New Brunswick MLAs who've talked for years about making the legislature more welcoming to women now face an imminent decision about how to live up to that sentiment.

Memramcook-Tantramar Green MLA Megan Mitton announced Monday, International Women's Day, that she's pregnant with her second child.

It will be the first time in 24 years that a female MLA has given birth while in office, and Mitton said it's past time to talk about how new parents who are elected members can be accommodated.

"There's an opportunity for families in our legislative assembly to work together, to have a plan in place, have policies on the books so that people know what to expect when they're expecting," said Mitton, who is due in June.

That means young women "who aren't in office yet but are thinking that they might be interested know that you can be a woman and have a baby while in office, or that if you are a younger person wanting to start a family, that that's a possibility."

Progressive Conservative house leader Glen Savoie said he agrees the legislative administration committee should examine how to "remove the barriers" to more women running for office.

   PC House Leader Glen Savoie agrees a legislative committee needs to look for ways to make it easier for women to seek office. (Radio-Canada file photo)

"We do have to look at ways to help encourage women in politics and ensure that women feel supported as part of the democratic process," he said.

Mitton, a 34-year-old second-term MLA, said she knew when she first ran in 2018 that she might have another child while in office, but it was important to her to bring a young woman's point of view to the legislature as a way of pushing for change. 

Now that she's pregnant she has already asked legislature staff about easy moves such as installing changing tables in the building's washrooms, and"I've got a commitment that we can make that happen pretty quickly."

But other issues she's raising, such as parental leave and virtual voting, aren't as straightforward.

"This is a more complicated workplace than most," she said.

MLAs face unique exemption from benefits

Unlike most employees, MLAs don't pay into the employment insurance system so they're not eligible for the benefits paid out by the system when new parents take maternity or paternity leave. 

And someone else can't simply backfill her position if she's away, because only elected members can sit and take part in debates and votes. 

Mitton says more funding for constituency staff could help her keep up with issues in her riding. And allowing virtual voting or proxy voting would let her participate without being in the capital, or would permit another MLA to vote in her place.

But virtual voting has already proven a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the opposition of Education Minister Dominic Cardy, who says it would go against centuries-old parliamentary traditions.

Cardy has blocked the adoption of virtual sittings to accommodate MLAs living in health zones under travel restrictions. He argued in part that it would open the door to MLAs participating from home for a range of other non-pandemic reasons.

A committee of MLAs that sets procedural rules is scheduled to revisit the issue Wednesday.

Fundy-The Isles-Saint John West Progressive Conservative MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason said she supports Mitton fully on "the need to have the discussion" but ideas like parental leave are not straightforward.

   PC MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason said it is worth further investigating the possibility of virtual participation in a sitting of the legislature or of a committee. (Radio-Canada)

"We know when we take this job that we are giving up part of who we are to the public," she says, and constituents will want reassurance "that they won't be left without representation."

Anderson-Mason, who twice returned to her previous job as a lawyer within weeks of giving birth, sits on the legislative administration committee that establishes salaries and benefits for MLAs.

She says virtual sittings are worth talking about because of COVID-19 and to accommodate new parents and other situations, such as MLAs who have to care for elderly parents.

She says the system should be flexible but would still need criteria for when someone can participate virtually. 

Changes reasonable, says former MLA

Former Liberal MLA Carolle de Ste-Croix, the last member of the New Brunswick legislature to give birth while in office, said other assemblies with British parliamentary traditions have been able to adjust to accommodate new parents.

"There's no reason you need to drive for four hours to put in a vote in or ask a question on committee," she said.

"What is wrong with the archaic structure of our legislature that we can't change?"

                                              Carolle De Ste-Croix is the last woman to have a child while a sitting New Brunswick MLA. (Submitted by Carolle de Ste-Croix)

In 2018, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took six weeks of maternity leave. Her deputy prime minister filled in.

De Ste-Croix, who is now a Green supporter living in Mitton's riding, was elected in Dalhousie-Restigouche East in the 1995 election. 

She gave birth two years later and asked the legislative administration committee for an increase to her riding office budget from $5,000 to $10,000 to hire someone to handle some administrative tasks.

That would have allowed her to work 40 hours a week rather than the 60 to 70 hours she had been putting in.

"That's all I was asking for, and that was denied,' she said. "There wasn't a lot of interest in trying to accommodate me. I was shut down quite a bit when it came to this.

"I was seen as very much a rebel and a troublemaker and I wasn't really asking for much." 

Eventually fellow Liberal MLA Edmond Blanchard, the finance minister from the next-door riding of Campbellton, used some extra money in his constituency office budget to hire someone to help her for six months. 

The challenge of having children while travelling to the legislature has been the biggest concern raised by women de Ste-Croix has tried to encourage to run over the years, first for the Liberals and then for the Greens.

"If we can't fix our own house, how are we going to help other New Brunswick women and other New Brunswick families who are in different situations?"

Mitton says staff have been very good about making some accommodations for her, but admits it's a 'complicated' workplace. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Mitton said one obvious reason there still hasn't been changes in the almost quarter-century since de Ste-Croix's experience "is that there haven't been that many women, and there haven't been that many young women in my position who have been elected."

Human resources staff at the legislature have been "supportive" so far, she said, adding that accommodations wouldn't just help women having babies while holding office but also benefit male MLAs who get little time with their newborn children.

Her Green colleague Kevin Arseneau only had a few hours with his wife and newborn child before having to leave for Fredericton for a sitting. 

"So I'm really hopeful that MLAs across party lines will take advantage of this opportunity to put in writing ... new policies that make our legislature more accessible and therefore also improve representation of all New Brunswickers," Mitton said.