Prolixity and verbosity

By popular demand*, here is a rank-size chart showing the number of words spoken by each identifiable ordinary Hon. Member during the life of the 47th legislature.

"Identifiable" means that utterances by "An Hon. Member" and "Some Hon. Members" are excluded. "ordinary" means that the words spoken by the chair occupant — Speaker or Chair of Committee of the Whole — are also excluded. And "Hon. Member" means that words spoken by others, such as the Clerk, Sergeant at Arms, or "strangers", are also excluded.

Each member's record is represented by a vertical column, cleverly colour-coded along traditional lines, reflecting the current political affiliation of that member. Pale colours indicate an MHA who was not in office for the entire duration of the Legislature; i.e., the seven members who resigned and the seven who were elected in the subsequent by-elections. (This does not apply to Kevin O'Brien, late of Gander, who resigned after the House had already risen for the summer.) The darkest blue colour is reserved to represent the words spoken by three PC MHAs as Premier. (Click to enlarge).

Members who resigned their seat (RS) and who were elected in by-elections (BE) are noted, as are the two members who have served as Speaker (Sp), whose word-count as ordinary members would necessarily be depressed by virtue of having held that office.

The winner, and it's not a huge surprise, is the Hon. Member for Burgeo–La Poile. And, again no surprise, the high end of the chart is dominated by opposition members, who have fewer members than the governemtn among whom to divide the daily back-and-forth of debate.

A few government backbenchers really phoned it in. And one also can't help but feel it would have been nice to have heard more from Mr. Pollard.



* One person asked.