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“I feel that we are still fighting the Cold War in this chamber. We’ve got politicians who’ve been here, on both sides of the house, since the 1990s. When the same players continue their never-ending dance of dysfunction, British Columbians all lose. The type of behaviour that we witnessed this morning in question period is a testament to that.”

Those comments being rather more than the technical description of the bill allowed under house rules, Speaker of the Legislature Linda Reid interrupted to say he ought to confine himself “just to the content of the bill.”

But by then Weaver had made his political point, namely that “the general public have become cynical about politics and career politicians” and consequently “voter turnout is in decline.”

The text of the bill was simplicity itself. The section of the Election Act specifying eligibility to be nominated to run for a seat in the legislature would be amended to say that:

“An individual is not entitled to be nominated if they have already served a total of 12 years in the provincial legislature and 2) An individual is not entitled to be nominated if they have already served eight years as the premier of the province.”

The bill is one of 17 Weaver has tabled in the current session, with two more in the works — almost as many as produced by the entire 35-member caucus of New Democrats. Others would lower the voting age to 16, toughen recall and initiative legislation and offer blanket protection of endangered species.