Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call continued response to the Speech from the Throne.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

J. Brar: I’m pleased to continue my response to the throne speech of 2020 from where I left on December 14, 2020. To begin with, once again, let me make it absolutely clear that I feel proud to support the throne speech of 2020 delivered by our government on December 7, 2020, in this House.

We are going through the worst pandemic in the history of our province, causing an unprecedented health and economic crisis for the people of this province. This Speech from the Throne is focused on the immediate actions our government has taken to protect British Columbians’ health and livelihoods from the threat of COVID-19.

[2:35 p.m.]

No doubt our lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic. We have come a long way together, but we have further to go. We can get through this by looking out for each other, just like we have done before.

When the pandemic hit our province last spring, we [audio interrupted] 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.

From the beginning of the pandemic, our government has been there to support the people most in need and has taken action to help hard-hit industries while we build a strong economic recovery for everyone.

Our government is working to make life easier for families and businesses through the pandemic. We launched a new B.C. recovery benefit, which was rolled out last year. The B.C. recovery benefit is expected to help approximately 90 percent of British Columbians and to have spinoff effects for businesses. It is $1,000 for families with an income under $125,000. Families earning up to $175,000 will qualify for the benefit on a sliding scale. It is $500 for single people earning less than $62,500. Single people earning up to $87,500 will qualify for the benefit on a sliding scale.

We are building a recovery that includes everyone, not just those at the top. In addition to the B.C. recovery benefit, our government has taken swift actions to support people during this extremely difficult time, including the $150 monthly B.C. recovery supplement for people receiving income and disability assistance; the $300 per month crisis supplement from April 1 to December 2020; the B.C. emergency benefit for workers, which concluded on December 2, 2020; the one-time enhancement to the climate action tax credit in July 2020, with a family of four saving up to $564. We are extending the rent freeze to July 10, 2021.

These additional benefits build on our affordability action taken earlier, like eliminating MSP premiums, landmark investments in child care and housing and, just this fall, launching the B.C. child opportunity benefit for families with children under 18, which offers up to $1,600 a year for a family’s first child and more for each child after that.

Our government is also taking significant steps to assist hard-hit small and medium-sized businesses to get through this tough time and try in the recovery with a $345 million new grant program. Of the $345 million in small and medium-sized business grants, $100 million is dedicated to relief funding for the tourism sector. The province is also allocating $5 million to Indigenous Tourism B.C. to administer relief grant funding targeted for Indigenous businesses.

The small and medium-sized business recovery grant program provides fully funded grants to B.C. businesses to ensure they have the support they need through the COVID-19 pandemic. A $10,000 to $30,000 grant is available to eligible small and medium-sized businesses impacted by COVID-19. An additional $5,000 to $15,000 grant is available to eligible tourism-related businesses. Applications for this program are open now, and the program runs until March 31, 2021, or until the funds are fully allocated, whichever comes first.

[2:40 p.m.]

Since the pandemic, this province has invested over $10 billion in a COVID-19 response to protect people’s health and livelihoods and to invest in stronger communities and a better future for everyone. Our COVID-19 response includes a further $1.6 billion investment in health care and mental health. Supports to build our improvements and make sure critical public services are available when people need them.

In communities throughout B.C., local government has also stepped up efforts to keep people safe and to provide shelter and housing, and the province is here to support them. We will continue to be responsive to the needs of people, businesses and communities, to see them through the pandemic and into a strong economic recovery that supports all British Columbians.

In the end, we give thanks to Dr. Bonnie Henry and the Minister of Health for their exemplary leadership in managing the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, and thanks to the people of B.C. for doing their part to flatten the curve.

Working together, we can put this province on a better path while protecting people’s health and for the fast recovery of our economy. We are investing in health care and seniors care to protect people and to fight COVID-19. We are building a recovery that includes everyone, not just those at the top. We have come a long way together, but there is more to do. Together, we will get through this.

I am proud to support this throne speech, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the opportunity today.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

The Chair recognizes the member for Vernon-Monashee.

H. Sandhu: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Congratulations on your new role.

I would like to begin my response to the throne speech by acknowledging that I’m virtually joining this session from the unceded territory of the Okanagan Indian Nations. I thank them for their stewardship of this land.

I am a new MLA representing one of the most beautiful constituencies, Vernon-Monashee. I would like to express my gratitude and thank the constituents of Vernon-Monashee for electing me to be your MLA. I am truly honoured, proud and excited to be your representative. I take my responsibilities sincerely. I thank all the voters for practising your democratic right, regardless of who you voted for. Congratulations to all the members of this House on your election and re-election.

No campaign is ever possible without the volunteers. I am so thankful to my incredible team of volunteers, donors and supporters who have made our historic win possible with their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the previous MLA, Mr. Eric Foster, for his service, and I thank our two other candidates. It takes lots of courage, passion and commitment to step forward to run for office.

I thank my family, including my wonderful husband, Baljeet; my teenage daughter, Manreet, who is a second-year science student at UBCO and wants to be a doctor to serve people in rural communities; my middle daughter, Jasreen, who can speak four languages since she was eight; and my five-year-old son, who gets adored by his sisters so much and is ready to start his kindergarten this year. My kids have happily and proudly made many sacrifices and adjustments due to my busy schedule.

I am profoundly grateful to my mom for being my rock, who stood by me during our good and tough times, who taught me to fight for my rights and for the rights of others. My mom made sure my kids were taken care of when I was busy with work and campaigning. She also made sure that hot meals were ready for me and for my family, despite having her own health issues and not being able to stand for extended periods.

[2:45 p.m.]

My mother and my late father instilled in me the values of respect, kindness, hard work, helping others and being the voice for the vulnerable people in our society. My parents have helped me to be a strong, independent and empowered woman.

There are two incredible men in heaven who are watching over me today and have helped me tremendously to be who I am by giving me the purpose to always strive to do better and to be a passionate and caring human being. I am talking about my dad and my late husband, Sammy.

I want to acknowledge our longtime volunteers, Mr. Lorne Adamson and Mrs. Jane Adamson, who have been volunteers for the last 42 years. Both Lorne and Jane volunteered doing door-knocking and various other roles on many campaigns with their two babies, Kevin and Mary, who are adults now. This is a great and encouraging example of the true dedication, commitment and determination to stand strong for the values we believe in.

Thank you, Lorne and Jane, for years of your hard work and dedication. Finally, your sincere efforts, along with many of our wonderful longtime volunteers and supporters from Vernon-Monashee, came to fruition.

I’d also like to give kudos to our wonderful and hard-working staff at the Legislature, including my LA Pavanpreet, for their tremendous help. I look forward to meeting you all in person. I would like to thank and proudly acknowledge my amazing and hard-working staff members at our Vernon constituency office, Emily and Josh. Josh and Emily worked tirelessly with so much passion to help people of Vernon-Monashee. Thank you, both, for your dedication and enthusiasm you show every day to work for the betterment of people and our constituency.

I acknowledge and thank our front-line workers, including paramedics, doctors, nurses, therapists, care aides and many unsung heroes, our housekeeping staff, support staff from dietary, lab techs, imaging staff, porters, administrative staff and many more. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to our essential workers in retail, trucking, farming, trades, hospitality, small business and volunteers with non-profit organizations, also daycare workers and our incredible teachers for continuing your work and dedication during these unprecedented times.

I was so reassured that December’s throne speech was focused on investing in people, their health and well-being, to promote the vital services we all rely on, such as health care and seniors care. The throne speech also focused on economic well-being and support for local businesses and individual families.

In December, I was surprised by the words from the member for Kelowna-Mission: “We need more health care professionals that can advocate for patients and deliver the absolute best care possible, not just more nurses.” The member also mentioned: “I don’t want an MRI. I don’t want or need a new MRI.”

I would respectfully like to share my thoughts, as I come from a health care background. I hope the member understands that nurses focus so much on preventative care. Nurses are the biggest advocates for their patients, and in fact, it’s one of their nursing standards that they must meet. Furthermore, nurses are trained to look at the patient as a whole.

For example, when myself or my colleagues go to do wound care, we look at a patient’s diet, underlying medical conditions, living arrangements, their mental and physical well-being and whether they need more supports. Nurses always provide emotional support to patients and their families. Even when patients pass away, community nurses make condolence calls and even send cards to the families, connect them with grief counselling and many other resources as needed. Nurses work with patients from birth to the end of their life and anything in between.

[2:50 p.m.]

Nurses work in nursing homes, community outreach clinics, harm reduction centres, mental health, telehealth and so much more. They work in public health, taking care of newborns and teaching parents how to take care of newborns and toddlers. Nurses do outreach work in schools. This is all part of preventative care.

I worked as a proud registered nurse in rural areas, acute care, surgical nursing, community nursing, palliative care and, most recently, up until November 15, on a COVID unit. Over the last 16 years, working with two different health authorities and in various health care settings, along with many of my colleagues, I have personally witnessed and lived through the massive health care cuts, austerity and privatization from the B.C. Liberal government.

My LPN colleagues and many hospital support staff in health care struggled financially due to the massive 10 percent wage rollback under the B.C. Liberal government. I have witnessed my coworkers breaking down in tears and crumbling when they were constantly understaffed and overworked. I was also one of them. That is before any mention of the violence nurses face in health care. Therefore, I appreciate our government’s every sincere effort that has been made during the last 3½ years.

One can blame, point fingers, find faults, nod heads, wave their hands, criticize the efforts or even try to take credit for some of the things they want. The reality is that health care workers can tell firsthand when cuts are implemented and when more services are being added because it makes an enormous difference in their working conditions, for their physical and mental health and, most importantly, for the quality of patient and seniors care.

We still need many more nurses to fill the gaps that were left until 2017. The member’s remarks were concerning to me and to many others, especially coming from our health care critic. I would like to request that our government continue with its progress in dealing with this chronic staffing shortage.

I thank our government for hiring many more nurses in the mental health and substance use areas. This has been a great resource to refer patients to highly dedicated teams.

I am grateful to our government for giving us an MRI and urgent care centre in Vernon-Monashee. Prior to this, we had to send patients to Kelowna, and they had to wait for too long in order to get their MRI done.

We also had to book patient transfer teams, and most of the time a nurse had to go with the patient. Then we had to backfill that nurse, mostly on overtime. Imagine the amount of money we had to spend on patient transportation, having extra staff or leaving existing staff working short when we were not able to backfill that shift. We were spending way too much money by doing so, and the patients were suffering from long wait times, delayed diagnoses and treatment.

This also had a major impact on patient care in Vernon due to short-staffing when we were unable to backfill the staff. Having MRIs widely available is a proactive approach.

My mom had her MRI done recently. She only had to wait for eight days, and her appointment was at 7 p.m. My father-in-law had his knee replacement done in October, during COVID, and he didn’t have to wait for long. He received exceptional care, which he’s so grateful for.

Improvements and investments in services like health care, mental health and seniors care are some of the best investments any government can make. Investments to deliver better care for seniors and stability and safety for long-term care workers will hugely benefit my riding. We have many seniors who have worked hard all their lives. It is our turn now to give them the support and quality care they need and deserve.

We do have much more to do. I am confident that having a dedicated group of people in this House…. We’ll focus on working together, as all of us are here to serve our constituents and make lives better.

[2:55 p.m.]

The B.C. recovery benefit will help many families in many ways. When we go through financial hardship, every penny helps. I have personally talked to hundreds of people since the day of my election via emails, messages and phone calls. People are so grateful to receive the recovery benefit. People who I talk to are living on fixed income. Some lost their jobs, some are on disability, and some are unable to go to work due to compromised health and other struggles.

Farmers in my constituency also have had challenges. Due to the labour shortages and with early snowfall in October, they were not able to harvest all their crops. They lost their produce, and this was heartbreaking to witness. I am pleased by our government’s announcement of a small farm business acceleration pilot program, offering up to $800,000. I am reassured that farmers in my constituency will benefit from this. I belong to a farmer family, and I have witnessed the hard work, sweat and tears farmers have to shed in order to bring food to our tables.

Talking about the farmers community in Vernon-Monashee, I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the unfairness and ongoing injustice farmers in India are facing. The suicide rate among farmers in India is the highest in the world, which clearly reflects the lack of support towards these hard-working farmers. I would like to ask all members of the House to please acknowledge and support farmers in India for their democratic right of peaceful protest and to have their voices heard. Farmers all around the world deserve all the respect, support and advocacy we can offer to them in order to promote food security.

Our government’s commitment to expand child care and early learning to create jobs, stimulate the economy and make sure children can have the best possible start in life is a much-appreciated effort by many parents. The nurturing care and investment in the early years of a child’s life leaves a lasting and positive impact. This also enhances their mental health from early on. Investing in children is investing in B.C.’s future. Our government’s announcement of opening new child care centres in Vernon and Coldstream is going to help many parents in Vernon-Monashee.

This fall our government released a robust economic recovery plan, which is already supporting businesses. Tourism, farming and small businesses are some of the major contributors to our economy in Vernon-Monashee. Steps taken by the government to support our businesses through property tax cuts, deferred tax payments, B.C. Hydro rate relief, and small and medium-sized business recovery grants are much appreciated. I have had the opportunity to meet many business owners, like Sue, in my constituency, and they’re grateful for these initiatives. Sue had asked me to thank our Premier and the government for these initiatives.

I am glad that our government’s recovery plan will be guided by our core principles, including climate action and reconciliation with Indigenous people. I appreciate the announcement to provide millions to child care providers, school boards and health authorities to help them deliver COVID-safe care and renovations to create more spaces.

Our government has delivered hundreds of affordable, supportive and accessible housing units in Vernon, and these have changed many people’s lives. I greatly appreciate the recent announcement of more affordable housing for Vernon and area. This is going to benefit many more people by helping them to find a home. I thank our government for paying attention to this long-overlooked and ignored issue of affordable housing in Vernon-Monashee.

I thank Dr. Bonnie Henry, our Health Minister and their dedicated team for effectively dealing with this pandemic. I understand that many of the decisions they had to make were not easy, but I also know that Dr. Henry and her team always have people’s best interests at heart.

[3:00 p.m.]

Let’s continue doing our part, as we all have done the last year, so we can overcome this crisis together. When you’re upset about having to wear a mask or not being able to have gatherings, please take a moment to think about our health care workers, who have to put on their masks for extended shifts and for days in a row, along with full-on PPE, including non-breathable gowns and gloves. Please take a moment to think about vulnerable seniors who are living in isolation for months, in the hopes of having this pandemic go away. Think about the thousands of people who have passed away due to COVID, and their loved ones.

A couple of people have said to me that we have an opioid crisis, and people are dying from heart attacks and other chronic illnesses. Yes, I absolutely agree with you. I can reassure you that our work and care have never stopped for people with addictions and to treat chronic illnesses. It is reassuring, too, for me to know that our government has made sincere efforts to address the opioid crisis by creating the first-ever Mental Health and Addictions Ministry, by hiring many mental health and substance use teams, creating harm reduction sites and outreach clinics.

Much more work is underway. More recently additional funding was allocated to more treatment spaces to address addictions and mental health issues. We are getting eight additional beds in Vernon-Monashee, at Bill’s Place, to help people in need.

As a health care professional, I confidently share with you that we have never lessened our efforts towards the opioid crisis or to take care of patients with chronic illnesses. We will continue to do more, and I am fully committed to continue my advocacy to address the need for more resources in Vernon-Monashee. At the end, I would like to remind everyone what Dr. Henry says: “This is now, not forever. We are in this together, and we will get through this.”

I would like to end my speech with my favourite quote from John Mark Green: “Everyone has a history. What you do with it is up to you. Some repeat it. Some learn from it. The really special ones use it to help others.”

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for doing your part, for making many sacrifices and adjustments in your lives to deal with this pandemic. We have hope on the horizon, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I hope 2021 will be a kinder and better year for everyone. Stay safe, and stay healthy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

A. Mercier: I’d like to start by taking a moment to thank the people in Langley who elected me and sent me here to Victoria. You know, a decade ago, if you told me as a Langley boy that I’d be coming to represent the people of Langley in Victoria as a member of the NDP, I don’t think I would have believed you that I was running.

The folks in Langley are hard-working folks. They’re the nurses, the teachers, the long-term care aides, the truck drivers, the tradespeople and the grocery store clerks that keep this province going.

Langley is on the traditional territory of the Matsqui, Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo-speaking peoples. It is an area that has grown at an unprecedented rate. I think by the last census, Langley was growing at a rate of 16 percent. It has all of the pressures and all of the concerns of a community growing at that pace, from health care to childcare to infrastructure.

Part of the reason we were able to win in Langley and why folks in Langley were looking for change is that they looked around and they saw what the government was doing in the community. They saw the $29 million that this government committed to upgrades at Langley Memorial Hospital. They saw the $25 million that the government was funding in childcare. They heard the promise of the Sky Train, a promise we made in the last election, which is a priority for this government and which we will deliver on.

I’d be remiss, as a Langley boy, if I moved on from speaking about Langley without mentioning that Langley right now is also home to the best craft beer in British Columbia. Now, I’m amenable to persuasion, so if there’s anyone here or anyone in this House that thinks otherwise, you know, I’m open to be convinced, although I’d say that I base my opinions on empirical evidence.

[3:05 p.m.]

I’d like to also just take a moment to thank my campaign volunteers, the folks that helped turn Langley orange. There are too many to name. The riding executive for the Langley NDP have been stalwarts that have been at this for 40 years. I’m thinking of Peter and Eleanor Holuboff, of Vivien Henderson and of Lynn Coxworth, who has moved on to the Interior. I’m also thinking of all of the young crew, the new crew, that’s come along to help out: Joe, Kelly, Sara.

My campaign manager Piotr Majkowski, my partner in crime. Piotr first came to British Columbia in 1991 as a Polish immigrant. He’s now a mental health nurse and a college professor at Douglas College. He has done his best for his family and for his community. I should mention that Piotr and his mother Barbara and his sister Dorota right now are mourning the loss of their father Ryszard. That is a loss that I feel deeply and that I know their family feels deeply. I’d like to extend my greatest condolences to the family in this time.

I’d also like to thank my parents. I was raised by an RCMP officer — a French Canadian from Quebec who learned English the hard way, went into Depot not speaking a word of it — and a mother who was a nurse, whom I have watched, my entire life, struggling with a disability that comes as a result of a workplace injury, and dealing with the Workers Compensation Board. I’ve seen the impact through that. I was raised with the impact of the administrative state of my family life.

Finally, moving on from family, I’d just like to mention my wife, Kate Makarow, who, on our first date, asked me a question about B.C. politics and stuck around 30 minutes into the answer, where I was thinking: “Okay, there might be something serious here.” She’s since moved on to become my financial agent, among many other things, and my partner in this life. She’s at home right now with our 2½-year-old daughter, Charlotte, who, I can tell you is, unfortunately, much smarter than me already and smarter than her father. That doesn’t bode well, necessarily.

I’d also like to mention my other family, Teamsters Local 213. I first joined the Teamsters in 2010, as a commercial delivery driver. I was given a master class in advocacy, humility and good representation by my business agent, Mike Levinson. When I decided I wanted to go to law school, the Teamsters took a chance on me. Walter Canta, the secretary-treasurer; Ray Zigmont, the president; and Tony Santavenere, the vice president, gave me a chance, and I’m eternally grateful for that.

I would like to mention, as well, my articling principal Casey McCabe. I have never seen any lawyer take as much meticulous care and preparation in argument and preparing for a case, no matter how small the stakes or how great the stakes, as Casey. I’m really a better man for having spent time with Casey, learning the trade. Of course, there are my good friends at the B.C. Building Trades and my friend Brynn Bourke, who is there right now as the executive director.

Perhaps most critically, the institution that shaped my world view and my political views, the University of the Fraser Valley. I was really fortunate at UFV to have two stellar professors, who couldn’t have been at different ends of the spectrum: Hamish Telford and Scott Fast. Hamish is at an age now where unfortunately he no longer gets to tell his students that he has colleagues in the Legislature. With my friend the MLA for Chilliwack and myself, he now has students in the Legislature. Of course, balancing out Hamish’s analytical and objective perspective was Scott Fast’s 1960s American Marxist philosophy of life and world view, which I think was a good mix in terms of my early education.

I am honoured to have been appointed by the Premier to serve as the Parliamentary Secretary for Skills Training and to work with the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training to restore our system of compulsory trades in this province — a system that the B.C. Liberals gutted the last time that they were in power, destroying the trades training system in British Columbia.

[3:10 p.m.]

I am proud to build on the work done in our previous mandate by the former Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training, my friend the member for Vancouver–​Mount Pleasant. This is necessary work. We are currently the only province in Canada that lacks a system of compulsory trades certification.

I am honoured as well to spend time on the other portion of my mandate, which is ensuring that there are enough trades and technology seats and early childhood educator seats to meet the demands of our growing society.

I’ll turn briefly to the throne speech. As a new member in this chamber, listening to the words of the Lieutenant-Governor talking about the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, I feel the full weight and the burden of the office and the responsibility that comes with a chair in this chamber.

This is a sobering time. People are struggling. I’ve heard from folks countlessly in Langley since being elected, and I am proud to be part of a government that is offering real solutions, like the economic recovery benefit or the small and medium business grant programs. There is a lot of work ahead to do. It is daunting.

We heard today from the Premier the good news on vaccines and the vaccine rollout plan. We still need to focus on our infrastructure and ensuring that we have enough skilled tradespeople to get us through the recovery. I am looking forward to having my part to play in that role.

I’d like to thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m looking forward to being a member of this House.

P. Alexis: Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge that I come to you today from the unceded and ancestral territory of the Stó:lō people, including Kwantlen, Leq’á:mel, Matsqui, Sumas and Sq’èwlets territories.

As the MLA for Abbotsford-Mission, I am honoured to rise, albeit virtually today, to give my support to the throne speech. I want to thank the people of Abbotsford-Mission for entrusting me with the honour of this office and the opportunity to serve such a vibrant, diverse and hard-working constituency. From my time as city councillor and eventually mayor, I had the privilege to work up close every day with so many people committed to making a difference in their communities without attention, fanfare or even acknowledgment.

Each of us lucky enough to be members of this Legislature have our journeys that guided us here. My own was not the most conventional and, like so many of our accomplishments, owes much to both hard work and good luck.

Helping make both happen were so many people — parents who encouraged me, friends who supported me, family who loved me. I can’t possibly list all the names of those who added their shoulder to the campaign wheel, but I want to specifically thank my campaign team and anyone who gave us their time, sent us an inspiring poem or a song — thanks, Don — shared a story, gave a few dollars. That really helped all of our efforts.

I also want to thank the many voters who took a chance on a new candidate and a new direction of leadership. The passion, selflessness and commitment to community in this constituency is inspiring. I’m so grateful to the members of our local executive, in particular the long-standing efforts of local legend Bruce Edwards.

I also want to acknowledge the volunteers who dedicated their time and energy to the campaign and the election. For some, this was one of many campaigns they have worked on over the years, although it’s fair to say this was unlike any other campaign before. For others on the team, this was their first time. I have been assured they found it educational, rewarding and, yes, even fun, despite the obvious challenges that we faced.

Whatever brought us together — a desire for change, a personal friendship, a passion for service — each and every one of them had to step bravely and passionately into the new normal of election work, and for that, I am forever grateful.

[3:15 p.m.]

Thanks to the support of family and outstanding teachers as a young person, I had long believed women could do anything they set their minds to. Unfortunately, both in university and in the working world, that belief soon suffered. However, as women everywhere have gained ground in politics and other vital leadership roles, that can-do attitude and optimism returned. I stand here today in this Legislature as the first-ever woman elected to be the MLA for Abbotsford-Mission.

I owe a great debt to those who came before me, the women who blazed the trails for equal pay, representation and opportunity. Their work paved the way for what we today expect and, indeed, demand. Winning my election was made easier by local women seeking office who came before me, women such as Joan MacLatchy, Heather Stewart and Jenny Stevens.

Women have always been great influencers in both my personal and professional life. I come from a very large family of mostly women, but I do want to acknowledge my long-suffering brother. We were led by strong parents, including a mother who always maintained her dignity and elegance, even while scrubbing the floors in rubber gloves. From her I learned the value of hard work but also courage, grace and discipline.

We know that past research has found that women fare just as well as men when they decide to run for office, but since fewer women enter political races in general, they remain underrepresented. We also know that when women are successful in running for office, they inspire other women to get involved. How many little girls watching Kamala Harris get sworn in as Vice-President now might be thinking of getting into politics? So many of those young ones are counting on all of us to set high standards of achievement and accountability and for my fellow women in caucus to continue the work and to continue blazing that trail.

I also want to acknowledge my colleagues in the Fraser Valley caucus. It’s great to be part of this hard-working, energetic and determined team, to see the rise of progressive perspectives in our ridings and to give the valley representation and support during this crucial time of its growth.

My decision to run for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia owed so much to the government’s commitment to women in politics and government, and I’m awed by the talent and passion they bring to our diverse team every day. Joining me on this side of the floor are more elected women than have ever served a government in our province, and I am proud to stand with them, shoulder to shoulder, in the face of such history.

Abbotsford-Mission is a unique blend of rural and urban, each existing alongside the famous Fraser River. The river has given so much to our community. Its banks offer rich, bountiful farmland. The water has powered pulp mills and hydroelectric power, but perhaps most crucially is the fishing it has offered — sturgeon, steelhead trout and all five species of Pacific salmon, popular for local sports fisherman and also crucial to the way of life for First Nations people. More than a resource, the Fraser River is a symbol of prosperity, opportunity and our connection to nature. It does not divide the riding; it unites us.

The Fraser Valley is booming, owing to rapid growth of industry, prosperity and opportunity. One of the keys to this continued growth is the increasing trend of people moving from urban centres to our more natural, beautiful setting. Right now the area is famous for farmlands, agriculture and food production. But construction, manufacturing, tourism, transportation, retail and the service industries are all crucial, and the future looks to hold many new avenues, including a possible agritech hub for the province. But that future needs us to navigate our present first, and the challenges ahead are significant.

[3:20 p.m.]

COVID-19 has been a terrible blow to our riding, especially with regard to business, schools and education. While we have spoken quite a bit about the physical toll of this pandemic and its economic impact, I worry that we’re not fully acknowledging the coming wave of mental health and long-term trauma that COVID-19 will leave behind, especially amongst our young people.

When I talk to students and other youth in the community, it’s harrowing to consider how grim and pessimistic their world has become. Of all the hope we have seen lost, this one stings me the most. That’s why I want to single out praise for a dynamic educator and administrator in Mission, one who has worked tirelessly to promote optimism, kindness and good cheer throughout all of this.

Rob Clark, principal of Silverdale Elementary, and represented by the member for Maple Ridge–Mission, has long been an inspiration to students, parents and colleagues. Through social media, he has given his students unabashed praise and credit for so much of their good work. He recently tweeted a quote from Mr. Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me: ‘Look for the helpers.’” As a former educator, I’m proud and grateful for the help he and so many of our teachers have given us.

This government is working hard to help all British Columbians and their families through the pandemic. We’re investing in health care and seniors care to protect people and fight COVID-19. We have an aggressive immunization plan, designed to help the most at risk amongst us first. We’ve offered a recovery benefit to offer real financial help to British Columbians. We’ve created an economic recovery plan that offers training, resources and support to workers and employers as we prepare ourselves for the post-pandemic economy. That plan will continue to respond to the business owners and entrepreneurs who are not sure what the future holds for their businesses.

Our work will also support the efforts of the constituents I hear from, who are still working hard, despite exhaustion — for example, teachers, nurses, restaurant staff, grocery store cashiers, front-line workers, police officers and so many more. I want to thank our most essential workers for their service in this most unprecedented of times.

In addition to working to overcome the impacts of COVID-19, there remain many crucial local issues that must be attended to in Abbotsford-Mission. Infrastructure remains a key area as we continue to grow and expand at an unprecedented pace.

It’s no secret that the people of Mission and Abbotsford need an expanded Highway 1. It’s vital for the economy of this riding and for families who live and work here. Right now a single accident on that strip of road can cause hours of commuter delay. That’s hours that people lose in seeing their kids, having dinner with their loved ones or spending time with friends. For a booming Fraser Valley, it’s unacceptable. That’s why I am delighted that the commitment for the project has appeared in the minister’s mandate letter, with the highway being expanded two kilometres east of the Whatcom exit.

That’s not just a commitment to needed infrastructure, however. It’s a commitment to the people of this riding that this government is listening to what matters most to them.

As MLA, I will work tirelessly for the people of Abbotsford-Mission, not only regarding infrastructure but more: collaborating with the district of Mission to assist their waterfront development project; expanding health care services, including new equipment and staff; raising awareness of the pandemic’s mental health implications, especially as regards young people and students; increased funding for tourism; housing, especially for the vulnerable populations and seniors; increasing Internet access for our rural constituents; and helping organize the COVID-19 recovery and vaccine rollout for our communities.

It’s going to be a massive community effort, one actively engaged with local grassroots organizations. I heard from our Rotarians today that they’ve already been contacted to assist with this, yet another example of how this government will continue to work hand in hand with the people it represents.

[3:25 p.m.]

I’m excited to be working with the appropriate ministers in addressing the needs of this community and looking to open consultations on a wide range of issues affecting Abbotsford and Mission.

We’ve come a long way together in the past year, and sadly, there’s still much to do. But I have no doubt the people of British Columbia will continue to rally, just as I have no doubt the people of Abbotsford-Mission will yet again work together tirelessly and selflessly to see us through to a post-pandemic province. It’s the people of British Columbia who deserve the most credit. They have faced this terrible time in our history with strength and patience, making countless sacrifices in flattening the curve.

Families, workers, the faith community and more have rallied to get us to this point. We’re very close now, and I have no doubt we will get through it as both a province and a nation. Together we’re building a future for B.C. that includes everyone. Together we will get through this.

D. Coulter: I’m not supposed to heckle my own caucus members, but I have to take issue with what the member for Langley said about the best beer in the province. I think we all might have a gripe with him over that comment, yes.

I’d first like to begin by acknowledging that I’m speaking to you this afternoon from the territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-​speaking peoples, the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

This is my first chance to be able to thank the voters in the community of Chilliwack, and I’m happy to do so. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’m awed by the amount of trust that the voters of Chilliwack put in me.

Like my friend from Langley, I did not think ten years ago that you would have a B.C. NDP MLA in Chilliwack. I didn’t think it could happen, and now you have your first B.C. NDP MLA in Chilliwack ever. That’s exciting for me, just on that level — and on a personal level, of course, as well, because I get to sit in this chamber with all you lovely folks and participate in democracy here in the people’s House. So I’d just love to thank the voters for that. I’m still in awe of the voters and their trust in me.

I’d love to thank my campaign team. My campaign manager, DJ Pohl, worked tirelessly on my campaign and had faith when I had none, always buoying me to make that next phone call, whether it be fundraising or to call a voter, and always keeping me going. DJ is a powerhouse. She is the president of the Fraser Valley Labour Council. She owns an elected position with the Canadian Labour Congress. She’s active in her own union, the BCGEU, and she works a full-time job too. She did all that and managed my campaign, and she did not skimp on anything during my campaign.

We ran a full campaign in Chilliwack, and on a small budget too. We did it, and we made it work. I don’t think I would be elected today if it weren’t for my campaign manager DJ Pohl, so I’d just like to thank her deeply.

I’d also like to thank Bryan McIver, who is possibly the volunteer that did the most work on my campaign, other than DJ, because DJ was a volunteer as well. We’re all volunteers. Brian is an old-time organizer from way back. He’s been doing campaigns for a long time now. He was a candidate himself in Kelowna at one time. He is a tireless worker on the phone. He’s a great person to have the ear of, because he has been doing organizing so long that he’s just a wealth of knowledge.

I need to thank my financial agent, Mark Jackson. I am not very good with books or dealing with Elections B.C., so he definitely takes the sweat out of that work. I’m very, very happy that I had him.

[3:30 p.m.]

Of course, I would be remiss if I did not thank my lovely wife of eight years now. I’m really appreciative of the patience she has shown me. She did not sign up for this; I did. This was my dream. I can’t thank her enough for supporting me in that dream. She’s been very generous with her love in that fact.

I’d like to thank my parents. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my parents, believe it or not. They were instrumental in me making it to the age of 46 and being able to speak in this House. I can honestly say I’ve had great parents and a great childhood, and I appreciate everything they’ve ever done for me.

I, of course, would like to thank my colleagues in the B.C. NDP caucus. I’ve never met a greater group of people — very generous with their time and always willing to lend a hand to a new MLA. I really, really appreciate that.

I’d like to thank the Premier for putting his trust in me and making me Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility. I can’t tell you how proud I am to have that title and how excited I am to do the work that the Premier has tasked me with. He’s tasked me with doing consultations on upcoming accessibility legislation that the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction will be introducing. I’m very excited to do that work.

As well, I will be working with the Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing when we refresh, develop and change the building codes, which is coming up. I’m very excited to do that work. I really see that work as being part of our recovery. Having an inclusive recovery and having accessibility worked in and at the centre of our recovery I think…. I’m very excited about that prospect.

During the campaign, I heard many stories from people. So I would just like to relay one. I know this woman, Michelle. She works at an oil change place — actually, the oil change place I love to go to. I’ve struck up many a conversation with her over the years. What was important to her during the campaign was child care. Child care was so crucial to her because she’s a single mother, and child care is so expensive.

Even though our teachers shouldn’t be considered child care — our schools aren’t daycares — a snow day during school is a really big burden on Michelle and her pocketbook. Either she has to take that day off from work or she has to pay for child care, which is almost more than what her wages for that day will be. Child care is going to be a huge deal for her, and I’m very proud to be part of a government that is going to bring in universal child care.

The recovery benefit was also very important to her. You know, $500 at Christmastime — or even after Christmas, $500 at any time — for her is a lot of money. So she was quite excited about us doing the recovery benefit, after the election, when we had our first session here. She was talking to me about the recovery benefit when I was talking to her.

Besides the voters showing their trust in me, I’ve been embraced by the community of Chilliwack since I’ve been elected. The small business community has totally embraced a B.C. NDP MLA, which is terrific. I’ve been working with them to help them apply for the small and medium business recovery benefit and, also, the launchonline.ca program so that they can set up online stores.

[3:35 p.m.]

And this one. This program dovetails nicely into my work as the Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility, and that’s the work experience opportunity grant. We’re currently in the third launch of it. With this grant and with this new launch, non-profits and businesses can apply for money to give work experience to folks with disabilities or living with other barriers. That is really what building an inclusive recovery to COVID is all about. So I’m really excited about that.

Chilliwack is a really diverse community. It has a lot of needs. We have a downtown core. The opioid crisis has hit us very, very hard downtown, and during COVID, only more so. So I’m proud of our government for having the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. It’s something that was dearly needed.

We also have farms. We have everything from a downtown core to farms. Coming up, we’re going to have agritech grants, which can be so important to my constituents, so important to farmers in my constituency — help them be more productive, give them some money so that they can buy much-needed capital and continue to grow their businesses, their farms.

I’d also like to, just for a moment, talk about long-term care. I deal with a lot of people down in my constituency office that have a variety of problems. It really connects me with what people are going through.

There’s this man named Ray. He came down to my constituency office; he was in distress. He lived with his partner for over 30 years. He lived with her in a home. She’s since been put into long-term care and has dementia. He’s having to deal with social workers, going back and forth, because he’s not allowed to visit her at this home. So my office has worked with him to try and work with the social workers. He doesn’t quite understand the system, and my staff is helping him out.

Actually, maybe I should stop right there for a second and thank my staff. I have been very, very lucky with the folks I have hired. Caitlin Hickenbotham is just a powerhouse when it comes to constituency work. She’s teaching me how to be an MLA, really. I don’t know how I would have done this if I had just hired someone without any experience. So I’m very excited about having her.

Recently, in the last three or four weeks, I hired another constituency assistant, Willow Reichelt, who is detail-oriented, loves being given a project and just running through it. Where Caitlin is really, really good with casework and outreach, Willow is terrific with coming up with graphics or doing writing. She helps me with my social media, etc. So that’s really good.

For folks like Ray…. We’ve hired thousands of health care workers and contact tracers, which are really important. We need to get this pandemic under control so that folks can go back into long-term care homes and visit their loved ones.

I also have a constituent that came and asked for a meeting with me. His mother is in a care home, and he’s not allowed to go visit her as well.

It is very, very hard on all of us when we can’t visit our loved ones. Many of us weren’t able to visit with our families or friends over the holidays. It was hard on us, but I think it’s harder if someone is in a care home and needs help and you can’t go visit them. Obviously harder. So I’m really excited about the vaccine announcement today. Really excited. There’s hope on the horizon. Someday soon we can all be sitting in here shoulder to shoulder.

[3:40 p.m.]

One of the reasons I came here…. Well, no, it’s not. I didn’t come here for this reason. But one of the perks, maybe, is banging on my desk and heckling maybe just a little. I’m somewhat excited about that. I’m thankful to the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction for giving me good tips in that regard.

That’s about it today. I think I’ve shot all of my arrows. My quiver is empty, so I will leave it there.

J. Routledge: It is my honour to have this opportunity to rise virtually to respond to the Speech from the Throne.

May I begin by acknowledging that I’m speaking to you from the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish people: the Squamish, the Musqueam and the Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I also wish to acknowledge that I’m here as their uninvited guest, yet they continue to make me feel welcome in their home. In fact, the last in-person meeting I had in my capacity as the MLA for Burnaby North before the pandemic was with Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Her people have kept this land and the coastal waters beautiful, bountiful, natural and self-sustaining for millennia.

When I met with Chief Leah, we talked about the impact of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. It would be remiss of me not to remind all of us that the single biggest threat to her people’s cultural survival is the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. That will carry diluted bitumen 1,150 kilometres from the Alberta tar sands to the coast, right here in Burnaby, so it can be shipped offshore by as many as 400 tankers per year, or more than a tanker a day, to be refined in another country and sold back to us at a higher price.

For the Coast Salish people, the TMX pipeline expansion is an existential threat, as it is for the more than 200,000 newcomers to their land like myself. The federal government of Justin Trudeau has recklessly invoked their constitutional authority to store 300,000 barrels of the most unstable and inflammable type of oil in a tank farm on the side of a mountain in the middle of an increasingly dry forest in the middle of an earthquake zone.

The question is not if there will be a catastrophic fire on Burnaby Mountain. Rather, the question is: when will there be a catastrophic fire on Burnaby Mountain, and will we be able to control it?

The company that is building the pipeline tells us that they have a state-of-the-art emergency plan and a trained crew of firefighters, ready to jump into action if the need arises. But here’s the hitch. Here’s the simple fact that totally undermines the credibility of their assurances. These firefighters are located in Kamloops, four hours away.

According to Burnaby fire chief Chris Bowcock, who is himself a world-renowned expert on hydrocarbon fires, firefighters would have ten minutes to evacuate the elementary school next to the tank farm and stop the fire from spreading to the other tanks, engulfing the forest and trapping the 30,000 people who live, work and study at SFU. Ten minutes.

[3:45 p.m.]

I’m proud that my government, the provincial government of John Horgan, fought for the jurisdiction to protect our lives and livelihoods from the potentially devastating effects of this pipeline. We took the fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and were represented by one of the best — some would say the best — lawyers in Canada. Sadly, the Supreme Court ruled that the government of British Columbia does not have jurisdiction over an interprovincial pipeline.

How did the former leader of the B.C. Liberal Party react to the Supreme Court decision, on behalf of his party? By stating that the B.C. government should throw its support behind the pipeline project. If his party were still in power, they would have willingly sacrificed the safety of the people of Burnaby to what the Prime Minister inexplicably and inaccurately calls national interests.

That may be one of the reasons why the citizens of Burnaby not only returned all four B.C. NDP Burnaby MLAs to the Legislature; they did so with massive majorities. I want to thank the voters of Burnaby North for their support. I want them to know that I will continue to advocate for them over the next four years. I will continue to remind the party of Justin Trudeau that they are unnecessarily putting lives at stake, way out here in Burnaby.

I also sincerely thank my re-election campaign team. They ran a truly grassroots, multi-language campaign, drawing on their experience and instincts as union and community organizers. Even during a pandemic, they found innovative and safe ways to involve a wide range of people and invite them to share in the collective sense of victory. I am humbled that so many young people worked hard to get me re-elected, including my own grandchildren.

I would like to thank my family for their ongoing, enthusiastic and active support and encouragement. You may remember that since becoming an MLA in 2017, my living arrangements have undergone a significant transformation. My husband, Bill Brassington, and I renovated our home so that our son, Bill Jr.; his wife, Janey Lee; and their two children, Ty and Asia, could share our home with us. Now, to be accurate, we didn’t actually do the renovations ourselves. We hired skilled tradespeople to do that. With their help, we are now a multigenerational household.

We are so fortunate that we were able to move back into the house together just weeks before the pandemic was declared. My heart goes out to everyone who has been separated from their loved ones for almost a year now, and I grieve with those who lost someone to COVID-19. This past year has been hard on everyone, but it’s been harder on some than others.

I’m proud that in the management of COVID-19, in saving lives and livelihoods, B.C. is recognized as a North American leader. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been visiting small businesses in my community, to make sure they’re aware of the small business recovery grant, and I’m so glad I did.

The response was largely, largely positive. I did connect with some small businesses who did not know about the grant and now they do. I spoke to others who knew about the grant but had some questions. This is important feedback, and it will help us improve our systems and make programs more accessible.

I also want to thank the staff in my constituency office. They truly are front-line workers. Day in and day out for a year they have been fielding calls and emails from worried and deeply stressed constituents — constituents who worry they will never again get to hold their loved one who lives in long-term care, constituents who worry they will lose their homes if they can’t pay their rent or mortgages, constituents who worry that they won’t be able to complete the education they’ve already gone into debt to pay for, constituents who have been laid off for the better part of a year and worry they won’t have a job to return to.

[3:50 p.m.]

The staff in my community office, Perisa Chan, Jason Blackman and the recently retired Cate Jones, have gone the extra mile to provide timely information, to be a virtual shoulder to cry on, to tactfully correct misconceptions, to help stressed callers navigate the system and to provide practical feedback to the system when it’s failing those who need it the most. In many ways, constituency office staff are part of the glue that holds our community together, and I thank them for their compassion, their moral compasses and their commitment to a cause bigger than themselves.

I identified my staff as front-line workers. I also want to thank all front-line workers — the people who have been putting their health on the line to keep the rest of us healthy, safe, fed, sane, connected, validated, educated and employed. Many of these jobs were underappreciated, underpaid, undervalued prior to the pandemic. Many of these workers that we praise today were invisible and exploited.

I’m proud to say that even before COVID arrived, our government was taking steps to minimize exploitation. One of our first acts as a new government was to start increasing the minimum wage. We amended the B.C. labour code to make it easier for workers to protect their rights through unions.

When COVID arrived, our government took swift action to protect people. We took note of the alarmingly high death rate in long-term care facilities. We discovered that low wages in that sector meant that employees were working in multiple facilities, because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to feed their families. We took immediate action to contain the spread of COVID by topping up their wages so workers could protect themselves, their patients, their families and their communities by affording to work in just one facility.

We secured large amounts of personal protective equipment. We introduced strategic testing and contact tracing. In Burnaby, the new primary care network took the lead to support our most vulnerable neighbours. For example, we put in place a system to match seniors living alone with younger, healthier volunteers who were willing to pick up their groceries and prescriptions for them. We created food hubs that make weekly healthy food deliveries to vulnerable individuals and families who may have lost their incomes during COVID.

We created a network of financial supports to help people get through the pandemic, such as the $1,000 emergency benefit, temporary rent relief, protection from the threat of eviction and crisis supplements for people on disability and income assistance. To protect jobs, we’ve helped businesses through property tax relief, deferred taxes and B.C. Hydro rate relief. Of course, there is the small business grant that I mentioned earlier.

Saving lives and livelihoods during the pandemic has come with a hefty price tag. We declared war on COVID-19, and we are winning that war, but wars cost money. The provincial deficit may grow as much as $13.6 billion. The neo-liberals amongst us are already fixating on that number. They are already foreshadowing their intentions. Brace yourself. They will be making the case for a return to austerity economics. They will invoke the deficit as a justification for cutting programs, laying off front-line workers and starving vital services — again.

We’ve been here before. Austerity is magical thinking. It’s about as effective a cure for economic resilience as inhaling bleach is for COVID-19.

[3:55 p.m.]

As the returning MLA for Burnaby North, I feel an overwhelming responsibility to expose the myth of austerity economics. I feel an overwhelming responsibility to remind the people of Burnaby North that it was the B.C. Liberals who put our health care system on a starvation diet in the first place, who shredded the social safety network in the first place and made so many British Columbians disproportionately vulnerable to the pandemic.

I was re-elected because the people of Burnaby North expect more from their government. They want a government that will proactively use its resources to invest in our communities and the people who live there — all people, not just those at the top.

I was recently appointed the Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. I thank the Premier for appointing me to that position. A big part of our job is to conduct public consultation that will inform the next budget — in this case, the 2022 budget. In appointing me to this position, the Premier must have known that my favourite campaign button simply says: “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

The Finance Committee provides us with an opportunity to bring voters and potential voters down from the bleachers and onto the playing field to be part of the action. For me, politics is about the participation of the people. I want to be part of setting a budget in which people can see themselves, in which people can say: “That was my idea,” or “That addressed the problem I had,” or “This will work for me; this will work for my community.” I think this is so important.

I’d like to conclude by sharing with you an observation that was made to me by one of my constituents. I guess we must have been lamenting how long it takes to make profound social change. She said: “The race for social justice and social equality is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.” Then someone else who became part of the conversation said: “Well, it’s not even a marathon. It’s a relay race.” That resonates with me as well.

Some day I’ll get to pass the baton. I know that there are a growing number of good, passionate, smart people who are willing to keep the race going.

Thank you so much.

Hon. R. Fleming: It’s great to be joining members of the House this afternoon. I’m honoured to be here today as the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

I’m speaking from the traditional territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ people, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

It’s a particular pleasure to be able to speak, on behalf of my constituents in Victoria–Swan Lake, in support of the throne speech. I want to begin, as other members have, by giving some thanks and shout-outs to a number of people around the constituency and, indeed, around the province who have got us through difficult times.

I want to thank, as other members customarily do…. We all rely very heavily on our constituency assistants. So I want to thank Sheridan Hawse and Noah Mitchell for the incredible work they do to help my constituents get connected to the government services that are important to their lives. They do the difficult work of representing members in their absence, and they do it with incredible skill, patience and aplomb. I thank Sheridan and Noah again.

I want to thank Elections B.C. as well. Of course, we had an election in late 2020 that was done safely and that was done very well by Elections B.C. It meant that we had very skilled and thoughtful district returning officers in every part of the province that helped conduct an election in all 87 of our constituencies.

[4:00 p.m.]

My thanks would be extended, as well, to the candidates who put themselves forward in that election, the local political constituency associations of the various political parties, the independents, all of the volunteers and all those who participated in the election.

I think we all owe a debt of gratitude and thanks for people’s collective efforts and engagement with our parliamentary democracy. It, I think, showed that no matter what is thrown at us, be it in a global pandemic or other conditions, we have, through our own people, the strength and resilience to do just about anything, including renewing our parliament and conducting an election.

Victoria–Swan Lake is a very interesting place, which I’m privileged to represent. I don’t expect members to know a lot about it. We all represent very diverse regions in our province. In normal pre-pandemic times and after the pandemic, we’ll have the privilege of travelling this great province again.

Swan Lake is an interesting constituency. It’s a very diverse riding. It’s a younger riding, by the capital regional district’s standards. The last time a census came to my attention, from the federal government, I think 75 different languages were spoken, other than English, as a first language in the homes of my constituents. I think the nationalities identified, around the world, where people immigrated either recently or many generations ago…. Something like 120 national backgrounds represented in Victoria–Swan Lake.

It’s an incredibly diverse community and is represented by two really good municipal governments as well. I want to thank all those who work for the city of Victoria and the district of Saanich. Of course, during the pandemic, local governments have had many front-line heroes who have kept services running that are vital to the well-being of our residents.

Mine is a community — like, I think, other members’ as well — that enjoys getting together and celebrating, and we’ve had to forgo a lot in order to honour the health restrictions that have kept one another safe in our communities. We get together at this time of year for an extensive lunar new year. We’re proud of the second oldest Chinatown in North America here in the city of Victoria. The celebration is very public. Crowded celebrations normally go on.

Of course, every season is celebrated with sporting events, cultural festivals, outdoor theatre and music concerts. All of those sorts of things happen in the fall, spring and summer.

We had an update today on the progress of the vaccination rollout in the province of British Columbia. As we look at the light at the end of the tunnel of the health emergency that our province has been engaged in, along with the rest of the world, it’s my hope that all of those celebrations, and that tradition of coming together and enjoying one another’s company, are something that, most of all, we can look forward to here in Victoria–Swan Lake and around our province.

Let me turn my attention to the throne speech. This is a document that outlines, really, the government’s vision, back when it was introduced in the late fall of 2020, of a recovery strategy, a recovery vision that works for every British Columbian. British Columbians have placed their trust in our government to build back a stronger B.C., and we take this responsibility seriously.

As we build our way out of this pandemic, our commitment to create opportunities for Indigenous people to be full partners in our work will be top of mind. I think all of us in this House believe that providing a clear and sustainable path towards lasting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in the province of British Columbia is vitally important.

The throne speech also outlines a road map for B.C.’s COVID-19 recovery, a plan that protects people’s health, first and foremost, and their livelihoods, while supporting businesses and communities. I’ll say a little bit more about that later on. With the introduction of existing and new vaccines, there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

British Columbians need our help to recover from the damage that the pandemic has caused. The province’s roughly $10 billion of COVID-19 response does exactly that. It has protected people’s health and will continue to do so. It has protected people’s livelihoods and will continue to do so. It invests in stronger communities and a bright future for our province as we recover from the economic costs of the pandemic.

[4:05 p.m.]

Right from the beginning of the pandemic, our government has been there to support those most in need. We’ve taken action to support hard-hit industries. Members will know that our COVID-19 response included a further $1.6 billion investment in health care and mental health supports to build on our improvements and to make sure that critical public services are always there when people need them.

In communities throughout B.C., local governments have stepped up their efforts to keep people safe and to provide shelter and housing, and the province has been there to support them.

Back in December, we delivered on our promise to open applications for the B.C. recovery benefit. Up to 3.7 million individuals and families, I’m proud to say, are eligible for a benefit that provides individuals up to $500 and families up to $1,000. That’s what help for those who need it most looks like, including people on income or disability assistance or those receiving the seniors supplement. That’s what we provided at every stage of the pandemic thus far, and that’s what we will provide going forward to the time when we table a new budget in this House.

People whose work was interrupted by COVID-19 were able to apply for a $1,000 B.C. emergency benefit. We were one of the first provinces that introduced that. Over half a million British Columbians have received this tax-free payment.

In July 2020, eligible individuals and families received a special climate action tax credit payment, estimated at $500 million, to help make life a bit more affordable for all British Columbians.

We created programs to help low- and moderate-income renters who had lost income as a result of COVID-19. They got a little bit of peace of mind from our government early in the pandemic with a rent support program that existed between April and August of 2020, a time of perhaps the greatest uncertainty during the entire pandemic.

We have recently announced ICBC fee reductions, hundreds of millions of dollars of rebates, to make life more affordable for drivers and the costs that affect a family.

I want to talk a little bit this afternoon, too, about the transportation industry. We talk about front-line health care heroes and front-line workers and their heroic efforts to step up and protect British Columbians. They go to work each and every day to help support their fellow citizens.

I want to give a shout-out to the front-line heroes in the transportation sector. As members will recall, under the emergency orders, we had to include a number of occupations, which were absolutely essential, to make sure that goods and services were able to be part of reaching every community.

We had to make sure that people’s mobility wasn’t impacted by the pandemic. They still needed to get to work and make medical appointments and go about their daily lives under the new health restrictions.

That would have been impossible without transit operators stepping up each day to drive our buses and work in the TransLink system and the 120 communities supported by B.C. Transit. That would have been impossible without having taxi drivers and their fleets available and on the roads for those that need to use their services. It would have been impossible without truckers and the trucking industry stepping up to make sure that goods moved into every community, over highways, across every region of British Columbia.

Highway maintenance crews, of course, were deemed essential from the very outset of this pandemic, and they’ve been out there each and every day. In some parts of this province, we had what has turned out to be the third most severe winter in the last three decades in our province’s history.

The list goes on of essential workers in the transportation sector. I wish I could thank them all.

It even applies to the mechanics who kept our vehicles on the road and the roadbuilding industry. In British Columbia, I think we can be especially proud that, in general, we were able to manage any potential construction delays caused by the uncertainty of COVID-19 by establishing safe work procedures with WorkSafe and the provincial health office to make sure that roadbuilding projects in communities right around B.C. were not unnecessarily delayed and continued.

That wasn’t the case in every other province, where projects were, in many cases, suspended indefinitely. Our roadbuilders and crews kept working throughout the pandemic, and they’ve done so safely, with an excellent COVID safety record, which they can be justifiably proud of.

A strong and sustainable transportation system is, obviously, critical to an economic recovery. A safe, reliable and affordable public transportation system is an integral part of B.C.’s restart plan.

[4:10 p.m.]

Members will hopefully recall that in December, a couple months ago, our government was very proud to sign into action and issue funds to flow to our three major public transit authorities in the province, including B.C. Ferries, TransLink and B.C. Transit, our Crown corporation — a total of $1.044 billion, with our partners in the federal government, to make sure that service was available and remained affordable for people in communities right around British Columbia.

These are the critical services that people rely on. They must continue to be strong in order to get people where they need to go. We worked, as I said, with the government of Canada to provide over $1 billion to help protect these municipal services that people rely on. I’m very proud to say that during the pandemic, fare affordability was protected on all our public transit services across B.C.

Despite the challenges presented in the last year, for the very first time ever, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has six concurrent major projects underway. These include the Pattullo Bridge replacement project. Significant in-river work has been done. We’ve launched construction on the Broadway subway line, a $2.83 billion project that will unlock incredible economic opportunities in Metro Vancouver and for our province.

It includes the Highway 91/17 and Deltaport Way upgrade project and the Kicking Horse Canyon project, phase 4, underway in the province of British Columbia. We also have the George Massey crossing and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain under active project development right now in British Columbia. Each of these projects will make a significant impact on the provincial transportation network.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased interest in walking and cycling and just being active for the transportation and recreation of British Columbians. Through the economic recovery plan, we took the opportunity to advance a number of active transportation projects as a way to get money into the economy and help local supply chains but also to build infrastructure that supports active living. So $16.7 million in funding went towards 46 projects that focus on active transportation.

These are safety projects. These are improvements that access provincial rights-of-way and help build stronger communities. They include things such as pathways, rail trails, highway crossings, transit stop improvements and shoulder widening for cyclists and pedestrians for their personal safety.

All of these projects, I am pleased to say, are either completed or on track for completion by the spring. We wanted to make sure that those projects were designed, funded, tendered and delivered by March 31, and they are. This investment also had the added benefit of creating over 300 jobs around the province and helped stimulate local economies, including rural parts of the province.

Connecting communities with safe, efficient, active transportation networks is the most affordable transportation option, and it’s a foundational part of our government’s plan to build a better, cleaner province. Through B.C.’s economic recovery plan, we also invested $28 million in funding towards upgrading secondary, side and forest service roads while creating more good jobs in rural and remote areas.

The remote and rural communities program also received $20 million to fund more than 80 shovel-ready projects that will make getting around in rural Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities safer and easier. Roughly $8 million of this funding will go towards approximately 75 projects through the enhanced forest service road maintenance program and will help upgrade forest service roads in various parts of our province.

Both programs will revitalize community infrastructure. They’ll enhance community connections between people and provide good jobs.

We invested, as well, $20 million to fund 60 projects across B.C. that will help our highways adapt to the realities and the ravages of climate change and extreme weather events. We’ve all seen slides and other extraordinary weather-related events over the last decade as we adapt to climate change. These proactive projects will help protect our infrastructure in communities and reduce the incidences of road washouts and slides.

We announced $100 million for a new COVID-19 community economic recovery infrastructure program. This program provides fully funded provincial grants to support economic resilience, tourism, heritage and urban and rural economic development projects in communities impacted by COVID-19. Perhaps members have been pleased to see that these funds have been advanced towards key recreation and heritage sites in the communities that they represent.

[4:15 p.m.]

Let me talk a little bit about support for businesses, jobs and training. We’re working to help businesses recover and grow from the impacts of COVID-19 right now, as we have done since the beginning of this pandemic.

We cut most commercial property tax bills by an average of 25 percent, which saved businesses, in aggregate, an estimated $714 million and helped them get through the crisis. So $714 million in tax savings for businesses, off their municipal property tax bills.

We’ve encouraged businesses to hire with a 15 percent tax credit on eligible new payroll from the third to fourth quarter of 2020, an estimated $190 million of which is incentives for businesses to keep people working.

We’ve helped businesses expand to become more productive with a PST rebate on select machinery and equipment investments made between September 2020 and ongoing until September 2021, which is an estimated $470 million benefit for businesses, nearly half a billion dollars.

We’ve also helped businesses’ cash flow by temporarily postponing carbon tax rate increases and other Budget 2020 tax measures all the way through to April 2021, which produced an estimated savings for business of $268 million in additional business costs.

Other members have talked about the forgiveness program that B.C. Hydro offered between April and June, specifically for small businesses that had to suspend operations because it was deemed unsafe to continue operating under the new health regulations. Those have saved businesses, on average, about $500. Helping hard-hit small and medium-sized businesses get through the tough times and thrive in the recovery with a $345 million new grant program. That’s the outlay by B.C. Hydro to help all of our small businesses in the province of B.C.

The province is also being proactive and strategic in allocating $5 million to Indigenous Tourism B.C. to administer relief grant funding targeted specifically for Indigenous businesses.

We’ve also taken the opportunity of the pandemic crisis to advance training goals for citizens to create the jobs of the future, which we knew were coming. We want to advance those educational training opportunities now so that they’re there when the full economic recovery happens. So $400 million invested in jobs and training-related supports, including creating thousands of new opportunities in the health sector.

We’re also supporting restaurants and pubs with wholesale liquor pricing, which has been something that the industry has been very grateful to have received.

Let me talk a little bit about health care and other critical services in our province. Our top priority, as I’ve said all along, has been protecting people’s health. That’s not going to change. Keeping people safe is, of course, the foundation for a steady and sustainable recovery without putting all the progress that we’ve made at risk.

Over $1.6 billion on health and mental health care is helping address and prevent outbreaks in long-term care by limiting workers to one facility and providing supports for safer visits for families. A choice that other provinces didn’t make and one that has provided significant benefits to the safety of residents and staff in long-term care facilities in every part of the province.

This investment is also helping to support culturally appropriate care in Indigenous, rural and remote communities. It has helped secure personal protective equipment for our front-line workers to keep our health care system safe throughout the pandemic. It has implemented testing and robust contact tracing in every one of our health authorities to keep people safe and get a handle on any outbreaks that have occurred. It’s supporting youth and Indigenous mental health, which is critically important during these uncertain times.

We provided resources to help nearly 4,500 child care providers. Imagine how many that is, divided by the 87 constituencies that we’re proud to represent. We helped all 4,500 child care providers weather the challenges of the pandemic and reopen safely when the time was right to do that.

We started and supported the safe restart of schools in September with nearly 2,000 new teachers and education workers, 25,000 hand sanitizer stations, a million and a half reusable masks and 65,000 new computer devices for students who can’t afford or do not have those kinds of devices in their homes to learn from.

[4:20 p.m.]

I want to take this opportunity, as well, to give a very hearty shout-out to all the teachers, education workers, principals, vice-principals, trustees, superintendents — all of them deserve our thanks and support — as well as early childhood educators for supporting families and supporting our communities by offering education services to all British Columbians. That has been an unprecedented benefit for everybody, including the kids of British Columbia.

It has got to be the single biggest mental health support we could have provided, to safely reopen schools. It breaks my heart to see jurisdictions like California that have now had schools closed for almost 12 months, with no contact between educators and students, no face-to-face instruction. Here in British Columbia, we were able to figure out a way to do it early, to do it safely, and the benefits are there. I’m sure that members hear that from families all the time in their constituencies.

Let me say a few concluding words. I completely support this throne speech, if that hasn’t been obvious up to this point. It’s a plan that will help lift us up out of this challenging time. It will see us forward into a strong economic recovery. We have a plan to build on B.C.’s strengths, to invest in stronger communities and to train people for good careers now.

We have many of the same things going for us as a province that we had before the pandemic. We have a skilled workforce. We have vast natural resources. We’re a gateway to Asia. We’ve seen during this pandemic the importance of trade. The Vancouver-Fraser Port Authority reports that trade volumes are up at 105 percent of pre-pandemic levels. We’ve remained consistent, reliable exports and imports of goods and services for Canada and the continent through that infrastructure.

We’re still committed to unlocking the huge economic potential of reconciliation and tackling the climate crisis as we go forward. We’re ready to make great progress on keeping life more affordable for people, building roads and homes, opening new schools and child care spaces, the things that gave us a head start on a strong recovery.

We have also got to be proud of all the small business owners, all the communities that rallied together, worked with WorkSafe and the other agencies to reopen the economy safely. It’s given us nine straight months of job growth. We’ve recovered 98.7 percent of pre-pandemic employment levels in this province. Our unemployment level is well below the national average in the country. We’re the strongest of the four major provincial economies in Canada, and that bodes well for the recovery going forward.

I was pleased to see the Economic Forecast Council the other day project that growth in 2021 is set to increase by 4.7 percent. In 2022, it’s estimated to increase at a GDP growth rate of 4.3 percent. The stage is set for a strong recovery because we did so well under the pandemic, under a challenging global situation that forced us to band together under very difficult conditions.

Let me say just personally how excited I am to be part of a government that is building back a better B.C. I look forward to the new housing investments that layer onto the ones that have already been made in my constituency.

I’m so proud to have seen construction continue throughout the pandemic on the UVic student housing program, the most significant student housing program that has been undertaken in the last 16 years in British Columbia. Those 800 units will be very valuable to the crowded rental housing market in my constituency and help build back a stronger UVic. I see the then minister responsible for advanced education is tuned into our proceedings this afternoon, so I want to thank her for that.

I want to thank the Minister of Housing for completing a project called Spa’Qun House, at 900 Hillside Avenue, that provides relief for Indigenous women fleeing domestic violence and struggling with addictions and mental health issues. That’s a project that has subsequent projects that will layer on additional housing supports to help some of the most vulnerable people in my community.

We have housing hub projects that the development community in greater Victoria has expressed tremendous interest in accessing, in terms of the low-interest loan program to be able to build affordable below-market rental projects in my community. Long overdue. A huge gap that we had to live with as housing became less and less affordable over 16 years of the previous government. We now have projects that we had never seen before being built in every part of my constituency and this region.

[4:25 p.m.]

Also, new child care centres that have been built prior to the pandemic and built during the pandemic that I’m tremendously proud of. A great partner in school district 61. The new child care spaces fund that our government created was essential in creating new child care spaces to relieve the long wait-lists that were a feature of this community for 15 long years.

Doncaster Elementary is one of the great child care centres that has opened under our government since 2017. Tillicum Elementary School has a robust new child care centre on its school grounds. Saanich Neighbourhood Place is going to be opening in June. I visited that construction site most recently in October, and it was great to see progress on a new stand-alone child care centre just behind Pearkes arena in Saanich.

Also, just to see the progress on long-neglected areas of public safety, student safety and staff safety in the school system. The previous government shied away from some of the most difficult projects that were on the inventory of seismic upgrades. Campuses like Victoria High School, the oldest high school in western Canada, now has an active construction site, a seismic upgrade — a significant and complex project, but one that is well underway. It’s great to see the jobs that have been provided for a very valuable legacy project.

Braefoot Elementary. Their seismic upgrade has already started and been completed. Kids are already studying in a safe school in my community from that project. Burnside Elementary as well. Campus View Elementary, that seismic project was initiated and has been completed very recently.

In closing, I’d just like to thank all the members for hearing about the great riding of Victoria–Swan Lake. I know we’re all justifiably proud of our constituents and the wonderful things that happen in our communities that make them special. We look forward to getting to the end of this health crisis and seeing and hugging and holding hands with our loved ones and gathering again.

We’re not there yet, but we have a lot to be thankful for, including the incredible leadership of Dr. Bonnie Henry and others in the provincial health office who have been absolutely stoic, incredibly smart and strategic and very competent and capable in leading our province through an unprecedented global pandemic.

Life has not been easy. Let’s not make any mistakes about that. Many people have made tremendous sacrifices. They’ve gone to work for incredibly long hours on the front lines. I have many friends who work in the health care system who I want to personally thank. We can all think of individuals who have had very difficult circumstances where they have elderly family members in care and they’ve not been able to visit them in the way that they would like in order to keep them safe.

We’ve all made sacrifices. We’ve all missed funerals for people who have passed away. We’ve all postponed weddings. We all missed celebrating significant milestones in our lives, anniversaries and all those sorts of things. But we’ve all done it because we’re in it together. We’ve believed that from day one.

We’ve listened to Dr. Bonnie Henry’s exhortation to be kind, to be safe and to be calm. We need to continue to be that way for a little bit longer, because indeed, as we heard from the vaccination rollout this morning, we’re getting there. We have reason to be hopeful, and we have a lot of reasons to be thankful.

H. Yao: Thank you for this opportunity to respond to the throne speech. I want to make it clear that I fully support the throne speech.

Before I continue, I do want to acknowledge that I am speaking to everyone from the unceded and traditional territory of the Musqueam Coast Salish people. I thank them for allowing us to play, live and work in their ancestral lands.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

I also want to take a moment, maybe a modified version of a moment of silence, for all the lives that have been lost and all the families who have been broken due to the pandemic and the toxic drug crisis.

The pandemic has been challenging, but for 2021, I want to start my response to the throne speech by sharing one of the most proud moments of my life. Unfortunately, it’s even more exciting than the fact that I won the Richmond South Centre seat. It’s the birth of my daughter, Mackenzie Yi Yao. She was born on February 8 of this year, 2021. I have never been a father before, so I could never comprehend exactly how joyful it was to able to witness the birth of my daughter.

[4:30 p.m.]

I want to take a step back, because during that evening, I was also watching my wife, who was bravely going through labour and for weeks had also experienced some unforeseen complications. We saw the front-line health workers go from three to seven. Everybody was whispering. Everybody was talking. Everybody was working together, throwing ideas back and forth to figure out what to do.

That reminded me that British Columbians — especially families who are dealing with COVID, who have family members experiencing COVID or suffering from the pandemic — have incredible pain, frustration and suffering they’re going through, a type of sorrow and, potentially sometimes, even momentary hopelessness they’re experiencing.

I want to thank Richmond Hospital especially, for sending a nurse to come to my side when they saw the shock on my face. I was feeling powerless. I was feeling hopeless. I was feeling: “I want to jump in, but I know that my involvement will only make things worse.” The mental health issues that British Columbians experienced during this pandemic when they see their family and their loved ones suffer…. I want to thank Richmond Hospital and the nurse providing me comfort and the mental support, trying to calm me down while we experienced a moment of challenge and joy together.

Just like the birth of my daughter, British Columbia’s moment of hope is just right around the horizon, if you look at the fact that a vaccine is coming out. As long as the supply continues, our provincial government is so brave and well coordinated in delivering our vaccines to the most vulnerable, based upon age, and looking after everyone who is in need to ensure that we protect our vulnerable and that we increase the chances for families to be together.

I just want to say that I’m so proud to be part of a government that has not just looked at this pandemic, a unique and unforeseen challenge that we are dealing with, from one single lens but has come up with a comprehensive strategy of how we can help British Columbia recover.

Looking at the COVID pandemic benefit, we’re providing $1,000 per family and $500 per individual. It might seem to be just a momentary relief for many families, but I have spoken to many families and many individuals from Richmond South Centre riding, reminding me that it’s not just simply momentary relief. It is an opportunity to take a break from the continuous stress of the financial and emotional punishment presented by the pandemic.

I cannot say how proud I am that my government continues to realize that we need to get money into the hands of British Columbians. I’m just so proud that we got it in, in a most timely manner, and we’ll continue to ensure that British Columbians are given the opportunity to apply through the pandemic benefit process.

I want to take this moment to also encourage Richmond South Centre constituents, if you’re struggling in dealing with the pandemic application process, to please come to our office. I almost feel comfortable speaking for all of my colleagues from the NDP B.C. government caucus. If you have any issue, if you’re in a riding, please bring your pandemic challenge to our offices. We will help you to take care of the situation step by step.

I do want to emphasize the fact that when I was talking about the small and medium-sized business recovery grant when I being interviewed by Fairchild, I couldn’t tell you how proud I was to be able to pick up a phone and give our minister a call. Our minister continues to reassure me that we are here for the long run, but the money is earmarked for small and medium-sized businesses. We will do whatever it takes to help our businesses overcome this challenging time.

We also looked at health care providers that are challenged in dealing with the bare-bones financial situations that had been left behind by the previous government. Our government, for the last 3½ years and continuing to this point, has had to play major catch-up, but we do this catch-up game aggressively and with conviction. We brought in 7,000 additional staff for front-line health workers and an additional 1,000 contact tracers to help us, scientifically and individually, find out where cases are arising and ensure that we catch the cases as they spread.

I could not be more proud of British Columbians and the people of Richmond South Centre for how the majority of us did our best, and are doing our best still, following Dr. Bonnie Henry’s order to ensure that we continue maintaining a safe distance as we endure this challenging time.

[4:35 p.m.]

The COVID-19 pandemic is unique, it’s complex, and it’s harmful to all societies. It’s deep. Our government continues to come up with comprehensive ways to work with scientific strategies and to work with well-thought-out and consultative strategies to ensure that we protect British Columbia in a more comprehensive and in-depth manner to ensure British Columbia will survive this pandemic.

I also want to take a moment to thank Richmond South Centre voters for trusting me to represent them. One of the key things that many people are talking to us about…. They say that if you look at Richmond, for a long time it has not seen a B.C. NDP MLA. Yet all of a sudden we switched three ridings. Many people claimed that we performed a miracle.

Well, I will say that Richmond residents, the people of Richmond, are waking up to the reality that we need a progressive government — a progressive government continuously putting people’s needs first, from seismically upgrading schools so that parents can drop off their kids and walk away with a sense of comfort that their kids are studying in a safe environment to the investment in health care so that even when the next pandemic strikes again, our province will be far more ready than today.

I also want to talk about the many seniors who are suffering during this pandemic time. If you don’t mind me sharing a personal story, my parents have a deep need and a deep desire to see my newborn daughter. They would love to grab a sleeping bag, lay it flat, and lie on it, 24 hours and seven days a week in my house, so they can spend time with my newborn daughter. But they can’t. I cannot imagine how much more challenging it is for so many seniors who are stuck in long-term-care homes waiting for a loved one to visit, to have the opportunity to embrace and hug one another.

We are all enduring this together, and we can do this day by day. Thanks to Dr. Bonnie Henry and the guidance from the Ministry of Health, the numbers are slowly in decline. We’re flattening the curve. The variant might throw our plan off track for a moment. Our supply of vaccine might not be as consistent as we would like. But British Columbians, under the guidance of this government, are moving through. We’re becoming stronger by the day. We will endure this pandemic together.

I do also want to take a moment to talk about a conversation I had with a local business owner. Actually, this was during a live television interview. He was continuously sharing with us the pain, the frustration and the difficulty of continuing his business, moving onwards. We asked: “What else can we do as a government?” He responded: “I’m so thankful that the government actually is going out of their way to already put out a small and medium-sized business grant and allow us to find accountants or lawyers to help us compete our application process so that we can actually get a grant in a timely and effective manner.”

The thing that we’re most excited about is that we have MLAs who are open to discussion, to have dialogues, so we continuously understand, share and learn from our front-line workers and from the small and medium-sized businesses in our ridings. Richmond South Centre is one of the densest and smallest ridings in British Columbia. A lot of people are bundled together in a tiny ten-block riding, where we continuously try to find ways to revive our business, revive our economy.

I do know that even the moment following the lunar new year celebration, where I used to be able go table to table, sharing tea and saying hi to our friends, our families from our community, has been denied. But we’re thankful to British Columbians for enduring this challenge. Every day that we choose to say no to our desire to break the rules, and every time that we say yes to Dr. Bonnie Henry’s recommendations, we get to survive another day.

I also want to talk about a lot of our benefits, regarding child care services that we added into it. The B.C. government is determined to look after British Columbia in a comprehensive manner. We’re not just looking at different little issues and demanding something happen right away. We are looking for ways to ensure British Columbia’s economy will be covered comprehensively, not just half, like our small and medium-sized businesses recovering and enduring the situation, but also allowing British Columbians and people from Richmond South Centre to have a little extra money, like the $1,000 that has been given to families and the $500 given to individuals to spend and to outlast this pandemic.

[4:40 p.m.]

Bear with me for a moment. I do also want to take a moment to talk about my conversation with Richmond schools, SD 38. I know that during this pandemic, many people are talking about putting a face mask on or taking a face mask off and whether schools should be shut down or schools should be open. But for every conversation, there are multiple parties and multiple perspectives.

We’re thankful for every elected official, and we’re thankful for all the community group members who come together for dialogue. But I think the key thing we continue to speak about is we need to combat miscommunication and misrepresentation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a parent in a group meeting tell me something that they heard from another elected official which was 100 percent false. But it’s misguided them so much they created fear within their heart, and they don’t know what to do with their kids.

I cannot say how much the schools have been working with the Minister of Health to ensure we create a safe environment for students to socially interact with one another. For example, the Richmond school district has a transition program where students…. Every parent has the right to determine whether they want their kids to be in school or out of school.

I spoke to many parents who pulled a student out of a program for months on end and are now realizing their kids truly miss hanging out with their friends. They are showing behavioural concerns, behavioural issues, that a previous youth worker recognized are due to a lack of social connections.

Our government is working hard to show we support British Columbians through this crisis, and our ministries, especially the Ministry of Education, are doing their best to utilize the scientific knowledge to see how we can support our students and our families.

We understand many families have multigenerational members in the same household. That’s the reason why SD 38 was given an opportunity to provide a transitional learning option. But we also understand that kids need their moments to spend in school and that the longer they’re out of school, the more emotional punishment they’re experiencing. We do encourage British Columbians to continuously find a way to walk through this difficult, tough pandemic.

I just want to take a moment to thank everybody from Richmond South Centre — the voters, the volunteers and the individuals who came to talk to us at a moment of challenge to share their concerns, to share their views. I also want to thank my staff who are doing an incredible job answering many, many questions.

I’m going back to the original point. I support the throne speech because it demonstrates our government’s commitment to investing in health care, education, child care and small and medium-sized businesses and to ensuring we’re building up a skillful job trade and developing good jobs for British Columbia.

British Columbia, together, including our Richmond South Centre riding, will survive this pandemic, but a key factor is we need to work together. I thank everyone for putting their faith in our government as we are continuously rolling out different kinds of comprehensive strategies to help all British Columbians survive this pandemic.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

On behalf, if I may, of all members, congratulations on being a father for the first time.

H. Yao: Thank you.

Deputy Speaker: The Chair recognizes the member for Nelson-Creston.

B. Anderson: Thank you very much, Speaker.

I am so honoured to rise and take my place here virtually as the MLA for Nelson-Creston. I’m very pleased to be speaking in support of the throne speech.

First, I’d like to thank everyone in Nelson-Creston for their trust. I am humbled by this opportunity to serve them as their representative.

I would like to thank the Premier for his throne speech. I greatly appreciate that we are focused on working hard to make life better for people.

I would also like to thank all of the front-line workers in all of the sectors who have worked so hard during the pandemic. I am so grateful to you.

Because this is my first Speech from the Throne, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a little bit more about my community with you. I figured the best way to do that was a road trip through the Kootenays, specifically my riding of Nelson-Creston.

[4:45 p.m.]

I’m going to pull up to pick you up in a Kootenay carshare co-op EV. Thanks to Accelerate Kootenays, there are lots of charging stations throughout the region, so we can cruise in style with zero emissions.

We can’t have an epic Kootenay road trip without some great tunes, and we have some amazing local talent. So I’ll let you choose from Moontricks, who come from the north end of Kootenay Lake, to Allison Girvan and her choir Corazón. We could choose The Hillties, Erica Dee, Velle. Or maybe you’re in the mood for a little BC/DC.

We’ll start off at Yaqan Nukiy, where we meet with Nasookin Louie. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll run into Robert Louie Sr., an Elder and the last fluent speaker of the Lower Kootenay Band dialect. We are fortunate that his stories and teachings will be preserved through a documentary that the Creston Valley Arts Council, with the Yaqan Nukiy Heritage Society, is creating. We might want to pick up one of his books at Legend Logos, the band store. While we’re there, we might also want to pick up Chris Luke’s autobiography, Drags Grizzly.

After that, we pass the Yaqan Nukiy School, an independent, band-operated school on the Lower Kootenay Band reserve which offers students a unique, culturally informed learning experience. From lessons in the Ktunaxa language to hands-on cultural activities like canoe-making, their school is at the forefront of cultural reconciliation and knowledge-sharing.

Now let’s hop back into the EV. As we continue our road trip, it is important to always remember that as we travel the Nelson-Creston riding, we are on the traditional, unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, Syilx and Sinixt people, on these lands, where their people have lived for thousands of years. As settlers on this land, it is our responsibility to create meaningful reconciliation, as colonialism created genocide and severe intergenerational trauma.

These people are resilient. We must work with them, government to government, to begin the critically important work of DRIPA. I am so grateful that all these three parties in the Legislature support this work.

As we drive north, you’ll see the stunningly beautiful Creston Valley. It contains rich soils and flat land, which makes it great for farming. Creston is known for its cherry production. Soon the valley will be bursting with blossoms. It also produces….

Actually, before we quite get to Creston, let’s pop over to Lister and visit Kootenay Meadows Farm. They are a local organic dairy that is run by the Harris family. Now, if you like happy cows frolicking in green pastures, with a stunning backdrop of the Purcell Mountains range, you’re going to love this place and also the products that they produce.

It is a little early to go wine tasting at Skimmerhorn or Baillie-Grohman wineries, but they both produce fantastic local wine.

Let’s make a stop at the valley services to see if we can join the TAPS program and sit down and have a meal and have a conversation with some of the seniors that like to participate in this program.

After lunch, we’ll stroll down Canyon Street and check out some of the shops. Before we head out of town, we’ll stop at one of the many fruit stands in Erikson, where we can grab an abundance of local fresh fruits and vegetables. If the new food hub is open, which was recently announced, we can pop in there and see how they’re supporting the local farmers by processing their produce and even their fruit waste to make things like fruit leather out of unsellable cherries.

Let’s head to Yahk, where we’ll stop at the Yahk Soap and Candle Co. I’ll show you Yahk Provincial Park, which has camp spots right on the river.

We could go west, up and over the Kootenay Pass, but we’re going to head up the east shore today. First, we’re going to take a little detour over to the Creston Valley wildlife management area, with 300 bird, close to 60 mammal, 17 fish, six reptile and six amphibian species that have been recorded in this area alone. Plus, there are thousands of invertebrate and plant species. We could paddle around. We’ll bring our binoculars, our bug spray and our bear spray, just in case.

Back in Creston, we’ll start heading up the east shore. Now, if you get car-sick, this might not be the route for you, but if you like slow drives on winding roads along Kootenay Lake, you will enjoy this scenic trip.

As we head out of town, you’ll see a sawmill below the flats. That provides value-added wood products along with other companies in the area.

[4:50 p.m.]

Now we’re driving up the east shore of Kootenay Lake. Kootenay Lake is the defining feature of my riding and its glacier-fed waters. As we drive down the lake, slow down, and don’t miss the Sirdar Pub. Wednesdays used to be open-mic night, and many of the fruit pickers would be out there in the summer.

Then we go past Kuskonook, a former First Nations trading area. Then it was a sternwheeler’s port that boomed during the 20th century. We’ll pass Boswell and then Lockhart Provincial Park, where we could put in our canoe or kayak. We could go fishing. We could go visit the glass house, which is a structure that’s made almost entirely out of formaldehyde bottles. It’s a really unique place and one of my favourites to explore as a child.

There are going to be little beaches along our drive that we could stop at and take a cool dip if we wanted. Now, we have to stop at the Gray Creek Store. Whether you need a wood stove, wool pants, a great book or a specialty fastener, they will probably have it.

Next we get to Crawford Bay. There’s a golf course, but this is an arts community, so we’re going to park the car. We’re going to get out. We’re able to walk, then, over to Barefoot Handweaving, Kootenay Forge or the North Woven Brooms, which actually made the brooms in the Harry Potter series. So these are very special brooms. I mean, we could hop on our brooms and zoom around the riding, but we’re going to get back in the EV. This is also the place of Starbelly Jam. In the summer, families come together. It’s a fantastic family-friendly musical, full of arts and lots of different performers.

Now, on our way to Riondel, we’re going to pass the ashram where we could take a yoga class or do some meditation. In Riondel, there’s another golf course. This one’s a par 3, so it’s a little bit more my style. There’s also a great little locally run campground that’s just on the waters of Kootenay Lake.

We’re going to head back to the ferry landing, but we’ll probably want to stop in the Ladybug café to get a little treat for our trip. Now, on the Kootenay Lake Ferry, we are going to cross the lake over to Balfour. But right now we’re actually going to start constructing a new electric-ready ferry just on the shores of Kootenay Lake. So this is going to be great. We’re going to have jobs from this, and this will be fantastic once we’re able to actually get electricity to this area and travel that route without the GHG emissions. Actually, the photos on my wall here in my office were taken by Ursula Heller, who photographed the entire process when the Osprey was being built in Nelson in 2002.

Now we’re going to get out at Balfour. We’ve probably, on the ferry, taken some photos of the beautiful scenery. The mountains are all around us. We’ve passed from the main lake into the west arm. We’ll stop at the Old World Bakery — because why not? Maybe go say “hi” to Uncle Jack at the Balfour Superette. There’s another golf course.

We’re going to start heading north. We’re going to go past Toad Rock Campground, a mecca for motorcycle enthusiasts. But we’re going to want to slow down. This is a wicked, winding road, and to get past Coffee Creek, you’ve got to be really careful. Sometimes even 30 feels a little bit fast on that road.

We have Cody Caves, but we’re going to stop at Ainsworth Hot Springs, where we’re able to soak. We can actually…. There are three pools. There’s the large pool, and then there’s the pool with caves. You can actually, as you’re in the water, travel a small cave system. Then when we’re feeling nice and warm, we’ll jump into the plunge pool before we head up to Kaslo.

Kaslo is a historic mining town and the hub of shipping raw materials. We can see the S.S. Moyie sternwheeler. We might want to go to the Langham to see a theatrical production. And there’s a new library that’s hopefully going to be built here soon in Kaslo. The workers in those libraries have been working tirelessly, particularly in small areas where they might only have one or two staff and rely on volunteers, which has been hugely challenging during the pandemic.

Now, Kaslo’s a beautiful spot, and a lot of people want to be there. That means that there’s also a housing crisis. There’s a housing shortage. During the election, I spoke with one young woman who had moved 12 times in the last year to find suitable housing.

Let’s walk downtown. We can grab a drink at the microbrew pub, the Angry Hen. Kaslo is also home to Kaslo Jazz fest. In the summer, they have an amazing floating stage. So people are able to come in with their boats, on their kayaks or stand on the beach and dance together and listen to some amazing music. They also have May Days, which happens over the May long weekend. There’s logging sports, which is my favourite, but also our artisans. It’s just a really great time. Kaslo really knows how to throw a great party.

[4:55 p.m.]

Now, let’s go up to the north end of Kootenay Lake. We’re going to go past Lardeau, and then at Cooper Creek, we’re going to turn into Argenta and Johnsons Landing. Now, this is also a farming community. It’s also the most rural area of my riding. We’re going to stop at Josh and Kelly’s farm. They are doing absolutely amazing things. They are growing in a regenerative way and teaching people across North America what it means to be true stewards of the land in the farming context.

There are also many people around this region, like Sarah, like Nikola, like Karen, who are also working the land and farming the land in this area, preserving the forests and really providing for our community.

While we’re here, let’s hike up Jumbo. It should only take us about six hours or so, and we can revel in the marvel of this alpine hike. It’s absolutely stunning. Because of our government, this area is saved. Jumbo has been saved for generations to come and enjoy this pristine habitat for all of the different types of flora and fauna.

Now we’ll head into Meadow Creek, check out the farmers market or maybe swing over to the Lardeau community hall where they have bowling, a campground and sometimes great community events. We could also head up to the Lardeau spawning channel, where we can see Gerrard spawning. These are the biggest land trout in the world. They can get up to 40 pounds, so these are massive fish. It’s just bubbling during spawning season. It’s an absolute marvel to see.

We also are able to see from there the Duncan dam, which has yet to be electrified. So I’m hopeful that in the future, we’re also going to also see electrification of this dam, as it is a huge, huge reservoir of water.

Now we’ll drive back down to Nelson. It should take us about two hours. On the way, we’re going to pop over to Harrop-Proctor, where they have an amazing bakery and usually a lineup to get their cinnamon buns. Before we get back on the ferry to head back, we can check out their farmers market, where they have a great variety of different artisanal and food products. When I was there, they were serving soup. The farmer there was giving out soup but also selling his vegetables. Everything that was in that soup was grown on his land. There’s also an amazing man there that handmakes knives, so those are just an absolute treat if you love to cook in the kitchen.

We’ll swing by Six Mile Beach, a gorgeous but deadly tragic beach where people have been lost because of the undercurrent. We’re working on signage as a community to make sure that everyone knows the risk so that they can enjoy that area safely.

Next we’re going to drive over BOB. Before you think that we’ve actually driven over a person, don’t worry. BOB’s okay. BOB is our Big Orange Bridge that spans the west arm of Kootenay Lake. But we’re not going to stop in Nelson quite yet. We’re going to head straight south. We’ll return to Nelson in a minute.

On our way to Salmo, we’re going to pass a cottonwood, and as of today, the Cottonwood Preservation Society just announced that they have raised $400,000 in a span of just a little over two years to actually save this area. Cottonwood is a regional park. Adjacent to it land had been purchased and was about to be logged. The community has worked so, so hard to save Cottonwood, and I’m so grateful for everyone that has put effort into that.

We’ll keep going. We’re going to see the Nelson nordic ski club that has amazing night skiing. We’re going to go up to the Whitewater ski hill where some of those local kids, at five, six, seven years old, are just gunning down. This is a really active community. Kids start skiing very, very early. When I was a child, I remember that we had so much snow one year that they actually had to dig out the sides so that the chairlift could pass.

Now we’re in Ymir. This is home to the Tiny Lights music festival. This entire community gets transformed for a weekend where they’re able to listen to great music, attend great workshops, and the community really comes alive. It’s a great all-ages event. Plus, you cannot leave Ymir without going to the pub. This is, as one journalist described it, “biker bar meets the Louvre” because of the incredible art collection that it houses.

[5:00 p.m.]

Now we’re going to arrive in Salmo. There we can stop and see the Salmo Penny, but we’re going to want to stop at the Dragonfly Café because it has incredible art all over the walls and sells great treats. Salmo is also known for its stone murals. Now, these were created decades ago, and they’re absolutely beautiful around town on various different buildings. They have like a miner’s touch to them. They’re absolutely fantastic to see.

There’s also the Salmo Library which has been working so, so hard to keep their doors open and to keep connecting with the community throughout this pandemic. I was speaking to the librarian, and the work that they’ve done has been absolutely incredible, but it’s been incredibly tricky for them during the pandemic.

While we’re in Salmo, we’ve got to go up to Shambhala. Shambhala is one of the largest electronic music festivals I think in the country. Shambhala is also known for…. What they do is do harm reduction to make sure that it is as safe for as many people as possible. So we can go during a day. We’ll be in the river. Then at nighttime, we’re going to dance at one of the several stages, listen to some fantastic music as the laser beams hit the mountains and the sky.

Now, before we leave, we can also head up to the Salmo ski hill, which has some great night skiing, as well as day skiing, on the weekends. That’s a volunteer-run society, and they do an absolutely tremendous job.

Now we’re going to actually, in this next section, dip into Minister Conroy’s riding to head over the Bombi. If we weren’t driving our electric vehicle, we’d probably stop at the Centex because that has the best gas prices in our region. Just a little helpful hint if you don’t happen to be in an EV.

Now as we’re coming over the Bombi, we’re going to stop at the Kalesnikoff mass timber facility. It has just been named B.C.’s lead exporter of manufactured products at the B.C. Export Awards, hosted by businesses in Vancouver. The acknowledgment comes a year after Kalesnikoff opened up its mass timber facility and launched a line of mass timber products. At Kalesnikoff, they manage their entire timber supply chain all the way from seedlings to the plants to the mass timber plant. They build-design at this world-class facility. With this mass timber offering, they’re creating new highly skilled jobs, investing in technology and supporting our community.

Well, now we’re at the junction, and between here and Nelson, it’s about a 15-minute drive, so we’re almost there. As we drive along the Kootenay River, we’re first going to pass the Kootenay Canal generating station, then the South Slocan generating station, then Lower Bonnington generating station, then Upper Bonnington generating station, Nelson Hydro and Corra Linn. These are all….

Deputy Speaker: Member, just one moment, please. We’ve lost your audio.

While we’re waiting, just a friendly reminder that we don’t use people’s names in the House.

Member for Nelson-Creston, we’ll reserve your time. We’ll come back to you later when we have the technical difficulties sorted.

I see that the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions is ready to go. So the Chair would recognize the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

It would appear that the problem is in the chamber, because we can’t hear the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions either. So we’ll take a short recess. Let’s call it ten minutes, and back at a quarter after five.

The House recessed from 5:05 p.m. to 5:14 p.m.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

Deputy Speaker: I’d like to apologize to the member for Nelson-Creston for interrupting your first Speech from the Throne response. We’ll continue at this point and keep our fingers crossed that we’ll hear you when you start speaking.

Please go ahead.

[5:15 p.m.]

B. Anderson: Thank you very much. Are you able to hear me?

Deputy Speaker: Yes, thank you.

B. Anderson: Okay, great.

At last, we arrive in Nelson. The drive time to get us here has been just under 500 kilometres. I hope you enjoyed the Kootenay trip. Now we get to stretch our legs a little.

We’ll start at the Chamber of Commerce, which is in Railtown and is housed in a beautifully restored railway station. This building is also home to KAST, the Kootenay Association of Science and Technology, which is doing fantastic things for our tech sector here in the Kootenays. It also houses our visitors centre and Railtown Coffee. We’ll take a stroll down Baker Street. We’ll pass cafés, curated stores selling everything from secondhand clothes, beautiful boots and children’s toys to all the gear you need for your outdoor adventure.

Your tummy will rumble as we pass restaurants serving everything from vegan desserts to authentic Thai cuisine to in-house smoked meat. As we’re waiting for the light to change, something is going to catch your eye — a beautiful or thought-provoking mural. In fact, Nelson’s mural fest has helped to decorate the back alleys and boring walls throughout our city. You can actually do a tour of mural fest to check out all the amazing murals.

We pass the Capitol Theatre, which houses local talent and international acts alike. As a teenager, I participated in one of their summer youth theatrical productions of “Grease Lightning.” It was led by Geoff and Allison. Nelson’s Tom Middleditch was actually one of the greasers, and now he works in L.A., in Hollywood.

As we’re heading down to the water, we’re going to see a new housing project that I got a tour of today. It is going to help part of our housing crisis. Nelson has a zero percent vacancy rate, but B.C. Housing is helping to build three large-scale housing units in this city. We are so grateful to see these projects. It’s going to help a lot of people, including single people, families and seniors.

Now we’re at the pier, which is going to be completely redone. We’ve just received money for this project. About $1 million is going to go into this space, and it’s going to completely transform this part of our waterfront.

From the pier, we’re going to hop on the trolley. That’s right, Nelson has a streetcar, and it’s going to take us along the waterfront and drop us off down at Lakeside Park. Lakeside Park has the best beach in town, and on Saturday mornings, it feels like most kids in the entire area are playing soccer on the fields.

Now, if you’re a mountain biker, there are tons of local trails to check out in the Nelson area. The Nelson Cycling Club has worked really hard to make these trails for the community. Who knows? You might even run into Kurt Sorge on one of the many trails.

Now we have arrived at the Rotary Lakeside shelter, where I am throwing a big afternoon barbecue, the thank-you party that I never got to have to celebrate all of the people who worked so hard on the election.

I’m going to take you to introduce a few folks. The first people I’m going to introduce you to are my family: my parents, Deb and Terry — you’re going to love them; my partner, Paul; and our dog Stella. Next is my little brother, Sanden. He hates it when I refer to him as my little brother, as he is much bigger than me now, but you’ve got to keep a healthy dose of sibling rivalry alive.

Now, since this is my dream, I’m going to introduce you to both of my grandmothers, coming from Whitehorse and coming in from Saskatchewan. These are both extremely strong women. I’m so grateful that I get to have frequent conversations with them as I am experiencing this new journey.

Now I want to introduce you to my mother-in-law, Marian. You know what they say about mothers-in-law. I have the best one. I always tell her I won the mother-in-law lottery. She’s with Keith, Julie, Matt, Logan and Avery.

[5:20 p.m.]

Then there are my Nelson cousins, the Thielkers, but also all of my other cousins, aunts and uncles who’ve been really supportive in this process; then Jack and Anka, with Mike, Melissa, Sasha and the kids. Next are some of my dearest friends: Hailey, Hayley, Clarissa, Becca, Mira, Megan, Kelly and Naomi.

Now I get to introduce you to the team I am so grateful for. These people worked tirelessly on my election. The first person is a name you’re going to recognize. It’s Michelle Mungall — she sat in the Legislature for 12 years before I had this opportunity that I have today — her husband, Zak, and, since this is the future, both their little kiddos.

I want to introduce you to my great team of volunteers.

Danika Sky Hammond and Quinn MacTavish, you worked so incredibly hard during the election process, and it was an absolute thrill to work with both of you. And to Sean, Tessa, Mike, Keith, Ian, Laurie, Judy and Jack, Brenda, Jen, Justine, Emmerson and his sister Beatrix, Jesse, Ursula and Barry, Shirley and Ms. Day, who was actually one of my teachers.

I want to introduce you to a few more hundred people who were instrumental in getting me elected. I wish I had more time to thank everyone who volunteered, who were validators for me and who donated to my campaign. That list is just too long, but I do want to say a huge thank-you for all of your support.

It’s the Kootenays. We eat some wonderful food, we dance to some great live music, and we make these memories together. Now, this will be a reality when we’re thriving post-COVID. We are resilient, and this throne speech is going to help get us there.

In closing, it is an absolute honour to serve you, Nelson-Creston. I hope that from my speech today, it is clear how in love I am with this riding. I am so grateful to be your representative.

When things get back to normal, come visit us. It is a truly amazing place, and this was just the top of the iceberg.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: Mr. Speaker, I’m honoured to be joining you in the Legislature today from the Snuneymuxw First Nation territory, where I am honoured to serve.

Since day one, New Democrats have been committed to improving the services that people count on. We are a people-powered movement, and I am honoured to be sitting in this chamber because of the work of people that sacrificed a lot, volunteered a lot and gave me a lot of advice along the way.

To my family and friends, all of my girlfriends, who I miss when I’m away doing this work, and my amazing spouse, Howard, I’m very grateful.

I recognize my privilege in being a member of this chamber. Coming from that people-powered election, people-powered movement, I am so proud of the work that our government has been able to do to invest in people and to serve people across the province and in my community of Nanaimo.

Following from the Speech from the Throne in December, I’m going to talk about the impact that our NDP government has had in Nanaimo, in particular, and B.C.-wide and the actions that we’ve taken to expand access to mental health and addiction supports.

And 2020 was such a hard year. It’s still hard. We acknowledge, with compassion, those who have fallen to COVID-19 — the impact on their families, the impact on their caregivers — and all of the essential workers that have worked tremendously and in an exceptional way to keep others safe from harm.

It has strengthened our resolve to invest more deeply in people. The pandemic has revealed the work that we were able to do before the pandemic, which put us in a little bit stronger a position to fend off the worst of the pandemic’s impacts, but absolutely revealed how much more there is to do and how strong our resolve is to do that work. We are going to continue to work hard to make life better for people in Nanaimo and across the province by investing in the things that impact everyday lives, like education, health care, housing and child care.

[5:25 p.m.]

Last year alone in Nanaimo, we invested a total of $18.8 million for seismic upgrades at Cilaire and Pleasant Valley elementary schools. That is creating another 500 seismically safe seats in Nanaimo schools.

We opened B.C.’s first nurse practitioner clinic. On Friday, I got to talk with one of the founders about the fantastic team-based medicine that nurse practitioners and their partners in medicine are doing. We’re very grateful for their service, and we know how deep is the need for people to be attached to a primary care provider to help them to navigate health care services in our province.

The city and B.C. Housing announced a memorandum of understanding to implement the next tranche of 300 supportive housing and affordable housing units in Nanaimo. Altogether our count for Nanaimo is close to 900 affordable housing homes. Many of them have been moved into already. Many of them are under construction and in development. So we do have a few more years ahead of us. The joy of seeing people move into those homes, where homelessness and real challenges in housing affordability have been such a challenge for people in our community….

We also celebrated the investment in 536 new child care spaces in the Nanaimo and Ladysmith region, along with school district 68. A great number of those are to be built on school property, which is a particularly nice twinning of services. Altogether 1,017 new licensed child care spaces have been funded in these communities since July 2018.

Those are just some of the supports and services that I’ve seen come to Nanaimo in the past year. I am very encouraged that the throne speech sets out our commitment to deepen that investment and make further progress in these important areas.

There is more work to do. The pandemic has revealed the depth of the need, the toll that the virus has taken on people’s physical and mental health emergencies. It has especially had that hard, hard impact on people that have been marginalized. As the Premier stated in the throne speech, there’s no question that we’re up against two parallel public health emergencies, both COVID-19 and the overdose crisis.

I give my deepest thanks to the front-line workers, the families and the peers responding to overdoses and caring for loved ones during the pandemic. They’re our heroes, and our province is immensely grateful for their compassion under immense strain.

To work so hard to save lives and then, in this year, in particular, to experience such a setback is particularly tragic. In 2020, 1,716 people lost their lives to overdose. This overwhelming loss of life is felt deeply in every community, and we mourn with the families, friends, co-workers and teammates of those who are grieving an unbearably tragic loss.

One of the most insidious things about the pandemic has been the disruption, because of border closures, in the supply chain for illicit drugs. That has led to dramatically more toxic drugs on our streets. Add to that the stigma that drives people to use drugs alone and, on top of that, physical distancing requirements at supervised consumption sites and other public services that might otherwise save people, prevent people from overdosing, and you have a recipe for a terrible surge in overdose deaths. Tragically, that is exactly what happened.

My friend and predecessor, Minister Judy Darcy, made great progress in building a system of care where there was none in 2017, when we formed government. In 2019, those actions did bring overdose deaths down for the first time since 2012.

COVID-19 has represented a terrible setback and a terrible surge. To have the highest number of overdose deaths ever in the year 2020 is very tough, on top of the loss of life from COVID-19. It has affirmed, again, how much further we have to go in fighting the overdose crisis.

In my community, I’ve seen a really very terrible alignment of both untreated mental health and addictions. I know it’s the case across the province. We’ve also seen great collaboration on the front line, and that gives pause for hope.

[5:30 p.m.]

My mandate letter spells out clear direction of the work the Premier has asked me to do: finding new ways to separate people from the toxic drug supply, building new treatment and recovery beds for people in need, moving forward on decriminalization as a way to combat stigma, and doing all of this while building a culturally safe and evidence-based system to address untreated mental health and addictions issues.

We are committed to doing more. We are committed to helping people out because we know, just as there are many paths into addiction, so are there many paths out. People need options. People are at the heart of all the work we are doing.

Recently I took a virtual tour with the Overdose Prevention Society in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I met Sam there, a 29-year-old supervisor, who is himself in recovery and is helping other people.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

He sees about 100 people a day who drop by for food, services, drug supplies, support, all as a way to prevent harm. His words really moved me when he said: “You know, a lot of people really just want a friendly voice and someone to talk to.” Behind every overdose statistic really is a person with a story.

Addiction is a condition, a health condition. It is not a choice. Whether people have a skin cancer scare, an emerging heart problem, an addiction or a mental health challenge, anxiety, whatever it is, they deserve access to treatment. They deserve access to barrier-free health care. We are working as quickly as possible to that end, to patch holes in the system while also building something better.

Separating people from the toxic street drug supply is the first step to saving lives. Today 23,000 people are receiving medications to treat opioid use disorder. That’s more than ever before.

Our government has committed over $25 million to mental health and addictions supports and services in response to the pandemic — almost $10.5 million into overdose prevention, including new sites and staff; nearly $8 million to create or enhance online mental health supports, an unprecedented expansion in the province’s history; $2.5 million for substance use supportive recovery operators to help them, in particular, with modifying their operations in light of pressures from the pandemic; and more than $4 million in one-time economic recovery funding to support people struggling through the pandemic.

The risk mitigation guidance that we introduced in March, just two weeks after the global pandemic was declared, is the first of its kind in Canada. It is proven to be a life-saving action, resulting in a 319 percent increase in the number of people receiving medication-assisted treatment. That was just between the months of March and September.

In September, with input from people with lived and living experience with drug consumption, and also hearing from prescribers, B.C. announced that we would build on that risk mitigation guidance to help expand access to safer pharmaceutical alternatives, also known as safe supply, and the types of medications that can be prescribed to help people break their reliance on toxic, unpredictable, illicit street drugs.

As the most recent Coroners Service report shows, we need to reach many more people to separate them from the toxic drug supply and stabilize them and prevent overdoses so that they can conceivably be in a position to move into other forms of treatment and care. That is why British Columbia is training registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses to prescribe these medications: to reach more people and to increase B.C.’s health system capacity. This is the first of its kind in Canada.

We’re also breaking new ground on increasing access to safer pharmaceutical alternatives to street drugs and working to decriminalize possession of small amounts of illicit drugs in order to reduce stigma and demolish barriers to access to that health care, which addiction support is.

[5:35 p.m.]

We know that this crisis also has led to immense pressure on many people and has increased mental health challenges for people in British Columbia, particularly those with pre-existing mental health challenges. We know that the demand for services is up and that people are reaching out for help, so we continue to build on the supports that we have created so that everybody can get the help they need.

So far, in 2021 alone, our government has announced funding for nearly 100 seats at four public post-secondary institutions to train more community health workers. Pretty much our greatest need is just more people to do the work on the front line. Also, 53 grants in every health authority to support and ensure ongoing bed-based treatment and recovery services.

Third, the first cohort of registered nurses is on track to begin prescribing medication for treatment of opioid use disorder. This is going to have a particular benefit in rural areas. Fourth, more than 100 new publicly funded treatment and recovery beds in 14 organizations. Finally, funding boosts for six community organizations providing mental health and substance use services and support programs through community gaming grants. That’s just in 2021 alone.

We want people to reach out for help. There is help available at a call or a click. If you or someone you love is having suicidal thoughts, you can please ask them to call 1-800-SUICIDE and get confidential support on the phone.

People can also go to gov.bc.ca/covid-19 or call 811 to get connected to our new and expanded services, such as no-cost or low-cost mental health and addictions counselling. That’s now available virtually. Also, Foundry services for youth and young adults are available online.

There’s a new 24-7 mental health service for post-secondary students. That was really spawned by a tragedy at Vancouver Island University, and it’s a credit to the student union movement that that 24-7 counselling support for post-secondary students is now available across the province, thanks to the prior Minister of Advanced Education.

There’s a new mental health assessment tool used by thousands of British Columbians. There’s also a new online hub and virtual peer support for health care workers. That’s being run by the Canadian Mental Health Association, B.C. Also, a new online psychological support service, thanks to the B.C. Psychological Association.

Our government is committed to expanding access to affordable and accessible mental health care. After so many years where there really wasn’t a system of care in place, we’re continuing to build that mental health and addictions system that people need. Many of these supports have capacity to take on more patients and provide the level of care needed. So if you need help, please reach out for help.

There is more to do. The Premier has tasked me, as the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, with expanding access to the mental health and addictions services that people need. We are going to continue to build a mental health and addictions system where access to care does not depend on the size of your bank account.

Our government is here to support all British Columbians, not just those at the top. As the Premier has said, we pledge to be there for British Columbians for the long haul. We will continue to move forward together.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the Minister of Muni­cipal Affairs.

Hon. J. Osborne: Thank you very much, hon. Speaker. Nice to see you in the chair.

It’s a distinct pleasure to rise for the first time in the House and make my first speech.

I feel welcome to be here in the territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking peoples, although I have been raised in Coast Salish territory and spent almost half of my life in Nuu-chah-nulth territory.

It’s an incredible honour to take this seat and to be able to rise in the House today and speak to the throne speech.

Politics is not something that I had seen in my life. It wasn’t a career path I had chosen for myself. Yet this is really about people and serving people, and the choice to run for this party and to serve in this government really comes from a place of wanting to do everything I can to help make people’s lives better. Indeed, that is what the throne speech is all about. It’s an honour to come and speak to the throne speech and offer my support for so many of the elements that are in it.

[5:40 p.m.]

I have the distinct honour of also following the footsteps of an incredible person, the previous MLA for my riding, Scott Fraser. His mentorship and leadership is something that I have learned from and taken heart from in these years and in coming to make this decision.

As is the tradition with a first speech, it is time for me to honour the people who have helped get me to the place where I am today. That begins, working backwards in time, with the incredible team of people who supported me during my campaign and my campaign manager, Kelly Newhook; the campaign staff I had, Jolleen Dick and Andrea McDonald, two incredible women that live in Port Alberni and understand the riding, who know the issues and who were there to help me all along the way; in addition to my financial agent, Paul Rokeby-Thomas, who also taught me an incredible amount as we moved through the campaign.

It was my first real campaign experience. That’s quite an incredible thing to do when you’ve made the decision to step up and run for provincial office. The volunteers are really what make it work in a campaign, as any person who has run before and all members of this House understand. The tremendous work and effort that they put into what they do to support you as a candidate is really an expression of the values of the people of my riding and the people of British Columbia.

I was fortunate enough to have my parents as volunteers, for anybody who knows my parents — again, not having known a political future was here for me, knowing that my parents would step up and help out on the campaign and being constituents of mine as well. I’m also fortunate enough to have four parents, which is not something that everybody can say. I want to thank them, and I want to thank my sibling, my younger brother, and his family for all the support that they gave me throughout the campaign as well.

Friends from Whitehorse to White Rock or from Tofino to Toronto were all part of supporting me in who I am. But what I want to talk about a little bit is really what brought me into politics in the first place and the incredible support of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, who have helped make me the person that I am today and, again, whose lives and teachings, for me, are what brought me to this party, what brought me to this service.

Although I began my career as a marine biologist, not knowing, again, that this would lead to a career in politics, it turns out that working in Nuu-chah-nulth communities all up and down the west coast of Vancouver Island was really about relationships with people and being in service to people. My ability to communicate, to talk and to relate is what helped make me successful. In turn, their ability to teach me and help me see the world in a very different way, in a whole new way, in fact, was like going back to university all over again and beginning to see things with new eyes.

Understanding the importance of teachings, of leadership, of family — these are things that have been brought to me. I want to mention the names in this House of some incredible Elders and people, some of whom are no longer with us, and have their names read into the record. I think of men like Nelson Keitlah, the late Chief Bert Mack. I think of leaders who are in my community still today, like Chief Moses Martin, Levi Martin, Greg Louie and the women who have mentored and helped me become the person I am, like Chief Anne Mack, Judith Sayers and Debra Foxcroft. These are incredible women and, again, have helped make me the person that I am today.

I served as the mayor of Tofino for almost eight years. Again, not a career that I had seen for myself but knowing what importance leadership brings to a community and how being a caretaker…. Again, teachings that I learned from Nuu-chah-nulth people as I spent those 20 years in Tofino and understanding how leadership and caretaking, bringing a community along, is sometimes a very positive thing and sometimes not.

In times of stress and uncertainty, people come together. They need each other, and they look to their leaders for strength and for compassion. Indeed, that is what the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to us. It has changed everything. In my community, I saw incredible, extraordinary efforts. People came together in service, in friendship, in help and in companionship to help each other get through it.

[5:45 p.m.]

It was no easy thing to be the mayor of a community that is so dependent on tourism and to understand that the effects of this pandemic were going to destroy the very economy that we survive on — coming to the realization, bringing together people, business leaders, community leaders, to say: “What are we going to do?”

We made the very, very difficult decision to be the first community in British Columbia, in fact, to ask visitors not to come — to not come to a community where they take so much from the natural environment, from being able to walk on the beaches and walk in forests and revitalize and get back in touch with themselves, to put their technology down and to understand what it is about life that is so special, to say: “No, please don’t come.”

Then to watch businesses lay off hundreds of people — people who didn’t know how they would pay their next month’s rent, people who weren’t sure how they were going to put food on the table, people who weren’t sure how they were going to support the employees that depended on them…. Incredibly gut-wrenching times.

Then I saw what this government did. As a community leader at that time, Minister Selina Robinson, then the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, began the very difficult task of calling all mayors and leaders in British Columbia to talk to us, to listen and to hear what our needs are. That is why it was so important that this government’s first steps that we took, acknowledging that local governments are on the front lines of COVID-19…. This government has been there to support them from the start.

Some of the things that this government has done that I’m so proud of, and that we’re going to continue to do, is we support local governments, including allowing municipalities and local governments, regional districts, to borrow money from their reserves as they face the cash flow issues that they had.

Let me pause and just reflect again on my own experience being a mayor at the time. Having just finished our 2020 budget planning, we’d established our five-year financial plan, so proud of the work we put into it with our community, having the best public engagement we’d ever seen. The pandemic hit, and everything changed.

We weren’t sure if people would be able to pay their property taxes on time. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to deliver those core services that people depend on: drinking water, wastewater, keeping roads in good shape and helping with the municipal waste system. Understanding that this was a struggle — that our municipality had to completely up-end and redo the budget — I know exactly what it’s been like for local governments across British Columbia to go through that.

When this government came in and listened and Minister Robinson came back and worked with her colleagues, some of whom are now my colleagues, to be able to make these changes…. Reducing the provincial school tax by $720 million in 2020, delaying the remittance of provincial property taxes until the end of 2020, allowing local governments to carry operating borrowing for an additional year — these are the kinds of things that made it possible for a local government, even a small local government like the district of Tofino, to be able to continue to operate, to be able to continue to deliver the services that we know our residents were depending on.

Some of the things that this government has also done are investing in infrastructure and economic recovery through programs like the community economic recovery infrastructure program. Let me pause here and talk a little bit more about the so-called CERIP program and what it’s been able to do. This program recognizes that people are our province’s economy and that when people are working, our economy works too.

As part of this government’s recovery plan, the province has invested up to $100 million in infrastructure grants for shovel-worthy projects through the community economic recovery infrastructure program. This includes funding for projects that improve community economic resilience, that develop tourism infrastructure to help communities attract visitors, that support unique heritage infrastructure and support economic recovery for rural communities — projects that create and restore jobs within B.C.’s hardest-hit regions, job sectors and populations and starting with those people that have been affected by the pandemic, impacted by the pandemic.

These projects build on the government’s goal of leaving no one behind as we advance jobs and economic development across the province while building stronger, more resilient communities that attract and retain residents and businesses.

[5:50 p.m.]

Let me tell you about a few of these projects that we’ve been able to invest in, in my riding of Mid Island–Pacific Rim. This begins with investing in projects for local governments and for First Nations and for non-profit organizations.

For example, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation being able to invest in much-needed improvements to the Big Tree Trail on Meares Island — an iconic trail, an incredible thing to visit, an incredible introduction into the wonders that are Clayoquot Sound and knowing that for years and years, this First Nation has struggled to put together the resources to be able to improve the boardwalk, to build a better dock, to provide access for the 700,000 visitors that come to Tofino and to Clayoquot Sound every single year — is nothing short of amazing.

Being able to be on a Zoom call with the elected chief and council as the news was revealed that this investment was going to be made in their asset was an incredible experience. And seeing the look on people’s faces is what makes this job so worthwhile.

I was on a Zoom call with the mayor of Port Alberni, Sharie Minions, and we talked. Although we were there to talk about some very, very serious issues in their community, mainly to do with pandemic impacts and recovery, she could not help but start off that meeting by talking about the Port Alberni train station and the CERIP funds that they had received. Her eyes lit up as she described what an impact this was going to make in her community.

We know that infrastructure isn’t always the sexiest thing. We know how important it is for local governments to have in order to deliver those core services for their people. But knowing that this train station was going to get an upgrade and renovations and turned into an asset that this community can put to work, something that they can be proud of, and to see the hope in her eyes and hear it in her voice — that is what these kinds of investments are about.

The Ditidaht First Nation. More marine access revitalization — an incredible territory — bumping up their docks and the trails that go to the docks and all of the assets that support the many visitors that come to visit the West Coast Trail and to visit Ditidaht territory.

A campground expansion in Huu-ay-aht First Nation, Pachena Bay — one of the jewels of the west coast of Vancouver Island. An incredible beach at the head of a small inlet that creates the kinds of gentle waves that all kids like to go paddling in. No surfing at that particular beach, I don’t think. But this campground expansion — again, an economic activity, an investment, a revenue generator for a First Nation, for them to be able to do what they need to do, sustaining their people, supporting their people.

Cumberland lake waterfront, the park in Cumberland. Again, speaking to the mayor, Leslie Baird, of Cumberland and hearing in her voice the excitement of being able to do something that they had long wanted to do.

Let me pause and talk a little bit about Hornby Island and the Hornby Island Arts Council and their years-long vision of building an art centre on the island to celebrate the many, many talented artists that live on and call Hornby Island their home. I visited the future site of the Hornby Island arts centre, and I was toured around by two very passionate women. They started off by taking me into a trailer — yeah, a trailer — where they housed their small gallery. They were proud to show me the paintings. They rolled out the plans for their new art centre. They told me about how much money they had managed to raise, but they didn’t quite have it all.

They took me outside, and they took me into the forest. They had me close my eyes, and they had me imagine what it would be like to have this world-class art centre on Hornby Island, where they would have the space to archive material, to display the works of different artists, to have an outdoor conversation pit, a place where people could come together in dialogue and celebrate community.

This government was able, through the CERIP program, to invest $500,000 into this art centre. Once again, what an incredible thing. This is about economic recovery and infrastructure stimulus. This is about giving communities hope. This is about celebrating what it is to be in community in one of the most difficult times that we have lived through.

Let me talk about child care — again, something that is outlined in the throne speech and something that we need to celebrate the achievements of this government in as well. Grandma Marg’s Clubhouse. Grandma Marg is an incredible woman. She’s lived in Tofino for some years, and she is so dedicated to serving the families and the children of Tofino.

[5:55 p.m.]

She operates at hours that many child care providers do not operate. She’s incredibly flexible. She is much loved in the community. She was chosen as a prototype site for the universal child care program in the last mandate, bringing the costs down to just $200 a month per child for families in Tofino.

After some months of this program, I went to visit Grandma Marg. I asked her how it was turning out. What was she seeing in the families and the children that were coming? What difference had it made in people’s lives?

I thought she would tell me that the parents were telling her that it was great to have a little extra for rent, that they were able to maybe take a holiday, that they were able to buy a little extra clothing for their kids. I thought these were the kinds of answers that she would give me. But no. What she said was: “I noticed that the quality of food in the children’s lunches and dinners had gone way up.” The children were bringing more nutritious food with them to the daycare.

What an incredible thing that this program has done. This is just one small part of what it’s like to be a part of a government that recognizes just how critical child care is to families, that has made record investments in child care, that has made progress on affordability for families, that has created new spaces and that has improved wages for educators. That’s why I’m proud to be a part of this government.

Let’s talk a little bit about education and the extraordinary investments that are being made in education. Once again, let’s go back to Hornby Island, where I had the opportunity to tour the new school site after the tragic fire that burned down the Hornby Island Community School, a centre of this community, a place that was not just a school. It’s the only indoor recreation space on Hornby Island. It is a place where the naturalist society stored their materials, where all kinds of different community groups came together to celebrate. So not just for children, not just for education but for an entire community.

When that school burned down, the community of Hornby Island did not know what would happen next. But this government stepped up and immediately brought in an interim solution and then invested $10.4 million in a new 95-seat school.

How wonderful to tour with some of the parents, with the builder and with the community members and listen to the pride in their voices as they explained to me what a difference this was making in their community and how well they had been able to work with the school district, with the builder and with other community organizations so that they could adapt the design to serve their needs.

That’s what listening to communities is all about. That’s why I’m proud to be a part of this government.

I want to turn to the extraordinary efforts that businesses have made throughout the pandemic. Again, in my own community, it was devastating to see the impacts of the pandemic. Businesses had to lay off people, were uncertain when revenues would return and didn’t know what would happen next. There was a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety that I think we can all relate to.

They immediately got to work. They learned what they needed to do. They implemented the protocols that they needed to do, the new cleaning methods. They put up plexiglass. They moved some of their businesses online. Restaurants adapted for takeout. It was incredible to see the response that they had. The opportunity to pivot their businesses is something that we are celebrating and that we are helping these businesses do to this day.

Watching hotel rooms step up and provide isolation rooms for staff or for First Nations members that may find themselves in the position of needing to be self-isolating, watching the business community come together with the local hospital in Tofino, I learned so much more about the very strong relationship between community health care and business success. An incredible thing to watch.

I know that businesses in Tofino are not alone. I know that businesses and chambers of commerce across B.C. have been walking the talk as they do everything they can to support businesses. Seeing what this government has been able to do to help reduce taxes, to help increase investments in businesses and to help businesses survive is something I’m incredibly proud of.

[6:00 p.m.]

The confidence and trust that has been placed in me by my appointment as the Minister of Municipal Affairs is no small thing. I am so committed to doing everything that I will be able to do, over the coming months and years, to support local governments in their efforts to provide services to their constituents, their members, their residents, their businesses.

COVID-19 has challenged all of us. We are worried. People are worried about their health, about their livelihoods and about what comes next. But this is a government that is working so hard for people, working so hard to make good changes in people’s lives, to support them, to build back better, to build stronger, more resilient communities.

We know that recovery isn’t going to happen overnight, but this government is so invested in continuing the good work. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of it.

Hon. M. Rankin: It’s a real honour to rise and reply to the Speech from the Throne and to say a few things.

It’s a very hard act to follow, you’ll understand, Mr. Speaker, after we’ve been treated to the travelogue in Nelson-Creston and hearing from the Minister of Municipal Affairs about her spectacular part of the province as well. I do want to say, as the new member for Oak Bay–Gordon Head, that I honestly believe that those constituencies in British Columbia are no more attractive than Oak Bay–​Gordon Head. Those who live there would agree.

I see you, Mr. Speaker, nodding in agreement vigorously, for which I’m grateful.

I thought I would divide my remarks into three separate categories. First, as my colleagues have done before me, to say a few things, as this is my first opportunity to rise as a member, about the constituency, the election and how we got here. Secondly, to talk about the enormous challenges that we’re facing in British Columbia today and the way our government has responded to date. Then thirdly — I would be remiss in not noting that I have the enormous privilege and honour of serving as the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation — to talk about some of the things that are unique to that portfolio as part of the recovery that we are, of course, all going through together.

On the first part, I think I would like to say that I’m honoured that the people of Oak Bay–Gordon Head put their trust in me. It’s been 29 years since people put an X beside a New Democrat’s name in our riding. To get over half of the vote this time is a tribute, I think, to the Premier and the team that led us here in 2017 and forward. They did remarkable work that we’re all the beneficiaries of. I know that I’m the beneficiary of that, having been elected following the good work of that team.

It has been a remarkable election campaign like no other. For us not to be able to do what we do so frequently — namely, knocking on thousands of doors — was a real challenge. We rose to the occasion, as other, of course, members of this place did. We reached out and met the people in a different way — virtually, on the telephone and the like — and, as a consequence of doing that, I think persuaded them that they were in good hands with the Premier and the team.

They had seen balanced budgets year after year after year before these extraordinary times led us to have to seek a mandate in which, of course, a balanced budget was not possible any longer. Expenditures and investments in the future were what would be required, and that is, of course, exactly what this government is doing at the moment.

I want to say, as I begin, that I owe a special thanks to my spouse, Linda Hannah, and to my two sons and their partners: Benjamin and his partner, Alejandra Vargas Garcia, who live in Washington, D.C., and my son Mark with his partner Kendra Reno, who live here in Victoria. Without their support, I would not have been able to do what I did. I’m eternally grateful to them.

To my campaign manager, Ryan Mullins, and his remarkable work in producing videos and in supporting me in so many ways, I’m deeply, deeply grateful. Finally, to my official agent, Bruce Kilpatrick. Difficult times. They rose to the occasion remarkably effectively.

[6:05 p.m.]

I want to say a little bit more about my predecessor, Dr. Andrew Weaver. It is something that many British Columbians, when they see the hurly-burly of debate in this place, don’t understand. Mr. Speaker, I know you do, and I know other colleagues do. Regardless of party, we come together to look after our constituencies.

I am deeply grateful to Dr. Weaver for bringing to my attention issues in the riding, as he did so effectively during the campaign, and for helping me understand the riding better. Although I served for 7½ years as the federal member, I never did serve in parts of the riding which, of course, are different at the provincial level. I got to know Gordon Head, for example, which I had not had the privilege of representing before.

I took over the office that Dr. Weaver had left me, which, in turn, had been gifted to him, if you will, by Ida Chong, the B.C. Liberal who preceded him and served for so many years in Oak Bay–Gordon Head. Both of them were so gracious and so helpful to me as I began this journey as their successor representative in Oak Bay–Gordon Head. I just want to, if I may, through you, Mr. Speaker, pay tribute to them for their generosity and great assistance throughout this entire journey that I’m now embarked upon.

I also want to say that I have the benefit of two remarkable Indigenous leaders. Although not resident in Oak Bay–Gordon Head, their traditional territory includes Oak Bay–Gordon Head. Of course, I’m thinking of Chief Ron Sam of the Songhees Nation and Chief Rob Thomas of the Esquimalt Nation. I’ve learned a great deal from them over the years.

In particular, many of the historic landmarks of the Songhees people come to mind in our territory. Willows Beach, a former community of the Songhees Nations, and other parts of the riding in which their presence is known to this day. They have been very, very helpful to me over the years as well, and we have much work to do together going forward.

I wanted to now say a few things about the special times that we are living through right now. I want to say that we have, as others have noted, two pandemics. We have the pandemic that we all are part of, the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have that hidden pandemic of opioid abuse and addiction. So many people have died in recent times in your community, Mr. Speaker, and, of course, all throughout our wonderful province. None of us have escaped that scourge. None of us have not been affected, directly or indirectly, by those issues.

Homelessness, of course. I need to say that in the city of Victoria…. I pause to note that despite the title of my riding, I represent aspects of three separate municipalities. All of Oak Bay but also Gordon Head, which is in the municipality of Saanich, and a part of Victoria. I should say that, in particular, in Victoria, there has been a serious homeless problem. We’ve all seen aspects of that as we go through our parks and the like.

I want to pay a particular tribute to my colleague the Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing for some of the remarkable work he’s done in my community of Victoria. The number of hotels that have been acquired. The enormous work to try to assist the city and partners in the private sector and non-profits to come together and to create a lasting solution to homelessness. He has done that.

I’m confident that by the end of March, we’re going to see the kind of change in our community that will be visible as some of the scourge of homelessness is addressed head-on, as he has done so effectively on our behalf. I pay tribute to him for that success.

People are concerned about it. They’re concerned about the effect in downtown Victoria. They’re concerned about our business community. Of course, they’re concerned about the plight of the people who are suffering. Imagine, in the winter, the kinds of difficulties people have having to be outside. It’s unthinkable, in a province and a country as rich as ours, that that can still be a fact of life, but we see it with our very eyes every day.

The changes that this government is making to improve the lives of so many different facets of our community need to be applauded.

[6:10 p.m.]

Our government brought in a recovery program with benefits of $1,000 for families under $125,000 in family earnings and a sliding scale, up to $170,000, of benefits for people who needed it immediately after the pandemic. Individuals who earned up to $62,000 would receive a $500 cheque and those, on a sliding scale, with incomes up to $87,000.

The Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation has helped small and medium-sized businesses. I especially note, in passing, the tourism sector — deeply, deeply affected in Victoria. So many people in my community are small business owners who have an interest in the tourism sector. The work that he has done in making funds available to that sector has been something I’ve heard at the door. I’ve heard from people, on the phone and elsewhere in the community over the last while, a deep gratitude for the practical difference that this government has made in their lives.

We’ve never done this before; we’re trying to do our best. We don’t get it right every time on the first occasion, but this minister demonstrated his willingness to listen, to alter the program and adapt the program as it was discussed and as that need became apparent. That is one of the things that I think we particularly should salute this government for doing, for adaptation as required. There’s no playbook for dealing with a once-in-a-generation pandemic.

Today we have another bill that will affect and help so many people. We have a housing crisis. I mentioned homelessness, but we have a housing crisis for people who can’t afford to find a place to rent and to pay for the rent. So Mr. Speaker, I want to pay tribute to you as the member for Vancouver–West End — and, of course, to the Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing — because Bill 7 got first reading today.

It should be seen — I think properly — as part of an economic recovery package, because it freezes rents until December 31, as you well know. Thereafter, rent increases are tagged to the cost of living, to inflation. To me, that is exactly what we should do as we let people get out of this pandemic and have a place to live.

Moreover, stopping illegal renovictions is something that is a feature of that. I know that you, Mr. Speaker, have been involved in the Rental Housing Task Force, and this bill will address so many of the very practical, positive changes that will make it possible for people to afford to live in our community. That is something that needs to be saluted. That’s part of an economic recovery package, properly defined.

Of course, today was a special day for so many, because today we rolled out the immunization plan for phase 2. More than 400,000 people in British Columbia will be immunized from March to early April in this province — the largest immunization rollout in the history of our province.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

I am so pleased with the thought that’s gone into this. I’m so impressed, as so many British Columbians…. Indeed, I would say all British Columbians, but that’s never possible in a democracy. Certainly, so many of us are so impressed by the work of Dr. Bonnie Henry and of the Minister of Health, and of course, today we see the enormous work that Dr. Ballem is doing in leading the immunization charge.

This is going to be one of the great postwar success stories, as people get vaccinated, as people’s lives change for the better. Someone said that we see light at the end of the tunnel, but we had no idea it would be such a long tunnel. Here we are a year later, still dealing with that tunnel, but I think we all see the light a lot better than we did a few short months ago.

I said that the third area I wanted to touch on was my work as the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. It’s such an honour to be serving in that capacity at this time. I wasn’t here in the House when the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act was passed, unanimously, in this place a little over a year ago. I think it’s already something that people in the rest of the country are looking at, acknowledging the enormous leadership it took to get us to that place. The fact that that bill was passed unanimously is something that I always talk about.

[6:15 p.m.]

This is a government initiative, yes, it must be said, but the fact that every single member of this place stood and agreed with that bill is something that is to the everlasting credit of this province and its people, that from every part of this province, their representatives saw that this was the right thing to do as we addressed the legacy of colonialism, the legacy of residential schools and so many of the harms that have occurred in our past. We’re committed to trying to address those difficulties and to move forward together in a better way.

I feel grateful to have the opportunity to succeed Scott Fraser, my predecessor as minister, and to try to put meat on the bones of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. That is, of course, what we are doing. We are talking of reconciliation in action. I know, Mr. Speaker, that you’ll be aware of the long-term agreement to share 7 percent of the Lottery Corp’s net income to provide $3 billion over the next 25 years in revenue-sharing. That is reconciliation in action.

The First Nations justice strategy was signed by the B.C. First Nations Justice Council to improve First Nations experience with the justice system. That is reconciliation in action. Expansion of Indigenous courts is something that is reconciliation in action. I could go on in so many different circles where we are entering into new kinds of agreements with Indigenous peoples, not just modern treaties but also reconciliation agreements of different kinds so that we can achieve agreements on the terms that those Indigenous governing bodies wish us to do. I think that is going to make such a difference.

I was surprised, I admit, to learn, when I was elected, that we also, as a province, have put houses on Indian reserves. Who would have thought that a province would do that, given that’s such an obviously federal responsibility? But it was the right thing to do. There was a need there, and this government stepped up and did it, irrespective of constitutional lines between the federal and provincial governments.

There has also been an historic investment in rural Internet service, $50 million to expand high-speed Internet services for people living in rural communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.

Better drinking water on Indian reserves and in remote Indigenous communities is another one of the key responsibilities that I have. I’m hoping to work with my federal counterpart, the Minister of Indigenous Services, to make a difference in that context as well.

As a former professor at the University of Victoria law faculty, I must say I’m particularly happy that the first place in the world where we have an Indigenous law and common law program, where students can graduate in four years knowing about both legal traditions, happened right here in this city, in this province, with help of this provincial government. That is a forward-thinking advancement that will, I think, improve the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike.

It’s been an honour to stand and respond to the Speech from the Throne. I’m pleased that there has been such progress made since 2017 in this province. I’m pleased that the government managed to invest in people’s lives. That is what this government is doing. It showed itself to be a responsible government when it chose to balance the budget in each of those years. But then, of course, the pandemic. Everyone understands we need to move in a different way to change our circumstances.

The fact that this government puts people first, the fact that this government understands that the people are the economy, and the fact that we are working together across all party lines to make a difference to the people of British Columbia — to their lives, to their environment, to their communities, to their families — is what brings us all in this place together, regardless of political affiliation, to work for the people of British Columbia. I’m very proud to be part of a government that is doing just that.

Hon. M. Farnworth: Noting the hour, I move the House do now….

Interjection.

Hon. M. Rankin: I would ask, therefore, Mr. Speaker, to move adjournment of the debate.

Hon. M. Rankin moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Farnworth moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 6:20 p.m.