There’s no honour among former B.C. politicians. Or at least, not in their titles.
A botched program to confer the title “honourable” on former cabinet ministers, premiers and legislature Speakers for use in their post-political lives has been repealed after it was found former clerk Craig James improperly created the proclamations in 2018 without the necessary approvals.
Acting clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd has sent letters to dozens of retired and former politicians in the past few weeks, detailing the errors and reversing the proposal.
“I very much regret to inform you of this,” she wrote to the MLAs. “While there may have been general support for such an initiative at the time that it was instituted in 2018, the lack of legal effect of the purported proclamations issued last year regrettably does not afford former speakers of the legislative assembly and former members of the executive council to use the honorific ‘Honourable’ after their time in office.
“I apologize for these unfortunate circumstances and that the office of the clerk did not take appropriate steps in this matter.”
Allowing former cabinet ministers, premiers and Speakers to use the title “honourable” would have been a mostly symbolic move, as it comes with no special legal standing, perks or rewards.
James, who retired last month after being found to have committed misconduct related to spending while clerk, created the honorific program in 2018. In addition to giving former ministers the title, James also bestowed the “honourable” designation on himself as clerk.
The proclamations were signed by Judith Guichon before she left office as lieutenant-governor.
However, it is the attorney general who authenticates proclamations using what’s called the Great Seal of B.C., which is then countersigned by cabinet. That didn’t happen, so the titles “are not valid and have no legal effect,” wrote Ryan-Lloyd.
Attorney General David Eby intervened to help scrap the program.
“The attorney general contacted the Speaker of the House after it came to his attention that the Great Seal of the province of British Columbia was not affixed to two purported proclamations, and that the documents had not been countersigned by the attorney general,” his ministry said in a statement.
