NDP denies pipeline war hindering its progress on major legislation
VICTORIA B.C.’s New Democrat government has reached the midpoint of its spring session without introducing any major legislation, leading the Opposition to speculate it may be distracted by the Kinder Morgan pipeline battle.
Premier John Horgan warned earlier this year how busy the spring would be with complex laws on legal marijuana distribution and caps on pain and suffering insurance claims for minor automobile incidents. Instead, the 11week legislature session reached the halfway mark on Wednesday without a sign of either bill and only a handful of relatively minor pieces of legislation on the books.
“It’s quite surprising that here we are going to round out this week and still we have really not seen much of any substance,” Opposition house leader Mary Polak said.
Polak pointed to high-profile political disputes that have monopolized much of the Horgan government’s time, including its attempt to delay the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion through court actions that now face retaliation from the Alberta and federal governments.
“One has to think that plays a role in this,” Polak said. “I suspect there’s something else in play too, and that is when you look at some issues and their caucus, I think they’re having some difficulty coming to agreement too within their own caucus. I think that’s likely stalled them.
“I know when you are in government, you can really slow down legislation when you can’t bring your caucus together on an issue. We’re seeing that on Kinder Morgan.”
Not so, said NDP house leader Mike Farnworth, who pointed to delays in drafting as the culprit.
“One of the challenges, (in) particular on the cannabis bill, for example, the drafting is a key part of that,” Farnworth said. “Especially since a lot of the regulations that are the responsibility of the federal level, we are only just finding out what they are.”
“That’s one of the reasons (federal) legalization is not going to be taking place at the beginning of July. Everyone is acknowledging it is going to be taking place later than that. The latest we’ve heard from the federal government is late summer. All of those things impact on our ability to do what is an important and very complex piece of legislation.”
B.C.’s legislation on marijuana would set in law a purchase age of 19, a licensing system and a distribution model of stand-alone stores operated by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch. The government has previously said the marijuana bill will require complex changes to more than a dozen existing laws.
The ICBC legislation will alter complicated insurance laws. “It’s complex legislation. We’ll take the time to get it right,” Attorney General David Eby said. “We’ll be introducing it this session and there will be time to debate it.”
Polak said she’s been told by the NDP that all of the government’s legislation will be introduced by May 7. That would leave less than three weeks to debate and pass the major bills.
“They’ve had quite a bit of time to get their house in order,” she said.
The NDP is confident it can get the work done before the legislature breaks for the summer on May 31, Farnworth said.