B.C.'s legislature won't return until February 2025.
The Premier's Office made the announcement Friday afternoon in a statement that pointed to recent personnel moves as the rationale.
"As it has been confirmed that Raj Chouhan (Burnaby-Edmonds) will continue to serve as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, there will not be a fall sitting," it read.
Sittings differ from sessions because they do not involve the passage of legislation. The legislature will instead return in February with a Throne Speech followed by a full legislative session inclusive budget. The office of Premier David Eby said the decision not to hold a fall sitting of one day in length followed internal discussions, adding that such a short session would have been unusual and have posed logistical challenges.
The work of government, meanwhile, will continue, Eby's office said.
The Premier's Office statement also points to the changed political context. Eby had said on Oct. 29 — before the final count gave his party a bare majority a— that he would hold a sitting to elect the Speaker. Judicial recounts completed in mid-November subsequently confirmed his party's bare majority and Eby's new ministers took their respective oaths of office on Nov. 18.
New Democrats had reached out to members of the Conservative Party of B.C. and the B.C. Greens in search for a Speaker but convinced none to serve in that role. With their bare majority confirmed, New Democrats eventually renominated Chouhan as Speaker, a role he held before the election. This move, which would still require formal approval from MLAs themselves following their return, comes as the New Democrats continue negotiations with B.C. Greens about a working arrangement in the legislature.
Reaction from the B.C. Conservatives to the news of the legislature not returning until February 2025 was critical.
Leader John Rustad said there was always an expectation that Eby would recall the legislature. He also raised questions about the speed of a promised tax cut that would give average households a break of $1,000. "I would think the earliest he could bring it now would be in February, March (2025)," he said. "People are struggling now, you have got a lot of people laid off, especially in the forestry sector." (Eby, for the record, had promised the tax cut first as a rebate in 2025, before making it permanent in 2026).
Rustad also questioned the argument that logistics stood in the way, noting that hybrid arrangements would have been possible. "The whole thing could have been done by Zoom," he added.
Angelo Isidorou, the party's executive director, also expressed criticism on social media."The people of B.C. are going to have to wait until February to watch their government come back and get to work on not delivering on anything they promised in the election," "Maybe Eby is hoping we all forget what he promised by then?"
Eby's office said government had never contemplated a fall session that would have involved the passage of legislation. It added that cabinet ministers will continue to work on British Columbia's core priorities leading up to the return of the legislature.
