Legislative life is looking up for the Liberals

The following article appeared in the Queen's Park Observer, April 22nd, 2025.

COMEBACK KIDS — The Grits may not have their leader in the House, but life in the chamber is changing big time now that they’ve pulled off the feat of achieving recognized status — something they weren’t able to do in the last two election rounds.

LUCILLE COLLARD, who has repped Ottawa-Vanier since 2020, was one of the 14 Liberal MPPs elected in February, helping her party clear the 12-seat threshold for official status in the Legislature, which comes with legislative tools like more staff, resources and speaking time during debates — indeed, the Grits devoted all of their questions in the first Question Period to the Therme controversy (more on that momentarily).

For Collard, who is taking on the role of Liberal House Leader once again, her job is about to get a whole lot easier.

But, as another Grit MPP confessed to me, there is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and the bigger the caucus, the trickier caucus management becomes. Think: herding cats.

Here’s what Collard had to say about navigating the Liberals’ renewed legislative life.

Is it fair to say things in the House are going to be very different, even easier, for you guys now that you have recognized status? Yeah. Before, I was kind of playing both House Leader and Whip for a small group — making sure people knew what was happening, when they needed to be in the chamber, all of that. It’s definitely going to change now. We have more members, so there’s more coordination needed. But now I have an Assistant House Leader, a Whip, and an Assistant Whip. So, there you go.

What’s specifically going to change procedurally, and how that will help you hold the government to account? With official party status, we now get resources, including a full Caucus Services Bureau to support MPPs. That’s huge, because we were doing a lot of that individually before. We’ll also get more time to speak in the House, lead off on debate days, and more questions — we’re going from two to five or six questions per day, with supplementaries. That gives us many more opportunities to hold the government accountable. It’s going to make a big difference.

So you won’t have to rely on the NDP or PCs being nice and allowing the Liberals to speak during Question Period anymore? Exactly. We won’t have to ask for unanimous consent. We’ll have the right to speak on ministerial statements and all the other things we used to need permission for. Now we just get the opportunity. That’s a big shift.

Do you also get a seat on the Board of Internal Economy — the Legislature’s cross-partisan committee that helps determine legislative spending and budgets for MPPs, such as travel and living allowances? Yeah, we do. JOHN FRASER will be on the Board. I’m the designated alternate if he’s not available.

Newly elected Speaker DONNA SKELLY has said she wants to bring down the temperature in the chamber. Have you spoken with the PCs or NDP yet about how things are going to go in the House? Even if there’s not coordination, there’s usually at least some discussion, right? Yeah. I reached out to the Government House Leader [STEVE CLARK] and we’ve agreed to meet and I’m hoping to have regular meetings with both him and the NDP House Leader [JOHN VANTHOF]. The goal is to get as much information as possible so we can be prepared in the House. That part is still a bit of a variable — we don’t know yet how transparent they’ll be. I hope we’ll see more collaboration. Mr. Clark knows me, so hopefully that helps.

You sound optimistic. Are we seeing MPPs enter their soft era? It remains to be seen if the games from before — holding back information, creating urgency — will continue. But I’m hopeful. It’s a new mandate. There’s no reason to be harsh. We need to work together. The real threat isn’t each other, it’s what’s happening south of the border. So hopefully we see a change in tone.

The Liberals haven’t had a permanent party leader sitting in the House for the last two Parliaments. What’s it going to be like not having BONNIE CROMBIE on the bench? She won’t be in the House, but she’ll be around to do scrums. We see her daily when we’re at Queen’s Park. John Fraser is going to be our leader in the House, just like before. He’ll lead off debate and take on the first questions in Question Period. We’ll share the load — it doesn’t have to be the same person every time. And Bonnie will be there to talk to the press. We made it work before, and we’ll make it work again.

What’s top of the list when it comes to Private Members' Bills? Has caucus discussed priorities and what the first Liberal-proposed legislation will be? Personally, I’m looking at the bills I tabled before that didn’t make it through [after dissolution]. I’ll be re-tabling some of those. Other returning members are doing the same. As for new bills, we’ve had discussions and floated ideas, but nothing’s finalized yet. We’re not quite there in terms of having concrete titles or language ready.

Can you give us a sense of how caucus meetings are going with all the new faces? Any troublemakers? We’re all troublemakers — in a good way [laughs]. The dynamic is really strong. It’s great to have people with different levels of expertise and experience. There's a lot of collegiality and idea-sharing. It’s fun. I’m really impressed with the new members. They’re knowledgeable, motivated, and ready to go. It’s inspiring. I remember when I started, I was intimidated. They might be too, but they’re not showing it.

Will you be running for Deputy Speaker again? That’s not something I plan to put my name forward for. As House Leader, I’ve already got my hands full. Someone else in the caucus might be interested, though.

Can you tell me who? I’m hoping ANDREA HAZELL will be considered. That would be great. Of course, we can only make suggestions — it’s ultimately the government’s decision [via a motion]. We get to debate it, but it really depends on the mood in the House that day.
I feel like all MPPs are pretty collegial at the beginning of a new session, then things start to shift and get spicier after a few Question Periods. Yeah, that’s the name of the game.

Any advice for the rookie MPPs? They need to get their inaugural speeches done the first time they stand to debate, or they lose that chance. So that’s the priority. We’re also prepping them to ask good questions. But they’re already full of ideas and really engaged.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.