40th Parliament of British Columbia

The 40th Parliament of British Columbia was in session from June 26, 2013, to April 11, 2017. It consisted of the

Legislative initiatives which were part of 2013 BC Liberal election platform included major amendments to liquor laws, local government elections, and holding a plebiscite on TransLink funding. The BC Liberal election priority of fostering a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry involved the creation of the Liquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Act, the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act which provides exemptions for LNG facilities and replaces the existing cap and trade regime, amendments to the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act to make way for pipelines through parks and other protected areas, and various amendments to the Natural Gas Development Statutes Act (formerly the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act). Other major legislation included the adoption of the Water Sustainability Act, creation of a licensing system for all-terrain vehicle and snowmobiles in the Off-Road Vehicle Act, adding electronic cigarette to the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act, modernizing the Societies Act, amendments to the Motor Dealer Act to prohibit online sales of vehicles, creation of a new provincial park called the Ancient Forest/Chun T'oh Whudujut Park, and adoption of the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act that limited commercial logging in the Great Bear Rainforest. Other new legislation included making discrimination based on gender identity or expression illegal, and creating a 15% property transfer tax that only applies to foreign nationals in Metro Vancouver.

In preparation for the next general election, legislation was adopted to increase the number of MLAs to 87, delete pre-campaign expense limits, allow constituency associations to incur election expenses, require dissemination of the identity of those who voted in the last election, and limited the update to voter registration information. The 40th parliament of British Columbia was formally dissolved on April 11, 2017, by request of the premier to the lieutenant governor making way for the 41st British Columbia general election set for May 9, 2017.

Elections and appointments

The members of the legislative assembly were elected in the

The Constitution Act states that the next general election had to occur no later than the second Tuesday in May, four years after the last general election. Accordingly, the 40th parliament was dissolved on April 11, 2017, by request of the premier to the lieutenant governor making way for the 41st British Columbia general election which was then scheduled for May 9, 2017.

First session

The first session of the 40th Parliament began on June 26, 2013, with the

A short third session was held in October–November 2014 responding to requests by proponents of the liquefied natural gas industry to fast-track legislation.^[18] The Liquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Act established the taxation regime at 1.5% of net income until capital costs have been paid, then 3.5% afterwards, significantly less than the original 7% that the government had been planning.^[19] The Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap and Trade) Act in favour of intensity level emission limits, instead total emission measures, and the act set the emission limit at 0.16 carbon dioxide equivalent tonnes for each tonne of LNG produced.^[20] The Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act (No. 2), 2014, removed 63 hectares from the Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Park to accommodate a pipeline to one of the proposed LNG facilities.^[21]

Also, the Container Trucking Act, which created the office of the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner, was adopted as a result of the negotiations in the previous session's response to the Port of Vancouver strike.^[22] The Canadian Pacific Railway (Stone and Timber) Settlement Act extinguished all of Canadian Pacific Limited's stone and timber reservations in exchange for $19 million.^[23]

Fourth session

Prior to the fourth session, the Premier added Mike Bernier to cabinet as Minister of Education. The former Minister of Education Peter Fassbender took over Coralee Oakes's position as Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, as well as taking over responsibility for TransLink from Todd Stone's Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. Oakes was assigned to be Minister of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction and responsible for the liquor distribution branch. Naomi Yamamoto was moved from Minister of State for Tourism and Small Business was moved over to the newly created Minister of State for Emergency Preparedness.^[24] Both Jenny Kwan and Douglas Horne resigned as MLAs in order to pursue election in the federal general election.

The fourth session ran between February and November 2015 and saw 42 bills become law. The previous session's legislation concerning LNG taxation was furthered with the Liquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Amendment Act, 2015, and the Liquefied Natural Gas Project Agreements Act exempted for 25 years LNG facilities from increases in tax and greenhouse gas regulatory changes.

The Red Tape Reduction Day Act recognized the second Wednesday of March as Red Tape Reduction Day. The Amendments to the Finance Statutes Act allowed

The Tobacco Control Act was expanded to include vapour products and renamed to Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act.^[30] The Fish and Seafood Act replaced and modernized the Fisheries Act and the Fish Inspection Act.^[31] The Societies Act updated and replaced the Society Act. The Franchises Act was created based on recommendations from the BC Law Institute and the Canadian Bar Association of BC to imposes a duty of fair dealing for franchise agreements, allowing franchises to associate with other franchises, and allowing franchisees to sue for damages in event of misrepresentation by a parent company.^[32]

The Information Management Act created the position of Chief Records Officer to oversee digitizing government archives.^[33] The Provincial Immigration Programs Act created the position of Director of Provincial Immigration Programs for administering immigration agreements with the federal government. The Auditor General for Local Government Amendment Act, 2015, required the appointment of a deputy auditor general and expanded upon the provisions for suspending or removing an individual from the position of auditor general.

Revisions to the Electoral Districts Act and the Election Act increased the number of electoral districts and MLAs to 87 and deleted expense limits that applied to the pre-campaign period, now allows constituency associations to incur election expenses, only permits updates to voter registration information in conjunction with voting and only with a family member present to vouch, and requires the Chief Electoral Officer to provide each political party the list of voters in the last election with identification of who voted.^[34]

Fifth session

The fifth session took place between February and July 2016. Prior to the session beginning, Mike Morris was added to the cabinet under a new position titled Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.^[35] The 2016 budget created the Prosperity Fund and required any increase in general funds either be used to reduce operating debt or held in the Prosperity Fund. The budget increased the property transfer tax increase (from 2% to 3%) on homes over $2 million but increased the exemption threshold for new houses to $750,000. The budget also exempted children from paying Medical Services Premium, created a farmers' food donation tax credit, extended both the mining tax credit and the tax credit for home renovations by seniors of persons with disabilities, expanded of the film tax credit to include animation productions, mandated lower assessment values be placed on rural tourist accommodations, and made funds available to compensate property owners impacted by wildfire control.^[36]

Affecting an LNG industry, the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Amendment Act, 2016, exempted new facilities from reporting emissions for the first 18 months of operations and expanded eligibility to participate in the BC carbon registry; and the Safety Standards Act was amended to move administration of safety standards in the oil and gas sector from the BC Safety Authority to the

New legislation included the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act which limits commercial logging in the

Prior to the beginning of the session, Pat Pimm left the BC Liberal caucus following his arrest in a domestic dispute^[43] and sat as an independent for the remainder of the parliament. With the general election set for May, the governing BC Liberals introduced, but did not adopt, a [pre-election budget (Bill 8) in February that proposed to reduce Medical Services Plan fees by 50%, reduce the small business corporate tax rate from 2.5% to 2%, create a 'BC back-to-school tax credit' and a 'volunteer firefighter or search and rescue volunteer tax credit', extend the tax credits provided for book publishing, scientific research and experimental development, increase the first time home buyer tax exemption threshold from $475,000 to $500,000, and increase the tobacco tax rate from 23.9 to 24.7¢ per cigarette.

The Minister Responsible for Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism Teresa Wat introduced the Discriminatory Provisions (Historical Wrongs) Repeal Act that repealed sections from 19 acts, adopted between 1881 and 1930, that discriminated against some ethnic groups.^[44] An amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act creates licensing and standards of care requirements for pet breeders.^[45] The Information Management (Documenting Government Decisions) Amendment Act, 2017 legislated a duty for provincial public agencies to document information.^[46]

Members of the 40th Parliament

Party standings of the 40th Parliament

Seating plan

Standings changes

References