Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

SIXTEEN DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Deputy Speaker: The Chair recognizes the member for Burnaby-North.

J. Routledge: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your recent appointment. The responsibility to maintain decorum and enforce the rules in this the people’s House is a significant one, one that serves as a guidepost to the topic about which I rise today: gender-based violence.

Today I’m asking all of us to reflect on the social norms that contribute to gender-based violence and to ask ourselves what we can do as legislators and as individuals to change those norms to keep women safe.

[10:05 a.m.]

Last week, on December 10, Human Rights Day, we marked the end of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence for this year. It has been an annual event ever since 1991. But has the world become safer for women and girls in the last 30 years?

No, not according to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. As the world retreated into homes due to the lockdown measures introduced to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, reports showed an alarming increase in the already existing pandemic of violence against women. Accompanying the crisis has been a spike in domestic violence at exactly the time that services, including rule of law, health and shelters, are being diverted to address the pandemic.

Even before COVID-19, one out of three women worldwide were experiencing physical or sexual violence, mostly from intimate partners. Now, some of us may be thinking: “Well, of course women in war-torn countries are more vulnerable. Women living under conditions of societal collapse are vulnerable.”

Gender-based violence is a shadow pandemic right here in British Columbia. Let me share some shocking statistics. More than half the women in B.C. over the age of 16 have experienced physical or sexual violence. That’s more than one million women. In B.C., there are more than 1,000 physical or sexual assaults against women every week. Women are more than seven times more likely to report sexual assaults than men, and the most vulnerable are young women.

Indigenous women are 3.5 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to experience violence, and the homicide rate is seven times higher. LGBTQ individuals are more than two times more likely to be a victim of violence, more than half of transgender people have experienced intimate partner violence and nearly half of transgender people have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

British Columbians are not immune to gender-based violence. It’s not something we can prevent by closing our borders or by simply staying home. And like that other pandemic, we need to be careful about our own behaviour and attitudes to make sure we are not superspreaders.

Gender-based violence continues to be incubated right here in British Columbia in the medium of cultural norms that are pervasive, insidious and largely invisible. Because my time is limited, I’ll refer to this complex matrix of carriers simply as toxic masculinity: the notion that a man must compete aggressively and dominate others, the notion that a man must repress his emotions. All emotions, that is, except for anger.

Women are not immune. Who knows that better than women like us, in this chamber, trying to make it in a man’s world? How many of us have been told to be more aggressive, to develop a thick skin, been praised and rewarded for crushing our opposition, advised to keep our feelings to ourselves? And how often have we complied?

We function in an intensely competitive environment. It is also an environment of privilege. While we may suffer embarrassment on occasion, we are protected from physical harm, and we have a Speaker with vast powers to defend our dignity. Not so our sisters who live their lives outside this institution.

I’m proud of the steps we’ve taken already to combat gender-based violence. For example, we’ve allocated $734 million over the next ten years to build 1,500 new transition homes, including new housing options in remote and First Nations communities. We’ve provided $10 million to the Ending Violence Association of B.C. to support emergency sexual assault services. We have launched a provincewide campaign to prevent sexualized violence and misconduct on public post-secondary campuses. We introduced paid leave for workers escaping domestic or sexual violence. We contributed $2 million to the Moose Hide Campaign, which engages K-to-12 students now to prevent violence against women and girls in the future. We increased cell phone coverage along the Highway of Tears.

[10:10 a.m.]

Yes, I am proud of these initiatives, just as I’m proud of the people of British Columbia for their leadership in curbing the spread of COVID-19. But in both cases, increasing numbers of cases demonstrate that more needs to be done.

Thankfully, a vaccine is on its way to stop COVID in its tracks, but what is the vaccine that will stop gender-based violence? How can we inoculate our society from a cultural virus of toxic masculinity that puts so many lives at risk? That is the fundamental question.

S. Cadieux: I thank the member for Burnaby North for the statement. This is exactly the type of thing that we need to be talking about in the Legislature.

Gender-based violence and relationship violence remain topics that society doesn’t want to talk about. The 16 Days of Activism forced the dialogue. Gender-based violence or relationship violence is not a women’s issue. It’s everyone’s issue. It affects entire communities, and the trauma ripples through families, children, schools and workplaces. While violence is directed at individuals, the truth is that it impacts each and every one of us in real and significant ways.

A few years ago, when I was minister responsible, I spoke to a group of practitioners in this area. It was a conference we funded to bring together social workers, the police, victim-serving organizations, advocacy agencies, everyone on the ground doing anti-violence work. I asked for a show of hands as I cycled through a few questions. I asked people to show if they’d been a victim, if they had a family member who’d been a victim, if they had witnessed abuse as a child or had a family member who was dealing with the lifelong effects of that trauma.

Almost everyone in the room, including myself, raised their hand. It was sobering. I choked up; it was too personal. Working to create the SaySomething campaign against violence and the Be More than a Bystander program gave me comfort that I was taking action, but it only scratched the surface.

There are many women who have dedicated their careers to this issue. I know two well. Dr. Balbir Gurm and Dr. Jen Marchbank in Surrey partnered with two other colleagues this year to publish a book, Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence and Working Together Towards a Violence-Free Society. In that book, they provide detailed statistics on the prevalence and costs of relationship violence, and they are staggering. As the former minister responsible for the provincial office of domestic violence, I know that all too well. They should make us angry; they should make us act.

One in three women has experienced intimate-partner violence. In Canada, 28 percent of all violent crimes are connected to relationship violence. Children who witness violence in the home have twice the rate of psychiatric disorders as children from non-violent homes. Ending violence takes all of us to decide to challenge attitudes and change behaviour to prevent it from happening in the first place. We have to fight the social norms that normalize heterosexual relationships and the myths about male masculinity that my colleague mentioned. We have to challenge social norms that accept power and privilege and that accept violence.

What will it take? Just a couple of weeks ago, three women’s groups on Vancouver’s Eastside called for the creation of a task force to end violence against women in that neighbourhood, following a horrific, disgusting video of a woman’s public sexual assault in broad daylight.

This is a crisis, and urgent action is needed. Let’s do this together. Leaders can no longer be bystanders. Society needs us to lead the change and to commit to action. Our previous government tabled a report on ending violence against women in B.C. The report detailed steps the province needed to take to help prevent violence against women. It was a very modest start. Government must continue to build on that report and ensure that the right supports are in place across communities in B.C.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a basic human rights and safety issue. Admittedly, prevention is, perhaps, the most challenging element of the task ahead. The best way to end violence is to prevent it from happening in the first place, but it’s so much easier said than done. When violence does occur, victims and their families need immediate access to services and supports to help them escape that violence and to recover from its impact.

[10:15 a.m.]

Dr. Gurm’s and her colleagues’ book suggests the solution, and it’s not that complicated. The solution is stable funding to service a national prevention campaign on healthy relationships and to collaborate with other provinces for a national plan. It’s not a problem just in B.C., or just in one community or another, or in one province or another. This is a pandemic, as my colleague from Burnaby North stated, and we need to take action together to see it end.

Deputy Speaker: For concluding remarks, the member for Burnaby North.

J. Routledge: I thank the member for Surrey South for her powerful words. I know we can work together to end violence against women.

I’d like to close by returning to a question I asked in my opening comments: how do we inoculate our society from the cultural virus of toxic masculinity? The Ending Violence Association of B.C. and the B.C. Lions are working together on a vaccine. It’s called Be More than a Bystander. Football players — some might say the epitome of masculinity — are using their power and privilege to speak out against violence against women and teaching others how to do so. I applaud them for challenging the stereotype, and I thank them for their courage.

Speaking of football, let me say a few words about Super Bowl Sunday. Remember when it was reported that more domestic violence occurs on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year? Well, it turns out that maybe that’s not quite true. It turns out that every day can be the most dangerous day of the year if your partner is prone to violence. But concerns about Super Bowl Sunday did motivate the NFL to run a powerful ad in 2015.

Remember that one? It went something like this:

Dispatcher: 911. What’s your emergency?

Caller: 123 Main Street.

Dispatcher: Okay. What’s going on there?

Caller: I’d like to order a pizza for delivery.

Dispatcher: Ma’am, you’ve reached 911.

Caller: Yeah, I know. Can I have a large with half pepperoni, half mushrooms and peppers?

Dispatcher: Mm, I’m sorry. You know you’ve called 911, right?

Caller: Yeah. Do you know how long it’ll be?

Dispatcher: Okay, ma’am. Is everything okay over there? Do you have an emergency?

Caller: Yes, I do.

Dispatcher: And you can’t talk about it because there’s someone in the room with you?

Caller: Yep, that’s correct. Do you know how long it’s going to be?

Dispatcher: I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?

Caller: No.

Dispatcher: Can you stay on the phone with me?

Caller: No. See you soon. Thanks.

That ad was based on a real emergency call, and an officer did arrive in time.

We can all help to change unacknowledged rules and outdated traditions. We can support and believe survivors. We can learn to recognize the signs of abuse and how to help. We can understand and practise consent. We can learn to recognize sexism and transphobia. We can reject victim-blaming. We can start a conversation with friends and family.

We are already committing to unlearn internalized racism, because we know it saves lives, the lives of people we will probably never meet. Surely, we can commit to unlearn internalized misogyny, because that will save lives too.

VITAL INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL
IN THE CARIBOO

C. Oakes: Preventative measures are needed to address the extreme impacts of climate in the Cariboo. Road infrastructure is critical for rural residents, where damage can affect both the public safety and the economic livelihood, health and well-being of constituents.

The consequences of 2020 to our local residents have been devastating. Constituents have experienced significant personal and economic impacts from the over 200 areas of concern for road infrastructure in the Cariboo. The fact is that members in my community, many, have been waiting a significant amount of years to get roads fixed in the riding of Cariboo North. In many cases, the only option remains detour roads on upgraded forest service roads.

[10:20 a.m.]

Geothermalogists indicated last year that the reason why we’ve seen such significant changes where the slides are is because ancient slides are becoming active again, and the amount of groundwater is having a significant impact. So when you go into winter and it freezes, the amount of frost, the snowpack and the rapid melt all elevate the amount of groundwater. So in the fall of 2019, for instance, the groundwater was completely saturated before winter.

I raise this in the House today because I believe that we are faced with a similar threat of ground saturation heading into winter of this year, and I’m very concerned about the impacts on my constituents. Naturally, my constituents are deeply concerned that we’ll experience something similar from last year or even an increased level of damage than we’ve already experienced previously. We cannot afford to continue down this path of waiting for our road infrastructure to fail prior to be taking steps to address.

There is preventative work that can and should be done. We have the hydrology reports, we have the lidar reports, and we have the areas of concern that have been identified. There is work that can be done on ditching and culvert upgrades before the damage is done. When we do not take preventative action, the results are devastating to my constituents. Our local economy suffers, and small businesses are once again under threat.

Take West Fraser Road. This road was significantly damaged in April of 2018. The consequence of the damage is that a detour road was set up on a forest service road. So what does that mean for constituents? Young children are now travelling on this gravel forest service road for two hours each way just to get to their elementary school. These areas do not have cell service, and residents are often impacted, as they sometimes have flat tires, have issues with their vehicles. People who live in these communities include health professionals, educators, small business owners and ranchers, to name a few.

When our ranchers have difficulty getting their livestock to market or feed in for the winter, this will have impact on all British Columbians. We already have a stressed food network. What about the economy in Quesnel? The ongoing delays in repairs to West Fraser Road are a prime example of stagnation. The federal disaster financial assistance arrangement received a business case application for the repair of West Fraser Road in May of 2019, and still we have no update.

The government committed to the residents on several occasions that this project was going out to tender. First it was the summer, then the fall, then an election was called. So once again the residents are waiting for the tender to go out. This is unfortunate, because the federal government has committed the resources. So the question begs to answer: when will the province stop the delays and go out to tender on this critical piece of road infrastructure?

Damage to roads in 2020 has been substantial, but I’m also worried about what 2021 will mean for our residents. Areas like Quesnel-Hydraulic Road, multiple locations on Highway 97, Knickerbocker, Soda Creek, McLeese Lake, Cottonwood, Barkerville Highway, Old Prince George Highway, the Nazko Road, the Batnuni Road, Beaver Valley Road, Kersley Dale Lake Road, Crystal Street, Forglen at McLeese Lake, 150 Mile Valley Road to Houston Road, Likely Road at Rose Lake, Marsh Road, Spokane Lake Road, and the list goes on.

At one point this spring, almost every road leading into our major communities in the Cariboo North were impacted, not just the major roads but the secondary roads as well. There remains a significant number of challenges on Highway 97, including Cottonwood and Chen Hill.

We need to have a strategic investment in major bridges coming through our communities. Communities such as Quesnel need significant upgrades to our bridges. We need a stronger focus on culvert upgrades and ditching, investments in all of our bridges. This roadwork needs to happen now.

[10:25 a.m.]

We need to be investing and getting resources directly into our communities so this critical infrastructure work can happen now, because when we wait for the roads to fail, when we wait for issues that can result from lack of proper ditching or culvert upgrades, the costs can cost taxpayers millions of dollars to fix in the end. When I think of the investment that will be required….

We are appreciative very much of the federal assistance funding through the disaster financial assistance for West Fraser Road. We understand that without the preventative work that is necessary on our roads, the cost to taxpayers is extreme. We appreciate any investments that this government is making in our roads because we know it’ll have a significant impact on our constituents, our economy and, in turn, the province of British Columbia.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

For a response, the member for Chilliwack, please.

D. Coulter: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and congratulations on your appointment.

I’d like to thank the member for Cariboo North for giving me the opportunity to talk about infrastructure in the Cariboo.

I’d like to begin by recognizing that I am speaking today from the traditional unceded territory of the Stó:lō people — in particular, those of the Palalt and the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribes.

Capital investments support our economy by providing good jobs during construction and much-needed infrastructure in our communities. The government has invested in infrastructure projects across B.C., including schools, roads, transit improvements, and these will create good-paying, direct and indirect jobs.

There have been significant infrastructure investments in the Cariboo. In the member’s own constituency, government announced, in July 2019, $52.2 million for a new Quesnel Junior School, a new middle school on the site of the current Maple Drive junior secondary school. The school will be LEED gold certified and include child care spaces.

This is the first major capital investment in Quesnel since 1997 and will surely benefit the school community there. A new school can transform a community for the better. As an interim measure, government invested $1.7 million to renovate Maple Drive Middle School, and 400 grade 8 and 9 students were able to move there from Quesnel Middle School.

In health care infrastructure, government is investing to build a new emergency department and ICU at G.R. Baker Memorial Hospital in Quesnel. On October 31, 2018, the Quesnel urgent primary care centre opened, the first urgent primary care centre in the north, under the government’s primary health care strategy. The UPCC was created through a partnership between the Ministry of Health, Northern Health and the northern Interior division of family practice. An annualized budget of $1.1 million in funding has been allocated by the ministry to establish the centre.

In infrastructure improvements for tourism, the prov­ince invested in a project for Wells to enhance Internet services for 130 homes and businesses in a community that depends on tourism, arts and mining sectors and also sees a yearly influx of seasonal [audio interrupted]. In September 2018 the province announced a $500,000 grant for the Barkerville Heritage Trust to provide on-site housing to seasonal Barkerville historic town and parks staff.

In transportation infrastructure, two new electric vehicle charging sites on Highway 97 at the Australian rest centre, 36 kilometres south of Quesnel and 100 Mile House info centre. These will surely be a benefit to the member for Cariboo North’s constituency. Having infrastructure for electric cars will bring more tourism, enable her constituents to switch to electric cars and cut down on pollution.

Cariboo drivers have also benefited from part of an $85 million investment in a resurfacing of more than 450 kilometres of highways in the southern Interior in 2018, including the resurfacing of 44 kilometres on Highway 26 from Wingdam to Barkerville.

The Quesnel Airport got a runway lighting replacement in 2018, and in 2019, air-side sidewalks and operation building upgrades. There’s more, a lot more, but I don’t have the time to list all the infrastructure projects in Cariboo North, never mind the entirety of the Cariboo.

The Cariboo isn’t the only place that the province is building and renewing infrastructure either. All over the province, the government has been investing in infrastructure.

[10:30 a.m.]

In my home community of Chilliwack, the government is funding two new schools for school district 33 — one, a K-to-8 school desperately needed on the south side of town with an estimated value of $53.6 million, and the other an exciting new arts and technology high school, estimated to cost $15.4 million. There are also some much-needed school additions in the works. The Chilliwack school district will be able to get kids out of portables and into the main school buildings. It will mean a lot to our local families.

The province has built supportive housing projects in Chilliwack that offer wraparound supports. Getting people off the streets and into housing is life-changing. The new schools, school additions and supportive housing are just some of the projects that the government is funding in Chilliwack. Government is building and renewing infrastructure all over the province, and I am confident that they will continue to do so.

C. Oakes: I do want to thank the member for his response today. I appreciate the member identifying some of the critical infrastructure investments that have been made in the Cariboo.

I can’t help but point out the disconnect that we currently are experiencing on the ground in the Cariboo and some of the actions that are being taken by the government. We appreciate the investments that have been made. Don’t get me wrong. But when we have over 200 areas in the Cariboo that are impacted with road infrastructure challenges, it means that we are challenged at every single economic, health and livelihood point in the region.

The member talked about the excitement of having a new middle school, and we’re delighted for that investment. But I also discussed earlier about the residents on West Fraser Road who have been waiting since 2018 for those critical infrastructure. funds that the federal government have put forward through the disaster financial assistance funds that we continue to see delay after delay after delay on by the government.

Now we have elementary students that are on a forest service road, on a bus — on a gravel road that was never designed, necessarily, for the main highway — on the road two hours each way. Now, these are kindergarten students that are deeply impacted.

We talk about health care professionals. We have health care professionals that live on West Fraser Road. Many have decided not to carry on with their profession until that road gets fixed, because the length of time on the detour, quite frankly, is too long. We have the same challenges on Hydraulic Road.

I went through the significant list of road challenges that we have. At one point in the spring, almost every single road into our major cities was impacted. Without the proper infrastructure investment in our roads — and that includes an increased amount of resources placed into ditching, culvert upgrades — we’re going to continue, year after year, to have these challenges.

I raise today, as a call to action, that we need to be looking at how we invest in road infrastructure differently. We need to be looking at the environmental impacts that we are experiencing in our communities and realizing, while we appreciate the two charging stations for electric cars, that unless we do the preventative work, we’re not going to have roads to travel on. We need ditching, we need culvert upgrades, and we need a whole bunch more investment in our rural infrastructure to make sure that it’s sound and it’s available for all British Columbians into the future.

HOUSING

D. Routley: I come to you from the Hul’qumi’num-speaking traditional territories of the Coast Salish people, in the mid-Island region. I’m very pleased to be able to live, work and play on their territorial lands.

For basically two decades British Columbians watched costs of living soar, watched wages stagnate, and they watched housing fly out of reach from them and their families. This has been a challenge for British Columbians for over a decade and a half. We’ve seen our children have to move away. We’ve seen our neighbours have trouble maintaining their homes. We’ve seen people lose their homes because of the cost of living. We’ve seen families scattered in ways that they don’t choose but are forced by the cost of housing.

[10:35 a.m.]

We’ve seen renovictions. A wave of renovictions went across this province, where there are basically no controls over that aspect of housing security. We saw students who couldn’t find housing. We saw our children struggle to find housing. The average person couldn’t afford the average home. And as I said, the results were scattered families, choices that were made by costs of living rather than choices people would make for their personal lives.

Now, what did we see from the government of the day? We saw them, in fact, add to the problem. We saw them, in fact, ignore the money laundering that was occurring in the real estate market, driving up the cost of housing for British Columbians. We saw rampant speculation.

We need only to look at who the donors were to the B.C. Liberal party at the time. Years of neglect occurred. If you follow the money, you’ll see the donors were so very often the developers who benefited from the soaring costs of real estate, particularly in the Lower Mainland and south coast region.

How did we respond to this once the B.C. NDP took government? We responded by building housing. We responded by reducing costs for people. We responded by providing child care, getting rid of the MSP premiums, reducing the costs, bringing back a decent standard of living within the costs of an average person. That’s our goal.

For the first time in decades, we’ve seen a decrease in the cost of living in the Lower Mainland. That is an incredible achievement. We introduced the foreign buyer tax and the vacant house tax, to free up thousands of units of rental housing and to take the funds collected through those measures and use them to build more affordable housing throughout the province.

Significantly, we banned corporate donations. Banning corporate donations means that no longer, even for the B.C. Liberals, will there be massive donations from those with a vested interest that is contrary to the public interest.

Deputy Speaker: Member, and just to remind everyone, the spirit of this time in the House is not to single out any particular group or individual. Try to keep it as non-partisan as possible.

D. Routley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The former government failed to stop the renoviction crisis. When we came to power, the B.C. NDP stopped renovictions. We’ve made sure that when people are displaced, they’re going to be taken care of.

Just in Nanaimo, we’ve seen over 850 housing units be built, in the process of being built or being developed — 159 through the affordable housing plan, 164 through the supportive housing plan. These are a full spectrum of housing: supported housing for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; lower-income housing; housing for those of moderate income; housing for seniors; housing for those who are suffering with mental illness and addictions; and an immediate response, as we can, with partnership with the city of Nanaimo, for the homelessness crisis in the city.

The response from the previous government was to describe the rental crisis as “a wacky time.” That was the phrase that was used: a wacky time. Another member of the government told us that people should just move. They should move from the Lower Mainland up to Prince George or wherever — again, totally out of touch and not recognizing that the costs of living were scattering families and causing crises in people’s lives that couldn’t be addressed simply by building housing, and have led to the kinds of problems that the current government has had to grapple with in addressing this problem.

Finally, it’s like a tap. Once the tap is fully opened, the water is pouring out. To close the tap and stop the water, you have to turn and turn and turn. At first, it appears that’s no progress. But gradually, if you keep at it, the water will slow and eventually stop. That’s what the current government is faced with, a crisis that took a decade and a half to develop and a crisis that is going to take time to address. But with the proper application of effort and commitment, we will see the results that all British Columbians want to see.

[10:40 a.m.]

We want to see our children be able to make choices of where they live based on where they want to live versus where they must live. We want to see families taken care of. We want to see people be able to enjoy their lives without having multiple jobs to pay for the costs of housing or MSP premiums or child care.

That’s our goal. That’s what we’re delivering to the families of my constituency and even of the opposition members, who might be shaking their heads.

It is being delivered in your community, to your constituents, and that will change their lives.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Again, I’d just like to remind the member and any other members that the spirit of this hour is for non-partisan debate, trying to advocate for your local constituency in a way that does not cause disorder in this House.

I’ve been in this House for almost 12 years, and I would imagine if this House was full of members, they would have gone to a riot for that speech. I would ask the members to please watch what they say, and I would ask the member in his final three minutes, after the member for Kelowna West, to take a different approach.

B. Stewart: It’s an honour to be here today, and it’s a great privilege to speak on this important issue. We all know that housing is one of the most important factors in determining the quality of people’s lives. It needs to be a priority, but one that is acted upon, not just touted in empty press releases.

You can see this laid out in the future of housing and affordability interim report that was released last week. Interestingly enough, the chair of that report was on the news this morning commenting about how this problem had really started to surface with the federal government’s reduced funding back in the ’90s.

Needless to say, it’s not a problem that’s new. It’s one that’s in front of us all the time. There’s a lot of work being done on finding solutions and determining steps going forward.

The work being done is welcome, but it still shows just how slow the actual rollout and progress of increasing housing supply really is. And with public engagement extended into next year, this interim report will not translate into immediate relief for British Columbians, as needed. Even more pressing is the delay of the provincial budget into later this spring, which will only translate into further delays.

Just today the B.C. Real Estate Association released stats showing that November broke records for home sales and prices. The average home sale price in B.C. hit a record — $816,074, up a whopping 9.3 percent year over year. It’s clear that urgent and continuous action is needed by all involved to provide affordable housing and home ownership for all.

The state of British Columbia’s housing crisis now rests solely in the hands of the government, and expectations are high so that they can deliver on their promises. There have been quite a few of those promises, including building 114,000 units of affordable housing, as well as a promise for a $400 renters rebate. This will conceivably touch on the province’s affordability and supply concerns.

However, instead, just two years into their term, only 2,963 housing units have been opened for occupation. Nearly half of those units announced to date have no funding commitment. There has been no implementation of the $400 renters rebate, and there has been no progress on substantially lower prices and an increase of vacancy rates.

Now, I would like to take you back for a moment just to let you know the previous government’s record. We committed $920 million to support the construction or renovation of close to 5,300 units of affordable renting housing throughout the province. This included $65 million to create up to 380 housing units for British Columbians at risk of homelessness and for people with mental health and substance use issues — I’ll come back to that in a minute; $500 million to create 2,900 affordable rental units, announced in September of 2016; and a commitment of $355 million to create 2,000 affordable rental units over five years.

In 2016, the previous government created more than 2,800 new affordable housing units in approximately 42 communities across the province. This included more than 1,420 rent supplements provided through the new homeless prevention program, which was started in 2014.

Between 2001 and 2017, the province invested more than $4.9 billion to provide affordable housing units for low-income individuals, seniors and families. Around 6 percent of the total housing stock in British Columbia was government-assisted housing, with various levels of support.

From 2001 to ’17, we completed close to 24,000 new units of affordable housing, with more than 2,000 units in development or under construction when we left office.

[10:45 a.m.]

During this period, we started more than 12,390 new units of housing for seniors and people with special needs across the province. Our government developed or preserved more than 6,900 housing units for the homeless and those at risk of homelessness in the Downtown Eastside, which was increased by 68 percent.

Most importantly, considering issues around the government housing as it affects nearby businesses and residents, as we’ve seen in Yaletown and Victoria over the past year, these projects created by the previous government had intensive supports that were needed most: four mental health care workers available 24 hours per day, a full on-site manager, community outreach worker, two home support workers available Monday to Friday, and a primary care clinic that included a full-time licensed practical nurse and an aide16 hours a week.

I’m happy to take time to outline how this simply is not true.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

D. Routley: The member is correct that in the late ’90s, the federal government did stop transfer payments for housing. But there were only two provinces that kept their housing plans fully funded: Quebec and British Columbia. In 2001, the B.C. housing plan was cancelled outright. In 2006, the federal government began making transfer payments to the provinces again for housing. But a promise had been made for 5,000 long-term-care beds in 2005, so that housing transfer was used predominantly to create assisted living for seniors.

During the last 15 years barely a stick of housing has been built for people who simply are income-challenged to gain secure housing. The difference is that the current government is taking a full-spectrum approach to housing — not only simply the assisted-living arrangements that were made by the previous government but supportive housing, affordable rental housing. We created a community housing fund.

As I said, just in Nanaimo, over 850 units are either built, being built or in development. And as the member, in his response, which I thank him for, would certainly know, housing and housing developments take time to complete. There has to be a partnership with local government. There has to be zoning in many cases, property acquisitions, planning, business plan and finally construction.

Just in Nanaimo, I have been standing with many families who have received housing from these programs, so I know that it’s making a huge difference in the lives of my constituents and I’m sure in the member for Kelowna West’s constituents as well. If he’d care to ask them, he will find out that reducing the costs for families — MSP premiums, child care costs…. Some families with three kids are saving as much as $14,000 just on child care. Those are life-altering changes on the cost side, cost-of-living side.

Then with housing, providing a full spectrum of housing that is within the reach of the people we represent is so crucial and now beginning to take shape. While the member may point out that it takes time to complete housing projects, I would suggest that in my constituency, 850 in a three-year period, when we saw essentially none aside from some supported-living and assisted-living developments throughout the past 15 years, is a welcome change.

SUPPORTING FRONT-LINE WORKERS

B. Banman: Good morning to all the members present, be that in the House or virtually, such as myself.

Back in May, which feels like a lifetime ago, the federal government announced an unprecedented $3 billion in support to increase wages of low-income essential workers. Part of this plan was to allow each province to determine their own eligibility requirements for workers to utilize this funding. The province had their say as to which workers would be able to access these funds in health care, community social services and corrections, amongst other sectors.

[10:50 a.m.]

Several job categories within the senior care sector, for instance, were deemed eligible. This included long-term care, assisted-living in-home help. It was an incredibly welcome move by the federal government, especially in those early months of the pandemic, as the full weight of care was laid upon those essential workers.

The payout requirements seemed fair, equitable: a $4-an-hour top-up for workers for a 16-week period. Employees would have to work full-time during that 16-week period, and it excluded certain roles — like management, fee-for-service providers or those on leave, not taking the brunt of that challenging time — which made sense.

In theory, it made total sense, and it seemed like a fair deal. However, subsequently, the eligibility criteria were narrowed in a way that was very unfair. Specifically, workers who are not in positions already funded by government, such as those in private care centres, were deemed ineligible. These would include health care aides, housekeeping or food preparation staff in care homes that are either fully private pay or a mix of funded and private-pay beds. Workers also deemed to be ineligible included those who provide private home health and independent living services. All were impacted to some extent by the pandemic, and all faced the same challenges.

If you remember the fear of the unknown and the struggles of those early months, we were all in this together. We were banging pots and pans and cheering every night at 7 p.m. for all of the workers, not just the public sector ones. However, this government decided that only a portion of these selfless and hard-working staff deserved this desperately needed support. Each of these employees provides the same or similar work as their counterparts in the publicly funded care homes or as community health care workers.

To me, this is unfairly biased towards an entire part of the workforce. More specifically, it only benefits unionized public sector employees. The pandemic pay increase appears to penalize front-line staff that work for private providers. What is the difference if someone works for a private operation versus a public one? They are doing the same job and should be eligible for the same benefits. It is as simple as that.

I heard during that time that many of the workers were disappointed by the exclusion and actually indicated they were considering other employment opportunities, which would then further exacerbate the human resource crisis this sector already faced. I even touched on this issue last week, sharing with the House the story of Menno Place in Abbotsford and their need, desperate need, to ask family members of their patients to help fill the staffing gap.

We should be ensuring that everyone is treated equally, especially in the wake of this pandemic. It is true now. It was true back in the spring, when the issue came to light. It seems absurd for any reason to sow the seeds of discontent between staff. For example, the issue in seniors care is that we have long-term care, assisted living and home care. Each has wholly private and wholly public. Variations are the norm for funding.

For example, take long-term-care facilities with 100 beds. Eighty are publicly funded, and 20 are private pay. Because 20 are private, the $4 pandemic pay is now prorated to 80 percent or $3.20 an hour. The front-line care workers provide the same level of care to all 100 residents, but because some beds are privately funded, they’re docked pay. I would love to have been a fly on the wall for those discussions. Somehow it was decided that some of the health care workers should just not get paid as much, even if they’re doing the same work in the same facility, doing the exact same jobs. All of them are putting their lives on the line.

These federal dollars were given to provinces to top up pay for the lowest-paid front-line workers. Sadly, incredibly, only a portion of those received it. It was a blatantly unfair decision, one that I am yet to hear a suitable reason given as to why.

[10:55 a.m.]

S. Chant: I come to you from the unceded territory of the Musqueam, the Squamish and the Tsleil-Waututh nations.

I thank the speaker from Abbotsford South for his passionate concerns about the folks that work in the various areas of health care.

I want to focus a little bit on the people that work in the communities. We all think about front-line care providers, and we think of the hospital. We think of people darting about doing things, providing care there. Hospitals are a finite number of beds with a staff that is large and turns over on regular occasions — on shifts, ongoing. When we look at the community, it is not a finite number of beds. It is a huge number of beds, because every person that we care for in the community is in their own home. That space is…. We don’t put a number on that.

We have all sorts of clinicians that go into the homes. In nursing, we have LPNs, we have nurse practitioners, and we have midwives that go into the homes. We have home care nurses, and we have nurse case managers. In mental health, we’ve got mental health case managers, mental health nurses, mental health assistants. We’ve got social workers. We’ve got community health workers. We’ve got recreational supports. We’ve got occupational therapists and physical therapists and nutritionists and dietitians. All those people go into the homes and provide service in the home.

These people have been working for years and years and providing these services. And then, along came COVID. You know what? We still have to provide all the services we were doing before, and on top of that, we’re now doing things like COVID clinics and contact tracing. The community people are working very, very hard on everybody’s behalf.

Our awareness of that is sometimes questionable. We oftentimes don’t acknowledge those folks that work out in community. But what we can say is that our government is coming forward and is offering 7,000 more folks to work in community and to help people stay in their homes. We’ve determined over and over again, in a whole variety of ways, that if you’re dealing with COVID and you can stay in your household, you’re in a better place, if possible.

We’ve got another training environment coming for folks that want to go into nursing, want to go into care services. We’ve got more training opportunities being offered. We’re looking at, hopefully, opening more seats in various different places. This support is out there and is coming out there, but we have to keep it constant. We have to be starting by recognizing that there’s a whole other group of people that work in the community.

I’m just talking about the people that are paid to do it. The other side of that is the families. We need to remember that so many families are doing so much work to provide care for their family members — families who provide care for seniors, families who provide care for children that are not able to be part of the school system, for adults that have not been able to, for whatever reasons, be incorporated into what we call regular society functions. We’ve got all sorts of caregivers out there, and they all need to be honoured.

I’m very, very grateful to the member for Abbotsford South for bringing forward that one component, but there are so many ways that we need to be able to support and that we do support our care providers that are in the community.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

B. Banman: Thank you to the member for North Vancouver–Seymour for their response to this.

Now, I’ve laid out how this entire rollout scheme is inherently prejudicial to a sector of the workforce that is doing the same job. There’s no way to just talk around the issue I presented.

[11:00 a.m.]

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

The reality is that it is not fair for two people working side by side, with the same job title, the same responsibilities, the same pressure, the same education, the same job in virtually every single way, yet one gets a $4-an-hour top-up, and the other does not. It is a blatantly unfair nod towards a preference for the public sector versus the private sector. We’re all aware that this is the tendency of this government, to lean in that direction, but during these unprecedented and severely challenging times, one would hope that would not be the case.

Now let’s touch on the actual rollout of these funds. As touched on last week in the news, many of British Columbia’s front-line workers who have been working tirelessly for months on end and promised that $4-an-hour pay bump are still yet to receive it. The Prime Minister announced the funding in early May, with applications closing in July. It is now mid-December, yet just over half of those applications have seen money go out.

You can start to sense a pattern here of this government’s promises of financial aid magically becoming not only less….

Deputy Speaker: Excuse me, Member. This is a non-partisan time, not meant to score political points against one party or another. So if the member could adjust his comments to reflect the spirit of this time.

B. Banman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To continue what I was going to say, Stephanie Smith, the president of the BCGEU herself, said that when the program was announced, staff morale increased but that now they’re feeling invisible and unheard. That’s a stark change in a mere six months.

It also turns out that the election may have gotten in the way of the funds being disbursed. According to the Finance Minister, some may not receive their cheques until the new year. So what you have is a plan that excludes thousands of hard-working front-line workers from receiving the needed financial boost as a thank-you for their tireless efforts, and in addition, those that are eligible have to wait an exorbitant amount of time.

To add to that, the election promises of funds that were extensively canvassed last week are not all they were cracked up to be, and what we are left with is thousands of disappointed British Columbians.

I would hope that this would be a cause for some reflection and pause and a promise and focus to do better.

Deputy Speaker: Just a reminder. I know it’s new members’ week, but if all members could reflect the standing orders and make sure that private members’ time is about private members’ interests and not just partisan interests of their parties, it would be appreciated. I’m sure all members could speak about their communities, as opposed to partisan politics, for a change. It would be a nice thing to remember. Thank you, Members.

Now we’re going to move on to private members’ motions, where you can make more of the arguments that you might have tried to make in the previous hour.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 1 — GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE TO COVID-19

J. Rice: I move:

[Be it resolved that this House support the government’s continued actions to protect the health and livelihoods of all British Columbians as we fight the second wave of COVID-19.]

I’m moving this motion this morning because I think it’s really critical at this time that we continue on the trajectory of protecting British Columbians’ health and livelihoods with stability and empathy. People are no doubt worried about their health, they’re worried about their businesses, and they’re worried about their livelihoods.

This pandemic has impacted all of us, in every corner of the world. When the pandemic hit our province last spring, we promised British Columbians we would be there for them for as long as it takes to recover. And it is taking time to recover. We’re ten months in and still have a ways to go. But our promise still stands. We will continue to listen to public health officials, help those on the front lines and support families and businesses as we make it through this current wave of COVID-19.

It’s important to recall that even before COVID-19, our economy wasn’t working for everyone. Now is the time to invest in people and not cut services like the B.C. Liberals did for the past 16 years.

The first vaccine arrived this morning, though. Hope is on the horizon. It will be distributed to all British Columbians as quickly and safely as possible, beginning with those most at risk. The COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved by Health Canada is safe, effective and will save lives.

[11:05 a.m.]

Vaccines do more than protect the people getting vaccinated. They also protect everyone around them. So the more people in a community who are vaccinated and protected from COVID-19, the harder it is for the virus to spread. The first vaccines arrived today in B.C., and they’re from Pfizer. We expect vaccines from Moderna to be available soon.

It’s important to remember that provincial health officer orders and guidelines remain in place for everyone, regardless if they’ve been vaccinated or not. The COVID-19 vaccine will be free for everyone in B.C. These vaccines will require two doses spaced at least three weeks apart. So for the best source of information on vaccines, it’s from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, or the BCCDC.

Since the beginning of the pandemic and throughout this session, government has been focused on taking immediate action to protect people, their health and their livelihoods from the threats of COVID-19. First and foremost, government will help people, communities and businesses to implement whatever public health protections are necessary to address outbreaks. Those supports include a new recovery benefit, which will be rolled out in the coming days.

The B.C. recovery benefit will give people some financial help during a hard time, while benefiting the local economy. Key investments in health care will allow more patients to receive treatment at home, reduce wait times and train and hire more doctors and nurses.

Government will also take significant steps to assist small and medium-sized businesses in weathering the economic storm caused by COVID-19. New tax measures will reward businesses for hiring or rehiring and help them grow and become more productive by making it easier for them to invest in equipment and machinery. Focusing now on beating the virus will allow British Columbia to move as quickly as possible to address the economic recovery and its broader priorities: investing in people, strengthening communities and supporting jobs and growth in a clean energy future.

I’d like to talk a bit about the recovery benefit. We’re working to make life easier for families during this pandemic. We’ve introduced legislation to get the B.C. recovery benefit to approximately 3.7 million British Columbians. That means $1,000 for families with incomes under $125,000 annually. Families earning up to $175,000 annually will qualify for the benefit on a sliding scale. Single-parent families will also qualify for these same amounts, and $500 will be available for single people earning less than $62,500 annually. Single people earning up to $87,500 will qualify for the benefit — again, on a sliding scale. Applications can be made online starting December 18 or by phone as of December 22.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected low- or no-income people who are feeling the pressure of keeping themselves and their families safe and supported. In addition to the recovery benefit, people receiving income and disability assistance and low-income seniors will automatically receive a $150 monthly supplement from January through to March.

R. Merrifield: I’m pleased today to stand in this House and support the motion before us. In fact, I’m sure that every member of this House can wholeheartedly affirm this motion, one that echoes what should always be a central focus of government: protecting the health and livelihoods of British Columbians.

As we have grappled with one of the most challenging public health crises in history, we’ve seen the incredible work and sacrifice of British Columbians. But as we near our ninth month dealing with COVID-19 in B.C., people are tired, lonely, frustrated and yearning to return to some sense of normalcy. And that’s not going to happen for a while.

[11:10 a.m.]

This government needs to act quickly, clearly and transparently forward.

I’ve already spoken to the COVID-19 relief program, which really isn’t about 19, unless it’s 2019, and that’s the tax year upon which this benefit is based.

Today I’m going to speak more to the health of British Columbians. We know that our provincial health officer has done a capable job of leading the COVID response in B.C. and that her proactive approach in the first wave of this pandemic likely has saved many lives. Ultimately, the provincial health officer’s central role is to provide the government with independent advice, which is why we see slightly different responses to the pandemic across Canada. Government takes in the advice of health officers and then makes decisions.

On this side of the House, as the loyal opposition, our job is to hold government to account. Therefore, for us, supporting the government’s work in this motion actually requires us to ask questions and provide critiques on decisions as they’re being made. Asking questions will deliver better outcomes for the people of the province.

British Columbians themselves have questions, and we are going to continue to listen to as many as will speak to us. It’s these questions that we will echo in question period, just as we did last week, asking about why rapid testing is not being used as it is in other provinces. We know that in other provinces, rapid testing has been found especially useful in long-term-care homes and in schools, providing an additional level of protection for our most vulnerable, our seniors and our students and also their families, our front-line workers and our teachers.

Yet here in B.C., we’ve only just started using them as part of a pilot project in a very limited capacity. Why are we not expanding usage and creating a rapid testing program in long-term-care homes and in schools across the entire province? If this government is so serious about B.C.’ers’ health and livelihoods, then why hasn’t the government activated the Standing Committee on Health, especially with the vaccine being rolled out as we speak? It would ensure that all British Columbians have equitable and reasonable access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health doesn’t end with a pandemic or vaccines. In the last year, we have seen how interconnected every aspect of health truly is; how vital it is to look after not just the physical health but also mental and emotional health; how important it is to prevent disease in addition to treating it; how vital social connections are to all of us, as people need people; but also how having confidence in our personal financial situation contributes to our overall well-being.

I hope that as we approach the final stage of this pandemic, this government starts to think about how they’re going to support the health and livelihoods of British Columbians through to recovery. We all know action on this is long overdue. How are you going to support the people of B.C. as we transition from pandemic mode to economic recovery? What is the plan for the road ahead? Why the secrets with respect to testing, vaccine rollout and economic recovery? Surely the government wants British Columbians to know that they have plans.

It’s time for answers to these questions. It’s time for real, concrete action from this government and a long-term plan to look after all British Columbians.

J. Brar: I am also very pleased to support the motion introduced today by the hon. member for North Coast: “…that this House support the government’s continued actions to protect the health and livelihoods of all British Columbians as we fight the second wave of COVID-19.”

First of all, my sincere thanks to Dr. Bonnie Henry and the Minister of Health for their exemplary leadership to manage the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. And thanks to the people of B.C. for doing their part to flatten the curve. We will continue to support the science, because that’s the right thing to do.

[11:15 a.m.]

I have spoken to many people during the election and after the election, and I know that British Columbians are worried about their health and their livelihood. COVID-19 has impacted all of us. Our government remains deeply committed to keeping people safe while building a recovery that works for everyone.

When the pandemic hit our province last spring, we promised British Columbians we would be there for them for as long as it takes to recover. That promise stands. We will continue to listen to public health officials, help those on the front lines and support families and businesses as we make it through the second wave of COVID-19 and as a vaccine becomes available for better days ahead.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, our government has focused on taking actions to protect people, their health and their livelihoods from the threat of COVID-19. My government has provided much-needed and timely support to people and businesses with the $6.26 billion COVID-19 action plan.

More than 600,000 British Columbians have received the one-time tax-free $1,000 B.C. emergency benefit for workers. Over 200,000 people have benefited from the disability and income assistance crisis supplement. More than 81,000 applications were approved for the temporary rent relief supplement. Over 250,000 eligible front-line workers will receive temporary pandemic pay. We cut property tax bills for businesses by 25 percent, providing $700 million in immediate relief to them.

The list goes on. Our government has also introduced legislation to get the B.C. recovery benefit to approximately 3.7 million British Columbians. Families with a combined household income of less than $125,000 per year will be eligible to receive $1,000. Families earning above that, up to $170,000, will receive payment on a sliding scale. Individuals earning less than $62,000 a year will be eligible for $500, with those earning up to $87,000 eligible for a payment on a sliding scale. The B.C. recovery benefit will give people some financial help during a hard time while benefiting the local economy. Applications will start December 18.

We are also ready to receive the vaccine. Preparations are underway to ensure that when a vaccine is available, it will be distributed to all British Columbians as quickly and safely as possible, beginning with those most at risk. Key investments in health care will allow more patients to receive treatment at home, reduce wait times and train and hire more doctors and nurses.

Government will also take a significant step to assist small and medium-sized businesses in weathering the economic storm caused by COVID-19. New tax incentives will reward businesses for hiring and help them grow and become more productive by making it easier for them to invest in equipment and machinery.

We remain focused to beat the virus. That will allow British Columbians to move as quickly as possible to address the economic recovery and its broader priorities — investing in people, serving communities and supporting jobs and growth in a clean energy future.

I would like to conclude by saying I fully support government’s continued action to protect the health and livelihood of all British Columbians as we fight the second wave of COVID-19, because working together, we can put this province on a better path by protecting people, people’s health and for the fast recovery of our economy.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Peace River North.

D. Davies: Welcome to the chair. Good to be back, and good to see you in the chair again.

I rise in this House today to respond to the motion: “Be it resolved that this House support the government’s continued actions to protect the health and livelihoods of all British Columbians as we fight the second wave of COVID-19.”

I think it should go without question, though, that everyone in this House, and all British Columbians, for that matter, is seeking any and all direction and support that will help protect our community’s health and well-being.

[11:20 a.m.]

My major concern, though, with this motion is that this government’s claim that it has offered continuous actions to support and protect British Columbians is inherently false in every logical understanding of that phrase. It seems, though, that this government has quickly forgotten that they are the ones who directly impeded the joint actions of our province to keep our families safe and our businesses open.

Wasn’t it this government that put our entire pandemic recovery effort on pause to trigger a snap election? Isn’t there a reason we’re looking at all these new faces — new MLAs, new ministers, different ministers than we had just three short months ago? That self-serving election, in reality, put the continued actions on hold for nearly two months.

It is completely dumbfounding to me that this re-elected government has put forward this motion when in only a few hours’ time, this afternoon, we’re going to continue debating legislation — the only piece of legislation, I might add — that this government has put forward to delay and reduce supports for British Columbians.

How can it be that the same MLAs that are standing in this House now to highlight all the continued support and action will stand up later on this afternoon to try and justify why they are planning to delay the next fiscal budget, and the supports that will come with it, by an additional two months? Actually, they’ve chosen not to stand up and debate this flawed piece of legislation. That does not sound like continued action to me. It sounds like quite the opposite.

I’d very much, though, like to see one of the government MLAs stand up and explain to us and explain to British Columbians how slashing the COVID income and disability assistance program by half counts as continued support. How can you claim that clawing money away from people with disabilities or the elderly qualifies as continued action to preserve their health and well-being? I don’t want to hear the excuses, though, that they can apply for a one-time payment.

Firstly, people with disabilities often incur additional costs and expenses. They often cannot work in the same capacity as other British Columbians, and they are some of the most at-risk members of our community when it comes to COVID-19. This is why we have supplemental efforts to support them with the additional help that they need to face the many challenges that we and especially they are facing during this pandemic. Secondly, you’re taking away a stable supply of monthly income and replacing it with a lengthy and often difficult application process, with no guarantee that they will even see the full amount as promised.

Government is creating additional barriers for those that have been hit the hardest by COVID-19. Now you want to call it continued action for their health and well-being? It’s, frankly, quite disgraceful. As we listen to members on that side of the House stand up and applaud their continued efforts, let’s remember that those continued actions really are actions that are stripping away government’s accountability, actions that are diminishing and delaying vital supports for those who need them the most and actions that are creating more — not less, more — risks, more challenges, more issues to the health and well-being of every British Columbian.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Recognizing the member for Surrey–Green Timbers.

R. Singh: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on this new appointment.

It is a pleasure to talk to this motion which was moved by the member for North Coast.

As we have heard before, since the pandemic hit British Columbia and the whole world, our lives have turned upside down. It’s a different world that we are living in. We had never imagined last January that this is what we would be facing. But I’m so glad to be part of a government that has taken this very seriously and, since the beginning of the pandemic, has been very open and very transparent about all the investments and all the health care initiatives that they’re bringing in.

[11:25 a.m.]

From the very beginning, we saw detailed discussions coming out, as we saw, from the provincial health officer and also from our Minister of Health, but also key investments in our health care. Those investments did not just start with the pandemic. They started way before, since we formed government. We saw that in the last 16 years there had been a lot of cutbacks in our health care system, in our social investments and in our economy.

When we formed government in 2017, we started putting people first. That’s what we carried on when the pandemic hit. We know now that the vaccine is on the horizon. It seems like how, after a tunnel, we can see the light coming in.

Going forward, we are investing and putting in more resources, especially if I look at my community of Surrey. We’re setting up the new second hospital, bringing in the new urgent primary care centres, investing in our nurses, bringing in investments in recruiting more nurses and also into education, with putting into our platform the creation of a new medical school. That will be coming in Surrey.

These are the investments in health care. Economy-wise, as we have heard from previous speakers as well, we are putting people first. We know that people are hurting; people are suffering. Especially the most vulnerable populations are suffering more. That’s why we are bringing in this economic recovery benefit, which 95 percent of British Columbians will benefit from. That economic recovery benefit will start rolling in this coming Friday, and people would be able to apply. I’m so glad that it is not just for the families but also for the people who are single and especially single parents. It will benefit them.

Another aspect that I would really like to highlight is, yes, it is our health that is impacted, it is our economy that is impacted, but it is our social structure that has been impacted by COVID. Some things we always knew were happening in our communities, especially domestic violence, but in recent months we have seen a spike in that. Our government is very cognizant of this fact and is putting the resources in there — putting more resources into counselling, putting more resources into transition homes. That is also a way that livelihoods can be protected.

Another thing that we have seen is the rise in racism in the last few months. Racism has always existed, but the last few months we have seen racism which has hurt so many people, especially the racism against the Asian communities that has come out in the open. Part of our economic recovery plan is putting resources into anti-racism initiatives, and $1.9 million is going into that.

It’s so that we can tackle not just the pandemic but also the impacts that the pandemic is creating in our communities, making British Columbia safer. It is a beautiful community, but making it safer and making it possible for people to be full participants in our communities, in our economies and in our health care system.

T. Halford: I am pleased to rise here today during my very first private members’ time to speak in support of this motion. I think we can all agree this motion is an important one. We need to ensure that we are taking actions to protect the health and livelihoods of British Columbians. You know, I think what we’ve heard today is that you’re going to find very little division in this House in terms of supporting British Columbians to make this province safer and more successful.

I will say this, though. I don’t think that we should believe that the work is done. I supported the Premier in his comments last week when he spoke after question period and said: “Let’s put politics behind us.” I truly believe that he is supportive of that. I think we have to find ways to come together and collaborate. One of those ways is a measure I put forward last week that both parties supported during the last election. That would be putting a cap on third-party deliveries that are impacting the restaurant sector right now. I heard silence on that from the government.

[11:30 a.m.]

When we talk about an economic recovery, we need to know that an economic recovery cannot be based solely on people’s income levels, based on 2019 income levels. I’ve heard members of the government cite the great supports that this recovery plan will have for single people. The previous member just spoke and said that divorce rates are rising. Unfortunately, she is right. Divorce rates are rising. That is very unfortunate. We also must realize that divorce rates are rising in the year 2020. Yet this government has put forward legislation on an economic recovery plan that would go out based on 2019 income. I think that’s unfortunate and unfair.

We need to make sure that we are supporting not only individuals, but we’re also supporting our small businesses, our tourism operators and our restaurants, because they’ve all been hit hard. I think government needs to see the value in establishing support for these businesses and making sure that they’re not only here for us tomorrow but they’re here for us in the coming months ahead, once we get through this pandemic.

I agree with all members in the House, as we see the vaccine rollouts begin, some of which began today, I think that we can all see that better times are ahead. But as a government, as an opposition, as elected leaders, we need to ensure that we’re doing everything right now in our capacity to ensure that we are putting measures in place to support not only individuals but also our important small business sector. I know that firsthand in Surrey, where the majority, over 95 percent, of our businesses are small businesses, and they’re struggling. They’re closing. They’re laying off staff at one of the most difficult times of the year.

I am absolutely privileged to serve as the critic for Mental Health and Addictions. You don’t have to be a critic or a minister to know that this time of year is often the most difficult for people that struggle with those issues. Then you compound that with a pandemic, the likes of which we’ve never seen before, and you quickly realize that we are in a crisis. We’ve been in a crisis for a while. We’ve had two crises going on. One is the pandemic, and the other is the opioid crisis. We have to realize that more work is needed.

I wholeheartedly support this motion, but what I do want to say is that we cannot come to Victoria and expect that this means that we’re done. We put stuff on the table that will help people immediately. I think we all have an obligation to take that pretty seriously.

I look forward to the continued debate.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Recognizing the member for Abbotsford-Mission.

P. Alexis: Thank you, hon. Speaker, and congratulations on your appointment.

Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge that we’re on the unceded ancestral territory of the Stó:lō people, including Kwantlen, Leq’á:mel, Matsqui, Sumas and Sq’èwlets territory.

I, too, would like to speak to the motion, but before I do, as it’s my first time to speak in the House, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the citizens of Abbotsford and Mission for putting their trust in me in representing them at the provincial level. I would also like to thank my very large family and some very special friends for their continued love and support and for all the volunteers who have helped me along the way, in believing me and what I stand for.

Actually, I’m here because of the outstanding leadership we continue to experience and, consequently, of the support that my constituents and I received from the government at the onset of COVID-19, which has not wavered since. The people of British Columbia are in good hands, and as the former mayor of Mission, I can absolutely attest to that.

[11:35 a.m.]

The communities I represent are filled with everyday people, and like most British Columbians, they were frightened about what their future would hold. Fortunately, the government acted quickly and decisively to help take some of that worry away. Our most vulnerable populations, our homeless citizens, were housed in emergency shelters to ensure that support would be in place to protect them against COVID-19.

Citizens were grateful for this action and rose to assist. In fact, many citizens called and asked if they could volunteer in a capacity that would ensure the most vulnerable would be safe. Our communities took to heart the message of the necessity to support one another. Local Rotary clubs, in particular, have continued to ensure that those in need would not go hungry as they worked tirelessly in the area of food distribution.

As we are communities made up of everyday people, filled predominantly with families, many felt more secure as a result of the emergency benefits provided. People were dealing with uncertainties, questions about child care and feeling safe in their workplace. The emergency benefits provided some breathing space so that they could navigate with confidence their new normal. Finally, our business community benefited from the relief measures in place which gave them the tools to continue to operate, albeit under very different circumstances.

These are just a few examples of how communities across British Columbia have been supported through likely the darkest times we’ve seen in our lifetimes. But the work isn’t over. Heeding the direction of our health officials and continuing to support our most vulnerable families and businesses is absolutely what the motion speaks to.

The new recovery benefit is aimed at continuing the support measures that were in place from the beginning of this pandemic. This will directly impact our most vulnerable citizens and our families so that they, too, can feel confident in their future. This legislation has the potential to positively impact 3.7 million British Columbians, as stated by the member for North Coast, and 85 percent of the adults in our province are eligible to apply. The B.C. recovery benefit will give people some financial help, which will benefit our local economies.

If this pandemic has a silver lining, it’s that now, more than ever, we understand the meaning of humanity and that we continue to take care of each other. Now is not the time to question this value. That is why I support this motion.

T. Wat: I rise in the House this morning to respond to the motion. This is a very curious motion that we are being asked to respond to, a motion that I think exemplifies the mindset of this government and the reason that our pandemic recovery efforts are being challenged.

This government has and continues to fall short on countless promises for support and affirmative action to protect British Columbians during this time of crisis. This motion once again echoes the skills we have heard so many times from this government. This motion seems to imply that there are outside forces directly impeding this government’s efforts to carry out the mandate they promised to deliver to British Columbians. This motion seems to urge members of this House and all British Columbians to stop getting in the way of their progress — or, as the Premier may put it, put politics aside and move forward together.

This government is falling desperately far behind on so many actions, and they are putting the blame everywhere but on themselves.

[11:40 a.m.]

I think, at this point, everyone in this House is all too aware that this government was the one that put politics before all else — before our pandemic recovery plan, before their oath to British Columbians and before the health and well-being of our communities and our families.

Here, now, we are still waiting on an economic recovery plan from a government that this very day is proposing to delay actions even further, a government that is asking British Columbians to cash their one-time cheque and try to survive until early May, a government that will leave British Columbians without a budget update for the longest period of time in 20 years.

My community of Richmond North Centre, one of the hardest-hit communities in this pandemic, has faced every possible challenge. Our restaurants and small businesses are struggling to stay open. Our multicultural communities are facing growing anxieties, not only facing a rising wave of COVID, but a wave of racism and intolerance spreading across our province. How has this government promoted multiculturalism and tolerance in this pandemic? Chinese Canadians are still waiting for the permanent Chinese-Canadian heritage museum, despite advocating for one for more than three years.

Without many of the shows and tourist attractions being able to operate this season, many of B.C.’s artists have been hit particularly hard. Our community’s small businesses and non-profits rely on annual cultural events and socials for income and have lost much of the support they rely on to carry out their crucial work.

Tens of thousands of British Columbians are still out of work. We are reporting thousands of new COVID cases every week. Families are being kept apart from their loved ones for the holidays. People now fear that they won’t see any additional support from this government for their businesses and families until the spring of the new year. Are their health and well-being really being protected? Is this government really doing everything it can to support them?

What about our tourism industry? They were offered less than one-tenth of the funding they asked for to save one of our province’s hardest-hit sectors. Was this government taking every possible action to protect their health and well-being? Even now, when the tourism recovery task force has brought forward their recommendations and proposed action to save our tourism industry, the Minister of Tourism refuses to provide a timeline for when we may see these actions implemented.

This government is asking the House to support them as they try to put our pandemic recovery plan, a plan that they derailed, back on track. As this government continues to blame everything and everyone, I think it’s high time they realize [audio interrupted]…

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

T. Wat: …stopping you except yourself.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Richmond-Queensborough.

A. Singh: Thank you, hon. Speaker, and congratulations.

Thank you, members of this House.

First time I’m speaking here. It’s an honour to be able to address everyone from this chamber, from the traditional unceded lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt and Kwikwetlem peoples.

Especially important, as a visible person of colour, I want to first pay my gratitude to the trail-blazers who came before me to lay that groundwork, including the hon. Speaker, Raj Chouhan, who we elected last week. There was a time that people that looked like me were scorned, didn’t even have the right to vote, let alone the right to speak in this chamber. We’ve come a long way. Every deed on that journey, big or small, matters.

As Khalil Gibran says: “You have been told that even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of the ocean by the frailty of its foam.”

[11:45 a.m.]

That journey to make these chambers more inclusive, more aspirational and more reflective of the society that we are in is one of the reasons I am here.

I’m confident I’ll continue as we stand with each other. And when one of us or many of us need a hand, there will be multitudes of us to offer that hand. That, hon. friends, is at heart the essence of what my friend the member for North Coast is asking all of us to do. It’s what I’m asking us to do, and it’s why I’m supporting this motion and urging all of us to support this motion….

We live in an unprecedented time. The near past seems so far away, almost a distant memory, and the future is still uncharted territory. We British Columbians are not through this pandemic yet. Every day people and businesses are working hard to get back on track, and they’re relying on your government, our government, to be there like it has for the last nine months.

They’re people like June, in Queensborough, who runs Epic Silogs restaurant and used to have lines stretching around the corner for brunch on weekends because of their legendary traditional Filipino breakfast dishes. That lineup has gone, and they’ve had to adjust. People are worried about their health and their livelihood. No one has been left untouched by this pandemic.

When the pandemic hit British Columbia, people were worried. Our government stepped up and promised British Columbians that it would be there to take care of them, and it did. Our government listened to the experts and continues to listen to the experts, the scientists, the epidemiologists, and to follow their advice to keep people safe. I’m honoured to be part of a government that knows what it knows, knows what it doesn’t know and continues to learn and listen and be teachable from those experts.

That promise that we first made and that trust that we first made with the people of British Columbia back early in March stands today as strong as ever. We must continue, and we will, to listen to the public health officials, and we must continue to provide those on the front lines of this pandemic with the support that they need, as we have done for the last nine months.

We must continue to support families and individuals, continue to support businesses, like June’s, and continue to build a recovery from this pandemic that works for everybody. We can’t go back to the days when British Columbia’s economy was only working for a select few. Much was done over the last few years to make sure that as we move forward, all British Columbians move forward, not just a select few.

The end is not far away. We see a beacon, with the rollout of the first vaccinations, I believe coming today or tomorrow, and next week there will be more. We know, however, that recovery will take time. It won’t be here overnight. The vaccinations are just but a first step.

We need to be here to support British Columbians as we wade through that recovery. We need to be here to support all British Columbians.

Since the beginning of this pandemic, the government has been focused on keeping people safe and taking immediate action to protect people and their livelihoods, and that, to this day, remains our priority. We will continue to help people, to help businesses and communities to take the necessary action to address outbreaks. That includes a recovery benefit that the Minister of Finance spoke about extensively last week.

My friends on the other side mischaracterized it on many occasions with their references to 2019 income. The very fact is that benefit will help 3.7 million British Columbians — straight fact, nothing else. It comes at a hard time when people need it, and it will help the local economy as that benefit is used to support businesses.

We will ensure that as the vaccine becomes available, it will be distributed to all British Columbians. We are in this together, and because we’re in this together, the government will continue to take significant steps to assist small and medium-sized businesses.

T. Stone: I’m pleased to speak to the motion to support “continued actions to protect the health and livelihoods of all British Columbians as we fight the second wave of COVID-19.”

So 2020 has been an extraordinarily tough year. The pandemic has hit all of us very hard. The sacrifices of British Columbians have been extraordinary.

Here in British Columbia, we have been fortunate to have a dedicated team of public health officials and front-line workers to help keep COVID-19 cases under control during the first wave.

As the official opposition, we have fully cooperated with the government since the very beginning of the pandemic to ensure British Columbians’ health and safety are our collective number one priority. Indeed, we all checked our partisan politics at the door.

[11:50 a.m.]

Last week a short session of the Legislature got underway, but British Columbians shouldn’t count on getting any of the answers they’ve been seeking when it comes to economic recovery. If you’re a family worrying about how to pay your bills in the coming months or a small business owner struggling to stay afloat, this legislative session will do little to ease your stress. That’s because the Premier and his government still have not developed any long-term economic recovery plan, a massive lost opportunity to address a wide range of challenges faced by British Columbians during this pandemic.

People are looking for answers, and this legislative session was the perfect opportunity for the government to present its delayed second quarterly update, but it’s not on the agenda. Meanwhile, the only thing that’s on the table is legislation that delays the introduction of the provincial budget by two months, thus postponing the delivery of additional support for people and businesses by many months more.

This is on top of the NDP’s lacklustre results in delivering a series of supports people and businesses were promised long ago. For example, last March the Legislature unanimously approved $1½ billion in economic recovery supports for businesses. The NDP then wasted six months of time before announcing that $300 million of these supports would be used to fund the small and medium-sized business recovery grant a week before the Premier called a snap provincial election. This again delayed flowing these supports by another couple of months.

Fast-forward to today. Disappointingly, this program is a red-tape disaster with a complicated application process. Among 18 eligibility requirements, businesses must be currently operating, have been in operation for at least three years, have had a revenue loss of 70 percent during March and April of 2020 and revenue losses of at least 50 percent every month since. With it taking so long to roll out this program and with such restrictive eligibility requirements, I suppose we should not be surprised that only 1,400 businesses are “in the process of accessing this grant to date,” according to the Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

So 1,400 businesses total provincewide, ten months after the pandemic hit. Clearly, this is not good enough.

Another example of NDP incompetence is unfolding with respect to the NDP’s promise to deliver a one-time $500-per-person B.C. recovery benefit before Christmas, something that we fully support. However, inexplicably, it was confirmed by the Minister of Finance herself last week that the NDP is basing eligibility for this benefit on one’s income in 2019, before the pandemic hit, meaning many people who have lost their jobs or suffered financial hardship in 2020 won’t qualify.

How does this make any sense at all? Shouldn’t government be focused squarely on getting supports quickly and effectively to people who need the help the most? Oh, and by the way, with the online application process for this benefit not expected to be up and running until December 18, very few British Columbians are going to have these funds in their bank accounts before Christmas, assuming they qualify in the first place.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

The NDP’s lack of an economic plan to restore jobs lost in the pandemic has left families and small businesses struggling for months with no end in sight. In November, we still had 37,400 fewer British Columbians working compared to pre-pandemic levels in February, and don’t forget that these numbers haven’t fully captured business closures resulting from the most recent restrictions. These jobs numbers also highlight the alarming trend that women are continuing to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, losing far more jobs than men and regaining these jobs at a much slower pace.

Again, why are we not working to address the wide array of challenges faced by British Columbians during this session? Is there a jobs plan for us to consider? No. What about the tourism sector, which has been decimated? Are we debating supports for tourism this session? No.

Restaurants are hanging by a thread, yet the government hasn’t even bothered to bring forward legislation to cap food delivery charges as they promised. My colleague the member for Surrey–White Rock has tabled a bill. “Call the bill,” we say to the government. Tens of thousands of small businesses aren’t sure they’re going to be around only months from now.

We should be debating the challenges in long-term care and our schools, but again, the government has not brought anything forward for us to discuss on these fronts either.

Thank you for the time.

G. Lore: This is my first time rising to speak on a motion in this House. I’m grateful to the people of Victoria–​Beacon Hill for putting their trust in me. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to serve this community with this government at this time.

All of us here find ourselves representing our constituents at a time of intense uncertainty and high collective anxiety. That is why I stand to speak in favour of the motion.

[11:55 a.m.]

I spent the weekend doing Christmas shopping in Victoria. Local businesses kept the number of folks in their stores limited and offered and required masks and hand sanitizer. The lines outside stores were long — people in this city committed to keeping their holiday spending local. People were able to do this in Victoria because of the work of the Minister of Health, of Dr. Henry and of this government and because of the confidence they have in their fellow Victorians to follow the rules and keep each other safe.

This motion is about protecting health and livelihoods. Addressing the pandemic is about health, but it’s also about the economy. Why? Because people are the economy, and the economy is people. If people aren’t healthy, if they don’t feel safe, if they can’t access the care they need, if they can’t shop, work or invest in their communities, there is no local economy.

There is light at the end of this tunnel: the vaccine. We have a plan to start delivering those vaccines to health care workers, the people that have been caring for our elders and providing essential response during COVID-19. We owe it to them to keep them safe. Keeping them safe also protects those they care for. We have a long way to go, but we are taking steps, and we will get there.

Beyond the vaccine, British Columbians do need support now. Starting next week, people will be able to apply for the recovery benefit, money that will go directly back into communities as seniors buy gifts for grandkids they miss and as families use it to cover rent and groceries. It will provide breathing room and a bit more security to those who need it most and, in doing so, a much needed boost for our local economies.

COVID-19 has also exposed and emphasized existing inequalities and shown us how critical our investments in people are. Every day, lives are lost in our communities to the toxic drug supply. Organizations are working to support and protect those who use drugs. In my community, it’s AVI, SOLID Outreach, Moms Stop The Harm, the Umbrella Society. They’ve done so in a crisis on top of a crisis, and we must continue to support that.

Mr. Speaker: Noting the hour, Member.

G. Lore: Do I have my two minutes? Am I done?

Mr. Speaker: Try. Keep going.

G. Lore: Increased access to safe supply and a commitment towards decriminalization, either with the support of the federal government or with a made-in-B.C. solution, are part of how we protect British Columbians during this second wave. These are some of the reasons I support this motion.

This is also a government committed to gender equity, and as parliamentary secretary, I come to this motion with that in mind. Women have lost more work, and they’ve lost it for longer. Indeed, as British Columbia leads the way in job recovery, many women have left the labour force.

At work, women have experienced more exposure and risk at lower rates of pay. We’ve relied on nurses, teachers and those working to care for seniors and our children, and we’ve made those investments when we need it most, supporting workers — $250 million for temporary emergency funding for child care and a long-term commitment to raising the minimum wage.

We know the risks associated with gender-based violence, including for those most likely to be targeted — Indigenous women and girls, two-spirit, queer and trans folks, those experiencing poverty and housing insecurity, racialized women, newcomers and those with disabilities.

This risk has been rising at the same time as capacity to reach supports and find safety has decreased. Anti-violence organizations have risen to the challenge, finding new ways to provide care and reach those in need, and this government has supported their efforts, investing in community-based sexual assault services and transition house after too many years where the sector was gutted. Again, this is action to protect the health and livelihoods of British Columbians during a second wave of this pandemic.

It’s been a long year. Limits to personal connections, I know, will make this month among the hardest for many, but there is light on the horizon, with a vaccine on the way, a recovery benefit for those who need it most, investments in the hardest-hit parts of our economy and a commitment to getting through this pandemic together.

I support this motion.

G. Lore moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. L. Beare moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 12 noon.