British Columbia’s Freedom of Information fight did not end with a calm public explanation. It ended in the dark hours of the morning, after an all-night legislature battle over Bill 9.

NanaimoNewsNOW reported on May 7 that two former BC Conservative MLAs, now sitting as Independents, voted with the NDP government to help shut down debate on the bill at around 3 a.m. The legislature rose at about 4 a.m. The same report said the NDP side and those two Independents supported moving the bill forward, while the Conservatives, Greens and three other Independents opposed it.

That matters because Bill 9 is not routine housekeeping. It amends British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act — the law citizens, journalists, watchdogs and opposition MLAs use to obtain public records. When a government changes the rules for access to information, the public has a right to see the debate in daylight.

The process became the story

BC Conservative MLA Trevor Halford said the opposition had proposed a hoist motion to delay Bill 9 for six months so British Columbians could be properly consulted. His caucus said that motion was defeated and debate was then cut off. That is a procedural fact with a political consequence: the government chose speed over a longer public fight about transparency.

The NDP government says Bill 9 is about modernizing privacy, cybersecurity, digital services and the handling of public information. Those are legitimate issues for any government. But legitimate policy goals do not erase the need for scrutiny, especially when the bill changes the public’s ability to test government claims against government records.

What is sourced

  • Bill 9 amends B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
  • The government promoted it as a modernization package involving privacy, cybersecurity and digital services.
  • Critics, including the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, warned the bill weakens access rights.
  • The all-night debate ended with the bill advancing after votes in the early morning hours of May 7.

Transparency cannot be an afterthought

FIPA’s public analysis warned that Bill 9 weakens access in B.C. That warning should have triggered a careful public process, not a sleep-deprived showdown most British Columbians would never watch live.

This is the basic accountability test: if the NDP believes Bill 9 improves public information law, it should be able to defend the details in normal hours, with affected groups heard, amendments explained and records rights protected. A government that controls the documents should not also rush the rules that govern access to those documents.

The bottom line: Bill 9 may be written in legal language, but the democratic issue is simple. British Columbians should not have to stay awake until 4 a.m. to find out how their government is changing the law that lets them see what government is doing.