Jason Kenney says UCP gov't will refrain from desk thumping in Alberta legislature
Premier Jason Kenney has said his party will try to stop desk thumping in the Alberta legislature.
The current Speaker of the Alberta legislature — Bob Wanner, who is Speaker until Monday evening — says he's not sure the practice of desk thumping needs to change.
"I don't know that anything is necessary," he said. "What is necessary is the dialogue and discussion and consensus and agreement with the majority approval to move forward."
After his first question period in the Alberta legislature in March, Kenney confirmed his party's MLAs have been told not to thump their desks or heckle speakers.
"I think people who tune in actually want to be able to hear their legislators and what they're saying," Kenney told reporters afterwards. "Endless, pointless background noise inhibits that."
Wanner says it will be up to his successor to interpret the rules.
The former Speaker of the Alberta legislature says he supports any measures that will improve decorum in the House. Warner points out MPs thump their desks in the House of Commons.
"We come out of the Westminster tradition of across the globe. And I think each assembly or parliament applies its rules and traditions based on its own history and precedents but also on the Commonwealth," he said.
