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A proposed set of changes to the rules of the Alberta legislature could allow MLAs to sit out a vote, unrecorded, should the mood strike them.

On Friday, the government released a list of 23 proposed amendments to the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, including the option for elected members to stay in their seats and abstain from voting.

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The proposal comes in the wake of United Conservative Party MLAs walking out of the house 14 times last year during votes on Bill 9, which created a 50-metre protest bubble zone around health clinics that perform abortions.

Government house leader Jason Nixon said at a Friday news conference UCP MLAs didn’t have the option to abstain from voting on Bill 9, which is why they left the room.

The proposed rule changes, which are expected to be debated in the legislature next week, would see “aye” and “no” votes recorded by the legislature clerk, but abstentions would not be recorded.