British Columbia.

• Author: Hill, Lisa
• Position: Legislative Reports

Fall Sitting Period

The Third Session of the 42nd Parliament resumed on October 3, with the Sessional Order adopted on February 8 enabling the continuation of hybrid proceedings remaining in effect. Pursuant to a March 7 Sessional Order which enables certain proceedings in the House to be undertaken in up to three sections, a second section of the House was used beginning on October 31 for committee stage consideration of public bills. On November 3, the Legislative Assembly adopted a motion which adjourned the House until November 21, thereby cancelling four sitting days that had been scheduled for the week of November 14 due to the transition to the new government led by Premier David Eby.

The March 7 Sessional Order was amended on November 21 to authorize a third section of the House to also consider public bills at committee stage (this section was previously only authorized to examine Estimates); the third section was subsequently used during the final week of the Fall Sitting period. Also on November 21, the Assembly adopted a motion to extend its sitting hours for the remainder of the final week of the fall sitting period with the adjournment time extended from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the Monday and Tuesday afternoon sittings and extended from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on the Wednesday afternoon sitting. During the same week, the Assembly adopted two additional motions to apply time allocation to the remaining bills awaiting various stages of consideration.

The House adjourned on November 24 and was expected to resume on February 6, 2023 with the anticipated prorogation of the Third Session of the 42nd Parliament in the morning and the opening of the Fourth Session with the Speech from the Throne in the afternoon.

New Premier and Executive Council

As noted in the previous edition of this publication, in June 2022, Premier John Horgan announced that he would step down as Premier after a new leader was elected for the BC NDP. Mr. Eby, MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey and former Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing, was acclaimed leader on October 21 and became Premier-designate. Premier Eby was sworn in as the 37th Premier of British Columbia by the Lieutenant Governor, Janet Austin, on November 18 at a ceremony at the Musqueam Community Centre in Vancouver; his first day in the House as Premier was November 21.

A new cabinet was sworn in by the Lieutenant Governor at Government House in Victoria on December 7. The cabinet...