Thursday (May 29) marked the end of a contentious legislative session that began with 56 fresh faces entering the legislature, a resurgent B.C. Conservative Party taking over as the Official Opposition and a tariff threat upending the government’s entire legislative agenda.
The house will be in recess for the summer, scheduled to return on Oct. 6.
This was the first session for the B.C. Conservative Party as Official Opposition since the fall election, when the Tories came from the political wilderness to squash B.C. United and seize control of 44 seats.
It now has 41 seats after three members left to become Independents.
These members left with Vancouver—Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie, who drew the ire of several members of the Conservative caucus for comments casting doubt on the evidence of children’s graves at residential schools.
Even after Brodie left, rumours of dissension in the caucus remain, with some disagreements spilling into the open.
This includes a publicized spat after Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs invited a group opposed to abortion and gender transition for youth to the legislature, to the displeasure of Surrey—Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko.
Rustad preached unity on Thursday, standing in front of his entire caucus as they nodded along to his session-ending speech.
“We are united on the issues of values in this province,” he said.
He also pledged support for dissenting views.
“I am proud of the fact that there could be some differences in voices,” he said. “We're here to represent all British Columbians.”
Learning the ropes
Out of 93 members across all parties, this was the first session for 56. At times, this became evident in debates with errors in parliamentary procedure.
At one point, when the Conservatives were intent on delaying Bill 7, the controversial tariff response legislation, it came to an abrupt vote on second reading because the Tories did not have the necessary people in the house to keep debate going.
Government House Leader Mike Farnworth acknowledged Wednesday that this also impacted the government’s agenda.
“We're dealing with a brand-new caucus, new ministers, new MLAs,” he said. “Likewise, on the other side of the house.”
The two BC Green Party MLAs were also rookies, but managed to push some of their agenda through by cutting a deal with the NDP.
“We've upheld the tradition of punching above our weight,” interim party Leader Jeremy Valeriote said on Thursday.
After some wins and losses — notably on Bill 14 and 15 — the two Green MLAs say they are satisfied with the agreement overall, but will take another look later this year.
“It was acknowledged right at the outset that we'd have differences over legislation,” Greens MLA Rob Botterell said. “But fundamentally, it's working, and this fall we'll have an opportunity, because it's a one-year agreement, to renegotiate as needed.”
An agenda upended
In the throne speech that opened the session, the government invoked the Second World War when referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
Stewart Prest, a University of British Columbia political science professor, said this forced the government to back up its rhetoric about needing to take strong action to combat tariffs, and to push back against the narrative that the government can’t get things done.
This resulted in the creation of bills 14 and 15, which go beyond the trade-related powers of Bill 7 to expedite energy and infrastructure projects.
Despite widespread opposition to those bills, Premier David Eby would not back down.
Prest said it was unprecedented to use the speaker to break a tie, even though the bills were presented as confidence motions.
“It really suggests that the NDP had to use up all its political capital just to get these bills passed,” he said.
Now, the NDP will need to show they can take action.
“The problems that were there in 2024 are still there in 2025,” Prest said. “And the B.C. NDP are going to be judged on how they're able to respond to ongoing challenges like housing, like affordability and like reconciliation and inaction on the environment.”
