Fletcher says legislature not fit for wheelchair

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This article was published 27/06/2016 (2851 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Assiniboia MLA Steven Fletcher, a quadriplegic, says his rights as a parliamentarian are being “violated” due to a lack of accessibility in Manitoba’s legislative chamber.

On Tuesday, he moved a motion of privilege in the legislature, calling for an “acceptable” remedy to be found before the start of the fall session in early October with “full implementation” before the end of the calendar year.

Fletcher has been critical of plans to install two lifts near the Speaker’s chair that would allow those with mobility issues to move from one level to another inside the chamber.

He said Tuesday the lifts would be noisy, unsafe and unreliable. He prefers that a ramp be installed, instead, in the bowl-shaped chamber. He said the solution he is advancing would be less expensive.

Fletcher, a former federal cabinet minister and now a Progressive Conservative backbench MLA in Brian Pallister’s new government, said it was his hope and expectation that there would be more significant progress by now in designing an “appropriate” solution.

”But I understand that little to no progress has been made, and I’m very concerned that no progress will be made over the summer,” he said, adding that he fears that the matter will be allowed to drag on for months, if not years.

He currently parks his wheelchair at a specially raised desk in the rear row of the chamber.

In a 28-minute speech in support of his privilege motion, Fletcher cited parliamentary precedent to make his case that his rights are being denied.

“My motion is focused on the time-honoured privilege of freedom from obstruction, interference, intimidation and molestation,” he said, as his colleagues on both sides of the house listened attentively.

“I would say that my motion is as fundamental to parliamentary democracy as freedom of speech. This is self-evident.”

He said that he doesn’t believe there are “clearer examples in the entire history of the Westminster (parliamentary) model of a breach of privilege due to obstruction.”

Speaker Myrna Driedger reserved judgment on Fletcher’s motion.

Any renovations to the legislative chamber would be under her purview, along with the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Commission, a committee of the assembly.

Driedger said she could not comment on the progress of the planned renovations while she was still pondering Fletcher’s privilege motion.

Her predecessor, Daryl Reid, said the size and shape of the chamber made it impossible to install a ramp that would be safe to use and meet building codes. He also said the plan to employ lifts would allow an MLA with mobility issues to sit anywhere in the chamber.

Government House Leader Kelvin Goertzen, who is also Manitoba’s health minister, said Fletcher raised valid points and “is probably correct on the issue of privilege.”

Fletcher’s motion, he said, “speaks to the failure of the assembly,” past and present, to ensure the chamber is as accessible as one would expect in modern-day society.

Goertzen said since the renovations were not a government decision per se, they would not be delayed as part of the in-coming government’s review of past capital spending commitments.

The Free Press has previously reported that plans were to have permanent renovations completed inside the chamber next year.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca