2nd Session - 41st Legislature, Rules of the House 1, Dec 1, 2016

TIME – 4:50 p.m.

LOCATION – Winnipeg, Manitoba

CHAIRPERSON – Hon. Myrna Driedger (Charleswood)

VICE-CHAIRPERSON – Mr. Doyle Piwniuk (Arthur-Virden)

ATTENDANCE – 11 QUORUM – 6

Members of the Committee present:

Hon. Mrs. Driedger, Hon. Messrs. Goertzen, Micklefield

Messrs. Allum, Ewasko, Helwer, Ms. Klassen, Mr. Maloway, Mrs. Mayer, Messrs. Piwniuk, Swan

MATTERS UNDER CONSIDERATION:

Rules, Orders and Forms of Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

* * *

Madam Chairperson: Good afternoon. Will the Standing Committee on Rules of the House please come to order.

This meeting has been called to consider the Rules, Orders and Forms of Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Our first item of business is the election of a Vice-Chairperson. Are there any nominations?

Hon. Andrew Micklefield (Government House Leader): I'd like to nominate Mr. Piwniuk.

Madam Chairperson: Are there any other nominations? Hearing no other nominations, Mr. Piwniuk is elected Vice-Chairperson.

Does the committee wish to have the Clerk or Deputy Clerk provide comments if needed? [Agreed]

Does the Government House Leader have any opening comments?

Mr. Micklefield: The convening of this meeting satisfies the requirement that we meet twice a year. This is the second such meeting. I would like to propose that we agree to meet by the end of February 2017, and perhaps have some discussion about an appropriate procedure for how we can–what rules may want to be discussed so that we're not hearing about them for the first time at that meeting at the end of February.

Madam Chairperson: We thank the minister.

Does the Opposition House Leader have any opening comments?

Mr. Jim Maloway (Official Opposition House Leader): Well, thank you, Madam Chair, and this Government House Leader is correct. This is the second meeting of the committee this year. I would prefer to leave it open, though, as to when our next meeting might be. I think we can leave that to negotiations between the House leaders.

Madam Chairperson: We thank the member.

Is there leave to allow Ms. Klassen to give an opening statement?

Some Honourable Members: Leave.

An Honourable Member: Being here, I love learning the procedures of the–

Madam Chairperson: Ms. Klassen.

Ms. Judy Klassen (Kewatinook): I love any chance I get to learn the procedures. I'm grateful for that opportunity. Thank you.

Madam Chairperson: We thank the member.

The hour being–oh. No.

Hon. Kelvin Goertzen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): Madam Chairperson, I was just asked to give just a slight, brief–certainly brief for me, but brief in any context, historical view of why we are having two meetings a year.

And members who were in the previous session will remember that the former member for Kildonan, Mr. Chomiak, who I hold in high esteem, and I were involved with the overall negotiation of new rules of the House. And as part of that, and the clerks, of course, are greatly involved in that, and I will be forever in their debt for the work that they gave us to make that happen in a short time frame. But, as part of that, it was felt strongly by Mr. Chomiak, and myself as well, that the Rules Committee, which hadn't met for a decade previously, should meet on a regular basis at least twice a year for the next couple of years as the new rules were test-driven and seen in action to see if things needed to be tweaked or to be improved, because they were significant changes, and then it could be perhaps an annual meeting after that.

There was also a discussion about changing how committees work, and we talked a bit about that during the negotiations prior to this new session, after the election, but there just simply wasn't time to put into changing how committees work. So there's a lot of different things that this committee could look at. I'll certainly leave it to the House leaders. I'm–have no interest in reinvesting myself in rule changes.

I think that the former House leader for our party, Len Derkach, said, when you go through rule changes once, you'll never want to go through them again, and he was absolutely correct. So I will leave it to Mr. Micklefield and Mr. Maloway to proceed in the way they feel best.

But just to say that the convening of this rules committee twice annually was felt that it would not only monitor how the new rules are working, but spur on other discussions about how the Assembly could work better, not just in the House but in committees as well. So I challenge the new House leaders to continue that discussion. I'm sure they will.

Madam Chairperson: I thank the member for his comments.

So it has been proposed by the honourable Government House Leader (Mr. Micklefield) that the meeting be held by the end of February, and–[interjection] Okay, let me just retract that, then.

The–it has been proposed that the Rules Committee consider meeting again before the end of February. Are there any members wishing to speak to this?

Mr. Maloway: Madam Chair, I propose that we just leave it open so we could work on–it's been pointed out to me that the committee wouldn't normally meet unless there was some pre-negotiation as to subject matter, and that is the normal process here. So we will have to–the House leaders will have to discuss what sort of subjects we want to broach, then we will set–at that point, we will set a date for a meeting. And when that happens, I'm not really sure that's–when that will be.

Mr. Micklefield: Open to being corrected, but my understanding is these meetings are actually somewhat of a new thing, that there was a gap of about a decade where no such meetings happened, and that's why I'm proposing that we give ourselves some kind of time restraint. If we want to discuss something beyond the end of February, I'm open to that, but I'd–open-ended, I'd hate for that open‑endedness to be stretched out too, too much, so.

Ms. Klassen: I don't mind meeting in February. The–you know, I'd rather be proactive rather than reactive.

Madam Speaker: Are there any further comments?

What is the will of the committee? The–[interjection]–towards the request put forward by the Government House Leader?

The–does the committee agree with the request?

Mr. Micklefield: I understand that it's actually my purview to call the committee at my discretion, so, in light of the comments from the Opposition House Leader, we'll ease off on the end of February stipulation. But I would like to indicate that in 2017 we'll intend to have a couple of meetings, as required, and we'll probably space those out at approximately halfway in towards the end of the year.

That was my thinking.

Madam Speaker: Does the committee agree with the suggestion put forward by the honourable Government House Leader? Agreed? [Agreed]

The hour being 5 p.m., what is the will of the committee?

Some Honourable Members: Committee rise.

Madam Speaker: Committee rise.

COMMITTEE ROSE AT: 5 p.m.