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Calgary Herald

Points of order: Who were Alberta's most unparliamentary MLAs this sitting?

Alberta MLAs returned to their constituencies this week following the early Thursday conclusion of what was at times a combative spring sitting of the legislative assembly. Article content Article content Tension often ran high inside the chamber during debates, with MLAs from both parties periodically running afoul of the assembly's standing orders that set out the rules for debate MLAs must follow. Article content Article content Such alleged violations, known as a point of order, are called out in real-time by MLAs and adjudicated by the Speaker, with those found to have have breached the rules typically apologizing and withdrawing their remarks. Article content That analysis shows that violations were most frequently called for making allegations about a fellow MLA, and while members of both parties were found to have broken parliamentary rules, the numbers show the most recurrent violator was Edmonton-Gold Bar representative Marlin Schmidt. Article content Government house leader Joseph Schow was the most frequent MLA to rise and call for a point of order and sometimes joked in the chamber about 'not skipping leg day.' Article content 'This is an important place where we come to work every day, argue and to debate the things that matter most to Albertans. Sometimes those debates get heated,' he said last week. Article content Article content 'It's a unique workplace,' said Opposition house leader Christina Gray. 'Standing up to ask questions while there's a wall of noise of people yelling at you.' Article content Making allegations against a fellow MLA amounted to just under one-quarter of both all alleged points of orders and those that were upheld, with other violations including insulting language, imputing motives, language creating disorder, as well as more minor transgressions such as referring to a member by his or her name rather than riding.