The Coronavirus pandemic has us locked in a history-making state of emergency in BC and the Green Party MLA’s are trying to get the COVID19 Recovery Act adopted.
Cowichan Valley MLA Sonia Furstenau explains what this bill will do if it gets adopted.
“We’ve introduced an amendment and government has agreed to it and is tabling the amendment to ensure that there remains a very real legislative oversight,” said Furstenau. “So, any orders made during a state of emergency will be relayed to the legislature through the speaker and then brought forward for review by the legislature.”
Furstenau said, “I think that is a really important step to take at a time like this.”
She said this bill addresses a lot of what British Columbians have seen since the pandemic began in mid-March.
“The COVID19 Recovery Act addresses a lot of the issues that have come up with the government needing to make emergency orders during the pandemic and the state of emergency we’ve been in,” said Furstenau. “This act moves to extend some of the time frames for some of those orders and regulations that have been brought in.”
When we spoke with Furstenau, the bill was in the committee phase and she expects it to be adopted by the end of the week.
