There has been more written recently about political filibusters in Manitoba than there has been for a long time. The term “filibuster” has different meaning to different people. Often it is just seen as a series of long speeches as a means for an opposition political party to slow down certain pieces of legislation in the political process.

Certainly the ability to speak to legislation at length is one tool that an opposition party has to push back against legislation that is not supported by the public or good for the province. It is one of the tools that we as Progressive Conservatives have used to slow down the passage of poor NDP legislation, such as the law that increases the PST from 7% to 8% (Bill 20).

But they are not long speeches just for the sake of using time. They are specific to the legislation being debated and they are intended to both represent the views of Manitobans and also work to change the mind of government and to make them be more cautious before bringing in other things that hurt Manitoba families in the future.

Opposition parties are only provided a limited number of tools to slow down the passage of legislation by a majority government. This session, because of a number of Bills that are not positive for Manitobans, we have used virtually every tool we have as an opposition party to slow down the passage of certain Bills. Many of these legislative tools have never before been used in Manitoba.

We have done this to give the NDP government an opportunity to change their minds and reconsider both legislation and how the Legislature itself works. As a result, while the Legislature was scheduled to rise on June 13th, it will sit well beyond this day and into the summer.

Summer is traditionally a time when elected officials connect with and meet with their constituents more directly both in meetings and at summer events. That time is important in getting feedback and ideas about issues that are important to local residents. But in the current situation we believe that much of our time this summer is best spent in the Legislature letting the NDP know that Manitobans are disappointed with their broken promises and high taxes.

For me, that means that it will be difficult to be at each of the summer events in our region for as much time as I would like. The Legislature will not only be sitting longer into the summer it will be sitting many late evenings and perhaps even on weekends.

My family and I will do our best to be at as many events as possible and balance the responsibility to represent your views in the Legislature during the summer along with the responsibility to be accessible to hear personally your concerns and feedback on provincial issues. I look forward to bringing your views to the Manitoba Legislature this summer and to seeing you in your community.