Setting an example

The government of British Columbia announced yesterday that it intends to cancel the fall sitting of the Legislature. The Liberal Party argues that because the BC economy is doing so well, and there are no significant issues that need to be addressed through legislation, it would be a waste of time to sit in session. The members will meet briefly, mostly to confirm the creation of an independent child welfare advocate in response to a couple of high-profile foster care deaths in the province, but beyond that, there’s no intention of sitting for the whole seven weeks, and everyone will go back to doing.. whatever it is that they do. Mike de Jong, the government house leader, was quoted on CBC this morning as saying that he didn’t see a reason for “sitting for the sake of sitting” and “passing laws for the sake of passing them.” As you might expect, the NDP are up in arms over this, claiming there are any number of significant issues that could be debated during the fall sitting.

I dunno. I kind of like the idea that the government would decide not to hold a session if it doesn’t intend to, you know, do any useful work. De Jong’s comment about not passing laws for the sake of passing them made me smile, unreasonably, as I thought about what might happen if other legislative bodies declined to sit in the absence of the need to be there. If there was ever a line designed by a politician to make me happy, that was the line. woo.