New Brunswick.

• Author: Forestell, Donald
• Position: Legislative Reports

The First Session of the 56th Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, which opened on February 6, 2007, prorogued on Friday July 6, after sitting a total of 79 sitting days. The last session to approach this number of sitting days was in 1975, when the First Session of the 48th Legislative Assembly met for 78 days.

The House sat long hours during the session. In addition to the regular sittings days which lasted until 6 p.m., there were 26 evening sittings which generally lasted until 10 p.m. In total, the House sat for over 476 hours during the session, a 66% increase over the previous session which met for 287 hours. Over 156 hours were spent considering the budgetary estimates in Committee of Supply and over 70 hours were spent considering legislation in Committee of the Whole.

Legislation

The Government, led by Premier Shawn Graham, introduced 74 Bills during the course of the session, all of which received Royal Assent. The Ombudsman Act was amended and a revised Child and Youth Advocate Act brought in to ensure the proper functioning of these offices and to provide greater access to information. One of the most significant pieces of legislation was Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Off-Road Vehicle Act. The Bill was introduced by Public Safety Minister John Foran. The Bill, which received Royal Assent on June 26, prohibits the operation of off-road vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, dune buggies, motorized vehicles and amphibious vehicles, by youth under the age of 16, except as otherwise provided. Youth 14 or 15 years of age are permitted to operate off-road vehicles under certain conditions, one of which requires the operation of an appropriate-sized machine. Exceptions would also permit the operation of off-road vehicles on closed courses by youth under the age of 16. The Bill was the subject of much debate and numerous petitions in opposition to the Bill were presented in the House.

The Official Opposition under Leader Jeannot Volpe introduced a number of Bills for the consideration of the House. Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Industrial Relations Act, was introduced by Margaret-Ann Blaney (PC, Rothesay) on May 9 and subsequently referred to the Standing Committee on Law Amendments for review. The Member stated that the proposed changes would better protect New Brunswick workers and would prevent employers from circumventing their responsibilities under the collective bargaining process by shifting work from unionized...