B.C.’s government legislators gave a bit more of an indication on Thursday morning just where their line in the sand is in terms of what types of bills from opposition or Independent members they will allow to be debated.
On Thursday (March 5), all of the NDP’s MLAs voted to approve first reading of a bill from Independent MLA Tara Armstrong, despite having vocally opposed her bills in the past.
Armstrong’s latest missive calls for the immediate closure of all provincially funded “drug consumption sites” and the end of income or disability benefits for people convicted of drug-related offences unless they complete a treatment program.
Jobs and Economic Growth Minister Ravi Kahlon said this subject is worth debate, unlike her recent bill, which called for the repeal of the human rights code.
“There are a lot of bills that go through first reading, which we don’t agree with, but we believe that there’s a process in place where they should have that debate,” he said. “But if they’re talking about stripping people’s basic human rights, that’s not something we believe should be debated.”
For many years, it was understood that newly introduced bills would be allowed to pass unanimously on first reading. This is the only way MLAs have a chance to read the legislation itself.
This tradition changed last year when Armstrong and MLA Dallas Brodie introduced several controversial bills that government MLAs — and many in the Official Opposition — deemed too toxic even to vote for at first reading.
Recently, government MLAs began publicly criticizing opposition MLAs who voted for these bills, equating a first reading vote with support for the bill itself.
An example occurred on Feb. 26 when Armstrong introduced a bill to repeal B.C.’s human rights code and disband the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. The NDP government MLAs and Greens voted against this, but the Conservatives voted to allow its introduction.
“I’m appalled that the B.C. Conservatives support repealing protections for people based on race, gender and ability,” Premier David Eby posted on social media about the vote. “In British Columbia, human rights should never be up for debate.”
Conservative MLAs said they just wanted to stop politicizing first readings and go back to the tradition of allowing all bills to be introduced without opposition.
On Armstrong’s consumption site bill, it seemed that all parties were content to unanimously pass it on first reading, without a vote, just like the majority of other bills. So Armstrong called a standing vote on it herself to get each MLA on the record. In the end, only the two Green Party MLAs voted against it.
Even when a bill passes first reading, it still needs to go through many hoops before becoming law, and non-government bills have a near-zero per cent chance of making it through.
“The first reading is the introduction. Second reading is where the substance takes place,” government House Leader Mike Farnworth said after the vote. “First reading is not about whether you, you know, approve it or not.”
But, he also said he has a “red line,” at which point he won’t even support first reading. Like Kahlon, he said this is legislation that seeks to strip away people’s rights.
Farnworth also points out that there seem to be more private members’ bills being introduced than ever, suggesting an objective measure ought to be applied rather than just giving every bill a free ride on first reading.
“We have had more first readings in this session than in my entire 30 years previously,” he said.
Farnworth was clear about what he thought was needed to change the situation and ensure legislative time was being used constructively.
“Quite frankly, not having that member in this house would fix it,” he said, referring to Armstrong.
Other bills introduced with unanimous support on Thursday include one from Independent MLA Jordan Kealy to make it easier for schools to prevent unwanted visitors in the wake of the Tumbler Ridge shootings, and a bill from B.C. Conservative Kiel Giddens to remove labour union requirements from government contract bidding processes.
Both of those passed first reading with unanimous support.