VICTORIA — There was relief all around the legislature chamber this week, when the government and Opposition combined to adjourn the troubled fall session a day earlier than scheduled.
The B.C. Conservatives did their part by abandoning debate on the last few bills on the order paper, ensuring they breezed through in less than hour Wednesday afternoon.
The Opposition spared itself further scrutiny in the chamber over the unprecedented turn of events earlier in the day that made John Rustad and Trevor Halford briefly rival claimants to the Conservative leadership.
The early adjournment also spared Speaker Raj Chohan an unprecedented task of his own. He was poised to decide as early as Thursday which of the two was entitled to the position, pay and perks of leader of the Opposition.
Chouhan’s relief was made permanent when Rustad abandoned the previous day’s defiance and resigned on Thursday.
Rustad told reporters he’d realized that to fight on would only provoke a civil war in which the Conservatives would be the big losers.
He intends to say on as an MLA. His departure from the party leadership completes the remarkable saga that saw Rustad come from nowhere last year to within a few seats of the premier’s office.
He’s not the first party leader to take some time to put party and province ahead of his personal attachment to high office. But he did it.
The New Democrats welcomed the end of the session as well. At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Premier David Eby mounted an upbeat defence of government accomplishments in the six-week session.
The message was sidetracked by news of the permanent closure of the Crofton pulp mill, a mainstay of the coastal forest industry for going on 70 years.
Eby voiced another of the NDP’s multiple vows to do, you know, something to rescue the deeply troubled industry.
Forests Minister Ravi Parmar gave away more than he intended about the government’s contribution to the troubles. He conceded that the industry in general and Crofton in particular were dependent on an “uneconomic” supply of fibre. He later put out a revised statement that scrubbed that admission from the record.
Other bad news stories — emergency-room closures, the emerging threat of Aboriginal title to private property, the fiscal crisis — plagued the New Democrats throughout the session.
Wednesday’s proceedings also provided a reminder of the precarious nature of the Eby government’s hold on power.
Government house leader Mike Farnworth moved a motion on short notice to remove MLA Joan Phillip, Vancouver NDP MLA, from her seats on legislature committees.
By way of explanation, NDP whip Garry Begg put out a statement that Phillip was undergoing medical tests for unspecified “health issues.”
Phillip, the wife of top Indigenous leader Stewart Phillip, thus became the second government MLA to be on a health watch, joining cabinet minister Grace Lore.
The revised rules of the legislature do allow MLAs to participate in debates and even vote from their home offices. But the NDP’s one-seat majority requires constant attention by Farnworth, Begg and the party leadership.
Begg himself continues to fight in court to preserve his 22-vote victory in last year’s election from a challenge by the losing candidate in the Surrey-Guildford riding.
This at a time when the working relationship with the Green party shows signs of fraying as well. The Greens voted against the government on two confidence measures this fall, once in opposing the enabling legislation for the North Coast electricity transmission line, the second on the government’s rushed attempt to amend the involuntary care provisions in the Mental Health Act.
The new leader of the Greens, Emily Lowan, has suggested her party will take a tougher line in the coming talks on renewing the relationship with the NDP.
Independent MLA Amelia Boultbee added another wrinkle Wednesday by introducing a bill to make it easier to recall sitting MLAs. She proposed reducing the number of signatures required to recall an MLA. The current threshold is 40 per cent of the names on the voters’ list. The Boultbee bill would reduce the count to the actual number who voted for the MLA in the first place.
For Vancouver Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie, a possible target for recall when the 18-month waiting period expires next spring, the change would reduce the requirement from more than 15,000 signatures to fewer than 12,000.
Lest there be any doubt about the uses to which Boultbee’s legislation might be put, Premier David Eby insinuated again this week that Brodie should be recalled.
In light of these uncertainties the premier has to be alert to the possibility – the opportunity even – to seek a more secure mandate via a snap election call.
Rustad, in stepping down this week, expressed the hope that the Conservatives would hold off a leadership vote to allow time for the party to boost its membership list beyond the current count of 6,500 or so.
He suggested a campaign of eight months. But party leaders must be wondering if Eby would give them that much time to get their house in order behind a new leader.
