Vaughn Palmer: Greens were prophetic on how John Horgan’s NDP would govern

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VICTORIA — The New Democrats have finally abandoned legislation, promoted by Premier John Horgan, that would have allowed short-term detentions of young people who overdose on drugs.

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But shed not a tear for the permanent scrapping of a measure that was initially introduced as Bill 22 in the 2020 session of the legislature.

The bill, though it was never passed into law, has already performed a greater service for the NDP than many a measure that did make it into the statute books.

For Bill 22 provided Horgan with the pretext for calling a snap election.

The saga began in June 2020 when then-minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy introduced amendments to the Mental Health Act to “establish short-term stabilization care as a means of improving the care and safety of youth immediately following a substance-use medical emergency.”

She soon ran into heavy opposition out of concerns that the power to detain a youth against his or her would be counterproductive. Opposed were the representative for children and youth, the chief coroner, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the BC Civil Liberties Association.

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The turning point came in July of that year, when Green MLAs Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen advised the minority NDP government that they wouldn’t support the bill. Lacking the votes to ensure passage, Darcy paused the bill, despite the premier saying it was “supported by many,” especially parents of overdose victims.

Two months later Horgan had his revenge.

The New Democrats, in their power sharing agreement with the Greens, had agreed not to call an election before the written-into-law date of Oct. 16, 2021. But on Sept. 21, 2020, Horgan repudiated the deal and called an early election on the grounds that the relationship with the Greens had become unstable.

As evidence, he cited first and foremost the Green refusal to support Bill 22.

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“Having met with parents who’ve lost children, I was not prepared to accept that,” he told reporters at the kickoff media conference of the election campaign. “That was really the deciding issue for me.”

In the course of his self-serving rationalization for the early election call, Horgan never acknowledged the overwhelming opposition to the bill from Indigenous leaders, the child and youth representative and others.

He simply hung the breakdown on the Greens.

Horgan rode that justification throughout the campaign, vowing the bill would be back on the order paper if he won the election.

When he was returned to office with a majority, he remained wedded to the principle of involuntary detention, repeating his rationale again and again.

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This time last year, he was still on that theme, still vowing to bring back Bill 22.

“It is coming back, and I wish that it had passed in the last parliament,” he told reporter Cindy Harnett of The Victoria Times Colonist in May 2021.

“It’s inconceivable, as a parent, to think of a 12-year-old being addicted to opioids and losing their life as a result of an overdose, when we could have taken steps to avoid that,” said Horgan.

“If we have access to medical care, we should make sure that everyone gets that medical care. I firmly believe that.”

Then last week Sheila Malcolmson, Darcy’s successor as minister of Mental Health and Addictions, announced that the measure was dead and buried for good.

After the July 2020 backlash against the bill, the province had undertaken further consultations with First Nations, families, health-care experts and drug-users.

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“Those conversations have reaffirmed the trauma associated with holding youth against their will, Indigenous youth especially, and that led to our decision not to bring back the youth stabilization legislation known as Bill 22,” Malcolmson told reporter Camille Bains of The Canadian Press.

Horgan was asked Monday for his reaction to the decision to scrap a measure he had promoted.

“Did I want to see the legislation come forward? Yes, I did,” he told reporters. “When we went to consult with the broader community, we were met with significant resistance. I am absolutely ready to step away from my personal view on a piece of legislation to make sure that it is more reflective of the views of the broader community.”

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The opposing views were there, on the record, in July 2020. The resistance was as significant then as now, if Horgan had listened. The Greens saw it at the time. Arguably they did the government in favor by withholding support for a measure that was provoking a backlash from First Nations and others.

Instead, Horgan threw his partners in power-sharing under the bus and called a snap election on a bogus pretext. At the time, Furstenau, who had just assumed the leadership of the Greens, pushed back sharply.

“The fact that Horgan is using a bill meant to help the most vulnerable children in the province as political cover for why he needs to go to a self-serving election in the middle of a pandemic is appalling,” said Furstenau. “When the NDP use Bill 22 to mislead British Columbians about the need for an election, despite all the groups opposed to it, you’re getting a glimpse of how they will govern as a majority.”

A year-and-a-half after Furstenau said those words, the New Democrats and Horgan keep making her a prophet with their style and methods of governing.

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