The March 14 Yukon News editorial contains the following sentence: “This sitting is 20 days long - every Monday to Thursday (except Easter) from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., until April 19.”
Actually, pursuant to Standing Order 75(2), the sitting will be a minimum of 20 days - that is why only 20 days are indicated on our calendar. The actual length of the sitting will be determined after the house resumes sitting.
The process for determining the length of the sitting is as follows: Pursuant to Standing Order 75, once all government legislation has been introduced (this has to be done by sitting day number five - Thursday, March 22) the house leaders (Hon. Mr. Brad Cathers, Mr. Jim Tredger and Mr. Sandy Silver) will meet for the purpose of reaching agreement upon the number of sitting days for the 2012 spring sitting. The government house leader will report to the house by sitting day number seven (Tuesday, March 27) on his deliberations with the other house leaders.
The house leaders may stipulate a sitting of between 20 and 40 days (40 being the maximum permitted under Standing Order 75(2). A 40-day sitting would end on Monday, May 28. As the standing orders provide for a maximum of 60 sitting days per year, any sitting days not used in the spring sitting are available for the fall sitting.
If the house leaders can not reach an agreement, Standing Order 75(3) says that both the spring and fall sittings for a given calendar year will be 30 days each. A 30-day spring sitting would end on Tuesday, May 8.
By the way, while some members may have ventured into the world of social media the legislative assembly has no plans to publicize its activities on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. Maybe some day.
Floyd McCormick, clerk
Yukon legislative assembly