New Democratic Party House Leader John Horgan is mocking Premier Christy Clark for not speaking in the legislature about Bill 22, which is aimed at ending a job action by British Columbia's teachers.

While Horgan has said every NDP member will take their allotted time to speak on the bill, which imposes a cooling off period in the collective agreement negotiations with teachers and allows for penalties for illegal job action, government House Leader Rich Coleman has said no more Liberals will speak on it.

"That strikes me as odd when the leader of the government, the leader of the Liberal party, Christy Clark, the premier, has not yet spoken to the bill," said Horgan. "Moments after it was tabled it was the most important thing in front of all British Columbians, and yet she's not spoken to the bill and I understand it has no plans to. I think that's pathetic."

Several times since the introduction of the bill Clark has spoken to reporters about it, expressing support for its contents and stressing the need to pass it as quickly as possible.

Clark's director of communications, Sara MacIntyre, said the premier won't be in the legislature today as she's on the way to Ottawa today for the opening of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy networking conference, billed on its website as "Canada's largest conservative event of its kind."

"Obviously the house leader's been clear and the government's been clear on the need to pass this bill," said MacIntyre.

Bill 22 is in second reading today and is expected to have third reading next week. Representatives of both sides said there are various possibilities, including amendments and a hoist motion to stop debating the bill, that make it difficult to predict when it will pass.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.