Pronoun legislation nearing the end of debate

By Thursday night, it could all be over but the formalities in the passing of the Saskatchewan Party’s pronoun legislation.

The government passed a doubling of the debate hours for Bill 137, from 20 to 40, and extended sitting hours to go with it, going from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. since it was passed on Monday.

Those debate hours could be expired as of late Thursday night, though it’s yet unclear whether the bill would be passed and signed into law then or whether that will wait.

Through the days this week, the NDP has been taking the marathon debate almost literally, with MLAs standing and speaking for six and seven hours at a time.

Opposition MLAs have been reading out the text of the bill several times, the text of the judge’s injunction decision, the Children’s Advocate’s report on the pronoun policy, and letters and messages from the public.

“(The government) did not think this through, Mr. Speaker. (It’s) hastily drafted, badly drafted (and has) no concern for the impacts. Because this isn’t about policy, this isn’t about what’s good for people, this is about partisan politics,” Meara Conway said during her six hours on her feet.

“I think that it is just powerful to have voices who will be affected by this have the ability for them to speak out and have their voices heard in this legislature,” Nathaniel Teed said during his hours of speaking amid his reading of several letters received by the Saskatchewan NDP.

Matt Love tried to pass out copies of the judge’s injunction decision to the Sask. Party MLAs because none in the assembly responded when he asked if they’d read it.

NDP Leader Carla Beck, in a short break from the assembly, said she’s proud of her team.

“Being on their feet. And you know they’re not just taking up time, they are putting meaningful remarks on the record. They’re reading the voices of people in the province who want to have a voice in this debate,” said Beck, calling it a masterclass in showing what public officials should be doing.

“They should be doing their homework, as our education critic repeatedly pointed out. They should be focused on the things that matter to the people of this province.”
Beck didn’t think some government MLAs were paying proper attention during the debate, with at least a few possibly wearing earbuds Tuesday night.

“If this is such an emergency that they had to call us back (early) for the first time in 25 years, if this issue is the most pressing to the extent that they’re willing to override Charter rights and the human rights code, the very least I think people should expect of their leaders is to pay attention to the debate, to put forth some arguments – that’s not what we’re seeing from this government,” said Beck.