July 29 Journal of Assembly 1 JOURNALS of the LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY of the PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 2003 THE HONOURABLE MARILYN TRENHOLME COUNSELL LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR Fredericton, N.B. Tuesday, July 29, 2003. PROCLAMATION WHEREAS the fifth Session of the fifty-fourth Legislative Assembly of this Province was dissolved on the tenth day of May 2003; AND WHEREAS I have thought fit to call the first session of the fifty-fifth Legislative Assembly of this Province into session, I hereby issue a Proclamation that the same be called to meet on the twenty-ninth day of July, 2003, at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon. Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the Province at Fredericton on this 9th day of July, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Three and in the fifty- second year of Her Majesty’s Reign. BY COMMAND OF THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR Bradley Green, Q.C. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell. Attorney General Lieutenant-Governor. 2 52 Elizabeth II, 2003 July 29 This being the day appointed for the opening of the First Session of the Fifty-fifth Legislative Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick for the dispatch of business pursuant to the proclamation hereinbefore annexed, and the oath having been already administered to the Members of the Legislative Assembly as named in the roll, delivered to the Clerk of the House by the Chief Electoral Officer, the said Members took their seats in the House. The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly then addressed herself to the House as follows: Members of the Legislative Assembly: I am commanded by Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor to inform you that she doth not think fit to declare the causes for which she has summoned this Legislative Assembly until a Speaker thereof shall have been chosen. It is therefore Her Honour’s will that you, the Members of the Legislative Assembly do proceed forthwith to choose a fit and proper person to be your Speaker, and that you present the person so chosen to Her Honour in this Assembly Chamber this afternoon for Her Honour’s approbation. The House then proceeded to the election of a Speaker pursuant to the provisions of Standing Rule 11. The Clerk then announced: Members of the Legislative Assembly, it is my duty to inform you that only one candidate stands for election to the office, pursuant to Standing Rule 11(8)(m). Therefore, it is my duty to announce that Bev Harrison, the honourable member for the electoral district of Hampton-Belleisle, is declared elected as Speaker. The Premier, the Hon. Bernard. Lord, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Shawn Graham, escorted Mr. Harrison to the dais where, standing on the upper step, he addressed the House as follows: Members of the Legislative Assembly, I will begin my remarks by repeating the traditional words spoken by a Speaker following election to the office. It is my pleasure today to express my grateful and humble acknowledgment to the House for the great honour you have been pleased to confer on me by choosing me as your Speaker. July 29 Journal of Assembly 3 Conscious as I am of my comparative inexperience in parliamentary procedure, I should have hesitated before accepting a position involving so much responsibility, were it not for the fact that I shall be able at all times to rely with confidence upon the courtesy, forbearance, and kindness of every Member of the Assembly. Again, thanking you, I now submit myself to the House. I will take some liberty with my acceptance speech, since it will be one of the few occasions upon which the Speaker actually gets to speak. A little of my background as a history teacher will show as you get your first lesson of the day, especially where there are so many new members. The history of the Speakership goes back many centuries to 1376. At one point, the Speaker was chosen by the King to report the proceedings of the House, which made the Speaker unpopular with the House. Later, the Speaker was chosen by the Commons to take messages or to speak to the King—thus the title “Speaker”. This put the Speaker in a precarious or dangerous position. Sometimes those messages were not well received. Undoubtedly, the expression “Don’t shoot the messenger” stems from those days, for sometimes, the Speaker did not return. Today the great test is not when the Speaker goes to see the King, but when the Speaker comes to see you. Thus, there is the dragging of the reluctant Speaker to the chair to accept his role, or maybe his fate. I think dragging the Speaker to his chair could be more appropriate today than at the beginning of any other Legislature in the past, considering the unique position in which I find myself. We have developed an adversarial form of government based on concepts of parliamentary democracy. In the Chamber, the precedents and practices of the past will often appear as we debate the issues and make the decisions that will affect the province. The House is a place where history is formulated every day. The late Tommy Douglas once said that politics is the noblest of professions but the vilest of trades. People fight hard to earn a seat in this Chamber, yet they arrive with definite opinions and deep convictions regarding the issues facing our province. As the Speaker, it is my goal to work with all members to ensure the dignity and traditions of this institution that we all respect. It must be able to function, no matter how sincere differences may be and no matter how passionately views are expressed. We need to 4 52 Elizabeth II, 2003 July 29 cooperate and, yes, even compromise if we are to effectively fulfill the expectations of the people of New Brunswick. The fact is, we need to work together in a way that Parliament was originally intended to work. Overt partisanship needs to be softened. Although the Speaker is above all the servant of the House, the Speaker is invested by all of you here today with considerable authority. At times, I may even have to use it. The Speakership throughout the Commonwealth is molded in the Westminster traditions. The Speaker’s responsibilities are to the House and to its members. In addition, there are constituency and public responsibilities. The Speaker needs to have the ability to change hats, so to speak—neither pun intended—with dignity and common sense. Do not scoff at tradition. It was the poet and dramatist T.S. Eliot who argued very strongly: It is our present view of reality that constantly reforms and reorganizes our thinking about the past, and every forward step allows us a wider perspective and appreciation of our past tradition. In fact, it is the present that shapes and determines our tradition. One bit of history has set up the tradition of the modern Speaker. It is appropriate that we be reminded of the words of Speaker Lenthall when, in 1642, King Charles I entered the House of Commons of Westminster with an armed force and demanded that the Speaker reveal the whereabouts of some members. The Speaker said, “May it please Your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.” I will quote the words of Edward Blake, who said in 1873, “The privileges of Parliament”, i.e. the Legislature, “are the privileges of the people. The rights of Parliament are the rights of the people.” Those words are still true. We should always remember them. Thereupon Mr. Harrison took the chair, and the mace was placed upon the Clerk’s Table. Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor then entered the House and took her seat in the chair upon the Throne. The Speaker then addressed Her Honour to the following effect: May it Please Your Honour: Your Honour having communicated your pleasure to the House, they proceeded to choose a Speaker. They have elected me to that July 29 Journal of Assembly 5 important and honourable position, and I am now presented for Your Honour’s approval. The Clerk of the House then said: Mr. Harrison, I am commanded by Her Honour the Lieutenant- Governor to declare to you that she is fully sensible of your zeal for the public service and of your sufficiency to execute the duties of the office to which you have been elected by the Legislative Assembly, and she doth readily approve of their choice, and allow and confirm you to be their Speaker. Mr. Speaker then addressed Her Honour in the following words: May It Please Your Honour: Your Honour having been pleased to approve the choice of the Assembly in electing me to be their Speaker, it now becomes my duty in the name and on behalf of the Assembly, to claim and demand that they have all their ancient and accustomed rights and privileges, especially freedom from arrest, freedom of speech in debate, access to Your Honour when they think the public service requires it, and that the most favourable construction be put on all their proceedings and on my own behalf I have to request that any error of mine may not be imputed to the Assembly. To which the Clerk of the House replied: Mr. Speaker, Her Honour hath the utmost confidence in the loyalty and attachment of this Assembly of Her Majesty’s person and government and in the wisdom, temper and prudence which will accompany all their proceedings, and she doth most readily and willingly grant and allow them all their privileges in as full and ample a manner as they have at any time heretofore been granted and allowed.