BC'S NDP GOVERNMENT TAKES ANOTHER BIG STEP AWAY FROM DEMOCRACY
It's full speed ahead with fracking, oil, mining and logging as the BC NDP try to push Bill 15 into law.
It's full speed ahead with fracking, oil, mining and logging as the BC NDP try to push Bill 15 into law.
Jack Etkin, Victoria BC (May 27, 2025)
The loss of democracy in Canada over the past 40 years has been profound; we don’t have much democracy left in this country, and the NDP’s Bill 15 — which will be voted on this week in the B.C. Legislature — is one more big step in the wrong direction. And the loss of democracy matters because it means that we... we the people, we citizens, have less and less of a voice in the governance of our country, while top politicians take more and more of the power. And if we citizens have no voice — then who is in control?
We can see this loss of democracy in many ways: more and more Canadians can barely afford to pay the bills, are under constant stress, and can’t get a doctor, while the richest keep getting richer and big corporations report record profits. This is what happens to a people when they lose their democracy — and Bill 15 is another step in that direction.
Bill 15 will have its third and final reading in the B.C. Legislature this week. Premier David Eby says Bill 15 is necessary to speed up construction of schools and hospitals. But at its core, this bill hands sweeping and unchecked powers to the provincial Cabinet. And since the Premier runs the Cabinet, it gives all the power to the Premier. In Canada, the Prime Minister and Premiers already have virtually all the power, but this Bill 15 is one more step in legitimizing that control — and that’s not good for democracy or for Canadians.
Bill 15 empowers the ruling party to bypass environmental assessments, overrule local governments, and fast-track permits for any project the Cabinet deems “provincially significant.” And the designation of “provincially significant” would be made behind closed doors — with no clear criteria in law, no public transparency, and no meaningful consultation with communities or First Nations. The legislation also fails to define what a “provincially significant project” even is. It leaves that decision entirely up to the Premier and his Cabinet.
Bill 15 also reshuffles the permitting queue — putting selected projects at the front and pushing everything else back. It also revives the controversial “qualified professional” model, allowing industry-friendly consultants (not public regulators) to sign off on permits with less government oversight. (And let’s be honest — government employees are already bad enough at ignoring environmental and public health concerns. Giving that power to contractors who work for oil companies, mining corporations, and the like is even worse.)
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) has come out strongly against Bill 15 (and its sibling, Bill 14), stating that it “completely disregards the rights of Indigenous peoples” and violates the spirit of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). First Nations leaders weren’t even consulted before the bill was introduced. (And as far as I know, neither were the rest of us.) Our governments and politicians are already out of our control — and Bill 15 gives them even more power to disregard the public. That is a huge step away from what little democracy we still have.
Is this the kind of “democracy” we want in B.C.? Do we trust Cabinet ministers to decide whether a project is safe to proceed — without transparency, without public input?
On Monday, May 26, NDP Premier David Eby unveiled a new plan to accelerate mining development in northwestern B.C. to boost the provincial economy. But his announcement was overshadowed by growing opposition to the controversial Bill 15, which will fast-track infrastructure and resource projects. Eby claims his plan will enable the province to fast-track mining while respecting First Nations’ rights and conserving B.C.'s ecosystems. (As if he cares about the environment or First Nations rights.) Eby argues there’s no reason it should take years to approve a new mining project in B.C.
“The northwest is rich with critical minerals and metals — the building blocks for much of the technology we rely on today, and essential to the new technologies that will power our future. From electric cars and batteries to wind turbines and solar panels — we can’t do it without these resources,” said Eby. At stake, he claims, is nearly $50 billion in economic potential and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs.
That’s what one undemocratic politician — David Eby — thinks. He doesn’t seem to care what the rest of us think. And he doesn’t have to care, because he has all the power, and we have none. Now, if the people of B.C. want Bill 15, and want to continue subsidizing the mining industry, fracking, and LNG with billions of our tax dollars, then so be it. But what if we don’t want to keep doing that? Well, it doesn’t matter — we are irrelevant. And that’s how government and democracy work in B.C. and in Canada these days.
Indigenous leaders, environmental groups, and the Union of B.C. Municipalities say the NDP government is granting itself unchecked power to push through resource projects with limited consultation or ecological safeguards. Tsartlip First Nations Chief Don Tom called Eby a “snake oil salesman” whose promise to consult First Nations amounts to “trust us, bro.” Trust has been broken between First Nations and the Eby government, said Tom. Hugh Braker, who sits on the First Nations Summit’s political executive, said Indigenous leaders who voted for the NDP now feel betrayed. “All the promises they made during the campaign last fall have gone out the window. They say damn the environment, full speed ahead.”
One critic described Bill 15 as a “blank cheque” that would give the current government — and all future ones — the power to pick priority projects and exempt them from “any type of permitting or environmental assessment requirement that it deems is slowing down the project.” Any project the government favors would jump to the front of the provincial permitting line and could be exempted from a thorough and transparent environmental review — avoiding scrutiny from the public, scientists, local governments, and Indigenous communities.
Bill 15’s powers are both sweeping and vague, with little legal definition, making it difficult to assess the true scope of its impact. But critics warn it could give the B.C. Cabinet unprecedented authority to make closed-door decisions that override environmental protections and Indigenous rights.
The Union of B.C. Municipalities raised concerns, noting that the province did not meaningfully consult with local governments before tabling legislation that would “give the Cabinet extraordinary powers” to bypass local and provincial approval processes. The government appears determined to pass Bill 15 into law before the Legislature breaks for summer on May 29. In addition to making it a confidence vote — meaning the government could fall if it fails — the NDP has ordered debate to conclude by May 28. At that point, regardless of where Bill 15 stands in the process, it will go to a final vote — which the NDP has the numbers to win, even if all opposition MLAs vote against it.
When the final vote is called, many MLAs will barely understand what they’re voting on — because many of the bill’s key definitions will only be made public after the law is passed. “This government is giving a blank cheque to itself and using every tool it can to answer the fewest possible questions about how its new powers will actually be limited in any effective way,” said a lawyer with the environmental group Ecojustice.
It’s a mess, folks. That’s how B.C. is being run these days — by a very undemocratic NDP government. And there’s not much the public can do about it, because we have no power — and the people who run the NDP have it all. We’ll see what happens with Bill 15 in the next few days.
(The factual information in this story is sourced from the environmental group the Dogwood Initiative, and from reporting by The Narwhal, the Vancouver Sun, and CBC. Editorial commentary is my own.)
