After hours (and years) of debate, P.E.I. MLAs vote to end evening sittings

Island MLAs have voted to end evening sittings of the P.E.I. legislature, eleven years after the measure was recommended as part of a suite of changes meant to increase the number of women sitting in the legislative assembly.

The P.E.I. Coalition for Women in Government asked for the shiftin a 2009 report and have heraldedWednesday's decision as "a very promising and a progressive move."

"The evidence has shown that this is a very positive change to implement... not just for women but also for under-represented groups, and for men who want to be involved in child care and maintain work-life balance," said executive director Sweta Daboo after the vote.

MLAscan still add evening sittings to the schedule through a vote in the legislature.

The changes will also move up the traditional starting dates for the spring and fall sittings of the legislature. What was the spring sitting will now start in late Februaryto allow debate on government's operating budget to begin before the start of the fiscal year.

Changes coming next year

The changes are set to take effect in 2021.

Debate over eliminating evening sittings has come and gone since the 2009 report, most recently brought forward in 2018 as a motion introduced by Paula Biggar, minister for the status of women for the Liberal government of the day.

But it was the Liberals who provided most of the opposition this time around, unsuccessfully trying to amend the proposed changes over days of debate in the legislature.

Liberal MLAs Hal Perry, Robert Mitchell, Sonny Gallant and Robert Henderson voted against, as did four PC cabinet ministers: Steven Myers, Jamie Fox, Ernie Hudson and James Aylward.

Hundreds and hundreds of men have earned their place in these seats, but only 32 women have ever worked hard enough?Lynne Lund, Green Party MLA

The debate became rancourous at times. Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly, the first Black MLA ever elected to the P.E.I. legislature, took Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker to task for "exploit[ing] cultural divisions" by invoking the Black Lives Matter movement in calling for the changes to be accepted.

Green MLA Lynne Lund also criticized Liberal MLA Robert Henderson on Wednesday for arguing there were no impediments to prevent women from serving as MLAs.

'Damaging and degrading'

Last Friday, Henderson said anyone can serve as an MLA if they're prepared to do the work.

"There's no advantage to being female, there's no advantage to being male, there's no advantage to being different of any kind," he said then. "You put your name on the ballot, you do the work as it pertains to this profession."

Lund said that argument, which Henderson repeated Wednesday, "suggests simply not many women have worked hard enough."

"Hundreds and hundreds of men have earned their place in these seats, but only 32 women have ever worked hard enough?" she said. "Oversimplifications like that are damaging and degrading."

Daboo saidthe recommendation was meant to address the challengeof arranging for childcare in the evenings, when most child-care centres are closed. She said she believes the fact that several current MLAs have young families helped the measure to go through.

She said it would have an impact not just for women, but also for other under-represented groups on the Island.

"Newcomers, visible minorities and other folkswho might not have the social networks and supports set up in place to take on those [caregiving] responsibilities for them," she said. "This will definitely remove a barrier to them running."

Daboo said this is the first of17 recommendations from her group's 2009 report to be implemented.She said she'dlove to see the legislature move forward on other recommendations, including one to define the role and responsibilities of an MLA.

"One of the barriers to running for elected positions is a lack of understanding around what that entails and what the expectations are," she said.

But she said the recommendation to eliminate evening sittings was the easiest to implement.

"If this one took 11 years to implement, you worry a little bit thinking about how long the rest of them will take."

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