Slithering back to work

The timing of the announcement — after 4:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon — had the hallmark, and timestamp, of a batch of patronage appointments or layoff notices. Danny Williams-Government seems almost ashamed of the fact, but it's true: the House of Assembly will be back in session on November 25... just in time to break for Christmas.

In making the announcement, Government House Leader Joan Burke said, with no obvious sense of irony:

"The sitting of the legislature is an important part of our democratic process," said the Honourable Joan Burke, Government House Leader. "We look forward to a productive session with respectful and healthy debate on the legislative agenda and issues during the fall session of the House of Assembly."

Ah yes, healthy debate and democratic process... the trademark of the conduct of the Bow-Wow Parliament during the Danny Williams-Government years.

Still, given that Joan Burke, not so long ago, was using the "busy schedule in the house of assembly and certainly the tedious work in developing the legislation" as the reason "that we didn't have sufficient time … for the full debate that it deserved" — the "it"/"legislation" in question being the long-promised Grenfell autonomy bill — a parliamentary junkie can't help but wonder... why not bring back the super-de-dooper busy House of Assembly some time during the first 90% of the calendar year, instead of in the last 10%?