Saturday’s B.C. election may mark a milestone in the politics of the province in more than one way.
It took place under the sign of a pandemic that has turned the world we had known upside down. The global economy, with its extensive transnational lines of supply and demand, will not remain the same. National sovereignty has suddenly acquired a new importance, as borders have been closed, and country after country seeks to ensure an adequate national supply of key medical equipment.
Austerity, the byword of several decades of economic policy-making in the OECD world and beyond, has taken a big hit, as countries — and subnational units like provinces — engage in forms of deficit expenditure not seen since the Second World War.
Something else may also have been taking place, with significant long-term implications. The intense polarization that has often characterized politics, not least in B.C., has given way to a more consensual approach. In Canada at least — unlike countries like the United States or Brazil — there has been a significant level of co-operation between the federal and provincial governments. The same has been true for the interaction among political parties within B.C.
British Columbia, where divisions between right and left were once paramount, has been a model of parties coming together to face an overriding threat. We have been well served by excellent public health officers — Dr. Bonnie Henry first and foremost — but also by an excellent Minister of Health, Adrian Dix, and by close co-operation across party lines in the legislature.
One of the reasons the NDP was successful in securing a second mandate, this time with a clear majority, was because of its good management of the pandemic, when compared to provinces like Alberta, Ontario, and especially Quebec. The NDP also benefited from having run a fairly tight ship fiscally in the three years preceding COVID-19, in co-operation with the Green Party. And it was also helped, in my opinion, by the less polarizing character that has characterized provincial politics in recent years
The NDP is a moderately left-of-centre party with less of the ideological animus that characterized it 25 or 50 years ago. The Greens have emerged as an important third force, positioning themselves as an alternative voice, especially in matters related to the environment. And the B.C. Liberals, the main right-of-centre provincial party, find themselves chastened in the aftermath of their Oct. 24 defeat, forced to rethink some of their harder ideological stances of yesteryear.
So maybe, just maybe, B.C. politics may have come of age. The pandemic in particular has reminded us all that faced with challenges to our very survival, old ideological divides matter a lot less. The more we can find consensus, at least around core issues, the better.
I hope some of this carries over into the newly elected legislature and that Premier John Horgan lives up to his promise to pay close attention to relevant suggestions that come from across the aisle. Then we may discover that the pandemic, for all its devastation, may have done the politics of this province some good.
Philip Resnick is emeritus professor of political science at the University of British Columbia.
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
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