As of today at 3:30 p.m. the BC legislative assembly is on vacation until October. So the Government hopes to push through the Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) changes in the next few hours. Bill 46 pays lip service to some of the concerns we’ve raised, but it does nothing to address issues such as the rubber-stamp of Charter violations by the police with respect to IRPs for Fail.
In case you missed it, most of our blog is devoted to the catastrophically stupid IRP legislation. We think it should be scrapped. You can spend a few hours reading some of our blog posts over the last year to track the history of the legislation and our views of it.
When Bill 46 was given second reading a mere four days after it was introduced there was some more reflective discussion in the legislature. But mainly the NDP spent the valuable time pointing out that the legislature is inept if it introduces laws that are unconstitutional. The unofficial Hansard version is here.
K. Corrigan noted:
It’s great to have the Supreme Court there, but we have a duty and a responsibility as legislators to thoroughly examine legislation.
The problem is that with respect to Bill 46 the debate shows that NDP has not gone to any great lengths to thoroughly examine the legislation. But again, they have been foiled to some extent by the Government introducing this legislation only a few weeks before they force a vote on it.
One member noted the fact that nobody actually gave any serious reflection of the last version of the legislation:
This is another oops moment…
That’s a massive understatement. It also makes light of the very real suffering that arises from bad legislation. Bill 46 is another oops moment. Will this member admit making two mistakes when the changes in Bill 46 come into effect?
N. Macdonald hit the nail on the head:
I think the fact is that there is a pattern here. There is a pattern of legislation that’s coming forward that has not been properly thought through.
V. Huntington said:
I feel that the superintendent of motor vehicles is not an unbiased office, to begin with. It is not an administrative law tribunal.
And then said:
I think that is a flaw in what we’re trying to do in terms of creating a new type of justice reform — reforming our justice system.
We’ve forgotten the individual and that individual’s civil liberties in terms of his right to access justice. I feel that now, in many respects, I have regretted voting for this bill in the first instance. And believe me, motherhood will not colour my judgment of whether or not we are trumping our civil rights in the future.
Unfortunately the member then goes on to voice support for the new poorly thought out amendments.
We hope that the NDP put more critical thought into Bill 46 when it went to committee. For example, we hope that they pointed out that there is no remedy ever granted from the OSMV if the police violate the Charter rights of an individual.
Given that the Government felt it was so important to have this law back in place, there is no justification for dropping it on everyone with only a few weeks for discussion and debate.
Sadly, no one from the NDP ever contacted us to have us explain why this next version of the legislation is also greatly flawed.