The new Societies Act will receive first reading at the BC Legislature today.

Yesterday evening, by teleconference the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Michael de Jong, announced that he would introduce a bill proposing a new Societies Act in the BC Legislature on the afternoon of March 25. The Minister noted that consultations had brought to light a number of different views on the various provisions of the proposed new legislation as set out in the White Paper released in August 2014, but that the overwhelming desire of the voluntary sector was that the government move forward with the legislative reform.

It appears likely that the Bill will differ in a number of respects from the draft legislation that accompanied the White Paper. The Minister noted in particular several revisions that have been made as a result of concerns expressed in consultations.

  1. Public Interest Remedy - Section 99 of the White Paper, which would authorize members of the public to commence an action against a society for failure to act in the public interest has not been included in the Bill. This will come as a welcome relief to many societies which were concerned that this section would significantly increase litigation against societies by parties who disagreed with their views.
  2. Minimum Age of Directors - In response to a concern voiced by student societies that individuals under age 18 would not be permitted to serve as directors, the Ministry has introduced a power for the government to authorize by regulation certain societies to have 16 and 17 year old directors.
  3. Unalterable Provisions - Some societies were concerned that unalterable provisions were being done away with completely. The new legislation introduces a compromise. While unalterable provisions will become alterable, a new power in the legislation will allow societies to set in their bylaws a supermajority threshold for altering specifically designated provisions. This threshold could be unanimity. This mechanism will allow societies that wish them to keep in place "nearly unalterable" provisions.
  4. Member Proposals – Some societies were concerned about the new power in the White Paper that would allow 5% of the membership to compel the board of a society to add an issue to the agenda of a meeting. The bill will provide a compromise. While the threshold will still be set at 5% of members, in order to be placed on agenda the proposal must have the support of at least 2 voting members and the board will have discretion to reject the proposal if it is substantially similar to an issue that has already been proposed in the past two years.

While these were the only changes specifically mentioned, the Minister did not state that these are the only differences from the legislation proposed by the White Paper. We are hopeful that certain other technical concerns will also be addressed.

The Minister acknowledged that it is unusual to provide a briefing in this manner prior to the Bill being introduced in the Legislature. For that reason, he was unable to take questions or go into further detail on the teleconference. He thanked all those who had helped to shape the draft legislation and expressed confidence that it will serve BC's 27,000 societies well.

We will provide further news once the bill is tabled and available for review. Stay tuned!

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