The procedural move will limit debate to a total of 50 hours for 12 bills now before the New Brunswick legislature.

The Opposition Liberals denounced the motion and tried to challenge it on procedural grounds.

"It's like putting a gun to your head," Liberal house leader Guy Arseneault told reporters.

Liberal house leader Guy Arseneault compared the move to limit debate to "putting a gun to your head." (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

He complained that time allocation is normally invoked for individual bills, not for everything before the house.

History of use

But in the legislature, Progressive Conservative house leader Glen Savoie said Arseneault's own party had used the same tactic.

"From 2014 to 2018 under the Gallant government, this form of motion was used exactly in that form," he said.

Arseneault brushed that off. 

"I wasn't there when it was done, but we don't live in the past. At one time women weren't allowed to vote. Do we live in the past? No, we have to be progressive."

In fact, governments of both parties have used various procedures to limit debate time over the years, provoking howls of protest from their opponents who promptly do the same thing when they return to power.

Government house leader Glen Savoie said previous Liberal governments have also limited debate in the legislature. (CBC)

The PC motion, which MLAs will vote on next Wednesday, would ensure all bills go through all stages of debate in time for royal assent scheduled for June 10, the day the legislature adjourns for the summer.

"This is just simply a legislative tool that I've put in place just to make sure, all things being equal, that government business gets done in the time that's being allocated," Savoie said.

The 50-hour limit applies retroactively to all debate and committee study of the bills going back to May 10. The PCs and Liberals have different calculations of how many hours have already been used up, but both say it's more than 20.

Devil in the details

Green house leader Kevin Arseneau said the decision could mean flaws in some bills will slip through.

During one committee study of a bill Wednesday night, Green MLA Megan Mitton spotted a one-word error in a local government bill that caused the section to say the opposite of what the government intended. 

Arseneau said the motion is in keeping with Premier Blaine Higgs's impatience with the legislative process.

"It's no secret that the premier doesn't like sitting through question period," Arseneau said. "He sees it as a waste of time. This legislator stuff is a waste of time. He'd rather be CEO of something than in a democratic institution.

The bill that would give municipalities the power to set property tax rates on heavy industry, within limits, was introduced Tuesday.

Green house leader Kevin Arseneau said Higgs would "rather be CEO of something than in a democratic institution." (Jacques Poitras/CBC News)

Now MLAs will be forced to rush discussion of that legislation and several others. 

"If those bills were that important, why did they wait so long to present them?" Arseneault said.

The Liberal house leader singled out the 117-page Child and Youth Well-Being Act, introduced May 18, that would overhaul the child protection system. 

Child, Youth and Seniors Advocate Kelly Lamrock called for that bill to get special scrutiny to address any flaws before passage, given its potential impact on the lives of children.

Shortly after Arseneault spoke to reporters, Savoie said the three parties in the legislature had negotiated a separate agreement on that bill that will allow the committee on economic policy to hear from witnesses on the legislation, something it normally can't do.

That special session will count as part of the 50 hours allocated for debate. 

Arseneault acknowledged to reporters that the procedural battle would not be a top-of-mind issue for New Brunswickers.

"I know that's boring procedure and this and that, but there has to be some rules in the house and we need to follow them."

The unhappy members say Thomason has acted arrogantly, making decisions that go against the will of the NDP provincial council. 

"He is on a power high," said Karla Manning, a member of the council. "He just wants to run it like a club, not an actual party."

The critics narrowly passed a motion of no confidence in Thomason at a meeting April 30, but it wasn't binding. Thomason faces an automatic leadership review vote at the party's provincial convention in July. 

Former candidate ready to quit

Josh Floyd, a former candidate, said another cycle of conflict over the leadership may prompt them to cut their ties to the provincial party. 

"I've seen this occur not once with Dominic Cardy, not twice with Jennifer McKenzie but three times with Mackenzie Thomason," said Floyd, who ran for the provincial NDP in 2018 and 2020 and for the federal party in 2021.

"I'm at the point where I'm almost ready to bow out."

The NDP won just 1.6 percent of the popular vote in the last provincial election and has not elected an MLA to the legislature since 2003.

The party recently lost its executive director, Jennifer Stairs.

Byelection blues

Ken Chartrand, another member of the party's executive council, says Stairs quit after Thomason blocked her from running in the Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin byelection scheduled for June 20.

"She decided, 'I've had enough, I'm out of here,'" said Chartrand, who was involved with the Ontario NDP before moving to New Brunswick a year and a half ago.

"The situation's become extremely volatile at times. I've been extremely shocked at how the meetings have taken place over the last year. A lot of people are upset. … I've never seen such turmoil in my life."

After Stairs left, the party executive chose Floyd to run in Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin. But Thomason overruled that and chose former candidate Glenna Hanley instead.

Floyd identifies as gender-fluid and has accused Thomason of misgendering them in opting for Hanley in the interest of gender parity in the party's candidates in two byelections.

Thomason said Floyd had offered to run "if no one else wanted to," so he opted for Hanley because she ran in the riding before and lives in Fredericton, closer to the constituency than Floyd, who lives in Saint John.

"I didn't know Josh was gender-fluid," Thomason added. "It is recent news that has come to my attention." 

Political wilderness

Thomason led the NDP into the last provincial election as interim leader after the party was forced to delay its leadership vote twice. He was acclaimed as party leader last September.

The party has been plagued by low support and a bare-bones organization for most of the last two decades, and since 2018 the provincial Green Party's three elected MLAs have been the leading voice on the political left.

Thomason confirmed the NDP has not yet filed its last two political financing reports with Elections New Brunswick, a legal requirement.

"We are making sure that we are communicating with them to make sure we get things done," he said.

But Rebecca Rogers, another member of the provincial council, said the missed deadlines could have consequences.

"Based on what's going on right now, there's a good chance that the party could be decertified."

Thomason said the complaints about his leadership stem from the party's weak position.

"I think it's growing pains. I think we've got a lot of work to do in terms of getting where we want to be and making sure we are doing what we need to do, and we're just not all on the same page with that right now." 

Proving progressive bona fides

Council member Saly Davis said Thomason used the mute button on a video meeting last year to shut down a report from the party's visible-minority caucus, which she chairs.

She said the party is dominated by white privileged men who have "no sweet clue" about what other New Brunswickers have to deal with.

NDP governing council member Saly Davis criticized the racial makeup of the party's leadership. (Submitted by Saly Davis)

But Thomason said he wasn't trying to silence anyone during the meeting last fall.

He said two people were "screaming at each other," and he asked them to resolve their differences offline. When they said they couldn't, he got the council to table the report until a later meeting "in the interest of keeping the meeting going."

He also defended his progressive credentials. 

"That is who I am. Anybody who is saying anything else about me is just simply lying." 

Thomason said he'll respect the outcome of the July review vote, which is automatic at every party convention. It asks members whether they want a leadership race. 

But he said another change at the top will hurt the party's chances of returning to the legislature. The party hasn't had the same leader for two consecutive elections since 2003.

"It hampers the public's ability to get to know us," Thomason said. "It hampers the public's ability to trust us." 

The party has yet to find a candidate for the second byelection, which is being held June 20 in Miramichi Bay-Neguac. The deadline to nominate one is June 3.