MLA's Week, July 20 and 21, 2015

The rare summer session of the British Columbia Legislature which started on July 13th came to an end on Tuesday afternoon, with the Liberal Government of Premier Christy Clark putting the province's LNG Agreement with Petronas/Pacific NorthWest LNG to a final vote.

To no surprise, considering the Liberal majority in the Legislature, the vote went according to party lines, with the Liberal majority carrying the vote 43 to 28, putting the Legislation into effect.

As we do at the end of each week of the Legislature session, we outline some of the main notes of interest from the participation during the North Coast MLA's work week.

However, for this week, that will make for a very short review, as Ms. Rice was not listed in the archive of the Legislature for any of the conversations of the Legislature sessions of Monday and Tuesday.

Overall there were four sittings of the Legislature over the two days of July 20 and 21, with morning and afternoon sessions  called for each day.

As well, Ms. Rice was not in attendance in the Legislature and did not cast  a vote on the LNG Agreement on Tuesday afternoon, with her name and vote absent from the final record of discussion on the Agreement.

While Ms. Rice was away on the Central Coast attending to what she noted was a previous commitment, two local politicians from the North Coast were in the provincial capital for the final day of the LNG Agreement discussion.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Dave MacDonald of Port Edward and Mayor Lee Brain of Prince Rupert provided a few comments from the steps of the Legislature, outlining some of the planning ahead for any potential LNG development in the region.

On the theme of the final vote on the Agreement between the Province and Petronas, the notes on the topic from the week can be found below:

North Coast Mayors Speak on LNG from steps of the Legislature
Pacific NorthWest LNG agreement gains Legislature approval, MLA Rice does not cast vote
With a Facebook note, the Mystery of the Missing MLA is solved
Timeline of MLA's Central Coast visit should raise more questions on missed LNG vote


The North Coast MLA is also a member of the Committee on Children and Youth, however that Committee did not meet this week.

MLA's now return to their summer vacation plans, with the Legislature now suspended until the House Leader announces the dates for the Fall session.

During the farewells of late Tuesday afternoon, no timeline was provided by the Liberal House Leader as to when our elected representatives will return to their work in Victoria.

There is more background on the North Coast MLA available from our MLA's Week archive as well as our General Archive on the Legislature.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review