Vaughn Palmer: Conservatives set a trap they set for BC United

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VICTORIA – The BC Legislature met Tuesday morning and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad set a trap for his rivals in BC United. Before long, they walked straight into it, while the ruling New Democrats looked on with joy.

It began with an unusual procedural motion. Conservatives called for a recorded vote on the introductory reading of a clean energy bill proposed by the BC Greens.

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The first reading, as is known, is almost always automatic. The bill will be added to the legislative agenda by voice vote as a courtesy, although opposition parties’ bills almost never make it past that stage.

But in this case Bruce Banman, the leader of the conservatives in the House of Representatives, called it “splitting,” forcing legislative secretaries to record the vote member by member.

The division bells immediately rang, summoning all MLAs to the chamber for the recorded vote.

The reasoning behind the move was not evident. Environmental leader Sonia Furstenau, who introduced the clean energy bill, raised her hands in bewilderment.

The mystery deepened when the vote was taken and the British Columbia Conservatives joined other members of the chamber in allowing the bill to advance. “Nemine contradicente,” Legislature Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd announced, invoking procedural Latin for “unanimous.”

So BC Conservatives called an unusual first reading recorded vote and then joined other members of the chamber in supporting passage. Watching from my seat in the gallery behind the Speaker, damn if I could understand what was going on.

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Then Mike Farnworth, veteran NDP MP and cabinet minister, caught my attention from where he was sitting on the government side and mouthed the words: “Wait for the next step.”

Sure enough, Rustad immediately stood up and moved on to the first reading of a bill of his own. As he later explained, the Conservatives called for a recorded vote on the Green Bill so that all the MLAs would enter the chamber and find out where they stood on their bill.

Rustad’s proposed Fairness in Women’s and Girls’ Sports Act was provocative and intended to be, as it targeted transgender athletes.

“This bill establishes that publicly funded sports and athletic teams, events, and tournaments must be classified by sex, and limits participation to participants of the biological sex that corresponds to the sex classification,” Rustad said.

“The Conservative Party believes that requiring the designation of separate sexes, athlete teams or specific sports is vital to maintaining equity for women’s and girls’ sporting opportunities in British Columbia.

“I would urge every member of this chamber to vote in favor of this legislation,” Rustad concluded, knowing that was unlikely to happen.

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His game was evident. He wanted BC United to come out for or against his bill. If so, they would be following in his wake as they have done other times recently. Otherwise, they would be on the other side of a gap that divides center-right voters.

The division was called again and the trap was sprung.

The New Democrats were not disinterested observers in this confrontation. NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon paced the government benches, advising his members to ignore the usual courtesy of approving the first reading and instead vote against the bill by principle.

The two Green MPs briefly left the chamber for a consultation and then returned to also vote against the Conservative bill. They were joined by Selina Robinson and Adam Walker, the two former NDP MLAs now serving as independents.

BC United members voted with the Conservatives, although they seemed somewhat sad at being forced into this position.

The result was 27 in favor of the first reading and 51 against. It was the first time a bill had been denied the courtesy of first reading passage since 2017, when the New Democrats and Greens teamed up to deliver a coup de grace to Christy Clark’s moribund British Columbia Liberal government.

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For Clark, those votes were inevitable, preludes to the vote of confidence that ended her days as prime minister. That was not the case Tuesday.

BC United members could have simply walked out in protest, signaling that they had no intention of participating in a charade orchestrated by the Conservatives with the help of the New Democrats.

However, they remained at their posts.

BC United House leader Todd Stone denied my suggestion that he and his members had fallen into a trap set by Rustad. He said his members voted in favor of the first reading out of respect for standard procedure in the chamber.

Their vote to allow the bill to proceed to the next stage was no different from their acquiescence to any number of government bills they have no intention of supporting in the later stages of debate.

Rustad, who ranks higher than BC United in opinion polls, had another good day. His former colleagues seem to be scared of him and he knows it.

As for the New Democrats, they are no doubt preparing an attack ad that will portray BC United and the Conservatives as right-wing mirror images of each other.

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