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Oh hello there, British Columbia legislature, nice of you to make an appearance. Look at you, then, wearing your Throne Speech best and all!

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Only it’s been a while, hasn’t it? When did we see you last? November, I think it was. And here we are now, what, in the middle of February? Nice work if you can avoid it. (Hope you got some ski — whoops, sorry, sensitive topic.)

Still, at least the B.C. legislature is in session, one of only three provincial houses to open its doors so far this year. (Newfoundland’s has sat for all of four days, Quebec’s for three.) The rest are dark. Which would be fine, I suppose — it’s Christmas, after all, or rather it was seven weeks ago — if there were any prospect of them making up for lost time.

But in fact throughout the year it is much the same: on any given day you are more likely to find your provincial legislature closed than open. Across the country, the average number of legislative sitting days in a year has fallen to just 56. Thirty years ago, it was 70 days a year: not exactly taxing (you should pardon the expression) even then, but 25% more days than legislators work now.