Nelson/Creston MLA barred from speaking for constituents after Liberals shut down debate on Bill 22
By Nelson Daily staff
Nelson/Creston MLA Michelle Mungall became road kill after the Liberal government plowed Bill 22 through the B.C. legislature.
Liberal house leader Rich Coleman announced Monday that the government will use time-allocation rules to speed up debate on the bill.
The result rendered Mungall unable to speak for her constituents and denied the opportunity to express the opinions of the many educators, parents, and students who have taken the time to inform her of their concerns on this legislation.
“They have shut down debate on this bill and I will no longer be able to let the Legislature know how this legislation will affect people in my region,” Mungall said in a release.
“I have received close to 100 letters from Kootenay residents, and I have read them all. I am truly grieved that the Liberals lack of respect for democracy will bar me from doing my job to represent the people of Nelson-Creston."
After voting against time-allocation, Mungall was allowed eight minutes to speak to the NDP's amendment to Bill 22.
British Columbia's Liberal government is using its majority in the legislature to push through back-to-work legislation targeting the province's teachers, ensuring it becomes law by Thursday afternoon.
The government tabled the legislation, which prevents strikes or lockouts and appoints a mediator, amid a heated labour dispute with its teachers that culminated in a three-day walkout last week.
The Opposition New Democrats signalled they planned to extend debate with amendments that called for the appointment of an independent mediator.
"I implore [the Government] to please support this amendment so that we can do a better job in this province of working with the very people who put our children's best interests first and foremost every single day, when they walk into that classroom to teach our future generations, who might one day be in this House and hopefully will learn from the lessons of today that mediation is always better than legislation," said Mungall.
Coleman said the Liberals move ensure debate on second reading of Bill 22, the Education Improvement Act, which started last week, ends Monday evening, and the bill becomes law Thursday.
The legislature will sit late on Tuesday or Wednesday night, but debate will end Thursday at 4:45 p.m., Coleman said in the legislature.
"We want the bill done by Thursday," said Coleman.
"We've had six days of debate on second reading. We did the entire Family Law Act, which has probably 15 times more sections than this bill has, in four days."
Mungall will continue to call for mediation and oppose Bill 22.
To view all of Mungall's short speech, visit www.michellemungall.ca