There is an ongoing debate in Saskatchewan's Legislative Assembly regarding Bill 137, known as the Parents' Bill of Rights Act.The debate on the bill was adjourned at 11 p.m. on Monday and resumed after the question period on Tuesday morning.“It’s great to be back here again bright and early,” said NDP Education Critic Matt Love on Tuesday morning in the legislature.“I’d also like to thank taxpayers for funding all of this.”There was a total of 40 hours originally available for debating and discussing Bill 137.However, on Monday at 8 p.m., 41 MLAs voted in favour of increasing the time of debating Bill 137 in the second reading.There will be up to 33 hours of debate in the second reading with a limit of “five hours of debate on any clause, title, preamble or amendment thereto in a standing committee.”However, there will only be two hours of debate for the third and final reading of Bill 137. During this special sitting of the legislature, there will be revised hours for the debate. The proposed schedule will cover the rest of the week, from Tuesday to Sunday, extending from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., allowing for more time for discussion.On October 25, the Throne Speech will take place, marking the beginning of the fourth session of the twenty-ninth legislative assembly.NDP leader Carla Beck told the media that even though the debate time has doubled, it does not provide more opportunity to thoroughly examine the bill because the overall time frame has decreased.“We would expect that a bill would be introduced in the fall in the normal course of session that we would have not a matter of days or hours to debate that Bill,” said Beck. “We would have weeks. We would have the full fall session and then again in the spring.”
