ICBA President and CEO Chris Gardner
The B.C. NDP Government’s proposed Bill 7 is an unprecedented attempt to concentrate power in the hands of the Premier and must be stopped, says Canada’s largest construction association, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA).
If passed, the NDP Government’s Bill 7 would give Premier David Eby and his cabinet sweeping, unfettered authority to amend or override nearly any existing law without any oversight or debate in the Legislature and without any opportunity for the public to express their views.
“The most basic principle of our democracy is government accountability – Premier Eby is using the pre-text of needing to respond quickly to U.S. tariffs to consolidate power in his office and short-circuit any real debate, review, or opposition,” said ICBA President and CEO Chris Gardner.
While there is heightened concern about the impact of a looming trade war between Canada and the United States, Premier Eby already has all the tools he needs to respond. “Using tariffs as a justification to concentrate the enormous power of government in the Premier’s office displays a shocking disregard for our democracy,” added Gardner.
History is rife with examples of politicians taking advantage of crises to assume greater power and control at the expense of both democratic institutions and citizens.
Gardner noted that while some media outlets have suggested the business community generally supports Bill 7, nothing could be farther from the truth. “Large corporate interests and their related associations often find themselves on the opposite side of citizens and business owners as they try to advance their commercial and political interests. While the corporate elites have become a willing partner to David Eby, the vast majority of business owners, entrepreneurs, construction leaders and their teams recognize the dangers presented by concentrating power in the office of one person.”
“We want to stop Trump’s tariff war and ensure that Canada is standing strong against the threats coming from the Unites States as much as anyone, but giving David Eby unfettered, unchecked and sweeping power isn’t the way to do it,” said Gardner. “Becoming more authoritarian to somehow ‘defend’ democracy is dangerous. Bill 7 must be stopped, and David Eby needs a reminder that he serves the people of British Columbia – not the other way around.”
The NDP has not been shy about using its power against majorities when it has suited them. When it comes to the NDP’s strong arm tactics, construction has been the canary in the coal mine.
“Under the pretense of ‘training and hiring more people,’ the NDP are preventing 85% of the men and women in construction from working on major government projects to give a monopoly on the work to friends and insiders in the form of so-called ‘Community Benefit Agreements’,” said Gardner. “The NDP also stripped workers of their fundamental, democratic right to a secret ballot in union certification votes. It appears there isn’t anything democratic left in the New Democratic Party.”
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