Orders of the Day

Hon. L. Beare: I call Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

[3:35 p.m.]

[R. Leonard in the chair.]

Throne Speech Debate

S. Chant: I move, seconded by the member for Chilliwack:

[That we, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in session assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious Speech which Your Honour has addressed to us at the opening of the present session.]

I thank you, Madam Speaker, for the opportunity to address the members of this House in response to the throne speech.

Before I begin my remarks, I acknowledge I’m currently working and staying on the unceded lands of the Songhees, Esquimalt and Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking people and that North Vancouver–Seymour, my riding, where I live, work and learn, is in the territory of the Coast Salish, specifically the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations. I continue to work towards collaborating with Indigenous partners in a variety of areas, and I value that partnership immensely.

I would also like to acknowledge the vast cultural di­versity that gives our province so much strength and to encourage everyone to celebrate their various events safely with and for their families and communities. Of course, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the constituents and businesses of North Vancouver–Seymour for their continued support and for their belief in me as an advocate and representative on their behalf. The opportunity to speak with many people is critically important, enhanced by emails, social media and virtual media options.

My constituency staff continue to amaze me in how effective and efficient they are at ensuring that constituents are recognized, acknowledged and responded to in a timely and respectful fashion, and at wrangling me, so that I’m in the right place, doing the right thing at the right time, which is much harder than it sounds.

Eli Mallin, Michael Charrois and Heather Andrews make up the team that keeps my constituency office open and running. You have no idea how many B.C. vaccine cards they have created, laminated and distributed — and also, the printing of Canadian vaccine papers, to name a couple of the many day-to-day functions.

And my family. My husband, Rick, continues to be the patient mainstay who has the courage and commitment to tell me when I’m overdoing it or overthinking, as well as being able to say no, on occasion, when I volunteer us for too much. My daughters Lindsey and Nicole try to very hard to care for me and provide a buffer when the media, social or otherwise, are forcefully expressing their opinions for things done — or not done, depending on the situation. Both my brothers, Ken and Bill, continue to provide support and ideas on how to make things better for our community and our province. The rest of my family and friends are honest, direct and patient with me, for which I am grateful.

We are in a time where we all need something. Some of those needs are common to everyone. Some of the needs are specific to individuals, groups, communities, businesses and sectors throughout our province. Ideally, we all work in concert to identify and meet those needs as best we can, using an established and detailed map to chart our course.

We build this map in a variety of ways. Initially, a big picture is laid out with all of the overarching information represented: areas of focus, areas of concern and areas that are providing strong prototypes that work and could be applied elsewhere.

As time and work go on, the next overlay becomes evident. Greater detail is added, and initiatives, projects and ongoing ventures are placed, like puzzle pieces. For some, easy to see how they fit together to form a clear picture. For some, much more complex and needing time, money and effort to accomplish.

Every time that we step back and look at the picture, we can see where focus is needed. Resources are determined and allocated. Entities take on or maintain oversight, and the work goes on. This is a cycle that repeats itself over and over. When it is done well, it produces outcomes that can be recognized to meet the identified needs in a way that works for and with those who are impacted. It is ongoing work, and it’s the work of the people and the government of this province.

The throne speech lays out the preliminary map for our work, speaking to those identified needs and providing a platform for ongoing discussion and efforts to create a better present and future with British Columbia. It assures us of support for our endeavours and encourages all of us to bring our best ideas, creativity and willingness to the table.

[3:40 p.m.]

This year, much like last year, there are many elements to be addressed that are ongoing and new opportunities that have been recognized for further exploration and innovation. I will speak to these ongoing areas initially, as those are where we are the most familiar and that represent a large component of our day-to-day business — areas such as COVID management and recovery, which we all thought would be in the past by this time.

However, that is not the case, and we are still demonstrating high levels of resilience, nimbleness and dogged determination to get through something that has impacted not only British Columbia, not only Canada or North America but the world.

Most of us have no experience of epidemics, let alone a pandemic. As we have seen over the past year, many people have opinions and beliefs around how government should manage each and every aspect associated with trying to keep a population as safe and healthy as possible. The ministries of our government — Health, Mental Health, Labour, Education, Economic Recovery and Innovation and, in fact, all ministries of the government — have been focused on keeping the people of British Columbia as safe and healthy as possible and have been moving together towards this goal in a whole variety of ways.

The Minister of Health and public health officer providing a steady framework to reduce transmission, to reduce the health impacts and to get through the pandemic.

The Minister of Mental Health identifying the needs of various populations — students, health care providers, Indigenous communities, seniors, front-line service workers, as well as parents and families, to name a few — and bringing in supports that are available at the end of a cell phone, a computer, a land line or other device, as well as in-person services.

The Minister of Economic Recovery and Innovation distributing grants to small and medium businesses to help them get through the downturns that came with the COVID waves, supporting those businesses to get into the virtual marketplace.

The Minister of Labour initially ensuring that workers could get time off to be vaccinated and that there was an interim plan for paid sick leave that allowed workers to not have to choose between going to work sick or not getting paid — an initiative that laid out the preliminary steps for the five days’ paid sick leave for all B.C. workers that came into effect on January 1 of this year.

The Minister of Education, in conjunction with the school boards, staff and administration, kept our schools open as much as possible to provide a structured, safe and healthy environment that kids and families can count on, as well as ensuring that there are alternate options available if in-classroom attendance cannot be achieved.

Actually, I think that everyone is getting the picture of teams of people working together to deal with an entity that has evolved and changed over the past two years. I could continue to outline what each ministry and staff have been doing to mitigate, remediate and eradicate COVID. However, there is a limit to the time I get to speak, and I must ensure that I acknowledge the work of the other official parties in bringing forward concerns, identified gaps and questions that ensure that the voices of all British Columbians are heard.

On top of the management and recovery from COVID, there are so many other matters that need attention, whether ongoing or something new. The work of the government does not stop because of the pandemic. It keeps going, to address such things as climate change, where the CleanBC map outlines many steps being taken to reduce emissions, decrease carbon footprints, increase energy conservation and explore a transition to alternate energy options, to name a few of the focal points.

Forestry practices are under review and revision to bring them into the current application so that the many values of our beautiful and bountiful trees are able to be enjoyed and stewarded in ways that benefit all. A royalty review has been initiated, looking at oil and gas subsidies and how producers can contribute to the economic recovery and growth in our province.

New provincial parks have been designated, with protected flora and fauna ecosystems. Other parks have been renamed in recognition of our Indigenous partners, which includes, I might add, Say Nuth Khaw Yum Park. Here is where the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has been doing some amazing work in rehabilitating the inlet waters, so much so that the natural bounty of the sea has begun to be edible again. The eelgrass which supports and sustains many aquatic creatures, has revived, and we recently saw whales coming into the inlet — magic.

Funding has gone out to a myriad of groups that husband the land, water, animals, plants and fish of our province, sometimes to rehabilitate, sometimes to promote and sometimes to maintain a vast spectrum of natural abundance.

[3:45 p.m.]

B.C. is a leader in the number of electric vehicles being used, a trend that has been evident over the last couple of years. Supportive local initiatives such as banning single-use plastics, recycling fishing gear that has been taken out of the ocean, clearing the coastal beaches of flotsam and jetsam accumulated over the years, establishing a temporary ban on the use of rodenticides, streamlining the process to return bottles and cans — starting this month, to be able to return milk containers for a refund. All of these things contribute towards our efforts to manage the environmental aspects of climate change.

Then we have to look at how to manage the impact this climate change is having on our lives overall, with temperature fluctuations beyond the norms established over the past 150 years. Heat, cold, fires, floods, winds and the subsequent effects of these extremes provide a task of herculean proportions to save lives, save livelihoods, keep supply chains moving or help rebuild, not to mention all the efforts that are put in proactively to be ready for these events when they occur and provide service and support toward keeping people safe and healthy while it is happening, for whatever the duration.

I would be most remiss if I did not speak to the ongoing and extraordinary work of the B.C. health care system, with its multitude of aspects that are all concentrated not only on getting us through COVID but on the ongoing aspects of promotion, protection and maintenance of health of people across their lifespan.

There are registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses and care aides in hospitals, long-term-care facilities, community clinics and a variety of other settings, trying to ensure the best possible care for clients. That care includes things like personal care, symptom management, wound care and palliation, to name a few foci.

There are physicians in public care settings, in clinics and in their own offices, seeing patients either remotely or in person, also aiming to keep the population as healthy as possible or achieve a manageable quality of life. All the other clinicians — occupational therapists, physiotherapists, respiratory therapists, dietitians, imaging technicians, phlebotomists, lab technicians and more — have specialized education and are there to provide the best possible care.

Our housekeepers and maintenance crews are critical in maintaining clean, safe environments for patients to recuperate and for staff to work safely. Dietary aides ensure that appropriate and nutritious meals are able to be consumed, and the clerical staff make sure that the administration and communication flow as smoothly as possible.

The first responders out in our communities, our fire and police, who re-establish community safety, and our emergency medical technicians, who assess, stabilize and transport sick and injured people to a higher level of care — all of these links are critical and in place, COVID or not. Again, I offer the gratitude of this House towards the dedication, commitment and determination of the folks in this sector, who continue to serve this province through the most difficult of times.

How to speak to the overdose crisis that is terrifying and terrible in the loss of life, grief, guilt and profound impact on those touched by its unpredictable presence? So many things have been done to stem the flow of death, and there’s so much more that can and will be done.

Access to services, treatment, care for all ages, all walks of life, all communities. Increased awareness of the pois­oned drug supply, combined with increased access to safe drugs or alternatives. More education in schools, in businesses and workplaces, on construction sites and a variety of other settings. Talking about drug use, reducing and eradicating the stigma. Not using alone. How to recognize overdose and be able to use antidotes such as naloxone.

Efforts to update the Criminal Code so that possession for the purpose of personal use is no longer a criminal offence to be dealt with by the police and judicial system. Bringing the concept of addiction into the world of health and illness, rather than that of crime, shame or stigma. Creating safe spaces for using or rehabilitating, spaces that are accessible and useful to all those who do access them. The trajectory of this type of preventable death will change as we all work together to identify and create the information, tools, services and resources that are needed for people to not only survive but thrive.

[3:50 p.m.]

Economic recovery and stability are vital to the future of our province and the population. There are no cookie-cutter plans that can be applied to all sectors or even to all components of any given sector. That is why all of our ministries have been creating and implementing a full spectrum of support options for our businesses.

Tourism operators have pivoted to do environmental cleanup of our coasts, supporting the vaccine clinics and a variety of other functions.

Many of my constituents work in the film industry. After a worldwide shutdown of film production, Hollywood North and our burgeoning tech sector are on the rebound because of stringent COVID protocols that served to create and maintain a healthy and safe workplace.

Artists and arts and culture organizations have pivoted really well to online creation and distribution so that even in times of isolation and lockdown, we can still turn to our storytellers for solace and entertainment. My office is currently showcasing works from a group called arTHANKS, which has done artwork to give to health care providers as a gesture of thanks from the art community to the health care community.

A significant number of businesses have applied for and received small and medium business grants, circuit breaker and closure grants to help them maintain staff and continue to provide services. Five days of paid sick leave for those who have never had it in their work contract to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases: COVID, flu, colds, many other things. Increasing the numbers of $10-a-day child care spaces to enable families to make choices about their work-life balance that are not solely driven by child care needs.

These are but a few examples of the last year’s work and products of our government. However, as has been said a number of times, there is still lots to be done.

Helping some of our bigger companies and investors transition into new ways of working and managing the natural resources.

Promoting the work that our Indigenous partners are already doing in supporting the recovery, rehabilitation and renewal of our waterways and lands.

Conversing with communities on what they need to thrive post-COVID.

Supporting non-profit organizations and the amazing work that they do in so many critical areas: housing, supply chain, food safety, socialization, crisis counselling, child care, health care management, building community gardens, organizing events that can be enjoyed safely and so many more things that I could outline, all of which contribute to the strength, resiliency and viability of our communities.

Reducing household costs is an ongoing target of our government. ICBC rebates and reduced costs for insurance, no cost for MSP, increasing the minimum wage, $10-a-day child care and the child opportunity benefit are all examples that provide a template for further efforts toward safe, affordable home life, employment and environment for all of us.

This is just a short list of the things that will continue to occur in order to support recovery and stability for British Columbia, for people, business and industry.

The other thing that we must keep high on our radar is full inclusion of all members of our British Columbia society. Not only is it the right thing that we should be doing at all times, but it is also a huge benefit to our economy in a whole variety of ways.

Over the past year, our job creation has moved steadily upward, currently reaching a point similar to pre-pandemic numbers. It is no secret to anyone that there are staffing shortages in the entire spectrum of work environments — again a by-product, perhaps, of the pandemic. However, critical in our recovery efforts.

The more of our population that is actively employed, the stronger our communities and our province. Everyone should have access to a vocation that pays fairly, has appropriate hours available and is able to offer support as needed to ensure that anyone who has the skills, motivation, interest and willingness has a position that they work in and that works for them.

Inclusion is not something that only speaks in the workplace. It is a framework that must be applied cradle to grave — education, recreation, vocation, health care, culture, language, faith and gender equity, to name a few ap­plications. Inclusion must be integrated into all resources and services, public and private. For some entities, this will require a paradigm shift. For others, it’s something that has been part of the vision and mission statements and is incorporated to an extent. For surprisingly few establishments, it is so much of a norm that in an instance where an accommodation is needed, it’s nothing special or difficult.

[3:55 p.m.]

An example of one area already implemented is the ability to self-designate a variety of gender options on provincial identification. This is where our province strives to be. To cite my many colleagues, the work continues steadily forward.

B.C.’s senior citizens have been hit hard by the COVID pandemic and continue to be one of our most vulnerable populations. Long-term-care facilities in my riding of North Vancouver–Seymour were ground zero in the first wave, and that’s where the front-line work truly started to try to figure out how to change the trajectory of a deadly virus.

Decisions were made to have health care providers work at single sites to reduce transmission. Wages were addressed, sick time was reviewed, and ultimately, 3,000 more front-line providers were recruited and trained. This was done with an investment of $585 million over three years to launch and support the health career ac­cess program.

An additional $1 million went to the Family Caregivers of B.C., where it was directly put toward supporting caregivers of seniors and others. Our government included stakeholders in planning and decision-making and has made significant investments into long-term care.

Another change includes implementing higher care standards to make sure seniors living in long-term-care environments throughout the province receive at least 3.36 hours of care and support per day. That is almost a third increase. Our seniors B.C. website offers information and links for healthy living, transportation, housing and more to help seniors and their caregivers.

Every person in B.C. deserves to live their older years in dignity, safety and with optimal health. Our government has taken steps to make this commitment a reality for seniors in long-term care and in the community. The North Shore has seen the opening of a new long-term-care facility, Creekstone, and is watching as our Lions Gate Hospital builds a new acute care tower, with single-person rooms for enhanced infection control and an increased variety of in-house services.

Child care continues to be a top priority of our government as we expand access to affordable care, enhancing opportunities for families to thrive. Our commitment to $10-a-day daycare is augmented with the building of new facilities and the integration of many existing ones as well as developing government programs. We continue to take strong steps to reduce the wait-lists that parents face to get their kids into care and to reduce the cost of keeping their kids in a safe, healthy and stimulating environment.

Incorporating our child care systems into our Ministry of Education will provide a solid base for the development of further programs and policies that ensure equitable and affordable access. This shift will also help parents feel confident that child care is a core service for families across this province, reliable and one where no one is left behind. Early childhood education and quality care better equips kids for starting school, promoting a smoother transition for families during a critical time in a child’s life.

Child care, in the face of this pandemic, is of vital importance. Our Minister of State for Child Care and our Minister of Children and Family Development have been diligent in ensuring that proper COVID-19 protocols have been followed. Recent announcements of funding for enhanced health and safety in child care facilities were welcome news to both child care providers and families. Additionally, many families are now obtaining the B.C. child opportunity benefit, which can supplement the family income by up to $19,000 annually.

Children in care have also been a significant focus and will continue to be so as the government recognizes that the parenting role is both critical and substantial to children, youth and young adults. The Ministry of Children and Family Development has taken a multifaceted ap­proach toward hearing and implementing recommendations from the child and youth advocate.

The overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care and the difficulties encountered by young people who come out of care, including access to tertiary education, homelessness, limited job training and prospects and mental health issues are all complex issues that are being addressed in a variety of ways.

The actual number of children under the government’s care has diminished. The age at which they are no longer in care has been increased substantially, and tertiary education is free. These are big steps, with more to come.

[4:00 p.m.]

Our government has made sure that all of B.C. benefits from this work. Large capital projects to create jobs, housing and opportunities for communities across this prov­ince continue to be announced. I want to stress that these projects are not just brought into ridings held by our government MLAs. I would like to recognize some recent investments in ridings held by members of the opposition.

In Kamloops, both north and south, our province an­nounced three new shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Guests in these facilities will have access to hot meals, sanitation supplies and referral to health programs. We also announced 37 new affordable housing rental units and over 100 new affordable senior homes.

In Kelowna, 122 new affordable energy-efficient homes, made with mass timber, primarily funded through B.C.’s community housing fund. The jobs created from building this project as well as the housing provided will no doubt be of great benefit to all three ridings in that city.

Through B.C. Housing funding, the village of Clinton was able to welcome 20 new units of housing for low- to moderate-income seniors. And 38 new units of supportive housing was announced for Salmon Arm to support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Valemount will see 14 new units of housing for women and children fleeing violence, with a 72-space child care facility built in as well.

In Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, two lovely communities in the Peace River North, CleanBC grants will replace gas-powered drivers and pumps with new clean electric technology that will create good new jobs and allow the existing energy industries there to thrive and succeed in the new green economy.

In Peace River South, $1 million is being provided to the NorthRiver Midstream to install a waste heat recovery system at their highway processing facility to reduce natural gas use and, again, help industries here transition into a cleaner economy.

I review this work to remind our members opposite that our government values insist that we leave no one out in our aim to provide safe, healthy living and working opportunities for all.

Over the past year, I have vaccinated over 1,000 people — first, second or booster inoculations. I speak to each one of these people for perhaps a couple of minutes. We talk about families, kids, work, travel or whatever topic comes to mind as they get a shot.

I’ve also had the opportunity for many of my constituents to meet with me face to face or by Zoom or Teams, out walking, on the phone, through messaging or other mediums. Everyone is tired — no, exhausted — by the continuous effort they are making, day in and day out, to get through the pandemic. They are worried about how their kids are going to get housing and where. What are the children of today going to inherit in terms of climate change? Who is going to care for people as they age? Why is the traffic congestion so bad?

Those people and the people throughout our province take assurance that their government is made up of people who worry about the same things and are working towards making things better in a myriad of ways. My new year’s resolve for both January 1 and the lunar new year was that 2022, the Year of the Tiger, was to be boring to give our province the chance to catch its breath and resume a predictable lifestyle, whatever that means to each of us.

Our government will continue to invest in the things that are important, because we know, to cite the Lieutenant-Governor, we cannot cut our way to the future. I will take this opportunity to thank Her Honour for her strong, insightful and supportive words that lay out the initial map for this session of the Legislature to work with. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues on both sides of the House to achieve progress on many fronts and to develop new initiatives that address issues important to the people of British Columbia.

With that, I conclude my remarks.

[4:05 p.m.]

D. Coulter: I rise to second the motion: “That we, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in session assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious Speech which Your Honour has addressed to us at the opening of the present session.”

I’d first like to begin by acknowledging that I’m on the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking people, in particular that of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.

I’d also like to take a second, Madam Speaker, to congratulate you on your appointment. It’s very nice to have your steady hand in the chair — and your wonderful mask. It’s wonderful to look at while I’m speaking.

I’d just like to say that this is the best job I’ve ever had. In fact, it will probably be the best job I’ll ever have. It is an incredible honour to serve my community and bring their perspective and concerns here to Victoria. It’s an immense privilege to be in this chamber and able to speak on behalf of my community.

As is customary, I guess I have to do some thank-yous in my speech about the throne speech. I’ll begin by thanking my parents. I know they’re watching today. My mother was furiously texting me and wanted to be able to see me on the legislative channel, which is very nice and sweet and brings a tear to my eye. Well, my parents earned every single grey hair that they have from raising my brother and myself, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. I know I’ve tortured them in some way, in small ways, so I have to thank them.

I’d also like to thank my wife. Without her patience and support, I wouldn’t be here. I’d also like to give a shout-out to my wife. She just started at Chilliwack Hospital as a medical lab assistant, so she’s working on the front lines and is a front-line worker. She takes blood from patients. She does all sorts of things. I have no idea everything she does. It’s just amazing, all the things she does.

With that, I’d really like to thank all the front-line workers during this difficult time. I mean, what a year it has been since my last throne speech — fires, floods, waves of COVID. It’s been a really tough year for all of us and especially for front-line workers. I’d like to just thank them all for everything that they do.

The throne speech lays out a vision to support people by improving child care, making life more affordable, reducing poverty, advancing reconciliation and investing in the services people rely on. Government plans to continue to support people, whether that’s to rebuild after the fires and floods or getting through this wave of COVID.

I think it’s fair to have empathy for folks who are, I guess, sick and tired of all of these measures and vaccines and the rest of it. I think we shouldn’t talk about them with derision. However, COVID-19 is a disease, and it just doesn’t go away just because you want it to.

I encourage and I thank all the citizens in my constituency for getting vaccinated. You know, people say: “Oh, well, society is divided.” It really isn’t. Ninety percent of British Columbians are vaccinated. It’s probably the most support for any political…. Well, it’s not a political position. It’s the most support for anything that I know of in my recent memory.

I’m so proud of my colleague the Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation. He moved quickly to set up programs that normally take months to get going, and he did it in a matter of weeks. Through his ministry, the government has provided $500 million to businesses through direct grants, and this work continues.

I’ve spoken to a small business owner in downtown Chilliwack, and she has taken advantage of these grants. Many of you might know the business. It’s called The Book Man. It’s a little bit famous in British Columbia. Amber, her husband and her father are amazing and have kept this bookstore going. You know, 2020 was a very hard year for them. Amber says the business had substantial loss, and she thanks both the federal and provincial governments for supporting her and getting her through this hard time.

[4:10 p.m.]

This is a quote from Amber: “The Book Man is grateful to have been able to access wage subsidies, CERB, an accessibility grant, the small business grant and the grant for improving our online presence. These incredibly helpful contributions helped put us back on our feet. They saw us through a very tough time, and we were able to create more equity and accessibility at our business. I’m proud to say we just had our best year ever.”

I know she is currently working on doubling the footprint of her store in downtown Chilliwack. It’s an amazing success story in Chilliwack, and it would be a real shame to lose that bookstore. It’s a real part of Chilliwack.

The devastating floods in the fall devastated many parts of British Columbia. They washed out roads and flooded farms and homes. In my community, we were forced to evacuate 1,000 homes. Chilliwack was cut off from the rest of B.C. as roads were washed out and flooded. Highway 1 was under water and impassable. Grocery shelves went empty, and gasoline stations ran out of fuel. Farmers had trouble getting feed, and dairy farmers were having to dump their milk.

Many of our residents also have deep connections. The part of my constituency that flooded is called Yarrow, and it really is part of the Sumas Prairie. The residents in that part of my constituency have a deep connection with the Sumas Prairie and people who live on the Sumas Prairie.

We’ve developed a resiliency centre. I don’t know if anyone knows where the Yellow Barn is. Yes? I’ve been working with Chilliwack Community Services, the mayor of Chilliwack. It is outside of Chilliwack. However, we’ve been working and helping set up this resiliency centre. The United Way has been involved, several local churches, the Mennonite Central Committee. It has been an amazing success story. Farmers used to go to the Yellow Deli every morning to have coffee and interact, and they’ve really been missing that in their lives. This is an amazing success story, and I’m very happy about it.

On Monday, the Minister of Agriculture and her federal counterpart announced significant new supports to help farmers get their farms back up and running. The government is also continuing to have conversations with the federal government to let them know what the province needs to build back our communities. This includes cleanup, housing, rebuilding highways and repairing infrastructure.

Outside of building back better, the Speech from the Throne also included some great things on housing. Chilliwack is the second-fastest-growing community in the province. It actually has the highest in-province migration, mostly from Metro Vancouver, because of — I’m going to use quotes here — cheaper house prices. I’m going to tell you about some shocking house prices now. House prices went up 43 percent this year.

You know, it’s amazing. I talked to a constituent of mine, a young woman. She and her husband have saved up a substantial down payment that a year ago probably would have been a 25 percent down payment. Now it’s not big enough. The house she rents and lives in now was sold for $600,000 just before she rented it. Eight months later it was sold for $980,000. The current owner didn’t want to sell it, but people were coming to him. He didn’t even have to list the house, and he sold it for $1.3 million.

That’s an incredible price jump over the course of a year and a half or two years. It’s amazing, actually. It’s shocking, yes. Her family is going to have a very hard time ever getting into the housing market.

A cooling-off period, introduced by the Finance Minister, is desperately needed. Some houses are selling for $500,000 above asking. Having a cooling-off period would be an excellent start to making home ownership affordable again. The pandemic has been a shock to the housing market, and if it were not for actions that the B.C. NDP government took when we took office, the impacts would be far worse.

[4:15 p.m.]

The opposition had no plans to address out-of-control housing prices in 2017, when they left, and they don’t have any ideas now. The only idea I’ve heard is from their new leader, who said that he would scrap the speculation and vacancy tax, which would take 18,000 rental homes off the market. Doing that is only good for people who have second homes that are vacant. That isn’t good for most of British Columbia. That’s really helping out the well-connected and wealthy friends that you have. I don’t think you’re taking the problem seriously if that’s your idea.

I’d like to talk a little bit about the accessibility legislation that we introduced last spring, and just maybe tell the House where we’re at with it. As everyone knows, in the accessibility legislation it requires government to form a provincial accessibility committee. We have formed that committee and we have great participants. We had our first meeting last month. The candidates are impressive. With your indulgence, I hope I can just tell you who the candidates are and what they do.

We have Debra Maria Abraham. Debra Abraham founded a unique get-together society. She is of Caribbean, Cree and Sioux descent. She has over 20 years of experience working in social services. Active in her community, she’s a board member with Global Access and Inclusion Foundation, and she has also been a secretary for the Co­quitlam Foundation.

Sheryl Burns is president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1936. She has also worked as a legal advocacy program coordinator for the Battered Women’s Support Services. Active in her community, she is an elected persons with disabilities representative on the B.C. Federation of Labour executive council. She’s also a general vice president for CUPE B.C., and the CUPE B.C. representative for the city of Vancouver joint child care working group.

Vinu Abraham Chetipurackal is deaf, and works as a commercial banking analyst for an international bank headquartered in B.C. Active in his community, he is a co-founder and co-chair of the deaf inclusion and diversity leadership council B.C. under the Greater Vancouver Association of the Deaf.

Spring Hawes is my co-chair. I co-chair this committee, so I’m very excited to tell you that Spring Hawes is the co-chair. Spring Hawes incurred a spinal cord injury 15 years ago and is a tetraplegic. She is an entrepreneur and has served as a councillor for the district of Invermere. She’s on the boards for the Interior Health Authority and Accessible Okanagan, and she’s also a volunteer peer for Spinal Cord Injury B.C.

Ken Kramer, QC, TEP, is the founder and principal of KMK Law, and the law firm specializes in the areas of estates, trust, administration, elder law, estate litigation and mediation. He was actually a candidate, and ran to be an MLA at one time. He’s an excellent addition to the committee.

We have Michael McLellan. Michael McLellan lives with a visual impairment and developmental disability. He’s president of Empowering Self Advocates to Take Action, where he teaches a course on people planning together. He chairs the Self Advocate Leadership Network committee, and co-chairs the self-advocate committee for Inclusion B.C. He’s been a president of B.C. People First and a member of the Comox Valley Accessibility Committee. He works with Community Living B.C. and other community services.

Maybe I should stop here, too, because it’s obvious that “Nothing about us without us” is really our guiding principle here. That’s why the minister, who is sitting in the chamber, appointed and chose these people. He did a great job.

Kirsten Sutton is the chief technology and information officer at Vancouver City Savings Credit Union. She is the chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, a director for Science World and B.C. Tech, and a member of the federal government’s Task Force on Women in the Economy. She is also a member and past co-chair of the Presidents Group, which champions accessible and inclusive workplaces. She’s a great addition to the committee.

[4:20 p.m.]

Rheanna Robinson is an Indigenous scholar of Métis ancestry and an assistant professor in the department of First Nations studies at the University of Northern British Columbia. She is a director and an ambassador for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. She has also served on the executive committee for ALS/SLA Action Canada and as vice-chair for Carney Hill Neighbourhood Centre and as a director for the Prince George Métis Community Association.

Rob Sleath is a seminar facilitator with blind and sight-impaired consumers. He’s also the founding president for Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers and a director for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind advisory board. He’s also been a director for the CNIB national board, president of the committee for the promotion of accessible conventional transit and founding chair of Access Transit Users Advisory Committee for the south coast of British Columbia.

Mary Teegee is Gitxsan-Carrier from the Takla Nation. She belongs to the Lax Gibuu, wolf, clan, from the House of Nyguup. She is the executive director of child and family services at Carrier-Sekani Family Services. She has also been deputy chief and treaty negotiator for Takla First Nation, and she is president of the B.C. Aboriginal Child Care Society and chair of the Indigenous Child and Family Services Directors. She is also a B.C. board representative for the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

Jessica Vliegenthart is a trial lawyer for Fulton and Co. LLP and a Canadian Paralympian in wheelchair basketball. She’s a board member of Spinal Cord Injury British Columbia and is an ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation. She is also co-founder and a director for Kamloops Adapted Sports Association, and she has been an athlete representative on the revenue generation and government relations section of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

That’s just an amazing list of folks who are on our provincial accessibility committee. I’m very excited to get down to work with them and start creating regulations that make B.C. a more accessible place.

I should point out that while we’re still working on the accessibility legislation, the government hasn’t stopped nor will it stop from making spaces more accessible. There are great things that the government is doing. The Ministry of Environment has some great initiatives: some wheelchair-accessible washrooms, also cabins that wheelchair users or other people who use mobility devices can use — very close to my constituency, actually, up at Cultus Lake. That’s in the constituency of my friend from Chilliwack-Kent. Government is doing a lot of good work here, so I’m quite excited about it.

I do want to mention that we’re helping to prepare peo­ple for the jobs of future with a generational commitment to develop the talent B.C. needs over the next ten years, because there is a skills gap. My friend from Langley, Parliamentary Secretary for Skills Training, is doing excellent work on this file. I was so happy to hear about it in the throne speech.

Something else that is helping to train skilled workers is community benefit agreements. Community benefits agreements are an amazing thing when government builds large infrastructure projects and then can invest in its community at the same time. It’s incredible.

We know nearly 20 percent of construction workers are age 55 or over and just 12 percent are under the age of 25. Women represent only 14 percent of the total workforce and 6 percent of on-site employment, while Indigenous peoples represent just 8 percent of total employment. Coupled with this, apprenticeship completion rates in B.C. are among the lowest in Canada. Only 40 to 45 percent of apprentices finish their programs. Without action, B.C’s construction sector is headed towards a crippling industry skills shortage.

[4:25 p.m.]

To address these challenges, the B.C. government introduced the community benefits agreement program in 2018 — and also the wonderful work that my friend from Langley has been doing as well.

The CBA objectives include increasing the employment opportunities for women, Indigenous peoples, young people and local area residents; increasing apprenticeship opportunities with a target of 25 percent participation rate on CBA projects; providing a more achievable path to red seal trade certification for apprentices; achieving a more stable and equitable labour relations environment; im­proving the workplace environment; making the industry more attractive to new entrants; developing a diverse and skilled construction workforce to meet B.C.’s long-term future needs.

I think I’m going to wrap it up here, to the delight of many, I’m sure. I just have to say that I’m very excited for this upcoming session and the good work that we’re going to do — and help to rebuild our economy and our infrastructure and help keep people safe the whole while we’re doing it.

Deputy Speaker: Next, the member for Fraser-Nicola.

J. Tegart: My special thanks to the hon. Speaker. I’m actually supposed to be on my first shift up there, but I’ve missed the first shift. Not a good start. Thank you very much for filling in.

It’s an honour to rise in the House today to provide the first opposition response to this government’s Speech from the Throne. We all know the throne speech to be the guiding document that lays out the government’s vision for our province, moving forward. Though it may not generate as much attention as the provincial budget or some of the significant pieces of legislation a government may bring forward, it is a very important document. You might call it a blueprint for the future.

We know that many people behind the scenes would have put a tremendous amount of time and energy into this document, determining which goals are the most important, which priorities need the most attention and which people need the most help.

Now, imagine if this government put the same amount of effort and attention towards the community of Lytton in my home riding of Fraser-Nicola. Seven months after fire ripped through the village, decimating all of its homes, infrastructure and businesses, after it claimed two lives and destroyed the livelihoods of nearly everyone else, the people of Lytton feel no further ahead than they did the day after the fire. Their hopes to rebuild and move on with life have withered away. Their patience with this government has completely run out.

It’s inexcusable that seven months after this devastating tragedy, nothing has been rebuilt. People are still waiting for debris to be cleared. If they go onto the village of Lytton’s website to look into how to obtain a building permit, they’re completely daunted by the excessive number of steps involved. So they throw their arms in the air. Who can blame them? They are stressed to the max.

I looked in this document. I looked for support for the people in my riding. I remember flying over Lytton with the Premier, the Deputy Premier, and the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations one week after the fire. I remember very clearly my words to them that day. “You need to send in a team.”

[4:30 p.m.]

What this government needed to do was send in a team of people with the expertise needed to guide village council and fill in the gaps that were present in the municipality, a team that could help them develop a plan of action at a very sensitive time, following an extremely traumatic experience for everyone who lived in Lytton.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

It didn’t happen. The people of Lytton waited and waited. They were scattered throughout the province, waiting for action from a government that promised to have their back. Finally, three months after the fire, we actually saw a short-term recovery plan developed in October.

People waited three months for that assistance from this government — a short-term plan in October. By October, I would suggest to government that short term was well past time. By October, we should have seen a medium to long-term plan, with goals for the community. But again, we didn’t. We should have seen planning that included consultation with the people of the village, planning that reflected what the local residents want their community to look like in the rebuild.

The longer the delays drag on, the more despair my people feel. Where is the leadership? I don’t see it in this throne speech. Where is the expertise? Where is the funding support from government? I was very disappointed, and I can tell you that the people in my riding are extremely disappointed.

They don’t want to be lauded for their resilience. They feel forgotten. They want their homes and their lives back. They want the community they love back. They don’t want words. They want actions. And they want it to be in throne speeches, in budgets, in ministry commitments from a government that seems to not care.

Just as they don’t see many signs of life in their village, they’re seeing so very little from a government that they thought had their back. This lack of action is not just a disservice to these residents who have lost everything. It’s escalating costs. It’s threatening insurance coverage.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada has warned that insurance policies have limits, so people could be exhausting their insurance coverage due to lack of action. The bureau also recently reported that while the insured costs of recovery and reconstruction in Lytton were originally estimated to be $78 million, they have now increased that cost to $102 million, due in large part to the reconstruction delays.

In addition to a growing emotional toll for residents and people who live in the area, and for those on the ground that are absolutely doing their very best to bring services back to the community, we see the financial toll growing, as well, because of this government’s failure to execute.

This was an unimaginable situation for these residents. I’ve sat with them as they recounted the fear they felt that the wildfire put before them. They went in their houses and grabbed whatever they could. Many went in the house and came out to find their vehicle on fire. Many stopped and picked up friends.

Despite all they have been through, all of the trauma they’ve experienced, they simply haven’t been made a priority, not in this throne speech. Some people say: “What’s another month in a hotel or on a relative’s couch? What’s one more season of uncertainty?” No big deal, I guess.

[4:35 p.m.]

Lytton needs a plan. They need a long-term plan for re­covery. They need a funding commitment. They need a government that shows its support through action. They deserve nothing less. Sadly, Lytton isn’t the only community in my riding that is suffering, that has questions for this government and is looking for direction in this blueprint of a throne speech.

We saw First Nations communities, ranchers and others cut off along Highway 8 thanks to November’s slides and flooding. They expressed frustration with the government’s slow response after they were forced to go it alone to get their community members to safety. Weeks went by without so much as a phone call from the province. How is that acceptable in an emergency and in a disaster where people’s lives are at risk? Quite frankly, it’s not good enough.

At the time of each and every one of these disasters, the Premier, the Deputy Premier, the government have all said the right things. But I can tell you that people are still waiting for the action that follows those words.

Endless questions about the fire season. My riding was on fire this summer — numerous fires, numerous an­nouncements from government. Everybody was at the ready. “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.” Well, I can tell you that the people of Fraser-Nicola have a lot of questions. We have endless questions about the difference be­tween managing fires versus fighting fires.

People of Highway 8 want to know how a fire that started 70 kilometres away burned their properties out, when a government stood up in public and said: “We’ve got every piece of equipment. Every request has been ans­wered. Don’t you worry. We’re there for you.” Well, as they evacuated cattle, as they evacuated their homes, as they watched them burn to the ground…. Let me tell you that people aren’t feeling that government has their back. And as I look in this throne speech, I see very little to give them comfort.

Then we go to Merritt. The people in Merritt continue their massive cleanup and efforts to rebuild following Nov­ember’s devastating flooding. Not only were they flooded out; now they’re frozen out. The winter weather certainly hasn’t made that job any easier. The stories of people who couldn’t get back in their house in time before it froze, the number of homes that will never be lived in again — as we try to get commitment and funding commitments from all levels of government.

Critical infrastructure in the city of Merritt is needing to be rebuilt, but it’s a long, slow process. In Hope, the district is looking to government for $11 million to stop the Coquihalla River from potentially damaging homes and rendering the town an island should a future, more serious flood occur.

I talk to the leaders in my communities. They indicate that help has been slow to arrive, and people are incredibly frustrated. The floods in November exposed a number of vulnerabilities that need to be addressed quickly. Both the community of Hope and the city of Merritt are worried about these risks. There is a feeling that the worst is yet to come, and more needs to be done to prepare for more serious flooding in the spring freshet.

[4:40 p.m.]

Both Hope and Merritt have put plans together. After seeing an incredible amount of snow this season, they are extremely concerned about the spring. They want to see action on diking and other preventative measures to keep their communities and their people safe. I have also personally made the case to the Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General that we have a window of opportunity here to do the work that is needed to ease those fears.

We often talk in this House about climate change. I can tell you: the people of Fraser-Nicola feel like we’ve lived that climate change. We often talk about the commitment to risk mitigation. I can tell you: the people of Fraser-Nicola are asking for support in that mitigation, because in two short months, we’re going to be in flooding season again. We know that we’re not ready. My two communities of Hope and Merritt have been at this government’s door for months, asking for the kind of support that is often said in words but is not shown in action.

I’ll also note that on top of these concerns about people’s safety and protection, we know that if we continue to let rivers spread out, become shallow and leave their traditional waterways, we are putting at risk our salmon and steelhead spawning grounds. We have an opportunity to take a look at the Nicola and the Coldwater watershed and do some significant work while the water is low, but it would take action. It would take vision. It would take partnerships. It would take someone standing up and saying: “I’m going to take that on.”

I’ve waited for someone from government to do that, but I haven’t heard the words yet. Officials in my communities have not been encouraged by the response they’ve received from government, which appears to show an air of indifference to the serious risks they face. That’s incredibly disappointing. Nor are farmers and ranchers throughout the province very encouraged after finding it tremendously difficult to access recovery supports.

People in my riding actually evacuated their cattle because of the fires. They barely got them back, only to face isolation because of the floods. Cattle don’t like travel. That’s not their dream — to get in a truck and go to Vanderhoof for the summer. It has an incredible impact on the economy for those ranchers. They’re doing their best, and we’re cautiously optimistic that the recently announced AgriRecovery package from the federal government and the province will offer them the help they need.

Again, think about it. I sat at their kitchen tables at the end of November, listening to them talk about the fact that they’d stayed behind because they wouldn’t let their animals starve or be drowned. What did they get? No support whatsoever, three months before the applications open. They’ve had to feed their cattle. They’ve had to feed their farm animals. On what? No support. We need speed. We need different ways to do things, and I can tell you that they want that. They want to see that in a blueprint for the future, and they see nothing in this throne speech for them.

There are very many vulnerable people in my riding right now, but they are far from the only ones. We continue to see the tragic loss of too many lives to opioids — our second public health crisis, in addition to COVID-19.

[4:45 p.m.]

And 2021 was B.C.’s deadliest year of the opioid crisis. I don’t understand why we continue to do the same thing and expect different results. For goodness’ sake, we should be working together. We should be putting the politics aside, and we should be focusing on our common interest, which is vulnerable people who deserve our dedication.

We have been calling, along with the Green Party, for the activation of the Select Standing Committee on Health. This is not just a problem of big cities. I see it in my small communities. We see the devastation when we as a government, when we in this House, do not address mental health. It is shameful what we’re doing.

I also want to talk a little bit about affordability, be­cause the recent devastation in my riding has highlighted so many vulnerabilities. People in Merritt…. We’re going to have hundreds of houses that can’t go back due to floods and floodplains. We have no rentals. We have no housing stock. We have people knocking on our door and coming into our office, sobbing, not knowing where they’re going to go. As we phone and work so hard on those files, it is heartbreaking to tell them that we can’t do anything for them.

We have a job to do in this House. Government has a job to do. Their job is to give hope. It’s to give hope to people of this province. I can tell you that for my people, in my area, who are looking for homes — the people of Lytton, the people of Merritt, the people down Highway 8…. I have people whose homes and properties have disappeared, and they’re still paying a mortgage on it. What do you say to people who have had that kind of loss? There is no housing available for them.

People in my riding just want to go home. It’s our job to make sure they have a home to go to. I can tell you: affordability is a huge issue in my area. As COVID has pointed out over the last two years, many people in metro centres have realized that they can do their work anywhere. They’ve realized the value of living in a much more rural area.

In my community, they knock on your door. “Would you like to sell your house?” So we’re seeing a housing crunch across this province that’s not just urban centred. I don’t see a plan that’s going to help my people — not anytime in the near future.

I don’t want to just talk about disasters, but that is the centre of what’s happening in my riding. But we also are looking for opportunities. You know what? We have a lot to learn from what’s happened. There have been incredible heroes on the ground — neighbours helping neighbours, communities helping others.

We think about Hope, which was isolated and had so many people in their community, and how that community stepped up. We think about the partnerships of people flying food in and how incredible those partnerships are. In my riding, we’ve got them helicoptering out vehicles, because vehicles are isolated. We have a lot of work to do, but we have a lot to celebrate, as we look at some of the experiences that happened during the disasters.

[4:50 p.m.]

I can tell you that when I talk to people in my riding, government is not one of their heroes. That is a shame. Such an opportunity for leadership. Such an opportunity to show empathy and caring. Such an opportunity missed.

As we look at the outcome of the disasters, I remind people all four highways into the Interior come through my riding. I’d like to acknowledge the incredible work done by the Ministry of Transportation, done by Trans Mountain, done by the B.C. Road Builders. It’s not just those people out there all winter, seven days a week, trying to open up transportation routes, but it’s the people in the offices who did the procurement, the engineers, the incredible strength of the people who are committed to building roads in British Columbia.

I was one for whom it took three days to get home from this place. The vulnerability you feel when something that you take for granted is no longer there is unbelievable — the feeling as you drive some of those mountain passes and you see an avalanche sign, and the sadness that we lost so many. I am amazed at the work that has been done by our crews and by their commitment.

I came down the Fraser Canyon, down Highway 1, which has a number of spots that are very vulnerable still, but I can tell you that I felt safe. It’s a little bit slower, but it opens up most of the communities along Highway 1. People in my riding are incredibly thankful to the crews who were on, 24-7, to make that happen.

I see I have about four minutes left. I want to talk about some of my other communities. I can tell you, as an MLA, that there are tons of exciting things happening. I would urge this government, as I look at the throne speech, not to forget that there is a large population that lives above Hope. Many times those of us who live above Hope feel forgotten. We have a lot of work to do, and we have a lot of requests from government. We have a great many voices in this House in order to advocate on that.

I want to close by giving thanks to many heroes on the ground in communities and beyond. Who has been to Boston Bar? What a neat place. Boston Bar stepped up and did a resiliency centre for Lytton, running that seven days a week. They were there for their neighbours. They provided food. They provided a resiliency centre. They gave non-stop. I do believe they gave until COVID broke out. They later got cut off by floods. They were challenged around medical and around food supply, but that community continued to give.

Lillooet stepped up and opened its doors to evacuees, giving them someplace to go, someplace close to home, somewhere to be, during the catastrophe, with the ones they loved. First Nations across the riding provided tremendous support, knowledge and know-how during every natural disaster that we faced this summer. The people of Hope provided food, shelter and warmth to those trapped on the highways after the November floods.

[4:55 p.m.]

I think about the transportation workers, whom I mentioned earlier. It is thanks to them that we have food on our grocery shelves, and it is thanks to them that we realized how vulnerable we are if we don’t maintain such im­portant routes into the Interior.

It has been 224 days since the community of Lytton and its people were changed forever. It’s long past due for government to step up with its support and get them back on their feet. I drive through Lytton; it has a ten-foot fence with a black barrier.

S. Furstenau: I just want to say thank you to the member for Fraser-Nicola for her very powerful words and also her compassion and care for her communities, which is so evident in how she brings that into the work in this House.

“Brighter years are ahead.” I heard that yesterday in the Speech from the Throne. I thought about how in January my trusted friend and colleague had sent me an article about the Stockdale paradox, as a way for me to think about leadership in a time of overlapping crises.

Adm. James Stockdale was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 7½ years. While many others in the same situation did not survive, he was able to endure the terrible conditions and the uncertainty. He wasn’t an optimist; he was a realist. His advice: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Stockdale was interviewed by Jim Collins, who wrote the book Good to Great, which introduced the Stockdale paradox. Stockdale focused on the end of the story of being a prisoner of war:

“I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted, not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

His faith should not be confused with optimism. Stockdale explained:

“I lived on a day-to-day basis…. Most guys thought it was really better for everybody to be an optimist. I wasn’t naturally that way; I knew too much about the politics of Asia when I got shot down. I think there was a lot of damage done by optimists; other writers from other wars share that opinion. The problem is some people believe what professional optimists are passing out and come unglued when their predictions don’t work out.

“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said: ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say: ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart…. This is a very important lesson.

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

[5:00 p.m.]

The article about the Stockdale paradox, in a Harvard Business School publication, was published in August 2020. It turns out that the authors, Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams, were quite prescient about COVID. At the very least, they were not succumbing to the predictions that the optimists were passing out. They wrote:

“Your state, industry, organization or unconscious mind may be pinning hopes on some other event or date after which some version of rescue will come: a vaccine, a cure, a reliable and cheap test, the acquisition of herd immunity. But to review the brutal facts, none of these developments are likely in the foreseeable short term. The possibility remains that there may never be a fully effective vaccine or cure. This virus may be something that we live with and manage for years to come. Doing so will mean changing elements of our social interaction in unprecedented ways that may well lead to irrevocable social changes.”

I think about the stories that we have been told for the last two years. Of course we wanted to be optimistic. Of course we wanted to think that this would be over by June of 2020. Or it would be over when the vaccines come. Or it would be over in July of 2021. Or it would be over by Christmas of 2021. Or it will be over by Family Day 2022. It will not be over.

We are being told it’s time to live with COVID. But what does that mean? Right now, we have the highest number of hospitalizations. We have a still climbing rate of death in this province. We don’t know how many people have COVID anymore, because we’ve essentially stopped even trying to trace. We’ve stopped making testing available. We’re operating pretty much in the dark.

What has astonished me for the last two years is how little we’ve been engaged on the issue of long COVID. There are people who got sick in January or February or March of 2020, and their lives have not returned. They suffer from extraordinary numbers of health issues and problems.

Studies in places where they are trying to map out how much long COVID is consider it to be 10 to 20 percent of people who get COVID who will have long-lasting symptoms, including children — brain fog, fatigue, heart problems, vascular problems. How are we expected to live with COVID without the proper knowledge and tools to do that?

I don’t want to be sick with COVID. I don’t want to die with COVID. I want to have the tools to be able to manage this. That would include clear information about the transmission, access to N95 masks — Hon. Speaker, I see that you’re wearing one yourself — and access to testing so that we can make informed decisions about our own health, our family’s health and our community’s health.

And a government that is committed to not throwing its hands up in the air and saying, “We give up,” but recognizing that this is and will remain a public health crisis for some time. We don’t know how long. But the least we can do is to put the effort into ensuring that people have the tools they need to live through this health crisis.

[5:05 p.m.]

Just over a hundred years ago — I’m a historian, so this is fascinating to me — the flu pandemic rapidly spread around the world. It is estimated that about 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population, became infected with the virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide.

One of those infected was my grandmother, Dorothy Richardson. At the time, she was Dorothy Payne. She was a teenager when she became so ill that she had to have an extended stay in the hospital. In her diary, she writes about coming home to Saturna Island too weak to walk up from the beach to her home and needing to be pushed in a cart by her siblings.

Jay Alexander Navarro, a historian of medicine, de­scribes the patterns at the time. I quote from his University of Michigan health publication “People Gave Up on Flu Pandemic Measures a Century Ago When They Tired of Them — and Paid a Price.” The public responded with widespread compliance at first, mixed with more than a hint of grumbling, push-back and even outright defiance.

“ As the days turned into weeks turned into months, the strictures became harder to tolerate. Theatre and dance hall owners complained about their financial losses. Clergy bemoaned church closures, while offices, factories and, in some cases, even saloons were allowed to remain open. Officials argued whether children were safer in classrooms or at home. Many citizens refused to don face masks while in public, some complaining that they were uncomfortable and others arguing that the government had no right to infringe on their civil liberties.”

There were rounds of closure orders that corresponded with the rise and fall of cases, but eventually, the social distancing orders, which worked to reduce cases and deaths, became harder to maintain.

“By the late autumn of 1918, just weeks after the social distancing orders went into effect, the pandemic seemed to be coming to an end as the number of new infections declined. People clamoured to return to their normal lives. Businesses pressed officials to be allowed to reopen.

“Believing the pandemic was over, state and local authorities began rescinding public health edicts. The nation turned its efforts to addressing the devastation influenza had wrought. For the friends, families and co-workers of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who had died, post-pandemic life was filled with sadness and grief. Many of those still recovering from their bouts with the malady required support and care as they recuperated.

“Taking their cues from officials who had somewhat prematurely declared an end to the pandemic, Americans overwhelmingly hurried to return to their pre-pandemic routines, packed into movie theatres and dance halls, crowded in stores and shops and gathered with friends and families. Officials had warned the nation that cases and deaths would likely continue for some months to come. The burden of public health, however, now rested not on policy but rather on individual responsibility.

“Predictably, the pandemic wore on, stretching into a third deadly wave that lasted through the spring of 1919, with a fourth deadly wave hitting in the winter of 1920.”

I recently proposed and made a call for there being an independent science table in British Columbia. I think, in a time of crisis, as I’ve said, sharing the weight and burden of leadership can only be a good thing.

In addition to scientists and medical experts on that table, I think we need a historian, a psychologist and a sociologist. The pandemic affects every aspect of our lives. From the government’s perspective, it should be seen as important to understand comprehensively both the im­pact and the proper approach, understanding we’ve been through this before.

[5:10 p.m.]

It’s trite to say that history repeats itself, but we can see that we could have learned a lot of lessons from the pandemic 100 years ago.

I have spoken a lot inside and outside of this House about my concern that our current approach to politics, to governance and governing, and to our public institutions is making it very difficult, if not impossible, for us to meet the staggering challenges and overlapping crises that we face today. If we consider the Stockdale paradox, that optimism in a time of crisis actually undermines our ability to approach the crisis in an appropriate way, then we can begin to understand the failures that have gotten us here today.

Politicians are, let’s be honest, peddlers of optimism. It’s our currency. Vote for me, and I promise things will be better for you. That’s the foundational premise of politics. What’s concerning, however, is when politics, and especially the politics of optimism, interfere too much with the practice of governing. In an election campaign, politicians can and largely should focus on solutions, ideas, a vision for the future that holds promise for the people that they are asking to represent.

In government, our elected representatives have a duty and a responsibility to be brutally honest, tell the truth about where we are, tell the truth about the challenges we face and be open and accountable about the efforts it will take to solve them and how success is measured. We cannot wish our way to better outcomes. More importantly, we cannot spin a narrative to make reality into something it is not. Until we confront the most brutal facts of our current reality, we cannot know how we will bring about these brighter years ahead.

Two thousand two hundred twenty-four British Columbians were killed by a toxic drug supply in 2021; 2,707, as of yesterday, have died of COVID in the last two years in British Columbia. Nearly 700 people died from a climate change-driven heat dome. As we heard from the member for Fraser-Nicola, towns and communities have been lost. People have been dislocated from their homes, uncertain what their future holds or whether they will ever go back to where or how they lived before.

Life expectancy, which has been tracked in Canada since 1921, which has been tracked since the end of the last pandemic, has been on an upward trend for the last 100 years. But here in B.C., life expectancy for men has been decreasing, widely recognized to be because of the rise of deaths from the toxic drug supply.

Inequality makes this worse. In Vancouver, living in the Downtown Eastside or in Haney in Maple Ridge means that life expectancy in your neighbourhood is ten years lower than for Vancouver residents who live in West Vancouver, West Point Grey, northwest Richmond and parts of South Surrey and Coquitlam.

I think we can agree, as representatives of 87 different electoral districts in this House, that what we would want for the citizens of British Columbia is equal access to the services, to the care, to the institutions that will ensure that where you live in this province does not have that kind of impact on your life expectancy. A government that responds by saying, “We’ve invested $500 million into mental health and addictions,” is a government that is measuring inputs, not outcomes.

[5:15 p.m.]

I want a government that measures its success in ways that matter in people’s lives, that start with the social de­terminants of health. Let’s have our throne speeches every year tell us how we are collectively doing by measuring and reporting on these factors that have such a profound effect on us individually and collectively.

In January 2021, the B.C. government appears to have started work on establishing a standard for the social determinants of health, but this work also appears to have been stalled. Instead we hear in the throne speech: “The strongest economy in Canada.” We hear: “The best place to live and raise a family.” That is not the experience for people who are looking for housing in Cowichan or, indeed, almost anywhere in B.C.

Raising a family means having a home that you can afford. It means being able to live in the same community where you work. For too many people, that is becoming an impossibility. People who have worked their whole lives, who have never faced housing insecurity, are wondering where they will live if they are evicted or can’t afford their mortgage payments.

Small business owners who are facing bankruptcy and the loss of their life’s work and investments will not tell us that B.C. has the strongest economy. That economy is not serving the people. We are not measuring the right things. A speech from the throne delivered when our federal capital city is being occupied by people who are calling for the removal of a democratically elected government needs to include brutal honesty about the level of trust in our political systems, our government and our institutions.

The Edelman trust barometer just published its 22nd annual report, and they state: “We find a world ensnared in a vicious cycle of distrust, fuelled by a growing lack of faith in media and government. Through disinformation and division, these two institutions are feeding the cycle and exploiting it for commercial and political gain.” What they describe should be a deeply sobering wake-up call to every one of us.

The summary of their January ’22 report states: “The world is failing to meet the unprecedented challenges of our time because it is ensnared in a vicious cycle of distrust. Four interlocking forces drive this cycle, thwarting progress on climate change, the global pandemic management, racism and mounting tensions between China and the U.S. Left unchecked, the following four forces evident in the 2022 Edelman trust barometer will undermine institutions and further destabilize society.” Government-media distrust spiral, excessive reliance on business, mass class divide and failure of leadership.

How can this government…? What role can we play in this Legislature to restore trust and demonstrate the value and the need for democracy and healthy democratic institutions? We can put aside the hyper-partisanship between elections and instead focus on transparent, collaborative, accountable decision-making. Shine a light onto how decisions are made. Shine a light onto what is informing those decisions, what the intended outcomes are and be accountable by measuring those outcomes.

Parliamentary committees are one avenue to strengthen this. Answering questions from opposition members in a direct, clear, straightforward manner during debate on bills and during estimates debate is another, acknowledging when efforts are not working to achieve the outcomes that we are striving for and being open about when and why it is time to change course.

[5:20 p.m.]

Ensure that actions match words. Do not say on the one hand that this is a government committed to tackling climate change while on the other hand continuing to give billions of dollars in subsidies of public money to the oil and gas industry.

Do not say that there is nothing more important than protecting the place we call home when we continue to allow clearcut logging of some of the last old growth in the province, when over 1,900 species in B.C. are at risk of extinction but this government has failed to bring in its promised species-at-risk legislation, when this government is going to go forward with flooding some of B.C.’s most valuable agricultural land and most biodiverse re­gions by plowing ahead with a dam they knew was a mistake from the beginning.

Do not tell British Columbians they have better care, faster and closer to where they live, when over 800,000 people, including tens of thousands in the capital regional district who just found out that they are losing their primary physicians…. Do not tell them that they have better care, faster and closer to where they live, when they do not have access to a physician.

Saying that there are brighter days ahead is not enough. We need to know what those days will feel like. We need to know how that will be measured.

I’ve talked a lot about four objectives we should have for this province. One, people’s basic needs are met. We are a society that has enough wealth and resources to ensure that people have a place to live and food security. Two, the natural systems that we depend on for our health and our well-being — water, air, soil — are protected. Three, our communities are connected, safe, thriving. We have a sense of belonging. We protect culture. And four, our government, our political systems and our institutions are trustworthy.

That’s the vision I have for British Columbia. Once we state a vision like that, then we can start to measure. Are these policies getting us there? Are more people’s needs being met? Are we protecting the natural systems we depend on? Have we proven to be more trustworthy? Do people believe in this mission, this fragile mission of democracy, more than they used to?

We need to talk about that end, that place we’re trying to go together, but as James Stockdale pointed out, we have to be truly honest about the brutal reality of today and how much hard work and determination it will take to get us to those brighter days.

I think we can meet this challenge. I think we can de­monstrate to British Columbians that we can earn their trust, that we care about this institution, that we care about democracy, that we care about the needs of the people. We care about future generations, but we’re not going to do that by continuing to do things the same way that we always have. We have to be able to imagine that we can govern in a way that inspires the hope and the trust of the people, no matter what party they support, what part of this province they live in.

[5:25 p.m.]

We all asked to be here. We all worked pretty hard to get here. I think we all take this very seriously. But I think we have to be brutally honest about where we are today, and we have to be utterly committed to getting to a better place.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Abbotsford South.

B. Banman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am honoured to rise today and respond to the Speech from the Throne. It is indeed a pleasure to see you back in the chair that you currently occupy.

Well, this year’s speech certainly followed a pattern of previous throne speeches, and it contained a slew of words and promises typical of a throne speech. The contents, however, are beginning to matter less and less to British Columbians, because if a government cannot put their words into actions, they remain just words.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

This is the fifth throne speech we have heard from this government since 2017. Although I may be relatively new to this House, I can already hear a lot of the same old rhetoric — the same broken promises to make life more affordable, the same broken promises to make government more transparent and accessible and the same broken promises that this government will be there for British Columbians.

As you heard from my colleague from Fraser-Nicola, many of her constituents do not feel as if the government has been there for them. They’re feeling abandoned and neglected.

Every year this government outlines its ambitious plan of action that promises to improve British Columbians’ lives. But throughout this government’s administration, these speeches, sadly, have been followed by a year that completely fails to make their ambitious plans a reality. This government overpromises and underdelivers, if it de­livers at all.

For years now, this government has run on a promise to make life more affordable to British Columbians. But today the cost of working, the cost of playing, the cost of raising our families and living in this province has never been higher — never.

Housing prices have reached an all-time high in Metro Vancouver and across the province, as we’ve heard. It is due in no small part to the abysmal failure of this government to meet its own housing supply targets. They overpromised and have underdelivered.

Recent stats from the real estate board of trade show that the average detached home in Metro Vancouver costs a whopping $2.3 million. Right now it would take someone 34 years to save for a down payment on a typical Vancouver home. Even my own hometown of Abbotsford has seen monumental jumps in housing prices, some as high as 40 percent of what they were this time last year.

Thanks to the inaction of this government, this is a problem that is no longer confined to the major urban areas of our province. Skyrocketing housing prices are even hitting rural communities that have traditionally given young British Columbians the greatest opportunity to build their lives, to raise their families within their budget. But the growing cost of living means this — sadly, tragically — is no longer the case. Many young families are now seeking elsewhere in Canada to live.

[5:30 p.m.]

It is not just prospective homebuyers who are facing major economic challenges. Renters are finding it harder and harder every day to find affordable places to live — if they can find a place to live — and to save money, as well, to be able to purchase their dream home.

A report by the B.C. Real Estate Association found that the average rental rate for a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver has become 18 percent more expensive since the pandemic. Overall, renters are paying $2,376 more per year under this NDP government, and the $400 renters rebate that they were promised — a key election promise, during a snap election, that was made by this government — is nowhere to be found. They overpromised and, as of yet, have failed to deliver. How is this making life more affordable for the average British Columbian?

The same British Columbians, under this government, are now paying more in taxes, more in rent, more in gas, more for their groceries and more just to live in this province. British Columbians aren’t just seeing more and more of their hard-earned money eaten up by the housing and rental market, or siphoned off to the government that promised to cut them a break. They are seeing it eaten up by the rising cost of basic necessities of everyday life.

Despite promises by the Premier himself — to address soaring gas prices, for instance — this government sat idle. It sat idle while prices at the pumps reached record highs. Early in January, gas prices in Vancouver set a whopping record, at $1.769 per litre. And the experts? Buckle up. The experts are saying that prices could soon reach a new, staggering record — a new normal — of $1.85 per litre. Gas prices in B.C. are more than 30 cents higher than at this time last year. People are forced to live in places other than where they work, because of affordability. They’re forcing that daily commute to be more costly every single day.

It’s not just at the pumps where British Columbians are paying more but in our grocery stores as well. A report by Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab has forecast an overall food price increase of 5 to 7 percent for 2022. This means that B.C. households could be paying up to $1,000 more per year just to put the same food on their tables that they put on last year, under this government’s watch.

British Columbians are getting tired. They are getting weary of recycled messages that government is going to make life more affordable, when costs continue to go up year after year under this NDP government’s watch. They are growing tired of the empty words and of the empty, broken promises filled in these speeches.

[5:35 p.m.]

Government has promised once again that they’re prepared to tackle climate change, but they have proven that they’re not even prepared to tackle the climate change emergencies that are upon us here and now.

During the heat dome that swept our province last summer, this government failed to communicate the incredible real dangers and ignored warnings from E-Comm that the emergency services were stretched far too thin. They were stretched far too thin to tackle the influx of 911 calls. As a result, 569 British Columbians died. They died due to heat exhaustion. Where was the government for their backs then? It’s mind-boggling to hear this government insist that they’re putting people first. Were they putting them first during the heatwave? Actions speak louder than words.

This government insists that they’re putting people first when there are still British Columbians from Lytton living in motels and on couches in friends’ spare rooms, desperately waiting for the promised support from government that will help them rebuild, help them rebuild and restore their businesses, their homes, their lives, their neighbourhoods that were destroyed by horrific wildfires. Does that sound like government has their back? They’re abandoned in the deep of winter. They can’t even find anywhere to rent. How much longer are we going to make them wait? Your words are meaningless without action.

Last November, at the onset of the atmospheric river, the risk of floods was building for several days. The experts were clear on this. Yet the Alert Ready system was not used — not one single time, not once to warn British Columbians of the oncoming dangers. It’s just completely unacceptable that our neighbours to the south had 48 hours more warning than we did. Forty-eight hours were lost — so that people of the Sumas Prairie could save their valuables, could move their animals, could move their equipment. We knew that the Nooksack was going to flood. How has that government got their backs?

The Nooksack flooded the Sumas Prairie. Thousands of farmers and residents were left stranded as they watched their livelihoods, their homes, their animals literally wash away before them. Now, when our farmers are embarking on the long and difficult road to recovery, they need leadership from our government more than ever. They don’t need words. They need leadership and action.

While the announcement of agriculture recovery funds is joyous welcome news, it remains to be seen if this funding will be released to farmers in a timely manner and meet the needs of our many different farmers and their agricultural practices. Will this just be one more case of overpromising and not delivering? I would suggest that we look to Lytton to see this government’s plan. There is no plan. They just can’t seem to get the money out the door. It was the same with the circuit breaker grants.

[5:40 p.m.]

I am terribly concerned about the farmers in my riding who are banking on this. I think the money…. I hope the money will get there. I just hope it gets there in a timely manner.

The heatwave and floods have completely devastated the raspberry and blueberry crops in our region. It could be another decade — ten full years — before production is back to full capacity, before it’s back to the day before the floods. As these farmers begin the long and difficult process of reoxygenating their soil, repairing their barns, repairing their homes, repairing the infrastructure and replacing and repairing damaged and destroyed ma­chinery, many of which could have been saved, they are preparing for this year’s planting and harvest yet once again.

It is so extremely frustrating that a government that so often speaks of the danger of climate change has failed at every single possible opportunity to properly prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters, leaving the people impacted on the ground to deal with the fallout. If you cannot be bothered to let people know that disaster is there, how do you expect them to believe your empty, hollow words of the throne speech? This is not the leadership that British Columbians deserve, and it most certainly is not putting British Columbians first. It is a messed-up idea of this government having their back.

Over the past year, our province has faced unprecedented crisis. Under this government, we have sadly seen a record number of opioid deaths, month after month after month, as the illicit and toxic drug supply chains destroy more and more lives in our communities. Opioid deaths in 2021 were 24 percent higher than in 2020, and this year is lining up to be just as horrific.

Overpromised. Under delivered. Despite promises for more action and support from this government, it baffles many of us how the budget for the Premier’s own office continues to be larger than the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. We know — the science is clear — that there is a direct link to mental health and opioid addictions, drugs and deaths. Yet the Premier’s office continues to be larger than the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. Doesn’t sound like that’s got any of those peoples’ backs, to me.

The time for words? It’s over. It’s not enough to add a handful of treatment beds here or there and call it a day. It’s not enough to have a shell game where we close down treatment beds over here, but we open some over there, but we’ve added these, when, in fact, we’re actually short on the change. What we need is immediate action to expand pathways to recovery and to bring more wraparound supports and services into our communities so that those who are experiencing homelessness and addiction can finally get the help they deserve — so far, overpromised and drastically under delivered.

[5:45 p.m.]

The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the many gaps that exist not only in our mental health and addictions and supports but in our entire health care system. Across the province, communities are facing a critical shortage of available doctors and hospital staff, so much so that ICU and emergency rooms are being forced to reduce their hours. How in heaven’s name does that make any sense — that during a pandemic, when all hands should be on deck, when we have record numbers of opioid deaths, we’re reducing hours and staffing in ICU and emergency rooms? What part of that is: “We have your back”?

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed our health care system to the brink. Rather than provide the public with the clearest picture and direction possible, the COVID response has been mired in secrecy, misdirection and a clear priority to protect the reputation of government over the health and safety and well-being of British Columbians.

Government has cherry-picked the data and the disclosures that they make available to British Columbians to weave their own narrative about the state of our hospitals and health care system and pandemic response. They withheld vital reports on long-term-care homes and decided that this would be a great time to hold a snap election. Does that sound like they’ve got our backs?

They have kept vital tools like rapid tests out of the hands of British Columbians. As a matter of fact, they denied even having them until it was found in a warehouse. They’ve kept those rapid tests out of the hands of British Columbians while ignoring pleas from teachers and front-line workers for more PPE and supports. Go ask those folks if they think you’ve got their backs.

This NDP government claims to put people first and then make sure they’re the last ones to know the actual truth. Their agenda of reducing the openness, transparency and accountability of government was made all too perfectly clear last winter session with the passing of Bill 22.

By applying fees to freedom-of-information requests and reducing the scope and oversight of regulatory bodies like the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, this government has made requesting and gathering information from government more difficult than ever before — information the people have paid for and have a right to access. Does that sound like you’ve got our backs? Does that sound like openness and transparency?

British Columbians were shocked to witness the hon. Minister of Citizens’ Services and all government members hold fast to their carefully constructed message that these actions were to improve transparency, not reduce it, and that the public should ignore the wave of public outcry from the bill and from the media outlets and government watchdogs, business associations and the general public themselves. “Don’t pay attention to that. Watch this hand over here.” It sounds like classic sidestep to me.

Now, as we look to bring an end to the pandemic — and we all want to return to normal — government has a responsibility to provide British Columbians the clarity and the leadership they’re looking for in these challenging times and to listen to the voices of all British Columbians. I’d like to say that this throne speech has more substance and action, but quite frankly, there’s so much recycled messaging and a repeat of the old same promises that it does not give me or many others much hope for the future.

[5:50 p.m.]

Quite frankly, Madam Speaker — it’s a pleasure to see you in the chair for the first time — the time for empty words is over. The time for empty words is long since passed. Actions speak louder than words. The words sadly mean nothing. They’re hollow, because they’ve been re­peated so many times and have not been addressed as of yet.

British Columbians want to see a clear plan to address housing affordability and a jobs plan to address our prov­ince’s growing labour shortage and build back the full-time and private sector jobs that have been lost over the past several years.

British Columbians want to see this government follow through on their promise of universal $10-a-day child care, rather than leave families waiting a decade or more for their next open spot. I guess you apply for your grandchildren or great-grandchildren. British Columbians want to see the people of Merritt, the people of Sumas Prairie, the people of Lytton receive the support they truly deserve to recover from the incredible heartbreak and devastation that they’ve endured.

Your words don’t mean much to these folks. Your words are just hollow. What they need are actions. They want to see a fundamental review of our province’s response to the climate disasters of last year so that we can better protect and support our communities against future events. British Columbians want to see clear action from this government to actually meet our climate action targets without costing our communities who depend on our natural resources and industries thousands and thousands of jobs.

British Columbians are tired of talk. They’re tired of it. They don’t believe it. There is a reason why we have mass demonstrations currently and the highest distrust in government that we’ve seen in decades. They want to see action. They want to see a lot of it. They want to see it today, not months from now.

I am hoping that this throne speech, filled with the same old promises, won’t mean a year of the same old government. I want to see action. British Columbians want to see action, because the government they have now is not worthy. British Columbians deserve a lot better than what they’ve had over the last few years. The time of blaming others is old. This government’s been in power long enough that they need to belly up to the bar and take responsibility for the inaction that they have been unable to do.

British Columbians need leadership right now. What they don’t need are more broken, empty promises and a throne speech that, quite frankly, they don’t believe a word of. So I would implore this government to actually roll your sleeves up and get the job done.

I watched in my neighbourhood. While government was standing around, it was neighbours helping neighbours. We saw it in Merritt. We saw it in Lytton. We saw it in the Sumas Prairie. It was the people that helped one another, while government couldn’t even be bothered to figure out how to declare a state of emergency in a timely manner. That’s not having our backs. Having our backs is actually doing what you say you’re going to do. So far, this government hasn’t been able to get that part of the message done. The words are there, but the actions are sadly, sadly absent.

[5:55 p.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Richmond South Centre.

H. Yao: Thank you, Madam Chair. I echo my previous colleague as well. It’s nice to see you, for the first time, sitting in the chair. Thank you so much for allowing me to respond to the throne speech.

Before I start, I want to acknowledge I’m standing on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-​speaking peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.

Also, as an elected official, I represent Richmond South Centre, which is located on the unceded and traditional territory of the Musqueam, Kwantlen and Tsawwassen Coast Salish people. I thank them for allowing us to live, work and play on their ancestral land.

I also want to take a moment to wish everyone who celebrates the lunar new year a happy new year. I want to wish everybody a favourable Year of the Tiger that is filled with prosperity and good health.

I am going to talk in Cantonese as well. I’m pretty sure the member for Richmond North Centre is going to correct and laugh at me afterwards. I apologize for that.

虎年大吉，萬事如意，身體健康，恭喜發財

[Text provided by H. Yao.]

[Cantonese was spoken.]

Sorry. I apologize for that.

Also in Mandarin.

[Mandarin was spoken.]

Obviously, I speak Mandarin better.

I also wanted to take a moment to reflect on the throne speech, to reflect on the many lives lost during 2021. We experienced the pandemic, the toxic drug crisis, of course a heat dome, forest fires and a flood. Many lives, many families were broken. I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that.

Earlier yesterday we had the privilege to listen to the throne speech, and I do want to say I’m just very excited to hear what our government has achieved in 2021 and how we look forward to the incoming 2022. I think one of the interesting things we want to say and is echoed in the throne speech is having 85,000 people moving here from other provinces and countries in the first three quarters of the year alone.

I understand there are different people using different measurements of the government’s success, but I think people using their feet to do the voting tends to be the best. Evidence demonstrates that B.C. remains one of the best places to live, work and raise a family.

Today I will first off talk about health care. We, unfortunately, have witnessed many differences and polarization in conversations and comments on social media when it comes to how we walk through the pandemic. I personally have also been bombarded with messages from different friends. Some people are asking for greater restrictions. They ask for ways of how we can actually reduce transmission of the disease. We also have heard from many people demanding freedom, a different perspective. We welcome all sides of this conversation, as long as the conversation is done in a respectful and civilized manner.

In our B.C. government, we took the approach that I personally am so glad we did. We decided not to let politicians or politics get involved. Instead, we listened to the guidance of Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, and her team. Every step of the way, we resisted falling into the temptation of going from one extreme to the other extreme, continuously letting science guide us as we approached how we address the pandemic. In many moments, temptation comes through, but we continue to find ways to balance people’s lives, not just physical health but also mental health.

I remember, for myself, during December 2021, when the pandemic was just hitting its fourth and fifth waves, due to omicron. I was listening to my parents talking about the limited time they could spend with their grandkids and how they appreciated that our government had a balanced approach, allowing us to still have a celebration in a limited and restrained capacity, allowing families to be together, when in 2020 December, that was not possible.

[6:00 p.m.]

The reality here is, even based on my own baby girl, based on the way she interacted with her grandparents, it demonstrated the importance of social interaction and social connection whenever possible. My parents usually enjoy the time they spend with her, holding her, playing with her and interacting with her, yet when there is a time gap, you can sometimes see anxiety develop in young infants and young babies. We are always looking forward to helping strengthen our mental health for our children.

This is just another example of why it is so important that whenever we’re engaging in these pandemic health restrictions, we follow the science, follow Dr. Bonnie Henry, to continue to balance between work-life balance, the protection of British Columbians and the mental health of individuals.

Making sure people stay at home when they’re sick is another key part of our scientific approach to ensure that people do not have to pick between work or staying home when they’re sick. For too long, many British Columbians had to choose. Not anymore.

Our government made a change to ensure that B.C. workers have access to a minimum of five paid sick days every year so that when someone is coughing, when someone is not feeling well, when someone may have omicron, they can stay home instead of worrying about balancing the chequebook and going back to work. It helps us to continue to allow our business sector to be functional — and not allowing the pandemic to spread at different outbreaks at different points.

It also emphasized…. In the throne speech, we talked about the new urgent and primary care centre. I personally also had an experience in 2021 with UPCC Richmond. It was actually funny. Just the day before my UPCC was actually open, I got bitten by a dog. I actually still have the scar on my hand from when I was bitten by the dog. I sat in Richmond Hospital for eight hours. I realized that UPCCs are such a needed service to help alleviate the stress at the emergency rooms and the hospitals for those people who don’t have immediate emergencies to find a different means of medical support.

I know, in Richmond, a UPCC that opens Monday to Friday in the evenings and on weekends during the daytime. I often go there around 5 to 5:30 and realize that there are people already lining up trying to get in, because it is providing such a much-needed service to help us alleviate the stress for our health care system, so that individuals have access to more medical support when the doctors’ offices are closed or when the medical clinics are closed.

Of course, we cannot avoid talking about Richmond’s most recent 2021 hospital investment of $840 million for the upgrade of our north acute care tower. It is the biggest investment not just in health care but the biggest investment, period, in Richmond’s history. It’s something that has been in high demand and that the Richmond population has been continually asking for. I thank all MLAs for sharing their voices, sharing their concerns, continuously working with our government to ensure that this promise is continually moving forward.

When the minister made the announcement to invest $840 million, it was a huge rock dropped off my chest and off my constituents’ shoulders. We are relieved, because we’re always asking ourselves: “If our seniors need medical attention, when our medical system is being overwhelmed, what can we count on?” We must invest early, we must prepare early, and we must move forward to ensure that we have a proper health care system ready to match the population’s needs, not just today but including tomorrow as well.

I cannot, again, stop emphasizing the excitement I have for the investment of $840 million for the Richmond north acute care tower. Of course, we also hired thousands of health care workers over the last two years, 6,000 of them taking care of seniors in long-term-care homes or assisted living. We installed more additional equipment as well.

At the same time, we’re continuously addressing the gap that has been created at this point. I want to say that I’m proud of my Premier, who actually addressed the federal government, talking about the federal government’s and provincial government’s partnership when it comes to funding the health care system.

[6:05 p.m.]

In the past, it used to be a 50-50 percent partnership, but most recently, according to the data, it’s now 22 percent and 78 percent, and the provincial Premiers across the country are all asking for 35 percent. Why? It’s because we really need to ask ourselves: how can we strengthen our health care system?

One of the things that COVID-19 worked to benefit for society is that it exposed many, many issues that need to be addressed. Our government knows more work needs to be done, but we also have laid a great foundation to catch up from the previous neglect that we will try to fulfil.

In the end, we need to be ready for the next pandemic or next disease or next bacterial germ that is going through our society. We need to invest in our health care. As the chair of the Council of the Federation, our government is taking the lead to invite all the Premiers to work with our federal government in asking for that 35 percent. We must and we need to push forward to modernize our health care and improve care for people.

One thing I again want to emphasize is the mental health component when it comes to the pandemic. I personally remember when I first felt some kind of symptoms in the beginning of 2021. I chose to self-isolate myself for two weeks. I knew how punishing that was. I had family to drop food off for me, even though I had a cough. I had a fever. I didn’t want to go out.

Now I have to ask myself: what will our society be ad­dressing when we are moving forward to open up our community? Many families are now just starting to reconnect with seniors, reconnect with their loved ones. We are often looking at ways to support our families as we open up societies. So we are now increasing funding for a free and affordable counselling program and making it easier to support through enhanced virtual care and make historic investments in treatment and recoveries, because our health care took an enormous toll during the pandemic.

B.C. is also one of the provinces to continuously keep schools open and continuously supported our community to remain open, keep our economy open, as we moved forward. It helped our society to have a proper balance as it was engaged in different challenges.

If you don’t mind, I also would like to touch a bit on where our throne speech talked about the support and services for addictions. I think one thing I do want to take a bit of pride in is the effort of working with the federal government, hoping to decriminalize minor drug offences of carrying a small amount of illicit drugs for personal usage.

We need to fight against stigmatization that prevents people from seeking help, seeking support. Our government understood that we must come up with a realistic and functional approach to support individuals struggling with different kinds of addictions. I know some of my colleagues mentioned earlier about how mental health and addiction has a direct correlation. I want to say that anybody, everybody could potentially become addicted to different kinds of drugs under various circumstances.

Individuals, based on different circumstances, can make unfortunate choices that draw them into circumstances they cannot get out of. It’s not just simply a mental health issue. It’s a mental disease that we need to fight against. That’s why B.C. became the first province in Canada to offer prescribed safe supply, a critical step to prevent overdose from toxic drugs.

We will continuously work with our provincial health officers and will continue to work with our community ser­vices to ensure that we are finding different ways to support individuals struggling with addictions. We have increased the number of treatment beds for both youth and adults. Of course, we know much more needs to be done. Again, I want to express my sympathy for every family member, every individual who experienced a loss or experienced a broken family due to a toxic drug supply.

Now we’ll talk a bit about education, especially the fact that in the last two years, we saw just how important it is for in-person, in-class learning for our children, mental health–wise and for intellectual growth. I personally know, with some nephews and nieces, the importance for them to stay connected with their family.

I even remember one of our family members sharing a story of how their child’s behaviour actually struggled because of long months of lack of in-person learning, even though she took a transitional learning option with the Richmond school board. The parent later regretted it and realized the child needed in-person interaction to truly appreciate and truly strengthen their resilience and mental health.

[6:10 p.m.]

School provides important support for children, especially the most vulnerable kids, and we want to make sure that we’ll continue to be there for our school system. Over the last four years, we’ve also had record funding for education. That has helped B.C. schools hire thousands of teachers and education assistants. That is one reason why I’m so proud of our throne speech by our government this year, because we’ve done such a comprehensive investment in health and education.

Of course, when we deal with mental health, when we deal with mental challenges, when we deal with stress, we also need to talk about racism and the importance of inclusivity. Our government is introducing new anti-racism data legislation this session, helping to pave the way for fair and better, diverse delivery of services.

By understanding whom we are serving and how our culture, language, ethnicity and background could interact with the services being provided, our government is finding a different way to better understand British Columbians and find a way to support all British Columbians.

In the days ahead, our government will take a major step towards establishing the first Chinese-Canadian museum in Canada, another great opportunity to celebrate the Chinese Canadians’ contribution to this country’s history. We all understand that Chinese Canadians, like many other cultures, contribute heavily to the success and prosperity of British Columbia, and we are so thankful to have a government establishing the first Chinese-Canadian museum in Canada, to showcase our historical growth.

Now, I do want to talk about affordability, which is one of the things I’m truly passionate about. Our government understood the importance of making life more affordable. It is a priority. I know some have probably mentioned this as lack of action, but I’m seeing that it’s all action from 2021, and we have a great vision for 2022. Interest on student loans removed. Bridge tolls in the Lower Mainland have been eliminated. Some 300,000 families are receiving the child opportunity benefit, putting thousands of dollars back into the pockets of those kids under the age of 18 years old.

I personally also benefited from this. Millions of drivers are benefiting from the biggest ICBC rate reduction for car insurance in B.C. history, saving people an average of almost $500. I saw those rebate cheques, and I saw my ICBC bill. It has made my life extremely affordable as well.

Hundreds of thousands of families also benefited from free transit for kids under 12. I know a family specifically approached me because they have four kids under 12 and how much easier it is for them to take the kids and visit different parts of Richmond, because of the free transportation for kids under 12. Often, as a family gets bigger, younger children in the family tend to create a lot of financial limitations. This kind of free transit does help families have a greater opportunity to access different kinds of community services and helps the kids experience the world.

People living on low incomes will continue to benefit from the first-ever increase to the seniors supplement and the largest-ever increase to social assistance. Those are real actions.

I also want to talk about, as many people have mention­ed, child care. The $10-a-day child care is a promise that our government made, and we’ve made many concrete steps towards it. Many families are already benefiting from thousands of new spaces and have saved up to $19,000 a year in lower fees. Our government will build on our progress made by more than doubling the $10-a-day child care spaces and reducing average fees by as much as 50 percent by the end of this year.

I’m excited about this news. I know my child and my family will benefit from opportunities such as this. We understand the importance of the child care benefit in allowing individuals who are primary caretakers, as a parent to a child, to be freed and be able to pursue their career, to explore their potential, to discover how they can be part of a community, to allow their work to continue, to truly find a way to live their life to the fullest. Having a kid should not be a punishment in regard to a family.

[6:15 p.m.]

Having a kid should be celebrated, just as many of my colleagues here, including Madam Speaker as well, celebrated the introduction of new members to our family. This should never come with a price tag that we should be worried about. Our government has British Columbia’s back. We’ll continue to allow British Columbians to find fulfilment, find work-life balance and continue working towards $10-a-day child care for all British Columbians who have younger children.

Of course, housing is a major issue for British Columbia as well. Our government has already taken many actions. According to the throne speech, we’ve banned renovictions, we’ve cracked down on speculation, we’ve frozen rent increases during the pandemic and capped rent increases to inflation. We’ve also helped people who were entrenched in homelessness encampments in cities across the province into safer housing.

We’re building 8,000 new on campus student housing beds as well. Since 2017, 52,000 new rental homes have been registered in B.C. That’s more than the previous 15 years combined.

Our government understood that home ownership and a place to live or to have a place that is an affordable rental is essential to life, essential to a proper work-life balance. British Columbians know that the provincial government has got their back.

We’re also making low-cost financing available to en­courage building homes that middle class families can afford. We’re making the largest investment in affordable housing in B.C.’s history, with 32,000 homes built or on the way already. This spring, we’ll introduce a cooling-off period on home purchases to protect people when they are buying a home, especially in a volatile market.

We understand that housing affordability has been a challenge for many British Columbians, including individ­uals and constituents who live in Richmond South Centre. Our government is working hard to bring affordability for British Columbians and to Richmond South Centre constituents. It is not a problem easily resolved, but we’re working hard with the federal government, and we’re working hard to introduce affordable units, and building more units to allow our constituents to have a potential affordable future with housing.

I also want to talk a little bit more about forestry and reconciliation. I know that for the last year, including even till now, we’ve had many constituents approaching us, talking about the importance of combatting climate change, the importance of protecting our forests and the importance of reconciliation. Our government is approaching this challenge in a collaborative and cooperative approach, by working with Indigenous communities and Indigenous governments to ensure that we find a way to allowing them to be equal partners in deciding how we can defer 2.6 million hectares of our most at-risk old-growth forests.

B.C.’s also leading the country in reforestation, planting more than one billion trees since 2018, including more than 300 million last year. Forestry is and will remain a foundation of B.C.’s economy, and forestry will, again, be a key factor for B.C. as we move forward. We can never deny the importance of climate change as well, as we continue to find ways to support British Columbians in a challenging time ahead.

In my conclusion and final remarks, I’ll talk about the economy. As we all know, recently British Columbia has demonstrated that we have the lowest unemployment rate, that we have one of the strongest economic recoveries and that we have a strong business climate where people want to come and invest. Despite the disruption of an unprecedented pandemic, unprecedented climate emergencies and an unprecedented opioid toxic drug crisis, B.C. continues to find a way to work together to have strong resilience and to thrive through challenges.

[6:20 p.m.]

We’re glad to be part of the British Columbia government, and we’re glad to be working with British Columbians, continuously finding ways to build a fair, safer, and stronger B.C. for all.

M. Dykeman: It truly is an honour to stand here in the chamber today to rise and speak in support of the throne speech, coming here on the traditional territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ peoples, the Songhees and the Esqui­malt Nations.

It truly has been quite the year. It’s been a challenging year for so many people, and I’m so proud to be the member for Langley East, to be elected by the people of the township of Langley to represent such a fantastic community, which resides on the traditional territories of the Kwantlen, Katzie and Semiahmoo Nations.

I would be remiss if I didn’t start off by acknowledging how I can only do this work because of some incredible people that work with me each day: my fantastic CAs — Carly Haugen, Madison Portner, Aidan Hooper — as well as my amazing LA here, Trudy Maygard.

I also wanted to just take a second. Last time I stood in the House, I also had another CA named Candy Ashdown, who truly is one of my very best friends. She was actually my campaign manager and came to work with me and set me up for success, along with all the other hard-working people that work with me. But Candy took this time to do so away from her real estate business, and she’s returned now to go back to that, after making sure that we were good in that year.

We all terribly miss her and thank her for all the time she spent. She’s always there, but she really did go above and beyond, walking a journey that I certainly had never planned. Like I said, I’m so proud to be in this role, but it certainly wasn’t something that we had been sitting and looking at years and years ahead. Candy and I had served together as trustees. We’ve campaigned together several times, and she’s just an all-around wonderful person. I miss her terribly but thank her for the year she gave to make sure that we were okay in a really strange time.

I think all of us sitting in this chamber will attest to being a first-term MLA in this period of time is a little bit different. We’ve had a pandemic. We’ve had wildfires. We’ve had flooding. I mean, I just heard the most moving speech from one of my colleagues, talking about the challenges within Lytton.

We’ve all had very challenging years. As a farmer myself, seeing the challenges that have taken place within my community and others — out with my other colleagues in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission and throughout the province — it really has been a difficult time.

Recently I had lunch with someone, and they looked at me and said: “Why on earth would you ever want to run to be an MLA? What possibly would possess you to do so?” And they said: “Tell us. What made you run for the party you’ve run for? Why are you so proud to be an MLA?” It was really simple. It was a really simple answer. I actually surprised myself at how quickly I could answer it.

Well, the truth is that we cannot be an economically strong province and country — we cannot be a prosperous community — when 10 percent of the country lives in poverty, when over 3.7 million people are poor. And that’s just the standard — like, the number we’ve picked. That doesn’t recognize all the other people that struggle. We live in this very wonderful province, which is so attractive to so many people, but with that comes a higher price tag, as we’ve seen.

[6:25 p.m.]

When one in eight homes is food insecure…. Over 4.4 million people in our country are food insecure. Once again, by the definition of “food insecure….” This is based on the prior census data, and we’ll start to get a better picture of what that looks like. When I was school board chair and everything was going on with the pandemic and then we walked into a shutdown of the schools, our school district alone was feeding 650 families during the pandemic. That’s terrifying.

That’s why I ran. I don’t believe that economic growth should be fuelled by societal decline. I don’t believe that it’s a binary choice. I don’t believe that we can accept the rhetoric. There’s this false dichotomy, the narrative that goes around that says: “Don’t invest in these social programs because of a looming economic disaster.”

I actually believe that the narrative is reversed. I believe the narrative is that we can’t be an economically strong province or nation unless we invest in these social programs, unless we invest in our future, unless we invest in making sure that we don’t have large amounts of people who are left behind. I’m proud that our government recognizes that. We’ve demonstrated that. We’ve demonstrated that this divisive thinking is a fallacy. We have taken the time to invest and work to raise people up.

We’ve reinvested in starved areas, which has resulted in British Columbia being the strongest economy in Canada — and, I would argue, not despite these investments but because we have invested in these areas. That’s something that we should be proud of and we should celebrate, but there is a lot more work to do.

Yes, it’s been a terribly challenging year, as I opened with. People are still struggling, and the road out there is going to be tough, and it’s going to require us to come together. It’s going to require us to support those who need the support and invest in the economy to ensure that we remain on a positive trajectory.

I want to illustrate this in five stories from my community. Education is something that was my beginning in politics. I was proud to serve as a trustee for ten years, as many of my colleagues even sitting in here right now have. It’s an interesting place to get your feet wet, because the challenging part about being a trustee is sort of, oftentimes…. Really, you’re kind of looking at how to move things along, and you’re working in a co-governance model with the province. We used to joke — and it very much is a joke — that nobody was happy at the end of the day. That’s what your role as trustee is.

Honestly, though, all joking aside, the things that I got to see happen, as we evolved…. We moved things through like the new curriculum, investing in child care spaces and neighbourhood places of learning. All the different things that have evolved over our time in education have been things that really gave me a foundation and allowed me to have a reinforcement of how important these societal investments are.

The wisest investment we can make in the world is in our future — our children, our schools, our education. The greatest indicator of a democracy is an educated population. So it’s something that is very, very important to me.

We saw the opening of Donna Gabriel Elementary School, named after a member of the Kwantlen First Nation. A very influential language program was started by and supported with Donna Gabriel and others. That school really does represent reconciliation. So many elements in the development of the school were in partnership with the nations which our school district resides upon.

We’ve seen the seismic upgrades of Vanguard School and Shortreed Elementary. We’ve seen $10 daycare and 789 licensed spaces through Childcare B.C. in our community. Langley is one of the fastest-growing communities in British Columbia, so these new daycare spaces are so important. We actually — the census numbers came out today — found out that since 2016 we have grown by 13.9 percent. Thousands of homes are being built each year, and those daycare spaces are needed.

[6:30 p.m.]

Those investments in our community make a difference in everyday people’s lives — people who are going to work, people who want to raise their families in our great community. Langley is such a special community. We have a rapidly growing urban area, but we also have a strong and proud agricultural community. These investments are surely making a difference in the lives of the 20,000 students that are in the Langley school district and those that are coming behind, and I’m super excited about them.

With that rapidly growing community come other challenges. It means pressures on things like health care. We have seen, recently, some wonderful investments in Langley Memorial Hospital, which is in my riding. We’ve seen emergency room expansion, while increasing our trauma beds from 31 to 49. We saw the addition of six new mental health beds in our emergency room, as well as the expansion of our hospital pharmacy, an upgrade to the electrical infrastructure and a new MRI.

Those investments make a difference in the lives of people who live in the township of Langley and in my colleague and friend’s riding, which also encompasses Langley city. We are two Langleys; we work well together, though. We have growing needs within our commun­ities. I know that my colleague and I are super excited about those investments, and I’m very proud to work with my colleague.

We also need to recognize, though, that those investments wouldn’t have happened without the hard work of the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation, with the leadership of the executive director, Heather Scott; the board chair, Michael Leggatt; and the rest of the board, who work hard. They raised millions of dollars to support health care in our community. As our government is reinvesting in this important area and ensuring that we are keeping up with the rapid growth of our province — and specifically where I represent, the township of Langley — the hospital foundation is there.

We also saw the new Langley Memorial Hospital palliative care hospice, which is going to be opening very shortly — another initiative which the foundation also supported and which our government was proud to support. I’m super excited to see that. We toured it recently. It’s really going to be a community building, a building that will allow families to be there at such a difficult time, when many people need to spend days by the side of their loved ones.

My mom passed away there many years ago. Without the hospice, I don’t think our family would have been able to deal with the stress. It would have been a matter, you know, of one person coming in and one person going out. And what do you do? The hospice allowed my mom to go through her end of life with dignity, while allowing my father — they were married for nearly 50 years — to be there without all of the stress and to receive the care and support he needed, while giving the support my mom needed.

I’m really excited to see our community have a new, larger hospice with new, shared spaces like larger rooms, indoor-outdoor spaces, a youth-dedicated area and what they call a hospice spa, which will allow additional comfort measures. I want to thank everybody who worked so hard on that initiative.

Once again, the other pressures that come with it are social services. Our community received $2.5 million in the strengthening communities grant for homeless strategies, as well as $25,000 for poverty reduction. As our community grows, so do the complex social needs, which you can’t look at in a vacuum. They’re complex, from mental health to addiction to economic disadvantage and education needs, but these complex needs come together. They often manifest in people experiencing homelessness.

[6:35 p.m.]

One of the things that we did after receiving this grant was that we actually put together a table. I was very proud to be able to help organize that. Many people came together and sat at the table. My counterpart, the MLA for Langley, sits at the table, along with two mayors, of both municipalities. Often the MPs join us at this table to discuss the challenges and how we can work together, because we can’t work apart. We have two municipalities. We have multiple levels of government. Often, we all want to work independently, but really, that often just creates more work.

This table, which is supported by Stepping Stone community services, township of Langley, the city of Langley, Langley Community Services Society, Lower Fraser Valley Aboriginal Society, Gateway of Hope, Lookout Housing, B.C. Housing, Encompass Support Services, the RCMP, Ishtar Women’s Resources, Fraser Health and others who come from time to time, when needed, tackle issues like emergency weather shelters, tackle long-term vision and identify gaps of things that we need like, maybe, mental health support with policing.

That money that came to our community allows us to work together with operators and people at decision-making levels to come together and solve these complex challenges. So that’s something that I know our community is super excited about and super proud of: the work we’re doing together.

One thing about Langley — having lived there, farmed there and raised my children there — is that when there is a challenge, we come together as a community. Like many communities that have agricultural roots, we look at a problem and figure: “How can we tackle it?” And this is another example of that. I’m really proud of all of the operators. I mean, I’m the least informed person in the room, as a politician, so to be able to sit around all these people who know so much, to come together, has really been a learning experience. Something that I can’t say enough about is how fortunate I feel to be able to sit at that table.

We have undertaken some pretty significant growth, as I mentioned, and we’re going to continue to grow. As we heard in the throne speech, our needs are changing, for skills. There is a gap. There is an expectation that we could be looking at a million jobs that need to be filled.

Another initiative, through my office, that we set up, is the economic advisory table. People who, often, you would probably characterize as critics were invited to the table to sit down and talk about what it will look like. What would success look like in Langley if we had a strong economic recovery?

It’s a very broad question. Boy, my economic advisory committee — which consists of Gemma Martini; Joel Schacter; John Tomlinson; Rod Ross, the chair of the Langley board of education; Scott Waddle; Stephen Gregorig; Dave Melnychuk; Frank Bucholtz; Rhonda Driediger; and Ron Toigo — sure bring some great ideas together.

We’ve talked about how jobs are a challenge. I was thrilled to see that in our throne speech — a view to the fact that we have a workplace that is changing. It has changing needs. We have a workplace that certainly has diverse needs. So maybe we don’t have the skills we need. We’ve also got gaps of people.

I was thrilled, the other day, because in addition to the 64 new health care assistant seats that Kwantlen Polytechnic University is offering to help address some of our health care gaps, we also have some really exciting things going on with universities that have spots in my riding and, also, in other campuses.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University wrote to myself and my colleague and let us know that they have new opportunities to learn the skills needed to enter video game development, which is something that really is growing in this area. They’re looking at expanding skills training for video game development, visual effects and the animation industry, working in a collaboration with KPU, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and the Centre for Entertainment Arts, which is really exciting.

This will offer four diploma programs. It was really neat to see how excited the university was to talk about this, because it’s meeting our growing needs.

[6:40 p.m.]

Also, Martini Studios, which resides in my riding, is part of an initiative for motion picture skills. Our film industry is so important to our economy. There are so many wonderful productions going on in our community and in the rest of British Columbia. It employs so many people. I just have to say that they’ve been just fantastic, too, during the challenges of COVID.

That’s an industry that was able to get back to work pretty quick because of the work they put into making sure they had a safe workplace for people. So seeing that part of our economy continue growing….

They are working to provide a training program to en­sure that people who work in the film industry are able to meet the needs on set — another changing and adapting to the changing needs of the workforce. That was a pretty wonderful email, also, to receive from a constituent of mine.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

I also want to — I’ve only got a few minutes left — just close talking a little bit about community. We’ve received some wonderful funding in our riding to recognize im­portant parts of tourism and reconciliation. For instance, the Salishan Place museum, the Langley Museum and other tourist and arts initiatives in our community received some funding. I’m really grateful that we’ve received that, because right now, with all the division in the world, things that bring us together are important.

Often we define ourselves by who we’re not: “We’re not them. We’re not part of this party. We’re not those people over there. We’re not from here; we’re from there.” We often have conversations about who we’re not. Right now with all of the challenges we faced, it’s really important that we remember that certain things are not the enemy. We’re dealing with a virus. It’s the enemy. We, as individuals, are not each other’s enemy.

We have to remember that as we’re going through challenges with the environment, we need to come together, because if we don’t come together to fight those challenges, we’re not as strong as we can be. Looking in the educational classrooms, looking in our communities, looking to our friends, I think it’s important that we remember what we’re fighting for, not what we’re fighting against.

That, leading back to the beginning where I opened and when people asked me why I was proud to run…. Like I said, we don’t have to abandon or do things at the expense of our most vulnerable. We need to fund to lift things up. We don’t have to be divisive in our actions. We need to work together to lift our province up.

I’m proud to be part of a government that recognizes that, and I believe, firmly, that that’s why we are in the position we’re in — being such an economic leader in our country and having the, really, very minor disruption during COVID. We’ve been able to pursue most things. We need to remember that as we’re coming out, because one thing we can’t do is leave ourselves vulnerable in society as we exit out of the pandemic. The pandemic will change, but our society will be there at the end.

I’m proud of the fact that that’s something that stayed at the forefront of our government. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together, and we’re all going to come out of this together.

With that, I’m going to take my seat now. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Speech from the Throne.

M. Dykeman moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Rankin moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 6:44 p.m.