New Brunswick's 'Hung Legislature' of 2018: Completing the Trilogy of Legislative Oddities.

• Author: Hyson, Stewart

During the past 30 years, New Brunswick's Assembly has witnessed a trio of legislative oddities. First, in 1987, one party won every seat in the Assembly, meaning there was no opposition presence among MLAs. Second, in 1994, changing standings among caucuses in the Assembly created a situation where two opposition parties had an equal number of seats and vied to be recognized as the Official opposition. Third, and most recently, a general election resulted in New Brunswick's first minority parliament since 1920. The incumbent government attempted to demonstrate it retained the confidence of the Assembly despite losing its majority, but was defeated when the House met to consider the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. After briefly summarizing the first two oddities, the authors deal substantively with the third and explain how the precarity of a minority parliament and policy differences among the four parties in the Assembly could mean the electorate will return to the polls well in advance of the province's next fixed election date.

**********

New Brunswick's general election, held September 24, 2018, produced an inconclusive result. The incumbent Liberal party won 21 of the 49 seats and captured 38 per cent of the popular vote. The Progressive Conservative (PC) party won 22 seats yet received 32 per cent of the popular vote. The remaining six seats were evenly split between the Green Party and the People's Alliance. For only the second time in its history--the first occurring almost a century ago--New Brunswick would have a minority government. This is a remarkable situation; but perhaps even more interesting is that this result constitutes the third and latest legislative oddity the province has experienced within the past 30 or so years.

Until now, New Brunswick has almost always been governed by a party with a majority in the Assembly. (1) Only the Liberals or the PCs have ever formed the government in New Brunswick, and except for 1991 when the upstart Confederation of Regions Party (CoR) won eight seats, only these two parties have ever formed the Official Opposition. In 1987, the Liberals won every seat in the legislative assembly. That was the first oddity. By 1994, with the PCs and CoR tied with six seats each in opposition, the Speaker had to rule as to which party was to form the Official Opposition. That was the second oddity. Now we have a third oddity: a minority government. With only the most tenuous hold on power, this minority government took control after orchestrating a defeat of the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

The first two oddities were examined in previous articles that appeared in this periodical and will be briefly recalled below in later discussion. The most recent oddity, however, poses an interesting dilemma: how will New Brunswick's elected parties navigate this precarious legislature?

Oddity One: A One-Party Legislature

In 1987, the Liberals under the leadership of Frank McKenna won all 58 of the Assembly's seats with approximately 60 per cent of the popular vote. This situation created interesting logistic problems within the Assembly. What would Question Period look like with no opposition parties? Who would sit on the "opposition" benches? What, if any, role would the parties without seats play in the functioning of the Assembly?

McKenna's solution to the seating arrangement was to divide his cabinet into two groups: one group sat to the right of the Speaker, and the other on the left. The Premier took a seat on the left. Question Period consisted of Liberal backbenchers lobbing rather soft questions at cabinet ministers. The Legislative Library's research staff and services were expanded, in part to allow senior but non-elected PC and NDP officials to better prepare their party positions on policy issues, and both parties were offered free office space. As well, these parties were permitted one non-voting member on the Legislative Administration Committee. When the house was in session, opposition party leaders were invited to sit on the benches normally reserved for the media. Finally, the day after major announcements was set aside as a "media day," where the opposition parties could present their respective opposing positions to the gathered press corps. (2)

Oddity Two: Tied opposition parties

Some of the 1987 changes worked; others did not. So, the...