Premier David Eby backed down on his controversial anti-tariff legislation Friday, after a chorus of critics, including two former premiers, an attorney general and half a dozen business groups, lined up to oppose what they say is an unjustified power grab by the NDP government.
Eby said he’ll remove a clause from the bill that would have given cabinet the ability to change any law without approval of the B.C. legislature for two years.
“My interest in being able to move quickly to respond to the threat that British Columbia is facing got the better of, certainly, my understanding that the safeguards that people are calling for need to be there as well,” Eby told reporters.
“I’ll make sure that we're addressing those safeguards, that we're finding a way to achieve all these goals, if that's possible, and bring the bill back as a separate bill for the legislative assembly.”
The remaining of the legislation, called Bill 7 — which authorizes government to remove interprovincial trade barriers, cancel U.S. procurement contracts and tax American supply trucks in B.C. — will go forward and pass this spring, said Eby.
Former Liberal premier Gordon Campbell, and former NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh both slammed the Eby government in the past week for the overreach.
Campbell accused Eby of taking advantage of people’s fear over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs by using “the move of an aspiring autocrat.”
“Democracy is messy. It can be frustrating, but it is a necessary check on autocratic power,” Campbell wrote in a Glacier Media op-ed.
“The best, and constitutionally correct, way to fight Trump’s action is not by suspending our democratic institutions, but rather by fully and carefully considering our response to U.S. actions in our constitutionally enshrined parliamentary system. There is no need or reason to give Eby the dictatorial power he seeks.”
Campbell called the bill “unprecedented” in British Columbia history.
Dosanjh said the NDP was casting away the very democratic governance of the province by consolidating power in the executive at the expense of the 93 MLAs elected by British Columbians to debate and pass legislation.
“This is a fundamental brutal assault on our constitution, on our way of governing ourselves and it is not warranted by anything I can imagine,” Dosanjh told the Northern Beat website.
“It just boggles the mind.”
“I can’t imagine any circumstances under which any government in a democracy should be given these powers in a blank cheque,” he added.
Eby said the authorities were intended to give government flexibility to respond quickly to protect B.C.’s economy from the erratic executive orders of U.S. President Donald Trump.
He said Friday he still wants a version of the bill to speed up government’s response, but understands people were concerned about the two-year timeline to bypass the legislature, and other missing checks and balances.
“If there's a chance for us to retool this and ensure that the safeguards are in place to make people feel comfortable that there's democratic and legislative oversight of these incredibly important provisions, then we will do so,” he said.
Eby suggested “some sort of committee of the legislative assembly to have a look at those orders as they’re brought in” as well as shorter timelines.
“I'm happy to take it back and ensure that we have that balance right,” he said.
“As much as I would like to be perfect, I am not. And so the goal here is to respond to the fact that we didn't get the balance right on this one, but that we do need this authority. We do need the ability to respond quickly, and we'll work with those key stakeholders that we committed to work with at the beginning of this process to get it right and ensure that they're comfortable with these provisions going forward.”
Eby cited pushback from his tariff response committee, which includes First Nations leaders, business groups and labour organizations, as a major driver of his decision to pivot.
Business leaders, some of whom initially supported the bill before realizing its scope, had united to push back in the last week.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, B.C. Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of B.C., Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Independent Contractors and Businesses Association in B.C. and Urban Development Institute all wrote to the premier and Attorney General Niki Sharma in the last week asking the interprovincial trade component of the bill be split off separately, because their members cannot support the unjustified expansion of power the NDP is proposing.
“While we accept there is a common threat to our economic prosperity that lies outside our national borders, we are not at war,” wrote chamber president Fiona Famulak.
“Bill 7, as written, provides the government with unwarranted sweeping powers with little/no guardrails and without accountability to British Columbians through the Legislative Assembly.”
At least two law firms also raised alarm bells, the most recent being Dentons.
“As currently drafted, the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) is a draconian measure,” the company wrote.
The firm compared Eby’s steps to those of Trump’s use of broad, unchecked, sweeping powers to bypass democratic institutions. “Fear too often has been used by governments to justify undemocratic action,” the firm wrote.
“British Columbia should be careful not to do the same.”
In other news
• Finance Minister Brenda Bailey told businesses this week to prepare to stop charging the carbon tax to consumers as of April 1, with her government set to introduce legislation March 31. She offered no details on how government intends to cover the $1.8-billion revenue loss — which, if left unchecked, would increase B.C.’s forecast deficit to almost $13 billion.
• U.S. tariff threats are hanging over B.C.’s housing market — a political problem for the government both in terms of its promises to increasing housing construction, and the $2.2 billion it forecasts in property transfer taxes from real estate sales.
• Affordability concerns at the grocery store are also top of mind of British Columbians as they grapple with tariff concerns, according to Mario Canseco. To help, the government announced this week that ICBC has begun sending $110 rebate cheques to motorists.
• Vancouver’s mayor and councillors have a long list of requests for whomever forms the next federal government, from meaningful bail reform, to shelter funding, port policing and infrastructure funding.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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