The number of voting Liberal members in the House of Assembly will be reduced by one today after an election for Speaker.

It will be the first order of business as as politicians will be heckling each other for about four weeks.

MHA’s Scott Reid and Perry Trimper are running for the job.

Trimper had been Speaker until he was promoted to Cabinet just after the spring election, but then resigned his post after inadvertently leaving a message on the answering machine of a member of the Innu Nation.

The PC’s, who have 15 seats, say they cannot support Trimper because of his run-in with the Innu.

The NDP has three seats and there are two independents.

Premier Dwight Ball actively backed Trimper as Speaker his first time around against MHA Pam Parsons, but he says he is staying out of this one.