British Columbia Minute: Issue 129

British Columbia Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of British Columbia politics.

📅 This Week In British Columbia: 📅

• A coalition of 15 forest industry groups has written to Premier David Eby warning that British Columbia's forest sector is at a "breaking point" and asking his office to convene a crisis group within 30 days. The signatories, which include the BC Council of Forest Industries, the BC First Nations Forestry Council, and the Truck Loggers Association, want that group to cut costs, remove regulatory barriers, and get economically viable wood moving. They are also asking the Province to raise the economically viable harvest to 45 million cubic meters a year, up from a current projection of about 30 million, which they say would generate more than $600 million in additional annual revenue. The letter acknowledges that US tariffs are outside provincial control but argues that many of the conditions determining whether companies survive are homegrown, pointing to permitting, fees, taxes, and fibre-access decisions. Council of Forest Industries CEO Kim Haakstad said tenure management costs have risen more than 50% since 2017, far exceeding inflation, and University of British Columbia forest economist Gary Bull said permitting delays of two and three years are unacceptable.
  
  
• The provincial government has activated access zones around British Columbia's K-12 public and independent schools for the new school year, making it an offence to protest within 20 meters of school property. The zones are in force Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, excluding holidays, and at any time during extracurricular activities at a school. Alongside protests, the rules prohibit impeding access to and from school, disrupting school programs and activities, and behaviour that causes concern for the physical or mental safety of students and staff. Schools may call police, who decide whether to issue a ticket or make an arrest based on the circumstances. The Ministry of Education and Child Care says it has received reports of 25 protest disruptions outside K-12 schools since the zones were first activated on May 31st, 2024, including five at public schools during the 2025-26 school year. The Safe Access to Schools Act was due to be repealed on July 1st of this year, but the repeal date was pushed back in the spring to July 1st, 2028.
  
  
• Premier David Eby has unveiled new welcome signs for the province's US border crossings carrying the message that British Columbia is "strong, proud, and will never be the 51st state". He announced them on the day Canada's counter-tariffs took effect, and confirmed that the province will keep its ban on stocking US alcohol in order to punch back against what he calls an unfair trade war. Eby tied the message to the September 11th attacks 25 years ago, when 8,500 passengers were stranded at Vancouver International Airport, saying that kindness should never be mistaken for weakness. He added that his government is working with Ottawa and is identifying further countermeasures.
  
  
• The Premier has also declined to rule out calling an early election, pointing to what he describes as total chaos on the Conservative side and calling the prospect "kind of a fun question". Five former Conservative MLAs have now banded together to form a new centrist party and expect to be the third-largest party in the Legislature when it convenes on October 5th, though they are still waiting on Elections BC to approve their chosen name. This should not be confused with yet another separate centrist party, CentreBC, which is led by former BC Liberal MLA Mike Bernier, and the old BC United party, which still technically exists, though is inactive. BC Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay currently holds no seat, but is running in the Abbotsford-Mission by-election on September 26th and will be hoping to restore some unity to the Conservative caucus once elected.
  
  
• Speaking of BC United, a group calling itself Unite Liberal BC launched on Thursday with a demand that Kevin Falcon resign as leader of BC United, a position he never gave up after shelving the party and pulling it out of the 2024 election. The group also wants the three remaining board members to step down so that members can decide the party's future. Carol Fielding, a past member of BC United's executive council, says the party remains an active, debt-free registered political entity with valuable assets and a constitution that vests authority in its membership, and argues that four individuals are holding the keys to an organization built by tens of thousands of volunteers and donors.
   

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!