As B.C.’s kids prepare to go back to school next month, the Premier says MLA’s will also be returning to Victoria sometime next month.

John Horgan says its likely the Legislature will resume either on June 15 or on June 22, although he says things will look very different.

“Minister [Mike] Farnworth has been working with Mary Polak, the Opposition House Leader, as well as Sonia Furstenau, the Green House leader on what that will look like,” he said.

“And we’ll be focused on getting the budget passed and getting the estimates process completed, and a modest number of pieces of legislation that we believe are required to keep our agenda moving forward.”

Horgan adds ‘multiple rooms’ will be used to host MLA’s to keep them psychically distant from each other, and notes that some members will be able to vote and engage in debates virtually.

“There seems to be an awful lot of television screens going up in places where there never used to be any. I suspect we’re going to see lots of ‘Hollywood Squares’ or ‘Brady Bunch’ type images of multiple MLA’s that are in different parts of the legislature or in different parts of the province” added Horgan.

“We’re going to be using more technology, and there will be, I suspect, a lot of technology that will perhaps allow far-flung members to stay in their community to be able to actually do their voting by computer.”

Its not immediately clear how many of the 87 MLAs in the province will be returning next month. A handful of them were last in Victoria for an emergency one-day sitting in March to adopt financial spending legislation and amend employment standards law to prevent people from losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And Horgan noted that like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he will be wearing a mask at times when he cannot guarantee he will meet physical distancing guidelines.

“It’s going to be an innovative time, its going to be a challenging time, I think it will be an exciting time,” said Horgan.