The provincial legislature opens for the spring sitting today under clouds of political uncertainty from provincial, national, and international perspectives.
Premier Furey is not in the province and won’t be in the legislature. He is representing NL at a mining conference in Toronto this week.
The uncertainty starts with leadership.
Premier Andrew Furey dropped a bombshell last Tuesday when he announced that he is resigning as Premier, kickstarting a Liberal leadership race to replace him.
While the specifics of that process haven’t come out yet, several provincial cabinet ministers have indicated that they are considering throwing their name in the hat.
While that process is unfolding, a leadership race will be decided among the federal Liberals to choose who will replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
That race will be decided on March 9th, but with the House of Commons set to reopen on March 24th it looks like a federal election could be called while the House of Assembly is sitting.
Compounding all of those issues is the continued uncertainty, including threats of tariffs, from the Donald Trump administration in the United States.
In recent months Premier Furey has outlined the significant impact that tariffs will have on the provincial economy, launching a buy local campaign and holding meetings with various stakeholders as a result.
Meanwhile, Government House Leader John Hogan says the spring sitting of the House of Assembly, which begins today, will mostly be focused on matters relating to the provincial budget.
That’s the standard fare for the spring sitting, as the fall is usually heavier on new pieces of legislation.
Hogan says one of the main matters will be passing interim supply, which gives government the ability to continue its spending after the new fiscal year rolls over in April, as the provincial budget will not yet be passed.
As for the budget itself, Hogan says the details of that are forthcoming.
The legislative agenda won’t be all budget, however, with Hogan saying there are other items to get to on the order paper.
One such piece of legislation, Hogan explains, is an act respecting the establishment of the law enforcement oversight commission and a complaints process relating to law enforcement officers. Hogan can’t speak to the details of that until the bill is tabled, but days Justice Minister Bernard Davis will be debating it this week.
