South Okanagan MLA holding town hall on emergency powers bill

While all eyes are on the impending federal election, a South Okanagan MLA is raising concerns about the provincial government’s bill to give itself emergency powers to respond to U.S. tariffs.

BC Conservative Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee has organized a town hall at the Penticton Seniors’ Drop-in Centre at 7 p.m. on March 26, according to her social media.

“No other Canadian province is taking such drastic measures. We should all be very concerned about what this means for our democracy,” she said online.

Bill 7 was tabled last week and would give B.C.’s cabinet sweeping powers to make regulations that address challenges or anticipated challenges from the actions of a foreign jurisdiction, or for a purpose “supporting the economy of British Columbia and Canada” without requiring a debate in the legislature.

Boultbee said the bill is an “unprecedented attack on transparency.”

The event is also an opportunity to ask Boultbee about recent changes in her party, such as the three MLAs who left the BC Conservatives after one of them mocked residential school survivors.

The town hall does not require an RSVP. 

Boultbee did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

—With files from The Canadian Press.