Premier King supports Opposition call to end heckling in legislature

Premier Dennis King says his caucus is committed to ending heckling in the P.E.I. Legislature.

Tuesday marked the first regular day of sitting of the newly elected government, after the election of Speaker and Speech from the Throne last week.

After an election campaign that made headlines for niceties, the topic of courtesy and collaboration was once again on display during question period Tuesday afternoon.

In his first line of questioning to the premier, Opposition Leader Peter Bevan-Baker asked King if he would join him in calling for an end to heckling in the legislature.

"The premier may be … new to this house, so it may be a little shocking for him to learn that it's not always been so lovey-dovey in here," Bevan-Baker said.

"One of the less endearing practises of this house, and one that's distinctly not respectful, is that of heckling other members while they speak during debate, and particularly during question period."

'We will be courteous'

In response to Bevan-Baker's question, King said he supported the call to end heckling — as does his caucus.

"We have talked about it in our own caucus every time that we have met. We will be courteous, we will be honest, we will be fair. And we will bring a different decorum to this legislature," King said.

In response to questions from Bevan-Baker, King also re-committed to an election promise, that ministers will respond to questions promptly.

King said that means responding right away, when possible, or by the start of the sitting the following day — if a minister needs to gather more information.

Achieving election promises

While the first day of business had an overall tone of collegiality, there were some tougher questions for the governing PCs.

Liberal MLA Heath MacDonald questioned King about going back on election promises.

In its election platform, the PC Party promised to lower the small business tax rate to one per cent by January 2020. However, in recent interviews, King said his government would instead phase in the reduction — citing the need to compromise given the minority situation.

MacDonald said his party was not consulted on this — and in fact would have supported a larger tax reduction.

He also questioned how many other election promises King would "renege on."

King said his government is committed to addressing priorities from all of the parties, while also maintaining a surplus budget. He said that means he won't be able to achieve all election promises right away.

"As government of a minority situation, with only 12 members in this legislature, I wouldn't feel very confident to bring everything I wanted to this budget, and to ignore everything everybody else wanted, and to have any type of hope that it would be supported here in the legislature."

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