During the 20 year term of Premier W.A.C. Bennett, the Legislative Assembly followed strict procedures and was tightly controlled. Sessions were brief, usually lasting six to eight weeks.
In 1958, for the first time, the Leader of the Opposition was given a research assistant and a clerk-stenographer. Premier Bennett also provided a small research and secretarial staff for opposition MLAs in an attempt to "see a more effective opposition in the legislature."
Bennett often kept the Legislative Assembly sitting past the normal 11 pm adjournment hour until the opposition capitulated. Between 1952 and 1972, there were on average four post-midnight sittings per session, referred to by the opposition of the day as "legislation by exhaustion."
An example of legislation by exhaustion, c. 1960.
