2001 Legislative Session: 5th Session, 36th Parliament

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.

[ Progress of Bills . . . ]

No. 10

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Monday, March 26, 2001

Two o'clock p.m.

Prayers by Mr. Randall.

The Hon. G. Bowbrick (Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Human Rights) presented to the Speaker a Message from His Honour the Lieutenant Governor, which read as follows:

Garde B. Gardom, Q.C.
Lieutenant Governor

The Lieutenant Governor transmits herewith Bill (No. 6) intituled Adult Guardianship Statutes Amendment Act, 2001 and recommends the same to the Legislative Assembly.

Government House,
March 16, 2001

Bill introduced and read a first time.

Bill Ordered to be placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading at the next sitting after today.

Order called for "Oral Questions by Members."

Hon. C. Evans (Minister of Health and Minister Responsible for Seniors) tabled the Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for Seniors Annual Report, 1999-2000.

The Hon. B. Hartley (Speaker) tabled the Legislative Library Annual Report 1999.

The House proceeded to "Orders of the Day."

 

2 The Hon. G. Janssen moved--

That a Special Committee shall be re-appointed to select and unanimously recommend to the Legislative Assembly, the appointment of a Child, Youth and Family Advocate, pursuant to section 3 of the Child, Youth and Family Advocacy Act, and that the Special Committee so appointed shall have the powers of a Select Standing Committee and is also empowered:

(a) to appoint of their number, one or more subcommittees and to refer to such subcommittees any of the matters referred to the Committee;

(b) to sit during a period in which the House is adjourned, during the recess after prorogation until the next following Session and during any sitting of the House;

(c) to adjourn from place to place as may be convenient;

(d) to retain such personnel as required to assist the Committee;

and shall report to the House as soon as possible, or following any adjournment, or at the next following Session, as the case may be; to deposit the original of its reports with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly during a period of adjournment and upon resumption of the sittings of the House, the Chair shall present all reports to the Legislative Assembly.

The said Special Committee is to be comprised of the following members: Ms. Priddy, Convener; Mmes. Mann Brewin and Sawicki, Messrs. Cashore and Lovick, Ms. Reid, and Messrs. van Dongen and Neufeld.

The House divided.

Motion agreed to on the following division:

 

3 The Hon. G. Bowbrick moved--

That a Special Committee to Review the Police Complaint Process be appointed and empowered to examine, inquire into and make recommendations with respect to the police complaints process in accordance with section 51.2 of the Police Act (RSBC 1996, c. 367) and in particular, without limiting the generality of the foregoing to:

1. review comprehensively Part 9 (Complaint Procedure) of the Police Act and the work of the Police Complaint Commissioner;

2. solicit and consider written and oral submissions from any interested person or organization by any means the committee considers appropriate;

3. submit a Report including any amendments to Part 9 that the committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly arising out of the results of the committee's inquiry within one year of this resolution being adopted by the House.

The Special Committee so appointed shall have the powers of a Select Standing Committee and is also empowered:

(a) to appoint of their number, one or more subcommittees and to refer to such subcommittees any of the matters referred to the Committee;

(b) to sit during a period in which the House is adjourned, during the recess after prorogation until the next following Session and during any sitting of the House;

(c) to adjourn from place to place as may be convenient;

(d) to retain such personnel as required to assist the Committee;

and shall report to the House as soon as possible, or following any adjournment, or at the next following Session, as the case may be; to deposit the original of its reports with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly during a period of adjournment and upon resumption of the sittings of the House, the Chair shall present all reports to the Legislative Assembly.

That the Special Committee of Selection be empowered to compile the list of Members for the said Committee.

The House divided.

Motion agreed to on the following division:

On the motion for second reading of Bill (No. 17) intituled Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2001, a debate arose.

The debate continued.

On the motion of the Hon. J. Smallwood, the debate was adjourned to the next sitting of the House.

The Speaker delivered his reserved decision as follows:

Honourable Members:

On March 19, 2001, the Honourable Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations sought to raise a matter of privilege following the speech of the finance critic for the Official Opposition in the budget debate. The essence of his complaint was that the critic had "abused the privileges of the House by misleading Members and the public".

Numerous decisions of Speakers of this House and other Houses have made it clear that only the deliberate misleading of the House constitutes a contempt.

I have examined the arguments of the Minister and the material filed by both the Minister and the finance critic, all of which appear to support their arguments in debate and disclose a healthy disagreement with respect to budget formulation and economic forecasting. Nothing presented constitutes a prima facie case of deliberately misleading the House. I would, however, characterize this matter as a disagreement between Honourable Members as to facts. I would refer Honourable Members to the rulings of Speaker Lovick found in the British Columbia Journals, April 3, 1997, p. 19-21.

Bill Hartley, Speaker

And then the House adjourned at 5.55 p.m.

BILL HARTLEY, Speaker

NOTICE OF MOTIONS

Tuesday, March 27

 

4 The Hon. J. MacPhail to move--

Be it resolved that this Assembly supports the following enhancement measures to help protect the right of BC women to make their own choices on reproduction:

Increased financial support to school-based and community-based services which help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in British Columbia including, but not limited to, sex education, birth control, and counseling

Enhanced access to emergency contraceptives across British Columbia

Increased financial support to UBC medical school to expand physician training and support in providing abortions, counselling and related services

Increased financial support for additional nurse clinicians at BC Women's Hospital to increase their ability to offer counselling, outreach and other services and to assist regions who are providing amniocentesis services for the first time

Requiring under provincial law that obligations for hospitals to be operated and managed to ensure access to abortion services can only be lifted by the Legislative Assembly

Improving the availability of safer, less invasive medical abortions, including further financial support to investigate the efficacy and safety of mifepristone (commonly known as RU 486) through the national clinical trial currently being led out of Vancouver

Calling on the British Columbia Medical Association to agree to an increase in fees paid to doctors who provide abortion services, which are currently lower than they were in 1982

Helping ensure the ongoing security and safety of doctors and other health care providers through additional financial support for security assessments, education and training and security devices for homes and offices

Providing additional financial support for law enforcement agencies to co-ordinate and gather intelligence to identify groups and individuals who are prepared to resort to criminal activity in support of their beliefs with respect to abortion issues

Ensuring through provincial law that public bodies must not release abortion information, excepting abortion statistics at a global regional and provincial level and personal information, unless provided to the person about whom the information pertains; and

Urging the federal government to strengthen the Criminal Code, including designating abortion service providers as a protected group under current hate provisions and making attempts to criminally harass or harm abortion service providers an aggravating circumstance in sentencing.

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