Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call continued debate, the throne speech.

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

A. Singh: I broke off yesterday having learned something new — that we could speak about our friends that have helped us. Thank you to the member for Delta South for giving me that knowledge. I’ll continue with that. Before I do that….

I also spoke yesterday about how baffled I remain by the collective amnesia of the official opposition on pretty much anything from health care to mental health to ser­vices for people and even to housing. We saw that again this morning. It was a legacy of ignoring — and I’m being generous here — and being wilfully blind to the housing crisis and contributing to the situation that we’re in today. A situation that our government has taken great strides in addressing, as the Attorney General has so eloquently laid out.

[10:55 a.m.]

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Again, enough of that. Back to a few more people that I really didn’t get a chance to publicly thank, and want to thank, that helped guide and helped me along and held my hand along the journey here. Vikram Singh, an amazing, amazing volunteer. Mr. Nanda, Shahzad Mansoory from the Richmond mosque. Kelly Sangha, Bikram Sandhu, Makhan Kandola and many, many others.

I also want to remember some close persons that have passed. Our Lieutenant-Governor spoke about Charanpal Singh Gill. Uncle Gill was a fierce pioneer in social justice. Many of you know that, but many of you may not know that we have another connection. Uncle Gill used to live in Hong Kong, which is where I’m from as well.

I remember in the mid-’80s, when I was studying at university in Berkeley, California. I’d come up to visit some relatives and friends here, and he was one of the people that I visited on this farm out in the Fraser Valley. I remember having some great discussions with him. We disagreed on a few things but had some great discussions. His passion for people, his passion for farmworkers, his passion for fighting for social justice will surely be remembered. I want to honour him for that.

Another Uncle Gill also passed away last year — Amarjit Singh Gill, my old neighbour on Bird Road in Richmond. Uncle Gill was truly a renaissance man, a man who worked his way up from multiple different jobs. I think he was a security guard at some point, a translator. He worked his way up to become one of Richmond’s most admired and successful realtors and developers.

He also holds a really special place in my heart. Anyone that came across Uncle Gill will testify that he would go out of his way to extend his hand to help them. He did so for me in my deepest time of need. He was there for me in my deepest time of need. Sadly, he passed away last year. I want to remember and honour him.

We’ve all spoken about the difficulties of this last year on numerous occasions. I don’t doubt that we’ll continue to do so for the next few months. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to live in a way that we absolutely could not have foreseen. Many British Columbians lost loved ones, and many weren’t able to be there to give support to their loved ones, not only from COVID but also from the twin pandemic of the opioid crisis.

We spoke about that yesterday. It was a solemn anniversary. I’ll speak about that at the end, as I’ve spoken many times before here. Addiction and mental health hold a special place in my heart. It’s a journey that I’ve gone through personally. So I’ll speak about that at the end, as I said.

Many, during this time, have suffered isolation and loneliness and the yearning to be together and to bond with each other. We all have that, right? We’re social beings. My undergraduate studies were in anthropology. One of the things that was instilled in us and that came out was…. As a species, we wouldn’t have survived had it not been for that social bond that we make with each other, that community. That’s what helps the human species survive. We’ve seen a lack of that in the last year, and it’s a hard time for all of us.

Some of us are luckier than others. I’m lucky. I live with my elderly father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. It’s a devastating disease that progresses really, really fast. I’m really lucky to have incredibly hard-working home care workers that come several times a day to help him. Even though he has been vaccinated, I’m still really careful with him. I’m lucky that he’s with me and that I see him every day. Most people aren’t so lucky.

I’m lucky that we have a province where the government supports health care workers, like the care workers and the aides that come in and take care of my father and treat him…. I’m so proud to say that they treat him with the dignity and respect that we all deserve and that we all want for our elders. I’m really grateful that we live in a province where, at this hardest time, we all came together. So many of us, health care workers going out of their way immediately.

My friend from North Vancouver spoke this morning about our community strength. That is what I was so humbled to see in our province in the last year — how just everyday people came together and stepped up to the plate to serve each other and to really form that sense of community. I hope that stays.

[11:00 a.m.]

Grocery store employees in my South Asian community, truck drivers…. Richmond-Queensborough is sprawling. I think it is the largest urban constituency in British Columbia. A vast amount of it is farming, farmers who kept food on our tables. Teachers, support staff, child care workers who carried on the important work in difficult circumstances and continue to do so to this day.

Small business owners had to substantially change the way they operated to keep workers and customers safe. In my previous life, before I was elected, I owned a small business. I had a few employees. We had to radically change the way that we operated. We pretty much had to shut down for a few months last year. It was hard, really hard. But, you know, we had people that we were taking care of. We, like many others, stepped up to the challenge and adjusted so that we could do that. That’s what I saw in British Columbia.

I think we’ll all take that lesson with us. As these days pass, we face new challenges. Every day we face new challenges. Our government, I’m proud to say, has risen to face those challenges and provide not only the things that we need to stay safe and healthy but also the resources that the people of British Columbia need to face the hard economic times that have confronted us for the last year and will continue to confront us for the foreseeable future.

This pandemic is the toughest challenge we have faced in generations. British Columbians have come a long way by looking out for each other. Finally, we’re so close to the end, in some ways. I’m in that age group where I’ll be vaccinated, hopefully, in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to that day, and I know other people are as well. I think the number was something like 40,000 got vaccinated the other day. Thousands are getting vaccinated every day. That gives me hope.

I also see that sort of coming to the end, that final push, as the Lieutenant-Governor said in the throne speech, is sometimes the hardest. People are tired of all the things, and they may let down their guard. There are new variants out there, so I’m going to, as the government has done, urge people to keep steady and keep going.

Keeping people healthy and safe until we’ve crossed that finish line and gotten way past it is our collective responsibility, and it’s been this government’s top priority for the last year. Our government has consistently and constantly been taking action to make sure that we get the help that people need, then to actually create the conditions for a strong economic recovery that doesn’t leave people behind, that works for everyone — again, acknowledging that this is an incredibly hard time.

It’s an incredibly hard time for people in the tourism industry and the hospitality industry, an incredibly hard time. But we will get through this together.

When the pandemic hit B.C., we were an economic leader in Canada. We were one of the country’s fastest-growing economies, with absolutely low unemployment rates and steadily rising wages. Despite the challenges last year, our strengths remain.

As my friend the Minister of Jobs and Economic Recovery stated, we’re at 128 percent job recovery from pre-pandemic levels. I’m proud of that. I’m proud that our government has been able to achieve that in these hard times. We’ve been able to do that by listening to the scientists and by listening to the experts and deferring to them and not letting our political ideology and ideas get in the way.

That’s what a good government is. A good government is a government that listens, that’s teachable. That’s what a good human being is, as well, someone who’s teachable and who’s open.

We’re already seeing positive signs for recovery, but there’s so much more that we need to do. In a few days, we’ll be introducing a new budget, later this month, that’ll show that it’ll improve health care. It’ll have a space for helping businesses to grow and to hire and to make record investments in infrastructure, which is what we need at this time.

From the day that this government took office in 2017, the focus has been people. Yesterday the speaker of the Third Party spoke about a story and what story we want to tell and what story we want to be proud of. You know, our story, this government’s story, the NDP’s story, has been a story about people, all about people, the people of British Columbia.

[11:05 a.m.]

That focus has not changed or wavered since 2017. It’s steadfast. It in fact became stronger during the last year, in the pandemic, as we faced the challenges of the pandemic. As I said, in many ways, it’s been further reinforced.

When COVID-19 first struck, our government moved quickly to provide relief for renters, middle-class families, hard-hit small businesses and the most vulnerable. We’ve adjusted and implemented new measures to face the daily challenges that we have. In fact, British Columbia has delivered more direct help for people throughout the pandemic than any other province in Canada.

The Leader of the Opposition spoke this morning about supports for businesses. Again, I’ll reiterate that British Columbia has delivered more direct help for people throughout the pandemic than any other province in Canada, while at the same time keeping the people of British Columbia safe. Their suggestions…. Actually, they don’t really have any suggestions, only questions and insinuations. But those insinuations, in my humble opinion, if they wanted what they want, would jeopardize the safety of people in favour of economic interests.

What we’ve done has been a measured approach and an approach that has been working, that has been keeping people safe and has, as I said, 100.8 percent job recovery rate from pre-pandemic levels. We need to keep steadfast and keep going on the route that we’re going.

We understood from the beginning that while everyone is affected by this pandemic, not everyone is affected evenly, as has been said many times. Metaphorically, we’re all in the same storm but in different boats. As we move forward toward better days, we’re making targeted investments to ensure that this recovery, the economic recovery that we have, does not leave people behind, that it works for everyone.

We’ve focused on people and local communities, and they’ve been at the front and centre in our minds. Those communities are our partners, and we’ve worked with them. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve ensured local governments — who, again, are our partners — could continue to provide services and keep the people who provide those services working and keep them safe. As we turn towards recovery, we’ll invest in stronger communities, and that’ll be one of our key priorities.

The budget, as you’ll see, will make record investments in our infrastructure to keep people and our economy moving. That’s what governments do in hard times. Roads, bridges, rapid transit, schools, hospitals and community centres will all continue to be built across the province, as well as houses, more homes, more rental units.

Training programs and community benefits agreements will ensure that these investments support good, well-paying jobs in British Columbia, where they are the most needed. Businesses have suffered throughout this pandemic, and we recognize that and have been there to provide the support that’s needed and at times tweaked the supports that we laid out to better serve people.

As I said earlier, that is what a good government does. It is a government that’s teachable. It learns and adjusts. We did that, putting out a program responding to the needs of the hospitality industry and the restaurants, and within less than a week, turning around and adjusting a program to offer some help.

Is it going to solve the situation? No. We’re in a pandemic. We’ve been in a pandemic for a year. The whole world has been here. But again, in my humble opinion, we’re in the best place. We’re in British Columbia, and we’ve done a good job. We’ll continue to do a good job.

Many small businesses had to make tough decisions to close or reduce services to protect their workers and customers. From the outset, our government made it clear we would help small businesses and employees get through it.

Really early on we cut property taxes, prohibited commercial evictions and forgave hydro bills. We introduced tax incentives to businesses to hire workers and make the investments. We’ll continue to offer these supports to businesses in this hardest-hit time. We’ll continue to tweak those services and those supports that we offer to face the challenges that come.

No one could have predicted this pandemic, so we don’t know what’s ahead of us. This government has done an incredible job, in my opinion, of taking in the challenge and adjusting and facing that challenge head-on.

[11:10 a.m.]

We’ve made record investments in infrastructure. These will support a resilient economic recovery, again, that puts people back to work and works for everybody. We’ve made record investments in housing and child care, and that is also part of our economic development strategy because that helps businesses attract and retain talent by lowering the costs of living.

Child care is a game-changing concept, and I’m really looking forward to the next few years as we implement that. We’ll continue to do what we’ve done, you know, as we come to what could be called the dust of the pandemic, and we’re hoping that this will all be behind us at some point.

We’ve been improving health care to ensure that we’re prepared, and we’ll continue to do that, to improve health care to ensure that we’re prepared for future challenges, by fixing…. We fixed cracks in long-term care that we knew existed and that COVID-19 really exposed. We reduced surgery wait times, and we’ll be building more hospitals and urgent primary care centres all over British Columbia — again, a step that really, really helps just everyday people.

We’ve been making life more affordable by cutting ICBC rates by 20 percent, expanding access to the $10-a-day child care spaces that I’ve spoken about, and there’s so much more to come in that.

There are a lot of social things that have been happening as well. What we’ll be doing is we’ll be building more inclusive communities by developing B.C.’s first anti-racism law and reforming the outdated Police Act and legislation to remove barriers for accessibility to those with disabilities.

We’ve been working hard to protect the environment by reforming forestry legislation. Our whole…. Some members spoke about it yesterday — bridging the digital divide, with new investments to boost connectivity in more rural communities. This is building on the progress made to bring better Internet to thousands and thousands of households. With innovation, B.C. will come back stronger than ever. We’re poised to do better, and we will.

When the pandemic hit, we were one of the fastest-growing economies, and when the pandemic leaves us, we will remain in that position. Our strength and our resilience define us. We’re a natural gateway to the Asia-Pacific. We have abundant resources that include not only natural resources but the intellectual ability of our people and the intellectual ability of the companies that exist here.

I’ve spoken here about the innovation that happens right in my backyard, right in my constituency of Richmond-Queensborough, with companies like FLIR, which developed the cameras for the Mars mission.

There are many more companies like that, I’m proud to say, in Richmond-Queensborough — bioLytical, a biotech company that has for years produced inexpensive HIV and hep C test kits that are distributed in the developing world by the World Health Organization. They’re developing a rapid test kit. They’ve gotten funding from the national government, a rapid test kit for the SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19. Incredibly innovative companies, and we’ll continue to support them.

As time goes on, I’ll introduce you to more innovators in diverse fields, right here in Richmond-Queensborough. These are all part of the backbone of our economy, and these are the assets that will help us recover to a more prosperous British Columbia.

You know, as time goes on in the year ahead, the government will continue to help businesses recover from the short-term effects of the pandemic as well. The long-term effects will take some time, but the short-term effects will…. We will continue to build an innovative, sustainable and inclusive economy with an eye to the post-pandemic world. With the pandemic, and before that as well, global markets are changing in ways that offer us significant opportunities.

We have the goods and services that the world wants, and these prices that people are willing to pay will continue to reflect environmental, social and governance aspects of production. All of those three areas are areas that we can offer an advantage in the world market. We can offer environmentally responsible, socially responsible products from a democratically run province. Firms in British Columbia will be able to take advantage of a premium paid for inclusive and sustainable products.

Agritech, a few weeks ago, is already…. We announced some funding for agritech, which, again, I’m proud to say we’re innovators and leaders of in British Columbia.

[11:15 a.m.]

Agritech will already allow agricultural food processing and the seafood sectors to benefit from the use of innovation and technology. By embracing innovation, these producers are enhancing productivity, while at the same time, addressing expectations around the world about sustainability and traceability of food products. We’ll take additional steps in the next few years to support innovation and technology.

I started yesterday, this speech, with the recognition of traditional lands, where I work and live. I can say that I’m proud to be part of a government that has taken on the challenge of racism, colonialism and the wrongs done to the First Peoples of this land and have recognized that reconciliation has to inform each and every decision that we make.

For the last four years, this government has worked to go beyond these important land acknowledgments and to actively forge partnerships with Indigenous Peoples. We’ve passed legislation, with the acceptance of all of the House, together, to confirm the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Working together, we have progressed on advancing meaningful reconciliation. Indigenous languages have been revitalized. Child care legislation has been improved and will continue to improve, so more children rightfully remain with their families and communities. Fundamental human rights of Indigenous People have been enshrined in law with the unanimous passage of the declaration in this Legislature. This hard work has only just begun. We’re at the dawn of that. Together we will succeed, but we need to be together in that.

The pandemic, like in many other areas, has exposed many pre-existing systemic gaps in health care, housing and other basic services that disproportionately affect Indigenous People. We recognize that. We recognize that our future must be one where we share decision-making and prosperity with Indigenous People, who have exercised their inherent rights on their respective territories since the dawn of time.

Part of that work is a recognition that our greatest resource is our province, the beauty and the majesty of which I think we’re all really proud of, whether it’s when I drive down the East-West Connector, looking over cranberry fields, to the majestic, snow-capped mountains of the North Shore — of course, being careful and driving responsibly and not being distracted by those sights, which is hard to do. Or I’m on the ferry to Victoria, as I pass through the straits of the Coast Salish sea, spotted by the lush islands of this temperate rainforest that we all live in.

I could go on and on about the beauty of British Columbia. Just being present reinforces the need. Being present in British Columbia reinforces the need to protect this place we call home. For generations, economic growth in our province has come at the expense of the environment. This has to change. We know we can no longer rely on simple resource extraction to generate wealth on the destruction of the environment. This has to change. The coming generation has spoken loudly about climate change and their concerns around that. This is the one single issue that should unite us all.

Over the past few months in my new role, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to several classes at different schools in Richmond and New Westminster, to young people. The one thing that young people have repeatedly expressed to me is their concern over their future. Will they live in a world where they can breathe the clean air that we have the privilege of breathing? Every single class that I visited has expressed that anxiety and concern over our earth.

This government is determined to continue tackling the environmental challenges that were neglected for too long, for generations. This year it will continue the work of reforming the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and with the climate in mind.

This government will continue to take action on the independent report on old growth, which recommended an important new protection for remaining old-growth stands. New measures are going to be proposed to increase access to fibre for communities, Indigenous Nations and small businesses.

Land management practices will be updated to improve forest stewardship and, again, emphasize environmental protection. The forest sector will be supported to move from a volume to value. That’s what we need. We haven’t had that in British Columbia. We may have had it for a little while. It was taken away, with the increase in raw logs and the shutting down of many, many mills in their communities. But we’re going to be making those innovations.

At the same time, we’re going to move forward with other measures to protect B.C.’s environment, including improving waste management of plastics. These actions will build on the progress we’ve already made recently, like removing over 120 tonnes of marine debris from B.C. coasts and shorelines, and planting a record 300 million trees last year. I think we’re projected to plant another 300 million this year. That’s half a billion trees. That’s impressive.

[11:20 a.m.]

Our economic recovery must become an opportunity to accelerate environmental protection. We’re faced with a unique opportunity here that we will take advantage of. Central to our plans to address climate issues is CleanBC. It’s a plan to create a more sustainable economic future on the other side of COVID-19. It’s North America’s most progressive plan to reduce carbon pollution, while creating good, new, family-supporting jobs. You’ll see that in the year ahead.

I see my time has come to an end.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

J. Rustad: As always, it’s an honour to have an opportunity to speak on behalf of my constituents in Nechako Lakes. I want to start by thanking, of course, the people of the communities in my riding for their continued support in [audio interrupted] represent their voices. Each one of us in this Legislature does our best, I’m sure, to represent our ridings to the best of our abilities.

Of course, we can’t do the job without family. I want to take a moment to talk about family, because it’s been a very challenging year, as everybody knows, especially with COVID.

My mom celebrated her 99th birthday here just after Christmas. My dad, this weekend, will be celebrating his 94th birthday. We’re managing to keep them in their home, between my brother and me. My brother is doing primary care, and I’m coming in to help. We’re managing to keep them through this, but it is tough. They aren’t able to get out and around. They aren’t able to go out to a restaurant for coffee. It’s pretty challenging for them. But because we have family, because we’re close, we’re very fortunate in that. It does help them get through some of these challenging times.

I know so many people out there don’t necessarily have that situation. I know how much tougher it can be on those families. So I want to say thank you to the front-line workers, the people who are keeping us safe, the people who are doing the work, whether it’s in health care, whether it’s in the grocery stores or any of the other components of our economy and of our society that help to move things along and keep us all going. I can imagine how challenging this has been with so much uncertainty that’s out there.

Throughout my riding, I’ve had an opportunity to talk to many, many people, whether it’s community leaders, whether it is First Nations people, protesters, people who are protesting the protesters, and many faith leaders throughout my riding. Everybody has different challenges, and everybody has different issues. But it made me realize, as well, that although we are all in this together, we are not all feeling this equally in terms of what COVID is doing and the restrictions and the path that we need to take. That creates big challenges, especially when you think about companies.

I’m fortunate enough to live at Cluculz Lake.

Just before I go on further, I can’t believe I forgot one person. I really need to thank my wife. As everybody knows, doing this job takes a lot out of you. It takes a lot and puts a lot of pressure on family. My wife has always been there and very supportive. I want to say thank you, especially to her. She has a birthday coming up, too. I might get a chance to talk about that here coming up in May.

As I was saying, I get an opportunity…. I live at Cluculz Lake. It’s a beautiful little place in the world. Living right on the lake, you get to watch all of the wildlife. You get to watch things that happen.

Something I’d never seen before happened just the other day. Just to set the stage, I was looking out at the lake. Most of the lake is still covered in ice, but in the area we have out in front of our place, the ice is open. About 20 feet off the shore, a fish came up out of the water. I don’t know what it was chasing. It ended up on the ice. There was a little bit of water on the ice. But this poor fish was stuck on the ice, and it was flopping around. I thought for sure an eagle would’ve come by and had a nice lunch. But it persevered.

[11:25 a.m.]

It could have just a little bit of water for some air, which it had on the ice. But it kept flopping around, and eventually, the sun managed to melt a little bit of the ice with a little bit of the waves. It made its way back into the water.

I thought about that just in the perspective of, particularly, the restaurant sector that we have in the province right now. It is a very challenging time. For many of them, they’re just struggling. They’re really trying just to keep the door open.

I’ve got a little restaurant out at Cluculz Lake, and it just serves the local people. There are some people that come out from Prince George or Vanderhoof to it. It is a very small little restaurant.

They managed to stay open this past year, through this, with takeout and people around the community being supportive of the restaurant. But this latest order that came out has really hit them hard. They were just on the verge of getting some nice weather, just on the verge of having more people come. They don’t have a very large patio. They can’t service a lot of people. We’re not quite in the weather that we are in, in the Lower Mainland. This is really a challenging time for a small little restaurant like that.

The relief program for the circuit breaker will help a little bit. But I fear for a business like that to stay alive. Many of the restaurants and businesses throughout my riding that are being impacted…. A number have gone under. Many have managed to go through because of the community support, but boy, oh boy, it’s getting tough.

I think probably the most frustrating thing for them, as well as many of my other communities, through COVID, is that I can’t explain to them why the restrictions are in place for them. I can explain why they are in place for the province. But most of my communities have been 100 percent vaccinated. Most of my First Nations have been 100 percent vaccinated.

For a little restaurant out at Cluculz Lake, there are no cases. There are no cases of COVID around, throughout the area. Everybody is following the rules. Everybody is doing the appropriate distancing. Anybody that would come out to the lake is in a bubble, in a group, together. It’s not like it’s a gathering place for people to go. Why do they have to have the same restrictions? Why can’t there be some variance, some options?

British Columbia is a very large province. We’re all different in terms of our region and our impacts. I can’t explain it to them. It’s unfortunate. They struggle on. They do what they can, following the rules, but it is unfortunate in terms of what some of the impacts are for those areas that are following the rules, that are doing the right things with the vaccines going in place and being effective.

I’m registered, now, for my vaccine. I suppose I’ll get it probably end of May or into June, in terms of my age bracket. My family, my parents have been vaccinated. But it’s a hard one.

In any case, I do want to go on, though, to the throne speech, and I want to start, actually, with a bit of a kudos to the government. Mining sector has expressed a lot of concern around the province. We have not seen a new mine open in four years. We have not seen new construction start, I should say, in a new mine over this period of time.

I had a meeting with the owners of the Blackwater project. They’re pretty optimistic that they might be able to start construction here in the next couple of years. They’ve actually said that government’s trying to work with them to get this thing through. They’re going to be one of the most environmentally friendly mining operations, in terms of their emission targets, that we’ve got pretty much anywhere in the world. It’s going to be a very large gold mine. I’m quite excited about that going forward.

They still need one key factor, and they’re confident that they’re going to get it. That key factor is to be able to raise the capital needed. They think they’re most of the way there. They’ve got most of the rest that’s there. But when I talk to the mining sector across the province, that’s the challenge. They’ve got lots of exploration going on, lots of hopes, lots of plans, but investors are not looking at British Columbia as the place to be, as the place to put resources. As the mining sector has said, if we don’t see new mines starting up, by 2040 there’ll be only five mines left operating in the province.

When I think about the green economy and I think about all of the potential, whether it’s electric vehicles or whether it’s any of the other components that are really needed, we need minerals. We need our resources. British Columbia has the best environmental standards in the world. We’ve got First Nations that understand and are employed by the mining sector, and we’re not seeing that. I think government needs to really think about that.

[11:30 a.m.]

How do we attract the capital to see projects like this move forward, to be able to support communities and families and be able to support the province? It was sad, when I listened to the throne speech, that there isn’t any recognition of that problem, of the uncertainty that is being created in this province, of the cost structure, of the burden of regulations and the real challenge for companies who want to invest in this province. It’s not because of….

We want to see a company do well. But a mine like the Blackwater project…. What that will do for the Cariboo North riding and what that’ll do for the Nechako Lakes riding in terms of the employment — 1,400 people doing construction, another 1,400 people, direct and indirect, that’ll be tied to the project when it gets built.

This is huge for an area like this, and it’s just a shame when I think about a number of the other projects around the province that are struggling because they just can’t find that capital to build. It’s something to think about, and I hope maybe a future throne speech might actually take recognition of what’s needed, because as we all are experiencing COVID, every jurisdiction in the world is trying to attract that investment capital. Every jurisdiction in the world is going to try to attract tourism, mining, resources, green economy, etc.

What’s B.C.’s advantage? How do we rank when it comes to individuals and companies, investors, in terms of creating those jobs and creating that economy? The answer’s not great. It’s something that government needs to be thinking about, because as the mining sector has said, if we don’t change where we’re going, the decline over the next 15 to 20 years is going to be pretty significant. That’s a big blow to government revenues, to jobs, to families and to communities.

Forestry, of course, was talked about a fair bit in the throne speech. I look toward to the chance to get into es­timates and be able to go through the questions that I’ve got. I’ve got a lot of them. I’m sure that it will be a gruelling process, but as the old saying goes, the devil’s in the detail in terms of some of those components.

As I started off with a bit of kudos, I’ve heard a number of speakers from government, as well as the government throne speech itself, that I’ve got to give a bit of a raspberry to. That is, carbon dioxide was referred to as a pollution.

Now, I’m sorry. I get what the language and the rhetoric is. Carbon dioxide is an essential component of life on this planet. It is not a pollution. That sort of misinformation out there is just ridiculous. It’s ridiculous to be able to do that. It doesn’t serve anybody well. It doesn’t serve the environmental movement well. It doesn’t serve us as a province well. A poor choice of words. That’s the raspberry.

I think about, as well, some of the components that are out there. I’ve been listening to, whether it’s question period or other res­ponses by government as well as responses…. One of the things that the Minister of Jobs came out and said was that we have the highest per-capita support of any small business. Well, I’m sorry. That is just not true.

Look at Stats Canada. In terms of per-capita spending support, there are only two provinces that are worse than B.C., and that is Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Every other province is significantly higher than B.C., double or triple what B.C. is actually putting out there. That doesn’t even account for the fact that that’s just money committed, not money that’s actually gone out the door.

It is really unfortunate. I know the media is really stressed. They don’t have the sources they used to have, going through this. They can’t do the background. I wish there was, I guess you could say, a truth meter in terms of some of these statements, because these sorts of things are simply not accurate in terms of what’s being said. There’s a little smoke and mirrors and stuff being played to make it sound like it’s good. Maybe the members on the government bench and the members on the back bench just eat it up, but they should look a little bit broader in terms of what some of those stats really are saying.

[11:35 a.m.]

The same thing at question period today. I had to chuckle at the Attorney General. He came out and talked about how the housing price increase was all on the B.C. Liberals. I’ve got to tell you, that is really quite something, to think that the B.C. Liberals have that much in­fluence in terms of policy. I know we did great things. We created an enormous economy, a juggernaut, and the whole economy and people really benefited from that. The NDP inherited that.

A 168 percent increase in Canada in housing over the last 20 years. That is not the B.C. Liberals; that’s Canada. The closest country to that was…. The U.K. and France were at 100 percent over the last 20 years, and the United States had a 54 percent increase in housing. Yes, Canada has done well. Do you know what? British Columbia has done even better. That’s because of the strong economy and what we put in place in terms of that.

To say that that’s all on the B.C. Liberals is just far-fetched. Jiggery-pokery, I think, were the words that were used by one of the former NDP MLAs. This is the problem. You get so much stuff that comes out that can be deceiving and misleading, so much spin. It’s really unfortunate. It doesn’t serve, like I say, the people of my riding or the people of this province well to have that kind of stuff.

The throne speech talked a little bit about some additional spending in terms of mental health issues, which I actually applaud. We’ve got a big, big problem with mental health. I’m happy to see, particularly for youth, that there will be some increase. Now, of course, the throne speech is one thing. We’ve heard lots of promises in throne speeches in the past that didn’t really transpire into actions. Those will be things that I’ll be watching. But mental health is a big issue.

I had an opportunity to have a meeting with the Premier to deal with a facility that’s trying to go into this riding by the Carrier-Sekani Family Services. It will have 60 beds for recovery from addictions. Many of those, of course, have mental health issues associated with it — desperately needed. I am glad that the Premier is going to make an effort to actually try to overturn what the ALC ruling was so that we can see that happen in this area.

There’s something more that needs to be thought about. People are in those situations for different reasons, whether it’s mental health issues, whether it’s addiction issues. Everyone is different. There needs to be different ap­proaches taken for individuals that go through this. But there’s another key component that’s happening. That is, quite frankly, crime. Many of these issues are leading to unsafe situations for people, whether it’s in my riding, communities in my riding, or many other communities around this province.

It is not right at any time that a person, a woman or otherwise, does not feel safe walking from their car to their office, to their place of work or going back to their car. It is just not right. There are people who are being assaulted. There are people who are being threatened. There are people defecating in the front streets, in front of places. We’ve got problems. I hate painting that picture, but we’ve got big, big problems.

Unfortunately, I did not really hear any ideas towards solutions to these kinds of things. As a society, this is a problem. Just simply warehousing people is not the solution. People are individuals. They need individual support. They need programs to come in. Housing, yes, is one component of it, but it’s not the only component that needs to be put in place.

Not to mention that we’ve got communities now that are talking about having to hire security forces to try to manage the problems in their communities, in their business communities. The RCMP can’t handle it because there’s such an increasing problem now with crime and with mental health and with the homeless issue. It is worse today than it has ever been. Nobody can deny that.

Having a ministry and a poverty reduction plan, they haven’t changed anything. This problem has only gotten worse. I applaud government for saying they’re going to be putting some more resources to it, but boy, oh boy, there is a lot of action that’s needed. That will be something I’ll be paying close attention to as it goes through.

[11:40 a.m.]

It was also disappointing, I think, when I listened to the throne speech…. Agriculture is a big piece in my riding. In the agriculture sector, they just want to be able to get along. They just want to be able to go on and do what they do. They’re price-takers, unfortunately, so they have to take what prices they get. That means that whenever there are input cost increases, whether it’s carbon tax or otherwise, that hits directly on the bottom line, because they can’t just pass it on. But they persevere.

I’ll tell you, though. The one thing that I hear about, over and over again, from the ag sector in my riding is really about the changes to allow family to be able to stay on the farms. For many of my farms in my area, the people that founded the farms and their children want to stay on the farm. They’re now retiring. They want their children to be able to stay on the farm, and being able to have that second home is a real problem.

I know that the minister has come out and said that she’s going to make some changes. But good gosh, this should have been something that was done ages ago. We’ve got a housing problem. Why on earth are we not allowing families to be able to stay on farms? Why on earth are we not allowing this sort of situation, and just making it so difficult?

I had one fellow who approached me, and he said that he bought a piece of land. I’m still trying to figure this out. He said that when he bought it, a portion of that land was not in the ALR. Now he’s trying to build a house on that, and it’s come back and said that apparently it’s now been added to ALR.

I don’t know whether it was a mistake the first time around, but now he can’t build his house. He’s on an old trailer. He can’t build his house, so he’s got to tear down this trailer and clean it up before he can build a house. Well, where is he going to live? There isn’t rental housing and other things available. The rental housing market in the communities here is really tight. What’s he going to do? He thought: “Okay, I’ll bring in a fifth wheel. I’ll stay in that.” Well, he’s not even allowed to do that.

These sorts of things are absolutely ridiculous. They’re issues that are driven by ideology as opposed to thinking about what matters most, which is the individuals, like the farmer that is working the land. The land by itself is not productive. It’s the farmers that make it productive, and they get us our food to our markets.

I want to also take a second, just going back to an issue that I’ve raised on a number of occasions in the past and will certainly be raising during estimates. That’s the issue of forestry roads. Whether it’s the highway component that is being beaten up by a tremendous amount of forestry activity through transportation, or whether it’s the forestry road, there is a lot of degradation of these roads. It’s creating real problems.

I’ve had a person out in Houston having to travel down what is actually not a forestry road — a regular road. But it is so damaged from the logging trucks that go barreling down these roads that he actually broke his axle in the potholes. I think we need to see some resources that go toward it.

According to the report by the Auditor General, less than 20 percent, somewhere between 14 percent and 20 percent, of the actual asks for repairing these roads are actually getting approved for funding. We’ve got to find a way to be able to get some more resources into that.

North of Fort St. James is a road that we call the North Road. It goes up to Germansen Landing. It’s partially highway, and it’s partially forest service road. It is just in horrendous shape. We keep scraping graders over it, but the base needs to be replaced in areas. Approaches to bridges need to be fixed up. The road is just not safe for anybody to travel. Even the logging trucks have to crawl along through this area, because it’s in pretty rough shape.

I know that people are doing their best, but there needs to be the understanding that with the additional resource activity happening, there also needs to be the additional investments that come, to be able to help them improve these situations.

For the people in Nechako Lakes, they’re an independent group. They’re good neighbours. They’re really great people. They try their best to be able to get along and do things, but they do need a few things. They do need some help. Things like road maintenance are big issues.

Even along Highway 16, there were five passing lanes that were booked to go into my riding. All of them have been put, now, out in the ten-year plan. Those are safety improvements. Those kind of quality improvements along those roads have been ignored.

[11:45 a.m.]

We’ve gone from a place where we spent between $15 million and $17 million a year in Nechako Lakes to, under the current government, one year was $4½ million, one year was $3½ million, and last year was $11½ million. You compile that together, and it’s only a third of what had been spent in the past. That’s partially why we’re seeing the degradation on some of these side roads — because we’re not seeing the money available to do the work — and why we’re not seeing the safety improvements along the highway in terms of some of these intersections and passing lanes and improvements along Highway 16.

Now, I get that this is a government that has different priorities, and it is moving its money to other areas of the province. But ridings should be treated equally; areas should be treated equally. They should see that. There should not be this money being taken away from an area like this, especially an area that creates so much economic activity, to be redirected for political purposes elsewhere. There needs to be those kinds of investments to be able to keep the economy going.

The people in this area help to generate a lot of revenue for government, particularly through forestry and other activity. They don’t ask for much, but they do want to see a bit of return and attention to what’s needed.

I just want to touch on the hospital in Fort St. James. Once again, it’s something that I know the area is looking forward to. It’s been promised. I hear that this year we’ll get to place where there will be construction, a contract that might be out there and let. I’m getting two thumbs up from the Minister of Health in terms of my thing on this. That’s good. I’m really encouraged by that. It’s going to be a much larger facility than what it was.

The one big question I’ve got for the Minister of Health is: how are we going to staff it? We don’t have the staffing levels in that community to be able to support that hospital at this point, and it’s going to need a pretty concerted effort. That will take time. As the Minister of Health knows, you can’t just go out and just hire somebody. It takes time to be able to recruit and bring people in.

There’s a large plan that needs to be put in place there to make sure that facility is going to be able to meet the needs within the area without having to bring in people from all over the place for locums. But that’ll be an issue that I’m sure the minister and I will get a chance to talk about over a period of time.

I’d just like to maybe wrap up my comments on the throne speech by saying this. If you go back and look at throne speeches for the last four years, they’re pretty much all the same. Nothing really has changed.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

A throne speech should really be about laying out a vision, especially at a time like this when we’ve got COVID-19 and we’re talking about recovery from COVID-19. There needs to be this path, this plan. People want to see what that light is, how things are going to go. And that was missing from the throne speech.

There was a lot of talk on a variety of issues, a lot of rehashing of things that had been said in the past. But that was an opportunity missed, I think, by this government, because it did not lay out that path. It did not say how the economy is going to be able to recover. How are we going to be able to compete with every other jurisdiction that’s trying to recover, and how are we going to be able to manage through this?

I did have to chuckle at the throne speech that said that as the economy recovers, they’ll balance the budget. But I can tell you, if you don’t have a plan for significant economic growth, that means you do not have a plan for balancing a budget. You’re not going to be able to do it by simply raising taxes. You’re not going to be able to do it through other methods. You’re going to need to have significant economic growth. Once again, that is the challenge I see in this throne speech. There was no plan.

Now, we’ve got a budget coming out here shortly in the next week. Perhaps there will be some more of a plan in there. But like I say, in terms of a throne speech, for the people in Nechako Lakes, they were hoping to see just what that vision and plan was, their reopening plan — how things are going to roll out, how we were going to be able to position ourselves globally so that we can attract the kinds of dollars and build that confidence that’s needed in this province to have a robust economy.

With that, Mr. Speaker, once again, it’s always an honour to be able to speak on behalf of my people in Nechako Lakes. It’s an honour to be able to represent them.

[11:50 a.m.]

I will look forward to the budget coming out, although I must admit that I don’t quite have the same optimism that it will have the kinds of things that are really needed to be able to move us forward in terms of our province. But we’ll see when that comes out. And I’m sure I’ll get an opportunity to respond to that in the future as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to speak to this.

Hon. K. Conroy: I am really pleased to be able to re­spond to the Speech from the Throne today.

I want to recognize the Indigenous nations on whose traditional territory we are all gathered. I want to acknowledge that I’m speaking to you from the unceded territory of the Secwépemc, Okanagan, Sinixt and Ktunaxa Nations, as I’m here at home in the Kootenays.

It’s been a pretty tough year for so many of us. It was for our family as well. I want to start by just thanking everyone for their incredible support when my husband, Ed, died last year. So many of you have been part of our journey of Ed’s many, many health issues. No one would have thought he would have died after an accident, falling and breaking his hip at the local lumber supply store picking out fence posts, because we were building fencing here on the farm. He never did recover after the surgery.

COVID didn’t help that at all. I’m forever grateful to all of the health care professionals who were there for us during that really incredibly difficult time. Again, to all of my colleagues on both sides of the House, I want to thank you for your support.

I also have some happy news to share today, as it is our daughter’s birthday. It is what we call in our family a big O, but put a four in front of it. It’s hard to believe when one of your babies turns 40. I want to wish her a really very, very happy day. Once we can, we will have a big celebration with all of our family and friends. Although being a mom of five, ages six to 20, and having her oldest daughter and her partner living with them, her busy house of eight always seems to have something going on. I think they have one of the biggest bubbles that I know of in the Kootenays.

Today she is going to be spoiled by all of them. I talked to her this morning. Her seven-year-old had created a video for her, with help from his auntie. It was pretty cute, and had seven-year-old issues in it, which were things I won’t talk about on this part of my speech. But it was really…. It’s great that she’s getting spoiled in such a great way. It’s much deserved.

Happy birthday, Sasha Rene.

I’m also really very humbled by the support of the people of Kootenay West, who re-elected me for the fifth time last October. I want to thank everyone who helped me to get re-elected and continue to support me in this job. I want to thank my two constituency assistants, Angelika Brunner and Cyra Yunkws, who do such an incredible job taking care of the needs of our constituents. I get amazing feedback from people that they are helping every day when I am out in the constituency doing my properly distanced shopping, and people consistently tell me what a great job they do.

I also want to thank all of my staff in the ministry office, who are also doing a really great job of supporting me as I take on this new ministry and this new role. When the Premier asked me to take on this new position, he told me that he thought I would be the very first woman to be Forests minister in B.C. So I did look it up, and it’s actually only taken 110 years to have a woman in this position. I think it’s better late than never.

I’m really so very, very proud of this diverse 42nd parliament that I am part of because we know that, as the throne speech said, we will be focused on putting people first. You know, we have been doing that since 2017, and we fully intend to not only continue that work, but to build upon the efforts we have made to date.

Before I outline some of the incredible investments made in my riding, I just want to take a moment to ac­knowledge the impact of the pandemic and the opioid crisis. I want to extend my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one, and I want to recommit to the work our government has undertaken to address these concurrent crises.

This pandemic has uncovered some of our weaknesses, the cracks in the systems, the challenges we face. But we're working so hard, as hard as possible, to address the many issues created by what I believe has been inaction or poor policy or inadequate legislation under the previous government.

We acknowledge the many challenges ahead of us. But we know that British Columbians are being heard, appreciated, and supported by this government. In my riding of Kootenay West, we have been so fortunate to experience some of the incredible supports put in place by our government. We have never been through something like this in our lifetime.

[11:55 a.m.]

To experience the pandemic, while being part of the go­vernment, is both challenging and rewarding. Our caucus and cabinet have worked tirelessly to ensure that as many sensible, accessible and appropriate supports as possible are in place. There are many different types of supports, including mental wellness, financial, business and family supports. We've changed plans. We’ve changed legislation, and we’ve changed approaches as was needed to pivot in this ever-changing and ever-challenging pandemic.

What strikes me most is the resilience….

Mr. Speaker: Noting the hour, Minister.

Hon. K. Conroy: Noting the hour, I reserve my place to continue speaking and move adjournment of the debate.

Hon. K. Conroy moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. R. Kahlon moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 11:56 a.m.