BURST
B.C. Premier David Eby finds himself in a tight spot as he gets set to introduce legislation that would suspend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, also known as DRIPA, which has divided his caucus and angered First Nations.
On Monday, Government House Leader Mike Farnworth said the bill will no longer be a confidence bill, as David Eby had said it would be, and won’t be introduced this week as originally planned.
“The fact is, is that the bill will not be coming in today or this week,” said Farnworth. “I can tell you that when a bill comes forward, it will not be a confidence vote.”
Making the DRIPA-suspension legislation a confidence vote would mean that if it failed to pass, the government would fall and Eby would be forced to call an election. The NDP, with a one-seat majority, needs all of its MLAs to vote in favour of the bill in order to not rely on opposition members supporting the legislation.
However, multiple sources told Postmedia that five to six MLAs have indicated they may not vote in favour of suspending DRIPA. At an emergency caucus meeting on Saturday, a total of 10 NDP MLAs voiced their concern about the upcoming legislation.
Those opposed include Vancouver-Strathcona MLA Joan Phillip, who a source said has told the premier about her decision even if she hasn’t stated it publicly.
Farnworth said Monday that Phillip is the only one who doesn’t support the legislation.
“Just because people ask questions does not mean that they don’t support the direction the government is going or the direction that the premier has indicated,” he said.
Last week, Eby said the legislation needed to be a confidence vote because “this is work that we have to do as a government” and that “we will have the votes that we need to pass this in the legislature.”
The premier’s office has been making a last ditch effort to court Independents, such as Elenore Sturko and Amelia Boultbee, in an effort to ensure the government has the votes.
Some of those familiar with what is going on with caucus discussions doubt that this will be enough to push the government over the line, given the NDP’s one-seat majority.
“There are different views from different people in caucus on what the right way forward is. There’s some division that needs to be worked out,” said one NDP insider prior to Farnworth’s comments, who was given permission to speak on background about the discussions.
“I think it’ll be really challenging for him to get that support. I hear they’re reaching out to Independents, see what they can manage there. But it seems to me unlikely that they’re going to be able to thread the needle on this one.”
Another NDP source said they wouldn’t describe the Saturday meeting as an emergency, saying its a regular way to keep MLAs informed on contentious issues.
The source said if the bill were to be introduced this week after so many MLAs expressed their concerns, it would be tantamount to the premier telling his caucus their views don’t matter.
“Let’s say some of those caucus members maybe brought up good points about things that need to go back to the drawing board or be changed,” the source said prior to Farnworth confirming the bill wouldn’t come this week.
Sturko acknowledged she has been contacted by Eby’s office about whether she’d be willing to support the legislation to suspend DRIPA.
She said that, at this time, the bill is not in the place it needs to be for her to grant her support and that she is not going to be the one to prop up an NDP government that she believes has shown an absence of leadership. At the same time, she left the door open to supporting the legislation if Eby backed away from making it a confidence motion.
“I don’t support a suspension. It suspends us in uncertainty. We need to have leadership that’s decisive, definitive, and gives us a clearer direction of where we’re going. And that’s not what this suspension represents to my mind, and it’s very weak leadership,” said Sturko.
Last week, David Eby stood before reporters and said he was confident he had the votes to suspend DRIPA. That was before Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said Joan Phillip, who is the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Strathcona and his wife, would not be supporting the legislation.
“I think the problem is Premier Eby himself and I think the NDP has a colossal leadership problem,” said Phillip, explaining his wife is “heartsick” over the potential suspension.
The current political challenge for Eby emerged in December when the B.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the Mineral Tenure Act was inconsistent with DRIPA as it did not require First Nations to give their free, prior and informed consent before mineral tenure claims were processed.
This led to the premier voicing his worry that the decision could lead to more government laws being challenged by DRIPA, and he said last week that there have already been 20 cases before the courts that have been amended to include reference to DRIPA.
The B.C. Conservatives have called for a full repeal of DRIPA, while Green MLA Rob Botterell said his party is taking the lead of First Nations on whether to support it.
Given the opposition of most First Nations, Botterell said he would have no problem bringing the government down if it comes to that.
“If it comes to a confidence motion, then the Greens would vote no,” said Botterell.
“Really our work that we’re we’re focused on right now is is trying to to outline a path forward that doesn’t involve amending, suspending or repealing DRIPA.”