Legislative reports: British Columbia.

With election fever in the air, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia convened on the morning of March 14, 2001 for the prorogation of the fourth session of the Thirty-Sixth Parliament. The fifth session opened that afternoon with the Speech from the Throne read by Lieutenant Governor Garde B. Gardom. The Speech identified the government's fiscal and legislative priorities as balancing the budget, increasing funding for health care and education, promoting a family-friendly social agenda, building a modern economy, protecting the environment and ensuring public safety.

The fifth session turned out to be a memorable one. For the first time in the history of the Legislative Assembly, the official opposition used a different strategy in debating and scrutinizing legislation. During the Budget Debate on March 19, 2001, the opposition leader, Gordon Campbell (Vancouver-Point Grey), announced that his party would designate only one speaker at second reading to address the principle of each government bill, in order to hasten the election call.

As a result, in the space of just four weeks, 23 government bills were introduced and passed. One other bill was intentionally left on the order paper -- Genetically Engineered Food Labelling Act (Bill No. 18) -- to enable an advisory panel to make recommendations on the requirements and standards for the packaging and labelling of genetically engineered foods sold in British Columbia.

The government bills passed by the House during the fifth session included:

* Bill (No. 7) - Environment and Sustainability Statutes Amendment Act, 2001, establishes the position of commissioner for environment and sustainability, who will work in the Office of the Auditor General and report to the Legislature.

* Bill (No. 10) - Protection of Public Participation Act, makes it more difficult for people to launch strategic lawsuits against public participation.

* Bill (No. 11) - Sex Offender Registry Act, establishes a provincial registry of known sex offenders for police use.

* Bill (No. 15) - Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act, 2001, establishes new ecological reserves and provincial parks.

* Bill (No. 17) - Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2001, extends pay equity to the private sector.

* Bill (No. 20) - Drinking Water Protection Act, creates a planning framework to ensure safe drinking water throughout the province.

* Bill (No. 21) - Abortion Services Statutes Amendment Act, 2001, provides new...