MLA's brought the Spring session of the British Columbia Legislature to an end on Thursday afternoon.
The final hours taken up mostly through a Q & A session with the Premier, who took questions from both opposition and government MLA's through the final part of the afternoon before the summer break.
The break comes not a moment too soon for the NDP government, which as it was at the Christmas break, once again finds Speaker Darryl Plecas prominent in the news and not in particularly favourable light.
Such was the final act to the Spring performance that the opposition Liberals, including Skeena's Ellis Ross, were lining up by the end of Thursday's session to express their on going concerns over the behaviour of the Speaker and to put some distance between themselves and Mr. Plecas over his recent office moves outside of the Chamber.
Chaotic end to Legislature session, leaves Daryl Plecas once again the centre of attention!
North Coast MLA Ms. Rice was also hearing some feedback this week, in her case some commentary from her home constituency this week, with the BCTF featuring the MLA along with other government MLA"s as part of a social media campaign.
MLA Rice feels pressure from local teachers as contract negotiations continue
The focus of the push was to encourage the government to review the approach that its bargaining team is taking during the current teacher contract negotiations, with the BCFT highlighting classroom size and composition as an area that the province and they are quite far apart on.
As for the final week of work in the House, the four days unfolded as follows:
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For the week just passed, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice had opportunity to raise a number of themes, defend government policy and make inquiries of the Premier.
On the week, Ms Rice was listed on at least six occasions in the accounts of the sessions of the Legislature from May 26-30
Monday the MLA challenged some of the Liberals comments of government neglect on themes of consultation, with Ms. Rice defending the NDP record on public engagement
In Legislature debate, MLA Rice dismisses Liberal's comments on lack of government consultation
Thursday, saw the MLA offer a tribute to a Prince Rupert resident, Pieter Walsh who had recently passed away; as well as to welcome Amber Sheasgreen, a former North Coast resident to the Legislature.
Also on Thursday, the North Coast MLA provided some background for the Chamber related to the recent opening of the Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal, which saw its first shipment of propane leave for Asia in late May.
AltaGas opening makes for Legislature notes for MLA Rice
Ms. Rice also displayed some pretty good skill as a three pitch pitcher, surely securing a place on the NDP's Legislature softball team after putting up a couple of speaking opportunities for the Premier to respond to.
From her enquiries Ms. Rice provided Mr. Horgan a chance to expand on a pair of North Coast related questions and how his government has responded to areas of note in the region.
Jennifer Rice offers chance for Premier Horgan to highlight infrastructure, Internet and cell phone initiatives for Haida Gwaii and North Coast
Ms. Rice also served some portion of Wednesday afternoon sitting as the Chair for a portion of the Committee study on the Forest Amendment Act
She also held similar duties on Monday during a portion of the discussion on the Committee work for the Zero Emission Vehicles Act.
The North Coast MLA is also a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, serving as the convener of that forum.
Transcripts of the work of the committee are available on the Legislature page for the Committee.
Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs
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For our readers from the Terrace-Kitimat region, Skeena MLA Ellis Ross also had an active week when it came to participation in the House, with a number of mentions as well in the Legislative Chamber listings from May 26-30
In addition to his participation in the reproach to the Speaker of Thursday (see our introduction above) the Skeena MLA also was featured prominently through participation in two of the week's sessions.
Monday, he offered up some observations from a recent LNG conference in the province and how British Columbia needs to make the most of the current thirst for gas around the globe.
With findings from recent LNG conference in hand, MLA Ellis Ross calls for BC to make the most of its LNG opportunities
On Thursday, with the Premier in the Chamber, Mr. Ross made inquiries on and engaged in an exchange on issues related LNG development, pipeline progress and reconciliation themes of note for the Northwest.
Province approach towards reconciliation, pipeline blockades among questions for Premier from MLA Ellis Ross
Mr. Ross is also a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives.
Transcripts of the work of that committee are available on the Legislature website
The Skeena MLA is also a member of the Special Committee for Review of the Police complaint process, you can follow their work here.
That committee was in the news this week, as the final four weeks of a public engagement period began, with the committee seeking feedback from the public on issues related to the current process.
There is more background on both the North Coast and Skeena MLA's available from our MLA's Week Archive, as well as our constituency archives below:
North Coast constituency
Skeena and Stikine Constituencies
The Members of the Legislature now break for the summer, barring any emergency recall, MLA's are not expected to be called back to their House duties until some time this fall, a date that will be determined by House Leader Mike Farnworth.
The full schedule for the Legislature for 2019 can be viewed here.
A larger overview of provincial issues can be found on archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review
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