June 8, 2005

Legislative Committees

The Legislative Assembly website provides some background on parliamentary committees. Cynics might say that the committees exist so as to keep government backbenchers busy and out of trouble, but others believe they can influence government policy. When he sat on the opposition side of the legislature, Gordon Campbell called on government to make more use of parliamentary committees. Now there will be almost twice as many members of the Official Opposition as there are government backbenchers (cabinet members usually don't sit on parliamentary committees); he might find it difficult to keep the committees as active as they were from 2001-2005.

In the last legislature, BC's 37th, there were 8 "Select Standing Committees" and 7 "special" Committees. The "Select Standing Committee on the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform" consisted of 7 MLAs, 5 of whom were government backbenchers. The "Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations" consisted of 13 MLAs, 12 of whom were government backbenchers. The "Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts" consisted of 15 MLAs, 13 of whom were government backbenchers. The "Select Standing Committee on Finance" consisted of 16 MLAs, 14 of whom were government backbenchers. With a government backbench of 46, it took a lot of committee work to keep them all busy; it was nearly impossible for just two opposition members and two independent members to keep up with the committee work. That will be one of the very big changes in the 38th session of the BC Legislature.

With 46 government members and 33 opposition members, legislative committees will become a much greater burden for the government. "Standing Committees" for health, education, finance, public accounts, crown corporations and private bills are the minimum requirements. With as few as 17 government backbenchers, they will be hard pressed to service over a half dozen committees, each of which normally requires as many as a dozen members. A government majority on each of seven standing committees would mean as many as 49 positions, with three standing committee positions for each backbencher, compared to only one for most opposition members. Campbell's backbenchers may not only resent the "big shots" on the front bench, but they may resent being overworked on committees that must listen to the pubic and take the flack for the government. While they are being kept busy, the opposition will have the resources to attend community events in "buddy" ridings, working to defeat government members for defending unpopular decisions. The better balanced legislature will not only make for better debate in the House, but it will produce more interesting politics in every community as citizens appear before legislative committees to plead their cause. Watch for the government to decrease the number of legislative committee meetings as its members show fatigue. Once again Campbell may be caught contradicting what he said in opposition and what he does in government. He shouldn't be allowed to use his smaller caucus as an excuse to reduce the activity of parliamentary committees. Hansard provides a record of how often each committee met between 2001 and 2005.