Assiniboia MLA Steven Fletcher thought it would be a good idea to sabotage house business Wednesday on the first day of the fall sitting of the Manitoba legislature through a series of incoherent and pointless matters of privilege.

The independent MLA, who was tossed from Tory caucus earlier this year, used repeated matters of privilege ­— which the speaker of the house and the chamber must hear – in order to block the normal business of the legislature. It’s unclear what Fletcher was attempting to achieve other than to bring attention to himself and in some twisted way to retaliate against a Tory caucus that expelled him. But what he really did was abuse his position as an MLA and show contempt for his fellow members.

Matters of privilege are reserved for serious issues that an MLA wishes to raise, like their immediate security or safety. Most matters of privilege raised by members are in fact not real matters of privileges. They’re used and sometimes abused by members to make a point about something that irks them. The speaker normally rules on it and the business of the house carries on. But there’s a bit of loophole in this parliamentary tradition. There’s nothing stopping members from abusing the process by raising matters of privilege over and over again, each one being ruled on, challenged by the member in question and voted on by the house. That’s what Fletcher did Wednesday. He turned the chamber into a circus.

He stood on nine separate matters of privilege, on everything from legislature security to who pays for videos of MLAs making speeches in the house. Each one was overruled by the speaker, each ruling was challenged by Fletcher and then voted on by members. The house supported the speaker’s ruling on every vote.

Fletcher did this all afternoon until 5 p.m. when the house normally rises.

He made long-winded speeches on each matter of privilege, largely incoherent ones that had nothing to do with matters of privilege and everything to do with his own petty and personal gripes. It was a gong show.

In the meantime, the normal business of the house, like introduction of bills, member statements, question period and debate ground to a halt. Fletcher wasted everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money by hijacking the legislative process.

And for what? There was no purpose to his filibustering. Everything he raised as an issue either had nothing to do with house business, like how he was treated by his former caucus, or could be dealt with through other avenues, like during debate on bills or at legislative committees.

Fletcher went as far as saying his freedom of association rights were violated because he was tossed from caucus. Right.

It’s unclear what, if anything, the speaker or members of the chamber can do to prevent Fletcher from continuing this farce Thursday or in the coming days. When asked later in the hallway by reporters what he wants, Fletcher responded with some incoherent answers, including murmurs about serving country and Queen. He wouldn’t say if he planned to continue with the filibustering. He said he’d have to reflect on the events of Wednesday before deciding his next move.

What Fletcher needs is for family and friends to do an intervention and impress upon him that what he’s doing doesn’t help him, his constituents, Manitobans or his fellow MLAs. His actions are senseless and they’re achieving nothing except to prevent the legislature from conducting important business.

They should tell him to stop.