Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call continued debate on the budget.

Budget Debate

(continued)

Mr. Speaker: The member for West Vancouver–Capilano will continue.

K. Kirkpatrick: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to continue the debate.

I’m going to go back just a moment over some of what I was speaking about yesterday. The $10-a-day daycare promise has not been seen in the budget. It’s causing confusion for families, and it’s causing confusion for daycare providers.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

It’s worth noting that the majority of privately owned daycares are owned and operated by women. They employ a majority of women. They built these small businesses on a desire to provide loving and caring support to young people and to provide for their own families. The child care they provide supports women in the workforce and the move towards wage parity and equitable career progression. So poor daycare policy hurts women, and we are seeing poor daycare policy.

I was speaking to a daycare provider over the last couple of weeks, who has just told me that he will be laying off 20 staff, who he had made offers to, in a brand-new daycare, providing 200 spaces, because with the wage cap that came in on April 1, he cannot afford to open, and he cannot afford to pay those staff. He has already, in the past few weeks, notified the parents that those spaces that they believed would be available are not available.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention something related to this budget, but related to the ability for this government to do long-term planning. It’s something that not only creates delays in fee approvals and grants for daycares, but also something that impacts non-profit organizations and other service providers to government.

The trend we’ve seen with this government is a move to single-year contracts, away from multi-year contracts and funding contracts with service providers. This is for daycares. This is for non-profits, social service agencies, health care organizations. What the result is, is continued uncertainty for these organizations and their staff and difficulty in them being able to do any kind of long-term planning.

It was heightened this year with a budget that was two months late. These organizations had expired contracts with government and did not know if they were going to be able to continue on, because their funding was on a year-to-year basis, and this budget did not come through in time to allow them to know if they could continue to count on that funding.

[11:00 a.m.]

There are long delays in approvals for program changes and fee increases, as I’ve heard from daycares, which makes it, again, difficult for them to do their planning, difficult for them to know if they’re going to be able to give salary increases. In moving to these one-year contracts, it has increased, in a dramatic way, the amount of paperwork that is required both by the service provider but also by government.

In order to be able to rather than every three years enter into negotiations with these contracted services, they’re doing it on an annual basis. The contractor feels that by the time they get the first contract negotiated, it’s already time to start to negotiate the next contract.

Again, this really, to me, demonstrates a lack of long-term planning. So I would hope this government will consider moving back to multi-year contracts to give some clarity and support to these non-profits and small organizations that are providing services to this province, but more importantly, providing services to British Columbians who desperately need them. It would also allow government to be more efficient and direct more resources to service enhancement. With the current deficit and with the challenges that we are facing as we move out of that deficit in however many years that takes, the more efficient the government can be in providing services, the better it will be for all British Columbians.

I note, also, a reference in the budget that the sector’s intention…. And this is a fine intention, but the intention is to move daycare out of the Ministry of Children and Family Development and move it into the Ministry of Education. Now, this is a very tight time frame that the government has given in the budget. They’re saying that by 2023, that is going to happen, yet I have not spoken to any school trustees or any daycare providers that have been consulted on this or that understand what the plan is. So 18 months from now…. Nobody that’s involved in this seems to know what the plan is.

I’m also wondering if this means that the Ministry of Education…. Is it going to have an oversight role in the delivery of daycare, as MCFD and Health do right now? Or is the expectation that child care is going to actually be embedded within the education system and will be funded and operated by the Ministry of Education? The ’21-22 Ministry of Children and Family Development service plan commits to developing a strategy for the “delivery of child care into the Ministry of Education.”

In this budget, there is yet another pilot project in daycare announced. It’s called the seamless day model, and it’s another pilot. So we have the pilot which is the $10-a-day daycare. We have all these changes being made to the child care fee reduction initiative and the fee caps. Now we have another pilot project called the seamless day model. If I was to look at all of this layering on in different programs, one might think that this government doesn’t have a focus or an overriding strategy in how to deliver efficient daycare in the province of British Columbia.

There was a report on the seamless day model prepared by CUPE last summer. I’ll just read from it. You know, I agree: ECE workers need more security. They need higher salaries. They need more support from government, from the private sector as well, from daycare operators who I know desperately want to be able to pay more and support their staff, but because of ministry policies under CCFRI, do not have the ability to do that.

But what this report says — again, prepared by CUPE — is “moving child care and ECE into the public education system will also more broadly address recruitment and retention issues within the ECE sector, as ECE positions in the public sector have fewer recruitment and retention issues, and unionized programs experience less turnover.”

[11:05 a.m.]

I’ll go back to what I just asked a moment ago. Is the intention for this government, in 18 months, to move child care into Education, truly into Education, to be operated through daycares which are staffed by the public sector?

From the reference to this program in this budget, I must say that the child care sector is concerned. It is unclear as to what is happening. This government likes to make an announcement about a policy and then try and build the policy underneath the announcement. It’s very unclear, and it is causing additional stress to these hard-working people providing child care today. They don’t know what they should be doing on a long-term basis.

Should they be opening new spaces? Well, they can’t do that anyway. They can’t afford to do it under the CCFRI. Should they be hiring more staff? How is an organization, whether they’re non-profit or profit, supposed to do any kind of operational planning when they don’t know where the funding is going to be and they don’t know if they’re even going to have a business or an organization to operate?

On behalf of all of those child care providers putting their hearts and souls into caring for our children, I certainly would urge this government to ensure that they are part of any planning or discussion on any change that is going to be made here.

I was just reading some research that came out of Ontario, as they’re looking at implementing universal daycare as well. It shows very clearly that a market approach to regulated daycare provides a diversity of working experiences and opportunities for ECE workers and diverse experiences for children and their families, and it provides parents with a choice.

The Representative for Children and Youth made what she referred to as urgent recommendations related to supports for children and youth with special needs. So in last year’s service plan, a commitment was made to develop and to implement a children and youth with special needs framework. Now, this was to be delivered by government this past fall. Again, it’s been something that the representative has been looking for, for quite some time, not just this last year. It’s been requested and recommended previously. It has not been delivered, and certainly, nothing has been implemented.

The pandemic has shown us just how vulnerable these families are and how much more support they need from government — without a pandemic. For example, families with children with autism experienced a complete derailment of the services that they could access in this last year.

Young people with autism require development work. They require speech therapy. They require to be taken out into the community and learn how to use buses and go to day camps and learn to socialize. It’s so, so very important for these young people to have those external opportunities to develop their social skills and their coping skills. All of these services were cut off last year during the lockdown. There was no summer camp. There were no day camps. Many of them couldn’t go to school because they have underlying health conditions and concerns.

What happened is that these parents, who already are under so much pressure and have, also, very often had financial challenges because of the needs that have impacted their life in staying home and caring for this very loved child that they have…. Many had to take time off of work and lost income. They had to incur other expenses.

The autism funding that they’re allowed, on an annual basis, of $6,000 is so narrowly defined in terms of what they’re able to use these funds for that it was not allowed to be used for anything outside of day camps and speech therapy and all of these things that were not being provided to them, including respite for parents. I can’t even imagine how tired these parents must be.

Parents had asked that this $6,000 actually be allowed to be rolled over into the next year, particularly to recognize that there were some additional expenses, such as taking time off work, but also to recognize that in this coming year, those young people are going to require a higher level of services because they’ve lost that year of development opportunity. They’ve lost that year of therapy. They’ve lost that year of social interaction and learning. They were told by MCFD, after it was asked of them, that that would not be possible, and that money disappeared at the end of March. It’s very unfortunate.

[11:10 a.m.]

For many years, the representative has also been asking for supports for young people with FASD. Another report just came out last week asking for the same support, yet it does not appear in this budget. These young people often have the same or similar needs as a young person with autism, but as soon as they have an FASD diagnosis, CYSN actually cuts them off from these services. We’re hoping that this new CYSN framework, which is still to be released, is going to address many of the funding gaps that children and youth with special needs have. Also, it is going to address the lack of funding and support for families with children with FASD.

With a budget of $2.4 billion, I was surprised, I guess is the word, when I looked at MCFD, the Ministry of Children and Family’s service plan, and it was 15 pages long — a $2.4 billion budget, 15 pages long, 12-point font at least, and some charts. There were six performance measurements.

Now, we know MCFD has much greater responsibility than six programs and six priority areas, but there were only six performance measures. I was extremely surprised because this service plan…. I looked at the budget, and we’re trying to figure out what the numbers are in the budget. So you look at the service plan, and the service plan really should be the document that sets out the strategy. What are the programs? What are the supports? What are the outcomes that we’re trying to provide? How is this money going to be used? But, instead, there wasn’t much there.

I’ve heard this government talk about reducing the number of children in care as a key objective, but that’s a quantitative number, not a qualitative one. There were no qualitative measures in this service plan.

I see that I am running out of time here, so I will just say a couple other things. I didn’t see additional support for those 17,000 non-union social services workers who have been left behind in the low-wage redress meant to move the sector closer to the health care sector. Those 17,000 employees are in a worse place than they were before. I don’t see the money that was supposedly set aside last year for recruitment and retention for that group.

This, to me, looks like another type of community benefits agreement, where this government is using a funding policy to force groups of employers to unionize, even if their employees have no need or interest in unionization. It’s the gradual unionization of the social services sector.

Hon. J. Whiteside: I can’t tell you how honoured I am to stand before you today, virtually, in strong support of our government’s budget both as the MLA for New Westminster and as B.C.’s Minister of Education.

Our government’s budget focuses on people and businesses across B.C. who are working hard to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and get life back on track. B.C. is providing more supports per capita for people and businesses than any other province. Our government’s budget continues to directly support people and businesses by continuing to fund the B.C. recovery benefit and a range of measures to help businesses adapt and prepare to seize the opportunities that recovery will offer.

Our government’s budget makes the largest investment in B.C.’s history in mental health and addictions services, including more supports in schools and expanding our response to the overdose crisis. An exciting investment for students across B.C. — free public transportation for children 12 and under. Now that will save families up to $672 a year per child and give the next generation of transit riders a head start on the many health and wellness benefits that active transportation brings.

[11:15 a.m.]

Our government’s budget doubles the number of $10-a-day child care spaces, continues to build and expand centres to create more spaces and provides 400 more culturally relevant child care spaces for Indigenous families. And it doubles the wage enhancement for early childhood educators, the workforce behind the workforce. I’d go further and say that I think our plan really does recognize the diversity of B.C. families and the different needs that they have in different settings and sectors.

In Budget 2021, we will also see record infrastructure investments, creating 85,000 jobs over three years, building schools, building hospitals, roads and more right across the province.

Ultimately, our government’s budget is about helping people now and creating the conditions for a strong economic recovery. In short, it’s all about people. It’s about supporting people across the province.

In my constituency of New Westminster, we also see the importance of these investments in access to health care and education and in affordable child care. I just wanted to highlight a couple of the projects that I think are particularly important. Royal Columbian Hospital, the oldest hospital in our province, has just started construction, just broke ground, on phase 2, which is a 348-bed acute care tower. It’s going to expand our acute care space, expand our emergency room space, and it is a lead-up to phase 3, where there will be a further expansion of in-patient capacity.

I want to say that Royal Columbian Hospital is such an important part of the fabric of our community in British Columbia. It dates back to 1862. It has a long and storied history as B.C.’s oldest hospital, yet it has now become an important tertiary care centre for the province and, in fact, serves one in three people in British Columbia, providing very important services. So we see how the investment that our government is making in people rolls out in communities right across the province.

In our government’s budget, of course, there’s so much good news for K-to-12 students, families, staff and communities. While we talk about education as a sector, education is really all about people. Schools are safe havens for many children, where students can access food and mental health supports, where they grow and learn and thrive. Our schools must be places that are welcoming and inclusive for all students. Schools are places where inequities must be addressed, where lessons can change lives, where teachers and mentors help shape lives and build confidence.

I do want to give a big shout-out to all of the staff, to the teachers and education assistants, to clerical workers and administrators, to custodians and maintenance teams and bus drivers — all those who teach and support our children, who take care of our schools, who lead and keep our schools running smoothly and who safely transport our kids. I’d like to recognize, as well, all of the trustees and advocates who spend their own time advocating for education. We all owe you a debt of thanks for supporting schools and children and education throughout the pandemic.

I am proud of all of the work our government is doing, making phenomenal progress at building new schools, making schools safer with seismic upgrades, expanding mental health supports for students and staff, increasing affordable child care and introducing new anti-racism initiatives as we all work together to end systemic racism.

These important investments are moving forward despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has altered this school year in ways we really couldn’t have imagined just over a year ago. We know the sacrifices everyone is making this year will have long-term positive impacts for students on their learning because we were able to keep schools open and safe — and just as important, on their mental health and wellness. In a year of so much uncertainty, I know that for many students and families, school was one of their only constants, their only sense of normalcy. I am very, very grateful and proud of the work everyone has done across our education system to mitigate the impact of COVID on our children.

[11:20 a.m.]

In addition to historic high investments in school operating and capital funding, as reflected in our government’s budget, we have also supplied schools and districts with significant one-time funding to keep schools open and safe this school year. A total of $288 million continues to support school safety plans through the pandemic. All school districts are using their COVID restart funding to hire additional staff, to make improvements to ventilation, to support remote learning and to increase cleaning protocols. We have several examples of these investments that aren’t just short term. They’re investments, in fact, that will benefit schools and the education system for many years to come.

We will continue to work with public health officials as they review what health and safety measures will be necessary in September. While we expect that students will be learning in more normal conditions in the fall, as a result of the government’s vaccine rollout, we will follow the advice of our public health officials and provide resources to school districts as needed. As we continue to support school communities, Budget 2021 ensures our education system will have the highest-ever school operating and capital funding.

K-to-12 education is receiving record levels of funding in this budget, with a 6 percent increase over last year which represents a 25 percent increase since 2016. Many of you know…. I mean, we know that education is all about people, but actually, 90 percent of the costs in education are directly about people. They’re our teachers, our education assistants, support staff and administrators. This budget, I am proud to say, fully funds negotiated labour costs for teachers and support staff with an investment of $662 million in funding.

Our government is also providing school districts with an additional $424 million to recognize enrolment growth. I am excited to tell you that our government’s budget includes funding boosts to improve access to virtual mental health programs and services in schools, to expand early learning and on-site school child care opportunities and for us to develop a framework to address racism and reconciliation.

Throughout this pandemic, we have worked closely with our partners across the K-to-12 education system to do everything possible to maintain safe schools for students and staff. I’m deeply grateful for the collective effort of students, educators, school staff and parents who showed their trust in our work by sending the vast majority of their children to school each day to learn in classrooms.

We know, for many reasons, that kids learn best in the classroom with their peers and with the professional guidance of teachers, where they have access to the additional important supports such as meal programs, mental health supports and access to technology, and where they have a chance to be with their friends and be kids. As we continue our vaccine rollout in communities throughout B.C., our government’s budget offers record-high investments in school operating and capital funding at a time when students and staff are looking to us for steady leadership and increasing financial stability.

Let’s just look at the numbers. Our government’s budget invests $21.5 billion over three years to deliver B.C.’s K-to-12 education. Compared to Budget 2017, our government is investing nearly $3.4 billion more in the delivery of education in B.C. with this budget.

Our government’s budget includes more than $1.2 billion in additional operating funds in B.C. schools over the next three years. It includes support for the growing number of special needs students as well. English and French language learners and Indigenous learners in our schools also will receive additional funding.

[11:25 a.m.]

In 2021, we’re investing $437 million more annually to deliver K-to-12 education in B.C., for a total of $7.1 billion. That’s $1.4 billion or 25 percent more than the 2016-2017 budget. It’s a 6 percent increase over last year. That is the largest year-over-year increase in recent history and something that our government is justifiably very proud of.

Of course, while we plan for the future, we are very mindful of what is happening in our schools now. We know that the pandemic is taking a toll on the mental health of students and staff. We must be prepared to support them. Our government’s budget adds $6 million to further support critical student mental health initiatives in our schools. That’s on top of the nearly $13.9 million investment, in partnership with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, to help build capacity in school districts and make mental health and wellness front and centre for students, parents and educators.

As part of our government’s broader work to build mental health supports, $97 million in total to build a network of mental health supports for youth that includes new Foundry centres that provide young people health and wellness resources in their communities. This investment will also support the creation of 15 new integrated child and youth teams in schools around B.C. In addition, our mental health in schools strategy embeds mental health and substance use programs and services for students throughout the education system and expands on A Pathway to Hope, our government’s strategy to transform mental health and substance use care for children and young people.

Teachers and education staff have done a tremendous job of keeping kids learning through the pandemic and have gone above and beyond this year in keeping our schools safe. Navigating the ongoing pandemic is a challenge for all British Columbians. We know that there have been impacts on people’s mental health.

Our province also offers a range of supports that all education staff can access to help with anxiety, stress and worry. This includes access to free phone-based support with a counsellor through the B.C. COVID-19 Mental Health Network. Or they can access free remote access to the BounceBack program, which offers tools to support mental wellness. The 310-Mental Health support number also offers free emotional support, information and resources 24 hours a day. The mental health and wellness of everyone in our school communities is supported by our government’s budget.

Turning now to speaking about the environments and the infrastructure in which our children learn, we know that investment in infrastructure is critically important to support students, staff and safety. We continue to make historic investments in schools so that communities and families have the new schools they need. They have upgraded schools so their children are safe in the event of an earthquake and expanded schools in fast-growing cities, towns and neighbourhoods.

We understand that modern learning environments will help prepare B.C. students for the jobs of tomorrow in the dynamic classrooms of today. We are continuing to make record investments in school facilities, with almost $3.1 billion in provincial funding budgeted over the next three years for new and expanded schools, to seismically upgrade schools and for maintenance, playgrounds and property purchases to invest in the future development of our school system.

Again, if we just look at the numbers on this…. If we compare it to Budget 2016, Budget 2021 invests nearly $1.6 billion additional dollars in maintaining, improving and expanding B.C.’s school facilities.

[11:30 a.m.]

Building on investments announced in recent years, our budget includes an additional $235 million over three years for accelerating seismic upgrades, an additional $100 million for school site acquisitions in fast-growing areas of our province and $177 million more for expansion projects that address enrolment growth and reduce portable use.

In addition, our budget includes new funding to support facility safety and improvements, including projects that address potential COVID-19-related health and safety issues, including increases next year for a number of capital programs; our annual facilities grant — that’s an additional $5 million to address unanticipated and emergent facility-related needs; an additional $6 million into our school enhancement program to improve the safety, condition and functionality of existing schools; and an additional $4 million into our building envelope program.

I wanted to take a minute to speak, particularly, about, perhaps, the fastest-growing community in our province, and that is Surrey, where we have been especially aggressive, because we believe that every child in B.C. deserves the best possible learning environment. So we have approved nearly $450 million in new schools, expansions, seismic upgrades and land purchases for future schools in Surrey. These investments are helping nearly 9,600 students in Surrey move from portables into classrooms, as they did, between 2018 and 2025. Now, that’s the equivalent of almost 385 portables.

Listen, I know there is no question that we’re playing catch-up after 16 years of cuts and underfunding by the old government. But this past September, for the first time in recent memory, Surrey did not have to purchase new portables for students, and there is no plan to purchase portables for this upcoming year. Our investments in Surrey are working, and they will save the district millions in portable costs. This is the difference here: we are moving three times faster on school projects in Surrey than the old government.

Now, when it comes to sustainable investments, students are looking for us to lead now and support their futures. Our investments will become their legacy. We must be thoughtful in how we build and grow. With CleanBC, we are reducing pollution by powering our future in K-to-12 education by increasing the carbon neutral capital program by $11.6 million over the next three years, as well as investing $4 million extra to support the acquisition of the purchase of electric buses under the bus acquisition program.

I want to talk about another really, really important element of education, because it’s not just all about books and book-learning. As you know — we all know — school is so much more than books. It’s also a place where children come to play and to learn through play. We know that play is a critical component for student wellness, as well.

To relieve the burden of parents having to fundraise, our government’s budget doubles the funding next year for safe, modern, accessible playgrounds in this fiscal year. Now, we’ve already invested $15 million to date through the playground equipment program so that more than 35,000 children will be able to enjoy new playgrounds at 141 schools throughout B.C.

I can’t tell you, actually, how thrilled I am that we are continuing this important investment for B.C. students and communities in our government’s budget with an additional $20 million over the next three years. I have seen the faces on children as they are playing in these fully accessible playgrounds, and that is just a sight to behold.

[11:35 a.m.]

Of course, we know, as well, that there is nothing more important than ensuring that every child is supported to reach their full potential. Our government is committed to removing barriers that stand in their way. School districts will receive additional dollars for special needs students in the upcoming year. An estimated $664.4 million in supplemental funding is allocated in our government’s budget, an increase of $200 million, or 43 percent, since the 2016-2017 school year. We know that that is welcome news for families whose children need learning supports.

When it comes to Indigenous Peoples and our very serious and true and lasting commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, of course I want to note that, again, B.C. was the first province to pass legislation to implement the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. In Education, that means that for the first time, the new K-to-12 curriculum ensures that Indigenous knowledge and perspectives are woven across all grades and areas of learning. Eighteen Indigenous languages have also been approved to be taught in B.C. schools, and more are in development.

To support Indigenous learners in the 2021-22 school year, targeted funding is estimated at $95.2 million — an increase of $25.5 million, or over 36 percent, since the 2016-2017 school year. Of the one-time COVID-related funds this past year, we’ve provided $8.2 million to the First Nations Education Steering Committee for Indigenous students living on reserve and attending public school. The COVID-specific funding supported pandemic-related challenges in First Nations communities, such as addressing learning loss and student health, technology for remote learning, education and mental health support, as well as adapting classroom spaces, and enhanced cleaning.

As part of our government’s commitment to support anti-racism and reconciliation efforts, our government’s budget will include an additional $1.3 million to continue our work to develop a framework to address racism and reconciliation. This follows, and will allow us to continue, very important work started last summer, when we hosted a community round table on anti-racism and education.

We brought together community leaders from a wide range of groups to provide input into the development of a multi-year K-to-12 anti-racism action plan, and to review how we can strengthen our provincial curriculum to include new teachings, perspectives and history. We plan to launch the K-to-12 anti-racism action plan later this year. I’m looking very much forward to working closely with B.C.’s first parliamentary secretary responsible for anti-racism.

Finally, as we look to the future, bringing child care and education together is such an important step to support government’s long-term plan to create a universal, inclusive early care and learning system. That system will better support children and families and inspire lifelong learning.

Our ministry will be expanding the seamless day pilot from four locations to 24, which will benefit families in accessing more child care on school grounds and will integrate school-aged child care programs into kindergarten and grade 1 classrooms. This is all about making life better for families, easier for families and improving the services that we provide to children.

These steps will support the work ahead, as the province continues to engage with partners from the child care and education sector, including Indigenous-led child care providers, to continue to build an inclusive early learning, early care and learning system to move British Columbia even further along the path to universal child care.

When I look at the sum of what we’ve put forward, and not just the numbers, but the intent behind the numbers, I think what our government’s budget says is that to British Columbians who are looking for what they can expect as we move out of the pandemic and into the months ahead, we’re answering the call for steady, supportive and compassionate leadership that puts people first.

[11:40 a.m.]

Budget 2021, our government’s budget, is about helping people now and creating the conditions for a strong economic recovery. It’s about making our health care better, creating new opportunities for people and for families. It’s about helping B.C. businesses hire and grow. It’s about investing in infrastructure, including schools, to create jobs and to build up our communities.

You know, I think about this every day. I think about how kids and families are experiencing our education system. I think that what kids and families want to know is that we care about them, that we have their backs. I think the investments that we’re making in schools and education in this budget show that.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to our government’s 2021-2022 budget. It is clear that the priorities of our government…. Putting people first. Building up our public services. Our green economy. Our capacity for communities to be resilient and build on strong foundations. There are many, many elements of this budget that support those endeavours as we come out of what has been a life-altering experience in terms of dealing with a global pandemic.

This budget, I know, is going to help every British Columbian. It’s going to help our education system. It’s going to help us rebuild our communities. Thank you very much, and I will end my comments there.

G. Kyllo: I’m very proud to stand in the House today to respond to Budget 2021. On behalf of my constituents of Shuswap, the hard-working men and women that do so much work in the local community, I just want to get an opportunity to thank all of them. This has been an extremely challenging year. I’m very happy to stand in this House today and talk about Budget 2021 and where I see that there are some failings and some missed opportunities for this government.

Before I get into the meat of the budget, I would like to take an opportunity just to give thanks to my beautiful wife, Georgina — my wife of now 33 years — and our four amazing daughters and nine grandchildren, and growing. I’m certainly hoping that the girls haven’t given up yet and there may be some more yet to come. It’s certainly the bright spot of our life.

I think as we all give consideration and thought to why we seek higher office or public service, it’s largely about our kids and our grandkids. It’s certainly not lost on me — the work of this House and the work of government and even this budget and the implications that this will have on future generations. Georgina, I love you very much and want to thank you very much for all of your support in allowing me to do what I do.

Also, back in the Shuswap riding, my constituency office is very ably managed by Holly Cowan and Bonnie. I just want to really thank them for all the great work they do. The compassion that they share and show to constituents in the Shuswap when I’m not there and the concern they have for making sure that they try and find solutions for constituents is certainly very much appreciated. The work they do in that office is a direct reflection on me, so I really appreciate, Holly, both you and Bonnie for the work you do on behalf of constituents around the Shuswap.

As we look to Budget 2021, we see a significant departure from what we had seen previously, with a real desire and a drive, not just here in B.C. but across Canada, to move towards balanced budgets, to spending only within our means. I think we can all appreciate that COVID has presented unprecedented challenges for society, so I think that we’re quite happy to see that the projected budget deficit that was projected last year by this government, at $13.5 billion, was much higher than what was actually attained. The economy did not derail to the same degree, I think, as government may have projected.

[11:45 a.m.]

We’ve also seen a significant increase in revenues, largely around the housing sector. Despite the NDP’s promises around improving affordability, largely around housing prices, we have seen the exact opposite. We’ve seen a significant escalation in housing prices. Affordability is just that much further from the sights of many first-time homebuyers in the province. But it is a good sign.

If we look back to 2017, the first year that the NDP took office in British Columbia, they inherited about a $2.7 billion surplus. The single largest surplus, I think, ever delivered in the history of British Columbia was $2.7 billion. If we look at that in the context of about a $69 billion provincial budget, it’s a pretty significant surplus that was achieved in 2017.

The NDP maintained balanced budgets through until this last year. We have now seen, and I think it’s well understood and accepted by British Columbians and Canadians, that when we’re in tough times, that is the time for government to dig deep and go into deficit spending in order to help the economy and help British Columbians through very tumultuous times. But what we’re seeing as we go forward is that rather than deficits for one or maybe two years until we see the economy start to return, government has actually announced and is forecasting deficit spending for the next nine years, a significant amount of additional debt that will be on the backs of future generations.

The current forecast for 2021 is a $9.7 billion deficit; in 2022 fiscal, a $5.5 billion deficit; a $4.3 billion deficit in 2023. As I mentioned, the $13½ billion deficit that the government had projected for this past fiscal was reduced and is now only $8.1 billion.

I think we also have to have a look at why, if we are ensuring and giving consideration to a return to full economic recovery within the next 12 months, there is a need for consistent and continued borrowing, only further saddling future generations with additional debt load. That’s something that’s concerning to me. I think we’re seeing increased conversation with British Columbians and Canadians, especially as we see a record deficit being projected by the federal government. People are now, I think, starting to turn their minds to when we will see a return to balanced budgets across our province and across the country.

Now, as we look to Budget 2021, there was a significant number of large promises that were made by the current government just ahead of the snap election. Just to remind British Columbians, the fixed scheduled election date was actually for October 16 of this current year, of 2021, but government chose to put their political self-interests ahead of the health and well-being of British Columbians, and despite record support of additional COVID spending that was necessary to get through this last year. There was a lot of cooperation and collaboration within this House.

Despite all of that, the NDP chose, as I mentioned, to put their political self-interests ahead of the health and well-being of British Columbians and to move forward with an unnecessary snap election in the middle of a global pandemic.

The reason I speak to that is that a lot of folks were not paying attention. There was, of course, a U.S. election south of the border. People were not paying attention at home as much as they otherwise would have. We also have to have a look at what the lost opportunities are and the impact that snap election had on the ability of government to actually continue to deliver the services and the supports that were needed during a pandemic. Most importantly, it had to do with continued stalling and delays of many of the different supports that both individuals across British Columbia and businesses were looking for.

[11:50 a.m.]

As we know, last spring in March, there was unanimous support for a $5 billion COVID recovery spending initiative to provide those necessary supports, both for businesses and for individuals, across the province. The intention — and the understanding, I know, of both members of our opposition caucus and of those of the Green Party — was that those funds were going to be put to good use, that those funds were going to flow into the hands of individuals and businesses to help them through the COVID pandemic.

Unfortunately, what we saw, despite John Horgan appointing himself, so self-appointing as the….

Deputy Speaker: If I might remind the member, the practice of the House is not to use names. Thank you.

G. Kyllo: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My apologies.

What we saw is the Premier of the province self-appoint himself as the chair of the COVID economic recovery restart program. Through that process, we went through a period of five months of consultation with businesses and individuals. Through that entire five-month period, money did not flow — only to have the COVID restart funding initiative announced mere days before calling a snap election.

Despite what the Premier had indicated and conveyed to British Columbians — that the supports that businesses were looking for, those necessary financial supports, that lifeline, would not be in any way deterred or stalled because of the election — we know that that is exactly the opposite from what happened.

The $5 billion funding that was established for COVID recovery…. The business support program wasn’t announced until September. A short four days later, we’re thrown into an unnecessary snap election, and no funds went out the door. It wasn’t until into December that we finally saw some initial applications even being taken, by government, for businesses that were looking for that support. I believe that as recently as just last week, less than a third of the initial business support funding has actually gone out the door.

I think we can all appreciate that there is a need for government to provide financial supports to individuals and businesses in the instance of a global pandemic. There’s also a necessity to see those funds flow. The fact that the funds were established and set aside is of no benefit to British Columbians or businesses until those funds actually flow into the hands of those hard-working business owners, providing them the opportunity to put those dollars back into the economy to help with COVID recovery. It’s a significant concern.

Now some of the highlights of the budget. Again, the role of the official opposition largely is to provide criticism of government, to have a look at the unintended consequences of government policy and to hold government to account. I happen to be the critic for Labour. “Critic” — unfortunately or, maybe, fortunately — is short for “criticism.” As we know, government has government communications and public engagement. It’s a large branch within the government that spends tens of millions of dollars a year on talking about all the wondrous policies and initiatives of government.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

It is largely put on the backs of opposition members to provide the counter-narrative, to identify what areas of government spending may be unwise or may not be being put to their best use. It is largely the work and the responsibility of opposition members to highlight areas where there’s either a missed opportunity or where government may be going on a path and not being cognizant of the significant negative consequences of some of these policies that are being brought forward.

It is not that we’re negative by nature. It is the job that we are to undertake on behalf of British Columbians, largely to hold the government to account. So a large portion of my comments this morning will be to speak and to highlight areas where there’s either a failure of government to meet previous commitments or other opportunities, where government is missing the opportunity to provide those necessary supports to see British Columbians get through this pandemic.

Noting the hour, Mr. Speaker, I reserve my right to continue and ask for adjournment of debate.

G. Kyllo moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. S. Robinson moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 11:55 a.m.