Breaking the rules at the Alberta Legislature
I was guilty... of drawing a picture
This weekly newsletter is supposed to be about old sketchbooks and comics! It’s definitely not about Alberta’s UCP government breaking a bunch of rules, as reported by the Globe & Mail’s Carrie Tait last week. (Here’s a good synopsis of the situation, written by Alberta politics watcher Dave Cournoyer.) But since that’s a topical subject in Alberta just now, I thought it might be a good time to share a sketchbook-related story about how I, too, once broke a rule in the Alberta Legislature Building. What was my transgression? I drew a picture.
In 1992, my mom became an MLA (a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta).
I’ve written about my mom’s job in a few other places, like here. This story isn’t about her. Back then, I didn’t know anything about her job, and I wasn’t interested! I lived in Toronto for almost the entire time she was in politics, and at the time, I didn’t have any plans to move back to Alberta.
But on one occasion in 1996, I visited her in Edmonton, and she invited to come to the Legislature while the Assembly was in session. Here’s where I sat (this is a photograph of the Legislative Assembly Chamber Gallery from the government website).
If you’ve ever met me in real life, you probably know that when I have to sit still and listen to something, I need to draw. If my hands aren’t doing something, I get really fidgety, and drawing has always been my way of dealing with that. Back in 1996, when I was just about to start art school, I was doing a lot of cross-hatching. Here’s a picture I drew on that same trip to Edmonton. This is meant to be Ralph Klein, who was the Premier of Alberta at the time. I think I copied this image from a magazine photo.
Anyway, back to my story. While I was sitting up in the Chamber Gallery of the Legislature that day, I had to draw something, so I drew the Speaker’s chair. Stanley Schumacher was the Speaker, at the time.
After a while, I noticed some folks down on the floor were looking up at me and passing notes, and shortly after that, some security guards came up to ask me to leave. They also took away my sketchbook. I had been aware that photographs and recording devices were not allowed in the Legislature. I had not known that drawing was not allowed, either.
Or… was it? What happened next was a bit confusing. I was told that no drawing was allowed. But when someone was sent to look up this rule, in order to show me what I had done wrong, it was apparently discovered that there was actually no official rule to this effect. So the drawing was restored to me. And then, I was told by a friendly bureaucratic person who seemed a bit amused by all this, that this incident had led them to discover an important gap in the Legislative Assembly rules. Thanks to me, I was told, the rules would be amended to specifically forbid any drawing in the future!
Did that really happen??? I never tried to find out. But just now, I took a look on the Alberta Legislature website to see if there was anything in there. This is all I found:
Code of Conduct
Visitors are asked to stand at the beginning and conclusion of the Assembly proceedings when they hear the Sergeant-at-Arms declare ‘Order!’.
When the Speaker stands, any movement through the gallery should come to a halt.
Visitors must abstain from causing any interruption or disturbance to the Assembly proceedings, this includes talking, gesturing and applauding at any time.
Visitors must not attempt to communicate in any way with the MLAs, Officers, Pages and Security personnel in the Chamber.
Visitors are prohibited from entering the Galleries wearing clothing displaying pictures or lettering that could be perceived as conveying a message to the Assembly.
Visitors should abstain from grasping or leaning over the brass railing; and from placing anything on the forwardmost ledge over the Chamber.
Nothing about drawing! But, maybe you shouldn’t take any chances. It’s pretty important for all those who enter the Alberta Legislative Assembly to refrain from breaking the rules. That’s something all Albertans should keep in mind, this week.