The province is one step closer to getting anti-bullying legislation and Ottawans will get a chance to help write it.

The legislature gave unanimous consent for the government’s anti-bullying bill and the Progressive Conservative’s anti-bullying bill to advance to the committee stage Thursday—after long negotiations fraught with acrimony.

Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod said she fought in those negotiations for public consultations—including one in Ottawa on May 22.

MacLeod said there needs to be at least six people signed up to speak for the Ottawa consultation to go ahead—and she suggested city councillor Allan Hubley, who lost his son Jamie to suicide, and anti-bullying activists such as Stuntman Stu and the Be A Bengal Not A Bully group join the process.

“Those are natural folks who I think would be welcomed by the committee and play a major part in how we move forward,” she said.

The legislature gave unanimous consent for MacLeod to put her name on the PC’s anti-bullying bill—authored by Elizabeth Witmer who stepped down Friday—and keep the bill at the committee stage.

The process has never happened before, said MacLeod.

“We effectively made history,” she said. “There’s still a ways to go, but it’s encouraging that there’s been movement from all quarters of the legislature.”