday the changes forced through by the Liberals were designed to be more cabinet-friendly than family-friendly.

"Quite frankly, it's not family-friendly at all, that they're ramming these through in a very short period of time," she said. "I think there are a number of challenges there with question period being so early in the morning."

The government did agree to virtually eliminate the night sittings and have the legislature operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but the Liberals also decided unilaterally to move question period from early afternoon to 10:45 a.m. each morning.

The legislature's day currently starts at 1:30 p.m., with question period coming any time between 1:45 p.m. and 3 p.m., but that will change next Monday when the new hours kick in - at least on an experimental basis until the summer recess in late June.

"The reforms that are being proposed will be tested and will be reviewed over the course of the summer by a standing committee," said government house leader Michael Bryant. "I say to those in opposition who disagree with this, let's give it a chance and then assess it."

The Conservatives and New Democrats complained the Liberals want to lessen the impact of the one hour the opposition parties get each day to hold the majority government to account, and are burying question period at a time of day when it would receive less attention from the public and media.

"I think, sadly, the government house leader's goal with this was to put question period and private members' business at a time of day to reduce the relevance in the legislature," said Conservative Tim Hudak. "The problem is the resulting chaos would make Salvador Dali positively structured."

The opposition parties want question period at 1 p.m. daily, which they say would leave lots of time for preparation and for the legislature's committees to do their work.

NDP house leader Peter Kormos said the Liberals invoked closure to end debate on changing the legislature's hours, and he wants a one-week delay to hammer out new committee schedules.

"Committees aren't about us, they're about the public," Kormos told the legislature. "This is a government that is not serving the public well. They're serving themselves well ... because - let's make no mistake about this - governments don't do these sorts of things to benefit the opposition."

Veteran Conservative Norm Sterling told the legislature that moving question period to 10:45 a.m. would chop up the rest of the workday, and make it particularly difficult for committees to hold public hearings.

"It splits up the day into an unmanageable time frames," said Sterling, who chairs the legislature's Public Accounts Committee. "There's too little at the front, from 9 o'clock to 10:45, and the rest of the day is chopped up into little pieces."

But Bryant said he is confident the new hours will allow for better, more informed debates and more time for both private members' business and committee hearings.

"Either you're for more committee time or you're not," he said. "This allows for more committee time."