 Cardinal served as a backbencher from the time of his election until Ralph Klein became premier in December 1992.During this time, he sponsored the "Metis Settlements Land Protection Act" of 1990, a government bill designed to give Metis settlements ownership over the land.It passed without significant controversy, though Liberal Nicholas Taylor questioned a portion of the bill that stipulated that the land, as it was communally owned, could not be mortgaged.