The Liberal government is finally rolling out a full agenda in the B.C. legislature — nearly nine months after winning re-election.
Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon will reveal details today in her Speech from the Throne. The Liberals are promising a relatively heavy schedule that could include changes to liquor regulations and the Water Act.
“It’s the first full session after the election, so you’ll see the government move on some of the agenda items that we laid out in the campaign,” government house leader Mike de Jong said.
The government plans to introduce the majority of the legislation early in the session to give the Opposition more opportunity to scrutinize it, he said.
De Jong, who doubles as finance minister, also vows to table a second straight balanced budget on Feb. 18 and possibly give the public a sense of the tax regime for liquefied natural gas. The supporting legislation, however, will have to wait.
“What I’m contemplating is laying out the framework and the construct,” he said. “It is far more likely that legislation would be tabled in the fall.”
That, of course, would mean a second sitting of the legislature — something the Liberals have rejected in years past.
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” said NDP house leader John Horgan, who has been critical of the Liberals for avoiding Victoria.
He said the NDP will introduce two private members’ bills this session to try to improve the Liberals’ work habits.
The first will make it law that the legislature sits every fall, rather than leave it at the whim of the government. The other will ensure that standing committees actually meet; at present, many of them exist but never do anything.
Horgan said the select standing committee on Crown corporations is a perfect example of one that should see more action.
“With these Crowns out of control — driving up affordability in Hydro, in insurance rates, and certainly in transportation and ferry fares — why wouldn’t you call in the CEO and ask him some questions?”
Horgan said the NDP will also try to delay the Liberals’ plan to shift question period from the afternoons to mornings on Tuesday and Thursday.
The NDP says it believes it’s a calculated effort to shield ministers from stories that break later in the morning and that it will undermine the Opposition’s ability to hold government to account.
The NDP’s own democratic processes, meanwhile, could prove a further distraction for the Opposition this session.
Leader Adrian Dix is on his way out after losing last year’s election, and the race to replace him is expected to heat up in the coming weeks.
Dix remains in charge for now and that could work against the NDP, said Allan Warnke, a political scientist with Vancouver Island University. “Just his mere presence around there as a leader is a reminder of what happened in the last provincial election,” he said. “I can tell the morale is still really low in the NDP.
“I’m not anti-Dix. As a matter of fact, I like the guy. But frankly, this may be one time where they should have chosen an interim leader.”
