By scorning earlier precedents, the Liberals have created a new one, which could be used against them at other times, by other chairs.
VICTORIA — The B.C. legislature is so precariously balanced between government and opposition that even routine proceedings can send the place into a partisan tizzy.
But they didn’t like a subclause in the bill. It would repeal a Liberal government-authored law obliging the province to fully disclose the details of LNG project development agreements. Neither the minister nor the critic being likely to persuade the other, the amendment was put to a vote. That left the government without its usual supporting act and the result was a tie: 41 Liberals in favour of the amendment, 41 New Democrats opposed.
“When voices are equal in committee stage of a bill,” it says, “the chair gives a casting vote on the same principles as followed by the Speaker of the house.” The principle most applicable to the situation that arose in the B.C. house Tuesday says simply: “The casting vote on the amendment to a bill should leave the bill in its existing form.”
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