I introduced several pieces of legislation, including repealing the $10 fee for freedom-of-information (FOI) requests, protecting bear dens, and banning prolonged solitary confinement in corrections facilities. These pieces of legislation are aimed at making British Columbia a more transparent and safer place to be...
Bills
Changes to Strata Act leaves many questions unanswered
As we get to the last week of the Fall sitting, the BC NDP government tabled amendments to the Strata Act to remove rental and age restrictions. This was a recommendation of the Rental Housing Task Force I participated in in 2018. This recommendation has not been acted on until now. It was one of the more contentious...
Housing legislation aims to increase supply. Will it?
Premier David Eby begins to move his housing agenda forward two new bills in the last week of session. Bill 43 aims to increase supply. However, significant questions remain about what kind of supply is being built. In addition to market housing supply, will these changes lead to affordable non-market housing such as...
Changing the law is the first step in improving Indigenous child welfare in British Columbia
The good news is that the Ministry of Children and Family Development has taken the first step in improving Indigenous child welfare in British Columbia. As the Minister said in her introductory speech of Bill 38: Indigenous Self-Government in Child and Family Services Amendment Act, "this proposed legislation would...
Changes coming to WorkSafeBC
Bill 41 makes seven key changes to the Workers Compensation Act to better support workers (detailed below). Five of these changes fulfil recommendations from the Patterson report; all of the recommendations work to bring BC in line with other Canadian jurisdictions. - This legislation establishes a more independent...
Major changes to health professions and occupations to add oversight
I spoke to Bill 36: Health Professions and Occupations Act. It must be the heftiest, all 645 clauses, that has been tabled in my time in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. This is new legislation comes out of the work of a steering committee created by the Minister of Health, Hon. Adrian Dix, and including the...
Bill to protect bear dens in British Columbia
Currently there is no province wide protection for bear dens. While they are protected on Haida Gwaii and in the Great Bear Rainforest, and some protection by logging companies for the vast majority of the province bear den habitat is vulnerable to logging. The private members bill that I tabled today corrects that,...
Proposing changes to limit the use of solitary confinement in provincial justice system
Today, I tabled legislation to ban the use of prolonged solitary confinement in provincial correctional facilities for both adults and youth. Solitary confinement is defined by the United Nations (UN) as any confinement, seclusion, or segregation of individuals for more than 22 hours a day without meaningful human...
Low Carbon Fuels Act positive step to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, more urgency needed
In the first Bill addressing climate change since the BC NDP got their majority government, the Low Carbon Fuels Act is upgrading the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act (2008). With 37% of the greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia coming from transportation, our pathway to meeting our greenhouse gas reduction targets...
Labour policy lurch continues in British Columbia, more protections needed for workers
For decades labour policy has lurched back and forth. This is a result of a legislative assembly previously split by two establishment political parties, BC NDP and BC Liberals, aligning as pro-labour and pro-business respectively. This has not benefited workers or business owners. Neither of these entrenched "sides"...
Province acquiring land for affordable housing in transit-oriented development
In Bill 16, the provincial government is seeking to give the British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority the power to purchase land to allow for more transit-oriented developments. This is a positive change that has the potential to create more deeply affordable housing near transit routes. With inflation...
Bill 12: BC NDP again demonstrate contempt for democracy in tabling Bill with no detail
Bill 12: Property Law Amendment Act is the legislation promised by Minister Selina Robinson (Finance) last Fall to introduce a “cooling off period” which government is now calling a “Homebuyer Protection Period.” This Bill is another example of the BC NDP using enabling legislation to give them the power to create...
BC NDP continues supporting fossil fuel expansion in a climate emergency!
Following the tabling of the Declaration Act Action Plan, I rose in Question Period to ask Premier John Horgan how his BC NDP government can justify the expansion of fossil fuel extraction and liquefaction infrastructure knowing the human rights violations, environmental and Indigenous rights. In my follow-up question...
Wildlife Act amendments acknowledge Indigenous hunting agreements
In my second reading speech to Bill 14: Wildlife Amendment Act 2022 I share some of the W̱SÁNEĆ stories about our relationship with nature and all other life. The amendments in Bill 14 provide for the official acknowledgement of sheltering agreements between Indigenous Nations. In addition, the Bill provides a...
Bill 3: Annual adjustments to parks and protected areas but budget must increase
Each year the provincial government tables a Bill to adjust parks and protected areas in British Columbia. Mostly the Bill makes minor adjustments to boundaries, adding new lands, and makes name changes official. Unfortunately, this edition of the Bill does not add any new Indigenous names to protected areas and in my...
Bill 2: Legislation to support the rebuilding of Lytton, BC
Last summer during the peak of the heat dome Lytton, BC registered the highest temperatures ever recorded in Canada, 49.6C (121.3F). Just a day later the entire town burned to the ground. Lytton residents want to move home and eight months later and the provincial government is still struggling to get the recovery...
House management challenging again for BC NDP in Fall session
We have seen a troubling erosion of democracy under the BC NDP. My colleague Sonia Furstenau and I have raised our concerns several times. It feels like the government has a disregard for the democratic process. In the Spring sittings, we have seen less time provided for debate on Budget Estimates, the line-by-line...
Setting priorities for amendments to forestry policy
This Fall sitting of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly Minister of Forests, Hon. Katrine Conroy, has tabled more than 150 pages of amendments to forestry policy. We have long awaited changes to forestry policy, however, tabling these Bills with only a few days to debate them is disrespectful to our democratic...

Bill 22: BC NDP government continues to disrespect the Legislative Assembly
A lot has been said about Bill 22 - Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) Amendment Act, 2021. It is rare that a Government Bill garners so much attention. Even controversial Bills move through the process smoothly. Bill 22 is unique because it sets back decades worth of progress on founding democratic principles like the...
Forest Statutes Amendment Act changes and Indigenous consultation
I welcome many of the much needed changes in the Forest Statutes Amendment Act. It was a mistake to turn forest planning over to the industry twenty years ago, so it is important that they no longer are responsible for the forestry operations and landscape plans. In this speech at second reading I recognize these much...
Attempting to send the Freedom of Information amendment Act to the committee where it belongs
The BC Liberals moved a motion to Bill 22, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act, 2021, to stop the current process of amending the Act, and to send it to the Special Committee that has been established by the whole House to review the Act as per the statutory requirement of the legislation....
A Question of Privilege: The Response from Mr. Speaker
I raised a Question of Privilege regarding the introduction of Bill 22 - Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act, 2021 and the Special Committee to Review the same Act that was appointed last summer and that I am a member of. The summary of my argument is that the Special Committee's work is...
Bill 22 – When the Freedom of Information is not free
On Monday the BC NDP government tabled highly controversial legislation to amend the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA). While their Members are standing and downplaying the impacts of the legislation on the access to information and government transparency and accountability. As we...
Speaking to British Columbia’s COVID-19 paid sick leave
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 global pandemic British Columbia has needed a paid sick leave benefit so workers who are feeling sick do not go to work. Advocates have long stated that this is a critical program that will limit transmission of the disease in the workplace. The program covers three days pay. Three...
Bill 6: Making British Columbia more accessible for all
For the past four years the BC NDP government has been working on accessibility legislation. The project was started by Shane Simpson, the former Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and after a lot of consultation the government has finally tabled their new law. It is enabling legislation. In other...
Amendments to Bill 4 address concerns about Indigenous hunting rights
During the debate on Clause 5 of Bill 4, the Firearms Violence Prevention Act, I raised numerous concerns with the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Hon. Mike Farnworth, regarding the potential impact and overreach on Indigenous hunting rights. Our debate went more than an hour. In the end Minister...