File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Two and Out

PETERS: Eby’s Bill 7 fights Trump with more Trump

Mar 21, 2025 | 12:30 PM

DESPERATE TIMES call for desperate measures.

That’s the logic David Eby is using to justify an alarming proposed law that would allow the premier to bypass the legislative assembly and, thus, democracy itself.

Bill 7 allows Eby and his cabinet to do basically anything it wants in the name of protecting the province’s economy from the threats being posed by our neighbours to the south.

No one would argue that our economy should be protected and that the government may need to take extraordinary steps to do that.

Two and Out

PETERS: Eby's Bill 7 fights Trump with more Trump

Mar 21, 2025

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Sometimes we realize we've made a huge blunder when it's too late to change it

Mar 20, 2025

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Time to stop hanging on Trump's every word

Mar 19, 2025

Subverting democracy, though, is a step too far.

Building on the desperate times idiom, Eby feels this bill is justified because it allows government to act quickly and nimbly.

Funny how the machinations of democracy are a little slower.

The idea is, duly elected representatives must consider an action before voting on it.

Maybe that slows things down, but it allows for new perspectives and arguments to be considered.

The whole reason Donald Trump’s actions against Canada are so bizarre and disastrous is because they are so impulsive. The few rational voices left in the Republican Party have no chance to talk some sense into the president, let alone his political opponents on the Democratic side.

Eby is meeting authoritarianism with an authoritarian move of his own. He is fighting Trump with more Trump.

Having narrowly escaped October’s election with a majority government, Eby doesn’t have a democratic mandate that assents to this level of overreach.

If Eby really wants to make the government more nimble and quick to react, there are ways to do that without brushing those pesky democratic obligations aside.

First, he can put MLAs on notice that the legislature may be recalled at any time for critical debate of bills and motions. He can allow and encourage MLAs to participate virtually if they are not able to return to Victoria.

More critically, his government can make its protectionist legislation so universally agreeable that the opposition parties help fast-track its approval.

These may be desperate times, but this bill takes massive and unwarranted liberties.

——

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.