Members of the Ontario legislature wrapped up spring business on Wednesday and are getting ready for summer vacation.
On Wednesday, Government House Leader Michael Bryant introduced a bill that wrapped up the current sitting for the summer. After pushing through one last bill -- banning the cosmetic use of pesticides -- the government rose for the summer shortly after noon.
MPPs will get just over a week more vacation time than prescribed by the parliamentary calendar normally used to guide session sittings, which lists the legislature's last sitting day as June 26.
The legislature will have passed 13 bills since November, which works out to about one for every week the house was sitting. A motion to rise early cannot pass without all-party support.
Government-backed bans -- including the pesticide ban and one on smoking in cars with children -- dominated the spring sitting, as did the debate over whether it is appropriate to continue daily readings of the Lord's Prayer in the legislature.
After extensive consultation with the public, the government decided to keep the daily prayer but also add a second ritual that changes daily to represent different faiths.
The Liberal government also passed legislation limiting the speed of commercial trucks and restricting payday loan companies.
"This is one of the most productive legislative sessions in Ontario history," Bryant told CTV.ca in an email. "We accomplished a lot as part of our plan to continue strengthening our economy and investing in our people -- their skills, their hospitals, their schools and their environment."
Opposition Leader John Tory said the government's claim of productivity this sitting fails to address the province's flagging economy. Instead of taking the summer off early, Premier Dalton McGuinty should have tabled a second mini-budget to address economic concerns, Tory said Wednesday.
Tory ends the sitting still leading the Conservatives from the wings, as he remains without a seat in the legislature. One of his party's MPs would have to retire in order to give him the chance to run in a byelection. He says he's hoping to have a seat by the fall.
According to the calendar, MPPs are due to return on Sept. 22. At that time, work on bills currently on the table can be resumed.
In Ontario, a legislative session begins with a throne speech and ends when the government decides it has completed everything it has set out to do. A sitting is the length of time members works at the legislature between breaks, when they generally return home to their ridings.
The current sitting began on March 17. The session began after the government was re-elected in November.
With files from The Canadian Press and a report by CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss
