Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

MONEY LAUNDERING

B. D’Eith: For far too long, national and transnational criminal organizations have had a foothold in our province, using money laundering as a vehicle to access their ill-gotten gains. When the government took office in 2017, it immediately dug into this issue. I was shocked to learn about the massive scale and extent of the problem. It’s estimated that $7 billion in dirty money was laundered in British Columbia in 2018, and between $800 million and $5.3 billion of that was laundered through the real estate market.

Now, there have been a number of reports commissioned. There are three, two of which were carried out by Dr. Peter German. In June 2018, the government accepted, in principle, all 48 of Dr. German’s recommendations outlined in his first report, Dirty Money, which are being reviewed and actioned by the government in coordination with the B.C. Lottery Corp.

As of June 30, 2020, a total of 33, or 69 percent, of the 48 recommendations has been addressed. Nine, or 19 percent, of these recommendations must be addressed through legislation. An analysis of the remaining recommendations is ongoing.

The 33 fully addressed recommendations are in addition to the two interim recommendations that Dr. German provided in December of 2017, which have been fully implemented, one of which resulted in a significant drop in the number of suspicious transactions reported. The overall value of those suspicious transactions was down.

Government efforts remain focused on working on legislation to create the new independent gaming control office, a standards-based model and a review of the roles and responsibilities of the regulator and the BCLC. All other recommendations are being analyzed in a broader context of a provincial response to money laundering across all sectors.

Significant progress is being made on these issues. Between July 2015 and March 2020 — of course, casinos were closed due to COVID-19 — there has been a reduction in the number of suspicious transaction reports filed by the BCLC from a high of 187 in July 2015 to 25 in March 2020, representing a decline of 87 percent, and the value of suspicious transactions from $27.2 million to $237,783, a decline of 99 percent.

Of course, there’s a lot of work that has to be done with the federal government, and the government continues to call on the federal government to coordinate a strong response. In ongoing discussions with our federal partners, the government is advocating for amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act — it’s a mouthful; it’s to expand the numbers and types of entities that need to report to the financial tracking and reporting and analysis centre, well known as FINTRAC — and for increasing funding, expertise and coordination in the areas of investigation and enforcement of financial crimes.

[10:10 a.m.]

Of course, we all know that money laundering is not a victimless crime. It has driven up housing costs as much as 5 percent and has hurt hard-working B.C. families who are being pushed out of their communities. A vast majority of British Columbians work hard, they play by the rules, yet the dream of home ownership is still far out of reach for far too many in this province.

In one year since the introduction of the 30-point housing plan, government has taken the following actions to address tax fraud and close loopholes in the real estate market:

(1) introduced legislation to establish Canada’s first public registry of beneficial owners to put an end to the hidden ownership of real estate in British Columbia;

(2) established Canada’s first online register for presale condo sales to track assignments;

(3) updated the property transfer tax return to uncover beneficial owners behind corporate trusts;

(4) enacted legislation to allow information-sharing on the homeowner grant with federal tax officials to improve tax enforcement;

(5) strengthened the property transfer tax auditor’s ability to take action on tax evasion;

(6) implemented the speculation and vacancy tax which targets foreign ownership and satellite families who own real estate in the province, who pay little or no tax; and, of course,

(7) established a federal-provincial working group on tax fraud and money laundering.

Now, of course, the problem is also linked to the distribution of fentanyl and the overdose crisis, which has tragically taken the lives of so many people in our province. From January to August, 2017, fentanyl was detected in approximately 81 percent of illegal drug overdoses. These deaths are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, siblings, partners and friends that will never come back. While the government continues to combat this overdose crisis from a medical and a social point of view, it’s crucial that we put a stop to the flow of dirty money in our province.

In May of 2019, the government announced a public inquiry into money laundering in British Columbia so that British Columbians can get the answers they deserve. The commission, headed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen, is examining the extent, growth, evolution and methods of money laundering across several sectors of our economy, including real estate, gambling, financial institutions and corporate and professional sectors. It will also examine regulatory authorities and barriers to effective law enforcement of money laundering. The commission has actively been engaging with participants, witnesses, subject-matter experts and the public and has actually been able to pivot during COVID-19.

We believe it’s critical to restore British Columbia’s reputation and to ensure that B.C. is never again considered a safe haven for laundering of proceeds of crime. Wealthy criminals and those attempting to evade taxes have had the run of our province for far too long, and this problem has been able to fester. But as they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and by bringing this problem to light and launching an independent inquiry, we’re committing to stamping out this practice in our province.

The government is closing loopholes and enforcing improved laws to ensure British Columbians who actually play by the rules are rewarded and those who break the law face the appropriate consequences. To quote the May 2019 report, Combatting Money Laundering in B.C. Real Estate: “A society without the underpinning of the rule of law is a very precarious society.” We’re not close to this reality in British Columbia and Canada, but precautionary tales from other countries teach us that we should not take the rule of law and democracy that we have for granted.

M. Lee: This issue has certainly been a point of much discussion in recent years. The government has called a public inquiry and has been underway for some time. That is the place for this issue, without the type of interference in the manner just expressed. I do have some questions about why it has been chosen as a topic of discussion on this last Monday morning of the special legislative session. I have questions mainly because, more than any other issue, what is on the minds of British Columbians today is the challenge we all face with recovery.

How do we respond and recover from a global pandemic that has changed so much of our daily lives in just a few months? How do we make sure our families and communities are healthy, our economy rebounds and our children can continue their education safely? These are just some of the questions that weigh heavily on the minds of British Columbians and for which we need answers now.

This province needs to get our economy back on track. We have seen the collective progress made to date with public health efforts in the fight against COVID-19 here in B.C. We need to continue to remain ever vigilant, particularly in view of the recent spike of COVID-19 cases.

[10:15 a.m.]

We know that health measures are important to ensuring a strong economy. However, they alone cannot drive economic growth. We need to see this current government take real strides to grow our economy once again with new jobs. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. We have yet to see a true comprehensive economic recovery or jobs plan from this government, even though we are more than five months into this crisis. We are seeing the consequences of the lack of a plan. The unemployment rate in B.C. for July is 11.1 percent. With this rate, B.C. is now sixth in Canada, falling from first place before the current government came into office three years ago.

We have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, as unemployment in B.C. increased by more than 135 percent since January, compared to the rest of Canada where it has only increased by 88 percent. Youth unemployment in B.C. is up 230 percent since January, nearly twice the amount as the rest of Canada, which is up 119 percent over the same period. Thousands of businesses have had to close down. Tourism is struggling. Even before the pandemic, we lost over 30,000 jobs in the eight months prior to the outbreak, largely in the resource sector.

While everyone has felt their lives shift because of COVID-19, there are also so many other pressing challenges in our province that need to be addressed quickly.

Thousands of British Columbians are struggling with skyrocketing strata insurance premiums, with the disproportionate impact on seniors and those on fixed incomes. They’re seeing their deductibles and premiums increase, sometimes by more than 800 percent. The government’s recently introduced legislation involves more consultations and delayed action and does not provide the immediate relief that is needed now to help condo and townhome owners across our province.

Additionally, we are continuing to face another crisis in mental health and addictions, with both the opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. We are seeing profound and growing need for mental health and addictions support. Supportive housing projects in communities throughout British Columbia are failing because the supports that are needed are just not there. People are not getting the help they need to get well, and communities are feeling the effects.

Businesses are experiencing spikes in crime, and residents are now fearful in their neighbourhoods where they once felt safe. This is putting even greater stress on communities that are already overwhelmed trying to deal with the impacts of COVID-19.

Stress is also now heightened in discussions about going back to school. We recently heard the back-to-school announcement from the government, which has raised significant concerns. Teachers, parents and students are all experiencing significant stress and anxiety at the thought of returning to school full-time in the fall, and this needs to be addressed and understood. British Columbians deserve a clear, comprehensive and safe back-to-school plan that takes into account the needs of all those involved.

There are so many challenges and issues for our province that need to be addressed right now, and British Columbians are looking to all members of this House for leadership. On this, the last Monday of our legislative session during the middle of a pandemic, it is not the time for political posturing. This is the time to be debating and discussing measures to help everyone in our province recover and rebuild so that B.C. is able to continue to grow and thrive in the future.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member. Again, the Chair would like to remind all members that the first hour is always supposed to be and should be non-partisan.

The member for Maple Ridge–Mission will continue.

B. D’Eith: I find it fascinating the member for Vancouver-Langara refused to even comment on the money-laundering crisis that we’re facing in this province, especially given the fact that we have a second public health crisis in this province, which the opposition has brought up many times, in regards to the opioid crisis, and money laundering is a very, very profound and big part of that. So I find it fascinating that the member chose to ignore the topic entirely in his response.

It’s essential, in our view, that B.C. never again be considered a safe haven for the profits of organized crime. For too long, people trying to evade taxes and wealthy criminals felt they could launder dirty money in our province with impunity. Of course, this has a profound impact on the opioid crisis.

Money laundering exacerbates the housing crisis, as well, in our province, making life harder for British Columbians and the B.C. community. So if we’re talking about recovery, we’ve got to talk about housing. Housing in our province needs to be provided for safe housing for our families in our communities, not to serve as a laundromat for illicit funds. I know we’re all committed to making sure that criminal money doesn’t push B.C. families out of their communities.

[10:20 a.m.]

Money laundering also compounded the overdose crisis, as I said, and we need to address the overdose crisis with compassion, but with an approach grounded in medical evidence. We’re also committed to cracking down on the proceeds of drug trafficking, which has done so much harm in our communities. We’re making progress on combating money laundering.

Dr. Peter German’s report Dirty Money brought to light a critical discussion on how we can prevent criminal proceeds from infesting our society. Knowledge is power, and thanks to Dr. German and other experts who have carefully studied this issue, we now know the scope of this challenge and what steps need to be taken to address it. As of June 2020, 69 percent of the recommendations of Dr. German’s report have been addressed. The number of suspicious transactions have declined with BCLC by 87 percent in the past years.

I want to, again, bring attention to the important warning from May 2019, the report from 2019. The rule of law in British Columbia is still strong, thankfully, but lessons from around the world can and should caution us that if left unchecked, criminal elements can threaten the rule of law and democracy, especially during a crisis.

We must be vigilant. We can never take these institutions for granted. Democracy and the rule of law are so important. We, on this side of the House, are committed to defending them.

CLEAN ENERGY

E. Ross: On behalf of the riding of Skeena, I’m honoured to move the following statement this morning, entitled “Clean energy.”

B.C. is blessed when it comes to clean energy, especially when we talk about hydroelectricity and natural gas. When you look at the history, B.C. has proven that the environment and resource development are not mutually exclusive. So 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the W.A.C. Bennett dam. Fifty-one years later LNG Canada announced its $40 billion final investment decision on their project to ship B.C. LNG to Asia.

In these two historic achievements, we also have to remember the basics of supply and demand, and more importantly, the foresight to plan for clean energy usage around the world, not just here in B.C. There’s no doubt that the W.A.C. Bennett dam kept B.C. emissions down for 50 years while keeping consumer rates at the fifth-lowest in North America. But at the same time, we have to realize that W.A.C. Bennett dam was built for a population of 1.8 million people.

Today our population has grown to 5 million and growing. The demand keeps growing, and not just in B.C. Demand keeps growing for energy all across the world, especially in countries who want the same standard of living and opportunity that we have enjoyed here in the west for decades. So now it is our turn to plan for the future to provide energy for the next generation.

We’ve taken the first steps in this regard with the construction of Site C. The construction of LNG Canada’s natural gas project can only ensure that B.C. takes its place in the world in the push to reduce emissions while feeding the demand for energy worldwide.

Hydro power still provides the majority of clean energy to consumers. In the case of B.C., 90 percent of what we use comes from hydroelectricity, as compared to worldwide use at 16 percent. The critics who say that Site C is not needed right now are ignoring the simple fact that the W.A.C. Bennett dam wasn’t built for five million people. It was built for 1.8 million people.

As large hydro dams have a lifetime of 50 to 100 years, we are not the ones to definitively say what the energy need will be in the year 2120. We can only predict based on our past that energy demand will always be there, and world populations will continue to grow.

As for natural gas, we can still include natural gas to meet current and future demand here in B.C. by transitioning our remote communities from diesel-generated electricity to natural gas. This would not only reduce emissions but also reduce the environmental impacts that come from a diesel spill on our west coast and inland waters, which is a reality.

The alternatives for clean energy are not in our best interests as British Columbians. The United States currently runs 90 nuclear reactors in 30 different states. It may be carbon free, but I have never heard of British Columbians screaming for us to use nuclear power over our hydroelectricity or natural gas. The United States also generates 23.5 percent of its electricity from burning coal. It’s interesting, though, to note that the United States’ reduction of emissions is due mainly to transitioning from coal-generated electricity to natural gas, not from shutting down the electricity plants.

[10:25 a.m.]

In considering all of this, it makes no sense for British Columbia to become energy-reliant on the United States through the North American grid, especially when we have clean sources of energy already in our natural gas deposits, the W.A.C. Bennett dam and the future Site C dam.

We already have the highest environmental standards in the world, but we also have to consider the economic growth that comes from our efforts to produce our own energy, which we can now proudly say includes First Nations in almost every aspect, including the W.A.C. Bennett dam. Yet we need more projects like Site C, LNG Canada and Chevron’s KM LNG project, which not only provide energy for future British Columbians but also make for a stronger B.C. overall, as well as helping the world problem of emissions.

D. Routley: Thank you to the member for his motion, his statement and his presentation. I appreciate that and his experience with the issue as a community leader in a region that’s developing these resources.

I would 100 percent agree with the member that a commitment to clean energy is beyond simply a benefit. It’s essential, when we consider our legislative commitments to reducing carbon output in this province. So I’m pleased that he would, by his presentation, agree that insisting that B.C. Hydro move to a 100 percent clean energy standard is, in fact, the appropriate and best thing to do.

Right now hydro is essentially 98 percent clean energy. It’s required to be 93 percent clean energy, but it is, in fact, 98 percent. Moving to 100 percent would have B.C. Hydro access other markets for electricity, but only clean electricity, which is not currently the case. So this would require that B.C. Hydro buy clean energy but also answer our number one priority for the provision of energy in this province — that is, that it’s most affordable to the citizens of British Columbia at the same time as achieving these environmental goals.

The suggestion that we would be energy-reliant, I think, is…. That’s where we would have a point of debate. In fact, B.C. Hydro is acting in the best interests of British Columbia in getting the very best price for electricity and, at the same time, moving ourselves and the rest of North America towards a cleaner standard.

We do not exist in a vacuum in British Columbia. The attempt to have a self-sufficiency standard in British Columbia led to exorbitant fees being paid for electricity over very long periods of time in order to answer what is, essentially, a false requirement. We are a part of the grid. We do provide energy into the grid when it benefits us, and we take energy out of the grid when required, always with the notion that we would make a profit in doing that and hand that profit to British Columbians in the form of lower energy prices.

That’s the way British Columbia operated for years, in that we were, in fact, a net importer of energy but made hundreds of millions of dollars in doing that because we have the flexibility, given our dams, to run them when the prices are high and to buy off the grid when the prices are low. That only makes sense.

I know the member represents a party that takes pride in nominating itself to be a business-conscious enterprise, so I assume that he will agree that that’s the best route for British Columbia, for B.C. Hydro: that we provide the cheapest possible energy while achieving our clean energy goals and protecting the generation and capacity for future generations. That’s exactly what we’re attempting to do with Bill 17 and the other measures that have been taken to improve B.C. Hydro and to meet our legislated climate goals.

E. Ross: Thank you to the member for the response.

[10:30 a.m.]

It contradicts the whole idea of energy reliance, when we’re saying that we’re part of the North American grid, that we’re going to buy power from the United States, which actually generates electricity from coal and nuclear power plants, while actually excluding clean energy sources in B.C., especially in a time when First Nations are stepping up to the plate to develop their own clean energy projects. And now we’re talking about: “No, we’re going to buy power off the North American energy grid.”

Minor projects, as well, can actually add value to current initiatives that, in turn, create more spinoffs to provide jobs and training opportunities. That’s what clean energy provides, whether it be natural gas, Site C or even the W.A.C. Bennett dam.

For example, the Olefins $5.6 billion petrochemical plant out of McLeod Lake proposed to include an ethylene derivatives plant and a natural gas recovery system. This is a spinoff from the natural gas pipeline, and it actually leads the manufacturing. Given that other jurisdictions around the world don’t have the same environmental or work standards as we have in Canada, it would be a shame to see these plastics being developed elsewhere, especially when we consider the plastics that are being used for the air industry and the car industry, especially when we all agree we should be looking to develop more manufacturing opportunities and capabilities here in B.C.

Top Speed and similar projects are also looking to export natural gas, but they’re also keen to help remote communities by transitioning them from diesel-generated electricity to natural gas. I’ve already mentioned how this does get rid of the impact of an environmental spill, which we have seen for decades on the west coast of B.C., whether we’re talking about fishing boats or barges carrying diesel.

We have the BitCrude proposed for Prince Rupert that proposes to export crude oil as a solid in container ships to complement, not replace, current pipelines and tanker methods. We have proposals to ship methanol to Asia — clean, B.C. methanol — because right now Asia is supplying their own needs for methanol through coal.

Of course, we can’t ignore projects like Pacific Traverse Energy, Cedar LNG, Woodfibre, Chevron’s KM LNG. We can’t ignore this, especially at our time of need in this COVID crisis when we’re all looking to develop an economy and come out even stronger than what we were before this crisis. Chevron LNG, in its plans to export 18 million tonnes, will provide more spinoffs like what we’re seeing in Terrace right now — Progressive Ventures’ inland port to service Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Stewart.

They’re all spinoffs. They provide tremendous value, in terms of jobs and opportunity, as well as complementing our clean energy needs.

INNOVATION TO ADDRESS
CLIMATE CHANGE

R. Glumac: Usually, at this point, I would say that I’m standing in the House to speak. But, of course, I’m not in the House, and I’m not standing. I’m speaking from my home. It’s one of the changes we’ve all had to make in these challenging times.

As Parliamentary Secretary for Technology, I come across change every day, in the way of innovation. Many companies right here in B.C. are the architects of change as they are coming up with new ways of doing things — more efficient, or cleaner, or cheaper, or simply better ways of doing things. The tech sector in B.C. is world-class. It has the potential to grow even more and become a major part of our economy.

As we discuss economic recovery, I often hear about the role the tech sector will play in that recovery. I’ve been hosting economic round tables with stakeholders in the tech sector over the last few months. One message I’m hearing loud and clear is this: the pandemic is our opportunity to recreate the B.C. economy to be an economy of the future that embraces innovation and is cleaner, greener and more sustainable.

The challenges we are facing today, individually and throughout the economy, are enormous. At the same time, we can’t forget the other crisis that will become increasingly impossible to ignore — the climate crisis. It hasn’t gone away.

Economic opportunity and climate action go hand in hand, and I believe that the Burrard Thermal lands are the prime location to unlock these opportunities, to nurture innovation, to create jobs and help rebuild the economy and to make advances in clean energy and clean technology that could make a significant impact on climate change. Because that’s what we need to do. We need to explore all options when it comes to fighting climate change — all options.

[10:35 a.m.]

Scientists have been warning about the importance of limiting the warming of our planet to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Why is 1.5 degrees so critical? It’s because above this temperature, there are certain tipping points that may cause temperatures to rise much more significantly. This is the challenge of climate change: the crisis is in the future, but the action needs to be taken now.

After 1.5 degrees, the Antarctic ice sheets are at risk of melting. The West Antarctic ice sheet, which has already started melting, holds enough ice to cause sea levels to rise 3.3 metres. That’s just one source of sea level rise. Part of the East Antarctic ice sheet is also melting, which could contribute another four metres to sea level rise. The Greenland ice sheet could contribute seven metres of sea level rise. Once these ice sheets start melting, they will continue melting. That is why it’s called the tipping point.

This is only one of many tipping points. After 1.5 degrees Celsius, there will be further thawing of permafrost in the north, which will release more greenhouse gases from carbon-rich soils. Adding more carbon into the atmosphere will further increase global temperatures, another tipping point.

The drying out of the Amazon rainforest. The shifting of ocean currents in the Atlantic, causing massive changes to Europe’s temperatures. The dying off of coral reefs all over the world. The loss of fisheries. The shifting and strengthening of monsoons in Africa and Asia. The shifting of boreal forests, with the increased dying of trees, will actually cause these forests to emit more carbon than they absorb. Once these things start happening, there is no magical way to make them stop.

The only way to stop is to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius. It will take a massive effort to do that. Even if all countries acted on their pledges to reduce emissions as part of the Paris Agreement, scientists estimate that the warming will still continue to rise by more than 3 degrees Celsius. Without significant action, our children will inherit a world that is nothing like the world we live in today. The only way we can actually achieve a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is to stop these tipping points from being triggered.

I believe we can’t do that without some sort of transformative technology. That’s what we need. That’s one of the reasons why the Burrard Thermal lands are so important. The Burrard Thermal generating plant was shut down in 2016 under the previous government. It wasn’t decommissioned in a way that would allow it to be restarted. So the question has been: what do we do with these lands?

For some time, I could see the potential for this site to be utilized to foster clean tech innovation, specifically around fighting climate change. My conversations with industry and with local constituents confirmed that there is significant interest in this possibility. There is no site like this in B.C. It’s an ideal location for cutting-edge clean tech innovation.

Let’s move forward. Let’s embrace these opportunities and lead the world in the fight against climate change.

P. Milobar: It gives me pleasure to rise to speak to innovation to address the climate change. It’s unfortunate that in that six-minute preamble, innovation was mentioned for about 35 seconds. So let me take this opportunity to maybe speak about innovation. Although Burrard Thermal lands are an interesting piece to a puzzle, potentially, it is a little disturbing that that seems to be the only idea around innovation as it stands today.

I say that because there are a great many other projects in this province that need the help and the support of governments provincially, federally and municipally to try to advance and make sure they are on the cutting edge of innovation. Of course we are going to need innovation to address climate change. By the very nature of the definition of “innovation,” that’s exactly what it would speak to. So it is, I guess, a very obvious or redundant statement that we are having here today.

[10:40 a.m.]

When you look at the Burrard Thermal lands — again, an interesting concept — it’s interesting that both this speaker and the previous speaker from the government side seem to be referencing back to Bill 17, a bill that has actually been pulled by the government because they did not have the supports to move it forward. The Burrard Thermal lands are part of Bill 17, as well as what we were hearing about clean energy and First Nations reliance on clean energy projects. So I would suggest that we are a long ways off from trying to advance anything with Burrard Thermal lands.

In the meantime, we have a great number of technology companies out there trying to do great work on the innovation side of climate change. What they are missing is a competitive environment to stay within British Columbia. I would hope that instead of fixating on a piece of land that will take years and years and years to move forward with as a Crown, we would not hold all innovation back, as the member previous seems to be indicating that everything is hitched to the Burrard Thermal lands.

There is technology being developed across British Columbia. What those companies need, what those companies require, is a competitive tax regime, not one that has seen 23 taxes added to or increased or brought in new to their cost structure when they’re trying to compete with other areas around intellectual capacity within their workforces.

It simply is not feasible to try to attract high-end skilled workforces when you have personal tax rates brought in that would make us one of the highest taxed jurisdictions in North America. Innovative companies will not be locating in British Columbia, not because of a lack of land to develop their factory or their processes on. It will be because they are simply uncompetitive to attract labour, to attract the skill sets required from those people, from the highly educated workforces that would be required for innovation companies.

So those types of cost pressures…. The ever-increasing employer health tax is another example of cost pressures that will make these innovative companies…. They are very dependent on intellectual minds to come in and actually do the work. They can do that from anywhere in the world on the research side, on the innovative, cutting-edge side. They do not need the Burrard Thermal lands to be tied up in a process over the next five or six years to try to remove it out of Crown possession.

What they need, in the very short term, in the very immediate term, is an actually truly competitive environment where they can go out and compete with other jurisdictions around the world and attract that workforce into British Columbia to help guide us to the next wave of what innovation can do to help combat climate change.

Without that piece…. You can have all the pieces of land you want sitting around. People will not come. We heard from the member for Skeena all of the great innovative things going on in the northern reaches of the province. They did not require the Burrard Thermal lands to be able to do that. Perhaps the member is unaware that this is a big, vast province with lots of land opportunities for companies to invest in, to actually locate in. It doesn’t all have to be centred on the Burrard Thermal lands.

What we need to do is support the existing technology companies that are out there making a real difference and make sure they stay in British Columbia and expand in British Columbia, not drive them out of British Columbia because of a repetitive, ever-increasing, oppressive tax regime that we are seeing come forward right now. So those 23 increased taxes, the highest personal taxes in the nation, are not a way to keep driving forward for innovation.

R. Glumac: B.C. has a world-class clean tech sector. We have nearly 300 clean tech companies, employing over 16,000 people, and it’s been growing every year. B.C. is home to a quarter of the clean tech companies in Canada. Seven of these were on the Global Cleantech top 100, which lists the top companies in the world with the most innovative and promising ideas in clean technology. These are companies that focus on everything from clean energy generation to clean transportation to electricity transmission and carbon capture and storage.

New companies are entering into this space every day, with the help of provincially funded clean tech business accelerators like Foresight. A breakthrough in this sector could have a transformative impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. To prove out these technologies and scale up ideas, industrial spaces such as those in the Burrard Thermal lands, with access to ports and clean, high-voltage electricity, can make a big difference in moving towards a breakthrough.

[10:45 a.m.]

Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight Cleantech Accelerator, has been spearheading a provincewide clean tech cluster initiative for B.C. She sees a centre of clean tech innovation at a place like the Burrard Thermal lands as a place where technology, people and resources can come together in a collaborative way. She says: “Our vision for B.C. is to become a world leader in the clean tech industry, estimated to be worth $2.5 trillion in the next two years. To do that, we must provide much-needed space to innovate and be willing to invest in larger-scale projects.”

In the context of the economic challenges that we are facing because of a global pandemic, it’s critical that we capitalize on the strengths that we have here in B.C. CleanBC is a strength. A world-leading clean tech sector is a strength. An abundance of clean electricity is a strength. We are well positioned to jump-start a green economy here in this province. Let’s build on our strengths and make that happen.

ECONOMIC PLAN FOR B.C.

J. Martin: It’s very good to be here today. This is my first time in the Legislature since February. I had an opportunity to visit downtown last night, and I was reminded of a lyric in a Tom Waits song: “It felt lonelier than a parking lot when the last car pulls away.” Seeing all of the establishments near empty was very, very uncomfortable. That will segue into what I’m about to speak to, and that’s the immediate need for an economic plan for B.C.

Week after week, we’ve been stressing the importance of an economic plan, a plan to help revive the staggering economy during this challenging time, a plan to foster the conditions for job creation. Many businesses, under the provincial health order, had to close or limit operations to help flatten the curve and help the community become safer.

British Columbians have risen to the challenges posed by the biggest health crisis in our province’s history. We can’t just forget about their sacrifices. Now these businesses need every opportunity available to keep their doors open or to reopen. These people need jobs to keep a roof over their heads, to feed their families. We’ve stepped into August, along with the concern about a second wave of infection. B.C.’s unemployment rate remains above 11 percent.

We used to be the province with the lowest unemployment rate in Canada, something that we were all very proud of. Well, that’s not the case anymore. Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians have been and remain out of work. Many businesses are struggling and on the edge of shutting down for good. Families are hurting. Women and youth are particularly hit hard. The most vulnerable are the most affected.

People are facing a huge challenge. What they want from the government is a plan to help them get back on their feet. The business community throughout the province has spoken up time and time again. Over 1,400 member businesses from groups including the Business Council of B.C., the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and the B.C. Chamber of Commerce are calling for a bold and long-term recovery plan.

What do they think of the current restart plan? Forty-seven percent of the businesses were not confident. One in ten of them expect temporary or permanent closure. Nearly 60 percent of them anticipate layoffs or cutting workers’ hours.

This is the time we need to stay sensitive to the vulnerability of these struggling businesses. Val Litwin, with the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, said: “Governments must keep focused on delivering their recovery plans swiftly.”

Businesses want a bold economic recovery plan. It’s incomprehensible how British Columbia has done better than any other jurisdiction in combating the pandemic, thanks to health officials, but our economy recovery has fared far worse.

Why is B.C. falling behind other provinces? Alberta put out a plan in June to create jobs, build infrastructure and diversify their economy. Ontario rolled out a plan in July to attract investment, cut red tape and modernize services. By not having an economic plan, B.C. is losing its competitiveness with other jurisdictions in Canada and globally. British Columbians deserve more.

[10:50 a.m.]

Unfortunately, here in July, we heard the province faces a $12.5 billion deficit, the biggest fiscal catastrophe in our history. Now, five months after the announcement of a $5 billion economic response plan, the only thing that’s really clear is that there’s an online survey. What will that survey do? Well, we would hope that, at least, it means listening to what different communities have to say. That may be a bit optimistic.

In July, 21 business and industry groups representing thousands of small businesses and employers urged the government to do no harm and set aside any measures that increase costs, add to the regulatory burden or create further uncertainty for employers.

To be clear, from calling for a recovery plan to calling on the government to do no harm, that’s the business community literally begging policy-makers to not add insult to injury. All employers are already experiencing higher operational costs due to the extra measures needed to ensure safety — this, while revenues decline. The last thing they need right now is any policy that would put jobs at further risk or pile more costs on small businesses.

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C., said: “The government has largely carried on with its pre-pandemic policy agenda, which paved the way for increased tax and regulatory burdens for most businesses and higher payroll taxes for employers.” The business community wants to see a change of direction from policy-makers to kick-start economic recovery and make British Columbia a top-ranked jurisdiction for new private sector investment and entrepreneurial activity.

We are calling for an economic plan that takes into consideration the voices, the suggestions and the ideas of different groups, including small business, that represent 98 percent of all businesses in B.C. Many of these businesses will not survive without an economic plan in place very soon.

R. Kahlon: Thank you to my colleague from Chilliwack for his remarks. I, too, look forward to being over in Victoria in the coming days. I appreciate the sentiment around not seeing the normal amount of people that you would see and how troubling that can be, especially because I was born and raised in Victoria.

There are a few comments that I want to make regarding economic recovery. I think that foremost to that is that the economic recovery and health care measures cannot be disconnected. You cannot have a proper economic recovery with the situation that we’re dealing with — COVID — without having the health component be a central piece of that. I’ve heard some members of the Legislature — in fact, from the opposition — mention the separation between the two. But I don’t think there’s an economic leader — anyone from the business community to the non-profit community — or any political leader, other than maybe perhaps some here, who has made that frame that you can separate the two. In fact, we need them to be connected.

I’ve had the opportunity to have hosted many round tables in the last few weeks. I’ve had a chance to talk with business leaders about what they would like to see as part of the economic recovery. In fact, I know that some are frustrated that we didn’t just roll out a plan ourselves without talking to people, but it’s important to hear from people about what they want to see in part of the economic recovery.

I think what jumped out at me from those conversations are three main themes. First is climate change. I think there is an understanding that when we’re dealing with one crisis that the world is dealing with, we should not neglect the other crisis that the world should be dealing with. Here we have an opportunity to address both economic recovery with addressing our climate change targets. I know that CleanBC is a model for all jurisdictions in North America. I’m very proud of the work that’s being done there.

We have an opportunity, I think, to really move that along to ensure that we can meet our targets — so both address climate change and put people back to work. I think of a company in my community called Hydra, which I just had a chance to tour, which is doing just that — creating jobs and looking to make massive investments in B.C. They do it here because they know that the government is serious about climate change. So it’s a very important step.

[10:55 a.m.]

The second one that jumped out at me is around in­novation. It’s everywhere. I see the member from Port Moody, who often talks about innovation and how important it is for his residents in his community. I can say that it’s been a consistent theme that’s been raised. As we come out of this COVID crisis, we must embrace innovation. Whether that’s mass timber, which is a triple-word score: creating good jobs in B.C., addressing climate change and also enhancing innovation for our construction and development community…. I think there are tons of examples around innovation in the tech sector that we need to enhance.

I think the last thing I’ve heard clearly from people is that we can’t forget about people. You know, it’s easier to think about numbers and stats, but people are struggling. When the tide comes out, as it did with COVID, you see the challenges that we have in society become more glaringly obvious. In fact, they actually step up a lot more than we even can imagine.

I think of mental health, for example, and how many people are affected by COVID when it comes to mental health. Again, we can’t separate one, a health outcome, from economic recovery. We need to think of those as one, and that’s what COVID has taught us.

What also — the member just mentioned it — jumped out at me was around who is impacted by COVID. We’ve seen a disproportionate amount of effect on women of colour. The average job loss was 9.2 percent for women, and South Asian women were 20.4 percent; Arab women, 20.3 percent; Black women, 18.6 percent. So it’s critical that when we think of economic recovery, we think of those people who are greatly affected.

I look forward to continuing this conversation. I know the member and I can continue this for hours, but I look forward to hearing his thoughts.

J. Martin: Thank you to the member for Delta North for that commentary.

What I’d like to do in the time I have left is talk about some of the suggestions that my colleagues have made to the government since the beginning of the pandemic.

We have proposed more than 68 commonsense solutions to help small businesses, including help with funding to provide access to personal protective equipment, to ensure employee and customer safety and boost consumer confidence.

It’s the responsibility of the government and employers to invest in and to provide what’s necessary to maintain a safe workplace. To achieve that, it’s critical to ensure that B.C. workers compensation system is committed to being financially stable and sustainable over the long term, especially in the middle of a pandemic with so much uncertainty in our midst.

This system is funded by premiums paid by employers, many of which are struggling right now. That’s why we propose giving refunds to employers from the WorkSafeBC surplus for the cost of PPE up to a maximum of 30 percent of the premiums that they’ve paid, since WorkSafeBC will see reduced claims this year.

Maintaining safety and healthy workplaces is essential to restoring economic activity while keeping employees as safe as possible. This is just one of the many proposals to enable businesses of all sizes to restart, to reinvest, to rehire. In addition, we also propose broader economic actions such as a temporary PST relief. Similarly, the business council released a 31-page economic recovery plan, Stronger Tomorrow, Starting Today, on July 29 with a number of recommendations, including PST relief to spur consumer spending, improving conditions for hiring and private sector investment, adding child care spaces and fast-tracking projects like the Massey Tunnel replacement.

The government has set aside $1.5 billion to fund economic recovery, but this money has been sitting idle for the most part. No decisions have been made. Actions have yet to be taken. The challenges our province is facing won’t simply go away. We’ve seen other provinces respond and adapt to the new reality with concrete economic plans. We can’t afford an economic free fall. We need an economic plan for B.C. right now.

Hon. H. Bains: I ask the House to consider proceeding with Motion 10 standing in the name of the member for Surrey–Green Timbers.

[11:00 a.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Hon. Members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 10 without disturbing the priorities of the motions preceding it on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 10 — EQUITABLE ECONOMY

R. Singh: It is my honour to move the motion:

[Be it resolved that this House agree that governments should work to build an equitable economy for all — not just the wealthy few.]

We all know that for far too long in our province, only the wealthy few at the top benefited, while good opportunities became further out of reach for most.

[S. Gibson in the chair.]

People deserve to have an economy and governments that work for them, not one that will take the benefits of their hard work and give it to the top 2 percent while making it harder to get by, year after year. For far too long in this province, we had a government that…. For that government, economic opportunity really only meant opportunity for those at the top.

For 16 years, that government was giving billions in tax cuts to the richest people while the average British Columbian was suffering. They increased hydro rates, ICBC premiums and ferry fares. They tripled tuition fees and doubled MSP fees. They put steep tolls on key commuter bridges where transit options don’t exist and did nothing while the price of housing and rent went through the roof.

They refused to make investments that would benefit everyone in B.C. The minimum wage in British Columbia was kept low, disproportionately affecting women and immigrant workers. Health care wages were rolled back due to privatization. Educational opportunities and skills training were all but eliminated. Not enough investments were made in affordable housing and child care. Short-sighted and mean-spirited policies kept too many people stuck in an endless cycle of poverty.

I’m so glad that now we have a government that is committed to shared prosperity for everyone in B.C. Before COVID-19, we were making progress on the things that people care about. People are the economy. We’ll build B.C. back stronger, so everyone has a good job and a secure future.

This government is working towards economic recovery around everyday people, not just the richest 2 percent — helping people get the training and education they need to get good jobs and building infrastructure like roads, mass transit and bridges that will boost the economy and create good jobs. This government is also continuing to manage COVID-19 to help our economy build back stronger.

The government has a vision for a strong, sustainable economy that provides good-paying jobs and quality public services for people and provides businesses with the opportunities they need to compete and thrive in the marketplace. Also, in the current government, people’s wages are finally starting to grow. They were up 4.4 percent in 2019 after years of stagnating under the previous government.

Now is not the time to turn back the clock. Let’s keep building a better B.C.

M. Hunt: To create an economy that is equitable for all means that opportunities must be available for everyone. This means an economy that is strong, that is creating jobs and that is providing a real sense of future for British Columbians. This is something that we all want in this province and, certainly, in our own communities.

The past few months dealing with the pandemic have really equalized the playing field, as we all, regardless of the factors that sometimes separate us, were brought together in this mutual struggle. With that have come catastrophic job losses, economic fallout and the challenge that we’re all facing — what to do in the face of such difficulties. Now more than ever there’s a need for a recovery plan, a direction forward that creates opportunities through meaningful economic stimulus and expansion.

[11:05 a.m.]

We have seen how many small businesses have been shuttered in the wake of COVID-19, and it is clear that those numbers may only get worse. So I would hope that this government is doing everything in its power to ensure that everyone is able to be a part of this economy. But there are those situations where an attempt for providing equitable access to some means demonstrably alienating others.

Let me give you an example of this. The first of three phases of the long-awaited Salmon Arm west highway expansion project went to tender in June, three years behind schedule and now projected to cost British Columbians an additional $40 million, or 34 percent more than what was previously estimated. The reason: the NDP’s community benefits agreement structure.

The NDP’s stated goal is to ensure increased hiring of locals, women and First Nations on these major projects, which is great in theory. However, under the guise of this being all about equal opportunities, the CBA structure actually denies economic opportunities to over 85 percent of B.C.’s construction workers, because if prospective bidders do not want to join one of the NDP’s handpicked unions, they simply aren’t able to compete on the projects.

How is this equitable? How is this an opportunity for all British Columbians to get equitable access to these opportunities? To me, this system is laden with hypocrisies and is frankly poor financial management.

Vaughn Palmer highlighted recently that under the NDP’s watch, the combined budgets of four Trans-Canada Highway projects under the CBA format have increased about 30 percent. They have gone from $875 million to $1.13 billion. If the goal is an equitable economy, then these opportunities should not be hidden behind a series of members-only hoops that people have to jump through in order to get the favour of this government. In this case, the NDP is, in fact, making it harder for British Columbians to find meaningful employment, and it’s costing millions to do so.

Now, it’s one thing to preach about an equitable economy, but it’s quite another to actually put it into practice and do it. Now, I hope this government can find that balance. But given their actions and the costly hypocrisies that we have seen demonstrated by this government, I don’t think it’s possible. You see, government’s job is to make opportunities available to all, not to pick winners and losers.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we see. We see a government that is making opportunities, yes, for their friends and insiders, and everybody else is on the outside.

J. Brar: I’m very pleased to support the motion introduced today by the hon. member for Surrey–Green Timbers “that this House agree that governments should work to build an equitable economy for all — not just the wealthy few.”

People deserve to have an economy and government that works for them, not one that will take the benefits of their hard work and give it to the top 2 percent, as the B.C. Liberals did. For 16 years the B.C. Liberals forced hard-working British Columbians to pay more while giving billions and billions in tax cuts to rich people, under their watch. They forced the people of Surrey and other areas to pay tolls on the Port Mann Bridge. The member who, just before me, was speaking, is also from Surrey, and he knows about it.

They doubled the MSP, costing $467 more for individuals and $933 more for a family. They increased hydro rates, ICBC premiums, ferry fares and tripled the tuition fees for our students. As a direct result of B.C. Liberals’ bad choices, B.C. became the province with the second-highest income inequality in the country, according to Statistics Canada data.

[11:10 a.m.]

B.C. had the highest rate of poverty for the working poor, according to a report by CCPA. Under the B.C. Liberals, Metro Vancouver had the worst housing affordability ever in Canada in history. Clearly, they refused to make investments that would benefit everyone in B.C.

The minimum wage in B.C. was kept low to support their rich friends. Health care wages were rolled back due to privatization. Educational opportunities and skill training were all but eliminated. Not enough investments were made in affordable housing and child care.

Now the Leader of the Opposition is planning, once again, big tax breaks to those at the top at a time when people can least afford it. They plan to bring back MSP to pay for the tax cuts to the rich. They will cut health care and seniors care, and that will weaken our system when we need it the most. They will cut education and child care, hurting our kids and reducing opportunities for people to get ahead. For 16 years, the B.C. Liberals helped their wealthy friends but did nothing for everyone else. They will do the same again.

Our government is fully committed to shared prosperity for everyone in B.C. Before COVID-19, we were making progress on the things people care about. We eliminated MSP — the largest middle-class tax reduction in a generation. Elimination of MSP premiums combined with the new B.C. child opportunity benefit would mean that a family of four earning $80,000 will have their provincial taxes reduced by up to 43 percent in just three years.

People are the economy. We will build an economic recovery around everyday people — not just the richest 2 percent, as the Liberals did — by helping people get the training and education they need to get good jobs, by building infrastructure, like roads and mass transit and bridges. That will boost the economy and create good jobs.

We will continue to manage COVID-19 to help our economy build back stronger. We have a vision for a strong, sustainable economy that provides good-paying jobs and quality public services for people and provides businesses with the opportunities they need to compete and thrive in the global marketplace.

Let us not turn back the clock. It’s not the time to turn back the clock. Let us keep building a better B.C. for everyone.

T. Redies: I’m pleased to stand for what will be my last five-minute statement in the House.

Now, clearly, we want to build an equitable economy for all. It’s not only the right thing to do; if we don’t make sure all people can reach their optimal potential, the economy in turn does not reach its full potential.

We must ensure that women can be full participants in the workforce and are able to make their highest contribution with equal pay and benefits and access to opportunities. For much of my career, sadly, women have typically been paid only three-quarters of what men are paid for the same work. This must stop.

That’s why I’m disappointed that my colleague from Surrey South’s private member’s bill, the Equal Pay Reporting Act, has not been brought forward for debate or received support by this government. This is a step to fill the gender pay gap, to make businesses accountable for equality in the workplace, and it’s an appropriate instrument for a more equitable economy. This bill has now been introduced twice, yet it still languishes on the order paper.

It’s also important that new immigrants and people from First Nations communities can reach their full potential. For too long, we’ve seen First Nations communities living generations in poverty and immigrants unable to use their education here in Canada. This must also stop.

Access to education and high-paying private sector jobs represent the best way out for those living in poverty. I believe in investing in education at all levels and making sure that every child in this province has the skills and the support to thrive in the 21st century, whether they are children of First Nations communities, immigrant families, diverse abilities or affluent families.

[11:15 a.m.]

This is not only the right thing to do; it is in all our interests, as a community, province and country. Other than health care, I’m hard pressed to find a single more important role for government. It’s probably where my own and the current government’s philosophy are most aligned.

Where we differ, however, is the belief in the need for job creation and opportunity to be led by the private, not the public, sector. Why do I say this? Both public and private sector jobs generate, on average, about 10 percent of wages in provincial tax revenue. But 100 percent of the cost of the public sector job must be paid for by the taxpayer.

So while it is good to have some public sector jobs, an economy led solely by public sector growth is not viable over time. It is a vibrant private sector that is the most sustainable way to ensure that there are good-paying jobs that allow people to not only earn a good living but have the pride of providing for themselves and their families.

Now, we are in the middle of a 100-year crisis, where consumers and businesses have massively reduced spending. Given this, we know that governments must step up across the world and significantly increase spending on infrastructure and even social programs to reboot the economy. But this must only be for a short period of time. Ultimately, we need the private sector to fire on all cylinders if we are to provide jobs for the now 300,000 unemployed or partially employed in this province.

This government must act quickly to improve competitiveness, decrease taxation and reduce regulatory burden if we are to create the conditions where businesses have the confidence to reinvest. This is especially important now, as we see over 14,000 businesses have closed their doors during the first two months of the pandemic.

Building a solid economy where everyone can benefit requires a vibrant private sector, one that has the ability to attract and retain talent and create high-paying jobs. We cannot rely only on the public sector to create jobs. Unfortunately, B.C.’s competitiveness had already deteriorated greatly under the current government, with billions of dollars in new taxes hitting the private sector well before COVID-19.

Ultimately, we want governments to spend our tax dollars wisely, invest sufficiently in public sector infrastructure like education, and support a vibrant, job-creating private sector that can generate tax revenues to support those who need a leg up.

If they stall the business engine by creating conditions that make business unable or unwilling to invest, ultimately, governments will run out of tax revenues to fund vital public services. That’s what happened in the 1990s under successive NDP governments. I lived here in that decade, and it must not happen again.

It’s imperative that this government takes the necessary steps to ensure a strong economy, led primarily by private, not public, sector job growth. The government needs to reduce taxes and regulatory burden and enable businesses to invest. Then businesses can create the jobs which will be sustainable and provide a solid, reliable tax base for public services. It’s only then that we can build an equitable society that will be sustainable for generations to come.

J. Routledge: I rise to speak in favour of the motion: “Be it resolved that this House agree that governments should work to build an equitable economy for all — not just the wealthy few.”

I believe that the operative words in this motion are “work to build.” I contend that unless governments take proactive measures to distribute wealth fairly, wealth will continue to gravitate to those who are already rich. How so? Why is it that wealth begets even more wealth?

Well, the mechanics are pretty simple. The more discretionary income one has — that is, what’s left over after you’ve paid for necessities like food, clothing and shelter — the more money you have to save and to invest. This, in turn, generates more capital, which, in turn, can be reinvested. Since large sums of invested money yield higher returns, we can expect that the growth in the net worth of the already wealthy will outpace everyone else’s by a larger and larger factor with each passing year.

That is exactly what has been happening. Wealth is accumulating at the top, where it is needed the least. Between 2012 and 2016, according to a study done by the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives, the net worth of Canada’s wealthiest resident families rose by 37 percent, while that of the middle class rose by only 16 percent, and much of that 16 percent was tied up in skyrocketing house values.

[11:20 a.m.]

Eighty-seven families now possess more than 4,000 times the wealth of the average Canadian family.

If governments did nothing, wealth would accumulate at the top. But what the previous government did was worse than nothing. They actually accelerated the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. One of the first things the B.C. Liberal government did, when they took office in 2001, was to cut personal income taxes by 25 percent. They cut corporate taxes by 13.5 percent and then again to 10.5 percent.

By the time they left office, they were collecting more in MSP than they were in corporate taxes. In fact, they doubled MSP premiums and tuition fees and created a host of new flat taxes that ate up a much bigger percentage of small paycheques than it did from the rich. Then they held their thumbs on the scale when they introduced laws that entrenched economic inequality. They created a two-tier minimum wage. They rolled back the wages of B.C.’s lowest-paid health care workers, and they amended labour laws to make it harder for working people to organize or seek redress.

My colleagues across the aisle are trying to tell you that they did this to stimulate the economy. They’re telling you that wealthy British Columbians reinvested their windfall back into the hands of average British Columbians by creating jobs. It’s called the trickle-down theory. But in reality, that did not happen. According to the B.C. Business Council, the growth in gross domestic product and investment in machinery and equipment was higher during the 1990s, under the B.C. NDP government, than it was in the 2000s, after the B.C. Liberals came to power.

By 2017, when the B.C. Liberals left power, the richest 10 percent held 56.2 percent of all the wealth in British Columbia, while the bottom 50 percent held a mere 3.2 percent. That is a yawning and dangerous gap. Every year, the United Nations reminds us that the happiest, healthiest, safest, most socially cohesive countries are those in which wealth is distributed most evenly. Yet the leader of the B.C. Liberals continues to advocate for tax cuts for those at the top.

In three short years, our government has taken deliberate, proactive steps to build an equitable economy for all. We have eliminated MSP premiums. We are laying the foundation for a universal, affordable, accessible child care program. We introduced a 30-point plan to make housing more affordable. The list goes on, and it’s a long list. I trust that my colleagues on this side of the House will use some of their time to add to that list. I’m proud of what our government has already done to build an economy that is equitable for all, but we have much more to do.

M. Bernier: You know, this morning when I was looking at this motion…. There’s a typo. Obviously, the NDP government here forgot to add in that it’s equitable for all “as long as you belong to one of our handpicked unions.” I mean, I’m listening to the speakers before me from the government side of the House, and it is quite interesting. I know they’re just reading the notes that somebody wrote for them, but I wonder if they actually believe what they are saying.

When you look at what’s happening right now, the economy was already in decline before COVID even hit. That was almost entirely to do with government and NDP policy coming in. So when you sit here listening to the NDP members, who are standing up saying that they want to make it equitable for all, it’s complete hypocrisy. You hear the member for Surrey-Fleetwood — who is completely misleading the public with his comments — saying that we would consider adding MSP back or increasing taxes, when in fact the member that just spoke before me talked about how everything we do is about decreasing taxes.

[11:25 a.m.]

Even the NDP can’t get their stories straight of what they think we’re going to do. What they need to look at is what the economy looked like when we were in government. We had the strongest economy.

I’m not sure why the NDP thinks it’s bad to wake up in the morning, to work hard, to try to get a job, to try to make your company do better in order to employ more people. Somehow that’s a bad philosophy with the NDP. God forbid that we actually have people who do well in British Columbia. “Let’s have a policy. Let’s increase taxes. Let’s look at every means possible to make everybody mediocre.” That seems to be the NDP policy, rather than looking at what we did when we were in government, making sure we had policies in place to ensure that everybody had opportunity. That’s what we did.

When you look at now, what we’re hearing from companies…. I look at rural B.C. Forestry, mining, oil and gas. Everybody, right now, is suffering under the policies of this government. Nobody is standing up and saying: “Thanks for increasing my taxes. I’m going to hire more people. Thanks for including an employers health tax now that I never had to pay before. Now I don’t know if my business can actually stay profitable or even stay in business anymore.”

For this government to put a motion forward today and these members to sit there and smirk and think that they’re actually doing something for all of B.C…. They actually aren’t looking at the actual numbers that are in place. You have 85 percent of the workers in British Columbia who have been completely shut out of anything, of public sector dollars being spent on projects, unless, of course, you join one of the handpicked unions. Isn’t that convenient? “Let’s just make it beneficial for all that donate to the NDP.” That seems to be the other part that’s missing out of this motion.

I look at, again, companies right now that are struggling. Since when — I guess under an NDP government — is it bad to be a company who is trying to get ahead, to employ people? This government’s opportunity right now is: “Let’s knock everyone down. Let’s….” Well, let me back up for a second. I guess it’s okay to knock down all the companies and not care if they employ people. Maybe the NDP’s policies are to ensure that everybody just has government jobs. Maybe that’s what it is. “Let’s have government jobs. We don’t need companies anymore.” Everybody can just work for the NDP, whether you’re a union or a government employee.

Look. At the end of the day, we want to ensure that we have policies in place that will help people in all of British Columbia, which is what we did when we were in government. When you look at the economic drivers, you can see by almost every measure that was put in place under the B.C. Liberal government that people were working, people were thriving and companies were staying in business. Why? It’s because we ensured that we had policies to help everybody so people could work, could get ahead, put food on the table for their families. Too bad this government, under the NDP, only wants to help a select few.

J. Rice: Earlier this summer a survey released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives showed that three-quarters of British Columbians want governments to build a better, more equitable, sustainable economy after the pandemic is over.

Decades of negligence and patronage by the previous government led to increasing inequality and a rising cost of living for the average British Columbian. When we took office, British Columbians were facing some of the highest housing prices in the world; increasing levels of homelessness; a money-laundering scandal of massive proportions; a ballooning ICBC debt that was adding costs to families across the province; rising child care costs that were, particularly, keeping women out of the workforce; a lacklustre climate action plan that ignored the realities of climate science; and a growing overdose crisis that was killing hundreds of our friends, our families and our neighbours.

Since we took office in 2017, we have worked to make British Columbia’s economy more equitable and life more affordable for all. In our three years in government, we have funded over 16,000 new, affordable child care spaces across the province.

[11:30 a.m.]

We have pushed back against the rising cost of housing by tackling speculation and investing millions into affordable housing. We have supported renters by making needed changes to the Residential Tenancy Act and reducing annual rent increases.

We have brought ICBC from the verge of bankruptcy and made changes to reduce premiums by an average of 20 percent.

We have put in place new prevention and harm reduction policies to tackle the overdose crisis. We have eliminated health care premiums for households to ensure basic health care is not a burden on the incomes of our families.

We’ve added over $1 billion to public education funding. We have made education and job training free for former youth and children in care.

We have banned big money in politics, so our government works for people not big donors.

We have raised income and disability assistance to support our most vulnerable neighbours, following a ten-year freeze under the previous government.

We have raised the minimum wage to $14.60 per hour to raise the standard of living for workers and are scheduled to raise it to over $15 an hour next year. We have increased protections for workers and made it easier for them to join a union that will protect their labour rights.

We have made historic investments in public transit to ensure people in both urban and rural communities have affordable transportation options in their communities.

We have launched a public inquiry into money laundering to ensure our housing market is working for people and not criminals.

We have invested in on-reserve housing to support Indigenous communities forgotten by previous governments.

We have implemented the most ambitious climate action plans in North America to ensure our children have a thriving and sustainable economy that is not hobbled by catastrophic climate change impacts.

Our government has been working towards a more just and equitable economy since the day we took office. We have made life more affordable, empowered workers and provided more support to the most vulnerable members of our society.

The pandemic has thrown a wrench into many of our plans. But this is not the time for our government or any government to stop striving to build a more equitable economy.

The pandemic has put in sharp focus the fault lines in our society. According to multiple studies, it has disproportionately affected those who can least afford it. The economic fallout has hit those in low-wage industries, workers without union representation, women, young people, single parents, small business owners and recent immigrants.

In rebuilding our economy after the pandemic, we cannot go back to the old normal — when wealthy investors were allowed to avoid taxes by laundering money through our housing market, when corporations were allowed to pay poverty wages and disregard labour rights, when governments worked for their political donors and not for the people who voted them into government.

We need to create a new normal, where the economy works for everyone and not just the wealthy few at the top. This pandemic has given us an opportunity to reimagine what is possible for our society and our economy. We must ensure that our new normal is based on equity and justice.

We are committed to building a new equitable economy that works for all. I hope that all the members of this House make the same commitment.

G. Kyllo: It gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to speak to the motion provided by the member opposite.

In reading this statement, though, I think that this statement could also be put forward: be it resolved that this House agree that government should work to build an equitable economy for all — not just those that support the NDP.

When you have a look at what has happened to our economy in just the last three years…. The current pandemic certainly is the single largest economic hardship that this province has ever endured. The members opposite like to remind and they speak quite often about the 16 years that the B.C. Liberals actually were in power.

But a bit of a history lesson. If we go back to the 1990s, the decade of destruction, when British Columbia went from No. 1 in economic growth to No. 10 — the first time that B.C. ever was actually a have-not province — it was because of the poor policy decisions of the administration sitting opposite.

[11:35 a.m.]

If you’re looking at hiring a board of executives for any corporation on this planet, the most important thing is your business plan. What business plan does this government have on growing the economy and creating opportunity for all British Columbians? They don’t have one. There is no jobs plan.

The B.C. jobs plan that was put together first in 2011 was a very aggressive plan. It was very successful. We led the country in economic growth and job creation, largely through the entire term that the B.C. Liberals were in government. What has this government done? What have they learned from the 1990s? Nothing. Since forming government, they’ve increased red tape, increased regulatory burden. They’ve increased taxation to the point that corporate taxation in British Columbia is now 50 percent higher than our neighbouring jurisdiction of Alberta — 50 percent higher.

We know that to grow an economy you need to attract capital investment. With that capital investment comes the opportunity for jobs. I think we would all agree that a healthy community is a working community. When you have high rates of employment, you have people that have the dignity of a job. When the economy goes the other way and you see increased levels of unemployment — which is exactly the path that this administration is going on — you’ll see increased family domestic violence, you’ll see increased alcohol and drug abuse, and you’ll see increased crime. That is what this administration is going for.

I am very proud to stand as a B.C. Liberal and look to the record, where we saw significant economic growth. I agree that we need to have an equitable economy that is for all British Columbians. But you don’t do it by penalizing the select few that actually invest capital and bring dollars to this province. What we have seen in just the last few months…. It was only about a month ago that this current administration came forward with their economic update. They announced on, I believe, the 14th of July, a $12.5 billion deficit.

That’s a huge amount of money that is going to add about $2,600 in increased debt on the backs of every British Columbian. Not eight days later…. Now this is a plan, an update, the fiscal update we waited for, for three months. Not eight days after announcing a $12.5 billion deficit — this is the planning that happens on the other side — they added another billion. Another thousand million dollars in debt was decided upon by this government not eight days after coming forward with their big fiscal update.

We have a Premier of this province that has chaired the Economic Recovery Task Force for over four months. What have we heard from this economic task force that apparently meets every week? What have we heard from them? Nada. Not a thing. The tourism sector has been hardest hit of any economic sector in our entire province. What has this government come forward with, as far as an economic plan to help this sector that’s struggling harder than any other sector in the province? Nothing.

This is a management that is stuck in ideology and is not undertaking any efforts to actually grow the economy and to attract capital investment to this province. I am very disappointed with the direction that the current administration is going under. With that, I will take my seat.

J. Sims: It is my pleasure today to rise and speak in favour of the motion: “Be it resolved that this House agree that governments should work to build an equitable economy for all — not just the wealthy few.”

We are at a pivotal point. As the previous member mentioned, we are in the middle of a pandemic, a pandemic like one that none of us have experienced — neither governments, nor individuals, nor our business community. I’m a great believer that out of every challenge comes opportunities. I believe this is an opportunity for us, in the middle of this health challenge, health pandemic, to re-vision and reimagine how we want our world to look like.

[11:40 a.m.]

One of the things, the phrases, I heard over and over again, during the health pandemic is: “We are all in this together.” I absolutely believe this, because we knew that COVID-19 did not differentiate between your socioeconomic, between your cultural, your ethnic, your region. The COVID-19 virus has no favourites. Because of that, we all had to work together and continue to work together to take on this virus and to make sure we mitigate until a solution is found.

Well, let’s apply that. Let’s apply that to our economy. In our economy, if we were all, on all sides of the House, to see that we are in this together and that government has a role to play to make sure that everybody who lives in our society has a place, has a job and has a decent living and to make sure that those who go to work are not the working poor.

Under the 16 years of the B.C. Liberals, we in B.C. had the second-highest differentiation between the rich and the poor, the haves and not-haves. That’s because for 16 long years, they failed to look at the full spectrum of the people who live here in B.C.

So if we apply that lens — we are all in this together — then I am very proud of the work that our government has done on this side of the House to make sure that when we’re looking into the future, when we’re looking at our economy, we are putting people in the right in the centre.

Our economy has to be about shared prosperity for everyone, where people are the economy. People are not the enemy of the economy. Whether they’re the top 1 percent or the other 99 percent, they are the economy.

During this COVID pandemic, we realize the value of our front-line workers. We woke up one day and realized how critical the workers were who worked in our grocery food supply chain. We realized the importance of the health care workers, who are going into our seniors’ homes and are putting their lives at risk. We realized the importance of all those who are ensuring our food security. Yes, we realized during that time — and I heard it from a wide range of people; you know what — that we’re not paying these people enough.

Well, under the 16 years of Liberals, minimum wage was kept artificially down. As a matter of fact, in many sectors, they went one step further. In the health care sector, for HEU, we saw their wages being slashed. What we saw was contracting out and all kinds of things. In education, we saw attacks on education and the underfunding of education. We saw ICBC and B.C. Hydro — money being taken out of them.

What we saw was an abject failure on the part of the previous government to invest in much-needed infrastructure. Having a good public transit system, having hospitals in communities that need them and having schools for kids to go to are not luxury. They are a necessity. Health care, education — absolute necessity. Yet we saw an extreme underfunding in both those areas.

So not only did our kids suffer, and those who went into health care, but that failure to invest in child care and invest in education didn’t help. They balance their books by selling off valuable land — land that could have been used for schools and hospitals today.

S. Cadieux: I’m glad to speak to the motion before the House today. I’m surprised how much time the NDP speakers have spent on our time in government instead of their own. But I’ll do the same, because during our time in government, we worked hard to make our economy more equitable and provide greater opportunity to those who needed it most. I spearheaded a number of those initiatives.

The single-parent employment initiative, for example, which started in September 2015, was designed to remove barriers for single parents on income and disability assistance. It wasn’t right that people were essentially trapped in the welfare system, so we attempted to change it.

[11:45 a.m.]

Within two years, 4,554 people had taken part, developing new skills and opening opportunity for their future. I’ll note the government continued this program. Kids from care, a highly disadvantaged group, needed supports to build their lives, so I worked with universities like VIU to pilot the tuition waiver program to prove these kids just needed an opportunity, and it was worth investing in. Government expanded on that, and I’m glad they did.

People with disabilities on assistance were challenged by the system and still are, but I introduced an annualized earnings exemption for British Columbians receiving disability assistance so those who could work, fluctuating throughout the year, could keep that money. We invested in labour market programs so that more than 27,000 people with a disability could find work. We launched the presidents group to focus on inclusion in the workforce.

There’s so much more to do to improve these systems, but all we’ve seen from this government so far is talk and a continuation or expansion of our initiatives.

Highlighted by this pandemic, we can’t truly have an equitable economy until we close the gender pay gap. This spring I introduced the Equal Pay Reporting Act, and the government has thus far not decided to call the bill for debate, which is disappointing from a government that wants to be perceived as taking these issues seriously. Unfortunately, it’s just one of many examples of contrast between what the government says it will do and what they actually put into action.

They’ve droned on about us not caring about minimum wage. Well, I increased it as minister, and so did my successors. We reduced child poverty faster than their so-called plan targets to do. They claim we didn’t care about rising house prices, but gee, housing prices are up and so are rents, on their watch. They’ve added thousands of people to the welfare rolls, just like happened during their last time in government.

They say how terrible things were under us, yet British Columbians re-elected us five times. We’re in a pandemic. They say we need to build back better. Let’s do that. I am in favour of that. But to do that, you need a plan, and a plan is something we just don’t have from this group. Saying you support a more equitable economy is one thing, but we have yet to see government take real steps towards greater equality and opportunity.

I’m tired of the insinuations that the NDP care and we don’t. Our track record proves otherwise. They talk; we act. That’s the difference. The NDP are now standing on the soapboxes we built and have done nothing yet than to expand on our initiatives. I haven’t heard a unique idea yet from that side of the House. But I’m waiting, and so is British Columbia, because opportunity for all is possible in this province. It’s essential, and we can deliver it, but it takes a lot more than words and slogans.

When I’m hearing the members on the opposition repeat, speaker after speaker, that now is not the time to turn back the clock, that sounds a lot more like electioneering to me than it does doing. We need a plan for our economy, for everyone, and we need it now.

M. Dean: I am very honoured to rise today to talk in favour of this motion. We all know that for far too long in our province, only the wealthy few at the top benefited, while good opportunities became further out of reach for most.

People deserve to have an economy and government that works for them, not one that will take the benefits of their hard work and give it to the top 2 percent while making it harder to get by year after year, like Mel from Colwood. A single mom, she works three jobs to get by, and she still had to consolidate her debt with a financing agency just to stay afloat.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

It’s critical for workers to have affordable child care to be able to actively participate in the workforce, especially women. Well, the previous government scrapped universal child care, cut subsidies for low-income parents, put child care out of reach thousands of British Columbian families, forced women to leave or stall their careers, maybe take part-time work, accept lower-paid work or lower their career ambitions.

The B.C. Liberals cut the child care operating fund by 27 percent in 2007, sending less help to existing child care providers and cancelling subsidies to new providers. For Steve and Jan who had four kids, with two in full-time daycare, this meant additional costs of almost $160 a month.

[11:50 a.m.]

Under the B.C. Liberals, B.C. became the province with the largest wealth gap in the country and the second-highest income inequality. Well, our government is committed to sharing prosperity for everyone in B.C.

Before COVID-19, we were making progress on the things that people care about. People are the economy. We’ll build B.C. back stronger, and everyone can have a good job and a secure future.

We’ll build an economic recovery around every British Columbian, not just the richest 2 percent. We are helping people get training and education that they need for good jobs. We’re investing in training women in trades so that they can also access those family-supporting, well-paid careers.

The importance of child care has risen to the spotlight during this crisis. Without child care, our economy will not be able to fully recover. With child care, we’re going to be able to build an equitable economy for everybody. We have recognized this issue across the whole of the country, and B.C. is recognized as a leader in this area because we have already spent three years investing in a child care system.

We’ve invested a record $1.3 billion in child care over three years, building the foundation for a universal child care system that will give B.C. parents access to affordable, quality child care when they want or need it. This is especially important now as so many women are displaced from the workforce.

We are creating over 10,400 new licensed child care spaces. We’ve launched the fee reduction initiative and the affordable child care benefit. This is saving many families more than $19,000 a year. We have over 2,500 prototype $200-a-month universal child care sites. We’re providing wage enhancements for early childhood educators, and we’ve expanded Aboriginal Head Start programs.

Inequality makes people who are systematically disadvantaged more vulnerable to the impact of a disaster like COVID-19. Women are at higher risk of long-term economic insecurity as a result of this pandemic because of their overrepresentation in part-time work and highly affected sectors like health, education, home support and service industries. Women make up 62 percent of minimum-wage workers in B.C., and almost 82 percent of liquor servers are women.

In addition, economic insecurity associated with the pandemic is more likely to be compounded by other factors and amplified for Indigenous women, immigrant and racialized communities, LGBTQ2S+ people, youth, and people with disabilities. The youth unemployment rate is an overwhelming 29 percent, and women make up more than 60 percent of the job losses in the hardest-hit sectors.

As we restart our province, we have an opportunity to build an equitable economy that benefits everyone, not just the wealthy few. As B.C. works to build its COVID-19 economic recovery plan, it’s vital that everyone, especially those who face disadvantages, are supported and given the best possible opportunity to be part of B.C.’s restart. We cannot go back.

M. Dean moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. H. Bains moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 11:54 a.m.