British Columbians voting on October 24 have an opportunity to do more than change politicians. They can begin changing the direction of their province.
Over the years, B.C. governments have accumulated powers over speech, property, professional life, schools, and health care that no government needs in a free society. Restoring freedom will require more than campaign slogans. It will mean changing the laws that restrict it.
Let’s start with speech
Section 7 of the BC Human Rights Code allows legal punishment for expression deemed discriminatory. Former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld, who opposed transgender ideology in schools, was ordered to pay $750,000 to LGBT teachers offended by his advocacy.
Section 7 should be repealed. The rest of the Human Rights Code can continue prohibiting discrimination in goods and services without empowering tribunals to punish unpopular opinions.
Professionals need the same protection
Doctors, nurses, lawyers, and teachers should not risk losing their livelihoods because their regulatory bodies dislike opinions they express publicly. Alberta’s Regulated Professions Neutrality Act offers BC a model. The treatment of nurse Amy Hamm and lawyer Jim Heller demonstrates why such protection is necessary.
Freedom also depends on equality before the law
BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act should be repealed. Private property owners should not face growing uncertainty from aboriginal title claims while government entrenches different legal treatment based on ancestry. Equal rights should mean precisely that: equal rights.
Property owners face another threat from the Civil Forfeiture Act
Government can seek an “unexplained wealth order” and force citizens to explain how their lawful income enabled them to acquire or maintain property they already own. This reverses a basic principle of justice. When government wants to seize private property, government should bear the burden of justifying the seizure.
Workers deserve independence too. A unionized employee who has lost confidence in a union should be able to secure independent legal representation. Section 27 of the Labour Relations Code should be amended so that legitimate complaints cannot be stopped by ideologically motivated union leadership.
Then there are the schools
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) should be removed from BC’s curriculum. It has been sold as an anti-bullying strategy, yet it divides students according to sexuality and religion and encourages the idea that particular identity groups deserve special protection.
Bullying does not respect identity categories. Children can be targeted because they are socially awkward, isolated, unattractive or simply different. A decent anti-bullying policy protects every child equally rather than ranking children according to sexuality, race or other personal characteristics.
BC also desperately needs more freedom in health care
The Supreme Court of Canada stated in Chaoulli v. Quebec that access to a waiting list is not access to health care. Yet British Columbians suffering on waitlists remain trapped in a system that severely restricts their ability to pay for alternatives.
Almost every country with public health care also permits private health services and insurance. BC can maintain a public system while allowing doctors to provide both public and private care.
Medical professionals also need independence from government. Bill 36 should be repealed so that regulatory colleges again enjoy meaningful separation from the politicians who govern the province. Patients should know that medical advice reflects a professional’s honest judgment, not the government’s preferred message.
Government transparency has also moved in the wrong direction
BC’s freedom-of-information laws already allowed public bodies to reject frivolous or vexatious requests. Newer provisions go further by allowing bureaucrats to rely on an applicant’s “behaviour” when resisting disclosure.
Persistent citizens are often precisely the people who uncover information governments would rather keep hidden. Being angry, confrontational, or annoying should not diminish anyone’s right to know what government is doing.
Finally, British Columbians should have a meaningful say before their history is erased
Victoria removed its statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in 2018. Streets named for BC’s first lieutenant-governor, Joseph Trutch, were renamed in Victoria and Vancouver in 2022 and 2025. Such decisions have been justified in the name of reconciliation while often proceeding without meaningful public consultation.
Historical figures were imperfect because human beings are imperfect. Removing monuments and names should at minimum require open public debate and democratic accountability.
Free speech. Property rights. Equality before the law. Independent professionals. Choice in health care. Transparent government. Respect for history and democratic process.
None of these principles is radical.
British Columbia has drifted away from them through individual laws and policies. It can return to them the same way: law by law, institution by institution.
On October 24, voters can start that process.
John Carpay, BA, LLB, is President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
Read this column in the New Westminster Times
