Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: R. Russell.

[10:05 a.m.]

Tributes

ROSEANNE MORAN

Hon. A. Dix: Today on behalf of the Premier, I wanted to briefly rise and pay tribute to Roseanne Moran, who is retiring tomorrow as the executive director of the government caucus. Roseanne is — as all the people on this side of the House know, and as some people on the opposite side of the House know well — an extraordinary individual, generous, thoughtful and direct at all times. Roseanne has made a contribution to each and every member on the government side.

She, I think, lives her politics in the way she treats peo­ple, whether they are MLAs, her immediate bosses or the people that work with and report to her in the government caucus, or constituency assistants. She is seriously someone who practises the art, I think, of the personal being the political in everything she does.

It has been a great honour for me to work with Rose­anne, on and off — mostly on — for about 25 years. I know the Premier feels this exceptionally strongly. So on behalf of him and all of the members on the government side….

But with Roseanne, it’s not just the personal, not just her work as executive director; she is a serious political activist for the student movement, for the environmental movement, for the labour movement — of course, through her work with the Canadian Union of Public Employees — and many other things.

She comes by it, of course, as the Leader of the Opposition will know, from her mom, Bridget, who is a legend — not just because she has got a statue in bronze, which I suggest all members visit when they go to Prince George. I know the Leader of the Opposition, like me, and like dozens of other members of the Legislature, has had pictures with her mom there, on a bench in Prince George. She is a serious political activist, a brilliant woman who has led our team, at the staff level, with grace, courage, generosity and intelligence.

We’re going to miss you, Roseanne, but we know the next stage is going to be great. We look forward to working with you and just enjoying life with you, as friends, for many years to come.

Thank you very much, Roseanne.

Introductions by Members

M. Dykeman: I’m absolutely thrilled to rise in the House today to welcome two very, very special guests to the gallery. The two most important people in my life, who I absolutely adore, are my two children — my son, A.J., and my daughter, MacKenzie. It’s such a privilege to welcome them for the first time to the Legislature and to be able to introduce them today. I was wondering if the House could please join me in making them feel very welcome today.

Hon. B. Ma: In all the hullabaloo of the earlier week, with everyone wishing their family members and their pets happy birthday, I realized that I, too, actually missed a very important birthday earlier this week. I do have a good excuse, though. You see, my grandmother tracks her birthday according to the Chinese lunar calendar, not the Gregorian calendar, and I never learned to convert those calendars, so it just kind of snuck up on me.

[10:10 a.m.]

My grandmother Kuei Hsing Ma immigrated here to Canada in 1969 with her four sons, who dutifully produced eight grandchildren for her, two of whom have produced five great-grandchildren for her, while the rest of us slack on that end.

媽媽生日快樂，我愛你，想念你。

[Mandarin text provided by B. Ma.]

Would the House please join me in wishing my grandmother a very happy 92nd birthday — I think.

S. Furstenau: I’m delighted to introduce Allison Siddon. She’s in the gallery today. She’s an 18-year-old first-year university student at UBC Okanagan and is interested in forestry and wildlife conservation. She likes hiking, backpacking, reading, kayaking and knitting. She’s the cousin of our incredibly hard-working and amazing policy analyst, Stephanie Siddon. Would the House please make her feel most welcome.

Statements
(Standing Order 25B)

MODERNIZATION PROJECT AT
DAYBREAK FARMS

E. Ross: Sometimes you take for granted where our food comes from. Kieran Christison doesn’t. That’s why the 31-year-old entrepreneur wants to take her family legacy farm into the 21st century. Daybreak Farms is the sole producer of eggs in northwest British Columbia. Kieran, like her father before her, understands food security and the need to supply nutritious food to remote and northern B.C. communities.

Daybreak Farms supplies eggs to major supermarkets, independent grocers and restaurants throughout the region. All the feed is natural with no added antibiotics and produces white, brown, omega-3 and free-run eggs and is certified by the Safe Quality Food Institute, but Kieran knows the farm needs upgrades to reduce the environmental footprint and meet current industry standards.

That is why Kieran is planning a substantial $10 million modernization project to consolidate operations and replace the pit manure system. This move is also proactive, as the British Columbia Farm Industry Review Board ruled that producers can no longer renovate and install conventional systems like the one at Daybreak Farms. Those systems need to be replaced by cage-free or enriched systems by July 1, 2036. Daybreak Farms has applied to the city of Terrace for a zoning amendment and is now anticipating a public hearing. Hopefully, Daybreak Farms gets the go-ahead.

A couple of egg-cellent facts to know. That’s clever — egg-cellent. World Egg Day is celebrated every October. This year it will be Friday, October 14. It is also alleged that Kieran married Darcy Mckeown a few days ago, on top of a mountain. I say “alleged” because I saw it on Facebook, but I will confirm it for the House.

If it’s true, congratulations to Kieran and Darcy, and hopefully, the celebrations include the approval of the much-needed improvements at Daybreak Farms.

HERITAGE PRESERVATION AND
HISTORIC NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SULLIVAN

J. Sims: According to UNESCO, heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to our future generations. Our culture and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration, our touchstone, our reference point and our identity. This week is Heritage Week. Heritage celebrates the conservation and preservation of historic places in the form of building structures and landscapes. It also celebrates our values, beliefs, customs and traditions extending into the past.

In my riding of Surrey-Panorama, we have a gem called Sullivan. Sullivan is seen by many as a new, developing neighbourhood. However, the Sullivan Community Association has been active since 1928, when a group of volunteers built Sullivan Community Hall, a heritage building still in use today.

The area known as Sullivan was first settled in 1866 by an Irish immigrant names James Johnston. Henry Sullivan was attracted to the area and bought a corner section of land where he and Mr. Hiland opened a logging company. Henry was joined by his brother Tom, who helped with the logging and later served as mayor of Surrey.

The logging company was commissioned by B.C. Electric Railway to build a right-of-way from Newton to Cloverdale. Thanks to the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society, you can ride the original car 1225, from Cloverdale to Sullivan Station, all summer long.

[10:15 a.m.]

Sullivan is one of the many historic neighbourhoods in our province. It is thanks to community associations, heritage societies and individual British Columbians — who have fought to preserve our history, to have buildings designated heritage status, and who continue to share the stories of the past — that we can both appreciate the beauty of yesteryear and build upon the rich and diverse cultures of today.

As we head into nicer days, let us all explore our heritage.

VISUAL AND FILM ARTS EDUCATION AT
KWANTLEN UNIVERSITY IN RICHMOND

T. Wat: Anyone who is a fan of films has undoubtedly seen the impact of Vancouver, or Hollywood North, on the big screen in one way or another. Sometimes Vancouver’s influence on the world’s blockbuster movies is obvious. It’s the curse of being blessed with so much beautiful scenery.

Sometimes the influence in films and TV is less obvious but still great nonetheless. The art and visual effects of a film are what separate a timeless classic from a flop. They are what help us get lost in the story, characters and world before us.

Metro Vancouver has built an arts and entertainment industry that has become a staple of both our economic and cultural identity, but we did not earn this reputation overnight. It’s thanks to our incredible post-secondary institutions that we are able to produce some of the most talented and inspired visual artists. I was so pleased to learn that many next-generation practitioners are going to come from my own riding of Richmond North Centre.

Opportunities to learn the skills needed to pursue a career in game development, visual effects and animation will be expanded and enhanced by a new collaboration between Kwantlen Polytechnic University and the Centre for Entertainment Arts. Nearly 300 students will transfer from Vancouver to Kwantlen in May, and the university aims to steadily increase the number of seats.

It is a landmark achievement to see such an amazing program come to KPU so that we can continue to train and produce artists and industry leaders of the highest calibre here in our own backyard.

I would like to congratulate and thank the staff and faculty at KPU and the Centre for Entertainment Arts and welcome the many students to Richmond who are about to pursue their dreams of a long and exciting career in our film and video game industries.

Together, KPU and Richmond will help ensure that B.C. remains a leader in the world’s arts and entertainment industry.

SPECIALIZED MENTAL HEALTH
SERVICES IN VICTORIA

G. Lore: I’m so pleased to rise today to talk about two incredible organizations that provide specialized and essential mental health care and support here in Victoria. We know the pandemic has had devastating impacts on mental health and wellness across the province. We also know that these impacts are even more significant for those who have faced violence, who are navigating poverty and marginalization, or who are without their traditional community connections.

VICCIR, the Vancouver Island Counselling Centre for Immigrants and Refugees, provides counselling with the support of specially trained interpreters, removing linguistic and economic barriers to care. Counselling is available in Mandarin, Korean, Farsi, Arabic, Punjabi, Vietnamese and more. Cultural interpretation helps families situate their experience in their own cultural context and helps counsellors understand the needs of their clients.

Essential and specialized mental health care is also available at Peers, where current and former sex workers can access counselling supports that are safe, empowering and non-judgmental. Peers Victoria also provides violence prevention and response, increasing services and access to justice for sex workers who have been harmed by violence.

Client-centred care is foundational to the services available at both organizations. At VICCIR, kids can access art therapy, a more gentle way for children to process trauma and emotion. At Peers, by ensuring that people with lived experience in sex work are on their board and are part of their staff, they provide services that best reflect the needs of those they serve. Mental health care must meet people where they are at. They must be at the centre of the services that they are accessing. This is what these organizations are doing.

[10:20 a.m.]

I’m incredibly proud that our government continues to fund and support the work at these organizations to ensure culturally appropriate, low-barrier and specialized counselling.

All my gratitude to these organizations, their staff, their volunteers and all who provide the services and care in my community and across the region.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

A. Olsen: One hundred and fifty-one years ago a delegation from British Columbia went to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of our province joining Canada. A few years earlier Amor De Cosmos created the Confederation League. A key goal was to join Canada and to establish, in our province, responsible government, meaning where the cabinet or the executive is responsible to the people through an elected assembly.

While the form of representative government existed in the colonies, the greatest opponents to the efforts of the Confederation League came from powerful, unelected members of the colonial government. They debated the idea of Confederation and, ignoring opposition, decided to attempt to join Canada without responsible government. The federal government disagreed. Instead, they insisted that we have responsible government here in this province and enticed the B.C. delegation with pensions for those unelected members who would lose their jobs.

One hundred and fifty-one years later we must be mindful that our responsibility is to British Columbians.

When question period becomes little more than theatre, second reading debates are a performance, questions go unanswered at committee stage, bills are designed to give regulatory powers to ministries and ministers to fill in the blanks behind closed doors, time allocation limits the democratic duty for deep inquiry, private members’ motions are never voted on, private members’ bills languish on the order papers with no debate, standing committees have no members and recommendations on committee reports collect dust, we in this House must demand better.

The power plays in this chamber do little to serve the constituents who elect us to this democratic institution. They are indeed as self-serving and self-indulgent as our colonial predecessors were.

A responsible government respects the processes and protocols of this institution. When this assembly abuses power, undermining and eroding the dignity and integrity of this democratic institution, we find ourselves in a very dangerous spot.

ANN DAVIS TRANSITION SOCIETY

D. Coulter: Today I’d like to talk about a very important organization in Chilliwack, the Ann Davis Transition Society. Their mission statement is, “Ann Davis Transition Society provides education, prevention and support services to those affected by abuse or violence,” and their vision is: “Communities free from violence and abuse.”

The genesis of this society was in 1979, when concerned community members formed the emergency shelter committee. They met in private homes and began to look at practical ways they could help. Members took responsibility to help women obtain medical treatment, deal with the police, contact the Ministry of Human Resources and locate housing.

In 1981, the emergency shelter committee became in­corporated as the Upper Fraser Valley Transition Society. It was now time to find a name for the house that would provide shelter for so many women and children. Jean Scott, a member of the UFVTS, did some research and discovered that a local woman named Ann Davis had helped provide shelter for women who were victims of domestic abuse and their children since her arrival in Chilliwack in the 1920s. In 1981, the Ann Davis Transition Society was named in her honour.

Today this society is headed up by its executive director, Patti MacAhonic, who some people in the chamber know. Not only does the society give emergency shelter to women and children who are victims of domestic abuse, but it also offers a plethora of counselling and programs for the community. Currently the society is hosting Coldest Night of the Year, a family-friendly walk to raise money for local charities, serving people experiencing hurt, hunger and homelessness.

My friend the member for Chilliwack-Kent and my­self have a team this year. We’re looking forward to the walk this Saturday, and you can go online and donate to our team.

I hope the House would join me in celebrating the Ann Davis Transition Society.

[10:25 a.m.]

Ministerial Statements

INVASION OF UKRAINE

Hon. B. Ralston: This is a dark day. Ukraine, an independent nation, has been invaded, its territory violated, its people suffering. I join the Prime Minister, the Premier and allied nations in deploring this illegal and unnecessary war. Make no mistake: this is one man’s war.

The invasion has caused great distress among many British Columbians, especially for the many who have family and friends in Ukraine. Why should we, in this House, concern ourselves over war in a distant land? We do so because it is important for people in Ukraine and Russia and around the world to know that we stand with those who want to live in peace. We stand with those who understand that Europe’s peace, following two world wars, depends on respect for international law.

I have no doubt the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia want to be peaceful neighbours. They have been peaceful neighbours. This war is not the result of two societies in conflict. It is an unwanted war of aggression, and it must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

This is an historic moment, a moment fraught with danger. Just across from the Premier’s office is a monument called the Spirit of the Republic. It honours the Canadians who volunteered to defend the Spanish republic against dictators. Those from British Columbia who served are also remembered by a plaque in the upper rotunda. They are remembered because they understood what was under threat.

This is a moment when all peoples who believe in peace and democracy need to assert their support and solidarity. We stand with the people of Ukraine. We must.

T. Stone: I appreciate the words of the minister. I rise to speak to the fears many of us have right now watching the tragic situation unfolding in Europe today — fears for friends, for loved ones, for secure democracy and for the Ukrainian people: a proud, peace-loving, resilient people who have faced more than their fair share of strife, conflict and heartache throughout their history but a people committed to democracy and freedom and international law.

Like many in British Columbia, I have strong ties, personally, to Ukraine. So last night hearing the reports of villages and towns and cities facing Russian artillery fire across Ukraine, I was devastated, like so many other British Columbians and Canadians were as well. Villages like the one my great-grandmother called home and communities throughout Ukraine now face an old reality, echoes of the tragedies and struggles they faced 80 years ago.

As I followed the news last night and this morning, I knew I was joining people all across the world in watching the horror unfold, a war unfolding in Europe, a democracy of over 40 million people under siege. I was struck by images of women and their children huddled, clutching each other, underground in subways with not much more than likely whatever money they were able to grab and the clothes on their backs, with absolute fear in their eyes as to what lay ahead.

To the people of Ukraine: we stand with you, and we condemn in no uncertain terms this unprovoked Russian assault.

[10:30 a.m.]

To those of Ukrainian descent who now call Canada and British Columbia home, the largest Ukrainian diaspora, we stand with you, and we share in your pain.

To those with friends and loved ones who right now may have their lives in serious jeopardy in what was, just 24 hours ago, a safe and free democratic nation, we stand with you in calling for this to end.

As British Columbians, as elected officials and as a province, we all must be ready to help. It is not enough to simply condemn from the sidelines. When our federal government responds to this blatant act of aggression in Ukraine, we are calling on the government of British Columbia to support Ottawa’s efforts. If part of our national response is severe economic sanctions, we are calling on this government to ensure that their provincial jurisdiction over many aspects of our financial system does not impede, in any way, the efforts to impose concrete and thorough sanctions by our federal government.

This is indeed a time when we must stand in solidarity against unchecked militarism and violations of the peaceful international order that so many have fought and died to secure, a time to assure people experiencing fears and anxieties here in B.C., in Ukraine and all around the world that good people are ready to respond and prevail.

After over two years in a global pandemic and an armed conflict now breaking out in Europe, there has to be hope. We have to strive towards a more hopeful future. Our collective actions during this crisis will define what that message will be to younger generations, to our kids and to everyone who lives in Ukraine or any country facing threats to their sovereignty.

Today we stand with peace-loving people around the world, with freedom and democracies, with families wanting their youth to come home from conflict zones everywhere. Today we stand with Ukraine.

S. Furstenau: I wish to add the voices of our caucus in the support for the minister’s statement and for the statement from the House Leader from the official opposition. I think we can agree that on this, we are wholly in solidarity with each other and with the people of Ukraine and wholly against the acts of violence and war that are unfolding right now. “Condemnation” is the right word for what is happening.

As a child of somebody who grew up in and who was born in October 1939 in Europe, I try to explain to my own child this moment that we’re in and how serious it is. The stability and certainty that has been eroded by this pandemic is now being further eroded by these illegal acts of war and violence. In a time like this, we, in particular, as elected representatives in a democracy, have a burden that is enormous and serious, and we must stand together for peace and democracy.

Oral Questions

AFFORDABILITY ISSUES
AND TAX ON SALE OF USED CARS

P. Milobar: The average price of most things, as we all know, is growing at an alarming rate. The used-car sector has not been immune to that as well. It wasn’t that long ago that a used car — a good, decent used car — was around $6,000 in British Columbia. Today it’s almost $10,000.

[10:35 a.m.]

Now the NDP has decided to change their tax legislation and increase the taxes on those same vehicles. This change, according to the budget book, will primarily impact low- and middle-income families — families that are already struggling to find a way not to just get a good deal on a car but struggling to find ways to pay their grocery bill as well.

Yesterday when we asked about this, did the Minister of Finance take any responsibility for the change that she has chosen to make to her tax legislation? No. Instead, she chose to try to characterize these hard-working families trying to get by as tax cheats.

Why is this minister purposely changing her tax laws with an end result that harms these low- and middle-income families who are struggling every day just to pro­vide the basics for their family?

Hon. S. Robinson: We’ve updated reporting requirements around this to be in line with other provinces. All the other provinces have this, and we’ve done this in order to be in line with other provinces.

I also want to say…. We’re also seeing, in terms of the used-car business, significant shifts in buying, in purchasing of used vehicles. In fact, we’re seeing a real shift in people being interested in electric vehicles, and that’s why we eliminated the PST on used EVs. In fact, two-thirds of Canadians want their next vehicle to be an EV. This is, again, helping people to make the right choice.

In fact, I want to point out that the Automotive Retailers Association applauds our announcement to remove the PST on used zero-emission vehicles. They say that this will help make the shift to electric more affordable for all British Columbians.

That’s work that we’re going to continue to do.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Kamloops–North Thompson, supplemental.

P. Milobar: That was a complete evasion of the question. We weren’t asking about tax rebates for electric vehicles. We were asking about punitive taxation to low- and middle-income families.

With one hand, the minister is increasing the taxes to those same families on used goods and, with the other hand, quite happily making sure she changes her tax legislation — not a loophole, legislation — to make sure her and her cabinet colleagues can secure a $20,000 pay bonus. Same budget. That’s a pretty life-changing amount of money for most people in British Columbia, that $20,000.

Let’s look at a real example of what real families trying to buy a good, reliable used vehicle to get around with their families in British Columbia are now facing under this minister’s tax changes. There’s a 2014 Dodge Caravan listed in Surrey. It has about 150,000 kilometres. We just looked it up. It’s now worth around $10,000. It probably was worth around $6,000 not too long ago, but as we know, prices have increased. The tax increase on that vehicle, with this tax policy change, with this tax legislation change…. It will increase the tax on that vehicle by $200.

Now maybe for ministers who just got a $20,000 raise, that doesn’t seem like too much money. But to the vast majority of British Columbians that are $200 away from not being able to pay their bills on any given month, that’s a significant change to their affordability.

Again, why is the minister so intent with this budget on attacking low- and middle-income families with changes to her tax policies?

Hon. S. Robinson: This is about bringing us in line with the rest of Canada. We were lagging behind.

I also want to point out that clearly the member doesn’t understand the difference between a tax rebate and removing the PST on an EV. He thinks it’s a tax rebate. This is much more different than that. This is about removing the PST on used ZEVs. That’s a significant difference for people who want to make a difference to protect the environment and to switch over to electric vehicles.

[10:40 a.m.]

BUDGET ACCOUNTABILITY AND SALARIES
FOR MINISTERS AND SENIOR STAFF

M. de Jong: The ministerial accountability measures the minister and the Premier are now eliminating were actually born out of the fiscal mismanagement and budgetary manipulation…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members, let’s hear the question, please.

M. de Jong: …of a previous NDP government. For the members opposite who don’t seem to want to believe that, there are actually a few remaining colleagues of the ministers who they could consult and who will tell them that that is true and who will remember the day that, as a result, their party was reduced to two seats in this House.

The legislation that the minister is gutting is actually rooted in the belief that, except in extraordinary circumstances like 2008, like 2020, governments should endeavour to live within their means. When they don’t, there should be accountability visited upon the ministers who are presiding over the government at that time.

Why is she eliminating that accountability, and why is she providing the Premier and her colleagues with tens of thousands of dollars in raises in the same budget that increases taxes and makes life less affordable for so many struggling B.C. families?

Hon. S. Robinson: Well, we have ministerial responsibility. That will remain. We have a holdback measure to ensure that ministers stick to their budgets. There is an expectation that all of my colleagues will stick to their budgets. We are hanging on to that component part of the holdback.

I want to say the deficit holdback measures really do send the wrong message. The member talked about using this measure as a way to do accountability. Well, I have to say that when they were…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. S. Robinson: …robbing ICBC blind in order to balance their budget so that they could collect their holdback, that was wrong. That was absolutely wrong. They collected their holdbacks. That was important to them, and the way they did that was by increasing MSP. That’s how they collected their holdback.

Those were choices that they made. We’re making different choices to invest in people in British Columbia.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Abbotsford West, supplemental.

M. de Jong: The minister, I think, is probably frustrated by the fact that we don’t believe her. We don’t believe her explanations.

I have the budget. It’s not actually the budget that she delivered this week. It’s the budget she delivered a year ago. On page 33, it says this: “The path to balanced budgets. The province will be working over the coming months to finalize a specific timeline to return to balance…. The specific timeline, approach and plan will be presented in Budget 2022.”

Well, we now have the plan. We have the answer, and the answer is never — never. Contrary to the assurances of the NDP, this minister and this government are committing this province to permanent and ongoing deficits and to all of the pain that that will ultimately impose on future generations.

Why are they doing it? I’ll tell you why they’re doing it: because it’s easy. It’s easy, and they know they won’t be around to clean up the mess, because they never are. But it’s….

Interjections.

[10:45 a.m.]

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Member will continue.

Members, let’s hear the question, please.

M. de Jong: It’s not just the Premier and the ministers who are being rewarded for this great leap backwards into budgeting unaccountability.

In July 2017, the Premier’s chief of staff, Geoff Meggs, signed on for $195,000. By order-in-council dated December 17, 2021, just a few months ago, Mr. Meggs’s maximum salary was increased from $195,000 to $299,000 — at a time when British Columbians are paying more for groceries, they’re paying more for gas, they’re paying more for vehicles, and they’re paying more for homes.

In a budget where the government is adding to that burden with new taxes and charges, how on earth is the minister prepared to defend a 34 percent increase in the wages of the Premier’s chief of staff?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members, let’s listen to the answer.

Hon. S. Robinson: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Well, it’s interesting. The members on the other side increased MSP. They balanced budgets on the backs of British Columbians. British Columbians paid more so that they could give their friends a tax break. And you know what?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Just a second. Hold it, Minister. Hold it.

Continue.

Hon. S. Robinson: Let’s hear what Laura Gu, the economist with Scotiabank, had to say about this budget. “The budget confirmed the province’s fiscal resilience facing the past year’s health crisis and natural disasters…. New spending measures have been announced targeting affordability and health care priorities, but the outlook has also incorporated substantial contingencies and prudent forecasting assumptions.”

We are investing in British Columbians. We are investing in the….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members, order. Members will come to order now.

Hon. S. Robinson: We are investing in protecting peo­ple and communities. We are making sure that we have a robust economy going forward, because we invest in people.

SERVICE MODEL CHANGE
FOR CHILDREN WITH SUPPORT NEEDS
AND FUNDING FOR AUTISM SERVICES

A. Olsen: In January, the Times Colonist published an editorial from Cathy Nash regarding the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s decision to take back individual funding for children with autism and instead create so-called hubs. We’ve heard the strong opposition to this plan, and we know that Indigenous leaders are taking control of child welfare, making much of what MCFD does redundant.

Nash advanced this theory: “Faced with a loss of power in coming years, they want to centralize all services for children with special needs in their own buildings, with greater roles for their own staff.” Nash continues: “Instead of more buildings and wait-lists and more policies about how to manage those wait-lists, MCFD could increase the reach of individual funding for more children. Instead of trying to tear down some families, they could build up more families.”

Why hasn’t the Minister of Children and Family Development listened to these parents and, rather than entren­ching bureaucracy, increased the funding to directly support families of neurodiverse children?

Hon. M. Dean: Thank you to the member for the question. I would like to take this opportunity to make sure that everybody is aware that the new services in the new system that’s going to be delivered provincially to support all children and youth with support needs is going to be delivered by community agencies — agencies that know their community and that know how to deliver services to families in their communities.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members, please.

Minister, continue.

Hon. M. Dean: Budget 2022 signalled the first step in moving towards this new system, with an investment of $172 million over the next three years, so that we can lay the groundwork for building this really important system to serve British Columbia’s vulnerable children and youth.

[10:50 a.m.]

Mr. Speaker: Member for Saanich North and the Islands, supplemental.

A. Olsen: A classic response to child welfare in this province is to find a broken plan from somewhere else and try it here to see if we can make it work. The new plan to grow the Ministry of Children and Families won’t be in place until 2025. There are a lot of concerns about a lack of clarity on the plan. It seems like this ministry hasn’t mapped out how the system works and is instead leaving families in the dark.

In other jurisdictions that have moved to a family hubs model, they’ve done it as a way to keep costs down. Julia Boyle, the executive director of Autism B.C., said: “One only needs to look at Ontario, where Social Services Minister Todd Smith recently announced their hub-based model failed, and they need to go back and redesign their approach. In the absence of a substantial increase in funding and service providers, the MCFD is likely to rely on gatekeeping procedures.”

While children are suffering, this Minister of Children and Families is engaged in bureaucratic shuffling. The minister says children need more services but must fund and deliver it, not spend millions of dollars reorganizing and disrupting services to our children. Families are experiencing crisis right now.

Instead of giving and investing $25 million into a make-work project for a ministry seeking relevance, wouldn’t it be better to invest that money now in actual supports for children with disabilities?

Hon. M. Dean: Every year since we formed government in 2017, our government has made choices and invested more funding into the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In fact, Budget 2022 included a historic, first-time investment in a cross-government system of supports for young people leaving the system of government care.

I’d like to reassure families that we are listening to them. We’re continuing our engagement sessions.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Let the minister continue.

Hon. M. Dean: Nothing is changing immediately. We’re investing in early implementation areas and will continue working with service providers and community agencies as we make that transformation.

We are a different government here in British Columbia. We listen to British Columbian families. Our values are to make the choices of investing in children and youth. Our government makes the choices of investing in families, unlike other governments and unlike the other side when they were in government.

GROUNDWATER USE LICENSING
PROCESS AND TIMELINE

L. Doerkson: There’s an important deadline coming March 1. That’s the deadline for British Columbians to register or risk losing access to groundwater. The government has bungled along, failing to communicate to farmers, ranchers and small business owners who are at risk of losing precious water rights in this province. The NDP has simply failed to properly reach out to those who are being impacted.

The latest numbers show that only one in five historical groundwater users has actually applied for continued use. That means thousands of people could lose access to water in this province. I and colleagues have written to the ministry. This is one last plea, on behalf of thousands of ranchers, farmers and small businesses throughout British Columbia.

Will the minister do the right thing and extend the deadline, or will these users be cut off?

Hon. K. Conroy: I thank the member for the question, because it is a good question, and it’s one that the ministry has been dealing with. I will remind the member that this process started in 2016 under the previous government.

The reality is, it is challenging work, and the ministry has reached out to many organizations to help with this process. There have been some extensions of the deadline. And we found that people said, people that are working….

We’ve worked with the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, the B.C. Ground Water Association, the B.C. Agricultural Council, to encourage their members to sign up. One thing that the people from these industry organizations told us is that people expect us to just keep delaying the obvious, just keep delaying that we are going to implement this. So we have reached out to people.

[10:55 a.m.]

We have sent out packages to MLAs’ offices. We have sent out support to people. We have hired additional peo­ple to help people with the application process. In fact, we had to change the application process because it was so complicated when it was first implemented, in 2016. We have heard from people like the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association that it is a lot easier….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. K. Conroy: They don’t want to hear the answer.

We have heard from people like the B.C. Cattleman’s Association that it is far simplified now, the process. We are still working on that. We have people helping them to do that. We are finding that the majority of people, the big users, are saying they are going to sign up. We’re hoping that they will do that. We understand the issues, and we are working on it.

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR YOUTH
AND NEW FOUNDRY CENTRES

T. Stone: All of us agree on the need for increased access to integrated mental health and wellness services for young people. In fact, in 2015, the previous government created the Foundry program to provide mental health care, substance-use services and family peer supports for youth aged 12 to 24 in physical locations all across British Columbia.

Now, even the NDP agreed with the positive impact that these physical Foundry centres have had on our youth and expanded the program post-2017. Last year the NDP promised to further expand this program this year and add four more Foundry centres in physical locations next year.

However, despite the mental health and wellness needs of our youth being greater today than ever before, imagine our shock to find, in this budget, that the centres that were supposed to open this year have been delayed to 2025. And the four new centres that were supposed to open next year — well, they’re just not in the budget at all.

My question to the minister responsible is very clear: why is that?

Hon. S. Malcolmson: The safety and the mental health of young people is of vital importance to the province, to our government. It’s at the centre of our Pathway to Hope plan. If we invest in young people early in their lives…. Whether that’s early psychosis intervention, whether it’s early-years investment in community for mental health, with wraparound services, in a multitude of ways, we’re investing as a province in young people and their mental health in ways that have never been done before.

The pandemic has hit such a blow to families, to young people and also to the health care system and social service organizations that are implementing. We do not underestimate the need to do more and how hard everybody is working on the front line.

Eleven Foundry locations have opened already in British Columbia. Campbell River, Victoria, Kelowna, North Van, Prince George, Vancouver, Terrace, Penticton, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Abbotsford. These are centres, physical centres, where young people can be connected with primary care, with sexual care, with substance-use support, with mental health counselling.

Also during the pandemic, moved in an unprecedented way to offer virtual Foundry supports. There is a Foundry B.C. app. Young people can get same-day crisis help or even next-day counselling.

Locations in the works are Burns Lake, Comox Valley, Cranbrook, Langley, Squamish, Surrey, Port Hardy, Williams Lake. All announced, all underway for implementation. Last year’s budget funded four more Foundries. We are working with the people with lived and living experience on the ground to identify those next locations.

Nothing has changed from last year’s budget about the timing of those openings. We’ve got more centres coming up where young people will be able to walk in and then four more locations that will be announced in the future.

Mr. Speaker: Opposition House Leader, supplemental.

T. Stone: To the minister: no one believes anything that you just said. What you’ve said does not line up with what’s actually in your ministry’s service plan, what’s actually in the budget.

Look, I’m happy to walk the minister through her own service plan. The service plan from last year, on page 10, laid out the targets. It laid out the targets for new physical Foundry centres that would be opening this year and four new ones that would be opening beginning next year.

[11:00 a.m.]

On page 11 of the service plan for this year, the Foundries that were supposed to open this year — every single one of them has been pushed to 2025. That’s in her service plan.

As I said in my initial question, the four additional Foundries that have been promised to communities like Kamloops and Nanaimo and others — they don’t appear in the service plan at all. They’ve been pushed right out. In fact, last year I specifically asked the minister during her budget estimates about the status of these additional Foundry centres. This is what the minister said to me: “…Budget 2021, provides additional funding for four more centres starting in 2023.” That’s next year: “…communities like Kamloops and Nanaimo should dust off their applications….”

I mean, there was great reason for optimism, despite the fact that communities like Kamloops and Nanaimo have been passed over in six consecutive budgets now. Kamloops, the community I represent, is the largest city outside of the Lower Mainland that doesn’t have a Foundry. Regrettably, there doesn’t appear to be a path for the city of Kamloops to have one anytime soon.

Again to the minister, with the mental health needs of youth being more acute, more prevalent in communities across the province, more so than ever before, why is she not following through on her commitment, government’s commitment, to opening up these additional Foundries as originally planned in last year’s budget for this year, and the four new centres in communities like Kamloops and Nanaimo next year?

Hon. S. Malcolmson: Nothing has changed in our funding commitment. Nothing has changed in our budget.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members, hold it.

Thank you, members of the opposition. A question was asked.

Member for Abbotsford West, please.

The minister will continue.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: I cannot underestimate the im­pact on front-line social service organizations, on our health authorities, on our health care system, to implement the unprecedented budget that we are putting into mental health and addictions. There’s never been so much spending.

The timeline for the Foundries, the eight locations that are in the works, funded during our previous term of government under my predecessor, the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Judy Darcy, those haven’t been able to open during the pandemic at the pace that we wanted. Nothing has changed in our funding commitment.

The service plan represents what we think is the outside time that we would be able to open them, but the funding is there. If we can accelerate beyond the service plan, we absolutely will. We know how much the supports are needed. We know how much young people rely on them. That we were able to open the Foundry virtual, the Foundry app — this has been years in the making. Young people are being connected with these services, and there’s much more for us to do.

NEW FOUNDRY CENTRES AND
INTEGRATED CHILD AND YOUTH TEAMS

T. Halford: The minister gets up in this House and says that nothing has changed. She gets up in this House and says that nothing has changed. Clearly the minister is either not reading her service plans or can’t follow the service plans, because there is constant change with the ministry.

I’ll give an example. It’s not just Foundry. It’s the same thing with the integrated child and youth mental health teams. Maybe this will be new to the minister, but the target was for 15 teams across the province this year and 20 teams by 2023. The minister just said that nothing has changed. But the new target — only ten this year. There’s no mention of 20 teams.

Page 10 of the budget of 2021: “Expand the number of Foundry centres to 23 by ’23-24” and “Expand the number of integrated child and youth teams from five to 20 teams across B.C. by ’23-24.”

[11:05 a.m.]

A year later there is change. There is change affecting British Columbians every day when we are losing six a day to this crisis, and this minister gets up in this House and says nothing has changed. The priorities of this government have changed.

Can this minister get up in the House today and defend these cuts?

Hon. S. Malcolmson: The crisis of mental health and substance use facing families and young people in British Columbia has never been worse. There has never been so much invested in this system, and nothing has changed in our budget commitment. In our budget commitment, nothing has changed: $97 million invested in last year’s budget for new supports.

The integrated child and youth teams, which were previously announced for…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: …five communities across the province, are bringing together….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Minister will continue.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: For a government, on the other side, that gutted services for a decade for the most vulnerable children to not even have the respect to listen to the answer is surprising to me.

Integrated child and youth teams bring together people from the education system, from the Ministry of Children and Family and youth, from the health authorities…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Please continue.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: …and from community service organizations, and we will implement them as quickly as we can.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order, Members.

All Members, order.

Minister.

Hon. S. Malcolmson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The systems change to implement integrated child and youth teams has never been done before, and we will not lead families astray about the complication of putting those teams together, and we will get them up and running as soon as we can. That is the commitment of our budget and of my service plan.

[End of question period.]

Government Motions on Notice

MOTION 3 — ADOPTION OF REPORT
OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF SELECTION

Hon. L. Beare: On behalf of the Government House Leader, I move Motion 3 on the order paper:

[That the Report of the Special Committee of Selection be adopted.]

S. Furstenau: I rise to speak to the motion on the order paper and the recommendations of that motion to put names to the select standing committees. I recognize it is not typical for a member to speak to this report. However, it is a debatable motion. But unlike so many other motions and reports, we tend to have a very pro forma, scripted response to moving these through the House.

I’d like to point out to Mr. Speaker and to the House that under Standing Order 68(1), which provides for the selection standing or permanent committees of the Legislative Assembly, all select standing committees are appointed on a sessional basis at the start of each session of a parliament. This is not up to the Premier’s office. This is a standing order that we use to guide our work in this House.

Given where we are at, I do think it is important that comments are made about the approach to committees in this House, to the membership of those committees, to our expectation of the work that those committees do and to how that work is valued by governments. We are a parliamentary democracy. The first bill passed at the beginning of each session is the Act to Ensure the Supremacy of Parliament, essentially a piece of legislation that gives the “right of the Legislative Assembly to give precedence to matters other than those expressed by the Sovereign.”

As is pointed out in the legislation, this dates back to the reign of Elizabeth I as an assertion of independence from the Crown for the purposes of legislation. I will note that this very clearly states “parliament,” not government. Government consists of the cabinet members. Parliament is all of the members elected as representatives for our communities.

[11:10 a.m.]

We are not here to just witness or to just vote or to just oppose. We are each of us here as representatives with duties and responsibilities as legislators, and I would suggest that we should always be asking ourselves: “How do we serve better?”

I’m going to point to some comments made by George MacMinn in a 1982 report on committees. He said that one must consider the benefits of a well-designed committee system as follows.

“Parliament is brought closer to the people by allowing submissions and representations by individuals and groups” to be made directly to the members of the Legislative Assembly. Committees provide “a forum which tends to minimize the adversary system or ‘confrontation syndrome’ typical of all large Chambers, thereby leading to more earnest examination of matters with correspondingly less ‘politicking.’”

Committees are to facilitate “detailed consideration of legislation and estimates.” They permit “examination of witnesses when necessary,” enable “two or more arms of the legislative body to proceed with House business simultaneously,” and provide “an effective method of bringing members of the Legislature and the bureaucracy together, and would, therefore, tend to induce a new concept” to government decision-making — “bureaucratic responsibility.”

On a day when we are absolutely united in our respect and concern for democracy, I think that we should be continually asking ourselves: how do we make sure that we are upholding the most important values of democracy? What we do here should not just be theatre or performance. Members say over and over again…. Indeed, my colleague walked in today after his committee meeting and said: “This is the work I am most proud of.” When we work in committees, we work together as elected representatives. We work in service.

We have had an all-party approach to review health regulations in this province. We have had an all-party committee to make recommendations for regulating ride-hailing. We have had the B.C. Wild Salmon Advisory Council. We can surely recognize that while we are dealing with so many overlapping crises, there hardly seems to be an argument against bringing the members of this House together to work collaboratively in a non-partisan way to urgently recommend solutions — solutions that will be supported by all three caucuses.

Considering the drug poisoning crisis and the call that the Leader of the Official Opposition and I have made for over a year to bring this House together in a committee to look at the urgent solutions that can be implemented, to try to prevent the deaths of seven people a day, I say that it is not enough to simply put names on these select standing committees, which our predecessors have indicated are meant to be a part of the legislative work of this House, not as something that just gets named and then left and nothing happens.

We have not had a Health Committee since 2017, but I will point out that the work of the previous Health Committee was formidable, was commendable, actually should have been a road map that should have been used for the last five years in this province. Had it been, we might not be seeing the level of death and loss that we are seeing as a result of the poisoned drug crisis today.

I’m going to point out that of the 59 recommendations of the previous Health Committee, an all-party committee — a two-party committee at the time — that worked for three years, its final recommendation, No. 59, “support and expand evidence-based initiatives or programs for safe and controlled access to currently illicit substances….” In 2017, a committee of this House recommended to government that we move forward with safe supply as a means to end the deaths.

It is not enough to simply put names on these committees. It is not enough to simply have these committees gather. These committees are the work of democracy and this body of the Legislature. I would ask that this government and this assembly recognize the absolutely integral part of democracy that exists in these committees and to empower them to do the good work that they must do and then use them as guidance, as is meant to be. We are 87 representatives in here, not 24.

[11:15 a.m.]

I will close my comments, hon. Speaker, gratefully to you for allowing me this time to speak to this and to say: let us show our commitment to democracy by using the democratic tools that have been fought for by our predecessors for hundreds of years — not to shrug them off, not to think of them as performance, but to recognize that all of us come here in service, and all of us improve that service when we work together.

S. Bond: First of all, I want to thank my colleague and friend, the leader of the Green Party, for her passionate words today. I know how much this matters to her and to all of us in this Legislature. I very much appreciate the collaborative approach that she has worked with us on, on some of these important issues.

There couldn’t be a more fitting day, I think, for us to have this conversation. People may be sitting back and thinking: “Well, this is just a boring discussion about a motion that comes regularly to this chamber.”

I want to start by saying we understand…. This isn’t about delaying the work of important committees. We understand that. We know that there is work that has to be done by committees. We don’t want to stand in the way of bringing those committees to activation today and to allow them to begin their work. But this is about how we do our work in this place.

There were profound speeches this morning about how important it is that we honour democracy and that we actually utilize the system that has been in place in this place for generations. I do want to begin by recognizing the Government House Leader for moving these committees forward. It seems like such a simple thing. Let’s just bring the committees’ names, and let’s populate them. We are saying today, and we are urging the government: it is one thing to populate the committees. It is absolutely another thing to activate the committees.

As I build on the remarks of my colleague, there is in the mandate letter of every single minister in this Legislature, a request, a requirement that they work across party lines. Let me quote what the mandate letters say: “That means seeking out, fostering and championing good ideas, regardless of their origin.” Seems to me that there are a lot of skilled, passionate, thoughtful people elected to this Legislature, and it’s beyond me as to why it is so difficult for the government to take advantage of that skill set, that passion, those interests. Parliamentary standing committees have a role to play in the work that we do together.

I would agree with my colleague. I have heard when I have been involved in committee work…. I can remember people leaving that committee room saying: “I wish British Columbians could see what goes on in committee instead of just what goes on in question period.” Why? Because it is productive. It’s thoughtful. It’s progressive. That’s why parliamentary committees matter. It allows for expanded discussions.

We don’t get to have that kind of conversation in this place, and the conversation this morning is a prime example of that. We’ve never had this discussion before. It allows us to utilize expertise, bring ideas and input into those committee rooms, and then it allows — if it works properly — those discussions to help to inform policy direction or, in fact, law-making.

We on this side of the House, along with the Leader of the Third Party, have repeatedly asked for the Select Standing Committees on Health and Aboriginal Affairs to be activated. Today we are pleased to see we have taken the step. The Government House Leader has populated the committees. Now we need to see them activated.

[11:20 a.m.]

As we continue on our path toward reconciliation, we know that the critical work of advancing reconciliation can’t be left to a minister, to a Premier or even a government. It needs to involve everyone in British Columbia, and it needs to include all of us in that work, especially those of us who are elected to represent constituents across this province. That work obviously needs to be led by First Nations.

But I’d like to remind the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation this morning of his own words: “I think the idea of a standing committee of the Legislature on Aboriginal affairs being reinvigorated is definitely an idea worthy of consideration, and I will ask my government to consider that as we go forward.” That from the minister responsible, asking his own government to actually activate the committee. Today we’ve received the names of members who are willing and eager to serve on that standing committee.

I will also remind the Premier of his commitment to the member for Skeena when he said: “Whatever steps we can take, whatever resources need to be brought to bear, with his help and with the help of other members of this House, I am confident that we can bring together a plan that all of us can be proud of.”

The words of the Premier. The words of the minister. Reconciliation will take more than words. We need to move beyond those words and into action. One way that we can demonstrate that is to expand our commitment to work across party lines. We could begin that process by activating the Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs.

When we look at our health system, all of us can see — and I know the minister is grappling with this — that we have a system under pressure. It has been stretched, in many cases, despite the outstanding work of people on the front lines day after day after day. It is a system under pressure.

We’re witnessing a 911 system in crisis. When you live in British Columbia, you should be able to dial 911 and expect someone to respond. The minister and others in this House would know that it proved catastrophic during the heat dome last summer.

We have a growing doctor shortage. Families young and old are wondering how they’re ever going to find a family doctor. We know that’s the case even in the Premier’s own backyard.

I can barely say the words. We have witnessed the single worst year for overdose deaths in British Columbia’s history, where 2,224 British Columbians lost their lives.

I’ll remind the Health Minister as well, who said this, and I appreciated it: “I think there’s no question that we can use parliamentary committees more.” We may agree to disagree on many things, but that is something that I wholeheartedly agree with the minister on. If ever there was a time to activate the Select Standing Committee on Health, it is now. British Columbians want assurance that these issues are a priority for their government, for their elected officials, no matter what side of the House they sit on.

The Premier said he would take good ideas no matter where they came from. The permanent committee structure of this parliament is one small way that we can begin to do our work differently. It is time to show British Columbians that we can actually do business differently, that we can be better together. Frankly, we must be better together.

During the final question period of the previous session, I raised this issue, and the Government House Leader responded. I will take this opportunity to remind him of his answer. He said: “Absolutely, there are opportunities for cross-party cooperation.” In a subsequent response, he said: “I don’t see any reason why we cannot do more.”

It is so important that the government make the next step. Today we are heartened by the fact that the committees now have names on a piece of paper. We need to do better than that.

[11:25 a.m.]

Together with my colleague the leader of the Green Party, we call on the government to honour its commitment to accepting good ideas no matter where they come from and take the next step to activate the committee to deal with the critical issues — critical issues like reconciliation and a health care system under pressure.

All of us want to ensure that we have a top-quality health care system, today and in the future. All of us, everyone in this House, want to find a way to end the record-breaking number of overdose deaths that we hear about in this chamber and in our province month after month after month, and all of us want to find a meaningful path to reconciliation.

I will admit this: undoubtedly, there will be uncomfortable conversations at the committee level. I know this as well: we will not agree on everything. But that is what the system has been designed to do — to allow for expanded conversation, to bring ideas to the table, to find areas of consensus. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to express my gratitude to you for allowing us to have this important conversation today.

There is work to be done. Not one person in this House leaves it not thinking about the fact that more than six people a day are dying in British Columbia. We know that. We hear that. It’s time we did something about that and demonstrated to British Columbians that we are big enough, that we are responsible enough to do that work together.

So I join with the Leader of the Third Party, and together we respectfully ask the government to now activate the Standing Committees on Health and Aboriginal Affairs to demonstrate to British Columbians that these issues are a priority for every single member of this Legislature.

A. Olsen: I appreciate the opportunity to rise and speak to this motion.

I think that it’s important to acknowledge that what we’re doing here today is actually standing and asking for the government to use the tools of this House that it should be required to use, frankly. These are tools that are used by healthy democracies right across the country.

In fact, British Columbia remains an outlier in our use of these tools. I think that it’s important, the committees…. As my colleagues the Leader of the Official Opposition and the Leader of the Third Party have mentioned, this is a place where we can grow consensus. This is a place that we can invite the public into their House to inform the debates that happen here, to inform public policy. In a House that’s functioning properly, those are functions that we, as democratically elected representatives, would invite.

It’s not that we would have to disrupt the regular, normal flow of this, where you could see the frustration and even, in some cases, the anger on the faces of people when you stand up to debate a motion that’s a debatable motion. This is a function of this House. There should be no offence taken to that. You shouldn’t be red in the face by it. When that occurs, what it shows and what it demonstrates is that there is a basic lack of respect for the actual tools that we have as legislators, granted to us by the people who elected us here to engage in it.

This morning I showed up here at 8 a.m. because we had the committee for the reform of the Police Act. My friend from Nanaimo–North Cowichan has been the Chair of that committee over a number of sessions now, and we have had an extremely productive discussion. Now I look to the membership of the committees that are being put in front of us today, and I hope for them, for the members of those committees, the same experience that we have felt, I think, collectively sitting around the table, growing consensus on a very important topic that British Columbians have brought before us.

[11:30 a.m.]

When we look at the select standing committees, the memberships that are being put on paper today for the committees we are now discussing…. I think what we can see is the value of the members that have been put on those lists to be able to provide very important matters of debate. This province requires consensus in this House in order for us to ensure that what we don’t have is policy lurch but where we have consistency from one government to another — that policy has been informed by the public and that we can undertake the business.

I look at the Rental Housing Task Force, which I’ve been a part of. The government stands up regularly in question period and touts the multiple-point plan that was drafted by myself and my colleagues, the Deputy Speaker and the member for Courtenay-Comox. We did that work together. We drove across Surrey together and had conversations about the good work that that committee did. Informed by the public and informed by the people, it’s regularly celebrated in here.

I look forward to that for the Aboriginal Affairs Committee. I’ve also heard the Minister of Indigenous Relations and many members here state very clearly that the decision that was made by this House, unanimously, to pass the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act was a unanimous decision. We celebrate that; we elevate that point. I think what’s important is that we recognize that the work in reconciliation necessarily needs to be done through a consensus-based approach, through that committee work.

I support my colleagues, both the Leader of the Official Opposition and the Leader of the Third Party, in celebrating the fact that there are names on the list that we’re debating today. Now let’s activate those committees so they can go and do the good work in building consensus on behalf of the people of British Columbia.

HÍSW̱ḴE SIÁM. Thank you.

Hon. L. Beare: On behalf of the Government House Leader, I want to thank the speakers and both party leaders for their comments this morning.

Hon. Speaker, I move Motion 3.

Motion approved.