Pressure is rising on the BC NDP government to separate its move to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers from a contentious bill that seeks to consolidate power in the premier’s office at the expense of the legislature.
Business groups made the call Monday amidst rising criticism that government’s Bill 7 is an undemocratic power grab under the guise of responding quickly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
“We are calling for the separation of the internal trade section of Bill 7 from the remainder of the Bill. This will unite the B.C. legislature and allow for the swift passage and progress on internal trade,” Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson wrote in a letter released Monday to Premier David Eby and Attorney General Niki Sharma.
“The other parts of Bill 7 are truly unprecedented in scope, including the sweeping powers that would be conferred to the Cabinet. While it is clear Trump’s trade war has spurred an economic emergency, it is not clear to us that the sweeping powers are required or justified.”
The move comes as some business groups recalibrate from what had been initial positions of public support for Bill 7, now that the full impact and scope has become clear. The legislation contains sections that would enable reducing interprovincial trade barriers, banning U.S. procurement of government contracts and tolling American supply trucks en route to Alaska.
But it also contains a fourth section giving the premier extraordinary wartime powers to change or repeal any law with a cabinet order, bypassing the legislature for two years.
“This is known in legal terms as a ‘Henry VIII’ clause – a provision that delegates to the executive (here, cabinet) the ability to modify legislative provisions,” lawyer Keith Brown of firm Aird Berlis LLP wrote in his analysis.
“These powers can raise democratic concerns. That is because their main effect is to bypass entirely the ordinary democratic process of legislative amendment by the province’s elected officials – hence being named for the 16th-century English king ‘whose lust for power included the Statute of Proclamations … which elevated the King’s proclamations to have the same legal force as Acts of Parliament.’
“The particular ‘Henry VIII’ clause in Bill 7 is especially broad in scope. Unlike recent Canadian examples (such as the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act), the Part 4 power is not tailored to give this remarkable authority to cabinet only in relation to particular aspects of a specific piece of legislation. As noted, it allows cabinet to modify anything in the entire provincial statute book.”
The Business Council of B.C. said it sent a letter to Sharma on Thursday also asking for the interprovincial trade provisions to be separated, because the remaining provisions in the bill the business community otherwise cannot support.
“It’s a major shift in how we go about making decisions,” BCBC economist and vice-president David Williams said of the cabinet powers in the bill.
“Particularly for business it undermines confidence in our institutions. And it could deter investment at a time we can least afford it.”
Williams said that if other countries in the Westminster parliamentary system, like the United Kingdom, can retain their democratic principles during actual wars, then British Columbia should also do so in a trade dispute.
“It’s not clear what the rationale is that somehow parliamentary democracy cannot withstand President Trump,” said Williams.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which at first also supported Bill 7, also now wants interprovincial trade carved off.
“While we welcome legislation to lower interprovincial trade barriers through part one of Bill 7, we are alarmed by the broad powers the government is seeking in parts two through four, especially the sweeping executive powers in part four,” said spokesperson Ryan Mitton.
“We are strongly urging the government stand down parts two, three and four of the bill—which are completely unnecessary—and only proceed with the free trade provisions in part one of Bill 7, without any sunset clause.”
The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association in B.C. said Monday it won’t support legislation that gives Eby the same access to dangerous authority as Trump.
“We want to stop Trump’s tariff war and ensure that Canada is standing strong against the threats coming from the Unites States as much as anyone, but giving David Eby unfettered, unchecked and sweeping power isn’t the way to do it,” said ICBA president Chris Gardner.
“Becoming more authoritarian to somehow ‘defend’ democracy is dangerous. Bill 7 must be stopped, and David Eby needs a reminder that he serves the people of British Columbia – not the other way around.”
Opposition BC Conservatives have signalled they may accept the fast-tracking of a separate interprovincial trade bill, with leader John Rustad attempting to put his own private member’s bill on the subject forward before the spring break.
Meanwhile, the BC NDP government, stung by the rising criticism, says it is reviewing how it can change the legislature to recapture public support.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
🚨New newsletter alert! Stay ahead of the curve in B.C. politics. Get expert political analysis delivered straight to your inbox, plus inside scoops and other stories from across the province.
