Orders of the Day

Hon. L. Beare: I call continued second reading of Bill 3.

[2:30 p.m.]

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 3 — FINANCE STATUTES
AMENDENT ACT, 2020

(continued)

K. Kirkpatrick: I appreciate the opportunity to rise and continue my comments from last week regarding the Finance Statutes Amendment Act. I’ll start again by saying that I don’t understand why we are here looking at this today. Forgive me if I repeat myself from my previous comments.

In this, the NDP’s first piece of legislation in this session, it does not deal with the issues that British Columbians are experiencing today. Rather, this government is not coming here to look for ways to support small business, the hospitality sector, teachers, front-line workers, the families of children and youth with special needs. We have been called to Victoria instead because this NDP government appears not to be able to account for its finances. As I shared previously, my own experience with the impact of my small business from 9/11 was devastating, financially and emotionally. It was only a blip compared to what those small business owners are dealing with today.

The budget forms the legal basis for government spending, and timely budgets enacted before the new fiscal year are an integral part of good governance. The Premier said today that this House…. He expects that he knows how good budgets are made. This pandemic has hit British Columbians and our economy in a sudden and dramatic manner. It has required both federal and provincial spending to keep the lights on. Prior to the calling of this unnecessary election, all the parties in this House were working together in supporting the best interests of British Columbians. Now this government is asking to go it alone and no longer involve or share its plans with this House.

The bill you have brought us is very concerning. From what we can see, this is a bill to limit government transparency and accountability while also delaying needed supports into the hands of British Columbians. The bill before us will effectively allow government to delay introducing the next budget until the end of next May. The NDP government already came to us for an amendment to delay the budget by an initial 30 days, and now government returns to the House to ask for yet another extension.

In June of this year, government’s previous Finance Minister said: “These changes will allow sufficient time for due diligence to be done by the good public servants who work for all of us in British Columbia.” Clearly, that was not the case. A 60-day delay in delivering a budget is unacceptable. Either this government knows or does not know its numbers. If it does not know its numbers, then why isn’t it being transparent? And if it doesn’t know its numbers, how can we have any confidence in this government’s ability to manage the money of British Columbians and to know how to build a substantive economic recovery plan?

This will give government an additional 60 days to decide what new taxes they’re going to add or policies to enact to inhibit economic recovery and growth. NDP governments do not have a good history of sound economic planning. We have seen this in the past. I’d like to read a quote by economists Jason Clemens and Joel Emes in a 2001 report, Returning British Columbia to Prosperity. “Undisciplined government spending was one of the root problems of B.C.’s fiscal and economic woes during the 1990s, the other being uncompetitive tax rates. The root of the economic problems in British Columbia was poor policy, founded on a belief in the efficacy of a more activist and interventionist government.” This is the NDP’s way of budgeting and managing the economy. Economists referred to this last time the province had a majority NDP government as “the lost years” for British Columbia’s economy.

Now, I’m an accountant, but you don’t need to be an accountant to know that this is not a responsible way to manage the budget of British Columbians. I’ll remind this House that this will leave the longest stretch in 20 years without a scheduled fiscal update. Now is not the time to keep hidden what has been and what is planned to be spent. We need financial transparency now more than ever before. You are asking for an amendment to a bill that is meant to ensure transparency which will then result in making things less transparent.

[2:35 p.m.]

I have seen this government bring in policies on the fly over the last three years and then scramble to figure out what the actual impact of their actions is on British Columbians, on businesses and on non-profits. This is another example of this government deciding an action without understanding its consequences.

For example, the introduction of the EHT was announced with no information on how it would impact non-profits, because government didn’t know, and it was announced after annual budgets for organizations had already been planned. Has this government consulted with any of the myriad other organizations that will be impacted by the delay that it’s asking for?

There are many organizations that rely on this government to have its budget in order before the end of the fiscal year. This delay has a trickle-down effect, and these organizations do not have the opportunity to delay their budgets. In fact, some of them have statutory obligations they need to contend with, with their budgets.

With the financial impact of COVID, non-profits that provide services on behalf of this government — like mental health counselling, family preservation, supervised access, programs for children and youth with special needs, detox centres for youth — are unaware if they’re going to get contract renewals. How will these organizations know if they have funding?

Making matters worse, this government decided to do away with multi-year contracts with these service providers, meaning that when there is no budget, they have absolutely no security for funding for these next years. So this government is asking to push financial risk to those organizations. They either lay off staff and begin to wrap up programs, which would be devastating for everyone, or they take the financial and reputational risk of continuing to provide services and simply hoping that there’s money for the contract to be renewed.

This delay may in fact result in people losing their jobs as funding remains unsure. It will likely result, as it did with the introduction of the low-wage redress, in non-profits having to use lines of credit to cover payroll. Boards of directors of these non-profits will be forced to make very difficult decisions. This is only one example of what the government is asking them to do by not putting forward a budget in a timely manner.

While we can see how this bill would benefit government, it is very hard to see how it would benefit the people of British Columbia. I wonder again: why are we here to discuss this? Why aren’t we looking at the other things we need to be doing to ensure that people are safe and healthy and have jobs and that we can move this economy forward? What about the other promises that this government has made? What about the commitment the government made on October 9 to the restaurant sector to cap 15 percent commission fees for food delivery services?

You heard the bill introduced by the member for Surrey–White Rock to actually come true on that, to actually take action and make that very thing happen. Because of the promise this government made to voters on this issue, I see no reason why it would not be in full support of its passing.

Now we are less than two weeks away from Christmas, and those front-line workers who have been working for all of us since this pandemic broke have yet to be paid their promised pandemic pay. Is this how we demonstrate how we value these heroes? Where is their money? The holidays that are usually a time of celebration and comfort for so many…. We know that this year is going to look very different. But government is asking everyone in B.C. to make sacrifices for the greater good.

The people of B.C. are looking for this government to have a plan and to take action, and that does not involve delaying their budget for an additional 30 days so they can figure things out.

[2:40 p.m.]

The NDP made a hollow promise, short on details, that led the people of British Columbia to believe that they would be receiving a $1,000 benefit direct-deposited into their bank accounts by Christmas. Now that we are getting the details, this is not in fact the case. It is clear once again that there was little thought or planning put into this announcement. Rather, this government thought it was a good sound bite during an election campaign.

In fact, the elimination of the PST for one year would have had a more substantive financial impact for British Columbians, with more benefit to those with lower incomes, than this one-time “maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t get it, and we’re not sure how much you’re going to get” benefit that is now being put before us. It would have been infinitely less complicated to administer and calculate. There would be no application process, and it would have an immediate impact that would result in savings in excess of this one-time payment from this government.

Now people must apply. They need to base it on their 2019 income. As my colleagues, the media and analysts have pointed out on multiple occasions, the pandemic began after we filed our 2019 tax returns. I heard the Minister of Finance say last week that her government is rolling out this benefit to help those who are most in need. How does her government know who is most in need if they don’t know anything about the impact to their income since the end of 2019?

I’ve heard multiple members of government stand up and say the same thing. They have also said that this pandemic benefit will help those who most need it. But that is not accurate. It is not targeted to those who most need it. It is a broad shotgun approach to providing a benefit to as many people in British Columbia as they can during an election.

Surely, in the two months since this benefit was announced during a snap election, government would have had ample time to ensure it was designed in a manner that made it fair, easy to access and substantive enough to make a difference. The ability to buy a $5 latte is not substantive. And what about those who are not avid followers of the news? Do they know now that they need to apply? What if they don’t have a computer or, as my northern colleagues often experience, access to stable Internet?

This holiday season, in the middle of the most extreme emergency that our province has dealt with in a century, all the government has to offer British Columbians is the assurance that help is at least two months further away, and even that’s not clear.

As the official opposition, we are tasked with holding the government to account and with doing our best to ensure that this government is serving the interests of the people of this province. We know that British Columbians need and want support right now. We want to do everything in our power to get those supports into their hands as soon as possible. An example of just how much this help is needed is demonstrated in the report issued two weeks ago by the Representative for Children and Youth with special needs.

Now, I appreciate that the Ministry of Children and Families was faced with an unprecedented event when COVID hit. So were all of the social services providers, front-line staff and families that were impacted. But cutting services provided to the families of children and youth with special needs without prioritizing interim services and without communicating to those families about what was happening and what was available to them….

Well, this government has failed in its responsibility. In any emergency, in any change like this, communication is absolutely key, and that was not part of the changes that were made.

Now, we know it’s difficult to develop a budget. The thousands of organizations who rely on this government also know it’s difficult to prepare a budget. It takes a lot of work. We know this as opposition because we were involved in preparing five consecutive balanced budgets which were all delivered on time.

[2:45 p.m.]

When this government refers to the last government, I would also like to remind them that they are now referring to themselves. This is not a new government. The NDP has been in power for more than three years and should understand and know how to deliver a budget on time — one that is able to provide support for the people in this province during these very difficult circumstances.

In the spring, this government, with the help of all parties in the House, pivoted quickly to address the first wave of COVID-19. Since then, we have been waiting to see from them an economic recovery plan. Instead, we got a survey. This government decided to delay the supports for exhausted front-line workers, for long-term-care homes, for struggling small businesses and for families who have lost significant portions of their income.

I shall also quote from the recent throne speech: “The way to get through this difficult time is by following the same approach we used during the first wave.” Well, we’re not in the first wave. We now see the consequences on people and businesses. We are in the second wave, with a vaccine on the horizon, which is exciting and something for to us look forward to. This is a different time with different circumstances.

This is when we need to look at a new approach. We need to have plans. We can’t do the same thing. We need innovation. We need a government that understands budgeting and economics. We need a government that will not attempt to tax its way out of British Columbia’s growing deficit, which will be a sure way to cripple economic recovery.

This government has been given the trust of British Columbians, and I ask that they do not take advantage of this. This government has already broken trust by using the cooperation of the B.C. Liberals and the B.C. Green Party in the last session to leverage its own success in a snap election. Don’t break trust again by using a majority government to avoid transparency when this province needs it more than ever.

I end where I began. I do not know why we are being asked this question by this government.

L. Doerkson: I’d like to start by offering my most sincere thanks to all of the people on the front lines serving us every day. I, along with British Columbians, am grateful, to say the least. Thank you to our health care workers, our first responders, the retail workers and, of course, all the people that keep our food systems working every day. We are, for sure, extremely grateful to all of you for your unwavering commitment.

I must say, as a new MLA, that I’m surprised that the very first bill that I would get a chance to debate would be a bill that would delay help to millions of people in our province. I, of course, had hoped that the work that we would do here in this House would be work that would benefit all of British Columbia. We’re here to debate this one bill. I really had hoped that we could have spent these valuable hours inventing solutions for small business, solutions for tourism, solutions for rural British Columbia and, of course, solutions for our families.

On behalf of my constituents in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, it is with great pride and interest that I rise today to debate my first bill since being elected by my constituents only a few short weeks ago. You can be assured, Mr. Speaker, that I intend to represent all of the people who live in the riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin, regardless of whether or not they voted for me in the last election. As elected representatives, it’s our obligation to put the interests of the people of British Columbia first. We may have differing opinions on various sides of this House, but I’m certain that each member of this House feels the exact same way.

Most of us enter public life with the goal of serving the public, of course, and this pandemic has certainly placed the focus on just how important that is. We all want to emerge out of this stronger and more resilient. In order for us to succeed during a pandemic, the people of British Columbia expect our elected representatives to come up with solutions. Callous rhetoric will only go so far in one of the greatest health threats in the modern age.

[2:50 p.m.]

During this session of the Legislature, it is my sincere hope that we can put partisanship aside. Instead, we must pursue goals that will see our province emerge from this in the best possible shape we can. We are not a province where any one of us should be left behind. Certainly, we must mourn those who we have lost over the past nine months, but we also have an obligation to care for the living as we move forward through the second wave.

This is especially true in rural communities and even more for small First Nation communities along the coast. People are scared. They’re extremely fearful. So it’s up to us, as elected representatives, to show some leadership.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the first piece of legislation that I am addressing as a new member of this Legislature, while the whole purpose of this short two-week session is just to pass this one single bill. We therefore have to question exactly what the purpose of this legislation is. To answer that, I have the following information on Bill 3, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act.

This bill will extend the deadline for presenting the budget and the main estimates for the fiscal year to April 30. That’s one month into the 2021 fiscal year. The bill also allows for special warrants to be authorized for the beginning of 2021, the fiscal year, meaning no legislative approval will be required. These changes are permanent with respect to the general elections that trigger the delayed budget provisions in the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act.

As a new member of this House, I have to ask: what is the purpose of making any bill or legislation into law? To answer that, we need to examine the following: why is it necessary for the government to ask for an extension on its budget obligations? Why does the government need special warrants that will give it spending powers without proper accountability? And why are all of these last-minute changes necessary in the first place?

British Columbians were initially told that the purpose of this relatively short two-week session was for one reason and one reason alone: to give the government the authority to issue every British Columbian a one-time pandemic benefit. The purpose, one might expect, is to deliver relief to British Columbians who have lost their job because of the pandemic. The other purpose, according to the Premier, is to give consumers money necessary to start the economy. Those are all laudable goals, but when we hold Bill 3 up to the light, we begin to see some rather serious defaults that will ultimately put money in the hands of people who don’t necessarily need it. That, for sure, is a problem.

There are thousands of British Columbians now out of work. Their normal way of making a living has been impossible during these COVID pandemic restrictions. In 2019, most of these people had a good job. They had steady income. They were solid contributors to our economy. In the Cariboo-Chilcotin, we’re talking about those in the tourism sector, small businesses, the restaurant industry. All of those industries have been ravaged by this pandemic. The forest industry, ranchers, guides and outfitters — you name it. Yet today these people desperately need our help.

However, we’re learning that many British Columbians will be ineligible. Yet far worse, those with uninterrupted income in 2019 and 2020 will be fully eligible for the pandemic payment.

[2:55 p.m.]

This is a quote from one of my constituents that I received yesterday: “The money that the province announced is nonsense. We don’t need it, but we qualify. My son hasn’t worked since March, and he doesn’t. He made, in 2019, $85,000. But this year, in 2020, I plan to apply for the money and give it to him.” That’s Bill Carruthers.

It’s disturbing, and definitely worrisome. At a time when the Finance Minister is pushing our province deeper and deeper into debt, doesn’t it make more sense to put the money into the hands of the people who need it? We know it is simply because our new Minister of Finance is insisting that eligibility be based on income tax returns filed in 2019. We’re talking about income levels that were generated long before anyone even heard of COVID-19. This is a serious misgiving, not to mention a serious disappointment, to those who are in dire need right now.

As legislators, we have the responsibility to pass laws and authorize spending that ultimately will benefit the entire province. The B.C. recovery benefit of $500 for individuals and up to $1,000 for families was promised by the NDP as part of their election platform just a few short months ago. However, let’s be blunt about this. We, as the official opposition, fully understand that the recovery benefit will be useful to many British Columbians that are in need, but in no way does a one-time benefit payment constitute a comprehensive economic renewal plan for the whole province.

We need to emerge out of this global pandemic the way we were before. We need to be entrepreneurial. We need to be innovative. We need to be not afraid to take on the world and all the challenges that we would normally have before us. To arrive at that destination, we need just one thing: we need a solid economic recovery plan to get this province back on the path of economic prosperity. This will involve bold measures for all sectors of our economy.

The private sector needs tax relief. Small businesses need less regulation and the freedom to adapt and innovate during this pandemic. Finally, the province needs a long-term economic strategy to get us back to the point where the private sector is once again at the heart of our economy. I’m talking about the ones who actually need help. If we give them the help, the tools that they need to succeed, they will once again be in a position to better help themselves. Yet the approach of this government is to promise this universal payment to all British Columbians.

Blowing up record deficits will just land this government and this province back into the 1990s, when the NDP went on a spending spree. It took years to finally balance the budget and finally have the money to make investments into people of this province. What we need is to target the people in need. What we don’t need is a Finance Minister that’s speculating on how people should be using their benefit payment on $5 lattes or buying something special for themselves during this holiday season.

Moving forward, taxpayers’ money should only be targeted to those in need. I will speak more about this in the context of the Cariboo-Chilcotin, but before I do, let’s talk about the special warrants.

On occasion — and I do mean on rare occasions — our government requires special warrants that give them the authority to spend, in the event of an emergency, without the usual budget scrutiny that is a function of this Legislature. Special warrants are meant to be just a temporary expenditure to get past the unexpected, of course. They are not to be used wilfully to shut down the Legislature and override our democratic principles.

Special warrants are just a tool in a pinch, nothing more. The government would have to make a pretty convincing argument as to why any of this would be necessary, yet we haven’t heard one significant or substantial argument from the Premier or our government.

[3:00 p.m.]

As you’re aware, Mr. Speaker, last March all of the parties came together for a special meeting with the Premier. In the face of this pandemic, the B.C. Liberals and the Green Party agreed to put politics aside and give the Premier and his cabinet the authority to spend up to $5 billion worth of emergency funding. All of this was done in just one single day — unprecedented from a historical perspective — and $1.5 billion was set aside for six months, from March till September.

Yet none of this money was deemed necessary for the economic recovery, as thousands of British Columbians joined the ranks of the unemployed. As history shows, the Premier thought it more necessary to hold an early election. We could have had this money out the door months ago and in the hands of the people who really did need it. The Finance Minister and the Premier, by the way, now face the embarrassing prospect that this benefit may not reach British Columbians until into the new year.

The government says the money will be used to stimulate the economy. Now we’re learning that none of this might happen during the holiday season, when most of our retailers need it the most. The Finance Minister is saying that a week from now British Columbians will be able to find out if they actually qualify for the pandemic benefit payment. That is just 13 days before we can kiss 2020 goodbye.

I can’t help but stress this — that we could have had this money out the door months ago. But no, the Premier had more important things in mind, like breaking his own government’s fixed election date. I wasn’t a member of this House when the NDP said it was necessary to change the fixed election date from the spring of 2021 to the fall. That’s fine. But when the government goes to all of the effort of bringing in the legislation that fundamentally alters our democratic process, at least they could stand behind their own convictions.

There was no reason for the Premier to call a snap election in the middle of a global health crisis — none. But as we know, this government is more interested in its own vitality than the vitality and health of British Columbians. It’s true; we know that for a fact. When we emerge from this pandemic, history will record exactly how the past few months all went down, but in the meantime, we in the official opposition will do our part to keep the mind of this province focused where it needs to be.

Having been recently named as the official opposition critic for Rural Development, I would like to serve the following notice. Rural B.C. does matter, and when our new Finance Minister finally gets around to tabling a budget — it could be in late spring or early summer, because this is what this legislation is calling us to do — you can be assured that we will be looking for a budget that will benefit all British Columbians.

Rural B.C. has been taken for granted by this government since it was first elected, over three years ago. One of the NDP’s first moves was to eliminate the ministry known as Rural Economic Development. In doing so, you’ve told British Columbians that only NDP ridings in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island are eligible for assistance. Now we know that this Premier and his government have officially put rural British Columbia on notice. The NDP intends to continue ignoring rural British Columbia and to concentrate instead on its political ambitions in the Lower Mainland. I wish the Premier and his caucus good luck with that.

In the meantime, the official opposition will insist on an agenda that puts the well-being of British Columbians first, from Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland, from the Peace region to the Kootenays. Yes, even the Cariboo-Chilcotin will be placed at the top of the agenda. When historians look back at how British Columbia really emerged out of this pandemic, I can assure you of one thing. Those who put people above politics will always carry the day.

I’d like to close by offering my most sincere condolences to all of those who have lost loved ones during this awful pandemic. My thoughts are certainly with all of you. On behalf of the people of Cariboo-Chilcotin, I thank you for this opportunity to address these issues in this Legislature.

[3:05 p.m.]

T. Halford: I am glad to rise today to continue discussion of this bill, one that will have a profound impact on British Columbians in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill before us will effectively allow government to delay introducing the next budget until April of next year. Let me say that one more time: it will allow us to delay the next budget until April of next year. That’s hard to believe. While we can see how this bill would benefit government, it’s hard to see how it will benefit the people of B.C.

From what we can see, this is a bill that will limit government transparency and accountability while also delaying the needed supports from getting into the hands of British Columbians. We are less than three weeks away from Christmas — shorter than that now. People were looking to this government for something, for help, for assistance, for a little bit of sacrifice. Here we are in Victoria debating legislation that would move our budget back, that will move support for some of these vital ministries back, that will delay many vulnerable British Columbians from getting back the assistance they need. We have to think about that.

During this holiday season, all the government has to offer British Columbians in assurance is that help is on the way — not now, not in February, when we usually see the budget tabled. It’s going to be a little bit further away. We deserve more from this government. The people of British Columbia deserve more from this government.

As the official opposition, we are tasked with holding the government to account and doing our best to ensure that this government is serving the interests of the people of this province. We know that British Columbians want and need the support right now. As opposition, we want to do everything in our power to get those supports in their hands as soon as possible. That is why you’re seeing some very important questions and concerns about this bill being raised. I think that’s a good thing.

The bill comes almost as a package, supporting supplementary estimates that will allow the promised B.C. recovery benefit that the Premier so proudly promised during the campaign. But if you look closely, in the bill and in the supplementary estimates that have been released, we are already starting to see things change from how they promised during the campaign to what they’re actually putting forward in legislation.

One example that we’ve talked about, and will continue to talk about as opposition, is that the government is asking for more money to increase the scope of the payment. Now, we obviously want as many people as possible who need this benefit to receive it, but it’s clear that this is a government that is making up policy on the fly.

When we debate this, it’s important to mention the fact that the eligibility for the recovery benefit is based on 2019 income. The pandemic began in 2020. Unemployment has skyrocketed in 2020. Businesses — small businesses, big businesses — have shut down in 2020.

I recently heard from a now single mother who left a marriage with her children in April of this year. She left under some very, very trying circumstances. She explained to me that one of the things she saw during the election was a bit of hope that this recovery benefit would give her family a boost at Christmastime. She will not qualify for this benefit. She will not be able to provide her kids with Christmas gifts with this benefit.

[3:10 p.m.]

Now, I think that [audio interrupted].

Deputy Speaker: If the member for Kootenay East is ready, would you please do your speech now, and we’ll go back to the member for Surrey–White Rock when he’s able to reconnect.

T. Shypitka: All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and congratulations on your new appointment, or your new role in the Legislature.

I haven’t had a chance to talk yet to the throne speech, so before I debate Bill 3, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act, I’d like to put a few shout-outs. It gives me distinct pleasure, of course, to be representing the hard-working and easy-living constituents of Kootenay East and on the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa First Nation.

Speaking of the Ktunaxa, I want to give some recognition to Nasuʔkin Joe Pierre, who was just recently elected as chief of the beautiful Aq’am community. For those that don’t know where the Aq’am community is, it’s not too far from Cranbrook. It’s about a five- or ten-minute drive outside of town.

Before I give my response today, I really need to give some special mentions to some special people. First, I want to recognize the Clerk of the Legislature. Not many have done so, but I know everybody feels the same way. The Clerk was appointed back in March, I believe, just before the pandemic hit. Since that time, I believe she has earned her keep in more ways than one. She’s probably gotten more than she bargained for with COVID and some other IT problems in the Legislature, so I wanted to give her a special shout-out.

Here, more locally, I want to give a special recognition to Heather Smith and Christy Wheeldon, my CAs here in Cranbrook; and also Krystal D’Sa in Victoria, who is my legislative assistant; Ryan Mitton and John Hennenfent in research; Doug Secord in communications; and also to the team that helped me in the campaign. It was a really concerted effort. Normally we’d have 200 volunteers, and we were down to about 30 this time around. John Zimmer, my campaign manager, was excellent. I couldn’t have done it without him. Wes Rogers, our riding president and the rest of the campaign team…. There are too many to mention — probably 30 of them, like I said — but also J.R. Rowley, who is in the hospital right now. He works on my social media, along with Chris Botterill and Kirsten Armleder.

Of course, special thanks go to my mom and dad, who are always supportive and probably watching right now, as we speak. And to my beautiful wife, Carrie, my daughter, Allie, my youngest son, Adam, and my oldest son, Dustin, along with his wife, Julie, and my grandson of just over a year, Hudson, who live in Kelowna. I have only gotten to see Hudson maybe three times since he was born. This COVID is really putting a cramp on the old grandpa handing out the goodies, but we’ll double down on that as soon as this crisis is over.

I really want to thank all the constituents and the 32,162 voters in the Kootenay East riding for putting their trust in me for a second term. Being elected a first term was a very special thing for me, but earning the trust to represent a second time is very humbling and something I’m honoured by. Thank you to everybody in Kootenay East.

Also, congratulations to all the MLAs in the Legislature right now for being elected. I know you’re all proud of your accomplishments.

Turning to Bill 3, I want to do a little bit of a history on this. The first thing I’d like to start off with is the question: why are we as MLAs debating a bill in the 42nd parliament — not the 41st but the 42nd parliament — two weeks before Christmas in the year 2020, and why have we had two throne speeches in the same year?

Well, the reason for this is obviously for the historians to decide, but was it because our Premier found government so unstable, so unworkable and so uncertain that a snap election was the only recourse to get through this global pandemic?

[3:15 p.m.]

Or maybe it was because the popularity of our beloved Premier was riding high due to the great work of our front-line workers and health professionals, as well as the sacrifices made by our small businesses, especially our tourism sector, during the first three phases of the pandemic.

There was also the unprecedented collaboration by all three parties, during the first three phases of the pandemic, to flatten the curve. We did it. We all did it. We all did it together. We even gave government the latitude to access $5 billion in economic relief back in March, I believe, March 23. No questions asked, carte blanche, an olive branch of trust to use immediately to provide support for those suffering.

Some news publications wrote that this partnership was comparable to “lions and hyenas” getting along. I would suggest the NDP were the hyenas, as they scavenged the remains of what was once the historical, trusted and much-valued confidence and supply agreement between the NDP and the Greens, which, I might add, was promptly torn up by the NDP on September 21, 2020.

The new Green leader, the member for Cowichan Valley — we heard her earlier in the debate — just days before the Premier called the election, told him that they had a solid agreement, as originally promised, until the agreed election in October of 2021.

The people of B.C. were impressed by the three parties working together. I had constituents in my riding that I’ve never spoken to before who came up to me — their party stripes unknown, and I didn’t really care — and said they were super impressed by the way the three parties were working earnestly beside each other for what was best for British Columbians. Actually, that was a pretty special thing for me. It was probably one of the best moments I’ve had in the last 3½ years as an MLA. I might add it takes a lot for opposition to side with government sometimes. But the B.C. Liberals did it. We put partisanship aside, only to be stabbed in the back later.

But here we sit, with the debate on a bill to get to the business that was so urgent that it needed an election during a time when British Columbians needed government most. A time when the second wave was hitting us hard, putting people in jeopardizing situations at polling stations. A time when parents, teachers and students were confused and, quite frankly, scared about how going back for a new school year was going to work. A time when businesses and the tourism sector had not realized the revenues anticipated during that usual high summer season — and now finding themselves close to or filing for bankruptcy. A time when the people of B.C. really needed government the most.

The urgency of an unnecessary snap election that brought us to this drastically reduced two-week session that caused all this animosity for just one bill, from what I can see. This is what was so crucial, instead of looking after the concerns of British Columbians when they needed government most — a bill that ironically delays the budget for two months. What is normally the end of February is now the end of April.

Simply put, we delayed the work of this parliament by two months in order to delay the budget by another two months. Talk about ragging the puck in order to kick the can down the road. These ridiculous delays are killing British Columbians, figuratively and literally. This is four months of good work our government could’ve been doing to get to the critical business at hand of addressing the important work we all here in the Legislature are entrusted to do by the people who have elected us.

If you’re a small business owner hoping for help, none is coming just yet. If you’re a parent with special needs hoping for extra support, you’re out of luck for the moment. If you’re a family struggling to have ends meet, nothing until May at the earliest. The Premier said his snap election wouldn’t get in the way of pandemic relief, and that’s proved to be completely untrue. He said we just need to get the election behind us and we can get moving. He was wrong.

However, part of this bill suggests that help is on the way. It was a campaign promise, done in the middle of the election, to buy votes, plain and simple. “A thousand dollars for everyone,” he declared. “We will pop it into your account by direct deposit. Have a great Christmas.” Well, now we know it’s changed to $500 if you made less than $62,500 in 2019.

[3:20 p.m.]

What on earth does your income in 2019 have to do with what you have suffered in 2020 due to COVID? Can anyone from the government side answer this pretty basic and fundamental question? Apparently not, because not even [audio interrupted] government’s side has debated this only bill from the government at a time when we need some clarity.

Can anyone from the government side answer this pretty basic and fundamental question? Apparently not, because not even [audio interrupted] on the government side has debated this only bill from the government at a time when we need some clarity. Case in point, and here are a couple of examples.

Mary, who owns a nice little boutique down in downtown, on Second Avenue, has a very decent business in the booming town of Fernie. She had a good, decent 2019, as her business continued to grow. All of a sudden she gets smacked by COVID in 2020 and misses her summer season, which is normally her biggest revenue months in order to keep the bills paid. She is a sole proprietor, and her revenues are down by 70 percent in 2020, which is fairly typical, in my area, for a tourist town. Not only is she getting little to no business support, but she doesn’t qualify for the NDP benefit.

Here’s another real story. Jesse, who owns a guide-outfitting business, who always depends on business outside the province and country, had a good, growing business. And 2019 was decent, although not as good, since the government took the grizzly bear management away from him. But in 2020, he saw his revenues go down 100 percent, and he is not entitled to any support that the government is offering up.

The third example, on the other side of the coin, is that of a person unemployed for the most part of 2019, or maybe a low-income earner, perhaps a student at a local college who did not make a lot of income in 2019. But in 2020, there have been some incredible work opportunities here. They’re doing some renovation work or maybe even liquidating the furniture from Mary’s boutique shop. He is making a ton of money, and now he is doubly blessed by the extra $1,000 the government sent him, or his family anyway.

Nobody here in the House is debating the ability of providing resources and funding to those that are vulnerable. But this $2 billion political stunt to buy British Columbian votes is unacceptable, because it falls flat on the Premier’s promise to address the needs of British Columbians during this COVID crisis.

There’s an old proverb that says: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Although not entirely politically correct, it makes a point on the lack of an economic recovery plan by this government and how that plan would be more fruitful than what has already been prescribed with this bill as a one-time benefit.

Government accessed $5 billion back on March 23, 2020 — ten months ago. The provincial economic recovery plan for most provinces in Canada was rolled out in June during the longest days of the year. We now sit just days from the shortest days of the year, and B.C. is in the dark, just like the winter solstice. The $1.5 billion economic recovery spending measures that respond to immediate needs could have helped a lot of businesses and the tourism industry across the province, many of which have closed their doors for good.

In a press release on March 26, the Premier was quoted. “The COVID-19 pandemic challenges our health, our economy and our way of life. People and businesses urgently need support. Our action plan gives immediate relief to people and businesses, and plans for B.C.’s economic recovery over the long term.”

However, we all know that’s not what happened. The government held on to this money and only released it mere days before calling an election, further delaying any real rollout. This move has proved devastating to many B.C. businesses. Many have lost their businesses, knowing that financial support was there, but they could never access it.

In the supplemental estimate in this bill, the government is looking for $2 billion, just like the way they went looking for the $5 billion back in March. The government fooled us once without any transparency, and now they’re trying for the daily double.

The government themselves said that this election payout would cost between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion, and that was at a time when we didn’t understand how limited this rollout was going to be. Instead of $1,000 for everyone, it is now $500, and that is only for those that apply online December 18. Gee.

With an estimated 3.4 million applicants, I wonder how that’s going to turn out. Do you think, quite possibly, the system may get jammed up, or the government will not have enough resources in place? This government couldn’t handle the online reservations for public camping for mere thousands of applicants. How will they handle 3.4 million looking for money to survive on and to get before Christmas? Only time will tell, but I bet anyone who thinks it will go smoothly a wet willy.

[3:25 p.m.]

At any rate, here we are sitting with the government asking for $2 billion when, perhaps, only half of that is needed. But let’s be fair; let’s call it $1.5 billion. Nice. When my daughter asks me for fifty bucks for a $30 pair of jeans, I ask questions. The first is: why are you asking for $50 when you’re only needing $30? The second is: what are you planning on spending the extra $20 on?

Now, anyone who is a parent of a teenage daughter can immediately recognize how concerning this is. I love my daughter, Allie. She’s smart. She’s beautiful. But she likes to spend quite a lot, like this government does. Like most teenagers, she does not care too much where the next dollar is coming from. If I’m concerned about my 15-year-old daughter overspending on God knows what, then I would certainly think the people of British Columbia would be exponentially concerned about what this government is up to.

What is equally sinister is that, in this bill, there are provisions to execute special warrants that will allow for no legislative approval necessary, for funds to be spent without the scrutiny of the Legislature. This is essentially a blank cheque for our government. I would not give one for my daughter — or my son, for that matter — and I certainly will not be supportive of a blank cheque to our government. I dare say the people of British Columbia would share my concerns as well.

Just for some fun, I looked up and found statements showing special warrants signed by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, together with the expenditure incurred, in March of 1880, 140 years ago — mostly sundry items, such as assistance for the printing for sessional work. That was a cost of $45. One entry was for one constable and one jailer for two days, a cost of $8, $2 a day for a constable back then. Times have changed. One expenditure was freight on medicine to the Kootenays, a cost of $10.49. It was good to see that the Kootenays were represented by Victoria, and they were looked after by Victoria back then. I wish it was the case today.

Well, I’m hopeful that the proposed amendment that extends the available special warrant spending authority will only allow access to spending for sundry-type items, but I think we all know the spending is likely for more costly items, with no transparency whatsoever and no accountability to the taxpayer.

As the Finance Minister stated, the Financial Administration Act is proposed to be amended to complement the proposed amendments to the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. Creating less transparency and accountability in the Financial Administration Act with special warrants is quite ironic, considering the act that it is aligning itself with is entitled the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act.

The Finance Minister also stated the special warrant spending authority would only apply after general elections where the budget and estimates for the new fiscal year are presented very close to or after the start of the new fiscal year and where the Supply Act has not been enacted for the new year before April 1 or when there are unforeseen circumstances.

This gives me a reasonable concern, and I would certainly like to know the definition of what “unforeseen circumstances” could include. The whole budget is made up of unforeseen circumstances. This is why we go through a process called estimates for the budget, because they are estimated expenditures to what may be unforeseen. If this is not good enough, then we go through supplementary estimates. The government’s own website says that “supplementary estimates grant approval to one-time expenditures to cover additional spending on items that were unknown at budget time” — or in other words, unforeseen. This process is what we’ve been doing for many years, especially since 2001.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

The election, by the Premier’s words, was to get to the business at hand. The business of two months of a fall session would have addressed the real issues and not a money payoff to voters. But instead of two months of debate and hard work on those serious issues, we have two weeks debating a bill that allows government to delay any real plan for another five months.

We should be working on many plans. I’ve got a whole list of them here. I think we all know some of the problems we’re going through in the province with health care. We’re talking about rapid testing for long-term care facilities. Maybe work on some of those promises, like $10-a-day daycare, 114,000 affordable homes, renters rebates.

[3:30 p.m.]

What about the forestry sector? The longest forestry strike in B.C. history. Numerous mills are shutting down. People unemployed. Cost structure is one of the highest in North America. No economic recovery plan in sight. Maybe we should be working on things like that. Our opioid crisis is taking three to four people a day, and we should be working on those issues as well. So much to do, but we’ve been given two weeks for one bill.

Personal health from COVID-19 is real and needs to be met head-on. However, this government needs to juggle more than one ball at a time. Mental health, spiritual health, economic health — all are equally important, and this government can’t seem to lift themselves to this challenge.

What really grinds my gears is this bill represents what was so important for this government to address before this Legislature breaks on Thursday until what could be until May, just one bill that no one on the government side wants to even talk about.

What are the MLAs from the government side afraid of? Have they all been whipped not to speak about what their election was based on? I see a lot of giggly members on the other side that pulled a fast one on the Green Party, with new government positions; new ministries; and bigger government with, obviously, more pay. There will be plenty of eggnog and chestnuts this Christmas for these members, yet many of the people of B.C. sit at home throwing the last log on the fire. Well done.

This budget needs to be as scheduled. If anything, you would think a government that meant business would bring forward a budget ahead of time. Wouldn’t that be something. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Instead, we see it kicked down the road. Many groups, including health authorities, regional districts, municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, school districts — they depend on the budget coming in on time so they can in turn plan their budgets. What is going to happen to those folks?

Maybe I’m wrong on all this stuff, but because there is no one from the opposition to correct me, I have to think that all 28 of my colleagues are bang on the mark, and that this is a major concern for all British Columbians.

I’m not going to belabour this anymore, as a lot of my colleagues have done a lot better job than me to explain the concerns, the mistrust, the shock and the audacity that this government has displayed with this bill as being the only thing of concern we all are facing going through this pandemic. If this is the Premier’s answer to getting down to business for the folks of B.C., then we’re all in a lot of trouble. British Columbians deserve better and a government that rolls up its sleeves and works hard.

I reluctantly admit that I was a ’70s child, but I’m not reluctant to say that the rock band Styx was one of my favourites. They had an album and a song called “The Grand Illusion,” and that is what this bill represents: a grand illusion. It appears to be helpful but falls flat on the benefit to some of those who truly need it. The bill asks for supplemental spending of $2 billion, yet no one knows exactly where it’s all going. The government talks about transparency and accountability, yet this bill opens the door for the opposite and the privilege of special warrants.

Now, in the spirit of the Christmas season, I would like to perform my rendition of the old Christmas classic “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Now, depending on which author you believe wrote it, I will give credit to both Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston Jr. The poem was written on December 23, 1823, almost 200 years ago. I hope to do it proud.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Leg,
not a creature was stirring, not even Geoff Meggs.
The Premier himself all tucked in his bed
was pleasantly dreaming of the years lay ahead.

‘Twas three months prior an election was called.
“It was quite unnecessary,” the critics all bawled.
But the Premier, so smug, thought of something obscene.
He’d win a snap vote based on COVID-19.
He stated the province could not continue this way.
It’s very unstable,” so the Greens he betrayed.
J.H. also stated: “We must get on with this mission
to save our dear province from major recession.
Our tourism sector and small businesses, too,
are needing a plan, so we all can renew.
This election will not impede my bold action.
We will get straight to work; there will be no protraction.”
But the Liberals were tough with Wilkinson’s flash:
“I must win the vote; I’ll promise folks cash.”
“A thousand dollars,” he said, “if you vote for my party.”
As he snickered and grinned, sipping his rum and Bacardi.
So here we are now. The Premier got his way.
A majority government, Libs and Greens blown away.
But at least we can all get on with the plan
to recover the province in this short two-week span.
So now we look forward to the Premier’s bold action.
We heard of him brag: “Guaranteed satisfaction.”

[3:35 p.m.]

Instead we get no budget till May,
no biz plan in sight, a further five-month delay.
The people of the province all pray to the moon
in hopes that a cheque from the Premier came soon.
“From 1,000 to 500,” is now what he quoted.
And you will only get paid if you suffered pre-COVID.
Yes, ‘twas the night before Christmas, the Premier’s nestled in bed.
And there are many things he thinks inside that large head.
“With majority government,” the Premier thinks, with elation,
“time to put up my feet and plan a vacation.”
And to state for the record that with only Bill 3,
no members from government did debate to agree.
To conclude, Mr. Speaker, no matter what your political stripe,
merry Christmas to all, and may your dreams be centre right.

I want to thank all front-line workers and those businesses and workers who have suffered greatly. My sincerest condolences to those families and friends who lost loved ones to the pandemic and to any other tragedy, for that matter.

Deputy Speaker: We’re going to try again with the member for Surrey–White Rock, if he has got connectivity again. He does.

T. Halford: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do apologize for that. I’m sitting in my Victoria office, so I’m not sure what happened, but I’m here again. Unfortunately, I do not have any rhymes or songs, so I apologize for that ahead of time. I will try and pick up where I left off.

That was around my concerns over using 2019 income in order to determine who is going to get the recovery benefits. I had stated before I’ve got a lot of concerns, as do all of my colleagues, on using this because 2019 was materially different than what we’re seeing in 2020. We have never seen anything like what we’ve experienced in 2020. Our small business sector, our restaurants, people that served in the hospitality industry have experienced nothing like they’re experiencing in 2020. Our health care workers, our teachers, our students have experienced nothing like they’ve experienced in 2020.

Yet this Finance Minister, this Premier, this cabinet, this government are going to use 2019 income to determine whether or not British Columbians will receive the $1,000 or $500. And I find that completely unfair. Given the fact that the Premier was elected on a campaign promise that British Columbians were going to be receiving this benefit and to now put such an important asterisk on that, that it will be based on your 2019 income, to me, that is a very, very big hit to our credibility.

I’ll tell you a story of why. A local business…. I won’t identify them, but they are in the South Surrey–White Rock area. They’ve been in business for 25 years. They employ a majority — I’d say about 90 percent — of students. They have to have people in their facility in order to make a profit, and the provincial health orders have pretty much made that impossible. Not entirely impossible, but it’s made it very tough.

What has this family done? They have gone through their life savings to try and keep their business going, because they do see light at the end of the tunnel. They do see a day when people will be coming into their business, coming in with their families and friends. They see a day when people will be enjoying their nights out. They will not qualify for this benefit, because this government is going to use 2019 income.

[3:40 p.m.]

We’re telling a husband and wife who have built their entire livelihood on a business: “Hey, 2020 was a bad year. We know you were looking at this in terms of receiving a benefit. We’re not going to do that because you didn’t meet the threshold based on your 2019 income. But thank you for blowing through your life savings to keep the students employed, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going to look at your 2019 income.”

I don’t know…. Even as an opposition MLA who strongly disagrees with that logic, I have a tough time looking them in the eye and giving them that information. For a lot of people, when they go to apply for this in a few days, I think it’s going to be a surprise. I think they’re going to say, “I gave the Premier and this government the opportunity to set a new track and do politics differently in British Columbia,” and on one of the most significant campaign promises, they put forward legislation that pretty much says: “If you had a decent 2019, well, we’re not going to help you in 2020.” I don’t think that’s right.

This past summer the NDP also introduced legislation designed to give the Finance Minister more time to pass a budget in case we had a fall election. We all know how that turned out. Now, the coincidence of such legislation being passed only a few months before the NDP called a snap election, which they say they only decided in September, would be enough to discuss in a speech of its own. But for our purposes today, it clearly shows that this government can’t plan.

So instead of pushing the budget off a month, we’re now asking British Columbians to bear with us while this government gets its act together — to push it off another couple of months. I don’t agree with that. When you have ministries such as the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions that has a budget smaller than the Premier’s office…. I think we need to look at ways to increase those resources.

We’ve got two pandemics going on right now. We have two crises going on in British Columbia right now. One is COVID-19. We see that every night dominating the newscasts. The other one is one that we’ve known for quite a while, and that’s the opioid crisis. We need to look at serious ways on how we are going to tackle these issues, how we are going to tackle mental health, yet this government is putting forward legislation that will deny British Columbians a budget in February. I don’t agree with that.

This is the NDP’s first piece of legislation in this new session, and to me, it hits hard at credibility. They campaigned on transparency. They campaigned on giving British Columbians support. We don’t see it. The support that the Premier promised is not coming to all British Columbians. It’s coming to some British Columbians based on your 2019 income. But as I stated before in a previous speech, the newly single mother who is trying to find every way to give her family a decent Christmas — she’s not going to qualify for this recovery benefit.

[3:45 p.m.]

We are here in Victoria to deal with one piece of legislation. I think we can do better. I put forward a bill last week that will cap third-party deliveries for the restaurant sector. It is something that we agreed on during the campaign. Both parties — the NDP and the B.C. Liberals — agreed on it. We put forward this bill last week.

The restaurant sector is crying for help. People are losing their jobs daily. Restaurants are shutting down daily. This is usually their best time of year — Christmas parties, holiday parties, New Year’s parties. They’re asking for a lifeline.

We, as an opposition, followed our commitment. We tabled that lifeline, one that we know this Premier and this government agree on. Yet they refused to support it. I don’t understand why. I do not understand that logic. How you can go into these businesses, where they do not know if they’re going to have money in their accounts to pay their employees…. We say, “We’re going to put politics aside,” but we’re not going to support this private member’s bill.

I don’t get it, and I don’t want to get it. I think people understand, and people look to us, to come to Victoria and do something different. As the Premier said, we are going to do politics differently. Okay, well then let’s prove it. Support the bill. We can do more. We’re all here. Let’s do government a different way. Let’s lead. But he refuses to do that. This cabinet refuses to do that. This Finance Minister refuses to do that. Instead, we are in Victoria to see a budget get delayed again.

After this week, I don’t know when I’m going to be back in Victoria to sit in this House, whether it’s in the House or on Zoom, to represent my constituents and put forward ideas that will better the lives of British Columbians. I don’t have an answer on when we’ll be back. Now, the Premier may know, and I suspect that he does, but I fundamentally struggle and disagree with that logic.

This government needs to do better. This is not a new government. It’s not. The lack of transparency, the lack of accountability and the lack of planning is staggering. Did they not think about the single mom who would not qualify for this recovery benefit? Did they not think about the senior who would not qualify for this benefit? Did they not think that if we’re going to put forward this legislation, maybe there are some other things that we can do? How do we make life better for British Columbians? How do we maximize the time of this session?

It’s only been opposition MLAs that have spoken to this bill. Now, what does that say? Are government MLAs not supportive of the bill? Do they have questions about the bill? I would. I have. I put them forward today.

There has been a saying, and I agree with it, that we are all in this together. I believe that to be true. I think there’s another saying with this government: never let a crisis go by without taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, we’ve seen that during the snap election. I find that very unfortunate.

There are opportunities in front of us. I know my colleague from Surrey South put forward a private member’s bill today. Let’s support that. That’s something we can all agree on. We have to agree on those things. They’re important. They’re important to my daughter. They’re important to every British Columbian.

[3:50 p.m.]

Why not do it now? Why wait? Why not show British Columbians that we can work together? This is our opportunity. I think we have to take advantage of it. I know we’re here, ready to put in the work. We’re doing the work. I don’t care how it gets done. I don’t care who takes credit for it. But let’s do it.

I think, at the end of the day, British Columbians — and I know this to be true in my riding — just want to see stuff get done. That’s all. They just want to see a government that functions and is transparent. I think this government got off to a very rocky start over the last month. Our job as opposition is to hold them to account, but I’ll tell you, when we’re talking about legislation that delays a budget until May, there are some transparency issues there, and there are some accountability issues there.

When we’re talking about an economic recovery package that is going out to British Columbians and we say, “Well, only some British Columbians, and here’s how we’re going to define it,” that’s either a lack of transparency or a lack of planning. Or maybe it’s a bit of both, but they’re equally concerning.

I would ask the Finance Minister: did you think about that single mom? Did you think about the families that are going through separation right now in 2020 and whether or not they would qualify? Did you think about the senior who’s watched their entire investment portfolio go down in 2020? Did you think if they would qualify? I don’t know the answer to that, but they do, and I think they have to give us those answers, because I know I am being asked in my riding what those answers are.

As a wrap-up here, I do want to say that having the ability to be in Victoria to talk about legislation, albeit one piece of legislation, is incredibly important and incredibly special. But I do want to stress something that I’ve continuously repeated and will say again. We can do more, and we’ve offered to do more. But this government has to be willing to also put in the work.

Now, the Premier has stated numerous times — and I’ve echoed it — he wants to do politics different. Then let’s prove it. Let’s do it different.

S. Cadieux: I’m going to quote the Finance Minister on the introduction of this legislation. “We recognize the importance of timely fiscal updates and reporting. With these amendments, we’re introducing a new rule that requires post-election government to make a public report that provides a fiscal update within 90 days after the final cabinet is sworn in following the general election.” Translation for the general public: “We know transparency is important, so we’re amending legislation to prevent that from happening.”

When the NDP won the election, it was clear that we’d be returning to provide government the ability to make good on their cash-in-hand promise to voters. When we were presented with the bill last Tuesday, I can honestly say I have never been more disappointed by this government. And that’s saying something.

That is an absolutely brazen, underhanded sleight of hand that they’re attempting to pull on B.C. residents. They aren’t here to help people; they’re here to help themselves.

In the summer, we debated a bill that gave government extra time to prepare a budget in a year when an election is held in October. Little did we know that only a few months later, that would happen.

[3:55 p.m.]

We were assured by the Finance Minister of the time that it was not a self-serving move — call me cynical for not believing that is totally truthful — but, instead, a reasonable change, in case of a new government, to allow for enough time for preparations.

The Finance Minister of the day was much lauded. She’s still an adviser, I understand. Yet just months later, the new Finance Minister is so unprepared for this role that she needs to give herself an extra month or so to prepare a plan, an extra month or so to even prepare a current state of affairs fiscal update.

Let’s put that in context. This isn’t a new government. It’s the same government that hasn’t yet, ten months into a pandemic, been able to articulate a semblance of a coherent economic plan for the province or roll out the door any significant supports for struggling businesses. This is a government who thought, instead, they would call an unnecessary election and leave government rudderless for two months only to come back to the House, under the guise of needing to provide urgent support to people, to instead present this legislation and further obfuscate and delay, propped up by a litany of excuses that these are unforeseen circumstances; a government that promised everyone $1,000 dollars in your bank account by Christmas, only to learn now that they’ve screwed this up too. We haven’t even debated it yet, and I’ll get to that later.

For now, I’d like to explain some of the hypocrisy that this bill is. For my first eight years in office I sat on the other side of this House and was treated daily to the self-righteous condemnation delivered by the members of the opposition at the time about transparency — the lack of transparency, the affront to democracy that was occurring because the House wasn’t going to sit, the recitation of the number of days it had been since the opposition had been able to ask questions. Oh, how times have changed.

The now Premier was probably the most vocal on these issues, but he seems to, like so many others in his flock, now be of the mind, “Do as I say, not as I do,” because since February of this year, we will have sat for less days in an abbreviated fall session that this is, into December, and his government is looking to give themselves another nearly five months without the scrutiny of this place, and that has got to be a record. Really, it’s a farce.

As our capable Finance critic noted — and I’ll note he’s been on the job fewer days than the Finance Minister: “People need help. People need answers. People need a plan. The bill before us today, though, is offering nothing but a delay in what people are asking for from government, which is that help….

“This actually could end up being the longest period we’ve gone without a fiscal update or a plan from government since — well, I’ll let you guess, hon. Speaker — the last time the NDP were in government in the1990s. It’s unacceptable.” Well said.

Platitudes and clichés is all people have seen from this government in three years. Why should we expect anything different now? Government is asking for more time to get their act together. Well, maybe they should have stayed working instead of calling an election. Maybe then they would have figured out what a disaster they had created in determining who would get pandemic pay and who wouldn’t. Why people are still waiting for the money promised in May in December is, frankly, criminal. But in typical NDP style, the excuse: “It’s not our fault.” Blame it on employers with multiple funders. Blame it on a government that hasn’t been at the wheel for more than three years. Blame and deflect, while patting themselves on the back for doing, well, essentially nothing.

We listen to the government members respond to the throne speech. One would definitely be led to believe the reason we’re here is to help people, to enable government to help people through this most difficult time. Yet this legislation should be helping people, but the only people it’s helping is the NDP. It’s delaying the chance for them to actually respond to the people of British Columbia, to what the fiscal state is here in the province. This is their first piece of legislation, the only piece this session, and this is what they came up with.

Let me make it very clear. I believe there are many people who need financial help right now. I know there are countless businesses that need financial support right now. While I may take issue with or question the approaches to this by government, I appreciate that there is more than one way to look at this, and they are the elected government. Frankly, though, and I felt the same way through the whole of this year…. As Finance critic earlier, I advocated for government to do more, to do it faster. I think we were making some headway before the election. In fact, all three parties stood in this House when government came forward and said that they needed $5 billion to help the people of British Columbia. We supported the effort.

[4:00 p.m.]

Then, through the summer, when the money didn’t flow, we pressed for urgency. We pressed for the transparency. Government delayed, delayed again and then called an election. Now they want to do the same thing again. Well, fool me once.

We still don’t have an accounting of where the last $5 billion went, and the additional $2 billion in July. We’re still waiting to see how that’s working. We’re here. Bring forward the reports. Outline the parameters for the new spending you want approved. But they won’t. The Finance Minister is focused on politics and not on people. The politics here in this bill are self-serving. Why else would not one member of government, beyond the Finance Minister, be willing to speak to this bill?

Not one member believes this is so urgent and so important that they should tell their constituents about it. They’ve been whipped to stay silent. Wouldn’t want one of them to accidentally admit the flaws, especially when some of their candidates are expressing disappointment in government’s actions.

Now, the Green Party leader said this:

“In a moment of crisis, and when we’re in an emergency, absolutely, citizens tend to look to their governments and say: ‘We want you to act. We want you to act with speed and haste, and we want you to address this emergency because we’re all in crisis.’ That’s absolutely what we should expect of governments in moments of crisis and emergency.

“What we should not accept is governments using those moments of crisis and emergency to extend that capacity for decision-making that is less transparent and less accountable beyond a moment of crisis or emergency.”

Well, amen. At least some members of this House understand their obligations to the people.

I am so angry and so, unfortunately, not surprised by government’s need to hide from scrutiny. So let’s move on a little to the evolving promise — the reason we were supposed to be here. In the middle of a campaign, a snap election that the NDP called, the Premier stood up and announced that everybody was going to get a thousand bucks. At the time, he said that everybody was going to get a thousand dollars, direct deposit. Don’t worry. It’ll be in your bank account by Christmas.

My, how a couple of months change things. It’s no longer $1,000 direct deposit to your bank account. It’s now, if you apply, that you might be eligible, but how much you get is based on how much you earned last year when things were good. Explain this to me. The higher your income, the more we’ll give you. Well, that’s ridiculous. And basing it on last year? Colossally stupid.

We know that the higher your income, the less likely you are to have been adversely financially affected by the pandemic. Wouldn’t we want to see the essential support that government is professing this to be to go to those who need it most? I sure would, but not this group — nope. They’ve decided that the most vulnerable among us are doing fine now, so they’re going to cut the COVID supplement that they were receiving by 50 percent — a supplement they did not need to apply for, and I’ll get back to that.

These are the lowest of income earners, but they don’t get the $1,000. Nope. They might get $500 if they apply. Let’s just remember that the whole reason the COVID supplement wasn’t application-dependent in the spring but automatically added to the cheques was because this group of people is vulnerable. Many wouldn’t be able to apply or, frankly, know that they needed to. Now government is cutting the supplement and hoping that the same people they know will have challenges applying won’t apply for the new gift that they’re congratulating themselves for. It’s beyond cynical; it’s disgusting.

Are the silos of government actually speaking to one another? Because it doesn’t look like it. Unless, of course, we’re back to the same NDP that cut income assistance rates in the 1990s, and it sure looks like we are.

Now, I could go on for a week about all the ways this whole program is outlined in a press release is ridiculous, but let’s discuss the fiscal impact. The supplemental estimates that accompany this bill will give the ability for government to dole out this benefit, and it asks for $2 billion.

[4:05 p.m.]

The projected cost of this benefit, however, is between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion. That leaves between $300 million and $600 million in unaccounted-for spending. So why? Why, after the experience of this spring and summer, would we entertain providing this government with another slush fund?

It’s not the money. There are arguments to be made, arguments and arguments and arguments to be made, that we need to spend money, that governments need to spend money during this time. I’m not against spending money to help people who need help, to help stimulate our economy. But it’s not about the money, if there is a good and defendable reason to send the money. If the government can illustrate how this money will stimulate the economy, if they can show us how it will cost $2 billion, then we’d be okay. But we’re not getting that. We’re getting the opposite. We’re getting a benefit that potentially won’t benefit the people who lost their income and are struggling this year. It’s a benefit that provides no guarantee of….

There are reports that the federal government replaced more than triple the actual lost wages in Canada and that Canadians’ savings increased this year. So why isn’t this benefit being targeted to people who haven’t been able to access other support programs, or whose expenses have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, like those people on small pensions or on persons-with-disabilities benefits or a benefit that would help small business owners that are on the brink of losing everything? That I could get behind. But no. Instead, we get a vague and evolving promise with no details that is likely to be fraught with problems and hidden in a bill that essentially shows where government’s true priorities are.

The people of British Columbia were promised accessibility legislation for this fall, but nope. That’s no longer a priority for this government. We were promised support for the restaurant industry, a simple measure like capping delivery charges on restaurants. Government promised it. It’s not in front of us in the Legislature, though. Nope. Not a priority.

Miraculously, in the election, the Premier had an epiphany and realized that pay transparency legislation isn’t a stunt, but in fact, we need it. He promised it. But is it in front of us this session? Nope. It’s not complicated legislation. I wrote some. But nope, it’s not a priority. Instead, the NDP have prioritized themselves, prioritized hiding the fiscal realities of the province and dismantling the structures and discipline around budgeting that were introduced to this place 19 years ago and that have served our province well. This I can’t support.

Thank you for my time today.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Kamloops–​North Thompson, government…. Opposition House Leader.

P. Milobar: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would take the first option, if you would permit me, but that’s four years in the making, hopefully.

It gives me pleasure to rise to speak to Bill 3. It’s a bill that is problematic in many ways. We certainly heard at length from members on our side of the House over the last several days about a lot of the issues and concerns we have.

Probably the most troubling piece of this is the fact that the government side of the Legislature has chosen to not speak to this bill. After making sure that the Legislature is recalled in the middle of a pandemic, when there are heightened travel restrictions, when we’re telling people to not go visit family and friends and loved ones over the holiday season, the government saw fit to recall the Legislature, to bring us back under the guise of us debating, as one minister said today in question period, about providing relief cheques to people around Christmas time.

As people at home have probably realized, there has been no debate about providing relief cheques, at this point, for people in British Columbia, because Bill 3 has nothing to do with providing relief cheques for residents of British Columbia.

[4:10 p.m.]

Bill 3 is simply a bill designed to give the government an extra two months before they have to table a budget so that people know the fiscal situation of British Columbia, moving forward — to know what the spending priorities are for the government for the coming year, to know what type of deficit we could expect, to know what type of economic forecasts by the professional public service are being projected for British Columbia. That is what we are here right now debating — giving the ability to the government to delay any type of public accountability.

Why that is problematic is that at the same time, we have a small business grant program that we unanimously voted on, on March 23; $1.5 billion of the $5 billion that we voted on, on March 23, was supposed to be for small businesses and economic support to make sure companies stayed solvent, to keep their doors open, could still operate through this pandemic. One week before the election, there’s finally an announcement about that $1.5 billion. It doesn’t quite add up to $1.5 billion, actually, for businesses, but that’s for another discussion.

Then we have an election. Everything goes on hold for another two months. Then we hear in this House from the minister responsible for the programs that only 1,400 businesses have even bothered to apply for a cumbersome red-tape nightmare. They have to jump through so many hoops in the middle of a pandemic when they’re doing all they can do — probably, likely, working 18-hour days themselves just to keep the doors barely open. Fourteen-hundred applications. Zero approved. We are now ten months into this pandemic. Zero approved.

Do we have any legislation in front of us to debate, to discuss, that would provide relief to those businesses? No. We have a bill that says the government can take two extra months to provide any sort of transparency to their financial dealings to the public. Yet at the same time, we have a business program that only 1,400 people have applied for because we want to put a mom-and-pop pizzeria or sandwich shop through the wringer — and as the minister said, to make sure that they have accountability and transparency where that grant goes.

This government has so little trust in the private sector that is trying to survive that they would rather put a small mom-and-pop business through the wringer on a $10,000 grant, in the same week that they’re trying to get an extra two months’ time before they have to talk about $70 billion worth of taxation and spending that they intend — could be even higher than that — for the coming year. No worry about transparency and accountability for the government on what they’re doing with those tax dollars whatsoever.

But how dare you, if you’re a small business owner and dare to apply for a grant, because you must be trying to rip off the government. We’re going to put you through the wringer at your most stressful time — many of which are about to lose homes as well as their business, and have to tell employees that they consider family that they don’t have a job for them anymore, which will have a horrible ripple effect for those households. But we’ve got to make sure that they have accountability, that they have transparency. But not for the government. That’s indicative of a lot of things that this government does: do as I say, not as I do. Lots of promises. Lots of words. No deliverables.

Bill 3 is strictly designed around buying that time. Later this week we will talk about the potential $2 billion that would be needed to make sure that people could access $500 and $1,000.

The interesting thing is we’ve had a lot of discussion about the cuts to persons with disabilities from $300 to $150. And the government says: “Well, it’s not really a cut, because they can apply for the $500 like everyone else.” So that $450 that’s being taken away over three months will be made up by the $500. Why that’s interesting is because with the $2 billion…. When we first heard about the program, the government said it would be about $1.4 billion. They now say they need more money. They need more money because they’ve included persons with disabilities and expanded the criteria of who could apply for the $500.

[4:15 p.m.]

But if they’ve reduced the funding for people with disabilities, why do they need an increase in funding in a totally different pot of money? Now, if we had any accountability and transparency from this government, we’d be able to take a look at the books and find out what the spending in the various programs has been from the $5 billion that we approved unanimously in this House back in March.

This government is so arrogant that they refuse to even provide a second-quarter fiscal update, which was due going on almost three weeks ago now. Every other province has been able to do that. Even the federal government finally got around to providing a fiscal update. But not this government, not this government whose Premier said that an election in September would not harm any operations of government and not impede things going on in a pandemic.

Then we jump to the end of October, after the election is over, and miraculously, not only do they need two months now to bring forward a budget, but they can’t see fit to bring forward a fiscal update. They can’t bring forward an update so that we know what the books of the province look like, so that we know what the funding for persons with disabilities looks like, at the same time as they’re cutting that program and demanding more money for a different program and calling the two the same.

It’s reprehensible. It’s not right, and it deserves answers. We know the Premier is not going to stand up in this chamber and provide any answers to the public. That seems to be beneath the Premier. It seems to be beneath him to provide full accountability and transparency to the citizens of British Columbia on how their over $70 billion worth of taxation and borrowing is being spent.

Instead of giving a straightforward answer, it’s spin, spin, spin. “Oh, look what you guys did six years ago. Look what you guys did nine years ago.” That doesn’t help someone today. That doesn’t help someone tomorrow. The person whose payment just got cut from $300 to $150 is living in real time. The Premier seems to want to live in the past, and he certainly doesn’t want to be held accountable. We see how angry he gets when he dares be challenged to provide an actual forthright answer — to not just this chamber but to every resident of British Columbia — on legitimate, credible questions being put forward, not just by the members on this side but on behalf of everybody in British Columbia.

When we get told we’re being called back in the middle of a pandemic to work — and we recognize that MLAs have been designated essential service, so the travel is technically in keeping with what Dr. Bonnie Henry has put forward for travel restrictions — when we fire this building back up and when we bring in the hundreds of staff required to get this Legislature working so that we can all be walking around here six feet apart and only have 24 of 87 in this chamber at any given time, we assume we’re being called back to deal with meaningful legislation, legislation that will actually impact people’s daily lives for the good.

Instead, we get a piece of legislation that does nothing but cover the backside for the government to make sure that they don’t have to provide accountability for two months longer than normal in a budget cycle — two months longer.

School districts won’t know with certainty what’s going on when they’re trying to get their fiscal plans in order because the government is not even going to bring a budget forward until the school districts are one month into their new fiscal year.

Health authorities? One would think health authorities are a little bit critical when you’re dealing with a pandemic. They’re not going to know for certain what their funding looks like moving forward. They will wait at least a month into their new fiscal year to find out even what that is. The list goes on and on.

What type of provincial police resources are we going to have? We don’t know, because there won’t be a budget for the first month of the new fiscal year. Is there going to be an increase to policing, of provincial members? Is there going to be a decrease? How does that correlate to things like money laundering, to things like drug trafficking, to the public disorder we’re seeing around homeless encampments, to the rural areas that rely on provincial police resources because they don’t have municipal police resources? We won’t know.

[4:20 p.m.]

We won’t know what universities have for funding. How are they supposed to set tuition rates when they don’t know? And why? It’s because a Finance Minister can’t be bothered to do her job in a timely fashion and get a budget in front of this House by the middle of February.

Last July, when this House was called back for supposed urgent pre-election business, it was pretty convenient. Even though the Premier says it was only the Saturday before the election call that he decided to call an election, pretty convenient that in July, they amended the legislation, very similar to this, to give themselves, after an election year, an extra month to bring forward a provincial budget. That was just in July.

Now we’re standing in this House a few months later, and a month delay in a budget isn’t good enough. I never thought I’d utter these words, but boy, I wish we had the old Finance Minister back. At least she said she could do the job in 30 days extra, not 60 days.

It is unbelievable to me the spin we hear from the government side of this House during debate and during question period, talking about this bill as if the relief funds needed for people is contingent on this bill passing. I want to be very clear to the public. This bill has absolutely nothing to do with whether you get your $500 or $1,000 in your bank account. Yet it’s the only bill we’ve had to discuss for two weeks now.

The restaurant industry has wanted relief from exorbitant delivery charges from third-party delivery apps. We don’t see that legislation anywhere. Actually, we do see that legislation, because this side of the House brought it forward. The member for Surrey–White Rock brought it forward. He brought it forward last week. We could have been debating that today. We could have finished debate on that today. We could have gone to committee stage on that tomorrow. We could have finished it all off, and it could be law when the Lieutenant-Governor comes here on Thursday to give royal assent. Instead, the only thing the Lieutenant-Governor is being called to this House to give royal assent to is a bill that enables the government to not do their job for an extra two months in the middle of a pandemic.

When the Premier stands up today and says, “Well, we’re looking at disability rates, and we’ll be adjusting what we’re going to do with that and make things a little more permanent in the budget,” well, that’s wonderful. That’s normally mid-February. This bill? That’s May. April 30 when it first starts to get discussed, which means we’re discussing it into May.

That is beyond the pale. That is punitive to the most vulnerable in our society, simply because we have a Finance Minister that refuses to do her job, plain and simple. The bureaucracy of government was supposedly still working away during the election. All the advisers are still in place. All the expertise, all of the modelling around economic growth, all of the potential revenue streams — all of that is still in place. So I don’t know if it’s that the Finance Minister needs an extra two months to be able process the information. I don’t know if it’s that the Finance Minister feels that the Finance Minister’s job is nine to five, weekends off.

Certainly, the former Finance Minister didn’t work that way. This one needs two extra months, two extra months out of a 12-month fiscal period, to tell us what the plan is moving forward.

I know the Agriculture Minister is not pleased to hear that. But the funny thing is, any programs, any food security programs, that require funding…. I have news for the Agriculture Minister: those have been delayed two months with this bill too.

At a time when farmers markets and buy local are really ramping up, we won’t know if the buy-local programs are fully funded or not, because the Finance Minister couldn’t do her job on time, because the Premier didn’t demand that the Finance Minister do their job on time.

[4:25 p.m.]

Instead, the Premier allowed this bill to come forward, this bill that’s going to delay things by two months. You know what the Premier should have done? The Premier should have said: “I don’t care about the legislation we passed in July that gave an extra month to bring forward a budget. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. People need to know what the financial way forward is. We’re delivering a budget on time regardless of what the legislation says about us being allowed legally, technically, to delay things.”

But that’s not what the Premier did. He abdicated any type of leadership on this. And you know what? The simple answer for the Premier back to the Finance Minister…. If the Finance Minister had said, “Well, Mr. Premier, that’s impossible; there’s no way I can get that done,” then you go and find yourself a new Finance Minister. That’s what you do. You don’t enable allowing legislation to come forward that delays everything by two months in this province in the middle of a pandemic while you’re cutting payments to persons with disabilities, while you’re cutting payments to families with special needs children, while you’re cutting payments and funding to distance learning.

The list goes on and on. None of these programs will know if they have funding or not. None of the social agencies, moving forward, will know what funding they have in place. We already have a delay in getting cold weather shelters opened up in this province. There’s a 380-bed deficiency, in Vancouver alone, of cold weather shelters because this government chose to call an unnecessary election and delay everything.

Those agencies are going to be two months behind, next year, knowing if they have funding for cold weather shelters. That’s not acceptable. That means that two years in a row we’ll be through the better part of winter before there’s even proper sheltering for people in extreme cold conditions, not just in Vancouver but, as we heard, in Williams Lake, in Kelowna and all over this province. A complete lack of caring, not just for the people in this province but about trying to actually get your job done and delivered on time.

In the real world, if you worked outside of this chamber, and you said you were going to bring forward something that you need an extra two months to work on, and it’s time-sensitive to the whole organization knowing what funding they will have or not, the answer from the CEO would be: “That’s not good enough.” Or the board: “We will find a new CEO as well.” But instead, we get nothing but arrogance from the Premier and his ministers — shrugging and thinking a two-month delay for a budget is no big deal. It’s a very big deal.

Arts groups that are hanging on by a thread aren’t going to know what their funding is. The list goes on and on. Anyone and everyone that does anything with government for any type of funding at all will have uncertainty for an extra two months longer than they normally do and will already be well into their fiscal year in the middle of a pandemic.

Now, I would say that’s not good enough. I would say we should have had proper legislation that will be meaningful, that will actually help people, to debate on the floor in this chamber over the last two weeks. We don’t even know if we’re coming back in February to debate any legislation.

This House might not actually sit again to discuss anything until April 30, according to this legislation. April 30, in the middle of a pandemic, when by law they were supposed to be presenting a budget in mid-February. It is ridiculous in the extreme. And then to hear the government try to tie this bill to people at home receiving $500 or $1,000 is just flat-out incorrect. The public have a right to know what’s going on with their finances.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

Mr. Speaker, welcome to the chair. I think this is my first time addressing this chamber with you in the chair. Welcome, and congratulations.

[4:30 p.m.]

The public have a right to know. The public have a right to know what’s going on right now on the second-quarter results. But we won’t see that until this House rises, because the Finance Minister doesn’t want to be held to account for what’s going on. The irony is that she wasn’t even Finance Minister then, so you’d think she’d want to throw her predecessor under the bus and provide a little cover for herself.

But oh, wait. The Premier was still the Premier then, so he might actually have to be responsible for something. He might actually have to take responsibility for something. He might have to acknowledge that they don’t have a clue what’s going on with the finances in British Columbia, and they’re making everything up on the fly. But that would require the Premier to actually show a little respect for this House, show a little respect for the residents of British Columbia and answer questions in a direct way, actually take responsibility for the decisions he made — the decisions he made last week.

The cut to the persons with disabilities didn’t happen months ago. It wasn’t talked about years ago. It came out of the blue last week, while they tried to hide it talking about the $500 and the $1,000. That’s not accountable. That’s not transparent. If it’s such a great thing for persons with disabilities — what this government has done — why hide it as part of that? Why not make it a grand announcement?

They sure know how to make a photo op when they want to. Why not make that a big photo op with the Premier standing next to a cheque that has a big X through the “$300,” with “$150” written underneath it? Great visual for the Premier. He could do it — I don’t know — with a backdrop of a closed mill or a closed store behind him because of their inaction on the grant process.

They could just really make a good-news story out of this, about how they’ve totally walked away from helping small businesses. But he won’t do that. No, he will wait for some photo op, some kitschy thing about Santa or something like that, coming up and try to pretend everything is fine, try to pretend that we’re just making all of this stuff up, try to pretend that all of the emails and letters we’re getting in our constituency offices don’t really matter. And there is no way that this government is not getting those same emails — and then some. They’re just turning their back on all of it.

It took them an extra year and a half to bring forward a so-called poverty reduction plan that wasn’t even funded when it finally came forward. So that took an extra year.

We heard today a Transportation Minister talking about some big budget item for the Massey replacement when none exists in any budget anywhere. Maybe they have a document they don’t want to share with the public. How dare the people want any transparency? And now we’re debating a bill that will give them even less need to be transparent for an extra two months.

When we came back in the summer to find out what was happening with the $5 billion in March that we unanimously granted this government, it was like pulling teeth in estimates, minister after minister after minister, trying to find out what happened to that money. They felt it was like an inconvenience to them to have to actually answer a legitimate fiscal question about $3½ billion, because they had tucked away a billion and a half to try to use for a pre-election goody bag whose money still isn’t rolling out.

The interesting thing is that by the time it rolls out, the businesses that need it the most will probably be already closed. Then the government can turn around and somehow say that it wasn’t their fault. They tried giving the person the money. Yeah, if you’ve been open for three years, if you saw this drop in sales — if, if, if. No help for anyone that’s a new business, in the first two or three years of their existence, the hardest time for a business to try to survive, I might add. No help for them in this so-called recovery plan.

[4:35 p.m.]

So while businesses have to go through hoops, while businesses have to provide umpteen pages of documents and paperwork and spend hundreds of dollars with their bookkeepers and accountants trying to fill out government forms for transparency and accountability, which I’m all for, this government tells us we should go ahead and vote for a bill that gives them two months more to provide any such thing back the other way, that everything just gets to go through, no problem.

Well, it is a problem. It’s not too late. We actually have…. We will be wrapping this bill debate up today. We could do a very fast debate on the food delivery app this afternoon. We don’t have to go back to throne speech debate this afternoon. The government doesn’t have to call throne speech debate before we rise for the end of the day. The government could call the delivery charge bill for debate this afternoon. We could have a quick 15- or 20-minute debate on it, since it was promised by the other side, the government, in the election, and it was promised us in the election. We could have a very quick debate today and close it off. We could have it passed by Thursday still. It’s still not too late. But that’s not going to happen.

To the viewers at home: what’s going to happen today is that we’re going to finish up debate — a debate the government didn’t want to even raise one speaker to talk to this bill. Not one. The Finance Minister spoke for about three minutes to start this bill off, and that was it. It’s a bill they’re so proud of they don’t even want to talk about why they need two months to delay a budget. But they could do the right thing. They could not call the throne speech for further debate.

Here’s why it’s important, for those listening at home. The throne speech debate — what you will be barraged with for the rest of the afternoon, after our leader speaks — will be member after member on the government side suddenly finding their voice and suddenly deciding to speak, and it’ll be praising all things Premier. The all-powerful, wonderful Premier will be praised and praised, instead of taking that time to debate a bill that is on the order paper and that says restaurants could get a bit of relief from delivery charges from third-party apps.

I know what I would prefer to see the people’s time being spent on in this House this afternoon: us debating that bill, us passing that bill this afternoon, and us getting on with the business that would actually help a restaurant survive this pandemic. But instead — I can see them all queuing up now on Zoom — they’re getting their speaking notes ready for a half-hour from now, to be able to pat the Premier on the back. That’s what we’re going to be stuck with for the rest of this afternoon. It’s shameful.

I can see the embarrassment of people that used to be MPs, knowing how shameful that is. They were in opposition for their whole political careers in Ottawa, and they’d be saying the same things if they were back in Ottawa. I think three-quarters of the government are former MPs, so they should all know well what I am saying. No leadership from the government — zero.

I will conclude my remarks by saying that there’s absolutely no reason the Finance Minister needs two months, in the middle of a pandemic, to bring forward a financial plan for this province for the next fiscal year. There is no reason the Premier couldn’t have said: “No, this bill is not coming forward. Do your job, and get the budget in by mid-February.”

There’s no reason we couldn’t be debating the delivery app bill for the rest of this afternoon and get it passed by the end of this week, instead of having to listen to a litany of people that have refused to speak on this bill standing up and doing nothing but pump the tires of the Premier. Apparently his ego is not big enough quite yet, and it needs a few more pumps.

Mr. Speaker, it’s time for this House to actually do the people’s business, not the Premier’s business, and bring forward that bill for debate, after this bill has been discussed.

S. Bond: I appreciate the opportunity to stand and make a few remarks today about the circumstances we find ourselves in here, in the legislative precinct. I want to begin as many others have. Our team certainly has stood in the House to say thank you. Thank you to British Columbians who participated in the process recently. While, I admit, we are disappointed that the group of MLAs we are lucky enough to work with here in Victoria is smaller than we’d hoped, I can tell you that each one of them, to a person, is exceptional. They’re very good at what they do.

[4:40 p.m.]

They come, they bring passion and ideas, and they bring their voices. We’re going to talk a little bit about their voices. I’ve been very proud as I’ve sat and listened to the words of my colleagues who stand up in the House and bring their constituents’ concerns, the concerns of British Columbians across the province, to this place. That is their job. That is our job. That is why we are here.

Perhaps before I make some specific comments about the bill and the situation we find ourselves in…. Not a day goes by when British Columbians’ hearts are not broken when we hear the statistics that the public health officer and the Minister of Health bring forward. Today was no exception: 2,146 new COVID-19 cases in our province over a three-day period. Perhaps even more stunning is the number of additional deaths — 49. Forty-nine more families deeply impacted, hearts broken. If that alone does not compel us to come to this place and do our best, I do not know what does or what should.

One of the things I know is that every person in this House cares about that. I know that to be true. Every person cares, but it’s what we do in this place and beyond that makes a difference for British Columbians. At a time when our province, our country, our world are being ravaged by a global pandemic, we need to do our part. Frankly, it’s more than has taken place in these chambers over the last number of days and now entering our second week. There is more that should and could have been done, and it’s not too late.

As my incredibly articulate colleague who just finished his remarks said, it is not too late to deal with those issues that could make a difference on the ground for British Columbians. All of us know that it has been a difficult year for people in our province — facing a health crisis, an economic crisis and all the while trying to just adapt their lives to get through the new realities of 2020. Probably every person in this chamber has experienced that challenge as well, so I want to take just a moment and say thank you.

I want to express my deep sense of gratitude and appreciation to the people of British Columbia for their strength, for their resilience over the past year. It hasn’t been easy, and we continue to be challenged. But month after month I have been surprised and inspired by how the people of our province have come together to tackle the virus, whether it was something as simple as standing on the street corner or holding a pot in your hands and banging it every night at seven o’clock to say thank you to health care workers.

Have we stopped to say thank you in the last while to those health care workers, who are exhausted and who continue to walk into those places, those hospitals, those primary care clinics to care for British Columbians, despite the fact they probably feel fear in the pits of their stomach as well?

[4:45 p.m.]

What do we do? We get called to the Legislature in the middle of a global pandemic to deal with one piece of legislation as every day in our province, men and women — whether they’re working in the grocery store or they’re driving the taxi cab or they’re teaching school — step up and do their best and go beyond what is expected of them.

I think about the innovation we’ve seen in our province. Think about the craft distilleries. They paused production of our incredible B.C. spirits. What did they do? They focused on producing hand sanitizer. Restaurants reinvented their business — curbside, home delivery. What about the campaign we saw to put hearts in your window? I must say I’m very proud. It was initiated and much of that work started in Prince George, but it has gone around the world. People post pictures of hearts in the most incredible places.

Virtual tours where museums and organizations can no longer accept the public. They found a new way to do business. Concerts. We’ve seen musicians from across the province, across the country and around the world bring music back to our hearts online in ways that we couldn’t even have imagined. Is it perfect? No. Wouldn’t we long to be in a concert, enjoying that experience with one another?

And what about neighbours helping neighbours? Families suddenly found themselves providing extra care for parents, for children, their family members. These sudden changes in the daily lives of British Columbians introduced new challenges and new circumstances brought on by the pandemic and, yes, by public health restrictions.

Stop and think about that today. Many of us are in the incredibly privileged position of being surrounded, though virtually at the moment, by family and by friends. Think about what it would be like if you lived alone. Think about what it’s like if you’re worried about your senior in a long-term-care home as we speak. You would likely feel terror about what lies in store for them.

While yes, even in British Columbia we saw some who were fearful at the beginning take part in activities like stocking up on toilet paper and non-perishable food items, for the most part what I saw was the exact opposite: British Columbians responding to this crisis with kindness and compassion.

Communities throughout the province truly came together to support one another. Every day we saw acts of kindness — people coordinating delivery of groceries for the elderly, generous donations being made to food banks and shelters, kids in garages producing face shields with a 3D printer.

There has been great hardship, but there has been great heroism. For that, I want to thank all British Columbians for rising to the occasion and showing us and the rest of our country the spirit and character of British Columbians.

I found myself, and find myself every day, feeling such an incredible sense of pride toward my fellow British Columbians. And I believe many people felt that same degree of pride when we came together during the pandemic, knowing we could count on our communities to do their part in trying times.

What the message should be today…. People have those same expectations of our government. As the representatives of British Columbians, we too, as people elected to this place to represent them, should be driven by the incredible standards of compassion, care and action that have been set by the people who sent us here. We all need to do our part, just like people in every neighbourhood and throughout this province have done. They have risen to the occasion.

[4:50 p.m.]

Instead — and I won’t be surprising anyone when I say this — after what was an unnecessary, risky election call during a pandemic, we had a re-elected government ready, we thought, to take on the hard work that should be taking place in this Legislature today. And it still could.

I cannot convey in words how deeply disappointed I am in this government for letting down the people of our province at a time like this by calling back the Legislature for a single piece of legislation. It’s not just a single piece of legislation. It’s a bill that in no way reflects the sacrifices other people have made during the crisis. In fact, it is one bill that has nothing at all to do with providing the immediate and ongoing support that the people of British Columbia need and deserve. In fact, it serves only one group of people, and that’s the government.

How could we do that to British Columbians? After the countless examples of strength, resilience and effort, we get summoned back to Victoria to deal with a bill that basically will effectively allow the government to delay introducing the next budget until April 30 of the next year.

I’m not going to spend a long time discussing the technical pieces of the bill. First of all, it’s short, and secondly, the members on this side of the House have stood up day after day and outlined why this bill falls short of the mark on so many levels.

I have to tell you that I got a real sense of déjà vu when I saw the bill, and I asked myself: haven’t we been down this road before? Yes, we have been down this road before. In the midst of a global pandemic, all of the parties came together this summer to support the funding for COVID-19, for the supports and to provide some breathing room for presenting the next budget. We did that together in this House.

Before anyone decides to characterize our comments as us being lacking in care or compassion, we care about providing supports to British Columbians. We cared so much that we agreed to come back to the Legislature and, in a very short period of time, agreed unanimously, including members of the Green Party, to what was a significant aid package for British Columbians and for small businesses. We did that together. We knew that it was important.

Yet here we are today. We’re back here again. We had a Premier who told us not to worry, that the government is well aware of the state of provincial finances. But what do we find out? That now we’re here in the Legislature debating a bill that will actually push for additional time without the scrutiny of this House, the media or the public — another month with programs and organizations in our province worried about whether or not they’re going to see renewed funding and another month that essentially gives this government carte blanche to spend as they will, including the use of special warrants, because in case you haven’t noticed, April 30 is actually a month after the start of the fiscal year.

I would love for someone, anyone, on the other side of the House to get up — maybe someone on the Zoom screen — and explain to British Columbians how that is acceptable and how it is going to work in each and every one of their constituencies when organizations have no idea what their funding will look like. Maybe someone could offer an explanation, because we haven’t heard one single word about that from anyone on the other side of the House. People, individuals, non-profits, charities, businesses — all looking for stability and certainty. Don’t they deserve that after the tumultuous year that we have faced that was 2020?

[4:55 p.m.]

This government just throws that out the window. “No certainty,” they say, “but trust us.” Trust us to use special warrants and spend at the start of the first quarter of 2021 without legislative approval. Trust us that we haven’t just shredded every ounce of credibility the NDP government has when it comes to transparency.

Transparency matters. British Columbians deserve to know the fiscal state of our province. “Trust us to make good on our promises.” Well, I think I’ve heard that before. Let’s remember: what about that promise for the $400 renters rebate; their plan for universal child care; oh, and their pledge to build 100,000 new homes?

This NDP government couldn’t keep track of their 2017 promises, so forgive me if I’m unable to take them at their word to just trust them this time around. Guess what. British Columbians shouldn’t either. In fact, the Premier not only promised that his snap election wouldn’t hit the pause button, he also said he’d be right back to work right afterwards. Well, it’s been a month and a half since election night, and it is painfully clear that the wheels of government have yet to pick up speed again.

While the Premier calls the Legislature back, what is the discussion about? One single bill. Before the hue and cry starts on the other side, let’s be clear. This is not, for one moment, about the exceptional public service that we have. Not for one moment about them. I have every understanding of how this process works, having been there.

There is no plausible explanation for the fact that this government knows the fiscal state of this province, and if it doesn’t, shame on them. They are not a new government. Shame on them. At a time when British Columbians across this province are struggling with health and economic challenges, their representative MLAs have convened to discuss one piece of legislation. That’s it. That isn’t my definition — or certainly not one of my team’s definition — of getting back to work. It’s the appearance of doing something.

It’s easy to see how delaying the budget into Q1 ’21 will benefit the government, but I struggle today in seeing how it will benefit the people of British Columbia who are supposed to be managing their lives. During second reading of this bill, the Minister of Finance confirmed in her comments that there will be no government programs until a budget is tabled. That means until they finally get around to their delayed budget, no new help is coming to British Columbians facing tough times. No new supports will be made available to society’s most vulnerable people.

So as the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction had first…. And boy, interesting mathematics in question period today. I hope that people are actually going to go and try to figure out the math from that answer. The minister slashes supplemental supports to persons living with disabilities. What was even more astounding to me — not one member of the government stood up, not one new MLA, to say: “Wait a minute. That’s not what I signed up for.” Not one.

Then what do we hear today? We hear the Premier stand up and say: “Well, don’t worry about that because we’re going to consider making it…. You know, maybe somewhere down the road we’ll have a discussion, and maybe we’ll make it permanent.” That was unbelievable to me. Because if that is what the Premier intends to do, there is absolutely no excuse for the agony and the concern and the upset and the pain that he is causing those individuals and families across British Columbia. He could do that today.

He didn’t have to make the decision to make that cut. As far as I’m concerned, those families deserve more respect than that. If there is even a hint that this government will suddenly roll out a permanent fix after people have been frightened, upset, worried…. I think that speaks volumes. The Premier claimed he wanted to put the politics behind us, but this bill simply rewrites the rules for government’s gain.

[5:00 p.m.]

When describing the first request for a delay to the budget earlier this year, former Finance Minister Carole James said….

Those of you who have been in this House know that then Minister James and I and my colleagues worked very hard to work constructively with one another. I have a great deal of regard for the work that she did. Here’s what she said: “The first extension would allow sufficient time for due diligence to be done by the good public servants who work for all of us in British Columbia.”

What has changed? Apparently, it was enough time the first time they brought it to the House. Suddenly they need more time. Not good enough. This is not a new government. If they can’t figure out how to deliver a budget in February, then they should have told British Columbians that the first time around. Now here we are back again.

What we know is that there are so many things on the minds and hearts of British Columbians. The government knew…. What’s going on in this place really doesn’t matter very much today to British Columbians. They’re just trying to get through the day, trying to get through Christmas. They’re trying to figure out how they keep their families safe. They’re trying to figure out how they celebrate Christmas. They don’t really care about the lack of an agenda, but they will when the impacts are felt.

We’ve already seen that the $1,000 you’re going to get in the mail is no longer the $1,000 everyone is going to get in the mail. It’s the $1,000 some people might get in the mail. We’re not really sure who is going to get it because it’s based on pre-pandemic income. It basically says to families in this province: “If you’ve lost your job as a result of COVID, well, you might not get any relief.” That is not what this Premier promised British Columbians.

We’ve seen slashes to persons with disabilities, to their supports. We’ve seen literally no answers to questions about the Representative for Children and Youth that my excellent colleague and others have asked. No answer to that.

The government promised to deal with delivery service charges. We did the homework for the government. There is a bill that has been tabled. All the Premier needs to do is call the bill. There’s a piece of action that could actually help to save struggling restaurants.

Did anyone over there on the other side read today that 30 percent more of the restaurants in British Columbia may not survive? And what are we talking about? Let’s delay the budget. Let’s just give some more time to the government while restaurants and other small businesses across this province hang on by a thread.

There’s still time. We did the homework. We tabled the bill. It’s up to the Premier to actually do something in this session that would make a difference for small businesses in British Columbia, for those restaurants that are desperately holding on.

What have we seen over these last few days? A series of actions that are actually detrimental to the well-being of British Columbians and a bill that does absolutely nothing but give the government more time. Well, the government doesn’t need more time. They have an exceptional group of public servants who I know would be briefing this government. They are not a new government.

We were promised by the Premier…. “Oh no. No delay in services. No holdup. We’re just going to have a quick pandemic election, and then we’ll get right back to work.” And here we sit.

Here’s one thing I know. The members of the official opposition and, yes, the members of the Green Party have stood up and have spoken up. We’re going to send a message today and every day that we’re in this Legislature and beyond its walls, and we’re going to do the job we were elected to do. We’re going to stand up, and we’re going to speak up every single time about the issues that matter to British Columbians.

While the Premier and his ministers…. It was interesting in question period. Every single answer somehow had a look in the rearview mirror. Well, I have news for the Premier and the government. They are the government. They have a majority government. They have been the government for 3½ years. Apparently, they didn’t take a break. It is time they looked in the mirror and started taking responsibility for their action or lack of action over the last 3½ years. It is time to stop looking in the rearview mirror and take responsibility for the things they’ve done or haven’t done.

[5:05 p.m.]

I can say this. I think the government thought we were all going to arrive in Victoria, and we were simply going to rubber-stamp this bill. It’s not about the bill. It’s not about a bill that’s basically, at the moment, meaningless to most British Columbians. It’s about the attitude. It’s about the approach. It’s about what really matters.

This government had a chance during this session to do something meaningful for British Columbians. And it’s not too late. There’s a bill on the order paper. There’s more than one bill on the order paper because we haven’t dealt with split assessment, which is also another reason that businesses are struggling.

And then my colleague’s issue that she raises so thoughtfully and carefully about equity. Should your son make more than your daughter? I know what our answer to that question is. Those are the kinds of things that could make a difference.

I so appreciate the opportunity to bring some reflections on behalf of the official opposition, but I simply want to reflect on this. The only piece of legislation this Premier wanted to push through is not about new supports. It has nothing to do with helping exhausted front-line workers. It does nothing to help long-term-care homes. It does nothing to help struggling small businesses. It does nothing to help families. It does nothing to help teachers or first responders.

This bill does one thing. It helps the government delay what should be a priority: an inevitable transparency with British Columbians and critical information that British Columbians need and deserve.

I’m very proud of the resilience, the strength and the effort that British Columbians have shown and continue to show every day. The comparison is an embarrassment — that the government calls a legislative session to deal with one bill when every day there are pressing, critical, crucial issues that every single member of this House should have been standing up to discuss.

I want to encourage the new members of the NDP caucus: there’s a job to be done here. It should be noted that the MLAs standing up and raising the issues are on the opposition benches. There’s a job for all of us to do, and what is deeply disappointing and should be devastating for British Columbians is that all we’ve seen are actions in the last week that are impacting the lives of British Columbians in a negative way. And the best this government could muster was a bill that allows them to push their financial responsibility out further than the first time.

Not good enough, Mr. Speaker. And I can reiterate for you that the members of the opposition are going to stand up, and they’re going to speak up every single time.

Deputy Speaker: Closing debate, the Minister of Finance.

Hon. S. Robinson: Moving Budget 2021 will not affect our support for British Columbians. Our commitment to a more affordable province remains firm.

When COVID-19 hit British Columbia, we acted quickly. We acted quickly to provide supports for people and businesses, to help them right away. Our COVID-19 action plan was followed by A Stronger B.C., our economic recovery plan. That was in September. And the B.C. recovery benefit that we’re talking about in this chamber this week will give families a boost into next year. The applications are open on Friday.

[5:10 p.m.]

We are building a recovery that includes all British Columbians, not just those at the top. We are making life more affordable through better child care, employment and education opportunities and with targeted investments that help people and businesses now.

An April budget gives us time to develop a robust, meaningful and long-term plan that builds on all of these supports that are working now. All of these supports are making a difference in people’s lives now, and they have been when we came together to be there for them in March. There’s a recovery that we need to plan. We need to plan ahead. We are in unprecedented times. I know that British Columbians expect their government to create a plan that doesn’t just work for today but for the years ahead.

With that, I move second reading.

Deputy Speaker: Division has been requested. Pursuant to the sessional order adopted December 7, 2020, the division shall be deferred until 6:15 p.m.

Hon. L. Beare: I call continued address in reply to the Speech from the Throne.

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

Deputy Speaker: The member for Courtenay-Comox.

R. Leonard: Thank you, hon. Speaker, and congratulations on your appointment as Deputy Speaker. There are lots of changes in the House. It is my great privilege to be able to respond to the throne speech that opened our 42nd parliament.

I recognize that we are on the unceded territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking people, the Esquimalt and Songhees. I want to also acknowledge that I come from the territory of the K’ómoks First Nation.

When I first moved there in 1990, I was told that Comox meant “the land of plenty,” and it certainly is the land of plenty, if you look at the history. Our beautiful estuary is full of fish stakes from fishing weirs that have fed hundreds of thousands of people. There are middens that line the shores for miles and miles. A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of being on a walk after a big, major storm. One of the banks had eroded, and some 1,400-year-old bones were found. So the land of plenty has been the land of plenty for millennia.

I was born in France. My father was in the military. He never was transferred into Comox base, but there’s a large contingent of people who not only work at the base, but who’ve retired there. They’ve come out of duty, and they’ve returned out of love for the place.

[5:15 p.m.]

We’re a very diverse community as well. We have probably, per capita, the most number of organizations that are involved in environmental pursuits. It’s because of the beauty. The nature that surrounds us helps define who we are and what we fight for. It is a real privilege to live in a place where there is so much love shown for this community.

As we start this new parliament, I wanted to say thank you for the leadership of our Premier and also to acknowledge the record of our previous government. I remember 2017. I remember entering a campaign where there was despair. There was hurt. There were people suffering. Right after the election, there was an air of hope and aspiration. That has continued through the three-plus years that we were at the seat of government, with the cooperation of the Green Party, with our confidence and supply agreement.

We grew. We had balanced budgets year after year. We increased affordability, and we increased services that people relied on, at the same time that we were able to grow the economy, provide jobs, have more opportunities for people in terms of education and advancing careers and supporting business and technology. It has been a positive direction, where we have turned the Titanic around and headed in a new direction.

I would like to say that this election was, to me, a demonstration of the confidence and the trust that the people have in the record that we presented to them from their experience, that we don’t just say that we’ve built a more affordable province and that we’ve provided services. People actually are feeling it.

I remember the day that I opened my campaign office, and a couple walked by. They said: “I’ve never voted NDP in my life, but we’re looking forward to voting this time.” The day that we were taking down our camp, they walked by again and were congratulatory. I think that that speaks of the trust and the confidence that people have had in the direction that we have been going with this government.

I would like to also thank the people who helped me to be able to stand in this beautiful room, to be a part of the government and represent the people of Courtenay-Comox. The executive of my local constituency association has been with me throughout and continues on. President Kathryn Askew, in spite of some family troubles, stuck around, and when she had to take some time off, she was able to turn over the helm to Kevin McPhail, who is our vice-president. He very ably steered the ship. I’m using a lot of shipping metaphors here.

We have had people who’ve been around for a long time. I won’t go through all of the names, but please know that you are very much appreciated. We’ve lost a few folks through the time, and we’ve made new friends as well. That’s something that’s come this time around too. It’s just so many more new faces of people who wanted to be a part of growing this province in a good way.

I want to thank my husband, who is with me 24-7 in my heart, keeps the home fires burning and makes sure that I’m fed and watered — I think I’ve said this before — and have clean clothes to wear when I come down here. He has become the keeper of the house, in ways that he probably never imagined. I also want to thank my children. They don’t live in the Comox Valley anymore. They’ve found their careers and new lives in different parts of British Columbia.

[5:20 p.m.]

One is in Penticton — my son, Ryan, with his partner, Lia McKinnon; and my daughter, Chelsea, is an integrated pest management specialist who works in the Lower Mainland. They have wonderful lives, and they are experiencing these days each in their own way, and I’m very proud that they’re in my life and that they help give me the kinds of stories that tell me whether or not I’m going in the right direction.

I want to thank the campaign team. My campaign manager came in a little bit after because one of the members who sits in this House today actually turned to becoming a candidate instead of the campaign manager. I’m very proud of the work that she did to gain a seat here. I’m very happy that I had the strong leadership of Mike Orders to steer us through to a good day on the 24th of October and then again on the sixth of November.

I also want to talk about my constituency assistant. Some of the folks have played double duty, and my constituency assistant Leanne Rathje played triple duty. That kind of loyalty doesn’t come around very often, and I just wanted to acknowledge that spirit of working together and supporting each other.

We talked a lot about the importance of bringing stability through the time of COVID. When COVID hit, we’d been coming along in a really good way, and then not one sector was left out of this pandemic. Some sectors have suffered more, and I think that’s a place where I’m very proud that we are focusing on to make sure that everyone comes out the other end, and we have a more fair, just and equitable society.

One of the things that happened early in the pandemic was that I heard a lot of people saying how glad they were that they lived in British Columbia. Today, still, the issue of COVID-19 is the number one priority of everyone, because we’re not done yet.

I am so proud of every British Columbian who has stepped up and done their part. It’s always been a simple message of what we can do to be heroes, and people have done it, whether it’s keeping that two metres, learning how to be close but apart, remembering to wash our hands to the tune of Happy Birthday twice, whether it’s finding tricks not to touch your face and remembering to stay home when you’re sick.

For me, that’s been a hard one because I suffer from allergies, so I always have a drippy nose. I don’t want to stay home, but I will say that it’s something that when you do it, you know you’re doing it for others and that you’re saving lives. So every British Columbian that has taken that important guidance from Dr. Bonnie Henry…. It’s been saving lives, and they’re all heroes.

I also want to acknowledge Dr. Bonnie Henry. She came to us at a time when we needed somebody who had the kind of expertise that she has, having dealt with Ebola and SARS and having the discipline that she has and the sense of teamsmanship and the ability to go through all of the evidence. I don’t know if she sleeps. I don’t know how you can do this job day after day and take the heat on some things that…. Like, it’s just really hard to imagine anybody giving her grief, but we know that she has…. I just want to lift my hands to her for all that she has endured.

[5:25 p.m.]

I saw her do…. Somebody had recorded her doing a little dance when the vaccine announcement was about to be made. You could just see in those few seconds the sense of relief that she had that there was going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. But in the meantime, she has borne an incredible burden of trying to make sure we all do the right thing and stay safe.

Government’s response was swift, and yes, we did work across party lines. It was a very deliberate and important step because we truly are all in this together. The virus knows no party lines. It doesn’t distinguish between races. It doesn’t distinguish between whether you live in the north or whether you live in the Lower Mainland. It all depends on how we manage ourselves in safe ways. So working together…. I have just been so impressed by the work that we have seen come out of this province to protect people, to strengthen our communities, to support businesses. And we flattened the curve in ways that have not been flattened across the country with the kind of populations that we have. That is a point of pride. And we are in a place right now where it doesn’t…. It kind of got away on us a little bit. But still, compared to other communities, we’re getting a hold of it again and starting to bring things back into control.

The fact that folks are dying in larger numbers is devastating. It is the hardest part of this pandemic, that we would have people who have given their lives to this province to be most at risk and to suffer the most dire of consequences. So taking initiatives that protect our elders and our seniors has been job one. And we can do this. We can continue to work in the right direction.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I’m looking forward to the vaccine. It’s going to help just tremendously and give us that hope that we will one day return to a more normal life. But in the meantime, we have a lot still to do, and we still need to be vigilant while we do it.

I want to talk a little bit about some of the stories that have happened as we’ve moved from taking action, response and recovery and efforts, and where we’re going from here on in. In my community, in terms of supporting business and protecting jobs, the reduction in the property tax for commercial properties helped. The recovery money that’s being handed out to local governments has been received with great relief, recognizing that loans weren’t all that small businesses need, that grants were also important.

Now we’re looking at tax measures to reward hiring, and I think that’s another exciting piece. In my own community — just a few examples of how people, with their livelihoods, have managed to be supported and still be able to continue on. Just down the street from me I have one of the restaurants that has created patio seating out on the parking spots on the street. They’re starting to winterize them a bit, but they’re still going strong. Their doors are still open. We have a local brewery who set up shop in a mall and had never anticipated COVID-19. They weren’t able to sell cans of their brew, and now, thanks to the changes in the policies, they have been allowed to add that to their repertoire of business offerings.

We had a brand-new coffee shop. This is one of the harder pieces — you know, new endeavours. They opened up and had all of these…. There were hydro bills that were going to come due and payable, and there was nobody coming through the door. So they were able to get relief from that, and I can’t tell you how grateful they were, because it would have crushed them.

[5:30 p.m.]

In terms of protecting people, we’ve provided protections around housing with rent relief, protection from evictions during the worst of the COVID pandemic, and limited the rental increases, all to bring a little bit of stability to people who would otherwise be made more susceptible to catching the COVID-19 virus.

In terms of health, I wanted to talk a little bit about the fact that surgeries were put on hold for quite a number of months. When they came back, they came back with gangbusters to try and do a catch-up. We had been working on reducing wait times for hips and knees, and that was a challenge. I appreciate this because I’ve had my hip replaced three times in British Columbia. I know what it’s like to have to wait for that surgery. I know what it’s like to be in a hospital when you feel very vulnerable and you don’t get to have visitors. It’s just a very, very difficult time.

Yet the health care workers are stepping in and being the surrogate family members, working double duty not only to provide the health care but also to provide those emotional supports so that people can get home and be healthy again.

During the early days we recognized seniors at home were needing to stay safe at home, and we had a working group, with all party members, to work to make sure that we could roll out a $50 million plan with Better at Home through the United Way to make sure that people could get their groceries, that they could get their prescriptions, that they could have check-ins. These are all part of the direction in making sure that we’re looking after British Columbians. Coming up, in that same regard, is to have more personalized home care. I think that’s a great direction that’s going to make people feel a lot safer in their homes and give them a better quality of life.

I want to talk a little bit about the seniors in residential care. Well, my father was in residential care, and I know what it’s like not to be able to see your loved one. I was quite far away from him. He was in Burnaby, and I was home in Courtenay. So I have a lot of sympathy and I feel the pain of the people that have not been able to see their family members.

But I’m also very hopeful that this day is going to come to an end, and people will be able to safely see their family members that are in care, and when they do so, they won’t be jeopardizing the safety of their loved ones or someone else’s loved ones that are in those care homes, because we know how quickly this virus will spread.

I know that coming up, too, we’re going to be training and hiring more doctors and nurses. We know that they are working overtime. This is an opportunity for us to see our health care system grow and thrive and be ready for the next crisis, which I don’t want to imagine might ever come, but we always want to be prepared.

I want to talk a little bit about the recovery benefit and the crisis supplements. This summer I ran into…. Well, I shouldn’t say I ran into her, because we were two metres apart. But I spoke with an elderly woman in one of our parks who was very excited about having received the crisis supplement. It made a big difference in her life.

Yesterday we heard from the minister about how the next phase will roll out, in terms of the recovery benefit, which is going to be more inclusive of more people, and how the threshold for being eligible is being raised so that more people are eligible to get these benefits for the next three months.

[5:35 p.m.]

These are important steps. I appreciate that there’s a need to be critical about things, but I just want to set the record straight that people are getting the help that they need and that there is no intention from this side of the House to see people having to scrape to get through in ways that we have already been showing that we support them.

In terms of the future, our commitment to a clean energy future is very secure. We saw, through the summer months, redeploying of small ship operators to be cleaning up oceans plastics, giving them employment. We just made announcements around greener transportation options with active transportation and shortening commute times.

I just really look forward to all the work and all the innovations that are going to come in terms of the clean energy future that is before us. The opportunities — having this kind of like a reset with COVID-19, to be able to move into new directions with more vigour. The table has been set to extend, to expand and to launch new initiatives, as British Columbians have shown us that this is the right direction.

The vaccine is good news. We’ve been reassured about the safety of this messenger RNA vaccine. It’s not my area of expertise. I think I failed chemistry when we got into talking about DNA. But we know that we are not out of the woods yet and that we still continue to need to do our part. I want to recognize, again, the front-line health care workers, our front-line essential workers, the people who put food on our tables to make sure that we can get from point A to B, and all the other ones — to stay the course with trust and with confidence so that we can get through this together.

We are in the — I guess entering it; we’re there now — giving season. People have shown a lot of generosity through this pandemic, and I know that it will continue. It’s now time for us to help each other find other ways to celebrate, to express the joy and peace this season represents. It is, after all, the point of the season. We will get together as family and friends in the future. This time, our gift to each other is to stay apart and to move forward to a new recovery and a stronger B.C.

A. Olsen: Thank you for this opportunity to respond to the second Speech from the Throne this year. As my colleagues have done on both sides of the House, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the incredible people in Saanich North and the Islands for putting their trust in me for the next four years, their confidence in me for the next four years, and the incredible people that were a part of my campaign team, who came together very quickly. We had always prepared for the potential for a snap election, and this fall we learned why we were prepared for a snap election. So we had the opportunity to exercise what we had prepared for, and I’m glad to be able to have a space here and to represent the beautiful territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ.

I do speak to the throne speech. I was actually going to not speak to the throne speech this time around, because I kind of half thought, as I looked through it, that there is potentially another throne speech coming. I mean, at least I would hope that this is not the vision that is being laid out for British Columbia for 2021 and going forward from a devastating pandemic. However, as committees had been stood up, as work had been proceeding, I kind of felt that this might actually be the only throne speech that I’m going to get a chance to respond to. So earlier today I changed my mind and thought that I would find myself here speaking to this throne speech, because I was and remain — continue to be — quite confused with what’s going on.

[5:40 p.m.]

This may be the throne speech for 2021. We don’t have a parliamentary calendar. We’re debating another piece of legislation that may or may not extend the ability of government to deliver a budget past February. We might be here in February. We might not be. We could be here in March or April. Potentially, we could have a budget in May. I mean, the reality of it is that there’s not a lot of certainty. The only thing that is certain is that I’m here today, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to speak to the throne speech.

In taking a look at the throne speech…. It’s only a few pages. I’ve been now a part of a few throne speeches, and each one of them lays out a substantial vision for the government. This is how the government articulates its vision for British Columbians. The thing I noticed about this second throne speech of this year was that it wasn’t a forward-looking document. It was a document that was firmly looking in the rearview mirror. “This is what we have accomplished.”

We’re in multiple crises. We’ve got a pandemic — global proportions. We’ve got an overdose and addiction crisis in our province. We had a crisis in seniors care. We’ve got small businesses collapsing. We have an economic, social and — as we’ve been raising in this Legislature for the past 3½ years — we’ve got crisis in the environment as well. We’ve got collapsing ecosystems that have been clearly harvested right to the end. We’ve got a full-throttle crisis that we’re facing, and what we have is a throne speech that doesn’t lay out how we’re going to navigate our way through that, necessarily. What it does is it says: “This is how well we did when everybody was giving government space to do what needed to be done in the face of a pandemic.”

Here we are after the fall election, scrambling into a December session. We are here, I think — at least British Columbians think we’re here — to deliver on a promise that the Premier made during an election campaign. What we’re finding out is that it’s dramatically different than the one people thought they were getting. We’re here to do that bit of work. It was not well thought through. It was or was not contemplated in the summer. Nobody really knows. Now we’re debating Bill 3, which is a bill to delay the budget to give the government more space.

We have no parliamentary calendar for 2021. Again, I ask the question: when will we be back in here to debate important pieces of legislation? As I said in the debate for Bill 3, the real challenge that I have with the situation that we face today is that we were told there was a plan. We were told there was an agenda and that British Columbians were to buy into that agenda. The reality is that if this is the throne speech that delivers part 1 of that, then 2021 is a pretty bleak year for British Columbians. It will be more of the government reflecting back on what they did well when we were at the table with them, when our friends in the B.C. Liberals were stepping back and allowing the space for the Premier and the former Finance Minister to do the work.

In this throne speech, there are commitments to invest in people, strengthen economies, support jobs and growth, a clean energy future, a just recovery and reconciliation with Indigenous people. That’s what we were already doing. We were already doing it to incredible success — all of those things. That’s not new. That’s not an incredible vision forward. That’s not the foundation to call a snap election in the middle of a pandemic. We’ve been doing that for 3½ years.

In the throne speech, it lays out what the commitment is for health, for COVID-19, talking about government’s rapid response. We did that collectively. We collectively rapidly responded. We shut this place down. We returned. Ten of us — I was sitting in that seat over there — got to work to deliver a $5 billion envelope of funding for the government to work.

[5:45 p.m.]

We stepped back. We stepped the politics back. We gave the space, and the government went to work consulting all summer long on their election platform. That’s what we learned, because the reality of it is that that economic recovery plan, the great economic recovery plan, was the first announcement of their campaign, the government’s campaign, despite the knowledge that there was a second wave coming, despite the knowledge that there were increasing numbers in Fraser Health. These markers were in place long before the election was called. Here we are anyway.

So this throne speech doesn’t cut it in terms of a vision. It does a pretty good job of summarizing the success. But really, if you were going to do that, there were a lot of things that you would have had in that document. If you were really going to give and pay homage to the incredible work of a minority government, the first of its kind in B.C.’s history, getting together with different ideas, trying to cut through differences of opinion to find common ground on issues, to collaborate, to cooperate, then this throne speech would have had a lot more to it.

This is why I’m wondering if there’s not another throne speech coming. When I took a look at this, I had to stand up to say that this is not good enough. If this is what it is, it’s not good enough. If we’re going to be doing another throne speech, then I have to wonder why it is that we’re going through this charade, why it is that we’re going through this process to scramble back here to stand up committees that are then just going to be dissolved again in a couple of months, only to be stood back up again.

What it says to me is that there wasn’t a plan. There wasn’t an organized and coordinated effort. This was simply an opportunity to try to have all of the responsibility. Now you have it, and now you’ve got to take and be accountable for that responsibility.

We were told that there was going to be no delay. We were told that we were going to roll straight from that election right into governing. That’s what the Premier promised. Tell that to the people in my constituency who have been waiting for me to ramp back up my operations, as we were in caretaker mode for the better part of two months. Tell that to the backlog of meetings that I have. Tell that to the people who haven’t been able to get access to the programs that they needed to get access to while we were out on the hustings. No delay.

Tell that to the people who have been waiting, the businesses that have been waiting for ministries to respond to them for funding applications, for grant money, for economic recovery money. Tell them that there is not going to be any delay to their operations.

As ministry staff quite rightly say: “Well, we have no idea who is going to be government. We don’t know which programs are going to be in place, so we, as well, remain in caretaker mode.”

New ministers — and I’ve had the benefit of talking to a couple of new ministers — quite rightly have the work ahead of them to get up to speed on their files. New deputy ministers come in to get up to speed on their files. It’s not realistic that there is going to be no delay. So why was it told to British Columbians that there won’t be a delay?

The reality is we don’t have a budget. We don’t have certainty. We don’t have confidence. We don’t have a throne speech that lays out a vision for 2021. I sure hope there is another throne speech at some point early in 2021 that lays out this grand plan and the big promises and how we’re going to achieve that. I suspect there is one coming. I hope there is one coming, because as it stands right now, the document that we have in front of us to analyze is not good enough.

It fails to meet the expectations that British Columbians were told to have in a new majority NDP government. This document doesn’t do that. This document barely gets this Legislature open.

With that, I’m going to take my seat. I felt like it was important for me…. Just in case there wasn’t a throne speech and we were in fact going to be building off of this throne speech for the rest of the year, I needed to be on the record to say that this simply was not good enough.

[5:50 p.m.]

J. Brar: I’m very pleased to stand up in this House and respond to the throne speech 2020. I will come back to the throne speech in a moment.

First, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the people who have been part of my political journey. I exist in this House because of the people of Surrey who elected me as their representative five times. That is certainly a real honour for me. Therefore, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to the people of Surrey-Fleetwood for giving me the opportunity and for putting their faith in me.

Huge thanks also to my three staff members, Navneet Kahlon, Deanna Fasciani and Gurjeevan Sidhu, at the Surrey-Fleetwood office for their exceptional services to the people of Surrey-Fleetwood. I also want to say thanks to Gurbrinder Kang, who retired recently after serving as a legislative assistant in my Victoria office for about 15 years, for her exceptional services to the people of British Columbia. Thanks to all members of the Surrey-Fleetwood Riding Association for their ongoing support for me for many, many years. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.

Last but not least, thanks from deep inside of my heart to the love of my life, my friend and my beautiful wife, Rajwant Brar, to my daughter Noor and my son Fateh for their unconditional support for me since I started this journey almost 16 years ago. I love you all.

Coming back to the throne speech, to begin with once again, let me make it absolutely clear that I feel proud to support the throne speech delivered last week in this House. We are going through the worst pandemic in the history of our province, causing unprecedented health and economic crisis for the people of this province. People, businesses and health care workers have stood up to this challenge to help people of this province go through this difficult time.

First of all, I would like to acknowledge those that COVID-19 has taken from us and the hardship that the pandemic has placed on all British Columbians. I would also like to acknowledge the commitment and the bravery of the health care and other front-line workers that have helped keep people safe.

My nieces are working in the health care system. One of them is a neurologist. The other one is working in administration. So I understand the challenges and the brave work our health care workers and first responders are doing to keep us all safe. They have done an exceptional job to keep us safe.

When COVID-19 first arrived in B.C, our government took swift action to protect people, including addressing risks in long-term-care facilities by limiting workers to one facility; acting to provide appropriate care in Indigenous, rural and remote communities; securing the large amount of personal protective equipment our front-line workers need; and working with public health officials to implement a well-designed testing and contact tracing strategy.

[5:55 p.m.]

Since then, we have hired thousands of new health care workers and contact tracers. We have also provided financial support to people during the pandemic, with a $1,000 emergency benefit, temporary rent relief and protecting people from the threat of eviction, and a crisis supplement to people on disability and income assistance. The list goes on. To protect jobs, we helped businesses through property tax cuts, deferred tax payments and B.C. Hydro rate relief.

I also would like to say thank you to Dr. Bonnie Henry and the Minister of Health. They’ve done a remarkable job dealing with unprecedented COVID-19 challenges, keeping people of this province safe and sustaining our economy in the best possible shape in this very difficult time. That will serve us as a springboard for a fast economic recovery after COVID-19.

This speech from the throne focused on the immediate actions government has taken to protect British Columbians’ health and livelihood from the threat of COVID-19. I understand that in this House, people debate. The role of the opposition is to enforce debate and to critique what the government does. But this is a very unprecedented time, and this is much-needed help we need to move on as quickly as possible to support people of this province as needed.

This speech arrived at a time when new treatments and vaccines give us hope for better days ahead of us. But the current wave of COVID-19 continues to pose urgent challenges in the short term. That’s why we are here in this House. When the pandemic hit our province last spring, in the beginning, we promised the people of the province that 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.

The steps taken so far to address the threat of COVID-19 have saved lives, have made B.C. a safe place, have helped our economy keep going, as compared to other jurisdictions. In the months ahead, government will build on the measures already in place. Some initiatives will be extended or expanded and new ones launched. First and foremost, government will help people, communities and businesses to implement whatever public health protections are necessary to address our….

We will continue to provide support to people as needed. This will also include a new recovery benefit which will be rolled out by the end of this year. 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 help people financially during this very hard time and will also support our local economy.

Deputy Speaker: Excuse me, Member. Sorry, Member. Just, of course, noting the hour.

We are going to be moving to a deferred division, so if he might reserve his place and, noting the hour, move to adjourn the debate at this time.

J. Brar: I’ll do that.

People can apply for that online starting December 18 at gov.bc.ca/recoverybenefit.

I move adjournment of the debate and reserve my time to come back and speak next day.

J. Brar moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: Members, of course, pursuant to the sessional order, a deferred division will take place shortly on the motion for second reading of Bill 3, Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2020, so members at home will need to enable their video. We will be taking a short recess in order to prepare for the vote.

The House recessed from 6 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 3 — FINANCE STATUTES
AMENDENT ACT, 2020

(continued)

Mr. Speaker: Members, we will now proceed with the deferred division. The question is second reading of Bill 3, Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2020.

[6:20 p.m. - 6:25 p.m.]

Second reading of Bill 3 approved on the following division:

Hon. S. Robinson: I move that the bill be referred to a Committee of a Whole House to be considered at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill 3, Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2020, read a second time and referred to a Committee of the Whole House for consideration at the next sitting of the House after today.

Hon. M. Farnworth moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 6:26 p.m.