B.C. tariff bill changes as Eby admits province ‘didn’t get the balance right’

B.C. Premier David Eby announced some changes Friday to his government’s controversial Bill 7.

At a press conference, Eby said that following consultation with business leaders, political experts and First Nations groups, the province is pulling Part 4 of the bill.

“Didn’t get the balance right on this one,” Eby said.

Part 4 allowed the province to skip the legislature to “temporarily modify the application or effect of laws or regulations.”

That provision will no longer be part of the bill, but Eby said he will work with stakeholders to amend this part of the bill and bring it back to the table.

2:00 B.C. changes portion of Bill 7 after consultation

If passed, Bill 7 would allow the province to drop interprovincial trade barriers and put tolls on American trucks heading to Alaska.

A former NDP premier told Global News on Thursday night that he thinks the bill is an unnecessary power grab.

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Ujjal Dosanjh said he supports dropping trade barriers between provinces but thinks the bill otherwise goes too far.

1:57 B.C. tariff bill backlash

“It’s an extreme overreach to wrestle powers essentially from the legislature to change any laws,” he said.

“There’s no, you know, war right now. It’s serious, don’t misunderstand me. But there is no war, so I thought it was a grab of power that didn’t need to be done.”

Eby has previously said the emergency powers would only be used to respond to emergency threats from foreign governments.