Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call continued debate on the budget.

[2:30 p.m.]

[J. Isaacs in the chair.]

Budget Debate

(continued)

T. Redies: As the designated speaker for the official opposition, I’m picking up from my initial comments yesterday. As I noted earlier, my co-critic, the hon. member for Prince George–Valemount, will be making her comments a little later in the debate. Although we’ve had the benefit of looking over the budget overnight, we have indeed learned from this process last year that the devil is always in the details, especially with this government.

I note that the Finance Minister’s speech yesterday contained quite a few references to the previous government, and certainly, none of them in a particularly flattering way. That’s okay. We’ve developed a thick skin over these past few years. Besides, it’s kind of a compliment that the current Finance Minister lifts all her fiscal policies from the B.C. Liberal playbook. Sounds incredible, I know, but it’s a matter of record that the former Finance Minister, the hon. member for Abbotsford West, previously delivered precisely all of the so-called income tax cuts contained in Budget 2019.

For example, this is what the former Minister of Finance said in his speech in 2017: “As a first step, starting this fiscal year, on January 1, 2018, we’re going to roll back most premiums” to about the levels that were set in 1993. That will be done by cutting MSP premiums in half “for families and individuals with family net income of up to $120,000 per year. For a family paying full premiums, this represents a saving of $900 per year.” For a family earning an equivalent amount, “it doubles to a maximum of $1,800 per year.”

Now let’s fast forward to February 19, 2019, and have a listen to what the current Minister of Finance had to say about MSP premiums only just yesterday. She said: “In Budget 2019, our government is moving ahead with the full elimination of MSP premiums,” saving individuals $900 in taxes and families $1,800 in taxes a year. “At $2.7 billion, this is one of the largest tax cuts for people in B.C.’s history.”

Well, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and this government has done its best to take credit for everything the former B.C. Liberal government achieved in 16 years. I’m reminded of a famous quote by the legendary Warren Buffet, who said: “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

Now, the election result of 2017 did not permit the previous government to follow through on its promise to completely eliminate MSP — that is, completely wipe it off the books as a clean tax cut, with no replacement tax ever contemplated.

As we all know, the NDP has never met a tax it didn’t like. This minister’s plan is to continue charging MSP premiums and charge the new employer health tax at the same time. With the introduction of the EHT, this minister is raising $500 more in tax off the business sector. Her so-called elimination is really just a shell game, moving the tax from individuals to businesses and pretending she has eliminated the MSP in the process.

Let’s continue our journey through memory lane and see what else the current Finance Minister copied from her B.C. Liberal predecessor. This is what the member for Abbotsford West, the former Finance Minister, had to say about the reduction of small business tax, again, two years ago: “Finally, Budget 2017 will forgo $213 million in revenue over three years to reduce the small business tax rate from 2.5 percent to 2 percent, effective April 1, 2017.”

Let’s fast-forward again and see what the current Finance Minister had to say about the small business tax rate. “Our government is working to set the stage for B.C.’s future economy. To this end, we’re…helping small businesses and entrepreneurs get ahead. We have cut the small business​…​income tax from 2.5 percent to 2 percent.” Well, isn’t that interesting. What are the odds that the current NDP Finance Minister would say almost precisely the same thing that her B.C. Liberal predecessor said exactly two years ago?

Let’s now turn to PST on electricity for businesses. In the 2017 budget speech, the former B.C. Liberal Finance Minister made the following announcement. He said: “We are going to phase out the PST on electricity, starting with a reduction of 3½ percent on the purchase price and moving to full exemption on April 1, 2019. Government will forgo more than $160 million in revenue — money that will be available…for reinvestment, expansion and job creation.”

[2:35 p.m.]

Guess what. The current Finance Minister said this in her budget speech only yesterday: “As of April 1 this year, we’re fully eliminating the PST on non-residential electricity.” Well, I wonder if the Premier is woke to all of this. He must be completely lit by the B.C. NDP copying all of the fiscal policies of the past government as well as taking credit for bringing in LNG Canada.

Seriously, I can assure you that there are plenty more examples of the current government taking credit for all the accomplishments of the B.C. Liberals over the course of 16 years — things like five balanced budgets in a row, triple-A credit rating and significant budget surpluses to assure business investors that B.C. is the best place to do business. Or at least it was.

Sadly, that’s where the story of the tax cuts ends. It has now been almost two years since the NDP took control of the public purse, representing two budgets and one budget update. And, no surprise, there have been no other tax cuts, other than the ones previously announced by the former government — only a planned increase of $13 billion in government spending, which they have announced in 1¾ years. Let’s stop for a minute — $13 billion announced in less than two years. That’s a 26 percent increase in government spending since the NDP took office. It has been fuelled by a robust economy left to them by the previous government, and almost $6 billion in new taxes.

This government has certainly shown no trepidation in raising taxes on individuals, property owners, businesses and even municipalities. They have gleefully raided the taxpayers’ piggy bank with little or no restraint. Property taxes, fuel taxes, heating taxes, taxes on businesses are all going up under this government.

I’ll digress a moment, because it reminds me of a conversation I had in January with a French gentleman. My husband and I were on a tour, as part of our 30th wedding anniversary, when I met this gentleman and his wife. While he could speak little or no English and my French is sadly deplorable, believe it or not, we managed to have a conversation about taxes. Now, if you remember, late last year the yellow vests movement in France was demonstrating in the streets of Paris over planned government hikes to fuel taxes. This demonstration involved tens of thousands of people, and it went on for several days, until the French president rolled back the increases.

In turn, I explained that property taxes in some parts of Vancouver were going up, on average, 33 percent, thousands and thousands of dollars, because of this government’s housing policy, for the most part hitting British Columbians, not the foreigners this government likes to demonize. My new French friend responded to this with a raised eyebrow, saying, “État de voleur,” which means “thief state.” While that may sound harsh, when this government raises taxes by almost $6 billion, largely on the backs of the only 2.5 million taxpayers in this province, the shoe fits, as they say.

Interjection.

Deputy Speaker: Member, could we have order, please.

T. Redies: Look, I’m not saying that some of the spending initiatives of the NDP government were not needed. Disability payments needed to rise. More money needed to be spent on caring for our seniors, and we needed to address shortages of student housing on our university campuses. These are just three examples, initiatives that I actually agree with this current government on, but I think it’s the pace and scale of the increase in spending that has me concerned.

Think of it. How do you increase government spending by more than a quarter after less than two years in office? While they didn’t really announce much in the way of new spending with this budget, what spending that is new is pushed off until late 2020. But what I think might have been missed is that the NDP have blown through an additional $2 billion in spending in fiscal year 2018-19.

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Members, order.

T. Redies: As I was saying, what I think might have been missed is that the NDP have blown through an additional $2 billion in spending in this fiscal year, 2018-19, from what was originally planned for this year in Budget 2018.

[2:40 p.m.]

The government’s original Budget 2018 document said they would spend $53.7 billion in fiscal 2018-19. Instead, they will have spent $55.7 billion as of the end of fiscal 2018-19 — $2 billion in additional unplanned spending.

That’s why the Finance Minister had to table legislation yesterday. It’s because nine of the government’s ministries have overspent their planned budget by almost $2 billion, ministries like Advanced Education, Education, Health, Citizens’ Services, and Tourism, Arts and Culture, among others. Nine very large ministries have not kept within their stated spending plans for the citizens of B.C. Does anyone over there know how to budget?

Without the windfall of the one-time $1.6 billion federal transfer — because of a very hot 2017 economy under the B.C. Liberals — this government would be in a seriously difficult predicament. No, the balanced budget in fiscal 2018-19 was not due to careful planning; it was due to blind luck. None of this, of course, was mentioned in the Finance Minister’s speech yesterday. But if I were her, I would be looking for a lot more control on the spending that is going on over there, because her budget going forward doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room now for mistakes.

The government has reduced its forecast allowances for the next two fiscal years by $200 million and $300 million respectively, and its surpluses remain relatively small to the major increase in spending from the Budget 2018 plan, which has increased about $1.4 billion since February 2018. And its surpluses are highly dependent on an increase in the planned GDP growth rates from last year, which may or may not be realized as the global economy is slowing.

I know that this is a lot of numbers, but tough as to say, we are going into a period of slower global growth, and this government continues to bake in spending that will be very difficult to unwind in the event of an economic downturn.

For example, for fighting fires, which have cost the government almost $1 billion over the last two years, there’s only a budgeted amount of $117 million. I find this rather surprising, given the comments made by Premier Horgan at the height of the wildfire season last year. He said the following: “Clearly, the traditional means of budgeting for fire season is laughable. It’s not something that just developed in the last 13 months; it’s been going on for 30 years. Choose an arbitrary number, put it in the books, and hope for the best.”

If the Premier was truly serious about the past two record fire seasons, would he not work with his Finance Minister to address this concern? Apparently not. With razor-thin budget surpluses in the forecast, an unpredictable event like a wildfire could burn up this projected surplus like a matchstick and quickly return B.C. back to deficit spending.

Remember the old adage: save for a rainy day? Well, this Finance Minister and her government are essentially spending everything they can, and that’s potentially a significant problem. We’ve had seven years of significant GDP growth, and for all intents and purposes, global growth is slowing as the U.S. tax incentives wane, China’s economy slows, Japan teeters on the edge of recession and the U.K. faces the economic disruption of Brexit.

B.C. is a small trading economy, and while our economic growth has been spectacular — a testament to the hard-working British Columbians and businesses who make up our economy — this party will not go on forever. As Jock Finlayson of the B.C. Business Council said yesterday: “The budget does not pay sufficient attention to the headwinds facing the economy due to slower global growth and rising tax and regulatory costs here at home. We wonder where future economic growth will come from to support the spending measures outlined in this budget over time.”

Instead of having a rainy-day fund that should have been built up while the economic growth was strong, this government is baking in $13 billion in spending that will be difficult to unwind. When that downturn happens, and it will, the province will likely be in a structural deficit. That’s what happens when you overshoot government spending versus what the economy can sustain over the longer term.

Further, this government has done nothing to stimulate the private sector. Most of their so-called economic growth is about public or government spending, paid for by the taxes on individuals and businesses. Instead of charting a path to stimulate the private sector, we have a government that has been completely been silent on the viability of our resources sector, whose revenues are expected to fall by over 30 percent in this plan. The same applies to the real estate construction sector, which is expected to see housing starts decline by almost 27 percent.

[2:45 p.m.]

As I said yesterday, this government appears stalled in a mid-life crisis, with no plan to create higher-paying jobs which are needed to address affordability, no plan to stimulate business investment in our province, a growing and punishing tax burden on employers in B.C. and no incentives to make this province a more competitive place to do business in global markets.

Their own throne speech highlighted that too many British Columbians are having to work two jobs to make ends meet, and today the CEO of the Vancouver bank has indicated food bank usage has gone up 25 percent in one year.

Affordability isn’t just about costs; it’s about wages. I would argue that we have the wages of Omaha, Nebraska here in B.C., with the costs of New York. There are only two ways to get out of that: stimulate domestic and foreign investment, with the aim of capturing high-paying private sector jobs here in British Columbia; and dramatically increase training, especially at the post-secondary level, so we have the workers everyone wants. But there’s nothing about either of those in this budget.

Given all the additional taxes and regulations that this government has layered on the business sector, I don’t see any improvement on the horizon. B.C. has one of the lower foreign direct investment per capita rates in the developed world, and that is unlikely to change under this government. In fact, it will likely only get worse.

As we’ve seen, companies like TransCanada are heading for the hills, forcing the federal government to invest billions in what should have been a private sector pipeline. One could only conclude that the investment reputation of this province — and, indeed, Canada — as a place to do business has literally tanked. Budget 2019 contains nothing to address that situation either.

The Conference Board of Canada noted that B.C. was the 14th worst performing district based on the effective marginal corporate tax rate — another damning conclusion.

These things matter to business investors, and I find it extremely curious that the other side of the House doesn’t seem to get that business can invest their capital virtually anywhere in the world. If B.C. is not competitive, we won’t see a dime of investment. Worse still is the risk of losing existing investment, whether it’s TransCanada or a technology firm I spoke with yesterday. They all remember the 1990s.

The technology firm I’m referring to made an investment decision to locate a new logistic centre in the U.K., along with 100 well-paying and rewarding jobs, when the NDP came to power this time. Worse still, the firm is looking to move the last 50 jobs out of B.C. to Ontario, simply because the province has made doing business in B.C. unaffordable.

It might interest you to know, too, that the last quarter was the first time in 21 quarters where there was a net outflow of people from this province. I fear this could be a start of another issue we saw in the 1990s under the NDP, an outflow of people leaving the province looking for better opportunities.

This is what Val Litwin of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce had to say. He said: “A new employer health tax, an increasing carbon tax, a rising minimum wage, climbing corporate tax rates — these costs are weighing down the backbone of B.C.’s economy. Beyond a number of limited tax enhancements, we didn’t see anything today that will materially help B.C.’s small and medium-sized enterprises compete in the years ahead, and our data shows there are storm clouds looming.”

You simply can’t increase spending without a plan to grow the private sector economy. There are only so many times you can keep drawing from the same well of taxpayers, and the 2½ million taxpayers in this province are already taxed to the hilt.

As a direct result of this government piling on taxes, as of 2019, B.C. had the ninth-highest personal income tax rate in 61 American states and Canadian provinces, according to a report released by the Fraser Institute recently. The report indicates: “The B.C. government has recently made worse the province’s long-standing tax competitiveness problem with recent hikes to personal and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, carbon taxes, vehicle taxes and property taxes, all of which make it harder to attract potential skilled workers, investors and businesses.”

Contrary to what the NDP think, economic growth does not come about by unfettered expansion to the public sector, yet this seems only what this government has up its sleeve.

Finally, I want to say something on housing. As someone who has spent a lot of my life helping finance developments and helping people get into their homes, the government’s housing strategy has left me completely baffled.

[2:50 p.m.]

How do you solve a housing crisis when housing starts have dropped 6.4 percent in 2018 and are projected to drop another 16.7 percent this year and another 10 percent in 2020 and beyond? The NDP’s housing policies are contributing to this because with their plethora of real estate taxes, they’re making it increasingly uneconomic for developers to build both affordable housing units for sale or rental properties. In fact, a major report revealed last year that taxes, fees and levies at all levels of government cost a whopping 26 percent or more of end housing costs in the Lower Mainland, and that’s before the new surtax on properties valued above $3 million and the EHT are factored in.

Governments are truly the major culprit in the lack of affordable housing. Why is it so hard for this government to understand that? Don’t they understand that every time they increase a tax, raise a fee or delay a permit, that cost gets passed on to end buyers or factored into rental rates? If you think the margins on developments can absorb additional taxes levied by this government without passing it on to end buyers or renters, think again.

Just think how housing affordability could be improved if governments at the provincial and municipal levels were just a little bit more reasonable with housing taxation. It is possible. We have a driver in our hands to reduce property taxation by 20 percent or 30 percent, but instead, this government continues to increase property taxation.

As a reporter for the CBC described it, with these taxes and surcharges, “government is one of the largest contributors to the lack of affordability in our housing market.”

Jordan Bateman, with the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, has this to say: “Slowing housing starts means fewer jobs in construction, less PTT revenue and one-third less supply to meet the demand for new homes. Instead of cutting red tape and trying to turbocharge housing starts to drive down costs, the NDP is quietly choking out the market.”

Affordable housing policies that don’t address the supply side are doomed to fail. The so-called speculation and vacancy tax certainly has nothing to do with increasing the supply of affordable housing. It has everything to do with casting a wide net of suspicion across 1.6 million homeowners in the province, who are now forced to prove they are not speculators in the eyes of government.

Just as the new school tax levy has nothing to do with schools, taxpayers are now seeing their property taxes jacked up as a direct result of the employer health tax imposed on municipalities. While some public sector employers were subsequently exempted from the EHT after the bungled rollout of this tax, the Finance Minister continues to insist that local governments should fall back on their main source of revenue — property taxes.

Forget about filling potholes or replacing your kids’ local skating rink. This Finance Minister wants a piece of the action from local governments through a forced increase in property taxes.

Perhaps even more disturbing to me, especially in the wake of all the concerns about people not registering properly for their exemption: the government no longer has a separate line item upfront for the revenues that it’s generating from the speculation tax. It’s buried in a table in the back of the budget.

Remember, this is the government that said British Columbians wouldn’t be affected by the speculation tax — that 99 percent of British Columbians wouldn’t pay it. But then, of course, we found out that of the people who were paying the spec tax, over 67 percent were British Columbians. Then we found out that every homeowner in the designated areas, 1.6 million homes, had to file for the exemption or get hit with a very nasty tax bill.

Why are they now hiding both the spec tax and, for that matter, the increased school tax for homes above $3 million? I suspect this is a deceptive tactic to hide just how much money they’re taking from British Columbians.

Curiously enough, in what has become a very depressed housing sales market in many areas, this government is still predicting its property tax revenues to be flat over the coming years, helped, no doubt, by the two taxes I mentioned.

The devil is always in the detail, and my co-critic and I look forward to being able to test the Minister of Finance in estimates on that detail. Undoubtedly, it will take time to bring these things to light, just as it did last year, but we will get to the bottom of it.

A. Weaver: I will be the designated speaker on this particular topic. It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak in support of Budget 2019.

[2:55 p.m.]

Before I begin, I’d like to thank my staff down in the B.C. Green caucus office, who spent an enormous amount of time over the last few months putting together our priorities, as well as the staff in the civil service and within the CASA secretariat through which we often convey information on which we sometimes, more often than not, get timely responses and feedback on suggestions. So thanks to the staff.

We wouldn’t be able to do the good work that we do in this place were it not for the dedicated staff who put in countless hours, including the staff who last night didn’t go home till very late because, as you know, we are small but mighty, in the B.C. Green caucus, and I was up second here today. I thank them again for all their hard work.

I’d like to start with a bit of a personal narrative, if I may, moving into this budget speech, to give a sense of the way I got into politics and where we are now. It’s important because it gives us a general sense as to why I’m quite pleased — no, very pleased — with the direction that this budget has taken. I will come to address some of the comments from the critic, the B.C. Liberal critic, that were just made.

Frankly, I believe that they need to be addressed, as some of their comments were quite outrageous. I question whether the member for Surrey-Whalley has actually spent the good time necessary to get into some of the details of this budget, because some of the statements were simply wrong. And that’s not good enough.

An Hon. Member: Surrey–White Rock.

A. Weaver: Surrey–White Rock. What did I…? I do apologize. Surrey–White Rock.

Coming to the personal narrative. As anyone would know, my background was a climate scientist at the University of Victoria. I arrived there in 1992.

I came to Victoria because of the quality of life we could offer here in British Columbia. We had many possibilities of going to other jurisdictions. Ultimately, I’m from Victoria, my wife is from Victoria, and we wanted to have children and a family grow up next to our grandparents, who are both alive today, both still living in the houses that we were born and grew up in, here in this area. That was the critical, important issue for us. We wanted a family. We wanted to grow up in a place that we could call home and in a beautiful place. That is British Columbia.

I’ll come to that again because that is one of our strategic strengths. One of our strategic strengths in British Columbia is that we’re able to attract and retain people from around the world because of the stable democracy that we have — you’d never know it based on question period — but also because of the quality of life we offer and the economic opportunities that are present for people who come here.

We came here in 1992, and I worked as a climate scientist at UVic, working on the second, third, fourth, fifth scientific assessments of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013. Even when I was sitting here as an MLA…. I had to resign as a lead author once the writ was dropped. But even in the lead-up to that, I was working on these international assessments.

We know that over the last 150 years, the earth has made a transition from a past when climate used to affect the evolution and dispersal of humans to a present when, in fact, humans are affecting the evolution and change of the climate and the weather that we experience on a daily basis. What we are at risk of losing on this planet — frankly, what we’re already in the process of losing now — is staggering.

When scientists…. These are not activists. These are scientists who feel far more comfortable sitting at the lab bench tinkering with their chemicals or their test-tubes. When they’re talking about between 60 and 80 percent of all the world’s species committed to extinction by the end of this century, that should get people to wake up — 60 to 80 percent of the world’s species committed to extinction because of climate change this century. That’s something we need to wake up to.

It’s something that points fundamentally to the issue of intergenerational equity. The question which climate change can be framed into is: do we, the present generation, owe anything to future generations in terms of the quality of environment that we leave behind?

Now, I would suggest most of us believe that we do. We have children. We save for the future. We might have a little nest egg for them. We put money aside in a registered education savings plan for them. We put them in education systems to train them for the future. We care about the future of our children in many aspects of our life.

The question I ask the members here is: do we, the present generation, actually believe we owe anything in terms of the quality of environment we leave behind? Action now is what is fundamentally required if the answer to that is yes.

We know, through a direct analogy…. Here it is. Put a pot of water on a stove, and turn the element up to eight. The analogy is direct. The water and the pot are the oceans of the world.

[3:00 p.m.]

The element going up to eight is increased levels of greenhouse gases. Well, we know that when we put the element up to 8, the water in the pot doesn’t boil right away. We might think that it’s all nice. We have an element of 8. The water is not boiling, and we sit and wait and wait and wait. Then all of a sudden, we go: “Oh no. It’s too hot. It’s boiling. I have to turn the heat down.” I turn the element down. But guess what. It’s too late. It’s too late because the water has already warmed up and it doesn’t cool right away.

That is something known as thermal inertia, and it’s the direct consequence of the fact that the heat capacity of water is five times greater than it is of sand, for example. It takes a long time for the oceans to equilibrate, particularly as they’re moving, with the incoming radiation imbalance at the top of the atmosphere.

We see things like El Niños and La Niñas. We get Trump tweeting out about winter in Chicago meaning global warming is ending. But we expect that as that heat stored in the ocean shiffles around in the ocean and changes weather patterns on any given week, month, season or even year to year.

What we also know is the oceans are warming. As they warm, they store heat. That heat is around for a very, very long time — in fact, centuries and millennia. So we know that even if we do no more than keep existing levels of greenhouse gases the same as they are today, do nothing more, we’ll warm to somewhere between 1.8 and 1.9 degrees as a direct consequence of a permafrost carbon feedback and the fact that we have an equilibration to come to that temperature equilibrium with the knob on the dial set to 8, for example.

We also know that if we suddenly say, “Oh no, we have to reduce greenhouse gases,” we may reduce the gases, but the heat in the ocean doesn’t go away right away. It takes time. That is the reason why, if we fundamentally believe in intergenerational equity — and we believe that we owe it to future generations to leave behind an environment that, frankly, is habitable like the one we have — we have to act today, because waiting for tomorrow is too late.

When I see a budget recognize that…. You know that to me, this is a culminating effort as to one of the reasons why I got into politics. I got here for this to happen. The fact that CleanBC was announced on December 5, a date that I will never forget…. We have $902 million dedicated in this budget, a number I will never forget, not even counting the myriad other measures which have been also announced that don’t actually reflect in that $902 million. You know I’m pleased, because finally we have a government that is actually putting this back on the table as a priority.

I think, frankly, that not only today’s generation but future generations will turn around and thank this government, this minority government — and, frankly, the B.C. Greens as well — for the work that we collectively did to get this here.

Interjection.

A. Weaver: Thank you to my friend from Vancouver–​West End.

One of the things I wanted to mention is…. If we go to Sir David Attenborough, what he recently said in December at the UN was this: “If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.” Some people would say this is alarming.

What I say to people who suggest that is: what other issue in any other aspect of our society do you see that the experts in the field are the loudest and most outspoken people? No other issue that I know of, other than climate science. It is the climate scientists who are the ones screaming from the rafters about the importance of dealing with greenhouse gas emissions.

Sure, there are some other NGOs out there doing that as well, and good work that they do. But if you go to many of the issues in our society, it is not the experts in the field who are invariably shouting out. In this, each and every climate scientist I know who’s practising and publishing worldwide is concerned.

I have never seen an issue in any aspect of science where there is so much unanimity in support of a direction that needs to happen and so much collective bewilderment as to why our political leaders are unable to grasp the challenge ahead, unable to recognize that this challenge is actually the greatest opportunity for economic innovation and growth that we have ever seen.

We have that being recognized here in B.C., because CleanBC is not a climate plan. It is an economic vision for this province, one that clearly…. Clearly, the member for Surrey–White Rock…. It went over her head, because she clearly doesn’t understand that the age of neoliberal economics is gone.

[3:05 p.m.]

What people are looking for today is not for government to pick winners with their big corporate fans, who are donating — but not anymore in B.C., thanks to this minority government. What they’re looking for is for governments to send a signal to the broader market but also to ensure that people have the skills and tools and abilities to participate in this new economy, because it is people that matter. It is people that fundamentally are the ones that drive economic growth.

It is not the multi-billion-dollar generational sellout embodied in our tax credit system for the oil and gas sector. That is not what builds prosperity. What builds prosperity is innovation, education and focusing on people, which is why I’m very pleased with this budget.

In 2007, I had the honour of being on the climate action team under the then leader, Gordon Campbell, another leader who understood not only the challenge but the opportunity that greenhouse gas reduction was affording British Columbia. It was during that time that B.C. became the first jurisdiction to put a price on carbon, an issue that, frankly, I don’t think the member for Surrey–White Rock yet fully understands — what was done, why it was done, what’s being done and the difference.

It’s actually quite embarrassing to hear the words coming from the critic on topics that, clearly, she has not spent some time looking into. You know, B.C. stood as an example then. It’s true that initially it was revenue-neutral. It’s true that we had legislation in place to force revenue neutrality. But let’s be clear. Revenue-neutral was an afterthought in terms of accounting than it was in terms of actual policy drivers. So it is false to claim that somehow there was a magic revenue neutrality that was occurring because of deliberate choices.

Initially corporate and income taxes were reduced, but after a while, it became difficult. What was happening is we were getting weird tax credits. The hockey stick tax credit — my favourite — the $12 tax credit that people didn’t even know they could claim. Each and every parent could claim a $12 tax credit for a hockey stick if your kid bought a hockey stick. Really? That is B.C. Liberal progressive policies? I don’t think so.

I watched, though, initially as…. When I was on that climate action team — and the leadership by the then government — I watched emissions drop in British Columbia. They dropped as the carbon price began to take place. But then what happens, and so often happens, is people forget why they’re leaders. They lose track as to the reason why they were doing what they’re doing. They get distracted by other issues.

Or, in the case of Mr. Campbell, the HST defeat and subsequent change in leadership led to a complete ripping apart, tearing down and dismantling of any climate legacy he had. Let’s be clear, to the members opposite. Virtually every policy measure brought in by the Campbell government was either disbanded or not increasing anymore. Virtually every one.

There is no moral high ground, not even a moral low ground, for the members opposite to stand on, on the climate file. So I won’t for one second listen to any of the rhetoric coming from any member opposite on any aspect of greenhouse gas reductions in light of the fact that under their government, they literally dismantled every single policy measure that was brought in by the Campbell government in the space of only a couple of years. So no, there’s no moral high ground, which is, again, why we’re so pleased to actually stand and support this budget here today.

What we do know is…. Let me quote from the Vancouver Province yesterday. This quote is really important in light of today’s shocking revelation. “More than $1 billion a year laundered through a B.C. underground bank servicing Mexican cartels, Asian gangs and Middle Eastern crime groups.” Let me say that again. This is from a Paris-based international organization. This isn’t from the Fraser Institute or IntegrityBC or some local…. This is an international Paris-based organization reporting out that more than $1 billion a year was laundered through a B.C. underground bank servicing Mexican cartels, Asian gangs and Middle Eastern crime groups.

Guess what we find out today. We find out that the B.C. Liberals were giving them tax credits to launder money in B.C. Can you believe this?

[3:10 p.m.]

In British Columbia — it could only happen here — the B.C. Liberal government, through Advantage B.C., gave tax credits to money launderers setting up shop here in B.C. For any B.C. Liberal member, let alone a Finance critic, to have the gall to stand up here in this Legislature and suggest that members on this side of the House somehow don’t understand the affordability issue or somehow don’t understand what’s going on with the economics of this province…. It’s just mind-boggling.

If ever I have seen a lack of economic oversight or wisdom, it has been in the last four years I was sitting in this Legislature with a government that clearly was out of ideas and had lost touch with the people who elected it. Clearly, the members opposite still don’t realize that they didn’t win the last election. They’re sitting there for at least two years, and based on their performance in the last few question periods and months ahead, they’ll be there for another four years after that because they still lack a vision. They’re angry. They’re bitter. They’re cynical. They’re just all…. Everything everyone else does is wrong, and they don’t offer solutions. That’s not good enough.

As a critic, you have a duty and a responsibility, sure, to criticize. But that’s not good enough. If you don’t like what’s being done, you’ve got to propose what you’d do instead. And I heard absolutely none of that, not a single proposal, not a single thing that the B.C. Liberals would have liked to have seen. Not a single thing that they would have liked to have done. Not a single thing that they think should be done in order to make B.C. prosperous. Why? They had their chance. They had nothing. And now they still have nothing, so they continue to harp on the same tired narrative that if the NDP do something, it must be bad because the NDP did it.

Well, that’s the problem with politics in B.C. That is why the people have lost confidence in a lot of what’s going on here. They’re cynical about the inability of politicians to actually say: “You know what? That’s okay. You did a good job here. We wouldn’t have done it that way, but we did a good job.”

That’s what you are hearing from the B.C. Greens. We wouldn’t have done everything in this budget, but we think the Finance Minister has done a good job. In fact, today in question period, I was very impressed with how well she defended her actions, so impressed that I would suggest that she has solidified her commanding role as leader of the financial governings of this party.

The budget provides clear evidence to me that our participation in this landmark minority government has been a success. If ever there was a day that we thought we made a wrong decision back in May of 2017, never more. Without any doubt, the three of us, with the weighty responsibility we had, had to make a choice. We chose, ultimately, to support a B.C. NDP government because there were more things of shared value. But fundamentally, it was because they had agreed that dealing with climate change is an important issue, and they agreed that dealing with it should not be viewed as a stick. It’s a carrot. It’s an economic opportunity.

While the members opposite quibble about a carbon tax increase, they fail to mention that…. Okay, the carbon tax is going on. But right now, if you want to go home and convert your natural gas heat or your oil burner to a heat pump, there’s now money in the budget to assist this transition. That’s good for innovation.

The cottage industry that was created in British Columbia when the B.C. Liberals used to have a vision…. It was created through the…. What was the program called? The small renovate B.C. program that allowed you to…. I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten the name. This happens when you turn over the age of 50. Some of these names don’t stick. It was a small retrofit program that created a cottage industry, a small industry of small builders putting in niche markets, retrofitting your energy uptake, putting on solar panels. That’s what happened. That was very innovative by the B.C. Liberals. It’s gone, of course, coming back here through a creation of policies that will incentivize this.

This is what does create jobs. It’s not government picking, say, Steelhead LNG and saying: “You’re the winner. We’re going to give you this because you’ve donated to us, so you’re the winning technology.” It doesn’t do that. It says we’re sending a signal to the market that this is the direction we want to head in. Let the market propose the solutions. That’s good economic policy. It seems to have gone over the head of the critic.

Interjection.

[3:15 p.m.]

A. Weaver: Power Smart. Thank you to the member for Richmond-Queensborough. Power Smart was the program. I do appreciate that. There’s room for you over on this side of the House, sir. If you remember that name, clearly, you’re under the age of 50 and you have hope for the…. Too bad most of your caucus members have been here for 20 years and nothing has changed in your party. Maybe you could help rejuvenate some of them as well.

Interjection.

A. Weaver: A good fraction of them are. I look around this room, and I see people who’ve been here a very long time.

I’m just going to pause for a second, hon. Speaker, if I might, to give my colleague from Vancouver–Mount Pleasant a few minutes to make an introduction, if you so give me leave.

Leave granted.

Introductions by Members

Hon. M. Mark: In the precinct is a very good friend. We battled together. We ran in a by-election together. He is a city councillor for Vancouver. He’s representing us fiercely and passionately. He’s been a family friend. He’s a resident in Strathcona. I admire his leadership so much. Thank you for everything that you do, Pete Fry, Green Party city councillor for Vancouver. Would the House please join me in welcoming my good friend.

Debate Continued

A. Weaver: Had I known that my good friend Pete Fry was also sitting up there, I, too, would’ve introduced him. I thank the member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant for the introduction. I didn’t see Pete up there. I hope to see you later this afternoon if you’ve got some time.

Back to the budget. We’ve had a number of successes in this budget, advancing some of our key values as B.C. Greens and some of our key policy priorities. I’ll try to go into some detail as I get through this. Some of the topics — for example, CleanBC…. Education was a major priority for us in the last provincial election.

Professional reliance is something that my colleague, the MLA for Cowichan Valley, has very personal experiences dealing with and has spent a good deal of time working with the Minister of Environment revising.

We’ve got increasing affordability for students, something that we actually pushed, as well as government — to bring this in, in a timely fashion. I’ll come to each of these separately, but that is a really significant advance.

We’ve got investments in youth mental health. The Foundry organizations across B.C. What a successful model they are, and I’m glad to see funding in that regard.

We’ve got other policies in the confidence and supply agreement, which, you know, has been unique in its ups-and-downs challenges. But as per the CASA and what we agreed to do, we were consulted on government’s approach to the budget. We were able to put in our submission.

We were not given, of course, any information as to what’s in the budget, but like other stakeholders, we made a submission to government about what were B.C. Green priorities. Honestly, we valued that opportunity to submit, and we’ve worked quite collaboratively in this regard for quite some time. Frankly, I think it behooves all of us in this room to perhaps do a little more of that.

I get that people are opposition or not, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t actually support good ideas or try to give others credit for some good ideas. It just seems like it’s not possible with the members opposite. Maybe if they learned a little humility, a little humility to recognize that it’s okay to praise somebody on the other side, it’d go a long way to rebuilding public support for their particular party.

Let me come into these in some more detail. Obviously and personally, CleanBC was of particular interest to me. It’s not, of course, something that falls squarely in the purview of the Minister of Environment. It’s not just one ministry. It’s a governmentwide approach, CleanBC is. It’s not a climate plan, per se. It’s an economic plan. When people realize it’s an economic plan, they’ll recognize how exciting it is.

We have, in British Columbia, some key strategic opportunities that will allow us to seize upon the opportunities afforded in a low-carbon economy. As I mentioned earlier, when I came here to British Columbia, it was for the lifestyle. I came to Victoria, the University of Victoria, known for paying the lowest university salaries in the country.

Why? Because they could. People would go to UVic, and they knew they could attract people at a lower wage because people got to live in Victoria. Who wouldn’t want to live in Victoria? I guess some of the MLAs who live in other areas, but for most, what a great place to have a family and what a great place to have kids grow up and go to school.

[3:20 p.m.]

We know that that’s a key strategic advantage of British Columbia — that we are a destination of choice. Because of that, we can attract and retain the best and brightest from all around the world, in highly mobile sectors, because of the quality of life. We should never forget that. If you want to retain that strategic advantage, you have to protect that which created the strategic advantage — that is, our environment, our access to beautiful outdoors and our lifestyle. That is what we have to protect.

The B.C. Liberal approach has been to have a free-for-all in rural B.C., in terms of economic building here and there, with no overall oversight ensuring the cumulative effects or the longer-term consequences. So we’re struggling with ungulate declines. We’re struggling with natural habitat loss. We’re struggling with salmon species that are going extinct. We’re struggling with orca populations. We’re struggling with the very things, the very values we had that create the strategic advantage of us over everyone else in the world. You can go anywhere in the world in most professions these days, but we have that strategic strength. We must protect it.

We also have access to boundless renewable energy here in B.C., like no other jurisdiction in the world. I challenge anyone in this place here to find any other jurisdiction that has geothermal, tidal, solar, wind, biomass, small-scale hydro, has every possible source of renewable energy that we could want here. And we have one of the best education systems in the world, if not the best.

You don’t have to believe me. Just go to the PISA international assessments, and you’ll see that, every two years, B.C. ranks right at the top in terms of reading, writing and math, if not the top, in Canada. In fact, people often tout the Finnish school system. In fact, ironically, members opposite, when I first got elected, so little did they trust their own B.C. public education sector….

This was before the member for Peace River South was minister, so I’m not going to throw him under the bus here. My good friend there is nodding and thanking me for that, I can see.

One of the first things they did was — guess what — send off some young student to Finland to study the Finnish education system to bring back lessons for B.C. Well, the only studying she should have done was gone to the latest PISA assessments and recognized that B.C. beat Finland in all of the metrics and that this was an outrageous policy.

If the B.C. Liberals had recognized that we have quality education, they wouldn’t have spent so many years going after teachers, cutting the system and then, down the road, wondering why we’re dealing with some of the social problems we’re dealing with — with naloxone and drug and alcohol addictions and things like that.

When you cut the services that children need at their critical years of development…. Those are the early K-to-12 years. You cut — and they were the first go — the child psychologists, the speech pathologists, the in-class help, the class size. The teachers were unable to manage with multiple different classifications of kids. The number of individual education plans a teacher might have — upwards of five, six, at some times. Then you wonder why, when we don’t give the children of today — it was actually yesterday — the head start they need to function, to actually take advantage of the opportunity society holds, we end up with a problem down the road.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

I can tell you why. It was mean-spirited, and it was shortsighted. While the member for Abbotsford West likes to pretend that somehow he had a magical hand on the budget, I say this to him: what Minister of Finance would let more than $1 billion go surplus in an election year? I’ll tell you what. It’s a Minister of Finance who has no idea of what’s going on in his Finance Ministry. That’s who will do it. Because clearly, that was an outrageous budget surplus, and I’m pleased that government here today has stepped in.

In the context of CleanBC, this is not just an investment for today, but this is an investment for the future as well. It’s going to go a long way, but not all the way, to reaching our 40 percent greenhouse gas reductions by 2030, based on 2007 levels. When I say not all the way, it’s because only three-quarters, 75 percent, has been done. Of the $902 million, a significant fraction has been set aside for the promised policy measures that will be developed over the next year or so. We look forward for more announcements in the next budget in 2020.

CleanBC will reduce B.C.’s carbon emissions by 18.9 megatonnes by the year 2030. That’s significant. That’s very significant. Of the $902 million investment, $354 million is in operating funds, and $299 million — that’s almost $300 million — is a contingency for programs currently in development. These are for the next 25 percent released.

[3:25 p.m.]

And $26 million is in capital investments to help people and businesses reduce their emissions — Power Smart B.C. And $223 million will increase the climate action tax credit in 2019, 2020 and 2021. This is critical, because this goes back to a slightly different notion. Again, this is more along the lines of a fee-and-dividend approach than it is in terms of revenue neutrality in terms of a tax reduction.

What the government has chosen to do…. Of course, we supported this as it’s written straight into the CASA. We recognized that for those who are at the lower income, the small increase in carbon tax can actually place a burden on otherwise affordability measures. So the carbon tax refund, which matches with the GST refund that we get, will go up by upwards of $400 for a family of four.

Interjections.

A. Weaver: Yeah, so we were just having a lecture earlier on about when you give…. The first responses to budget speeches, hon. Speaker, have a rich tradition of not heckling the person giving the first response, as you know. Then the Liberals berated the B.C. NDP for doing that, and then, of course, as I give the first response as a B.C. Green, I get heckled by the B.C. Liberals. It shows you the hypocrisy out there. “Do as I say, not as I do” is the motto that we seem to see here, emanating from members opposite.

Back to the CleanBC. There are specific measures in there: $107 million is for zero-emission vehicle standards — $107 million. That’s a non-trivial amount of money. That’s for point-of-sale electric vehicle incentives, new charging stations, training and research and active transportation initiatives. That should be added to the notion that we were going to have 100 percent emission-free vehicles by 2040 and 40 percent ZEV-standard by 2030. This is world leading. This is exciting, and industry is responding.

We know that the average British Columbian can save $6,000 for an electric vehicle. Not only are you saving six thousand bucks for an electric vehicle, you’re avoiding the carbon tax forever. As someone who’s had an EV for quite a number of years now, I can tell you that the second you drive off that lot, that is the last time that you will ever think twice about ever owning another gas-powered vehicle.

Interjection.

A. Weaver: To the member for Vancouver-Langara, I salute you, because you have a Chevy Bolt. Actually, it’s probably either that or the Hyundai Kona that will be the next car that we get as well, because it gets a slightly longer range. So kudos to the member for Vancouver-Langara for stepping up with a Chevy Bolt. The Bolt wasn’t around; it was just the Volt when I got my first EV. Terry Lake, who’s no longer here, a member from Kamloops South or North Thompson, had a Chevy Volt. It’s a plug-in hybrid. It’s kind of cheating but showing leadership, nonetheless. But the member for Vancouver-Langara has clearly stepped it up, as has the Minister of Environment, who has…. I forget what his is. He has an EV.

Interjection.

A. Weaver: No, I have the LEAF; Adam has a LEAF. I forget what he has. It doesn’t matter. He’s got one, which is what’s important. Why it’s important is it’s showing leadership. It truly is showing leadership. The member for Vancouver-Langara showed leadership. Too bad his leader isn’t showing the same leadership that he showed, but that’s another story for another time and another day.

The CleanBC has $58 million in additional capital funding to make buildings more fuel-efficient, more energy-efficient. It can provide $14,000 for homeowners to switch to high-efficiency heating equipment and to make building envelope improvements. Think about that. Think about the opportunity people have to switch from an oil furnace, bypassing the gas and going straight to a heat exchanger. If you’ve got the duct work in your house, you’re set for a heat exchanger, because the oil furnace and the gas furnace are pumping the air through the same direction and the same places that the heat exchanger will. This is an incentive that people will respond to.

There’s upwards of $2,000 to replace a fossil fuel — oil, propane or natural gas — heating system with an electric air-source pump, as I mentioned. A thousand bucks to upgrade windows and doors to be better insulated. This is an interesting one too, because we seem to think it’s a standard to put double-pane in. Why are we putting double-pane in? Let’s put triple-pane. Why would we do double-pane when triple-pane exists? And you save money. It’s a little more expensive, sure. But the payback is sure.

[3:30 p.m.]

And $18 million will be here to work with Indigenous and remote communities to move to cleaner energy sources. This is for moving off diesel and so forth. And $168 million over three years to assist large industry in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to make their operations cleaner. There’s $3 million for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy for implementation and monitoring.

That was the money in the budget. What about greenhouse gases? The zero-emission vehicle standard will reduce emissions by about 2030, while signalling to North America that B.C. is the place for innovation. B.C. is the place for innovation in the transportation sector.

We already have amazing companies, like a Richmond-based company building batteries for ferries. We already have amazing advances here in B.C., but we’re one of the last to adopt the innovation that our innovators actually develop. This CleanBC is saying: “No more. Let’s get back on track.”

We know that the additional electric vehicle incentives and subsidies will cut another 0.3 megatonnes. Low-carbon fuel standard will count for a reduction of about 4.4 megatonnes.

Here’s an interesting fact that people may not know, if they’re riveted to their TV screen. Under the ZAP EV program in B.C. — it’s a program that’s funded by oil companies, clearly — you can actually get a free electric charger in your house. For free. It costs zero dollars. Why? Because clearly, as you switch to an electric car, what’s happening here is your usage is being tracked, and that counts as a credit against a low-carbon fuel standard. It’s actually beneficial for companies selling gas in B.C. to give you a free EV charger at your home to actually help you move off gas. I love subsidies like that — polluter pay. Polluter pay, and onwards we go.

The building code improvements will cut half a megatonne; building efficiency energy policies, 1½ megatonnes. Policies for remote and rural communities to switch off diesel and support large industry will reduce 2½ megatonnes.

Methane regulations, coming into play largely with the federal government but some provincial, 0.9 megatonnes. Industrial electrification, 3½ megatonnes. Carbon capture and storage, and I’m a little leery about this one, 2.6 megatonnes. Renewable gas regulations for industry, 0.9 megatonnes. Waste reduction, 0.7 megatonnes. Carbon pricing — five bucks a year, going up next year as well, 1.8 megatonnes.

Altogether, the incremental reductions are about 18.9 megatonnes. Even with that, as I mentioned, we’re only going to get to 75 percent of our 2030 target. Again, it would clearly be a lot easier if we didn’t have to worry about that LNG Canada monkey on our back. Nevertheless, it’s a solid start and provides us with momentum to take us the rest of the way there.

I’ve committed and my colleagues Saanich North and the Islands and Cowichan Valley have committed to work closely with government on the CleanBC plan. We expect further answers in the coming year to see how we’re going to get to 100 percent.

The announcement made in the budget about CleanBC funding is by no means the end. It is but the beginning. It’s the beginning of a transition that will start in British Columbia. It’s the beginning of an exciting pathway for innovation in our economy. It’s not about government picking winners and losers. It’s about government sending a signal to the broader market about the direction it wants our economy to head.

There’s one thing you can count on in British Columbia: the innate potential of British Columbians to innovate and to respond to challenges, because British Columbians like to be leaders. They don’t like to be followers. They want to follow leaders, and they want be to leaders in the new economy. This budget is setting them up for success in that regard.

Coming to the CASA…. Many people often ask us: “What’s CASA all about? What’s in CASA? Why are you doing this or that?” CASA, in this, was a foundational document that framed the kinds of conditions by which the minority government is supported by the B.C. Greens.

One of the key priorities — I would suggest the fundamental priority for us in terms of us signing on with the CASA — was that it specifically stated that we would implement climate action strategy to meet our targets. I can safely say that that box is checked three-quarters of the way, 75 percent of the way — still got 25 to do.

In the CASA we talked about there, it specifically mentions that the carbon price will increase by $5 a year. Again, what’s the signal? The signal was leadership.

Mr. Trudeau, federally, is now in a big fight with Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, with New Brunswick kind of mumbling in the background, about carbon pricing.

[3:35 p.m.]

British Columbia has said: “You know what? Let’s get on with meeting Trudeau’s target, but let’s do it in a manner that creates certainty for business and sends a price signal that’s certain.” So business has known for the last two years that it will go up another $5 next year, and it’ll go up another $5 after that.

Business has certainty, and British Columbians got leadership. This was a B.C. Green position that we took into our negotiations. We got that leadership. We got that certainty. Government has delivered. Business is responding.

Honestly, the members opposite, desperate to find anything about anything, are now trying to dredge up carbon tax. Really? Overwhelming support by British Columbians, but what they want is to know that they have the tools available to them to help them reduce the amount of carbon tax they’re paying. And that is what this budget has delivered through the incentives for transportation and home retrofits.

We also in our CASA talk about the delivery of rebate cheques for British Columbians to ensure they’re better off than under the current carbon tax formula. The rebate cheques — again, you can check that box off — are coming through in this budget. That is a form of dividend. It’s a lower-income amount. It comes in the form of a dividend to low-income British Columbians.

Finally, under CASA, we talk about putting a fugitive price on emissions and, of course, on slash burning. While this is not really within the budget here, there are certainly ongoing discussions about the regulatory framework that Ottawa is bringing into play and how that relates to B.C.

In the question of slash burning, when I come to talk about forest fires, this is one of the things that we need to get our hands on. We’re still not there yet in terms of our discussions with government, but that fuel is wasted fuel. It’s also fuel for forest fires. At the same time, we’re dealing with certain mills that are struggling for access to fibre. So there is a bit of a triple win here: fewer forest fires, more fibre and getting the stuff out of the forests as well.

As I mentioned, we made a submission. Well, many people made submissions to government. We asked government to show a commitment to CleanBC, and in our submission, we asked specifically that CleanBC be fully funded. We asked for comprehensive and ongoing funding for a clean growth strategy for buildings, transportation and industry. We asked for investment in electric vehicle infrastructure and increased incentives for British Columbians to switch to EVs and other zero-emission vehicles.

We asked for a focus on the modernization of B.C. Hydro to support innovation. I’ll come to that in a second — innovation not just in terms of how we produce electricity but also how we invest in the future, how we transport and actually use electricity too. I’m pleased to say that the first two of those were actually delivered on. We still have some work to do to convince government, with the phase 2 B.C. Hydro review — we’ve got phase 1 — that it needs to relook at the mandate of British Columbia Hydro.

I remain troubled by the cancelling of the standing offer program, which has led to a rather large liability that government is incurring in terms of people who’ve invested millions upon millions of dollars to enter or be part of the standing offer program now being told that that program is a wash. There are certainly liabilities that the government has exposed itself to as people seek damages for that.

There’s also liability — less fiscal, but goodwill liability — with many Indigenous communities in British Columbia who have formed partnerships with private industry to develop independent power projects in their territory that would actually benefit their community, provide stable long-term jobs that are well-paying. Those, too, are being put on hold and cancelled.

We have some work to do in this regard. My colleagues and I are committed to do that work — to bring the information to government to ensure that they see the wiseness of continuing to move down the path of independent power projects, but doing so in a manner that reflects the current market value of energy. There is no way you would put out a call for power at 35 cents a kilowatt hour in today’s market. However, a call for eight cents a kilowatt hour or even seven cents would be met and delivered into by a number of clean projects, whether it be wind, solar or others.

We know that in Alberta, we’re getting wind power coming in at three and a bit cents a kilowatt hour. We know that in places in the U.S., solar is coming in below that. We know that with our slightly complex terrain, we can deliver at below eight cents, but maybe not quite as low as 3½ cents. But we can deliver much cheaper than Site C would come. Not only that, it is not your money, not my money, not anybody’s money here that’s put at risk with these projects. It is investor money.

[3:40 p.m.]

One of the saddest things that happened — this happened under the former government — was that on Vancouver Island, TimberWest and EDP Renewables, a major multinational wind company, as well as a number of First Nations on Vancouver Island, wanted to build a $700 million wind farm capacity here on private land, in partnership with Indigenous communities, funded by private venture cap.

Guess what. That fell through because there was nobody they were allowed to sell power to other than B.C. Hydro, and the previous government made a commitment to build Site C to deliver power that we don’t actually need for sometime in the future. That’s sad. Hopefully there will come a point when we can bring back the Canadian Wind Energy Association to British Columbia, after they summarily packed up their bags and left a number of years ago.

Let’s come back to the support for family caregivers in Budget ’19. One of the things mentioned in the budget is that it raises financial support for Indigenous extended family caregivers, such as grandparents or aunties, to be equal to the amount received by foster parents.

This is good public policy. This is really important public policy. It’s consistent with our CASA commitment. CASA, for those listening, is the confidence and supply agreement, which stated the following: “Enhance and improve child protection services to ensure that all children grow up in safe and nurturing environments.” The minister’s mandate letter actually said this: “To provide better supports to keep Aboriginal children at home and out of care. Make reducing the number of Aboriginal children entering our care system a priority.”

My colleague from Cowichan Valley has a very large Indigenous community in her riding. One of the things she reports back is that we sometimes look with disdain upon the 1960s and ’70s and the so-called Sixties Scoop that occurred when children were taken and put in residential schools in a number of jurisdictions.

What we fail to recognize is that a scoop far bigger than actually happened in the ’60s is ongoing in British Columbia as MCFD social workers apprehend child after child in Indigenous communities. It’s got so bad that in some communities, what has happened…. As a means and ways of getting back at someone you’re having an argument with, one of the tactics is to phone up an MCFD operator and report some child abuse in that person’s home so that MCFD come and scoop up the child. This has got to stop.

We’re very pleased with the direction the government is taking in terms of recognizing that Indigenous communities are the best to serve the needs of their children, and government is providing support in that regard. In our submission to government, we pushed for a funding shift towards initiatives that support families and keep children and their families in their communities together. We argued for increasing funding for Indigenous extended-family caregivers, and we also supported increasing funding to community Indigenous-led programs. We’re pleased, again, that government, in this regard, certainly responded.

In terms of PharmaCare funding, Budget 2019 states that roughly 240,000 B.C. families’ prescription medication will become more affordable this January because of the $105 million added into the Fair PharmaCare program. Under CASA, the commitment that we agreed, we agreed to develop a proposal to implement an essential drugs program designed to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and ensure that the cost of drugs is not a barrier to health management.

After discussing the opportunity to develop a universal essential-drugs program with the Ministry of Health, we agreed that targeted funding for low-income British Columbians who could not afford their prescriptions was actually a positive short-term policy that advanced the overall goal of our CASA commitment. If the federal government showed a willingness to engage in the essential-drugs program discussion over the next year, we’d be keen to revisit our CASA commitment.

In the short-term, we’re pleased, and we’ve put a tick box again. Thank you, government, for the actions in this very important area. In our B.C. Green 2017 platform, we specifically stated that we would develop an essential-drugs program to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

Let’s go to education. For us, this was our single biggest priority in the 2017 education platform. We recognized that if a society wants to lead in the 21st century, education must be its number one priority. We must equip the next generation of youth-cum-adults in our society with the tools and skills that they have to excel as innovators in the new economy.

[3:45 p.m.]

We’re pleased, again, with what Budget 2019 does: a $550 million investment over three years for public education, which includes $58 million for a classroom enhancement fund — mandated, of course, by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision — and there’s $31 million for independent schools. But a total of $423 million is now allocated annually. That’s over 4,000 teachers, 700 special ed teachers, 160 teacher-psychologists and counsellors that will be hired since 2017.

This is exactly what needs to be done. We need to ensure that children in their development years, the key years of development, have the tools, skills and services available to them to actually allow them to succeed. We should no longer have a society where the lottery of birth determines your future direction in that society.

I’ve heard tell that many people want independent school funding to be cut and argue to put that into public schools. But I like government’s approach here. This is something that we advocate for. You don’t improve public education by going to war with the independent schools. You improve public education by making it the envy of one and all so that there’s no need for independent schools to actually be there to attract people outside of the public education system. This is how many jurisdictions operate. Many northern European jurisdictions, many European jurisdictions, have a system that puts in place a priority of education as their number one priority.

It makes me distraught when I see society as a whole, fed by the anger and the rhetoric of the previous B.C. Liberal administration, turn against teachers and believe that somehow teachers are a problem. No, teachers go into teaching, by and large, because they want to serve the next generation. They want to inspire youth, and they take satisfaction from actually seeing people learn. They take satisfaction by seeing a child, struggling when coming into their class and leaving their class a little bit better equipped to deal with the challenges they face ahead.

The best thing that can happen to any teacher is to have that child return to you ten, 15 years later and say: “You know what? I remember that class. You may not remember me, but that has improved my life.” That is why teachers go into teaching. They don’t go into teaching to become millionaire stockbrokers. They go in because they value the importance of education. When we start to turn public attitude against teachers, we’re at the very base of our society.

There’s a reason why one of the most esteemed professions in most northern European countries is the teacher. The people recognize, as part of who they are, that education is the foundation of any successful society.

Why is it that the happiness index across the world invariably puts the top nations as the northern European nations? It’s because citizens get the services they need when they need it. They graduate, there’s a more equitable society, and it’s not one designed solely for the 1 percent, who would thrive no matter what. In many cases, they’re in the 1 percent only because mommy or daddy left them some money, and they were born that way — the so-called lottery of birth.

In our CASA commitment, we agreed to fast-track enhancement to K-to-12 education, funding to restore faith in public schools after a decade and a half of governments that shortchanged a generation of students.

We talked about our priorities for funding, which include early intervention in health start programs, as well as reviewing the funding model for the K-to-12 system, with a view to ensuring equitable access for students. While we wouldn’t have done everything the way the B.C. NDP have done it, we recognize that that’s their prerogative. They’re government; we’re not. We’re a minority part of this minority government. We are there supporting their general direction, providing input when we can on various things.

We support the government’s approach to increasing funding for public education. It’s not as much as we would have done. We had committed over $4 billion over four years of new funding for public education. It’s a question of priorities. That, for us, was our top priority. As outlined in our platform, we would have invested more money, sure, but we’ll continue to push this as a priority for government, because we need to do all we can to support the children and youth as they prepare themselves for the future. We look forward to working with government to deliver more education funding in the 2½ years ahead.

Coming to the elimination of student loans. Now, both the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Greens campaigned on eliminating interest on student loans. As of February 19, interest will no longer accrue for students with loans. Previously the interest was charged on prime rates.

[3:50 p.m.]

The cost of this program is $31 million each fiscal year, with a one-time write-down of $225 million in this year, but let’s put this in context. The average undergraduate in B.C. borrows about $11,200. That’s not really fair, because there are a lot of students who borrow nothing, some of whom win the lottery of birth, and there are a lot who borrow an awful lot more. When you graduate with a $50,000 debt from your undergraduate degree, initially you’re stepping out into society hampered with this ball and chain on your foot for decades as you try to pay that back.

Again, what sort of civil society are we if the lottery at birth lets you win no debt in public education — you can succeed — and the other lottery at birth means that you’re stuck with $50,000 of debt when you graduate? But not only that, you’re paying — what? — prime, 3 percent, let’s say, or 3½ percent. So what’s that? It’s 1,700 bucks a year in interest alone before you even get to that 50,000 bucks.

Eliminating the interest on the provincial portion will save the average borrower, the average one…. It says $2,300 over the ten-year repayment period. I would suggest it’s more than that for the people who actually have the debts, because most people who have debt have larger debt than that.

In our confidence and supply agreement, we state the following. We “recognize that education is about lifelong learning and make post-secondary education more accessible and affordable.” Tick.

We also agreed to “implement an agreed-upon approach to improving access and reducing the cost of post-secondary education for students.” Two aspects of this have been delivered. First is free tuition for children aging out of care. We had a different approach. We would have given them basic income — children aging out of care — until they hit the age of 24. Government chose to give them free post-secondary education.

Similar goals and values — you see how this confidence and supply agreement works. Similar goals and values, different approaches. But we recognize the responsibility we have, the three of us. We support that it is government’s prerogative to make these final decisions, but we’re able to contribute to the narrative and discussion about why these decisions should be made in the first place. This is another example.

To our submission that we made, we followed CASA. We pushed for a strategy to make post-secondary education more accessible and affordable and to reduce the debt burden on post-secondary grad students. Eliminating the interest on student loans is an important step to reducing tuition burden. But wouldn’t it be remarkable, wouldn’t it be amazing if, again, we looked to jurisdictions like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany and other European nations that actually recognize that post-secondary education is a right? We don’t want ability to access funds to be a barrier to success in our society.

Again, the B.C. Liberal approach is if you win the lottery of life or you happen to have a corporate friend who can donate you a ton of money to let you, in essence, subsequently win it, you move forward. But if you don’t win the lottery at birth, you’re just out of luck here. You’re just out of luck, and you’re left to fend for yourself.

Here what we’re seeing is a move towards — perhaps not as far as we would have liked to go — the recognition that education is important and a right and it should be accessible to all. So we’re very pleased with the elimination of the interest.

But there’s much more room that can be made here for increasing the affordability of post-secondary education, moving forward. We still don’t have in place — yet we need desperately — a needs-based grant, opening up more access to students. We’ve now eliminated debt of the interest. Fine. But we need to have in place a needs-based approach to allow students from low income — those who didn’t win the lottery of birth — to actually be able to attend and afford post-secondary education.

At the same time, I personally think the compassionate thing to do is to take a look at our loan forgiveness program and determine the extent that we can actually move a little further in that, to make more of the loan a non-repayable loan and less of it a repayable loan.

Lifelong learning doesn’t stop at K to 12. It doesn’t stop at graduating undergrad. It’s a lifelong journey from the day you’re born to the day you die. And we believe that British Columbians, in a changing economy, need to have access to the services, whether it be education or support services, that will allow them to compete in this changing world. Accessible, affordable education is front and centre in that.

[3:55 p.m.]

Let’s go to the child care program because, again, this is another shared priority. Government has said here, specifically, that it will continue with the investment it made in last year’s budget. Something like the tune of more than $1.3 billion is going to be invested in child care. There’s a fee reduction program, for parents of children in licensed care, of up to $350 per month. That’s $4,200 a year, and 52,000 child care spaces now in place.

The affordable child care benefit, which is available to all families in B.C. earning up to $111,000, can save them up to $15,000 per year per child. And $237 million over three years is being allocated to support the creation of 22,000 new licensed child care spaces.

What’s important here and what we know is that the single biggest barrier right now is accessibility of child care spaces. There are two reasons for it. Number 1 is an inability to actually attract and retain ECEs into the profession, and No. 2 is accessible space that actually is affordable to rent or to have a daycare facility in because of the cost of housing.

The fact that government is creating 22,000 new licensed child care spaces and the fact that government is investing in the training of ECEs are very important, fundamental steps to actually move this forward.

Unfortunately, the government’s budget here doesn’t feature growth in funding after next year. It means that we might be stalling out after allocating a third of the necessary overall investment, but we’ll come back to this next year. Again, government is slowly moving down this path. There are many people who have been able to access the reduced fee of child care services and that are singing the praises. There are what? There’ll be 52,000 such spaces. They’re very happy. But there’s more to go, and it’s good to see government moving in this direction.

Our confidence and supply agreement stated specifically that we would “invest in child care and early childhood education to improve quality, expand spaces, increase affordability and ensure child care is accessible for all families, with a focus on early childhood education.” Again, we have a two-thirds box there. That’s well done, again, to government delivering on the CASA commitment. It’s a key priority to British Columbians.

When we made our submission to government, we specifically asked for substantially more funding to be allocated to implementing the child care program in future fiscal years. We wanted government to view this as an investment that needs to be scaled up to reach a target of universal or at least…. Universal in the context is if you can’t afford early childhood education. We’re not there on the universality. We’re not there on even a means-based amount, but the path has been set to get there in a timely fashion. These things don’t happen overnight, and we’re pleased to see the direction government is going in this regard.

Quality, of course, is essential. We need to prepare all children for healthy, rewarding lives and educate them in a thoughtful way so that they are equipped to tackle the challenge associated with many aspects of the society that they grow and develop into.

Coming to Budget 2019 and investments in youth mental health — another key priority, an issue for us. We supported, in our submission, the establishment of a youth mental health strategy, complementary to, but distinct from, the development of a broader mental health and addictions strategy. We recognized, in our submission, that there are unique challenges that youth face — particularly youth as they get into the teenage years and into adulthood — that we need to address.

One of the key things that we’re very excited to see and one of the things that…. I served on the Finance Committee, and I’m pretty sure they made submissions this year. It was government recognizing the good work — no, the exceptional work — that the Foundry centres that are emerging across British Columbia have done. We have one in Victoria. I believe the first one started in Abbotsford. Kelowna has one. There are a number across British Columbia.

We find in Budget 2019 a $74 million investment to improve access to mental health care for children and youth. That’s more Foundry centres for 12-to-24-year-olds to bring the integrated youth mental health and addiction services under one roof. There are also more programs, including in schools, for parents and families to support kids, particularly in their early years of development. There’s more specialized family care, and there’s day treatment for young people that meets their needs.

[4:00 p.m.]

I heard mentioned in the throne speech…. I have yet to actually see how it has come out, but it was a point that resonated with me. Sorry, not the throne speech; the budget speech. Of all the words I heard in the budget speech, the one thing that I remember that resonates with me was the concern about children going to school without food in their belly. How can we, as a society, expect our next generation to learn, to become prepared, if they’re struggling to make it through the day because they haven’t had breakfast and they didn’t get packed a lunch?

A modern society, one that cares about its weakest, is one that takes care of such people and children. To know that government is taking steps in that regard is very reassuring.

Again, our CASA commitment had words to the effect that we had a shared value about the importance of dealing with mental health and addiction, particularly with youth. Again, we can do a three-quarter box tick on this one and thank government for their attention to this.

The child opportunity benefit in Budget 2019 is interesting. It’s interesting for a couple of things. First, let me outline it. The budget introduces the child opportunity benefit, replacing and expanding the existing early childhood tax benefit. The existing benefit ends at six years old, whereas the new benefit takes you all the way to 18. The maximum benefit is 1,600 bucks for one child, 2,600 for two and 3,400 for three children. These maximum benefits are more than double the maximum benefits under the old tax benefit.

The benefit is reduced by 4 percent for net family incomes above $25,000. So there is some reduction there. But one of the ways you could look at…. Well, let me finish it. The benefit is phased out for a family income over 80,000 bucks by 4 percent. For a family with one child, the benefit will be fully phased out at $97,500. And a family with two children will have the benefit fully phased out at $114,500.

An initial comment here. It would be nice if all these phase-out numbers, whether it be the child benefit or whe­ther it be various exemptions…. If they used the same number…. The “access to child care space” one is a different number from the child care benefit. I would see there’s some prudence to actually make these all come together.

It’s a little odd that it doesn’t come into force until October 2020. With that said, some of these things take time to implement and set out. Again, we have a year to set it in. You could argue: why didn’t we put it in next year’s budget? Again, it is not too uncommon to see these kinds of measures come in a year down the road.

Interjections.

A. Weaver: Pardon me?

Interjections.

A. Weaver: Ah, so it’s because of the federal government as well. I appreciate that. The federal government commitment kicks in, in 2020 as well, which is….

Interjections.

A. Weaver: Yeah. So we’ve done that. I appreciate the comments there. We’ll update accordingly.

The cost is $375 million over a fiscal plan, $125 million in 2020-21 and $250 million in the year after. It will be delivered monthly along with the federal Canada child tax benefit, as was just brought to my attention. It’s welcome, and it’ll be providing health and well-being for B.C. families.

B.C. now is only the second such province in Canada to do something like this, Quebec being the other. It’s important, as it actually is dealing with what is an embarrassing issue for B.C., which is the issue of child poverty. We invariably, year after year, rank at or near the bottom in terms of rates of child poverty in British Columbia.

Again, we’re very excited about this. We should not be a province where one in five children grow up in poverty, despite the fact that we have the strongest economy in the province. This comes back to the words I heard from the B.C. Liberal Finance critic — her somewhat outrageous views about spending, spending, spending.

We have the strongest economy in the country. We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Yet we have the highest, or second-highest, child poverty rate, and we have some of the worst income inequalities and affordability issues.

This suggests to me…. When I listened in opposition, government would say, budget speech after budget speech: “We’ll deal with the $50 increase in a housing allowance, we’ll deal with welfare rates or we’ll deal with social services when the economy is better and we make more money.” They’ve been saying that for 16 blooming years, and they’ve kept cutting them.

The reality is that when the Minister of Finance past had a $1 billion — no, not a $100 million, a $1 billion — surplus…. Talk about reckless fiscal management, in an election year, no less.

[4:05 p.m.]

You wouldn’t plan this in your worst management nightmare, a $1 billion surplus in an election year. Why? Because they couldn’t manage the books, and they had no idea what was going on in the out-of-control real estate sector. And the former Liberal critic has the audacity to criticize government for a reduction in property transfer taxes. My goodness. My statement to government is: good on you.

We’re one of only, I believe, two provinces, maybe three, in the country that actually has a property transfer tax, brought in by Bill Vander Zalm. It’s a regressive form of taxation. The tax is something you want people to do, which is actually buy and sell homes, move up and down as they get older and then get really old, as they age into bigger houses and then down to smaller condominiums. We want them to do that.

Government has recognized that this was unsustainable, and they’ve moved revenue sources away from the B.C. Liberal revenue source of property transfer taxes obtained through nefarious activity. We find out today, in question period, that in B.C. you get a tax credit. If you want to come and money launder in B.C., the B.C. Liberals will give you a tax credit to do it. Heaven forbid. Unbelievable that we find that out today in question period.

Coming back to what we believed…. In our submission, we argued that children need the strongest possible support early in life. We are a party that believes in intergenerational equity. We’re a party that believes in prevention, a party that believes in investing when people need it so that they’re not paying reactively down the road, when they’re using social services. You try to avoid the need for them to get there down the road.

We believe that children should not be living in a province like ours in poverty. It’s just wrong. It’s wrong at such a fundamental level. We call ourselves a civilized society, a modern society, yet we have 20 percent, one in five children, in this province living in poverty. That’s B.C. Liberal economics at its finest, representing their 1 percent donors and ignoring the 95 percent of this province who struggle to make ends meet day in, day out.

Budget 2019 also addresses environmental stewardship. One of the submissions that we made, which we would suggest has not been given the attention we hoped for, which is a challenge for us moving forward to continue to advocate for this…. This is with respect to the issue of environmental stewardship.

The funding for habitat and species protection in the budget is, frankly, underwhelming. We know that wildlife is facing increasing threats. There are endangered species that are…. We’re still waiting for that legislation. We understand it’s in the works. Some species, like the steelhead — this is the Kamloops steelhead area — or the caribou stocks in some areas, are not going to make it another year. There is a problem here, and some of our province’s cultural identity is close to becoming extirpated in some areas and extinct in others.

We believe that we have a significant responsibility for environmental stewardship for future generations. As I’ve argued, the beauty of our natural environment is one of our strategic strengths. If we want to use it to capitalize on economic opportunities moving forward, we need to protect and preserve it today. Otherwise, it won’t be an attraction.

Look at hunting in B.C. British Columbia has been known for some of the best hunting in the world. The B.C. Liberal approach has been to let free-range development happen willy-nilly, with no assessment of cumulative impacts.

We have glyphosate spraying on freshly cut pine forests in the Interior, killing off the deciduous undergrowth. Then, like deer in the headlights, we stand back and say: “Oh, why is our moose population declining? Why are our forest fires getting so big?” We ignore the fact that we haven’t actually looked at some of our timber practices. We haven’t looked at the fact that we need the aspen and the birch to grow, not only as a food source for ungulates but also as fire prevention, fire retardants, to stop the spread of fires through monoculture stands.

Again, this is what we would have hoped to see more of. We believe that we need to have substantial funding for habitat restoration and protection, including the investment of moneys into private land acquisition in particularly vulnerable and biodiverse ecosystems. It is not okay for government to willy-nilly give out timber lot licences in some of the last bastions of old growth on Vancouver Island, where biodiversity is richest yet is close to extirpation.

[4:10 p.m.]

This is not okay, because these are Crown resources. They are owned by all of us. They are not owned by a multinational for the benefit of their shareholders so that they can cut what they can and ship it off in the form of raw logs. We believe that we need better protection and stewardship of our natural environment, and we’ll continue to advocate for that moving on. Protecting endangered habitat is more effective, both for outcomes and costs, than intervening on a species-by-species level after the fact.

We know, for example, that as climate change becomes more severe, biodiversity and old-growth ecosystems will be vital to the health and resilience of this province. Moreover, habitat protection, through land acquisition, is an effective interim measure that can be taken to protect species at risk while legislation is being prepared.

We believe that environmental stewardship is an area that was lacking in this budget, and for salmon specifically, we continue to urge the government to immediately protect and restore habitat and coordinate a provincial responsibility for fish. One of the biggest problems with salmon habitat is what’s been going on in the streams and rivers across British Columbia. That is low-hanging fruit that we can actually get at through small policy changes.

Coming to wildfires in Budget 2019. Budget 2018 included a $72 million investment to support wildfire resilience and recovery efforts in communities. Budget 2019 provides an additional $111 million over three years to strengthen B.C.’s efforts to prevent and respond to wildfires and $13 million for forest restoration in areas damaged by disease and wildfires.

The Liberal critic, who’s completely out of touch, in my view, with what’s going on in this budget, suggested that somehow this is money that’s used to suppress fire, to fight fires. This isn’t money to fight fires. This is money used to ensure that, actually, forests are resilient to fires. This means dealing with things like glyphosate spraying. This means like dealing with underbrush. It means like getting slash off the cut field. These are policy changes.

Wildfires. You can always fight wildfires, because government has access to funds when it needs them to respond to disaster at government’s will. Again, this funding is additional funding, which we’re pleased to see.

We actually would have done more, and our submission suggested that we should do more. We spent $560 million fighting fires in 2017. By last August, the province had already spent close to $274 million in direct firefighting costs, more than four times the budget of $63 million.

We also know that climate change threatens every aspect of life in this province and that government must recognize this threat and allocate the appropriate resources to address these foreseeable and unavoidable natural disasters.

We advocated, for example, for: increase investment in wildfire prevention and mitigation; emphasize forest resiliency through improved landscape management, with the goal of reducing wildfire size, speed and destruction; and prioritize the funding for the following recommendations in addressing the new normal.

When I say the…. Addressing the New Normal: 21st Century Disaster Management in British Columbia is a report that was recently issued. In these recommendations, we saw some that we thought were critical priorities that we argue should be funded.

No. 31 in that report: collaborate with First Nations to integrate traditional ecological knowledge with western science to ensure risk modelling is built upon greater understanding of the land base, values and practices of First Nations.

We argued that No. 67 needed to be funded. “Create mechanisms to encourage fire prevention activities such as thinning, biomass utilization, targeted grazing, alternate species and densities.”

No. 102 recommendation: “Develop and apply post-fire planting strategies for dry forests that enhance resilience rather than optimize timber production.”

This is critical. You think that you’re…. Again, this is so typical of a short-term focus that has been put in place by years of that type of thinking from B.C. Liberals. Always think about the immediate short-term neoliberal win.

No. What we should be thinking about is planting for resiliency so that we can actually harvest trees, rather than planting with the idea that if we only plant one species, they’re all going to grow fast, and then we’ll cut them down. Well, that doesn’t work. When a forest fire comes in, it clears them all out. Having resiliency as a focus as opposed to optimization of hypothetical timber production is critical.

[4:15 p.m.]

We also believe funding should be prioritized for the following approach from the Megafires in B.C. report: No. 3, which was forest restoration and adaptive forest management — increasing the ecosystem resilience to enable recovery following wildfires. “Adaptation must include…restoration and management informed by science and traditional ecological knowledge.”

It’s consistent with…. We’ve heard some positive stuff coming from the Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources Operations and Rural Development that he hopes to start looking into forestry. But I come back to this is one of our bellwether industries, one of our foundational industries, one of the industries that made B.C. great — not again, just made it great in the first place. Forestry is an industry that we need to pay a little more attention to.

In the issue of professional reliance and environmental assessment, my colleague from Cowichan Valley had a very personal experience with the flawed nature of the old professional reliance model and environmental assessment approach. Just ask her about Shawnigan Lake. I’d suggest you do that over at least three beers, because you won’t be getting an answer in 15 minutes. She will go over in gory detail the problems that this past process had buried within it.

We’re excited to see both the passing of the professional reliance reform legislation and the revised environmental assessment plan, both of which were B.C. Green–led initiatives in the fall. We’re pleased to see 2019 funds making changes to the EA process and the professional reliance model as well. There’s funding for $9 million over three years for implementing the revitalized Environmental Assessment Act, which will focus on enhancing public confidence and participation in the process.

This is the key. Again, the B.C. Liberals seem to have forgotten this. The key to advancing resource projects in British Columbia is to ensure the public trusts the process by which the project is approved. It cannot continue with the old way of doing things.

I’ll illustrate that with what I think is a beautiful example. The old way of doing things is government sidles up…. In fact, it’s still new in the B.C. Liberal mind, because they still haven’t learned that they didn’t win the last election, and they have to change the way they are, or they’ll never get back in this side of the House. The old way of doing things is government sidles up to corporate friend, and corporate friend says: “Hey, I like what’s going on here. What do you think about this idea?” Government says: “That’s great.”

A few donations later and government ends up marketing that this is a great project, and industry says: “Oh, we’ve got government support. Let’s now go into town and market the solution.” So they go into town, and they hire some expensive PR people to actually engage, so-called consult or engage, the town. Each and every time what happens is you divide town. Fifty percent hate the project; 50 percent love it. You pit citizen against citizen, ensuring nothing will happen. Then you go to the local Indigenous communities, and you find one that may support it and one that doesn’t, and you pit one against the other.

Well, I can tell you, this is the B.C. Liberal, the old way of doing things in B.C. It’s guaranteed to ensure nothing ever gets done.

You don’t ask me. Go and ask the members from the Loops here, and ask them about the Ajax mine — a beautiful example of how not to do something. Again, not to disparage the company. They actually went so far as to provide funding to allow an independent environmental assessment and an independent assessment by the Kamloops Nation. Kudos to the company for actually doing that.

Where the problem was lay in the government’s approach to actually supporting the company at the wrong time and not letting the company do the good work it needs to do to build something from the bottom up. They wasted a lot of time that they didn’t need to waste if they’d got a sense of the pulse of the community on day one, not after the fact.

Let’s take two examples of how this works: Jumbo Glacier Lake and Glacier Destinations. Jumbo Glacier — in classic B.C. Liberal way, the developer comes up with MLAs. They sit around. “Hey, great idea. Let’s go market it.” The developer gets some little act passed here to allow them to be a municipality that actually has a mayor and council that get funds. They never sat. There are no houses. There’s not even a concrete pad anymore. That at least was there.

That was the way. Of course, it’s mired in courts. Nothing’s going to happen. Indigenous communities, one pitted against another, town against town. Typical nothing happens.

Glacier Destinations went to the same architect. The Indigenous Simpcw Nation and the Valemount community together approached the architect and said: “We want this.” The architect said: “Okay, we’ll do this.” They did it. Then — boom, boom, boom — it went through approval process, and guess what the delay was. The delay was government. The delay was government that couldn’t get their act together to actually approve this in time.

[4:20 p.m.]

The delay was also government in requiring them to build a bloody four-lane highway to get people from the airport to the Glacier destination when they wanted to have a gondola. But government, in its wise ways, knew best as to what the people of Valemount and the Simpcw Nation needed. “You need a four-lane highway not a gondola,” not mirroring after the Swiss resorts they wanted to mirror after. Because government knew best, in the B.C. Liberal way.

Maybe they should have made a few more donations. That might have got them the gondola, but they didn’t.

Government was the problem, not the solution, in this regard. Fortunately, it looks like it’s moving forward, but this was an example of bottom-up management. That is why we need an environmental assessment process that allows people to build support from the bottom up, to trust that government has their interests front and centre when decisions are made, not the interests of the donors to the political party du jour. That happened to be, for the last 16 years — oh, I shouldn’t say that, because I’m sick and tired of “the last 16 years” — prior to this, a government that had lost touch with the people of British Columbia.

The office of the superintendent of professional governance will be established, through a nearly $2 million investment over three years. The office will provide for a centralized statutory authority for professional governance oversight to ensure consistent and best practices are applied to the work of the natural resource professionals. All I can say is: “Thank you, Member for Cowichan Valley.” I should have said the name, but this was an initiative that she spearheaded, that she drove and that she worked tirelessly on.

We’re so pleased to see government listen and respond, because, ultimately, when you work on shared values, you work in a spirit of collaboration and consultation, and you work in a spirit of actually wanting to advance good public policy that puts people ahead of vested interests, you can get a lot done. You can get an awful lot done.

Members opposite could get a lot done if they learnt a little bit from that, if they learnt a little bit that this isn’t all a big game here, that there are real people that are affected by our decisions. It behooves them, instead of playing the game day in, day out, to actually provide solutions, advice, areas that we can collectively work on. But that’s a foreign notion, I understand.

We would have done things slightly differently, of course. We would have liked to see the restoration of the former commissioner for the environment and sustainability or the creation of a natural resources practices board under the Auditor General Act. These are directions that the B.C. Greens, in a majority government, would have gone in, with the rationale, of course, that it fulfils, within the well-regarded Haddock report recommendation No. 31. That is a cost-efficient way to augment oversight capacity. We believe that that would have been the best way to proceed, and we’re hoping to move in that direction.

We also believe that base funding needs to be restored to ministry staffing levels by about 40 compliance and enforcement staff per year over the next four years, about 160 total. The reason why is directly addressed by recommendation No. 34 in the said Haddock report, on the offset costs associated with professional reliance failures. For example, a conservative estimate has put the taxpayer liability for Mount Polley remediation at approximately $40 million. We know that investment in prevention saves a bunch of money in reaction down the road.

Again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s the same, whether it be environmental assessments or environmental oversight, as it is with eating an apple every day to save getting diabetes down the road or something. I don’t know whether that’s a good example.

Interjection.

A. Weaver: To keep the doctor away.

Now, to the economic agenda. The members opposite…. I could have written their speaking notes, honestly, on a napkin over a beer in five minutes. Jobs. Again, members opposite don’t even understand how jobs work. It’s not about jobs. People don’t want jobs; they want careers. They want to know that they can actually work in a profession that they trained for, for an extended period of time. This isn’t about building a bridge and then laying everyone off afterwards. It’s about sustained economic activity.

While we may have housing construction down a little bit — to think that the norm was the ridiculous, out-of-control, money-laundered-fuelled speculation in building luxury condos that sat vacant, to think that that is somehow good economics, to think that that somehow is leading to a resilient, sustainable economy — is there any wonder that the former Minister of Finance had a $1 billion surplus?

They had no idea what they were doing. They were just making it up as they were going along, and money was laundering in. They saw the revenue coming in from the gaming revenue, and they’d start to build programs based on shaky gaming revenue and property transfer that’s being flipped through these multi-million-dollar homes that nobody is living in. It’s good economic stewardship.

[4:25 p.m.]

What the members opposite missed in their response to the throne speech was that CleanBC is not an environmental plan. It’s an economic vision — one that they seem to have missed for the last four years that I was in office. If you speak to leaders in the tech field, they’ll attest to the fact that the tech industry in B.C. has thrived. The words that they use are: “despite the B.C. Liberals.”

It’s because they had to struggle uphill in an environment that was set, a culture of “it’s pay to play” in B.C. — and small entrepreneurs don’t have a lot to pay to play — one in which the regulatory environment for tech entrepreneurs was top-heavy, one in which the only signal that government was giving was one that if you want to do business in B.C., somehow it has got to link into LNG somewhere.

It was so much so that government interference was going down into the education system, at post-secondary institutions and in K to 12. In fact, they actually used the words — I kid you not — that they wanted to re-engineer the education system. How Orwellian can you get? That is what we had to deal with moving forward, and that is why I’m excited by this CleanBC economic vision for British Columbia.

Again, British Columbia will never compete with jurisdictions that just dig dirt out of the ground, because they don’t internalize the same social and environmental externalities that we do and care about. It costs more to dig up dirt in B.C. versus, say, in Namibia. It costs more because the land is more valuable. We pay better wages. We value our environment at a level that…. At least, the people value the environment, and it’s sometimes a little more costly. So how do we compete? Well, we could follow the model of the B.C. Liberals, which is give-away-the-resource and race-to-the-bottom economics. Or we can say: “No. The way we compete is through innovation.”

We compete by being smarter, more efficient and cleaner. We compete by capitalizing on our strategic advantages — those being, as I mentioned, boundless access to renewable energy; an educated, highly skilled workforce; and the natural beauty that allows us to attract and retain the best and brightest from around the world. But in order to capitalize on these strategic strengths, you have to protect them. You have to protect our access to renewable energy. You have to protect our natural beauty. You have to protect, nurture and support the people of this province to ensure that we continue to provide an educated workforce moving forward.

At the core of the opportunity embodied in CleanBC is the harnessing of innovation that supports new ideas and the creation of new technologies that improve the life of British Columbians. British Columbians, if there’s one thing I can tell you, are innovators and problem-solvers, and we have some of the best and brightest here of anywhere in the world — because they want to live in this beautiful province.

Now, government has made huge strides to bring resources to the table in CleanBC. It has made huge strides by adopting that — coupled with Innovate B.C., the emerging economy task force. The focus on things now is for the government getting at the table for the digital supercluster. We’re starting to see programs federally start to streamline a little more closely with programs provincially, thanks to the good work by Alan Winter, our innovation commissioner. I’ll address that more.

While government has made huge steps, the next step is to make a similar commitment to innovation policy in the province. Innovation, ultimately, is where our future economic opportunities will come from. We know that this government has some important key steps with 50 million bucks going into enhanced high-speed Internet activity in rural areas. I can’t overestimate how important this is.

An example that I gave a couple of years ago, when I was standing on the other side as a lowly independent MLA — elected as Green but the status of an independent — was the issue of Prince George. Prince George is a bustling northern community. It is a hub for northern expertise. It has got a world-class university. But unfortunately, it does not have broadband redundancy. It has two high-speed lines in, both owned by Telus. Now, good on Telus for putting in those lines. But no multinational is going to move to Prince George and set up shop there if they’re beholden to Telus for their broadband. It’s just a crazy business model. You want built-in redundancy.

[4:30 p.m.]

A $6 million investment to connect Prince George to Chetwynd with broadband would bring in the redundancy that Prince George needed to allow it to attract the likes of Google, to allow it to attract the likes of the BMWs of this world, to allow it to attract the New Age industries that require, as a fundamental aspect of doing business, access to broadband.

[J. Isaacs in the chair.]

The previous government thought that highways meant nothing more than…. We even heard it in the critics today. “We need to pave the Trans-Canada Highway.” The much-tired former Minister of Finance is coming up spouting the rhetoric line of: “We need more highways.” Well, let’s talk a little bit about highways.

I recognize that politicians who’ve been in this place for 20-odd years are stuck and have run out of ideas, and that’s all they can think about. But in the new economy, highways…. When you ask people under the age of 40 what they think about highways, they think about information highways. They think about access to information at high speed.

We know that the speed of light is not a barrier to access to information. What is a barrier is access to broadband and, in particular for bigger companies, is redundancy. So if we want Prince George to have the investments by Google, by perhaps Telus or others…. Why would Google want to go to Prince George now? It wouldn’t. But why is it they built a factory, a big data storage centre, in Corvallis? Because they could.

Google is a company that wants to brand itself as a clean, new-economy company. They wanted to have access to clean, renewable power. Oregon can give them that. B.C. could as well. They want access to the world through high-speed Internet. Oregon can give them that. B.C. could not give them that in Prince George.

What B.C. had that no other jurisdiction could match was actually a colder climate. We know the single biggest cost in data distribution centres is cooling. If you had a data distribution centre in Prince George, you would save on cooling costs substantively. And you wouldn’t have to worry about the speed of light, because it’s 3 x 108 metres per second. That’s pretty fast, not a barrier for information travelling on earth, frankly.

Again, years of banging my head against the wall, trying to get government to recognize the importance of investment in broadband, particularly for rural hub zones like Prince George — nothing. But here we see an investment coming in, $50 million to enhance high-speed Internet access in rural areas. That is perhaps the single most important investment this government has made in this budget for innovation distributed across our budget. Kudos to the government for this.

There’s also $5 million in annual funding for an expansion of the technology training program. There’s funding to support the expansion of tech spaces at post-secondary institutions. And, of course, CleanBC and its focus on harnessing new, innovative technologies and finding solutions will allow us to increase efficiency and decrease emissions.

You know, we can look to examples of how we compete by bringing our technologies together with our resource sector. There is no reason why Kamloops and Prince George are not major centres of innovation in resource technology coupled together with our traditional sectors. These should be hubs, North American and worldwide hubs, for that, because people can afford to live in Prince George and Kamloops. It’s cooler there. You can store data there cheaper. Give them broadband, and you can access the world.

We also have resources there. You can’t make resources move to tech, but you can have tech move to resources. Why is it that Canadian forestry companies buy our technologies from Finland, buy our software from Finland, from Sweden, from Norway? Why aren’t we developing it here? We can, and we should.

What we need is a government to recognize that sustainable economies are ones that are grounded in the strategic strengths of your jurisdiction, and I’ve already articulated what those are.

In our CASA commitment, we had a major piece of our 2017 platform embedded within CASA. That was discussed earlier. We had the innovation commissioner. We had representatives who help our technology sector compete nationally and internationally through the innovation commissioner. We’ve got the emerging economy task force.

One of the things I hope government over the next little while starts to contemplate with the emerging economy task force is getting them to stand back and reflect about perhaps a new way of looking at our taxation system. Let’s call it a tax shift. Presently we have a very weird kind of tax system, one that’s kludged together over many years of adding pieces on top of pieces. It’s quite regressive in many aspects, less regressive in other aspects.

There are ways that we could get the emerging economy task force to actually think about what a tax regime is in British Columbia, big picture thinking that actually recognizes that as we move forward in the new economy, it will be more towards a gig economy. We recognize that more and more people will have more and more jobs over the course of their lives. Their careers may be in the same area, but they might have to relocate a little more.

[4:35 p.m.]

We know that these are changes down the road. We know that the disparity between those who have and those who don’t have is increasing. We also have countless examples in human history of where that ends up. I can tell you, very simply, each and every example of where income disparity grows has led to one solution, which is a revolution and the collapse of that society. Frankly, I don’t think we want to have that here in B.C., so let’s get a handle on this sooner than later, which is exactly what government is doing.

We, in our submission, obviously supported this. We had tons of things to submit in this area in terms of efficiency and cost internalization policy suggestions. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with government in the coming years to establish this agenda.

Let’s go to an analysis that I think is important here that is often not done. It goes back to my previous statement about perhaps we can get the emerging economy task force to stand back and take a look at our taxation system here and what we’re doing.

Let’s take a generational analysis with this budget. What do I mean by that? We know, for example, that this budget has not been looked at through the lens of an intergenerational-generational analysis. We know that less than 20 percent of the new investments in the 2019 budget go to people under the age of 45, a group that represents more than half the population. So less than 20 percent of the budget targets more than half of the population, and that half of the population is largely the population paying taxes, working. Many of the older population have retired. And it is a population that is under 45 and represents over half. Only 20 percent of the new money goes there.

The vast majority of the funding — $1 billion or so, not well articulated in press releases — goes to education through the Ministry of Health. You know, I don’t have a problem with health funding. I think, obviously, we need to relook at the way we deliver health. But one of the things I would suggest is that continuing to throw more money at the system without standing back and reflecting on the system is not a healthy way forward.

I do appreciate some of the work done by the Minister of Health, who’s looking for a more community-based approach to have health care centres. That might need new money, as we transition to that, as you start to do slow changes. But this wasn’t well articulated in the overall press release and budget documents, that so much money was going to continued funding of health care.

Health, of course, doesn’t start with medical care. We tend to put all our money into reactionary measures, as opposed to proactive health promotion. My favourite example of this — it’s a tragic example — is the issue of harm reduction in terms of naloxone treatment and overdosing. We had, under the Liberals — Minister Lake deserves a lot of credit — a very effective program of harm reduction introduced in B.C. when the number of deaths from opioid-related diseases went through the roof. However, we didn’t stand back and say: “Why are these people taking drugs in the first place, and what is their pathway to recover?”

We all know people…. I have a cousin who’s a firefighter who resuscitated the same person multiple times in a day. It actually leads to real problems for those first responders who are feeling a sense of hopelessness as they are dealing with these people who have fallen through the cracks in our society. There’s no prevention strategy and no pathway to recovery.

What we see in this budget — which, again, is something that I think deserves some praise — is steps towards dealing with mental health and addictions at the youth and early childhood ages, which is important. Also, critically so, is the investment in the K to 12 system, particularly in the support that children need in their critical years of development. We think that you actually should view that through a lens of prevention, a health care view of prevention, and the pathway to recovery still has some work to be done.

In conclusion, you can tell from my general tone here that while there are obviously challenges and opportunities ahead, we believe that this budget has done some pretty incredibly important measures in the short term, as well as setting the stage for some of the longer-term successes.

CleanBC. Government is not shirking away from its responsibility here. It’s funding CleanBC. It sees it as an economic vision, as opposed to a purely environmental vision. It’s one that’s got broad support from NGOs outside of government. But the work doesn’t stop with the introduction of CleanBC. The work will require us to continue to maintain vigilance to ensure that we remain on track, to recognize that this is an economic vision.

[4:40 p.m.]

It requires vigilance to ensure that the support mechanisms are there, that the messaging is clear that when you’re building schools that are being funded through this budget, you’re seeing this through the lens of CleanBC. You don’t build a school today to save $1 million today that you could save in three years through a little bit more spending to ensure that you have operating cost reductions on the long term. A little bit of investment today, viewed through the lens of CleanBC, leads to prevention, leads to long-term cost savings and is actually exciting for innovation because everybody wants to be new and innovative, and they want to get behind the kind of opportunities that you see in CleanBC.

We wish there was, of course, some more generational analysis for that. We continue to advocate for that. We would suggest that moving forward we’ll continue to look at this through the lens of generational funding.

I know that youth don’t vote, but we are elected to represent everybody, and it really behooves us to start focusing a little more on that generation of people who actually have to live the consequences of the decisions we made, most of which we don’t actually have to live the consequences of. It’s kind of a good position to be in and why so many politicians think more about re-election than they do about the policy that’ll be in place for a generation to come, because the next election is all many care about.

What matters is history and how you’re judged in history as somebody who set the stage, moving forward, for the next generation. It’s like you can ask any teacher. Their success is not judged by what they do in the classroom. Their success is judged by the success of their students, and they take recognition and reward, personal reward, by seeing their students succeed. It should be the same for every one of us in this room.

We succeed judged not by our tasks we do today but by what we leave behind for the next generation of people in British Columbia. On that regard, I think government is moving in the right direction. As the world changes, we’re ensuring that our economy is changing and that our government is adapting to these changes. We’re seeing government making the right investments and moving in the right direction. Frankly, I’m entirely encouraged by the spirit of hope and collaboration in which CleanBC was put together.

I’m looking forward to working in this regard to ensure that it is successful, that the economy responds, diversifies and positions British Columbia as leaders in the new economy, the economy of tomorrow. Others around the world will look at us and say: “Look at B.C. We want to emulate them. They have the best education system in the world. They’ve got it all. They’ve got the best environment in the world. They’ve got the best education system in the world, and they have opportunities for everyone, whether you win the lottery of birth by being born into a wealthy family or whether you happen to have not been born into such a family.”

With that, hon. Speaker, I thank you so much, and I look forward to further deliberations on this budget.

Hon. L. Beare: I’d like to begin today by acknowledging that we’re on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking people, including the Songhees and the Esquimalt First Nations.

I am so pleased to be able to stand in support of the budget released just yesterday. Budget 2019 is about creating more opportunities for British Columbians so everyone can enjoy a good life, a secure, prosperous future for all communities where they call home. It shows that we can have a strong, sustainable economy with well-funded services that we all count on while still tackling climate change.

I am honoured to be representing my riding of Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. It’s a place where I grew up. It’s the place I call home, and it’s the place where my husband and I are raising our family. I want to take a few moments to thank my family and everyone who’s worked so incredibly hard in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows to get me here to represent them today.

First off, I’d like to start by thanking my husband, Hendrik, and my daughter, Brinley. Without them I obviously wouldn’t be able to be here. Every single day they FaceTime me, blow me a kiss and wish me the best, and then we do it all again at night. They’re so willing and able to share me with everyone here in Victoria, and I thank them for that.

I thank my mom and dad, who are the alternate caregivers when my husband’s away and who take care of my daughter and allow me to be here to do the hard work.

I’d like to thank my constituency assistants in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. There’s Thyra, Paul and Kate, who take phenomenal care of all the constituents in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows and ensure that the best services possible are provided to them.

[4:45 p.m.]

I’d like to take a moment to thank the staff in my ministry as well. Kelly, Ramesh, Jeff and Marina: thank you for everything you do here in Victoria. And to all the staff who work in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, we couldn’t do this every day without them.

I’d like to start by saying that making life better starts with the choices that we make. The previous government’s choices…. They made choices that hurt people. They left communities behind. Our government is choosing to make different choices, to put people first. From affordability to services and a strong, stable economy, our government is fixing the problems that the previous government left behind, making progress on things that matter most.

Affordability remains one of the biggest challenges facing B.C. families, especially in my riding of Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. Too many families are living paycheque to paycheque, and no matter how hard they work, families aren’t feeling like they can get ahead. As a former school trustee, one of the commitments in this budget that I am most proud of is our government’s commitment to eliminate interest on all new and existing student loans in our province. As of February 19, 2019, all B.C. student loans will stop accumulating interest.

Interjections.

Hon. L. Beare: Yes. This is such a phenomenal announcement.

Students and young families with these loans will see, on average, a savings of $2,300 in interest that was being charged to them over a ten-year period. Instead of worrying about growing debt, our young people will be able to focus on learning, and graduates will be able to put their energy into their next steps in life. Eliminating the costs associated with student loans is removing a barrier and encouraging more young people to continue their studies.

The previous government more than doubled MSP premiums, increasing them by 134 percent. Budget 2019 moves ahead with the complete elimination of MSP premiums. Starting January 1, 2020, families will save as much as $1,800 per year. This is a $2.7 billion tax reduction and one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in B.C. history.

I am so proud of the work our government is doing to make life more affordable, including record investments in housing and in child care. For too long, the housing crisis has left many people unable to find affordable housing. The previous government failed to address the housing crisis, and they made choices that benefited the wealthy, the well-connected, while costs piled up for everyone else.

Our government is making a difference. We’re seeing a drop in foreign and domestic speculation, seeing a moderation of home prices in the Lower Mainland and an increase in vacancy rate for rentals.

As the mother of a 3½ year old, child care is a top priority for me. I see families all across our province who are paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for child care or waiting months and months on wait-lists. The previous government took a blind eye to rising child care costs. They took no steps to solve this problem.

Our government has taken steps to make quality child care more affordable and more available to B.C. families, and we are starting to make progress. Tens of thousands of B.C. families are enjoying the benefits of more affordable child care, with many families paying no fees at all.

I can think of a few examples from my community. I think about Tiffany, a working mother. She has two children. When Tiffany’s mat leave was coming to an end, she was faced with a choice of huge child care costs. She and her husband were deciding that it was possible they were going to move out of province because they weren’t able to afford child care here in B.C.

With our new child care plan, Tiffany’s family was able to save $700 a month in child care fees, and they were able to stay in our community, in Pitt Meadows, where they also found a nearby licensed child care provider.

I can think of a personal friend and her four-year-old son, Adam. Adam’s mom applied for the child care affordability measures, and his daycare was able to submit them. His family no longer pays fees for any of his child care costs. Adam and his mother can breathe easier now because they don’t have to face child care costs every single month. This is a huge benefit to families in my community.

To give some more relief to kids and to families, Budget 2019 introduced the new B.C. child opportunity benefit. Starting in October 2020, the child opportunity benefit will replace the early childhood tax benefit, providing hundreds of millions of dollars each and every year to families here in B.C.

[4:50 p.m.]

For the first child, the benefit will be as high as $1,600 a year. For families with two or more children, the benefit can be $2,600, and the numbers increase for larger families. I am proud that our government is taking steps to make sure that affordable child care is there for every family that needs it and that opportunity benefits are there for families that need them. For far too long, children and families have not been able to get ahead.

In my ministry, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, we’ve invested in programs like KidSport, like the B.C. sport participation program and the after-school sport and arts initiative to make sport more affordable for families. In partnership with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, we’ve expanded the after-school sport and arts initiative with an additional new 500 spaces during the 2018-19 school year. This provides more opportunities for kids to take part in creative pursuits and for physical activities outside of school.

As part of our $2.3 million investment supporting the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship, $300,000 of that went towards the Road to the World Juniors program. The Road to the World Juniors travelled throughout the province with an education program which introduced more than 10,000 kids in our province to hockey this fall.

These investments are making a difference for B.C. families and for our young people. We’re improving the quality public services, which are key to stronger, healthy communities.

We’re building hospitals and schools for British Columbians today and for generations to come. People deserve the security of knowing British Columbia is a place that gives kids a strong foundation, a place where access to quality health care is there when they need it. After a decade and a half of cuts, our government is continuing to invest in our health care system to deliver faster, better medical care for people. We’re hiring new family doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists. We’re building and improving hospitals all across the province.

We’re investing in seniors’ care with hundreds of new beds and expanding diagnostic and treatment options for patients. This includes 37,000 more MRI exams. We have a new surgical strategy that will reduce wait times.

We’re including, in Budget 2019, $105 million to support the B.C. Cancer Agency. I, as well as most families all across British Columbia, have been impacted by cancer. We lost my little sister when she was just a year old. This was 40 years ago. To see our government taking the steps to invest $105 million to support the B.C. Cancer Agency makes me — and, I’m sure, many, many, many other families all across B.C. — very proud of our government.

Funding to tackle B.C.’s overdose crisis. We’re expanding harm reduction, we’re increasing access to naloxone, and we’re connecting people to life-saving supports.

We’re also investing $74 million to start building a child and youth mental health system where families ask once for help and they get that help fast. As a former school trustee, I’ve seen the impact that youth mental health is having in our system. To see our government addressing that and investing $74 million to start building a youth mental health system makes me extraordinarily proud.

Better services mean a better life, and British Columbians can count on that for their families. Our budget speech presented a vision for a strong, sustainable economy that works for people. For too long, choices were made that only benefited the wealthy few. This government, our government, is making different choices. We’re building a prosperous economy that works for everyone, and we want to make sure people can afford to live and work here, meaning a good job with good pay and a home that families can afford.

As Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, I lead a ministry that’s a major contributor to our economy. The tourism sector generates over $18 billion annually, and this year’s budget included an increase of $3 million over three years to Destination B.C., our Crown corporation that leads the marketing of British Columbia as a top tourist destination. This increase will allow Destination B.C. to continue to promote B.C. to international and Canadian visitors in order to develop and grow our tourism industry.

[4:55 p.m.]

Over 90 percent of B.C.’s almost 20,000 tourism enterprises are small businesses. More than 137,000 British Columbians are working in the tourism sector. These are good, family-supporting jobs. These are jobs that can be found in every single corner of our province. I’m focused on ensuring that the tourism sector continues to grow in a sustainable way across our province.

Our creative sector supports more than 90,000 workers and generates $6.4 billion in economic contributions. Our government is committed to the ongoing success of this sector. One of the ways that we support the expansion of creative industries is through increased funding for Creative B.C. This is the second of the three years in which we were providing a $1 million increase in budget to Creative B.C. This funding enables Creative B.C. to support and streng­then B.C.’s entire creative sector. This includes film, television, interactive and digital media, music, sound recording, magazine and book publishing. Supporting the tourism sectors, the creative sectors, is a pivotal part of building a strong, sustainable economy.

Our government is taking bold action on climate change. CleanBC was created in partnership with our B.C. Green caucus. It’s our road map that will help us build a low-carbon economy that creates opportunities, all while protecting B.C.’s air, water and land. CleanBC will improve where we live, where we work, through building retrofits and the new net-zero energy standards for new buildings. As we reduce emissions, we’re going to create jobs and opportunities for people, for businesses, for communities. A cleaner, better future for everyone is what CleanBC is all about.

As the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, I’m proud of the efforts made in the tourism industry to ensure that we’re expanding tourism in a sustainable way, not only economically and socially but environmentally. This is something we’re excited to continue to work with the tourism industry on. We’re working to protect the natural environment. We’re working to protect our cultural heritage. We’re working to protect our wildlife that British Columbia is so known for.

So many of our tourism businesses are leading the way in protecting and highlighting super, natural B.C. In fact, the Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association has recently received the Tourism for Tomorrow 2018 award from the World Travel and Tourism Council for their commitment to sustainable destination management practices and the United Nations World Tourism Organization award for contributing to advanced ethics in tourism and sustainable development.

These are the types of tourism businesses that are leading the way across the world in protecting our province. B.C. is known for protecting our natural environment. That’s why so many people choose to come here.

I’m proud of the work our government is doing to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. This is a cross-government priority. Budget 2019 introduces the most substantial revenue-sharing agreement with First Nations in B.C.’s history. This commitment means over $3 billion in provincial gaming revenue will be shared with First Nation communities over the next 25 years, including $300 million in the next three years. This agreement is a result of decades of work and advocacy by the First Nations to address the need for stable, long-term funding for their communities.

B.C. will be the first province in Canada to introduce legislation to implement the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous people. We lead the way in Canada in implementing the Indigenous sport calls to action. We’re committed to ensuring that Indigenous peoples have opportunities to enjoy the health and social benefits that come with involvement in sport. Our government provides $1.4 million each year to the Indigenous Sports, Physical Activity and Recreation Council, known as ISPARC, to deliver youth camps, training, coaching programs for Indigenous athletes in every region of this province.

Our government is also providing funding to support and help launch the new Indigenous Sport Gallery at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. This is the largest permanent museum exhibit or gallery devoted to Indigenous sport in the world.

B.C. is also the leader of Indigenous tourism across Canada and a leader around the globe. This fall Indigenous Tourism B.C. released a three-year tourism performance audit. We are thrilled that there are over 400 Indigenous tourism businesses operating in our province.

People choose to come to B.C. for a number of reasons. But for many, it’s because they’re looking for those unique, authentic experiences that they can’t get anywhere else. Indigenous tourism includes people who take enormous pride in being able to share their culture with the world.

[5:00 p.m.]

I think of St. Eugene’s, the Speaking Earth project, where guests can participate in eating a bison stew and listening to storytelling from an elder and then sleeping out under the stars. It’s a memorable experience. It’s authentic, it’s unique, and it’s real.

Indigenous tourism has great potential to address reconciliation, to engage and educate people about the ways of life of Indigenous peoples, to solidify community connections and to create the jobs that support a sustainable economy. In September of 2018, during a ceremony emphasizing cooperation and reconciliation, a replica of a Haida totem pole was raised on Semiahmoo First Nation’s traditional territory at the Peace Arch Provincial Park.

I want to take a moment to just talk about how this happened. Over a year ago, the Semiahmoo Nation came to see me at the First Nations leaders gathering. They laid on the table before me three pictures — pictures of a pole that had been taken down ten years ago. It was thrown in the back of the truck and later placed in a work yard. Now, this pole wasn’t removed with any ceremony or with any respect given to the pole, and we understand that the pole wasn’t removed with malice or ill intent. It was a lack of understanding, a lack of cultural understanding.

When the Semiahmoo laid this in front of me, they said: “This is a problem. We need to fix this.” We looked at them. We looked across, on our side of the table, and we said: “Yes, we agree. This is a problem, and we do have to fix this.” We worked with the Semiahmoo Nation, as well as the Haida Nation and the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, to have access to the pole to ensure that it was refurbished and that the spirit remained with it.

Premier Horgan offered our government’s apology for the treatment of the grizzly bear totem pole during its removal ten years ago, and our government righted that wrong. Now, this welcoming grizzly pole stands near the Canadian border to remind all who enter of the importance of our Indigenous cultures here in B.C. I can’t think of a better way, a more fitting way, to welcome visitors who cross our border from the U.S.

Another program that will continue to strengthen our communities and attract visitors to our province is the resort municipality initiative, or the RMI. Our government is committing $39 million over the next three years to RMI. I am proud of this increased investment. This program provides funding that supports a wide range of projects which will increase tourist visitation and visitor activities and amenities. For anyone who has visited Ucluelet and walked the Lighthouse Trail, you’ve seen the actions of RMI in action. You took in the natural environment and the breathtaking scenery. If you’ve walked the boardwalk in Tofino, you’ve seen RMI in action.

Accessibility was a top priority. They realized in Tofino that people with mobility issues and mothers with strollers were not getting access to the oceanside at the beach. Tofino used RMI funding to create the boardwalk and build the boardwalk so that all could enjoy the benefits of the ocean in Tofino. If you’ve been to Rossland and travelled to and from the ski hill, you’ll know that there’s a free shuttle that can take you into the downtown core. These projects have significant impacts on the economy of their communities.

Another way our government is working to not only protect B.C.’s rich culture and heritage but to also enhance its tourism and attract visitors from around the world is the modernization of the Royal B.C. Museum. The majority of the museum’s facilities were built in 1967. As with many buildings of that time, they don’t meet today’s standards for seismic performance. The Royal B.C. Museum is a significant provincial, national, international and cultural resource, and it holds the world’s largest collection of B.C.’s heritage. We’re committed to protecting this history and providing better access to its collections.

Our government believes the diverse history of our province must be recognized. As part of this, we’ll continue to work on establishing a Chinese-Canadian museum to honour the community’s significant contributions to our province. Our government is making sure public investments provide public benefits.

After years of underfunding, government is making further investments to the B.C. Arts Council with an additional $5 million per year. That’s $15 million over the next three years — additional moneys — in addition to the $15 million we announced in last year’s budget to support B.C.’s vibrant arts community.

[5:05 p.m.]

This means more artists, museums, orchestras, dance ensembles and other arts and culture projects will continue to be able to inspire and entertain people throughout our province.

I think about the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, who just marked their 100th anniversary this year. To celebrate, they provided 12 hours of free music and activities for British Columbians and their families, partially sponsored by our government. B.C. is proud to have the first major Canadian orchestra to have this impressive milestone. It’s an achievement that speaks to the rich pool of creative talent in B.C.’s arts and culture sector that enriches our province as a whole.

Our government knows how valuable arts and culture are to our citizens and to our communities. Our festivals and our events draw visitors to our great province and encourage business investment.

We provided funding to help to bring major sports events to B.C. in 2019, including the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships, which were co-hosted in Vancouver and Victoria in January, and the World Para-Nordic Skiing Championships, which happened in Prince George this past week. The HSBC Rugby Sevens are coming to Vancouver and Langford this spring.

Our arts are often an expression of our multicultural heritage. To increase understanding of our appreciation for B.C.’s diverse ethnic backgrounds helps establish essential connections with each other. Our government remains committed to investing in B.C. arts to help ensure a strong, thriving sector that benefits all British Columbians.

In closing, I’d like to say that our government is making different choices. We’re committed to making life better. We’re creating opportunities for people so that B.C.’s bright future and unlimited potential are shared with everyone, not just a few. I look forward to this work continuing, and I look forward to continuing to serve the people of this province and the people of Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. Thank you very much, hon. Speaker, for the time.

T. Stone: It is a pleasure to rise and take my place in the debate that’s underway with respect to the government’s Budget 2019. I would like to start off by first acknowledging my family — my wife, my kids and my parents — whose support is why I’m able to be here and do what I do in representing the people back home. So to Chantelle, Hannah, Sydney, Caitlin and my mom and dad: hello, and thank you for being there for me.

I also want to thank my constituency staff who work very, very hard doing the work in our home constituency offices to help us represent our constituents. They do such a great job, so to Becky and Shelly: I really appreciate your efforts as well. Of course, it is a tremendous honour to represent the people of Kamloops–South Thompson, the hard-working men and women of my constituency, here in Victoria.

I think that all members of this chamber can agree that we all want to create an opportunity for all British Columbians: fairness for all, despite who you are, despite where you’re from and despite how you got here. Now, all British Columbians have hopes and dreams. I think part of embracing this notion of opportunity is about enabling people to be able to pursue those dreams and those hopes.

I think that we all want to leave this province a better place than we inherited it. Certainly the budget is one of the hallmarks of the calendar for any government because it really lays out the framework of priorities, the puts and takes and choices and hopefully vision for the future of our province, the economy of our province and the people of our province. To do this, in order to enable people to pursue their opportunities, government has to enable that and create the conditions for it. With that in mind, how did the government do with Budget 2019?

[5:10 p.m.]

Well, first, I want to acknowledge that there are some aspects of this budget that I can support. I do support eliminating interest on B.C. student loans. I support the goal of creating more accessible, more affordable child care spaces across British Columbia. I think the budget’s inclusion of a rate increase for foster parents and home-share providers was a good decision.

I think the further mental health supports for children and youth, such as the investments in Foundry centres…. Now, this was an initiative of our former government, and I’m really pleased that the current government has opted to advance that Foundry model and, essentially, roll it out to other communities across British Columbia.

I notice that the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions is here, and I sure hope Kamloops makes the cut in the next application. It’s a very worthy investment.

I will say, however, from a Kamloops–South Thompson perspective, a Kamloops–Thompson valleys perspective, that I was very pleased that Royal Inland Hospital’s phase 2 development project was mentioned. That’s because that project was too far down the path that it could not be reversed. I’m happy that the government is continuing to make sure that that project stays on track.

I was disappointed that despite dozens and dozens of secondary and elementary school projects being listed in this budget, from virtually every corner of British Columbia, there was no mention of school capital that’s needed for school district 73 in Kamloops.

Now, the history here is of a very steady decline in enrolment in our school district — about a 23 percent decline in enrolment over 18 years — which, thankfully, stopped declining and flattened out about three years ago. Now it’s ticking back up.

The Supreme Court decision resulted in the need for more classroom space. Our school district has made tough, tough choices — tough decisions. They made the tough decision to close schools. Back when the enrolment was declining, we had half-empty schools, even schools less than half-empty. They made the tough decisions to repurpose all kinds of rooms in schools across the district — art rooms and music rooms — and to turn them into classrooms, but we’re at a breaking point now in Kamloops.

We need a capital expansion at our high school in Valleyview, Valleyview Secondary. We need a new elementary school in Pineview Valley. We need there to be an expansion of Westmount Elementary in North Kamloops. These are the top three priorities of our school district.

Along with my partner, the member for Kamloops–North Thompson, we will continue to advocate with this government, with the Minister of Education, to advance the importance of ensuring that there are some capital investments announced in the not too distant future in Kamloops. We will hope that the fact that these investments were not specifically mentioned in this budget isn’t an indication that our school district will be asked to wait another year.

I was also very disappointed that the Trans-Canada four-laning projects — which are very, very integral to the safe movement of people and goods along Canada’s national highway, the No. 1, east of Kamloops — have been pushed out again — specifically, the projects just east of my hometown of Kamloops. As the former Minister of Transportation, I secured $299 million. Our government approved $299 million of funding for the next three phases of the four-laning project from Hoffman’s Bluff to just east of the village of Chase. Included in that total were tens of millions of dollars from the federal government. Thankfully, we secured that federal funding.

[5:15 p.m.]

I think the project might have been outright killed by the NDP government if not for the federal funding attached to it. But that project was ready to go to tender in 2017, in the summer of 2017. We had an election, and there was an inconclusive result for a few months. A new government was sworn in.

There was no reason that that project could not have gone to tender in late 2017. It was supposed to be under construction in 2018, and it was supposed to be finished in 2020. We then learned that the NDP government pushed it out one year. Then last year we hear it’s to be pushed out again.

The budget documents confirm that for a third time the government has seen fit to push this project out, but this time by two more years. The sign is still up. Look, I’m sure the government is happy that there’s a big highway sign announcing a forthcoming investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, but there’s been three stickers applied over the start date because this government keeps pushing it out.

That’s not acceptable to the people of my constituency. That’s not acceptable to the people who live in that part of the province. So we’ll be advocating for that much-needed funding as well.

I found it interesting, as well, that in this budget…. Remember only weeks ago the government reneged on its commitment to the people of Kamloops to build a new head­quarters for B.C. Lotteries. The headquarters has been located in Kamloops ever since the corporation was formed, but the building that they’re in is an old Woodward’s department store. It’s almost 60 years old. It requires about $20 million of upgrades just to keep it up to code, just to ensure it’s safe for the 400 people who work there today.

Perhaps the greatest gesture that any government can make — NDP or B.C. Liberal — as to the reaffirmation of the importance of that headquarters being in Kamloops, recognizing the principle that government doesn’t need to all be based in Victoria, doesn’t all need to be based in the Lower Mainland…. There are vibrant communities all around this province, places like Kelowna and Prince George and Kamloops and Nanaimo.

It was a visionary decision made by a previous government to put the headquarters for B.C. Lottery Corp. in Kamloops. But we’ve had to fight year after year, decade after decade, to keep it there and push back on this urge to move employment out of Kamloops and back to the Lower Mainland, or at least not to hire net new positions in Kamloops.

When I first became an MLA in 2013, I was shocked when I took a tour of the B.C. Lottery building in Kamloops. I discovered some things that I wouldn’t have expected. One, I believe there was only one executive that actually worked in that building. The rest were based in the Lower Mainland. Supposedly, the headquarters is in Kamloops, but none of the head office senior management worked there. Secondly, most net new positions in the corporation were being hired in the Lower Mainland, not up in Kamloops. And three, the building was bursting at the seams with a really good, talented technology division but not much else.

Thanks to the member for Abbotsford West, my colleague; thanks to the former Premier; thanks to my former colleague Terry Lake, who was the then Minister of Health and the MLA for Kamloops–North Thompson; we put our heads together, and we said: “You’re either the headquarters or you’re not.” We were proud, over a four-year period, to ensure that net new hires, where it made sense, were hired in Kamloops. That resulted in about 150 net new positions being created in Kamloops — good-paying, family-supporting jobs.

We made a point of ensuring that at every opportunity we could embrace, we would ensure that the senior management were based in Kamloops. So as of a year ago or 18 months ago, fully half of the executive was based in Kamloops, plus one with the current CEO, who, frankly, if not for some realities with his wife having a great job in the Lower Mainland, would have bought a place and would be living in Kamloops too. But he’s there pretty much five days a week, and we take our hat off to him.

[5:20 p.m.]

The final piece was that we were going to put this new headquarters, this new building, in Kamloops, and the former government approved that path. The minister responsible, the Attorney General, went to Kamloops shortly after being sworn in, and he went to Kamloops again and reaffirmed the commitment. The new chair of B.C. Lotteries went to Kamloops, Mr. Peter Kappel. He reaffirmed the commitment.

You can imagine our surprise and our great disappointment, coming out of the recent Christmas season, to begin to hear rumours from within B.C. Lotteries that the headquarters is not actually going to be built in Kamloops. Sure enough, if it had not been for the efforts of my colleague the member for Kamloops–North Thompson and myself, we wouldn’t have got to the bottom of this as quickly as we did. But sure enough, the news came out that the NDP had made a decision to kill the project.

They said it was on the basis of a fiscally responsible decision. I’ve got two pieces to combat that assertion with. One is that I noticed in the budget here, which was put before this House this week, that revenues at B.C. Lotteries this last fiscal were actually up by over $90 million, roughly the projected estimated cost for a new building in Kamloops.

I would also suggest, and notwithstanding that…. This was always intended to be a public-private partner. It was always intended to be a project wherein we would engage the creativity and the ingenuity of the private sector to put the building up, and B.C. Lotteries, either through a stratification arrangement or a lease arrangement, would essentially lease back the space that it needed.

So why did this government kill that project? We’ve been trying to get answers, and we haven’t been given any straight answers. We’ll keep trying.

I’ll leave you with this note. The biggest travesty related to this decision isn’t the loss of a corporate building in Kamloops. That is important, particularly in its location, particularly considering our former government had authorized B.C. Lotteries to purchase all the adjacent property, to do all the environmental remediation, to prep all the property so that the construction could take place forthwith. It would be great to have a new building and a western gateway to the downtown of Kamloops.

The biggest travesty is that there were 200 to 250 net new jobs attached to that building — not construction jobs; above and beyond those construction jobs. So 200 to 250 new positions that would be created in Kamloops over a ten-year period because there would be the space to house these new employees in Kamloops. That’s now not going to happen, and that’s a travesty.

Interjection.

T. Stone: The member for Abbotsford West is correct.

Let’s take a look at the budget at a high level here. This is a budget that features significant tax increases, despite a narrative that the government doesn’t want to acknowledge. This is a budget that highlights even bigger spending. But, perhaps most alarmingly, this is a budget that doesn’t feature any economic plan or any focus on the creation of private sector jobs in this province.

Taxes are up $10 billion under the NDP in 19 months. That’s $1,200 in additional tax in the life of this government for every man, woman and child in this province — 19 new and increased taxes. There’s the carbon tax, and we’ll come back to that in a moment. Income taxes are up. Corporate taxes are up. The employer health tax is now in effect. This is the double-dip year.

With great fanfare, the members opposite talk about how they’ve eliminated MSP. Well, let’s be clear. What has hap­pened, to this point, is this government has eliminated…. They eliminated half of MSP last year, which was following through on a commitment that we made in our last budget, when we were government. We acknowledged and we said that was good.

[5:25 p.m.]

But whereas we said we would eliminate the other half of MSP when the economy could handle that, and we said we would not impose that in other forms of taxes or fees onto the people of this province, the government opted to bring in this employers health tax, which is now coming home to roost in the form of higher property taxes for citizens, putting a significant squeeze on small businesses — their margins, their bottom lines, their ability to not just retain the people they have but to hire more people.

They struck the fear of God in non-profits and organizations like the B.C. Wildlife Park up in Kamloops, which still doesn’t know to this day, despite numerous inquiries, whether or not the EHT will apply to them fully. We keep asking this government to give them the answers that they’re asking for.

Gas taxes are up. There’s the new school tax. Parking taxes. It’s more expensive to park in the Lower Mainland. Development cost charges are up. There’s a new TransLink-related property tax.

Of course, the speculation tax is one of the doozies. It has nothing to do with speculation. I think we all…. Well, everyone on this side of the House will agree with that. Most British Columbians will agree with that. The government continues to insist that this is a speculation tax.

They imposed this tax in select areas, treating about two million British Columbians as speculators unless they can prove that they’re not. Estimates suggest that there are only about 32,000 homes, or titles, that will likely be subjected to this tax at the end of the day, so why put two million people through the stress and the worry and the administrative challenges that this tax represents?

When we in the opposition stand up in this House and we bring forward tangible examples of real British Columbians — seniors, often — who are extremely worried and stressed about whether or not this tax applies and how to fill out the paperwork properly and so forth, we get push-back from the government as if we’re overstepping some line on this. It’s baffling.

It’s an administrative nightmare as well. Dozens of pages of background material. If you’re a husband and wife, you have to fill out separate forms. It has to be done every single year. It’s separate from the homeowner grant process. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Mayors in the zones that are subject to this tax don’t want it. It’s great that the Green Party leader suggests he won a major victory for these mayors, these communities, because they get an annual meeting with the Minister of Finance. Last time I checked, there’s an annual conference called the Union of B.C. Municipalities, and that affords the municipal leaders to meet with government. But no, that was a major victory.

Langford Mayor Stew Young says: “This is absolutely not the way to treat hard-working taxpayers. It’s not a speculation tax; it’s a tax grab.” I couldn’t agree with Mayor Young any more.

When asked how many vacant homes are expected to shift into the rental market to avoid this tax…. When the Premier has been asked, when the Minister of Finance has been asked, they both have said on several occasions that they don’t know.

Spending is also up $13 billion under the NDP to the end of their term — a 26 percent increase over the spending level when the NDP took power — with $2.5 billion more in spending this fiscal year alone. Again, when you calculate that out across all British Columbians, it’s about $2,600 for every man, woman and child in this province. Who will be left paying that bill? The taxpayers will.

What has the NDP got to show for all of this spending, 19 months into their mandate? Well, I can share some of the realities up in Kamloops. We’ve got more congestion on our area highways than ever before and delayed highways projects, like the one that I mentioned earlier on the Trans-Canada.

There are fewer child care spaces today than there were 19 months ago, despite all the fanfare from the members opposite. Supportive housing projects, which…. We do support the need for more supportive housing. Every member of the opposition supports more supportive housing — but not the kinds of projects in some communities that are going sideways, like these under this government.

[5:30 p.m.]

I can tell that you that in Kamloops, there are several issues and challenges with existing supportive housing projects and several others that are delayed. We have one project up in Kamloops that will probably be 18 months to two years before it’s open, beyond when it was originally supposed to open.

Access to primary care is getting worse up in Kamloops. You know, great fanfare…. There’s an urgent primary care centre in Kamloops. The number of patients that they’re seeing related to the administrative overhead that is associated with that primary care clinic…. It’s not working.

We know that several GPs and doctors and nurse practitioners in different communities around the province are leaving their existing practices and going into these primary care clinics. They’re not adding more capacity. Those decisions might be right for those health care professionals. I don’t take issue with their personal decisions, but those decisions, insofar as the health care system and patients…. It’s not working. It’s not creating more access, not creating more timely access to health care.

Early childhood investments and programs like Success By 6 are being ripped out of communities. Talk to the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin about the stress in a few of her communities with some of these programs coming to an end.

Of course, with great fanfare, we were promised…. The people of Surrey, in particular, were promised that there would be no portables, with the NDP government in power, after, I believe, a couple of years. Or perhaps it was to the end of their term, and they would have half of them gone by now. We’ve got more portables in Surrey today. By the way, I’ve had constituents ask me: “Why is it a noble goal to eliminate portables in Surrey but not portables up in Kamloops?”

There’s a lot more money being spent, a lot more of hard-earned taxpayers’ dollars being spent and a lot of British Columbians wondering what they’re actually getting for it.

As with last week’s throne speech, where the economy gets its first mention on page 6, it takes the Finance Minister about 20 minutes to actually mention the word “jobs.” This budget meanders through many topics, but it manages to stay clear of the private sector economy. No focus in the budget to grow the economy. No measures to support well-paying family-supporting jobs — in fact, no jobs plan at all.

We know that the NDP government thinks the public sector knows best, not the private sector. But the private sector actually drives the economy when it’s thriving and growing, when it’s vibrant.

There’s no trade strategy, no economic development focus. Nothing about exports or competitiveness on the world stage, which is particularly alarming considering B.C.’s vulnerability in an uncertain global environment. Nothing about preparing B.C. for the disruptive future that’s not just bearing down upon us in the months and years ahead but that’s already here. No mention of how the world is changing around us. No mention of how our economy needs to change, how British Columbians need to adjust and what the government is going do to help them prepare for those adjustments.

My constituents want to know where the NDP’s plan is to address the crisis unfolding in B.C.’s forestry-dependent communities. Where is the NDP’s plan to assist B.C.’s mining communities, with the fact that there are no new mines coming on stream any time soon in B.C. and that private sector exploration activity is declining rapidly?

There is no plan. In fact, the budget says that revenue from the resource sector will decline by 30 percent. Where’s the plan to deal with that? Of course, on the NDP’s much-vaunted promise of making life more affordable…. How are we doing there? Well, I’ve talked about the 19 new and increased taxes, the additional tax burden of $1,100 per person in this province in taxes, to this point, under this government. It costs more to heat your home and put fuel in your truck. Your hydro rates are up.

British Columbians know that life is not more affordable today than it was 18 months ago. But what adds insult to injury, I think, for British Columbians, is this. Affordability was the hallmark issue of the NDP in the last election. The cornerstone commitment of their party’s entire effort was to make life more affordable. In last year’s throne speech, the government said this: “Government’s first and most urgent priority is to make life more affordable.”

[5:35 p.m.]

Again, where are we 12 months later? I haven’t met a constituent yet up in Kamloops that has told me that they think life is more affordable today, 19 months later. British Columbians are saying quite the opposite. Life is getting harder for people.

In fact, take the acknowledgment in last week’s throne speech. The NDP actually admitted that life isn’t getting any more affordable for British Columbians. They said: “Affordability remains the biggest challenge facing B.C. families. Many people are working two or three jobs, commuting farther for work, and spending less time with their families, just to make ends meet. No matter how hard they work, they cannot seem to get ahead.”

That’s under this government, 19 months in. It’s the decisions that this government has taken. The union-only requirements on construction. The absolute and complete lack of a strategy when it comes to housing supply.

Again, we don’t quibble with the supportive housing side of the government’s agenda, per se. But when it comes to housing affordability, that’s about the thousands of British Columbians who want to get into the market — the first-time homebuyers, people that want to be able to move up in the market. Supply is projected to go down by 30 percent, actually. Housing starts are expected to decline. That number is right out of the budget.

This is a budget that is full of increased costs for taxpayers. It provides no relief for taxpayers. This is a budget that provides massive increases in spending. This is a budget that has a tremendous amount of inherent risk in it. It’s a budget that fails in delivering on the government’s most notable commitment, and that’s to make life more affordable for British Columbians.

On that basis, I cannot and will not vote to support Budget 2019. I do so again, first and foremost, with the hard-working men and women of Kamloops–South Thompson and their families, their kids, in mind.

Hon. K. Chen: I’m really honoured and thankful to have the opportunity to stand here to speak in favour of Budget 2019. Budget 2019 is about creating opportunities so that people can thrive to live, work and learn in our communities throughout B.C. It also lifts people up so that everyone can meet their full potential.

Budget 2019 is also about making sure that we continue the work that we’ve been doing since our government’s first full budget in 2018 and making sure that we’re putting thousands of dollars back in people’s pockets to make sure life is getting more affordable. We’re providing better services, while we support good local jobs. It was the biggest middle-class tax cut in a generation. We are making life better for all British Columbians through Budget 2019.

Before I dive into more details about Budget 2019, I would really like to begin by thanking all the constituents from Burnaby-Lougheed for giving me the trust and the support to allow me to work in this Legislature and also for them to share their stories, concerns and feedback with me so we can work together with all sides of my colleagues in this House to make sure we’re finding solutions to make things better, not just for people in Burnaby-Lougheed but for all British Columbians.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my constituency office staff. They are the front-line workers working hard in our communities every single day to serve local constituents. I was a former constituency assistant myself, and I know how hard they work. I really thank them for their work every single day and their dedication — including the staff that I have here in this building who are working hand in hand with me on the child care plan to make sure we bring the first universal child care plan in B.C. I thank them and all of our ministry staff for their hard work.

Of course, I have to thank my family, especially my husband and my five-year-old son, who just turned five years old last week on throne speech day. Without them, I would not be able to work in this building and continue this work I do every single day. I’m pretty sure all my colleagues in this House also put a lot at stake to make sure they will be able to come here with their family’s support.

I would like to thank all my colleagues in the House, from all sides as well, not just colleagues from the government, who are working hand in hand every day to make life better for British Columbians, but also from the Green caucus and from the opposition. I believe sometimes we share the same vision. We all want to make things better for British Columbians.

[5:40 p.m.]

Sometimes it’s the path that we choose that may be different, and that may have resulted in things in different ways. It is also because of the path that we have chosen differently that has resulted in different impacts on families and people in B.C. communities.

Under the last government, unfortunately, due to their choices and the decisions that they made on budgets or on policies, only a few people at the top have benefited for years, while the opportunities became further out of reach for most British Columbians. Many found it harder and harder to be able to live, work and learn in our communities. Many families, including families from Burnaby-Lougheed, were finding it hard to make ends meet. Child poverty, unfortunately, was also one of the worst in Canada for years.

Like the Minister of Finance mentioned in the speech yesterday, people were told that they had to choose between a strong economy or investment in people. But the truth is we can and must have both. And when we invest in people, people get to stay in our communities where they can live, work and learn. Where I come from, Burnaby-Lougheed is a very diverse community. We have long-time residents. We have newcomers. We have renters, homeowners, people living in co-op housing. We also sometimes hear stories about empty homes that are on our streets that have been flipped multiple times. The neighbours do share those stories with me as part of their concerns.

Despite how diverse Burnaby-Lougheed is and how different the demographic is, many local residents from Burnaby-Lougheed have shared some of the top issues with me that they all share. The first one is definitely affordability. They find it harder and harder to be able to get by when the cost of living and the costs of child care and housing have gone up so high in the past decade. They want to make sure the government takes action on addressing affordability issues. They also want to see investment in education and in children and in families to make sure we can build a strong foundation for the future.

Many local residents in Burnaby-Lougheed also believe that it is very important to protect our beautiful environment, land and water, especially from potential oil spills, which is a top issue in my riding as well.

Many families in Burnaby-Lougheed believe in supporting a strong health care system to make sure that not just seniors but all families will be able to count on a strong health care system for support.

They also want to see good local jobs to support our small and local businesses in our communities. A lot of Burnaby-Lougheed residents love to shop locally and go to restaurants. We have a lot of multicultural restaurants in Burnaby-Lougheed that people from all over the Lower Mainland come to enjoy. We’re proud of those small business opportunities in our communities.

People don’t want to see their neighbours moving away. That is something that I hear often at the doorstep. Families share with me that they are struggling with the cost of living and have to move further and further away from their home, from their work, from where their parents are, from their families. Neighbours also don’t want to see their neighbours and families moving away. That is why we are taking a different approach from the previous government in this budget. Since our last budget in 2018, we are putting people first.

One of the most exciting items I found in Budget 2019 is definitely the B.C. child opportunity benefit. I think this is an important investment to make sure every child has the opportunity to thrive. Budget 2019, with this introduction of the new benefit, will give support to families for every child they have up to the age of 18. For the first child, as many of you know, the benefit is as high as $1,600 a year. Up to three children, it could be as much as $3,400. Over the course of a child’s upbringing, families with one child will receive as much as $28,800. For families with two children, the number can actually go over $40,000 in support, which is significant, especially to many families that are struggling to make ends meet.

It also means that this benefit will put nearly $400 million a year back into the pockets of hard-working British Columbians. We are ensuring that the support is focused on those who need it the most, from middle-income families to those who live in poverty. The child opportunity benefit is really a historical investment that puts more dollars in the pockets of families. When we talk about low-income families, they are often the ones who are working hard, sometimes full-time jobs or multiple jobs, but still struggle to make tough decisions on whether they should continue their career or pay for child care costs, housing costs or moving further away from their home communities.

[5:45 p.m.]

Of course, when we talk about housing, which I mentioned a few times as one of the top issues in my riding and something that we also hear from B.C. communities, I am really happy to see our government’s continued investment in housing and creating more opportunities for families who are working hard and making a decent income but still cannot, for example, purchase a home or cannot find an affordable rental — or stories of seniors who are struggling to even find a place to stay.

There are a lot of longtime residents who live in Burnaby-Lougheed who may own a home but also share with me their struggles and worry about their families and children not being able to remain in the same community. There are also a lot of newcomers in Burnaby-Lougheed who are struggling to find affordable housing. I also often hear from renters about the high cost of rent or people facing renovictions, or people who are worried about being homeless. When you say the word “homelessness,” it sounds so distant, but it’s so close to our communities and close to families in our communities.

I always remember this mother who I met at the doorsteps about two years ago. She shared with me how both her and her husband make a pretty decent income. They’re renters in my community. She said just a few years back, she had kids aged from infant to school age. Her landlord gave her a pretty generous two months’ notice to tell her to find a new place, and she thought two months would be enough.

In the end, she looked and looked, because she really wanted to stay near her family, where her kids go to school. She didn’t want to move her two children out of the school. And it’s closer to her job. She looked and looked for actually a few months — way beyond the two months — and was still unable to find a solution.

For a period of time, her and her family and her young children had to sleep on someone’s couches. She was homeless for that period of time. When she shared the story with me, it really made a huge impact on me, because homelessness can be so close to so many families, hard-working families in our community.

So I’m really proud to see last year our government introduced the 30-point housing plan to make sure we have concrete action to build affordable housing. I’m so proud to say that already 17,000 housing are under construction. That means more than 17,000 individuals and families would have a roof over their head, which is significant when you think about the impact to many B.C. families.

I’m also proud and very thankful that our government has passed legislation to tackle the current challenges that many families have with the housing crisis. The housing plan has already shown results in only just a year. We have seen the vacancy rate improve, and we have moderated the out-of-control housing prices. Of course, there’s a lot more work to do. After years and years of inaction on the housing crisis, there is a lot of catch-up work to do.

There’s more to do, and I’m really happy to see that in Budget 2019, the province has made a commitment to fund local organizations to operate rent banks that will provide short-term, low- or no-interest loans so that renters don’t have to end up on the street because of a crisis or an unexpected situation. That is crucial to support many renters in our community.

Child care, of course, is another top issue that I hear at the doorsteps in Burnaby-Lougheed. And of course, as the minister of state, I hear it from all B.C. communities, the stories of how families have been really struggling with the high costs of child care. I’m a mother, and I once struggled with my own child care needs as well, and I know what that struggle can be like.

So many families are unable to make ends meet when the child care cost can be more than their mortgage, their housing payment, their rent. So many families are making a tough decision as to whether they should stay at home or go back to work. Even if they can afford the high child care cost, their ability or their opportunity to access quality child care spaces sometimes can be very limited, as there is a huge need for child care spaces over B.C. communities.

We also need to make sure we invest in the workforce, because when you talk about affordability and accessibility, you need to make sure early childhood educators and providers are supported to be able to build a system together, to work hand in hand together to bring quality, affordable child care services to all B.C. families.

[5:50 p.m.]

In only a year since we introduced our child care B.C. plan in the 2018 budget, we have lowered parent fees for tens of thousands of families. Many, many families in B.C. now are paying low-cost child care or no cost for their child care services at all. We have accelerated the creation of child care spaces and are finding opportunities to work with local governments, municipalities, Indigenous communities and school districts to make sure we can build child care spaces that can be part of our community assets. We are investing in a workforce to make sure we support the workers and providers in the child care community and make sure we also enhance the quality of services.

I know that the opposition critic sometimes will pull out data or numbers that don’t really match or may have been compared in the wrong way, or the opposition critic will talk about: where is $10-a-day child care? But I guess maybe he never really looked at the $10-a-day child care plan that was put together by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates, which talks about building a system. It is about building an affordable, quality and accessible child care system for all B.C. families. That is exactly what we are doing and what we have been doing since we became government.

If you’re talking about affordability, in a very short period of time we have provided immediate relief for B.C. families to make sure many of them can benefit from low-cost child care. You are starting to hear of parents returning to work and how the child care support means so much to their families, especially families who are living paycheque to paycheque.

A recent report that has been done by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives confirms that B.C.’s new investment in child care affordability is urgently needed. At the time that they were doing that report, data was not available for them to do a detailed analysis of the measures that we’ve rolled out during the past year.

However, I quote the report here, which says: “While we have to wait until next year’s CCPA survey to capture the full impact of the programs on the fees in B.C.’s largest cities, we anticipate significant declines.” The quote continues on to say: “B.C.’s new affordability measures have virtually eliminated out-of-pocket costs for lower-income families with infants and toddlers in licensed child care and generated significant savings for middle-income parents.”

This is such a significant investment that our government is providing to local families. Already, again, tens of thousands of families are benefiting, not just from the prototypes that I know are mentioned the most. We have 53 prototype sites, which have capped fees at $10 a day, to make sure we look at those sites and learn from the parents’ and the providers’ experience about how to build a universal child care system down the road — how much that would cost and what type of benefits those centres would be able to bring to families and communities.

We also have two other significant and very important affordability measures. The first one is the fee reduction initiative. We already have close to 90 percent of providers in B.C. that have joined our fee reduction program, which means that we’re currently funding over 53,000 spaces to help those families and children to reduce their fees, and it’s not income-tested.

We also have a second measure to provide immediate relief to families up to the income of $111,000, to make sure that many of them can benefit from low-cost child care — lower than $10-a-day or, sometimes, no fees at all. Already for our affordable child care benefit, we have 40,000 spaces and children that are benefiting from our affordable child care benefit.

Again, it is about building a system. Affordability is one thing, but how can we support the workforce to make sure that we work hand in hand with providers and professionals in this sector? It’s very key.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the early childhood educators, providers and professionals, who have been really struggling in this sector with the lack of support for many, many years. That is why, ever since we became government, we have worked hard to look at how we can pull together initiatives to support training, education and also fair compensation.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

Starting in January, with a retroactive payment back to September of last year, we have funded a significant wage enhancement program that will benefit thousands and already is benefiting thousands of workers, with a dollar amount starting retroactive back to September last year and another dollar an hour coming in 2020.

[5:55 p.m.]

Early childhood educators will be able to get the wage support from our government, to make sure that we continue to support their work as we start to build a foundation of a universal child care system. We’re just in February right now, and already over $2 million have gone back into the pockets of early childhood educators to thank them for their work and to support the work that they do every single day.

When we talk about wage enhancement, I remember a friend who shared a heartbreaking story with me. She used to be an early childhood educator. In 2006, she and her young daughter actually came to Victoria to ask the government at the time, the previous Liberal government, for actions when the Liberal government cut wages for early childhood educators who received public funding for wage support at the time. The Liberal government took away funding, which actually resulted in some workers, early childhood educators, losing their jobs, or some people lost a few dollars of pay an hour overnight, like this person has. Some centres were even closed as a result of the cut.

That is why, after years of neglect, we have to continue to work hard, and we have to do it as soon as possible to support early childhood educators in this workforce. That’s why we’re rolling out bursary programs. We’re providing ongoing support for training, education for new ECEs and also early childhood educators working in the field for a long time.

Of course, we need to continue to accelerate the creation of spaces. We are looking for partnerships to work with all types of child care providers. The child care sector in B.C. is very diverse. We have non-profit providers, private providers, family, in-home, multi-age and Indigenous communities. There are so many different ways of running a child care centre in B.C. We are committed to work hand in hand with all those providers to build up to 22,000 spaces.

Since we rolled out the new spaces funding just about eight months ago, we are already getting many applications. We’re approving them. I’m pretty sure members from all sides of this House have been seeing announcements of new child care spaces being built in their communities. We have a higher target for 2019-20.

I’m really excited about some of the conversations that we are having with the municipalities, local school districts, Indigenous communities and different sectors and providers to find those opportunities together, because we know we also need to make sure we build child care spaces that are stable and that can be a public asset for all of our communities for generations to come. There were so many opportunities that we could have built over the years, but we’re starting that work right now.

We cannot build a child care system without providers who are working hard in the sector. So we have enhanced a lot of funding and initiatives to make sure we support the funding to maintain their current spaces. Relocation grants. We’re increasing their operating funds. There are over 34 initiatives that we’re rolling out.

What’s very exciting that’s happening in the coming year is we are also looking at ways to entrench our government’s commitment for child care in the system to make sure that…. For years, families have struggled to find affordable quality child care spaces, when their needs were neglected for many, many years. We need to make sure we never go back to that again.

While I’m really proud of the investment our government has made to support families and children, we need to continue to make sure we find ways to entrench what we’ve done in the system, and that would be through legislation, hoping to make sure that we can make our commitment for child care and also early learning for all B.C. families on a long-term basis.

Before I wrap up about child care, I just really want to take this opportunity to also thank all the people who have given us the trust to allow us to be the government to do the work we do today for early learning and child care. I really want to give a big, big thanks to all the advocates, educators, professionals and families who have been working hand in hand with us throughout this process, who have been advocating for early learning and child care for many, many years, as we continue to learn from each other, to see what opportunities we have in B.C. communities to make sure we build a made-in-B.C. child care system that will work for all families.

Back again on Budget 2019, one of the highlights that I’m also really excited about is, of course, our government delivering our commitment to eliminate interest from all new and existing British Columbia student loans.

[6:00 p.m.]

I’m really fortunate to be the local MLA where Simon Fraser University is located, on the beautiful Burnaby Mountain, and I’m also a proud alumni of SFU. I’m so happy to see that as of yesterday, February 19, 2019, all B.C. student loans will stop accumulating interest. It means that students and young families with loans will save an average of $2,300 in interest charges over a ten-year repayment period. Instead of worrying about growing debt, young people now will be able to focus on learning, and graduates will be able to put their energy into their next steps of life. These are our future leaders for our communities. So we’re very excited about that news.

While we are working hard to make life more affordable, we are also lowering costs for local families by eliminating the MSP premium on January 1, 2020, which will save families as much as $1,800 a year. On top of that, Budget 2019 also increases income and disability assistance rates by an additional $50 per month per person. As soon as we became government, we already increased income assistance rates by $100 a month. This new increase will mean more money for groceries, transportation and many, many people’s basic life necessities.

It is crucial for those families and individuals who are struggling to make the ends meet. We believe that everyone, including some of the most vulnerable people in B.C., deserve to be supported and respected so we can have a healthy and vibrant community together. That is also why, in Budget 2019, the government is investing in care and caregivers to help those who need it the most to live a better life.

The Community Living B.C. home-share providers will see the first increase to their compensation since 2009. Family-based caregivers like foster parents will receive higher support payments starting April 1, the first increase in a decade. Extended families like grandparents and aunties and uncles who support children and keep them out of care will finally have their payment equal to foster parents. This is such a significant and crucial step as our government continues to work hard to keep families together and keep children out of care. As people can imagine, it is life-changing.

There is a lot of work our government is doing that’s included, of course, in Budget 2019. I do want to touch on health care, which is also one of the top issues that’s always mentioned at the doorsteps by local residents from Burnaby-Lougheed. Budget 2019 provides more than $1.3 billion over three years to offer more hours of direct care and support of the health services that people really depend on.

The investment includes funding to provide for new drugs to be covered under PharmaCare. Funding also covers, for example, the B.C. Cancer Agency to increase the number of cancer-related surgeries and assessments — and also to support, for example, the B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital to provide services for women, children, newborns and families.

Budget 2019 is also investing $4.4 billion over three years to expand and upgrade hospitals, equipment and information management systems to give patients the quality care that they deserve and that they need. There’s going to be more direct care hours coming to British Columbians, which means that people will get the care and support they need with their first visit, instead of being left in the hallways and waiting rooms for a long time.

I’m also so proud that we are the government that has brought in a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. I’m really proud of the work that our minister responsible for the ministry has been doing over the past year and a half. It is really time for B.C. to have a child and youth mental health system where families can count on and have the support that they really need. Budget 2019 starts to build that system, with a $74 million investment in a child and youth mental health strategy that will include more Foundry centres for youth to bring coordinated services under one roof.

There will be more programs, including in schools, for parents and families to support children’s early-years development. There will be more specialized family care and day treatment for young people that will meet their needs.

A key issue that I also often hear from Burnaby-Lougheed families, which is also dear to my heart as a former school trustee, is about public education. Our children really deserve a good quality education in safe, supported classrooms. Budget 2019 continues our investments with an additional over-half-billion dollars to deliver the quality of education British Columbians expect for their children and their young learners.

[6:05 p.m.]

On top of that, we are building new schools — seismic upgrades and property purchases — with the largest capital investment in B.C.’s history. In Burnaby-Lougheed, for example, I’m so excited to see the seismic upgrade at École Armstrong Elementary, which is really close to my community office, and the replacement of Burnaby North Secondary School, which is long overdue, to make it safe for hundreds of students at this very large school with a neighbourhood learning centre and child care facility.

Talking about Burnaby North Secondary School, which was a project that was announced by the previous government in 2013…. Unfortunately, it was an empty promise that had no plans and no funding in place behind the project. So while our government has finally put the funding and a plan in place to make it a reality for Burnaby families, those families have waited for too long and for too many years.

There are many things that our government is working on to make sure that, through Budget 2019…. We have revenue-sharing with First Nations communities. I cannot tell you how excited I am about the CleanBC plan, which is a significant investment in B.C.’s history, with a $902 million investment to make sure we make electric vehicles more affordable, invest in incentives that will save families hundreds of dollars a year with clean energy retrofits for their homes and also support communities in transitioning to clean energy solutions.

On top of all the work that I’ve mentioned, we are also building a strong economy. We are investing $20 billion in infrastructure — construction of schools, roads and health care facilities — to make sure we create good jobs throughout B.C. communities. Other than the small business tax that we have already done for local small business, our government, through Budget 2019, is providing $800 million in tax reductions for business, investing in equipment and machinery in B.C., in partnership with efforts by the government of Canada.

This all shows that we can and we should be investing in people when we build a strong economy. Budget 2019 is a balanced budget, with a projected surplus, and our economy is thriving in B.C.

I’m so happy to be able to support Budget 2019.

D. Clovechok: It’s my honour to rise here in the House today, representing the hard-working people of Columbia River–Revelstoke — mountain communities and mountain people who live mountain lives. Where I come from, people actually like snow, unlike here.

In any event, I also stand here today to speak to the 2019 budget. For those who know me, I’m a pretty positive guy, so let’s start with that theme.

I believe that most folks back home will agree with me to see that in this budget, there has been a rate increase for foster parents and home-share providers. I know foster parents back at home, and I know the struggles that they face. I think this is really good.

I also think the folks back home will agree with me that the $74 million that has been budgeted to increase child and youth mental health supports is also very positive. There’s no question that we have to do as much as we can to protect and support the vulnerable in our society. In fact, in my opinion, one of the true tests of a successful capitalistic democracy is how well it takes those who actually need to be taken care of. That, of course, is the vulnerable, which includes children. So I welcome this budget announcement.

That said, the positive goes kind of south very quickly there. I’m very concerned about so many aspects of this budget that I believe will have profound and long-term negative effects on British Columbians. Here we go.

In the budget, the NDP will tell us that they’re making life — this is a theme throughout the whole budget — more affordable. They want my constituents to believe that they’re cutting MSP premiums, but in reality, they’re not. They need to be honest with British Columbians about that. They’re not taking it away. They’re adding a draconian tax, with businesses in their crosshairs, that will take up the slack and pay for it. Businesses, small and large, will shoulder this dramatic increase of costs and the consequences that come with it.

[6:10 p.m.]

I want to illustrate by using a couple of examples from my home riding. One business owner in my riding has reported to me that the employer health tax will cost him an additional $32,000. That’s $32,000 off his bottom line. So what does he do? What are his options? Well, he could raise prices. But you can only charge so much for a pizza, so that’s probably not what he’s going to do. He can cut hours of his staff. He can lay off people, which means that he has to spend more time in his business. It’s not a great business scenario.

Another business, a larger one, reported to me recently that the employer health tax will cost him $160,000 off of his bottom line. What does that business do? Well, raise prices. Probably not. Cut employee hours. Lay off people. Yes. That’s probably what’s going to happen.

All I can say to that is: “Wow.” So we eliminate MSP on the backs and the cost of businesses and their employees. That sure sounds like making something more affordable to me. They say that this will occur by 2020, knowing that there’s a very real chance they won’t be in government by then — promises without substance.

Then in their budget, they talk about what they call moderating the market, in relation to building new affordable homes. Affordable homes is the NDP’s — in their budget — holy grail. Well, what does that mean? In their words: “Taxing speculators and vacant homes that are driving house costs up.”

Of course, I’m talking about the speculation tax or what they should have called the inheritance tax. This tax is punishing hard-working British Columbians while failing to actually address speculation. It solves absolutely nothing and does absolutely nothing to make life better or make life more affordable.

Can you imagine having a cottage that has been in your family for 50 years on a small lake in B.C., a generational destination? Now this family treasure has become a liability because it’s vacant and, consequently, has made the owners speculators subject to taxes that they cannot afford. What are their options? Sell the treasure. How in goodness name has this family treasure driven up the cost of homes and made things less affordable?

There are countless examples of British Columbians now suffering from what I call this Marxist edict. Then there are what I call the unforeseen consequences of this speculation tax.

In one of the Kelowna communities, which has just been hammered by this thing, there are many National Hockey League players and their families that own second homes, many who are Canadians. They not only enjoy their time off during the seasonal break, but these players volunteer in countless charity activities within Kelowna’s communities — charity activities that raise literally hundreds of thousands of dollars for organizations that support so many social programs in those communities, many that support kids.

“Well done, NDP,” I say, in their budget. And guess what. Many of these athletes are selling their homes, because they refuse to be taken advantage of by this speculation tax. The NDP will tell you: “So what. They can afford it. They make a lot of money.”

Well, here’s the rub. With these community-minded athletes and the sale of their homes — homes that a very few people could even afford — the charity opportunities and the dollars that come with them that are helping these communities are now leaving these communities and the amazing work that they’ve been doing as charities. They’re leaving. Those support systems are leaving with them because of the speculation tax.

This is how life looks better, in the eyes of the NDP. In the end, it does nothing to address the affordable housing issue. Well done. Well done. How does this, in any universe, represent a government that wants people to believe they are working for people?

Next they want you to believe in their budget that they’re going to create greater security for renters. There are a couple problems with that. The budget neglects to address their election promise of a $400 renter rebate. I can remember during the election. I can remember them touting: “We’re going to help renters — 400 bucks.” Not a thing. Broken promise that they hope that people have forgotten. Trust me. Where I live, nobody’s forgotten.

[6:15 p.m.]

In reality, their rental assistance program is creating fewer rental units. Let me clarify with an example. In my riding I have a landlord that owns six apartments and a rental house — a great landlord, I should say, who has treated her renters very well over the years. I’ve met some of them, and they absolutely love her.

Due to the new NDP rental rules that came in a couple of years ago and continue to flow in, in the blurred vision that they presented around renting, she is now in the process of turning her apartments into Airbnb and her rental house into a VRBO. “Great job,” I say to the NDP. “You’ve just evicted 15 renters and taken these properties off the rental market — period.” Working for people? I don’t think so.

The NDP brag, in their budget: “Over the past six months, the…price for single-family homes in greater Vancouver has decreased by 8.3 percent.” Again, congratulations, NDP. Your school tax, which has nothing to do with schools, has — for some homeowners, who are, in most cases, seniors — just driven their equity down. I know that a lot of members over there don’t understand economics, don’t understand what equity might even mean, but these seniors, who bought their homes decades ago, now have lost a big chunk of their savings and their legacy for their children and their grandchildren. Well done.

Let’s talk about the carbon tax and how it’s going to make life more affordable for the people that I represent. On April 1, 2019, the carbon tax will increase by another $5 per tonne. What does that mean for Carole in Canal Flats? Well, what it means is that it’s going to cost her extra money to pay for gas, out of a budget that’s already stretched, in Canal Flats. The carbon tax will increase the cost to residents by over $2 million in new taxes.

Here’s the kicker: the money generated is not revenue-neutral, and a whack of it is going to go back to subsidize people who buy electric cars in the Lower Mainland. Well, news flash. Electric cars make no sense where I live. They’re smaller than an elk, which we dodge on a regular basis. So get ready, folks. Where I live, we’re again subsidizing urban British Columbia with rural money. Life, again, just became more affordable, according to these guys. Come on.

I want to take some time to talk about another issue that’s so important to my constituents, and that is child care. The NDP, as we know, campaigned in 2017 to have a $10-a-day child care program. I can remember them touting it at forums: “Oh, it’s going to be so great.” Well, news flash. There is nothing new for child care in the 2019 budget.

A year after the NDP child care rollout, results are abysmal. Frankly, they have failed to live up to expectations, fallen short on their promises and let down parents, providers and educators all over British Columbia. The NDP have been in government for nearly two years, propped up by the Greens. That’s the only reason they’re there. Don’t ever forget that. But after announcing $333 million in spending in this fiscal year alone, there’s little to show for it.

After a year of coercing child care providers to opt in to the government’s plan, 12 percent of them have not done so. Not everybody wants to do this, because they’ve figured it out. The NDP have not only fallen short on their promises but have broken their promises. The NDP promised $10-a-day child care for everyone but announced temporary $10-a-day care for only 2,500 children. The NDP promise is just 2 percent fulfilled — 2 percent. Well done. The NDP promised 22,000 new spaces over three years, but they created only 3,000. The NDP promise is just 14 percent fulfilled in two years. Well done.

The NDP promised an affordable child care benefit, but after nearly two years in power, just 700 more families, about a thousand kids, are receiving the affordable child care benefit. The NDP promised early childhood educators, but B.C.’s child care sector labour market partnership report, June 2018, said that 74 percent had difficulty hiring workers and only 6 percent didn’t. Oh, well done. While there are about 18,000 ECEs registered, only 11,000 actually work in their field. So when it comes to child care in this budget — their holy grail, another one — they get a big fail.

[6:20 p.m.]

I want to spend some time on rural health care and how it’s presented in this budget. One of the biggest issues associated with rural health care in my community is transportation. Constituents, especially seniors, struggle to get to appointments, or anywhere, for that matter, because there’s simply no transportation left for them — nothing. Yet in this budget, there is nothing to address this. The Minister of Transportation is either completely oblivious to this need — in spite of the fact that we’re trying to bring it to her attention — or she just doesn’t care.

The Premier is working with his new bestie, the governor of Washington, who is actually being asked for advice on how to run our province, on building a high-speed rail line between Seattle and Vancouver. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to study the concept of this high-speed rail line, when all that the golden seniors — people that I represent, people that I care about — in my communities want is a bus and a driver. That’s all they want: a bus and a driver. Rural B.C. is not a priority in this budget. What seems to be the priority is a Premier that wants a quick route to Seattle to sit with his new friend and watch a hockey game. Wow.

Let’s talk about tourism for a moment, the bread and butter of my riding. We’re in a global competition for tourists — make no mistake — to bring people from all around the world to this province and drive the jobs and the prosperity of communities large and small. Yet in this budget, there are no new resources that will address this competition to bring tourists here — nothing but one word mentioned for this underrepresented sector, one word. The minister said: “Tourism.” Wow.

One would think that an industry that contributed more to the GDP than any other primary resource industry, including mining and forestry, would get more than a one-word mention. An industry that in 2016 — I use that as an example — employed 133,000 people in 19,170 tourism-related businesses and paid $4.7 billion in wages and salaries gets a one-word mention. Wow.

There are economic storms that are gathering across this globe. British Columbia is a small trading economy that has the potential to weather these storms and to seize the opportunities that come with them if we’re ready. But that’s not happening. This budget is a fantasy when it comes to that. It’s not recognizing that we are part of a global economy. Everything is: “Trust us; it’s going to be okay.” Well, let’s talk a little bit about it. What about mining? Well, there are no plans for mining. There’s no real vision for forestry. There’s no vision for oil and gas, no vision for the service economy, no vision for economic development of any kind — none.

Then what about household bills? Housing starts are a leading indicator of provincial economies. Yet buried so deep in this budget — on purpose — that it’s actually very hard to find, there’s a very startling fact. The building starts in this province will drop from 43,663 in 2017 to 30,517 in 2021. This completely undercuts the NDP’s holy grail of housing affordability, by limiting supply. What does this mean for the construction folks in my riding? Get ready. These guys have just put thousands of construction jobs at risk. No vision for growing the sectors that build our communities and generate our shared opportunities. Just burdensome taxes, with limited foresight.

Where are the plans and resources needed to open new global markets? Where are the vision and resources for creating opportunities? Where are the ideas to spark new investments and job and career development creation? They certainly aren’t in this budget.

What about investors? These guys simply don’t understand the irrefutable fact that investment capital is highly mobile. Here’s a news flash. Just like in the ’90s under the NDP, investment capital is leaving this province already. Companies have to follow the capital and go where the work is. Given the taxation climate in this province, they’re going back out of this province, just like in the 1990s — back to the future. From a have province to a have-not province is the direction that this government is taking us.

[6:25 p.m.]

The NDP government seems to view jobs that will build careers as a four-letter word. There are no resources allocated to generate jobs, or a jobs plan — just bluster. On this side of the House, we know that jobs and continuing education will build careers and are the lifeblood of our province. They are the ticket to our future — the ticket.

Make no mistake. Growing the economy is critical to sustainability, economic and environmental. Encouraging entrepreneurship and investment grows the economy. It creates jobs. It supports other businesses. It drives individual and business spending. It increases revenue, and it builds communities. Yet the entire concept seems to have completely vanished under the stewardship of this government. Then there is the threat, again, of the economic global downturn. If you’re not certain about your job for the next year or so, you should take a hard look at your spending and try not to commit to spending that you might not be able to afford. This government hasn’t done that.

Back to that ticket. A good job is the ticket to success. That’s what I’ve already mentioned. Yet the only tickets that this government, in their budget, seems to really be concerned about are concert tickets. Stopping scalping is an interesting goal. It could get rid of a major nuisance for those who go to concerts. But it’s hardly a vision for making life more affordable and ensuring a strong province that offers opportunities for British Columbians, no matter where they live.

I have families who are living in the bush in and around communities like Golden. They’re living in the bush because they cannot find a place to live, and these guys talk about concert tickets? Seriously, what an absolute insult to the people who are struggling just to stay alive, so that other people can have cheap concert tickets.

It’s clear that the NDP has no real vision for making life better for people, for helping families get ahead and for making sure that we are ready as a province to move forward together. The biggest thing this government could’ve offered is relief from the 19 new taxes making life less affordable and making our future even less certain — $13 billion in two years from the pockets of British Columbians. What is clear is that this government is the same old NDP, addicted to taxes, with no idea of how to deliver a vision for a better future for anyone.

As much as they like to tax, the NDP also love to spend. That’s what makes this budget no big surprise. There’s no mention of continued investment for search and rescue funding, critical in this province — not a dime. There’s no mention of increasing the much-needed numbers of paramedics and ambulance services in this province — not a dime, nothing. Let’s summarize. This budget continues the NDP’s spending spree, which will cost British Columbians an extra $1,100 in new taxes over the life plan. That’s out of their pockets. The NDP have increased spending by $13 billion, or 26 percent, since they took office, largely on the backs of the taxpayers.

That’s why British Columbians need a budget that grows the economy, not one that stands pat and pretends there are no risks ahead, that everything’s going to be fine. There’s not a single mention of jobs or of growing the private sector economy in this budget. The NDP thinks that growing the economy is growing public sector jobs. It doesn’t work that way. Affordable housing is getting worse, as housing starts dropped 6.4 percent in 2018 and are projected to drop another 16.7 percent this year and another 10 percent or more in 2020 and 2021 — jobs lost.

The NDP are paying for these expensive promises through a carbon tax that is no longer revenue-neutral, as I’ve mentioned. They’re raising $6 billion over the next three years out of the pockets of British Columbians. One-time federal transfer payments that are critical to their budget, to their surplus — there’s no guarantee they’re going to get that. Double-dipping with the MSP and the employers health tax. The big NDP promise of a child tax benefit won’t take effect until 2020. There’s no $400 renters rebate, no plan for a $10-a-day daycare and no details about the NDP poverty reduction plan.

[6:30 p.m.]

With housing starts expected to decline more than 25 percent, it’s clear that the construction and real estate sector will also decline. They themselves project that the revenue from the resource sector is expected to decline 30 percent under their watch. Well done.

It’s clear British Columbia can’t afford this government anymore. As such, there’s nowhere in this universe that will support this budget. It hurts the people I represent.

Let me end with this thought. This NDP budget is a socialist budget. There’s absolutely zero question in my mind. They do not understand economics or the complexities that come with economics.

I’d like to end with a couple of thoughts here. One was from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. On that socialism thought, I quote her. “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” That’s exactly what’s happening here.

The last one I’ll quote, and this is from President Ronald Reagan: “Socialism only works in two places. Heaven, where they don’t need it, and hell, where they already have it.” So for the next little while, until we can get to the polls, British Columbians are going to have to…. I welcome them to hell.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to rise and speak with wholehearted support for Budget 2019. I’d like to start and say my appreciation to the residents of Vancouver-Kensington. It’s a great honour to rise and speak on their behalf and to work with them in Vancouver-Kensington. I’d like to thank, as well, my partner, Natalie, my family and, of course, my hard-working constituency assistants, who do great work helping folks every day with challenges that they face. It’s a great team effort.

I’m very pleased with Budget 2019. I just want to start with some general comments and then get into specifics in terms of Vancouver-Kensington and what I’m hearing from folks. Budget ’19 shows the direction our government is taking to put people first and to ensure that we can take on the problems in British Columbia while balancing the budget and continuing to build on the strongest economy in the country.

I’d also like to just remark, listening to the comments from my colleague across the way from Columbia River–Revelstoke, and offer a bit of a counter in terms of B.C. having the strongest wage growth as well as the lowest unemployment and the highest GDP — enjoying the highest, here in British Columbia, in the country. I would offer that those are positive indicators.

The direction and the priority of our government in Budget 2019 is putting people at the centre. It’s addressing the crisis of affordability, certainly, that I hear about in Vancouver-Kensington. And it’s dealing to ensure that we provide essential services that folks depend on. Of course, it’s all intertwined and built on the foundation of the importance of a strong economy to ensure that folks have jobs to support themselves and their families. Those three themes are intertwined.

It was no surprise to me when there was a report out earlier this week, I think two days ago, that cited…. There was a survey done, and 79 percent of parents in Vancouver who were asked felt that they were having a tough time making ends meet. They’re having a tough time making ends meet, and they didn’t feel very hopeful that their kids would be able to actually live in Vancouver. They felt that most of their kids would have to move. That really captures the reality of families in Vancouver and certainly folks that I meet and talk with and work with every day.

Vancouver-Kensington is truly a great community and very diverse.

[6:35 p.m.]

Of course, every constituency is different across our province. Representing an urban riding in Vancouver…. We have a very diverse constituency, a lot of folks from different communities and a lot of small businesses — certainly not a lot of rural areas or big manufacturing, but very dynamic and very engaged.

It’s meeting with these folks…. It’s either the small business folks or people who are involved in the community that really bring the community together and bring forward the stories in terms of what they’re facing and, I think, how the budget addresses the concerns that they raise.

With respect to affordability and just the crunch and the difficulty that families are experiencing, I was at an event last week at the Vancouver-Kensington library with an organization, East Van Kids. They’re a group that provides learning opportunities and resources and encourages kids to get an interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and math — STEAM. It’s a focus for kids in Vancouver’s east side. Certainly, in meeting with those parents and their kids, those young children, these issues that have arisen around affordability were front and centre.

I’m so proud that Budget 2019 is really a historic budget. You know, we say it’s not often that we can participate in a moment that makes history. But I think we should pause and note that Budget 2019 is going to bring the largest tax cuts for people in B.C.’s history, the largest tax cuts for middle-class folks and for people…. These are the 98 percent. With the previous government, we saw the largest tax breaks for the top 2 percent — a very consistent consideration by the government of the last 16 years for seeing tax breaks to those top income earners.

This budget looks at bringing that to the majority of British Columbians and addressing the affordability crisis. How are we going to do that? I want to talk about how we’re bringing in the new B.C. child opportunity benefit. The B.C. child opportunity benefit is new. It’s going to amount to about $400 million annually. It’s going to impact 290,000 families across British Columbia. It’s so that families with one child under 18 will be able to receive an annual maximum benefit of $1,600 for the first child, up to $2,600 for two children and $3,400 for three children.

It’s along a continuum in terms of income. It really benefits low-income families. Families earning up to $25,000 annually receive the maximum benefit. It also goes — families who will benefit — up to $114,487. This will be effective October 1, 2020, because it is in coordination with the federal government, and they’ve indicated that they need that time to bring administration into order.

The B.C. child opportunity benefit really provides that support to families. It puts nearly $400 million a year back into the pockets of hard-working families. Its support is focused on those who need it most, from middle-class British Columbians to those living in poverty. That’s a historic investment, coupled with the elimination of MSP. That’s why I say that we’re seeing the largest tax cut for people in B.C.’s history — but for the middle class. That’s the caveat.

[6:40 p.m.]

With respect to also addressing just the affordability costs that parents and families tell me about that they face every day, we also work a lot with the Kensington Community Centre, which offers a great range of programs, as well as the South Vancouver Neighbourhood House association. Terrific, dedicated staff and volunteers really provide a range of supports for folks in the community. Folks who take those programs really face these challenges, certainly in Vancouver, around affordability.

In Budget 2019, we have also taken the commitment to eliminate B.C. student loan interest. As of February 19, 2019, all B.C. student loans will stop accumulating interest. This accounts, in general — if it’s over a four-year undergraduate degree — to approximately $2,300 savings in interest charges, if you factor in a ten-year repayment period. This is another step to address that. I just want to make sure that…. This is a commitment in terms of B.C. student loans. We also have outstanding loans from the Canadian government, but that’s separate from that.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

I mentioned that we have eliminated MSP premiums. They’re going to be fully eliminated on January 1, 2020. Families will save as much as $1,800 a year, a significant saving. And at $2.7 billion, this is one of the largest tax cuts for people in B.C.’s history and is long overdue.

In addition, we have also announced that we are increasing income assistance and disability rates. When we first came into government, we increased those rates by $100 a month, the first increase in ten years. We are building on that and increasing both income and disability assistance rates by $50 per month. That’ll bring the total increase to $150 or $1,800 a year. This is more to support folks who are having difficulty making ends meet. We’re investing an additional $26 million in income and disability assistance enhancements to make these benefits fair and to respect people’s dignity.

That’s one piece in terms of addressing our poverty reduction plan, which will be introduced shortly. Our poverty reduction plan — the B.C. child opportunity benefit is one key part of that. Increasing the rates is another key piece we see in the budget and, also, improvements to Work B.C. to help British Columbians find employment.

We’re also taking steps to tackle homelessness. In the budget, we have $76 million for building and supporting new modular housing, in addition to funding rent banks across the province to prevent people from losing their homes. Those are some pieces that address the poverty reduction plan. But we will have the whole plan introduced shortly to tie all those pieces together.

What are some of the other areas that we’re addressing? Previous members have mentioned investing in caregivers. To look at supporting caregivers, Community Living B.C. home-share providers will see their first increase to their compensation since 2009. In a big step, family-based caregivers, like foster parents, are to receive higher payments. Importantly, extended family like grandparents and aunties who support children and keep them out of care will finally have their payments equal to foster parents.

With respect to the crisis of affordability, we have, interconnected with that, the pressure around the crisis of being able to find affordable housing. Certainly, I hear that in Vancouver-Kensington. We have had stories recently of someone who was living in a garage and using a space heater to stay warm, and of a senior couple living with their adult son. They were looking for a larger space so they could have more independence too. Someone on income assistance was having to look for a place and having to move to New Westminster because they couldn’t find anything in the area. Certainly, the commitment to our 30-point housing plan is key to that.

[6:45 p.m.]

All of these challenges, particularly around housing…. When I meet with folks and just hear their desperate situations, this is a situation that hasn’t happened overnight. It has also accumulated over the 16 years of our previous government, when we’ve seen speculation run rampant in our housing market and recent reports of unchecked criminal money laundering in our real estate sector in the billions of dollars. Certainly, our government is taking action to put an end to that, to put a curb on speculation and to encourage homeowners to rent out their vacant homes — in addition to building affordable housing.

These are steps that will take time to implement, but I am pleased that we are taking steps, particularly with the rent bank, moving forward with the homeless action plan and also seeing the 30-point plan, with 17,000 additional homes being built or under construction. There is still much more that needs to be done but moving in the right direction.

In addition, we know that the issue of access to legal aid is key to ensuring that our justice system is fair and that we can ensure that people have access to justice and are treated fairly in our society. Certainly, it’s an underpinning of our democracy. I’m very pleased that in our budget, we’re piloting a new network of legal clinics to ensure that B.C.’s most vulnerable citizens have equal access to justice and that folks have access to the legal services they need.

I also work with, and I have, the Chrysalis Drug and Alcohol Abuse Recovery Society. They’ve recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. They’re doing great work and certainly are very pleased that our government has taken a strong commitment around bringing in a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions — great work by our minister — and that we now have a commitment of $74 million to invest in a child and youth mental health strategy. It’s building on the successful Foundry model for youth and ensuring that we have programs in schools to support parents and families, particularly in the early years. This is where the intervention can help support youth and families and is very key.

Besides dealing with affordability and providing services, in terms of the focus of Budget 2019, investments in health care are key. We see $1.3 billion in the Ministry of Health to work on ensuring we cut down on wait times and have adequate access to needed procedures, ensuring that we expand the coverage of new drugs under PharmaCare, ensuring that folks can take their needed medications for their recovery and supporting the B.C. Cancer Agency and the B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital to provide services for women, children, newborns and families. Those are all key components. I’m very pleased.

We also, importantly, are continuing our commitment around education. Certainly, that contrasts with the previous government, who really waged a war against teachers in the public education system. We’re continuing to invest over half a billion dollars in our schools and in our education system. This is also to ensure not only new schools, additions and seismic upgrades — the largest capital investment in B.C.’s history — but, really, to bring down class sizes, improve the learning environment and give kids more support for their success in the long term.

Continuing support for adult basic education and English language learning is also key and important in terms of lifelong learning and ensuring that folks have access to those. Upgrading their skills is so important in terms of our evolving economy and needing to have folks who are trained to adequately take advantage of that. Those are important commitments we’re making in terms of improving services and the affordability of services, and of a strong economy.

Continuing to support our strong economy is key. We know that B.C. has the strongest economy in the country. Wages are up, growth is up, and we also have a balanced budget, of course, doing all that.

[6:50 p.m.]

In addition, I want to mention…. Very important is the investment, the largest capital investment in B.C.’s history, over $20 billion in infrastructure to ensure communities have adequate support in our province. The construction of these schools, roads, health care facilities, post-secondary institutions also support over 80,000 jobs in the construction industry over these next three years.

Our commitment, as well, in terms of CleanBC. This is our climate action plan to put B.C. on a path to a cleaner, brighter future, with a $902 million investment to ensure that we reduce climate pollution, increase climate rebates for working- and middle-class folks and that we set B.C. on the direction of a strong, sustainable, low-carbon economy for the future. That’s a key commitment — and more to come, more work to do on that.

In addition, we have another historic revenue-sharing with First Nations. That is a commitment of over $3 billion over the next 25 years for 203 First Nations communities so that they will have stable, long-term funding for their communities. It sets us on the path of reconciliation and is a positive step.

Supporting businesses. I work, of course, very closely with the very dynamic South Hill Business Association and Victoria Drive Business Improvement Association, so I hear a lot of their concerns. I’m very proud that we are going to make $800 million in tax reductions for businesses investing in equipment and machinery — important to boost productivity and competitiveness — in partnership with efforts of the government of Canada.

The small business corporate income tax rate is now 2 percent, making it the second-lowest small business rate in Canada. Of course, small businesses are squeezed by the high rents that we see, so that helps and supports them — many family businesses, very hard-working and really such a key component of Vancouver-Kensington.

April 1, 2019 — fully eliminating the PST on non-residential electricity.

These are some of the measures in Budget 2019. I’m very pleased that we’re continuing in a direction to put people first, to put people at the centre of our concerns, not only bringing in the groundbreaking tax cuts in terms of MSP and also with respect to the child care opportunity benefit but investing in needed services, continuing to invest in a strong economy.

I feel that this budget continues us in the direction that we need to go after 16 long years of the B.C. Liberals. These are the concerns and issues that I hear from residents, from parents, from families, from small business owners, from the community leaders — the issues that they are facing in our community. Budget 2019 has them at the centre and is addressing their concerns.

I’m very proud of Budget 2019 and to be supporting the budget. That concludes my remarks.

M. Elmore moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. J. Sims moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.

The House adjourned at 6:54 p.m.