Last week SRBP noted that the provincial cabinet seems to be having some difficulty getting legislation into the House for debate.
Normally, we’d see upwards of 30 bills handled in the spring session. In 2011 they had almost all the bills introduced by the early part of May. In 2012, the provincial government had more than twice as many bills on the go as they do this year.
Well on Monday, finance minister Jerome Kennedy gave notice he has one more bill to add: an amendment to the Revenue Administration Act. He called it amendment number three.
Except it isn’t.
That’s in addition to the other one introduced earlier this session that is labelled as the second amendment bill for the same Act.
If you look at the list of bills introduced since the throne speech, you’ll notice that there is no first amendment bill. The labelled the first one the second one and now the second one is called the third one.
That’s because the poor darlings are confused and totally screwed up to boot.
You see the revenue administration amendment they called the second one is actually left over from the last session. It died when they prorogued the House and had a throne speech for a new session.
Someone should have renumbered the bill.
But they didn’t.
Instead, they just recycled the old bill with the old numbering on it.
Now this is all useless detail to some of you, but here’s what you have to notice: this is a sign of how fundamentally shagged up things are on the Hill these days. They can’t get something a simple as this numbering rule straight.
Well, that’s the same as the attack on Gerry Rogers, or the magically appearing and quickly disappearing job freeze, or the schlamozzle in justice over cuts that become no cuts and more hiring or the Big Review that was either highly detailed or a quick skim depending on which cabinet minister you talk to.
Or it is like natural gas. Not interested and a Big Deal all at the same time.
And fundamentally, it’s why the provincial government only has seven bills ready for a session that would normally see the House wade through four times that many.
Shagged up.
Royally.
-srbp-
