Nine month legislature lapse shows David Eby’s NDP government has hit the snooze button

If October’s provincial election was a wake-up call for the BC NDP government, as some have suggested, then Premier David Eby has hit the snooze button until February.

Heralded by many as a “man of action” early in his premiership, Eby’s signature urgency to deliver on his election campaign promises disappeared in late November, amid the province’s perpetual spiral of overlapping health, housing and environmental crises. 

On Nov. 6, with judicial recounts underway to finalize election results, Eby acknowledged British Columbians “want to see urgent action taken on their priorities.”

But only 16 days later, despite pledging to hit the ground running as soon as his new cabinet was sworn in, Eby’s government announced the legislature would not sit again until February, making it a nine-month stretch without a legislature in session or a chance for opposition parties to grill the government. Even a promised legislative sitting to elect a speaker — the first order of business for a new government — was scrapped after the premier’s office confirmed Raj Chouhan will serve in the role again.

The premier’s office insisted the government never promised a fall session.

But notably, Eby’s office announced there would be no swift return to the legislature only after the judicial recounts confirmed a majority government for the BC NDP.

In contrast, Saskatchewan began its legislative session less than a month after its provincial election, which was held nine days after B.C.’s. Both provinces had fixed election dates, and re-elected incumbent governments with reduced majorities.

Similarly, the government of New Brunswick returned to the legislature for a fall session within a month after its provincial election, held two days after B.C.’s election. While New Brunswick also had a fixed election date, it elected a new government to office.

B.C. cabinet ministers still don’t have mandate letters from Eby 

For more than a year in the lead-up to the provincial election campaign, Eby portrayed the surging BC Conservatives as a “threat to our functioning democracy.” 

The sanctimony culminated a week prior to election day, as Eby pleaded with Green voters for their support in order to stave off the existential threat posed by BC Conservative Leader John Rustad, and called his main rival “a threat to the things we all care about.” 

“The stakes are higher in this election than they’ve ever been before,” Eby said at a campaign event in Squamish, B.C., in the riding of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.

(The BC Greens won that riding, but their share of the total provincial vote dropped from 15 per cent in 2020 to about eight per cent in 2024.)

Eby asked Green voters to imagine themselves waking up to Rustad as their premier.

But, at no point did Eby indicate that if he remained premier British Columbians would wake up to a legislative chamber vacant for a total of nine months.

As the legislature must legally sit once every year at a minimum, this decision is well within the government’s right. But without a legislature in session, opposition parties are deprived from holding the government accountable to its promises, and the media, essential for a healthy democracy, is also limited in its access to politicians.

Eby defended the delay, citing the need for new cabinet ministers to undergo training. However, the steep learning curve for new cabinet ministers is not reason to postpone the democratic norm of a government demonstrating it has the confidence of the legislature.

If democracy is so precious that it can be upended by an election result, as Eby claimed, then it should require continuous engagement — not a lengthy pause — to uphold it.

Eby is not ‘hitting the ground running’ as he promised 

Compounding Eby’s antidemocratic reasoning, his cabinet was sworn in without mandate letters, denying the public any insight into the BC NDP government’s post-election priorities while the legislature remains inactive.

Mandate letters outline policy objectives for cabinet ministers, helping to set the government’s priorities. They are typically issued after a general election, throne speech or cabinet shuffle.

The public release of these letters provides much-needed transparency and a means by which government ministries can be held accountable. 

The absence of those letters is a stark departure in policy from an ambitious leader who has historically operated with exigency, under the pretext that British Columbians want results sooner rather than later.

Investigating problems. Exploring solutions

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for a weekly dose of independent journalism.

SUBSCRIBE

Investigating problems. Exploring solutions

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for a weekly dose of independent journalism.

SUBSCRIBE

After all, this is not the first time Eby has promised to move quickly. Prior to replacing John Horgan as premier in 2022, he made that promise verbatim and outlined an ambitious legislative plan for his first 100 days in office. 

In 2023, Eby’s government passed 46 pieces of legislation during two sessions. In 2024, the government passed 27 pieces of legislation.

In expediting action on housing, health care, the environment and public safety, Eby told The Tyee last August, “It’s critically important to me that we get those initiatives advanced as far as possible.”

BC NDP takes post-election ‘hiatus from democracy’

Given the BC NDP campaign promises that require legislation — some of which were promised with immediacy — there is no shortage of policy objectives that could have filled a fall legislative session, let alone been included in ministerial mandate letters.

The most prominent BC NDP campaign promise was middle-class tax relief “starting immediately.” Eby promised voters a direct tax rebate ($1,000 for households or $500 for individuals) “right away,” to help British Columbians with the affordability crisis before the government could implement an equivalent tax cut for 2026. 

In November, Eby conceded his tax rebate required legislation. But since the legislature won’t sit until Feb. 18, with the provincial budget released March 4, it is unclear when exactly British Columbians will receive their promised cheques. 

Given how aggressively Eby courted Green voters, the delay to convene the legislature also does not prioritize the election promises he made to advance climate change action and protect the environment. Those promises include phasing out the herbicide glyphosate’s use in forestry, improving watershed security and fully implementing recommendations from the 2020 old-growth forest strategic review. 

On advancing reconciliation efforts with First Nations, the BC NDP government has yet to even outline what it hopes to accomplish following a contentious backlash in 2024. Eby abandoned proposed amendments to the Land Act last February, and in October he confirmed his government would not pursue the amendments again. 

Eby has still pledged to align provincial laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet, the legislative priorities for the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation remain vague, while his government hopes to amend the Mineral Tenure Act and create a framework of decision-making with First Nations on public land use.

There are also continuing crises in health care, housing, toxic drug deaths and a bleak economic outlook that demand the government “hit the ground running.” While the legislature may be on an extended break, these crises are not.

Eventually, British Columbians will have the opportunity to decide whether or not the BC NDP government delivered on its promises —  or, at least, tried to deliver on its promises. Eby had the opportunity to begin building that case in early November. But, like the fall legislative session, he chose to forgo it.