(Re)Building Behaviour: How the B.C. Chamber Influences Politics, and How B.C. MLAs Want to Change It.

• Author: McMillan, Rachel
• Position: British Columbia

An opportunity to consider parliamentary (re)design does not come about often, but a global pandemic and an upcoming review of electoral boundaries have presented just such a situation in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. In this article, the authors use a survey of B.C.'s MLAs and interviews with MLAs representing each party in the Assembly to consider whether parliamentarians favour change in the Chamber. The authors ask: if new seats must be added and the Chamber rearranged as a result, would Members of B.C.'s Legislative Assembly be happy to adopt benches, or would they rather find a way to maintain individual desks and chairs? Thinking bigger, is there any desire to incorporate a circular seating plan, randomized seating, or ongoing virtual attendance? What sort of impact would these design changes have on political culture and behaviour in British Columbia? The authors conclude that the current seating arrangement (opposing desks situated two sword-lengths apart) was created at a time when the make-up of legislators was considerably different than it is today and that it may be time to consider whether a modern design would better serve parliamentarians and British Columbians. *

"We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us." Winston Churchill

Introduction

Charles T. Goodsell was one of the first to contend that parliamentary design should be of interest not only to architects, but to political scientists. (1) The sites of political power perpetuate the past, he argued, by "[embodying] deeply-rooted cultural concepts in their form and substance." (2) Further, parliaments condition the future by molding the thoughts and behaviours of the actors within them "in preliminary, subtle and interactive ways." (3) Finally, parliaments manifest the present by articulating the "values and ideas currently extant in political life at the time of [a] building's construction, remodelling, refinishing, or rearrangement." (4) It is this final function of parliamentary architecture that is of particular significance to our discussion.

An opportunity to rearrange parliamentary chambers does not come about often, but a global pandemic and an upcoming review of electoral boundaries have presented just such a situation in British Columbia. If new seats must be added and the Chamber rearranged as a result, would Members of B.C.'s Legislative Assembly be happy to adopt benches, or would they rather find a way to maintain individual desks and chairs? Thinking bigger, is there any desire to incorporate a circular seating plan, randomized seating, or ongoing virtual attendance? What sort of impact would these design changes have on political culture and behaviour in British Columbia?

To answer these questions, we circulated a survey to the 87 sitting Members of B.C.'s Legislative Assembly. The survey included satisfaction rating scales and open-ended questions to gauge Members' views on current and potential design features of the Legislative Chamber. The survey was completely anonymous, meaning no identifiable information was collected. A total of 47 Members replied for a response rate of 54 percent. To supplement the survey, we performed qualitative interviews with four MLAs, at least one from each of the represented political parties. Interviews were conducted in a semi-structured fashion with openended questions and confidentiality was guaranteed. Expanding on Goodsell's seminal work, we found that parliamentary design is certainly of interest to architects, political scientists, and elected officials.

On the same day Government introduced the Electoral Boundaries Commission Amendment Act, 2021, a bill that could create up to six new seats in B.C.'s Legislative Assembly, Government House Leader Mike Farnworth was asked if and how the Chamber could physically fit six more bodies within its 12 by 18-meter walls. After beaming and thanking the reporter for "making [his] day," the self-professed "parliamentary geek" responded: "Absolutely, and it's called benches ... Benches are the answer to any issue around that."

Despite the House Leader's enthusiasm, our survey suggests most Members do not share the same warm feelings about new furniture. A fair number did take issue with certain features of the current desks and chairs, including their lack of charging ports, their rough edges that snag clothing, their pinching arm rests, and their general size, be it because they are too big or too small. However, nearly half the MLAs who responded indicated that they were satisfied or highly satisfied with individual desks and chairs. In fact, when asked how they would feel if the Chamber were to incorporate benches instead of chairs, nearly half indicated they would be highly dissatisfied with the switch.

Physical footprint, cost, and historical value are all salient factors when deciding on what furniture to include in the Legislative Chamber, but furnishings should also be evaluated for their impact on political culture and behaviour. For example, Goodsell noted that "the nature of furniture provided for individual members can affect their status as legislators." (5) The greatest status, he argued, "is afforded by the individual desk and chair, clearly separate and self-standing." (6) It is possible to see how the public might view legislators with standalone desks as being unique votes and voices, rather than undifferentiated components of a whole. Similarly, individual desks might encourage Members to view themselves as having greater autonomy or authority while still operating within party lines.

With their drawers, shelves, and large worktop, individual desks also imply that the Chamber is a place for work as well as a place for debate. As such, onlookers in the Gallery will often see Members reading through binders of material, jotting down notes, or responding to emails as Question Period or Estimates hum in the background. For better or worse, this arrangement discourages active listening, and potentially communicates...