Will 2018 Be The Year British Columbia Enacts Species-At-Risk Legislation?

Despite being Canada's most biologically diverse province and the home of some of Canada's most vocal environmental advocates, BC does not have any provincial species-at-risk legislation. In 2017 opposition MLAs introduced three private member bills regarding species-at-risk (SAR) legislation in the Legislative Assembly, but none were advanced under the Liberal government.

Background

Under the previous Liberal government Andrew Weaver of the BC Green Party tabled a private member's bill introducing the Endangered Species Act, 2017 (ESA #1) for first reading on February 27.¹ On February 28, George Heyman (now minister of environment and climate change strategy) of BC's New Democratic Party tabled a private member's bill introducing the Species at Risk Protection Act, 2017² (SRPA). Neither of these bills progressed beyond first reading prior to the dissolution of BC's Liberal government on April 11, 2017. On November 6, under BC's new NDP government, Andrew