Mismanagement in the Legislature

May 28, 2003

Mismanagement in the BC Legislature

The closing days of the BC Legislature are looking like a Monty Python skit as the government rams 10 Bills and the budget for the Ministry of Health Services through with the use of closure. On March 26th government introduced Bill 29, the Forest (Revitalization) Amendment Act, 2003. On May 8th, government introduced Bill 45, the Forest (Revitalization) Amendment Act (No. 2), 2003. Both Bills will become law, not when debate is concluded and a vote occurs, but by a schedule that government introduced in the Legislature on May 27th that says when debate on each Bill will end and when the vote will occur.

Bill 45 amends Bill 29, but in its imposition of closure the Campbell government is forcing Bill 45 to pass before Bill 29. Hence we have the ludicrous situation described as follows by Joy MacPhail:

"Section 30 of this bill amends section 43.3 of the Forest Act, just as Bill 29 does. Section 22 of this bill amends section 35 of the Forest Act, and lo and behold, both Bills 27 and 29 amend section 35 of the Forest Act. So here we have the third piece of a legislation to amend the one section of the Forest Act."

"Section 33 of this bill amends section 44 of the Forest Act, just as Bill 27 did. Section 34 of this bill amends section 45(1) of the Forest Act. Now, section 45(1) was implemented by section 11 of Bill 27, so it's brand-spanking new. It's a bright, shiny penny, and already this government is amending that section."

"Section 38 of this bill amends section 52(3) of the Forest Act that was also amended by Bill 27 on May 6. I actually think that you'd need more than a year of Yes, Minister shows to explain all of the comedy of errors around this little ditty here. Section 39 of this bill amends section 53(1) of the Forest Act, just as Bill 29 that is before this House, not passed yet, amends…. "

"I hope nobody is getting bored, because we're only at section 40 in showing the ridiculous aspect of this bill. There's lots more to go."

"Section 40 of this bill amends section 54.4(1)(b) of the Forest Act. But guess what? Section 54.4(1)(b) is added to the Forest Act by Bill 29, and Bill 29 is still in the committee stage of this House. We have a new section by Bill 29 that hasn't even passed yet, and now we're amending it, and somehow people are supposed to know what's going on in this legislation and in this legislation and in this "revitalization" of our forest industry."

MacPhail concluded "I don't even know whether I should bring this to the public's attention, but provisions of this Bill 45 that will be law tomorrow night amend provisions found only in Bill 29, and Bill 29 is not scheduled to be debated until Thursday afternoon. So we'll be passing a law tomorrow that's meaningless, because it's based on a bill that isn't law."

Government's mismanagement of Legislative business would be funny if it weren't for the fact that the future of BC's forest industry is at stake. The Campbell government has provided no information to the public on how it is progressing with its implementation of changes to forestry. Communities and the workers in them have their economic survival at stake but government is more interested in shutting down the Legislature than in providing information on what it is doing to the industry.