A dozen BC Conservative MLAs backed OneBC’s latest attempt to divide British Columbians.

OneBC’s latest bill would have banned raising flags on public buildings to support LGBTQ+ rights and remember residential school survivors, trans people who were killed by violence, victims of genocide, and more.

“These OneBC bills have no purpose other than to pit British Columbians against each other,” said BC NDP MLA Rohini Arora. “The BC Conservatives brought Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong into the legislature to begin with, and it’s incredibly disappointing that they continue to vote for these divisive proposals.”

The BC Conservatives recently fired a staffer for criticizing the Residential School Survivors’ flag which had been raised at the legislature. Past flag raisings include the Pride flag to protest Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies, the Trans flag to remember people killed by anti-trans violence, and the Artsakh flag to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

“The majority of the BC Conservatives did do the right thing today by voting against this bill,” said Arora. “But if those MLAs are ok with a dozen of their colleagues endorsing OneBC’s division, then they are complicit in promoting it.”

Although the BC Conservatives voted against previous OneBC bills to ban land acknowledgments and repeal Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Day, they voted on Monday in favour of a OneBC attack on diversity policies and then again today in favour of this bill.

MLAs Harman Bhangu and Heather Maahs, who voted for today’s bill, were the only two BC Conservatives to break ranks and vote in favour of the previous OneBC bill to ban land acknowledgments. Maahs also abstained from Monday’s vote to repeal TRC Day, and spoke out in support of ARPA after the BC Conservatives attempted to avoid taking a position on that motion.