Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE
IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

B. Stewart: Well, good morning. It’s an honour to rise in this House today and be accorded the opportunity to talk about the importance of business confidence in British Columbia. Before I dive into this topic, let’s first talk about why it is and why it matters. We hear this term a lot from financial media and the business community.

Basic economics teaches us that there are four components to economic output: consumption, investment, government and net exports. How are these four elements linked to business confidence, you ask? It measures the amount of confidence companies have in the consumers’ demands for goods and services in the future. It presents an overview of how businesses perceive the prospect for their companies.

If businesses think that demand will fall for what they provide, they probably are not very confident in the future. If businesses think that government policies don’t provide certainty, they probably will hesitate to invest.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

Simply put, a competitive business environment creates confidence. It helps get companies to invest. However, under the current government, small business confidence in British Columbia has sunk to the lowest level since the financial crisis of 2008. I think many people would remember those dark days. According to the report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the monthly Business Barometer index for British Columbia dropped to 52.8 in October. The B.C. small business confidence index now sits seven points below the Canadian average. This is the lowest level on the index since April of 2009, and that’s unbelievable.

The NDP’s punitive measures to make B.C. no longer a business-friendly place…. They’ve raised taxes, with 19 new and increased taxes since coming into power two years ago. The most damaging to small business is the employer health tax. This year the NDP are charging businesses both MSP and employer health tax, and that’s double-dipping. Meanwhile, they have removed the revenue neutrality from the carbon tax, which was increased twice in the last two years.

In addition to taxing policies, this government’s lack of an open and transparent approach regarding caribou recovery in the province is another example of the indifference to the business sector. Without proper consultation, neither the forestry nor recreation sector was able to react to the dramatic change in regulation brought in by this government. This is what I meant by lack of certainty. It’s much more difficult to make financial decisions or plan for the future when businesses are hit by a lack of regulatory certainty.

We need to develop the regulatory system that supports B.C.’s competitiveness. We need to look at the current situation of disaster with the forest industry in our province right now. They are facing a permitting process that now is so onerous and time-consuming on top of all of the other fees and adverse conditions. Why can’t we streamline our regulation to give businesses a sense of how long a permit process should take? We are near the end of 2019, and what’s happening here in B.C. feels like we’re back in the 1990s.

[10:10 a.m.]

The NDP government, back then, taxed and spent. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Deputy Speaker: Member, the statements are supposed to be non-partisan.

B. Stewart: Thank you.

You know, I remember starting a small business back in…. Thirty years ago this year I started a small winery business, and of course, I was fortunate to have it grow. But I borrowed and took every last cent that I could muster together to help start a business. Little did I know about a new corporate tax, the corporate capital tax that the government brought in, which forced me into having to pay a tax on the money I borrowed to buy assets to start the business of a manufacturing plant.

That’s very unproductive. It doesn’t seem to incent people to want to open up and have a business here in British Columbia. I think the lesson is that businesses need to be able to make a reasonable return in order to reinvest, to purchase more equipment and to hire more employees for expansion. The government’s tax policies should not hinder business growth. Tax policies should not penalize productive activities, but sadly, this is what we are witnessing now.

In the 3½ years that I spent in Asia working to help promote British Columbia, the opportunities that were here to help increase trade, which represents about 40 percent of Canada’s trade with Asia…. It was all based around confidence. I can remember sitting in boardrooms in Tokyo or Beijing, and many of the companies that were already invested in British Columbia wanted certainty, whether it was LNG, forest products or other products that we were shipping overseas.

They wanted to make certain that the business climate wasn’t going to dramatically change so that they could continue to invest. That led to further investment in both our port — in terms of companies like Mitsubishi investing in a new grain terminal that’s under construction — and other activities.

The bottom line is that those are jobs for people, whether it’s longshoremen or people that work down on the docks. Those are important jobs for Canada. The bottom line is that sending the wrong signals to…. These corporations that make investments here in Canada and in British Columbia need to know that Canada is a place of certainty, not uncertainty.

Mr. Speaker, I think that probably, at this point, I’ll take my chair and look forward to the comments back on that.

J. Brar: I’m really pleased to respond to the private member’s statement made by the member for Kelowna West with regard to the business confidence in British Columbia.

The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that British Columbia remains the most attractive place in Canada to do business. Let me tell you why. We are the only province in the country with a triple-A credit rating, as of today. We have one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios of all of the provinces in Canada. As of October 2019, B.C. leads the country with the lowest unemployment rate in Canada, at 4.7 percent. Businesses in B.C. have the assurance of a striving economy, a balanced budget and some of the lowest personal income tax in this country.

These are the key benchmarks of a strong economy and high business confidence in our province. It is also worth mentioning that the Economic Forecast Council predicted B.C.’s economy will outperform Canada’s over the next three years. So business confidence in British Columbia remains the best in the country. That is a fact.

The respectable member for Kelowna West references Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s monthly survey. He knows, I know and people know that the Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey results can shift substantially from month to month in a positive or negative direction. I do appreciate the work done by the federation to support the small businesses.

I agree with the member that small businesses are the heart of B.C. communities and the backbone of our economy. That’s why our government cares about the viability and success of our small business sector. We are committed to supporting it at every stage of the business cycle.

[10:15 a.m.]

As part of Budget 2019, we announced the small business venture capital tax credit. By doubling the amount an individual can claim and businesses can raise through the program, this change will help B.C.’s early-stage businesses grow.

We also moved the export navigator out of its pilot phase and expanded the program to offer specialized support for businesses owned by Indigenous people, women and youth. This means four new advisers, in addition to the six already helping businesses around the province. To date, the export navigator has helped more than 300 small businesses and entrepreneurs at all stages of exporting.

We have also reduced the small business tax rate by 20 percent, from 2.5 percent to 2 percent — the second-lowest small business tax rate among the provinces, tied with Alberta and Saskatchewan. On April 1, we eliminated the provincial sales tax on non-residential electricity, saving businesses more than $150 million annually.

As a direct result of actions taken by our government, we are seeing significant investments from private companies into our province, which shows the confidence that the business community has in B.C.’s economy. In 2018-19, foreign direct investment into B.C. was $2.7 billion, which represents 50 percent of all foreign direct investment in Canada. That’s significant. It was an even more successful year for inbound investment to B.C., if we add on the additional $41 billion LNG final investment decision announced by Shell Canada last October, which the previous administration failed to do.

We didn’t stop there. Our government will continue to seek advice through B.C.’s Small Business Roundtable, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, to make life easier for small business owners and to help the sector thrive and create jobs. This government remains committed to building a sustainable and innovative economy that benefits all British Columbians. B.C. remains the best place to do business, and this is the most business-friendly place in Canada.

B. Stewart: The member opposite talks a lot about things that I know took a significant amount of effort, in the energy that it took for the former government being able to achieve those milestones: balanced budgets, a triple-A credit rating. Those are things that…. Obviously, it’s interesting hearing the member talk about things that we’re very proud of. I’m glad that he and the government are proud of it. That’s great.

I want to turn, on a more positive note, to B.C.’s advantage and what the government can do to boost business confidence. What makes a company want to establish and operate in British Columbia? Our beautiful province has a lot of advantages. We have abundant natural resources, including forestry, oil and gas, as well as mining, just to name a few — let alone, on our west coast, easy and fast access to Asia. I know that one of our big pushes was in the fact that we were talking about how close British Columbia was, and how much closer Prince Rupert and Kitimat were, to Asia.

Our world-class education ensures a highly skilled workforce, but that’s not enough. As part of Budget 2017, the former B.C. Liberal government initiated a number of tax policy measures for economic development and competitiveness objectives, including two that the member just mentioned: phasing out provincial sales tax on electricity for purchases by businesses and reducing the small business corporate income tax. Without business certainty, we won’t have the capital from business to generate future jobs and revenue for the government, and this will mean a declining amount of taxation coming from businesses.

[10:20 a.m.]

Successful businesses help to pay the bills. The government looks for support of all kinds of social programs, whether it’s health care or it’s others for the less fortunate or it’s the fact of creating new initiatives and creating an even more world-class situation — again, which the member opposite speaks of.

This is why I am talking about business confidence today. Not only is it an indicator gauging the health of the economy, but it drives growth and creates employment. If we look at the bigger picture, British Columbia is a province with five million people. We are next door to a country with a population of over 300 million people. We are competing against jurisdictions all over the world, and we need to remain competitive in that light.

However, the current economic state is not as optimistic. For the second time this year, the Business Council of B.C. has downgraded the economic outlook of British Columbia from 2 percent GDP down to 1.8 percent.

THE ROAD TO RECONCILIATION

D. Routley: I rise today to speak about the road to reconciliation. I’m very pleased to be able to speak to this issue. I represent six First Nations in the constituency I represent, so it’s really important to me, having grown up in the Cowichan Valley, to be able to make this statement.

Basically, I’m going to tell you two stories and then read off a bunch of facts. Those two stories — one is about a sweater, and one is about my grandpa.

The sweater is the Cowichan sweater or the Siwash sweater, which was actually a detrimental word, a Chinook word, that was applied to the sweaters that are made in the Cowichan Valley by Cowichan tribes members, for the most part. These sweaters use heavy, unprocessed, handspun wool to create beautiful, heavy, warm sweaters that are now world-famous because of their marketing around the world. They’ve been recognized federally, actually, as a historical item. Their importance to our culture and our communities and our region has been recognized.

The reason I think it’s an important reconciliation story is that it was an early, loosely organized partnership between European settlers who raised sheep in the Cowichan Valley and Cowichan tribes members, who had been making these sweaters for a long time with mountain goat wool, which was very hard for them to acquire. This became a very important element economically and also a link between communities. Almost by mistake, it became a real vehicle of reconciliation, and I think that’s important.

Finally, my grandpa. After my grandfather Elmer Routley passed away, I was given a box of his belongings. In that box were two notebooks. Handwritten in those notebooks were hundreds of Coast Salish words — Hul’qumi’num words — and they were defined. I learned that my grandpa did this while he sat drinking coffee with Ernie and Ed Elliott, Cowichan tribes members who he golfed with. I was really struck when I found his handwriting and all these words and how it meant, to me, that something really important had had happened so long ago.

I’d say that what links those two things and makes them part of the road to reconciliation is their authenticity. First Nations have waited for an authentic effort at reconciliation. I would give credit to previous Premier Gordon Campbell for pushing forward on work that had begun in the 1990s with the Nisg̱a’a treaty. This work is being continued by the government we represent here.

I’m just going to read off a few things that our government has done along this path to reconciliation. These investments are also something that is authentic because without action, words are merely gestures. But they become authentic through action.

What we have done is make reconciliation a mandate, a priority, across all ministries. All ministers are tasked with implementing and adopting the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. We introduced legislation, the first in Canada, to make this recognition.

[10:25 a.m.]

We made an historic agreement to share gaming revenue with B.C. First Nations, starting this coming year, to ensure that Indigenous people have the funding they need in their communities.

That’s working out to $3 billion over a ten-year period: a $50 million grant to the First Peoples Culture Council to support the revitalization and preservation of Indigenous languages, like notebooks with handwritten words; dedicated funding to Aboriginal friendship centres, which for the first time, ensures the continuity of critical services for urban Indigenous peoples; $550 million over ten years to support the construction of 1,750 affordable housing units on and off reserve — on reserve, the first time a province has made such an investment; $40 million to build and renovate culturally safe, First Nations–run mental health and addictions treatment centres in B.C.

There’s much more — many more gestures, not always investments. Some are to do with the care of children currently in care of the province. There’s much more to be done. It’s a long road. But we’ve passed that fork in the road, as a province, where we were forced to choose continued conflict over authentic partnership. Now that choice has clearly been made. Not only has it been made in the words that are said in this House. But through all of these actions, they are made authentic.

D. Ashton: First of all, I’d like to thank the member for Nanaimo–North Cowichan for speaking on this subject this morning.

I want to start by saying that, as elected officials, we represent the entire variety of people, perspectives and personalities that shape this beautiful province. We share the love of community and the connection to place, whether it be the regions we hail from or the ridings that we represent. We are all committed to building a future that’s full of opportunity and perspective for everyone in British Columbia. Every British Columbian deserves the opportunity to meet their full potential. That, of course, includes First Nations. It is clear that this is a goal shared by all sides of government. We have all had a part in this process and in the direction the province is moving towards.

As we look at the implementation of UNDRIP legislation and the road to reconciliation, it is important not only to look forward to how this will affect and honour First Nations but also the steps that precede this. Actions by a previous government that laid the foundation for this road should be part of the discussion.

In fact, by 2017, we had signed more than 500 agreements with First Nations across this great province, 345 of which were revenue-sharing agreements with 242 different First Nations. British Columbia was the first province in the country to share revenue from mining, forestry and other resources with First Nations. The agreements mentioned were signed with nearly all of more than 200 First Nations in British Columbia. They were designed to ensure an understanding and to recognize the needs and the values of each community. The foundations to each of these agreements are the principles of dignity and mutual respect.

As part of the B.C. jobs plan, the B.C. Liberal government created a new Aboriginal Business and Investment Council to work more closely with First Nations to foster wealth, creating partnerships. Between 2001 and 2015, the first citizens fund provided nearly $51 million for 1,737 business loans to Aboriginal businesses. In 2015, our government launched an Aboriginal skills-training development program to invest $30 million over three years to fill the training gaps for First Nations wanting to participate in the LNG sector. From 2008 till March 2016, the Industrial Training Authority and Aboriginal trades and training initiatives program helped over 3,000 Aboriginal people to receive training skills.

First Nations’ schools completion rates have continued to climb, as efforts towards reconciliation and Indigenous studies provide a welcome space for students and a chance to share their culture and their knowledge in the ways that have, unfortunately, not always been the norm.

This is now the responsibility of government, as it is an expectation for all British Columbians. If we can build on the two decades of progress in the efforts to help support Indigenous communities to improve their prosperity, the reward will be a true and lasting opportunity for everybody in British Columbia. We need to be open. We need to be transparent. We need to take action and be mindful of the challenges that are lying ahead.

[10:30 a.m.]

This means that we can realize our dreams in British Columbia. As we move forward, we must do it in the spirit of unity. And we must also do it provided by the guidance of the principles that everybody in this province must feel a sense of belonging, that B.C. is our home, that we’ll be respected here, that we’ll have a full sense of citizenship and that we’ll be treated with respect and dignity each and every day.

This is the standard we owe every British Columbian. That’s why I’m incredibly proud to stand here in the Legislature and welcome the opportunity for real and continued discussion on how we can achieve a higher level of reconciliation with the Indigenous people here in the province.

D. Routley: I’d like to thank the member for Penticton for his thoughtful contribution to this conversation.

I think it’s really important, as we consider the metaphor of road to reconciliation, to extend that metaphor. I attempted earlier to talk about the fork that we’d already passed, as a province, between a continued path of conflict, which we’ve left behind…. We’re moving to authentic partnership.

This is, to perhaps overextend that metaphor, the highway to a future for British Columbia that is one of prosperity for all communities and all peoples in this province, one where people can thrive and people can experience their lives fully, with full rights and privileges of citizenship. I think that hasn’t been the case in so many ways for our First Nations friends. Now we’re on a path where I think we’ve gone from transactional agreements and an approach that led to, certainly, better consequences over the past years, but now into a phase of transformative transition, where the lives of people, their families and their communities are impacted at a very high level in terms of the rights of individuals, the recognition of communities, support for communities, and we know that they will thrive.

I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, that when I was first elected, the Cowichan people were 70 percent 26 years and under. There are some extraordinary young leaders coming forward across the province, but in the region I represent, Snuneymuxw, they all have young, professional councillors who are incredible assets to their communities. I think we’re looking at a really bright future.

This is like the dawn of a new time, those people and us, in these roles at a pivotal time. We should never undervalue that, because this is a historic moment of change, and we have taken a different path, all of us in this House — including the member for Penticton, who I, again, would thank for his contribution.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity.

TRANSPORTATION

P. Milobar: Five weekends to Christmas. There are five weekends till Christmas, which, by anyone’s standard, would mean we are in the holiday season.

The last I checked, for the last two, three holiday seasons now, the Premier has promised British Columbians that we would have ride-hailing. The holiday season has started, and we do not have ride-hailing anywhere near on the horizon in British Columbia.

I say that because my topic today is around transportation. It’s important that we remember that there are many different transportation opportunities for people around the world. There’s one glaring exception within British Columbia. If we’re not willing to embrace technological advances as it relates to transportation — technological advancements that the public are actually demanding for transportation — we will always be behind.

I say that under the context of what we see within a transit system itself. Ride-hailing is one piece of that overall system for the travelling public. I think it’s important that we remember that this is about people wanting to get themselves around their communities they live in, in a manner that they feel is most effective for themselves to get around.

When you look at transit, when you look at the technological advances that transit systems have adopted over time, from trip planners that you can get on your phone…. You can punch in where you want to start, where you want to go, and it will tell you the exact stops to go to. It will tell you when you’re going to arrive. It will tell you when the bus is going to get there. It will tell you, in the case of Vancouver, if the bus is running late. We know, right now, that buses are running late due to the transit strike and the disruption that we’re seeing there.

[10:35 a.m.]

That is likely to continue, by the way the two sides are at right now, through the holiday season, through those five weekends, those five weekends that people are going to be out, trying to celebrate with friends, family, co-workers and not have every possible transportation option at their disposal to get themselves home safely, to be able to enjoy their evening out and get themselves home safely.

In Kamloops, where I’m from, we have a very successful Operation Red Nose. Some make the joke: “What does that mean?” I think it means that we have a very responsible citizenry. We actually have more rides in a year with Operation Red Nose than Surrey does, year after year after year, and we’re a tenth of the population. People take it very seriously. They take that option very seriously.

The irony is that Operation Red Nose, which runs very successfully and is a great fundraiser — in Kamloops’s case, for PacificSport — is operated by volunteers — volunteers with a class 5 driver’s licence who are deemed to be safe drivers on icy, snowy roads to come pick you up wherever you’re out celebrating and get into your vehicle to drive it — a vehicle they’ve never driven before — in dark, slippery conditions and get you home safely.

Yet what we see is the government refusing to acknowledge that that could still happen with ride-hailing. As a result, we’re seeing delay after delay after delay. Five weeks till Christmas. Five weekends. Still no ride-hailing. Five weekends to Christmas and still no approvals for ride-hailing anywhere. Yet somehow we’re expected to believe that within those five weekends, not only will companies be approved; they will actually have drivers on the road.

Now, no one on this side of the House is suggesting that people should not have criminal record checks. No one on this side of the House is suggesting that vehicles should not have to go through safety inspections. We have still not heard how, in those five weekends, companies are going to be approved; the drivers will have had their criminal record checks; and, more importantly, their vehicles will have passed a mechanical safety check.

But in those five weekends, you can phone Operation Red Nose and have that volunteer come and drive your car that hasn’t had a mechanical safety check. So maybe the volunteer is putting themselves in peril or not. We’re not sure. You can have that volunteer get into a vehicle on a dark night, a snowy night, an icy-road night, and drive you home in your car, and you are deemed to be safe.

There are all sorts of transportation options out there for people. Unfortunately, we’re not going to see them for this holiday season. Magnify that to what we’re seeing in the Metro area of Vancouver, with the rotating transit strikes and disruption to service over those same five weekends to Christmas, and one can only imagine how difficult it’s going to be for people to safely get around in Vancouver.

What impact that has to the overall economy in the hospitality side of the industry, when people and businesses and catering companies and restaurants and bars and all of those types of services rely on a busy Christmas season, a busy holiday season, a holiday season we were promised this type of transportation option for British Columbians…. In fact, we were promised it for 2017. We were promised it for 2018. Now we were promised it for 2019. Yet we’re standing here with five weekends to go, which means the simple math is that by this time next weekend, if I did this same speech, it would be four weekends to go, and still no ride-hailing. So it will go on and go on.

Now, I know the House will end in two weeks, and that’s probably a relief to the Premier and the government that they will not have to answer questions around this broken promise around having ride-hailing in time for the holiday season. But the holiday season is here. The times for delays are over. Unfortunately, I guess the only answer we could see is that we will get an answer that it will be here for the holiday season in 2020. Because with five weekends to go….

Make no mistake. I grew up in the hotel industry, and I know when the holiday season starts, when it relates to caterers and banquets and staff parties…. Arguably, it started last weekend, but we’ll give the Premier the benefit of the doubt. It most certainly starts this weekend. That is the holiday season. The commitment was not by New Year’s Eve. The commitment was the holiday season.

The holiday season is here. British Columbians have less transportation options now, especially with the rotating transit strikes that the government does not want to try to intercede with. We will see this play out, unfortunately, to the detriment of the travelling public. Again, ultimately it’s the travelling public that is demanding these. It’s the public that wants the options. It’s the public that wants to be able to try to move around.

[10:40 a.m.]

In fact, the government’s own all-party committee made several recommendations that have been ignored, regardless of the fact that they were unanimous decisions. Class 4 and class 5 weren’t unanimous, but it was certainly a majority.

B. D’Eith: Thanks to the member for Kamloops–North Thompson for bringing up this important topic of transportation. I appreciate the comments re transit. I couldn’t start this without thinking about the fact that it’s Indigenous disability week and, in fact, the previous government cut bus passes to people with disabilities. We brought that back. If we want to talk about transportation, especially during this week, I’d like to remind the member of that.

But let’s talk about some things around transportation that are important to my community. When I was door-knocking before I got elected, there were some really important issues that were facing my community, in Maple Ridge and Mission, particularly around affordability, around the services that people count on and the fact that while we had this great economy, they were living from paycheque to paycheque. Actually, transportation plays such a huge part in all of these things.

One of the things, for example — and one of the first things — that this government did was to cut the tolls for the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges. Now, this was huge, huge savings for my people in Maple Ridge and Mission. We’re talking about $1,500 a year for people. I mean, it’s an important amount of money. In fact, there are a few businesses….

There’s one business that I know. They’re on the Maple Ridge side, and all their business was in Langley and Surrey. They were going back and forth over the Golden Ears Bridge three, four, five times a day. That adds up. In fact, it was so much that…. It was around $5,000 a month for this company. Now with the tolls removed, that was actually enough money to hire a new person. That’s the kind of transformative change this made to that business.

Not only that, but I’ve talked to so many people in my community who benefited from this. They have family on the Langley side or the Surrey side. They have people in hospitals or in hospice. This has actually changed the lives of people. In addition to that, the Golden Ears Bridge…. You used to be able to have road hockey tournaments on that bridge because people didn’t use it because of the tolls. Well, now people are using that bridge, which is fantastic. That’s just one part of the huge benefit of that one thing.

The other thing that’s really important to recognize in my community, especially from Pitt Meadows right to Mission, through Maple Ridge, is that we have one of the fastest-growing communities because of the affordability crisis in housing. The previous government could have seen this coming and done the work that we needed to upgrade the infrastructure. But that’s being done now. In fact, there are a few things. We had the Minister of Transportation out to tour some of the projects that are underway. We have the Haney Bypass that’s being fixed up right now. We have Highway 7 widening to four lanes in Mission. That’s happening right now.

On Laity Street, on Highway 7 and 220th, we had a number of really unfortunate accidents with pedestrians. One woman was killed, for example. So we recently finished a project where we’ve lit that entire corridor, making transportation more safe for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, which is really important.

I’m so excited that, in fact, we recently announced that the last bit of four-laning of Highway 7 will be put in between 266th and 287th streets. This is something that has been called for, for — I don’t even know how long — you know, 20 years. This is the hardest part. This is the most difficult part. Of course, the most difficult part has been left to this government, and that has been approved to move ahead. Right now we’re in the final piece of work for that four-laning. These are the sorts of things that are important to keep people moving.

But to deal briefly with ride-hailing, the previous government had five years to deal with this, from 2012 to 2017. They did nothing. Now, the government right now spent the time to consult with law enforcement, with municipalities, with industry associations and stakeholders to get it right.

[10:45 a.m.]

So ride-hailing 2.0 is what we have. We’re able to deal with some of the challenges that other jurisdictions had so that we can get it right. And the class 4 licence — it’s about safety. Now, perhaps the members on the other side want to talk about making it easier. But to me, it’s about safety.

P. Milobar: I’m glad the member for Maple Ridge–Mission is appreciative of several of the capital projects in his riding started by the B.C. Liberals, as he mentioned them there.

I would point out that the committee did do an extensive review of the differential between class 4 and class 5 and actually asked ICBC for further documentation, a further study around the safety impacts and the crash rates around class 4 and class 5. In fact, there was no discernible difference between the two, which is why the recommendation was made by the all-party committee.

Touching on other transportation options that are out there, when you look at what’s going on across the Lower Mainland — not just focusing on one single riding, as we’ve heard from the member opposite recently before me here…. When you look at the whole Lower Mainland and when you look at the whole province, as this Legislature is supposed to do, it gets very concerning. You look at things like the delays on the Massey Tunnel replacement, which would be halfway done right now and about $900 million under budget if it had not been delayed, stalled and cancelled by the government for strictly ideological reasons. It would have people moving. It would have people being able to flow.

The transit strike and the lack of action or worry shown by this government, frankly, is concerning. Then all the cost overruns we’re seeing with the community benefits agreements. Again, the dollars that are being spent on transportation could actually go that much farther. There could be that many more transportation projects approved in this province if they were not tied up with cost overruns with these CBAs, which do not actually create value for the taxpaying public.

If they didn’t want to do any further transportation up­grades, think of all the schools that could fund. Think of all the portables in Surrey that were promised to be disappeared by this time that could actually be funded, instead of those cost overruns happening on these highway projects — strictly, again, as an ideological way of looking at spending the taxpayers’ dollars instead of looking at it as a way to try to get maximum value for the taxpayer, to make sure that their transportation options are full, robust and well-funded and to make sure that it’s not just going simply to benefit agreements that benefit a very few and not the masses of the province of British Columbia.

Hopefully, we’ll see transportation taken a little more seriously moving forward, we’ll see better options for the travelling public, and we’ll see technology better embraced by the government as we move forward with transportation. We’ve already seen the transit authorities embrace technology. It’s time for the government to actually embrace that technology as well.

That’s why you’ve seen agencies like B.C. Transit or agencies like TransLink make sure that they’ve made those technological investments for the travelling public when it relates to mass transit. But not every part of the province has the same level of mass transit service as the Broadway corridor. That’s why it’s important we take transportation seriously.

Deputy Speaker: Members, again, a caution that Monday morning statements are supposed to be non-partisan. Both sides tried to push the line today. Be careful, please.

MULTICULTURALISM

A. Kang: Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today as Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism on the work that the government has been doing and continues to do in protecting and strengthening the diversity of our province.

Diversity and inclusivity have always been an essential part of our identity as British Columbians. We are so proud of this identity and also this heritage.

As British Columbians, we learn from each other, building understanding and creatively solving problems that affect each and every single one of us every day. That’s how our diversity strengthens our community ties.

Make no mistake. The diversity of our beautiful province was not given or bestowed upon us. It is a fundamental value that our predecessors fought long and hard for. Sometimes these tremendous sacrifices may seem like distant memories. We must constantly be reminded that we should not take our diversity and multiculturalism for granted.

Diversity is not a one-way street, and our progress must sometimes be undone in the blink of an eye.

[10:50 a.m.]

We must remain vigilant, diligent and persistent in continuing the work of the generations before us and for the generations that come after us.

The sad reality is that incidents of racism and discrimination are increasing, both in Canada and around the world. According to the 2017 Juristat report on hate crimes, there were 2,073 reported incidents of hate crimes nationally in 2017, which reflects a 47 percent increase.

Far too often opportunists have used racism as a tool for political gain and seek to benefit from divisive rhetorics. Not only do these rhetorics defy our values as British Columbians, but they also often lead to acts of violence that revert our progress in building trust and understanding. The more that these factors and forces attempt to divide us, the more we must stand together against those who are sowing fear and hate in our communities.

In light of the racist incidents in both Richmond and in my own community, in Burnaby, I would like to highlight some of the work that this government has done and continues to do in standing up for equality and justice. Alongside community leaders, the government is honouring our cultural diversity and acknowledging the contribution of peoples of all backgrounds. Different ministries are working together in advancing the same objectives.

Here are some actions that this government is taking. One major action that this government has taken is the reestablishment of the Human Rights Commission for B.C., which was abolished by the previous government in 2003. Just a few weeks ago our government introduced legislation to implement the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous people, UNDRIP, here in B.C. We are the first across Canada.

The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General also launched a five-year countering radicalization to violence pilot program to promote community safety and prevent racialization to violence across the province. The Ministry of Education leads the ERASE program, which works to ensure that our schools are safe, respectful and inclusive. The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is introducing B.C.’s first poverty reduction strategy, TogetherBC, which seeks to reduce overall poverty in the province by 25 percent and cut child poverty in half over the next five years by bringing together investments across the government. By reducing poverty, we are bringing our communities closer together.

The gender equity office is working across government to ensure that the needs of the priorities of women, especially Indigenous and racialized women, are taken into account in all programs and policies. The legislation welcomes British Columbians to celebrate key events such as Diwali, Nowruz and Vaisakhi. As part of Vaisakhi, we hosted a dialogue with members of the Sikh Youth of Victoria. Just a few weeks ago we also celebrated Islamic Heritage Month in the Hall of Honour at the Legislature for the very first time.

There’s also a two-year provincial nominee program — PNP — entrepreneur immigration regional pilot that will help attract entrepreneurs around the world who are seeking and looking to establish a business and begin a new life here in B.C.’s smaller communities.

Underpinning everything we do as government is a fundamental commitment to achieving true and lasting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, while also welcoming newcomers that will become an integral part of our collective future. This commitment is embedded into the daily work of our government and foundational to all decisions that we make here.

Everyone deserves to feel a sense of belonging here in B.C., to live free from fear of oppression and to fully express one’s cultural diversity. We’re incredibly lucky to live in this inclusive, multicultural province. Our lives and communities are enriched every day by the diverse cultures that make up British Columbia. Our diversity also makes our economy stronger, to create opportunities for us to strengthen relationships with people from all around the world. These factors give us all the reasons to protect our values. As we celebrate diversity and honour the cultural traditions we share, we must continue to stand together against racism, against prejudice and those who seek to divide us.

Our government will always stand up for diversity, inclusion and mutual respect. Together we can work to build a better future for everyone — every person in every community.

[10:55 a.m.]

T. Wat: I rise today to talk about multiculturalism. As the most ethnic-diverse province in Canada, multiculturalism remains key to our political and social landscape and must be promoted if we are to continue our economic growth and prosperity. Our previous government took great strides to do exactly that.

In 2017 alone, our former government provided $300,000 in multiculturalism grants to non-profit societies and community-based organizations throughout the province to help celebrate cultural identity, promote diversity and challenge racism. Between 2016 and 2017, we directed nearly $1.6 million in funding towards partnerships and projects aimed at eliminating racism, including promotion and support for community-led antiracism programs such as Organizing Against Racism and Hate.

We developed many public education programs that helped update B.C.’s education curriculum to include historical wrongs against Chinese Canadians as well as specific incidents like the Komagata Maru and the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and included an on-line tool called Unlearn Racism to help students understand and challenge racism.

Tolerance, inclusion and reconciliation cannot just be taught through school curriculum. It is important that we teach the next generation through example. We, as a government, made great strides to establish reconciliation with British Columbia’s many cultural groups, including Premier Christy Clark’s formal apology on behalf of the entire Legislative Assembly for historical wrongs imposed on them by past provincial governments.

When I was the Minister for Multiculturalism, I assisted the B.C. Liberal government with establishing the Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council in September of 2014 to advise the government on how to ensure community engagement and successful implementation of B.C.’s Chinese legacy initiative projects. Our government recognized that the promotion of multiculturalism not only benefited Canada socially but economically as well.

As Minister for Multiculturalism and International Trade, I organized various meetings with different ethnic business groups, including Filipino, Iranian, Punjabi, Korean and Chinese, to discuss how multiculturalism can attract business and economic opportunity to British Columbia. It is my belief that multiculturalism should always be promoted and pursued in a non-partisan way, as it a goal that is shared by all members of this House. I’m hoping that this current government will include members of the opposition, such as myself, in future projects and ceremonies.

This sort of action will ensure that this current government can continue the legacy that our past administration worked so hard to build. Actions like commemorating B.C. historical sites with plaques in Kelowna, Cumberland, Ashcroft, Kamloops, Barkerville, Victoria, Lytton and Yale are great initiatives to protect our history of immigration and multiculturalism here in B.C. These eight plaques were included in the legacy project initiated by our previous government. These plaques have ensured that the legacy of our communities, built through the hard work of people from all cultures and backgrounds, will be remembered for generations to come.

Our previous government also allocated funding for an additional historic plaque to be installed in Vancouver’s Chinatown. We certainly hope that next year we’ll proudly see the plaque in Vancouver’s Chinatown to showcase and commemorate the rich history of this historic site. It is key that we look to the ideas of British Columbians from across our province, and not just those that occupy this Legislature, to properly uphold our legacy of diversity and prosperity.

Over the past weekend, I visited a Chinese-language school in my riding of Richmond North Centre and talked to over 100 students about the Chinese-Canadian history in B.C. I’m very encouraged to see the students have an immense interest in the history of our province and also very proud to see that they have the ability to speak another language. Having this language ability widens their horizon and builds strength for them.

Diversity and prosperity have always gone hand in hand in B.C. politics. Our province was built by men and women of all cultures, creeds and backgrounds, and it is a responsibility of both sides of this House to find the greatest path forward that creates opportunity for all of B.C.

[11:00 a.m.]

A. Kang: I want to thank the member for Richmond North Centre for her passion and her advocacy for multiculturalism. It’s great that we could have this conversation that is bipartisan and an issue that matters to both sides of the House.

British Columbia is the most diverse province in Canada, and as British Columbians, we can trace our origins to more than 200 countries and regions. Adding to our diversity, we welcome nearly 40,000 new immigrants every year to B.C.

B.C. is home to 203 First Nations and urban Indigenous and Métis communities. With different origins come different languages. The many languages that are spoken in B.C. present more challenges in trust-building — but nevertheless, more rewarding. What we ultimately understand, after connecting with people who speak different languages, is the fact that behind every spoken language beats the same heart that wants nothing more than the opportunity of a better life that our beautiful B.C. has to offer.

[J. Isaacs in the chair.]

In Canada and around the globe, extremist violence and hate are on the rise, fuelled by those who use prejudice and racism as tools for political gain. As we mourn the lives lost to acts of terrorism, we are committed to standing together against hatred and violence in all forms. Everyone deserves to feel safe in one’s community, home and place of worship.

The government has been taking action in building a more inclusive, multicultural province and will continue to improve the lives of the people living here. In addition to all the actions taken by our government that I have already highlighted, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture has honoured five people this year for their work to end racism. We have also supported 76 community groups through $300,000 in multiculturalism grants. Furthermore, 36 communities across B.C. received a total of $280,000 in delivering the Organizing Against Racism and Hate program.

The ministry also continues to engage the community leaders and organizations on local emerging issues related to racist and hate incidents through a community dialogue across the province. Today and every day, our government will defend the values of diversity, equality and mutual respect. As we sow seeds of trust here in B.C., we also hope that flowers of love will bloom across the peaceful world.

The metaphor of our society as a tapestry best describes the importance of multiculturalism in B.C. Each of us is a thread of different size and colour that weaves around each other. The more diversity of the thread, the more beautiful our canvas becomes. The tighter we weave together, the stronger our tapestry becomes. By building trust and understanding, connecting different cultures, the better B.C. becomes.

Hon. B. Ralston: I’d ask that the House consider proceeding with Motion 23 standing in the name of the member for Chilliwack.

Deputy Speaker: Hon. Members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 23 without disturbing the priorities of the motions preceding it on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 23 — EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY FOR WORKERS

J. Martin: Welcome back to all of my colleagues after our little break from the sitting session. Good to be here. I’m pleased to be in the House today and move the following motion:

[Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.]

B.C. is full of hard-working individuals who power our economy by providing the goods and services that we all need and use each and every day. From construction workers to those in the hospitality industry, from forestry workers to educators, from engineers to social workers, this province has millions of people who work hard each and every day to do the vital jobs that help B.C. prosper and provide British Columbians and their families with a steady income.

It should be a given that all of these workers have equal opportunity in their respective fields of employment — that they are given equal access to work on projects that enable them to provide for their families; that they are paid an equal wage to those doing the same or similar work, with no fear of favouritism or discrimination on any level whatsoever, let alone from the government of the day.

It’s disappointing that this is no longer the reality in our province when it comes to compensation and the opportunity to take part in public projects. This is made no clearer than through the community benefits agreements, CBAs. These have been touted as an exemplary program for investing in B.C.’s workers — very noble. But since their introduction, the framework has continually proved to limit the opportunity for the majority of the province’s workers.

[11:05 a.m.]

When you strip back the layers of rhetoric surrounding CBAs, it becomes clear that they have been designed with the simple purpose of benefiting a select group of 19 unions handpicked by the government. Meanwhile, a majority of B.C. workers are excluded. This means that these union benefit agreements will lock out 85 percent of construction workers in this province — 85 percent, a staggering number.

All British Columbians should be given a chance to apply to work on public infrastructure projects, yet under the CBA framework, workers who want to work on such projects are forced to join and pay dues to one of the 19 unions that have been pre-approved. This is a serious problem, and it’s a discriminatory policy that will limit opportunity for non-unionized workers, as well as for workers in those unions that have not made it onto the government’s approved list. In effect, CBAs will serve to be a form of forced unionization of the province’s labour force.

Even those who live in communities where these projects are taking place will not be given the same opportunity as approved union workers. This carries with it a particularly cruel irony, given the name “community benefit agreements.”

Of course, this is to say nothing of the massive additional costs of projects conducted under the CBA framework. All of the projects currently taking place under CBAs are running significantly over budget. Projects in Kicking Horse Canyon, the Pattullo Bridge and others, for example, are cost­ing taxpayers millions more than they would have with­out CBAs in place. Independent analysis estimates that adopting CBAs could add as much as $4.8 billion more in labour costs to public infrastructure projects, which works out to a nearly $4,000 share for each and every family in British Columbia.

At the end of the day, CBAs are simply not designed to benefit communities, despite what their name suggests. They cost millions more than they provide, and they provide fewer opportunities for B.C. workers. They are an example of the government looking out for friends first, while the rest of British Columbians are forced to look for opportunity elsewhere. British Columbia belongs to all of us. No one is better than anybody else. All workers should be treated equally. All workers should be granted equal access to assist in the building of the infrastructure in this beautiful province. The CBAs run counter to that.

J. Routledge: Thank you to the member for Chilliwack for introducing the motion, “Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.”

I welcome the chance to talk about equal opportunity — or what we’ve more accurately come today to refer to as employment equity. It’s a topic that’s very close to my heart. Today we have legislation that mandates employment equity in federally regulated workplaces, but it took us a long time to get here, and we learned some hard lessons along the way.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission was established in 1977. In the early days, I worked closely with commission staff. I worked with them to document evidence of discrimination — particularly, systemic discrimination that was baked into the systems. We identified specific barriers. We developed measures to remove and to remediate barriers. We worked hard to make workplace culture welcoming to newcomers, but mistakes were made.

An example from the 1980s actually still haunts me. Women were recruited to apply for jobs in federal prisons. That was a good idea. What was a bad idea was assigning one woman per shift. What was a bad idea was springing them on what was a dangerous work environment that still viewed women as too weak and emotional to have their backs. What was a bad idea was to do this before harassment policies were in place and before there was a commitment to enforce those harassment policies.

[11:10 a.m.]

I spent a lot of time in my career with the Public Service Alliance helping union locals, activists and staff put good employment equity plans in place. I also spent a lot of my time cleaning up the messes that were created when ill-conceived employment equity was imposed on workplaces.

Sound bites do not create equality of opportunity. De­nouncing discrimination does not put an end to it. What moves us forward towards equality in the workplace is having a plan and then committing to implementing it. Employment equity, employment opportunity, is a process, and community benefits agreements are an important part of that process. It’s a process that opens the door to good, well-paying jobs to those groups who have been shut out in the past.

Now, earlier this morning, the member for Kamloops–​North Thompson referred to community benefits agreements as having no value. Community benefits agreements are not discrimination. Community benefits agreements are one solution to discrimination, and the members opposite should know that. The members opposite have had 16 years to familiarize themselves with how employment equity works, 16 years to create employment equity for workers in B.C. Instead, they squandered their power that they had to do that. In fact, they used their power to create even more barriers. Other speakers today will be giving some specific examples of that.

I want to concentrate on the implications of having undermined union power. It is a fact. There is evidence that unionized workplaces tend to be more equitable workplaces. But what was one of the first things the former government did? They gutted three pieces of legislation. It made it harder for workers to join unions, harder to get justice when they were the victims of favouritism at work, harder to get compensation if they were disabled at work. Yet they come here today to try to school us about what is equal and what is not equal.

Equal opportunities for working people are hard work. It takes courage, and it takes an investment in people. It’s about ensuring that every working family can live their best lives regardless of skin colour, gender or disability. Employment opportunity is not a rhetorical football to be kicked around in a game of political partisanship.

M. Lee: I am pleased to rise today to speak in strong support of the motion that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.

When a key piece of public infrastructure is being replaced, like the Pattullo Bridge, or highways being widened, like the Trans-Canada, local workers and contractors should be given a fair chance to work on that project. However, this current NDP government, under their community benefits agreement framework, have excluded most of the province’s workforce from the public construction projects and cost taxpayers billions of dollars in additional costs.

The CBA discriminates against workers, forcing them to join and pay dues to a select group of unions handpicked by the NDP. If they choose not to join one of these select unions, they’re simply not allowed to work on the project. This is a serious infringement of the rights of workers and is a forced unionization of workers. The CBA breaks the continuity of pension plans, benefit plans and any apprenticeship training programs for those workers who are forced to join those unions.

[11:15 a.m.]

Because of this blatant discrimination, the Independent Contractors and Business Association of British Columbia, the ICBA, has taken the government to court, claiming that the community benefits agreement framework clearly violates the rights of workers to choose whether or not they wish to be part of a union while they work on public construction projects. While the government argued that that case should be heard by the Labour Relations Board, the B.C. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, considering factors including allegations of improper purpose and the impact on the rights and interests of workers and contractors.

Other important challenges raised by the B.C. Supreme Court include that the CBA violates the right to freedom of association under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the province does not have the authority under law to impose their building-trades-only requirement on public infrastructure projects. Furthermore, the imposition of the building-trades-only requirement undermines the freedom of expression, freedom of association and political equality rights of construction workers, who are forced by this NDP government’s tendering requirements to join, contribute to and support unions favoured by this government. This is simply wrong in so many ways.

It is vital that we level the playing field for workers in our province. If we truly want to benefit the communities of B.C., we need to ensure that we make decisions and agreements that increase opportunity in our communities, rather than excluding 85 percent of our workers.

This government puts forward amendments to the Election Act. As they do so, in this House, we should consider how much money is being funneled through the community benefits agreement framework to unions that support the NDP. The related project labour agreement, under the CBA, requires 32 cents per person per hour to go to unions, including 25 cents per hour for union administration through the new Allied Infrastructure and Related Construction Council of B.C. These unions have been significant political and financial supporters of the NDP — the 19 unions.

Under the 2018 Election Act amendments, unions can no longer be financial supporters to their NDP allies, but unions can be political supporters, both through third-party advertising efforts and organization of volunteers. This is where these taxpayer dollars are going. The Premier boasted about getting big money out of B.C. politics back in 2018. Little did we know that his real plan, with the Attorney General’s acquiesce, was to build a backdoor loophole into his NDP union engine room, entirely funded by B.C. taxpayer dollars.

Funding trade unions that support the NDP with tax dollars is a clear abuse of fairness rules for administrating B.C. electoral activities, to the detriment of the other political parties in B.C. These funds will certainly be used by big unions to support the NDP’s future political activities, and when paired with the huge inflow of foreign funds into our political process, we will continue to see the undermining of democratic rights for British Columbians.

The CBA is not about workers and giving them opportunity. These agreements are about funneling taxpayer dollars to unions that support the NDP. It should not take the courts of our province to stop this government from discriminating against workers in our province and undermining our democratic rights. We need a government that will stop this shameful and unfair CBA arrangement. We need a government to respect the rule of law for all British Columbians while providing equal opportunity for all workers in our province.

J. Sims: It’s my pleasure today to rise and speak on the motion put on by my colleagues: “Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.”

First of all, let me tell you how heartwarming it was for me, as a lifelong teacher, to have somebody from the opposition side put forward a motion that talks about equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia. It is something that many of us have been dedicated to for most of our lives.

I’ve heard a lot today about equality, and I think it is, without any doubt, that every one of us in this room agrees that equity and equality have been missing in the workplace and in many of our institutions as well. When I look at employment, there are many barriers in employment and in the workplace for many people, whether it’s based on the colour of their skin, the language they speak, their ethnicity, their gender, their sexual orientation — and, yes, even if they want to join a union. I know some people have been asked that question at an interview, and if they say they are interested in joining a union, they don’t always get the job that they have gone to apply for.

[11:20 a.m.]

I think it behooves all of us to stop for a second today and think about equality versus equity.

As a mother and as a lifelong teacher, one thing I realized, as my kids were growing up…. Of course I loved them both, but their needs were very, very different. So I couldn’t be equal with them all the time. I had to be equitable with them. I know, for example, that my son needed a little bit of extra attention when it came to going out to his sports — so he got more of that — whereas my daughter needed more attention when it came to her piano lessons. So she got that.

I think one of the big things we’ve seen over the last couple of decades is a recognition that it’s time we started to talk about equity, because it is equity that will lead to a redress of the unfair treatment faced by so many people in British Columbia and around the world.

I also am very, very interested in the comments made by colleagues about the labour movement and about unions. It’s almost as if unions are an anathema and should be avoided at all costs. Let me remind all of us, from a historical perspective, that unions were formed out of necessity. They were formed because workers were dying on the job — high death rate, high injury rate. The employer had all the power, and the workers, individually, didn’t really have anything to bargain with.

It was at that time in England that the union movement was born. Workers got together and said: “Enough is enough. Too many of us are dying on the job. Too many of us have we had to bury. So let us go together and form a grouping.” That’s where the word union comes from.

We also have to recognize that it’s the labour movement, the unions, that has given us so much. It gave us our five-day week, which isn’t a five-day week anymore. It also led to things like maternity leave. It led to employment equity in many, many workplaces. It led to addressing racism in a very serious way. It led to negotiations around equal pay for equal work. Unions have played a critical role in the social movements throughout the world, and they play a role that is absolutely a necessity.

You know, I heard my colleague across the way talking about how non-unionized people can’t apply for jobs. Of course they can bid on the jobs. It’s just that within 13 days of having got the job, they will join a collective, and they will get all the rights of the collective. Once they leave that job, they’re no longer a member. So it is a choice — whether you apply or not.

Years and years ago I can remember meeting a young teacher, saying to me: “If I come to teach in B.C., will I be a member of a union?” I said: “Absolutely. In B.C., public school teachers are members of a union.”

D. Barnett: Equal opportunity is a fundamental right of anyone who wants to live and work in British Columbia. No one should be denied the opportunity to work based on gender, cultural background or professional status. We have legislation in place to regulate the private sector, and one would expect this of the public sector.

As elected representatives, our first responsibility is to ensure that taxpayers get the best value for their money. It is a burden of trust that comes with the job of being a public official. Mishandle the public purse, and a career in politics will come to an abrupt end when the next election comes around. I have always observed the principles of openness and transparency, whether on city council or here at the provincial Legislature. While there may be several different levels of government, it should be remembered that there is only one taxpayer. So when it comes to the use of public money, we have an obligation to observe the highest degree of integrity, fairness and transparency.

[11:25 a.m.]

Unfortunately, the NDP’s community benefits agreement fails taxpayers on all accounts. It is misleading, it is discriminatory, and it does not observe a principle of fairness. Any public infrastructure project that goes to tender should be open to any company in British Columbia that wishes to submit a bid. The community benefits agreement only rewards a select number of government-friendly unions with public sector contracts.

For example, Mainline Roofing, a Williams Lake business owned and operated by Niki and Chris Lyons and Matt Kosolofski, had previously worked on major public projects. These include work at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake and Northwest Community College in Smithers. As a consequence of the government’s decision to exclude 85 percent of the provincial workforce, Mainline Roofing and its 20 employees are excluded from contracts financed by taxpayers. Niki Lyons says job opportunities should be reduced by as much as 40 to 60 percent for their company.

This is fundamentally unfair. All the while, the government claims this is somehow increasing opportunities for women and First Nations. The so-called community benefits agreement is nothing more than a political slush fund at taxpayers’ expense.

To add insult to injury, the implementation of the CBA came about with no public consultation — surprise. Niki and Chris Lyons say none of their peers were ever consulted on the agreement. In his own words, Chris Lyons had this message about the so-called community benefits agreement: “If I could say one thing to the Premier, it would be to come up here to the north and talk to us before you create a policy that doesn’t work.”

In truth, the community benefits agreement doesn’t benefit communities at all, certainly not in Williams Lake or anywhere else in the province. As a matter of fact, the community benefits agreement is inflating the cost of public infrastructure everywhere.

For example, the Highway 1 expansion has already seen costs skyrocket 47 percent since becoming a CBA project. The $22.3 million cost overrun could have funded over 200 units of affordable housing. We are seeing the same inflated costs for projects all across B.C., including the SkyTrain expansion. How about the four-lane expansion of the Kicking Horse Canyon stretch of highway near Golden? That’s costing B.C. taxpayers an extra $150 million, just to pay off the government’s friend.

The question is: how is this so-called community benefits agreement making British Columbians’ lives more affordable?

S. Malcolmson: We know that discrimination exists in the workplace and that barriers to employment continue for equity-seeking groups, particularly women, Indigenous people, racialized people.

For women, especially, this can be a double whammy and a vicious cycle. If you have the burden of child care and elder care on you and there is no affordable child care available to you, you are more likely to fall into part-time, precarious work. You are less likely to build the supports and the pension, to be able to even have a job with benefits that gets you into a pension. You are likely, over time, to fall further and further behind.

In this day and age, we cannot afford not to have anybody at the table. We need our workplaces to reflect the diversity of our province. We want to have….

Interjections.

S. Malcolmson: Could I just ask my colleagues not to talk. Sorry, it’s distracting.

We are working to remove those barriers. That’s something that our government is very much committed to.

[11:30 a.m.]

It’s interesting that we have this debate today. The B.C. Liberals have invited us to talk about equal opportunity for all workers in B.C., which we support absolutely, but it’s not what they did when they had 16 years to actually enact those great ideas.

Here are some of the things they did. They repealed pay equity, paying men and women equally for equal work. They introduced a two-tier minimum wage that especially hurt immigrant women. The minimum wage was capped at $8 for ten years. Who can raise a family on $8 an hour? They rolled back the wages of B.C.’s lowest-paid health care workers. They scrapped universal child care.

They dismantled B.C.’s skills-training and apprenticeship system. They legislated child labour. How is that fair or safe, if it ever was at any time, for this to happen under that government’s watch? They eliminated the B.C. student grant program. They cut funding to the adult basic education, English language learning — all kinds of things that represent barriers to the workplace and equal opportunity and access to the jobs that are there. It was a shameful record. That they’ve got the bravery to come and bring a motion like this today is breathtaking.

They didn’t say that they were going to talk about the community benefits agreement. If they had, I would have all kinds of stats on that. I know on Vancouver Island when it was used, with the B.C. government that was previously in power, the contractor said: “No way. We could never build the Island Highway with a requirement to have a certain number of women and a certain number of Indigenous people.” They said the project would never be built. It was built very well, and it created space and jobs for women that had never had access to those very high-paying jobs. So I’m glad that it went ahead.

For my community in Nanaimo, the worst thing that I saw, that we felt, under the B.C. Liberal era was the terrible impact of Bills 29 and 94. It paved the way for privatization in the health care system, contracting out, relentless layoffs, 8,000 or 9,000 mostly women laid off in the province — the single biggest layoff of female workers in the province. That was not equal work. That was not equal pay. It destabilized health care delivery and caused massive disruption for thousands of workers.

Nanaimo care homes suffered. I’ve met with UFCW and HEU workers who say still they’ve never made up the ground financially that they lost during the time that the B.C. Liberals were sacking and burning the system. It’s left some of our seniors care homes in crisis. Island Health has had to come in and help support some of them. But I just want to say so clearly that we know how much the workers care for those elders in need, and they are trying to do their very best in very tough circumstances.

Our government is doing things completely differently from the previous government. We’re working very hard to make life better for working people. We’re ensuring more people can get into the workplace, have a safe workplace, have access to affordable child care that lets them stay in place. We created new nurse practitioner positions at Vancouver Island University. We’ve created space for nursing degree programs. If I had another five minutes, I’d give you the rest of the list.

There’s so much more to be done. I want students to know we’re grateful that they’re coming forward to be trained in this field. We want the workers that have held the system together for so long while the former government was destabilising it…. We are sending in reinforcement. Help is close at hand.

J. Sturdy: I wish I could say that I was pleased to rise to speak to this proposition put forward by my colleague from Chilliwack: “Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.” But I do understand why the member has put this up for debate, because the right to free association, frankly, is under attack by this government.

Honestly, does anybody really believe that opportunity to access for work should not be equal? Will anybody in this chamber actually argue that, to paraphrase George Orwell, all workers are created equal but some are more equal than others?

I don’t believe this could be true or should be accepted, especially after we’ve just come back from Remembrance Day celebrations in our ridings. I have many communities in West Vancouver–Sea to Sky. This year, I was on Bowen Island at a simply spectacular celebration. Bowen is a small community of about 3,500 people, swelling to 5,000 in the summer. But I’d say half that population was in attendance on Remembrance Day, honouring the people that have gone to war, in part, for just the reasons stated in this proposition — that the workers and the people of this province should have equal opportunity.

[11:35 a.m.]

Now I think it’s fair to say that there are areas for improvement in access to equality and that there remains much work to do, as society attention to income and housing and access to services is improved in areas in parts of our population and parts of our province.

While this is not all up to government, we, as legislators, do have an important part to play. But a most fundamental part is that we don’t entrench in government policy a bias, a prejudice, an inherent unfairness that mandates that all workers don’t have the same rights of access to work. This is exactly what is being created by the union benefit agreements that this government has been trying to enact.

This policy denies all workers an equal chance to access work and public infrastructure projects. The union benefits agreements deny 85 percent of the construction industry access to work on major public projects in British Columbia if the worker is not a member of one of government’s favoured unions — 85 percent of workers denied access. How can that be right?

We’ll hear the government say: “Oh, just join our union, and you’ll be able to work. Pay our dues. Conform to our rules, and you can work. Don’t join our approved unions, and too bad for you. You don’t have a job.”

Does this seem wrong? Is it immoral? Should it be prohibited? Of course it should. Workers should have free access to associate with the organization of their choice. They should be allowed to work for whatever firm they want to work for. But this government has denied them this basic right. They must join an approved union within 30 days or lose their job.

Beyond this outrage, employers don’t get the chance to choose their own workers. In fact, employers will only notionally have their own workers. Most will work for government and be dispatched out of a hiring hall to work for an employer that they may not even have any relationship with.

The workers can’t associate with the labour organization that they want. The employer can’t choose the workers that they want in order to do the job that they’ve been contracted to do. This is a big government policy that implies, if not expressly states, that government knows better than you who you should work for, who you should associate with and what you need to do to stay in their good graces, because they are big government, and they know best.

In public infrastructure projects, you can’t work for who you want to work for. You can’t belong to the union that you want to and may have belonged to for years or decades if you want to work. You can’t work with your own team, a team that you may have been part of for years or decades, a team that you know, that you trust, that you believe in and you support. Your team is disbanded because the government will dictate through a hiring hall who you will work for and who you will work with and how you’ll do your job.

All this will come at a cost to taxpayers of somewhere between 10 and 30 percent more per project or, alternatively, which has been the history, a commensurate reduction in the scope of work. As taxpayers, we get less for more. In the case of the community benefits agreements, as per government policy, some unions are more equal than others.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to rise and speak to the motion moved by the member for Chilliwack: “Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.”

When we talk about opportunity for workers, that includes workers rights that are enshrined in legislation, access to education and the opportunity to gain the skills to have access to good-quality and well-paying jobs in British Columbia.

When we look at what the current situation is, I know my colleague the member for Nanaimo recently outlined the challenges in terms of inheriting the legacy of the previous government’s 16 years and their record on undermining workers rights.

We know that in 2002 the Campbell government passed three pieces of legislation, basically bringing sweeping changes to the labour relations code, the Employment Standards Act and the Workers Compensation Act. These changes really gave the balance of power to employers.

[11:40 a.m.]

A couple of pieces I want to point out with respect to the Employment Standards Act were very important. They shifted the complaints to a self-help complaints process which put the burden of proof on workers around disputes that arose in the workplace. It was mentioned that British Columbia became known as having the worst record on child labour, not only in our province but around the world in industrialized countries. Shocking.

It also lowered the floor in terms of the basic rights that workers had access to. Previously, employment standards were the basis, and unionized workers were able to negotiate on top of that. These changes allowed employers to negotiate under the floor. That’s the record. The changes to Workers Compensation — basically reducing benefits to injured workers, ending rehabilitation programs and closing WCB offices — all contributed to undermining support and opportunity and rights of workers. That’s around rights.

Our government — what is our government doing? We are supporting the rights of workers, strengthening employment standards, raising the minimum wage, making sure that there’s a basic minimum floor that all workers have access to and looking at supporting and reviewing the changes that are needed around support for injured workers. That’s on workers’ rights.

In terms of access to education, the previous government had a record of bringing in the highest interest on student loans in Canada as well as cutting funding and bringing in very high tuition for adult basic education and English-language-learning programs. Our government is committed to ensuring that workers have access to education. We have made a commitment for skilled workers. It is brought together around our community benefits agreement framework, with the premise that B.C. projects should benefit B.C. workers, families and communities and that our public infrastructure projects should deliver good-paying jobs and increased opportunities for British Columbians, particularly those who face additional barriers, such as Indigenous people, women, young people and racialized workers.

It also means that we are providing apprenticeship and training opportunities for better access to jobs for B.C. residents and opportunities for apprenticeships to build our next generation of construction workers. We are concretely funding, in addition to that, 27,000 more apprenticeship and foundation training seats. We are investing to support graduate degree scholarships, which were neglected previously. And we’re looking at 2,900 new tech-related seats as well, to meet the needs of our economy and to ensure that British Columbians have that opportunity. As well, we have, for the first time, created the first nursing degree program in the northeast to provide opportunities for students close to home and really meet those demands that are needed.

Our government is committed to ensuring that we respect workers’ rights, that we enshrine that in law, that we support needed reviews around labour relations to bring that balance, that workers who are injured on their jobs are supported, that British Columbians have access to training and opportunities and that our public dollars are invested in our infrastructure and projects benefit British Columbians. I’m very proud of the record of our government.

D. Clovechok: I’m very pleased to rise today to speak about the importance of the opportunity of workers in British Columbia — for all workers. This province thrives when every worker is equal and has equal opportunity for employment. To move or restrict that in any way should be seen as discriminatory and simply not in the best interests of British Columbians. Yet this minority government claims it’s proud of one such initiative, an initiative that picks winners and losers and turns friends into rivals.

[11:45 a.m.]

Of course, I speak about their community benefits agreement, which actually has nothing to do with community or, really, nothing to do with workers for equal opportunity. Despite the friendly name — community benefits agreements — they serve to only benefit a small group of handpicked unions while putting pressure on the private sector construction companies, contractors and, frankly, my constituents. It’s a blatant example of a defined payback to those building trade unions that were selected who have donated millions of dollars to this minority government since 2005 — a payback using British Columbian tax dollars.

However, CBAs are more than just discriminatory. The true cost of this scheme is becoming increasingly apparent as multiple delayed projects grapple with overrides — projects which are actually happening in my riding. First, the Illecillewaet River four-laning highway-widening project near Revelstoke that was first announced in 2015. Initially, it was budgeted to cost $35 million. At that time, the scope was a 2½ kilometre four-lane highway stretch.

Now, a few years later, under this minority government, in February 2019, the project was reannounced with a reduced scope and an increased cost to the taxpayers of $22.3 million. The latest cost projection, however, after receiving only five bids, is a cost overrun of a staggering 143 percent higher. Welcome to the expensive world of CBAs.

So not only are my constituents settling for a project of smaller scope than they were promised. They and other British Columbia taxpayers are having to pay — I again say — 143 percent more than initially promised.

The other critical transportation project in my riding is the Kicking Horse Canyon project, which includes the widening of about 4.8 kilometres of Highway 1 near Golden. This project has suffered and continues to suffer through many delays despite being of critical importance to my constituents. I now understand, recently, that the project’s RFQs have now been pushed into December, which means that nothing on the RFP side will happen until the new year — delay after delay.

Yet again, the CBA framework has pushed costs associated with this project to over $150 million more than our previous government originally announced in 2017. Taxpayers are being burdened with costs that occurred simply to the Premier’s “friends and family” CBA scheme.

What makes this most unfair and unjust for my constituents is that they’re forced to join a government-approved union in order to work on one of these projects, and that’s just simply wrong. For my constituents, it’s wrong. Delay after delay after delay and crippling, rising costs to, as my colleague across the way said, achieve the benefits of the collective. I’m not sure what country I’m in when I hear that.

British Columbians from across this province have come to the understanding that on so many levels, this minority government is not the solution to problems. It is the problem. They continue to refuse to see the light of their error of the CBA job-discriminating ways. It’s high time that they felt the heat.

R. Kahlon: I want to thank the member for Chilliwack for bringing the motion today. Today we are talking about supporting equal opportunity for all workers.

I want to preface my comments by saying that as a society, we’ve come a long way, but we still have much more to do. I was having a conversation with my dad over the weekend. We were talking about the racism he faced when he first came to Canada in the early ’70s. How it was so much in your face, straight in your face, and it wasn’t as hidden as perhaps it is now.

But we have some considerable challenges to ensure there is equal opportunity for all workers — in particular, new immigrants. New immigrants are struggling to see these equal opportunities the same as everyone else. There are a few things. During the human rights consultations that we did throughout the province to bring in the Human Rights Commission, we heard three things in particular that affected equal opportunity for new immigrants.

The first was around discrimination in hiring. Recently there was a study done out of the U.S., which has been repli­cated here in Canada, where they had 1,000 resumes submitted for job applications. Five hundred had Anglo names, and 500 had names from people from various countries, from Greece to India to Pakistan. What they found was that you had a 70 percent higher chance of getting a callback for an interview if you had an Anglo name. The study that came out basically highlighted some real challenges that we have in some of our hiring practices in the province and in the country.

[11:50 a.m.]

I remember, over the weekend, we saw a tweet from a reporter from News 1130, Tarnjit Parmar, who spoke about how when she first wanted to become a journalist, she was recommended to change her name because it may be too complicated for people to pronounce, and it would make it harder for her to become a journalist. These are the challenges that people are still facing every day. It’s one of the recommendations that I made in the human rights consultation report for the new Human Rights Commissioner.

A second piece is this idea of Canadian experience. Employers are using Canadian experience as an opportunity for when they’re hiring people, but what it’s doing is basically creating a barrier for new immigrants to get opportunities in their choice of employment. I know the Ontario Human Rights Commissioner wrote about this two years ago — about how this is a discriminatory practice and that employers should not be using it. I also made this recommendation for our new Human Rights Commissioner to review this practice here in B.C. to ensure that these things are not happening here.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

A third piece is around new immigrants who come here who can’t get their accreditation recognized. We talk about supporting equal opportunity for all workers. There are a lot of new immigrants who come here. There are doctors. They are engineers. There are lawyers. But their education is not recognized when they come here. We have many things to address. Again, that was a piece that was recommended to the Human Rights Commissioner.

We’ve taken some steps to start to address these things. I think the single biggest piece is bringing back the Human Rights Commissioner, an independent body, the only independent Human Rights Commission in North America that can look at these critical issues. In my report to the Human Rights Commission, there was a recommendation that they look at these things. Whether they do or not, it’s probably up to them, but I know it’s critically important that we address that.

There are other things we can do and that we are doing. One of those is ensuring there’s diversity on boards. Board appointments that happen within the province of B.C. — that we have diversity on those boards so that critical lens is there. When conversations around accreditation and new immigrants are happening, that we have people from diverse views that can be at that table to say: “Hey, have you considered this? Have you thought about this?”

The last piece, I think, which I’m very proud of is diversity in hiring in government. It’s one thing to have boards, but to also have the new immigrant populations reflected in government…. It’s great to see now that we have that here reflected in this chamber, but we need to ensure that it’s reflected across the board.

With that, I want to thank the member for Chilliwack for bringing this motion. It was my pleasure to talk about supporting equal opportunity for all workers.

S. Thomson: I’m pleased to rise today as well to talk about the motion of supporting equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia brought forward by the member for Chilliwack. As he so clearly articulated in his opening comments, it is a fundamental principle for all workers in British Columbia and for all British Columbians to have this equal opportunity. That’s why it’s important to talk about this, this morning.

I’m surprised that the member for Nanaimo said she was surprised that in this context, we were going to talk about the community benefits agreement. This is something that so clearly works against that principle of equal opportunity for all, and the fact that she’s surprised that we’re talking about this, as I said, surprises me as well.

What we have is, unfortunately, the government pursuing and promoting an approach that is anything but equal opportunity for workers and for all British Columbians. Instead, they’re prioritizing payouts and benefits for their supporters that give them a competitive edge over hard-working British Columbians who have made the decision to uphold their own political beliefs, their own rights of association, their own work practices.

British Columbians expect to get the best deal for the taxpayer. Instead, the government’s support of their friends through the union benefits agreement is curtailing economic growth, raising the cost of basic projects and programs across British Columbia and stretching provincial resources to the limit.

[11:55 a.m.]

We’ve seen it before — it has been pointed out by other speakers — on projects such as the Island Highway project and current examples with the Kicking Horse Canyon, the Illecillewaet four-laning project and the Pattullo Bridge projects. They’re all looking at significant cost overruns as a result of the community benefits agreement.

In fact, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, CBAs are going to add up to $4.8 billion in additional labour costs to the provincial capital budget, the $25.6 billion capital budget. That’s an additional $4,000 per family, $4,000 that families could have used to help pay tuition fees, to help with hydro bills, to help pay their car insurance premiums — which, as we know, are going up, through this current government’s approach to ICBC rates — all of which have seen a dramatic rise in costs under this government.

The CBA was negotiated behind closed doors with the building trades unions and was given to the public in the 336-page project labour agreement, which mandates all sorts of additional costs. The irony of this is not lost on us, in terms of these agreements — they call them community benefits agreements — when families are going to have to fork over those additional dollars in order to support the union benefits agreement and the select group that are part of this union benefits agreement — 19 select unions. Now, 85 percent of workers in British Columbia have been disenfranchised by this approach. Clearly, it is not providing equal opportunity for all.

The principles that are so fundamental around providing this equal opportunity have really been compromised through this agreement. As long as this government maintains those processes over those economic practices, we’re going to see that unequal opportunity for workers in British Columbia.

I’m pleased to have been able to provide brief comments today in support of the motion brought forward by the mem­ber for Chilliwack.

S. Thomson moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. B. Ralston moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 11:57 a.m.