Orders of the Day

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

Mr. Speaker: The House will be in recess for ten minutes.

The House recessed from 1:55 p.m. to 2:04 p.m.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

Deputy Speaker: All right, Members. I’d like to draw the House back into session. We’re here, of course, now, moving on to throne speech debate.

I see our colleague from Coquitlam–Burke Mountain preparing. All right. There he is.

Member for Coquitlam–Burke Mountain.

[2:05 p.m.]

F. Donnelly: The throne speech outlines our government’s plan to tackle big challenges now and build a stronger, more secure future for everyone. I will pick up later in my speech on this theme of security, especially when it comes to B.C.’s watersheds.

We know it’s a time of uncertainty and challenges, but our government wants to let British Columbians know we have their backs. This is a critical point, that as a government we have your back, versus a government that only looks at supporting those with wealth and the resources to help themselves. So instead of pulling back, cutting services or making people pay out of pocket for private health care or piling on user fees, we’re putting the surplus right back in people’s pockets to help them, to help people with their everyday costs.

We’re taking action today to build a stronger tomorrow by helping people with costs by introducing new measures to help everyone and targeting support for those hardest hit, including those with lower incomes and families with children; tackling the housing crisis by getting tough on speculators while launching a refreshed middle-class housing strategy and increasing homes and services near transit hubs across the province; strengthening public health care after the pandemic by investing in new hospitals, a new medical school at SFU and getting internationally trained doctors and health workers into our clinics to provide care for British Columbians.

We want to make our community safer with actions to get violent offenders off the streets and new laws to crack down on gangs, money laundering and non-consensual distribution of intimate images, which is something that I worked on as an MP while I was in Ottawa.

We want to fight climate change and build a clean economy for everyone by launching a plan that will give British Columbians the skills to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow, expanding our low-cost clean energy solutions and working in partnership with Indigenous peoples.

We want to partner with Indigenous peoples, who are foundational to our work, as we continue the ongoing implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, as we work to implement the DRIPA action plan, as we continue to move to co-governance, as we continue to right the wrongs that were made in this province’s history.

Our government’s desire to help those who need it and build a better tomorrow has significantly benefited residents of my constituency of Coquitlam–Burke Mountain. Since 2017, over 35,000 affordable new homes have been completed or are underway for the people of British Columbia, and 644 of these homes are in the Tri-Cities.

More than $7 billion has been invested in B.C. over the past ten years to build homes people need. Over $22 million of those funds has been invested in Coquitlam–Burke Mountain, and we have ensured that hundreds of residents currently living in older affordable housing will have new housing available for the future.

An example of this investment in affordable housing is in the construction of a new rental housing project that will replace the aging Hoy Creek Housing Co-op. This project will provide more affordable homes for people with low-and middle-incomes. The rental housing project will feature a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom units.

The Community Land Trust Foundation of B.C. will operate the new homes in partnership with the Hoy Creek Housing Co-op. The foundation is receiving $14 million from our government’s Building B.C. community housing fund, and B.C. Housing will provide an annual subsidy to the foundation to support ongoing operations, including maintenance and repairs.

Affordable housing projects like this are welcome news in Coquitlam and throughout the province. The construction of these homes helps ensure a supply of quality affordable homes for individuals and families in Coquitlam so people can afford to live in our community.

Recently the Premier and the Minister of Housing announced additional provincial funding to protect thousands of affordable housing units across the province. The $500 million rental protection fund is dedicated to purchasing affordable housing, residential rental buildings and co-ops listed for sale to ensure that these units are available for decades to come.

[2:10 p.m.]

I’m working with the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C. on behalf of two co-ops in my constituency whose land leases have expired, and they are now in danger of having the land they sit on sold to developers. I’m confident that by working together with the landowners and with the financial support of the rental protection fund that we can negotiate an agreement that will ensure that hundreds of residents can continue to live in their affordable homes.

Coquitlam–Burke Mountain is a fast-growing area, and the provision of schools is also an important issue to many families living there. This past August, the former Premier — and it was certainly fantastic to hear from the Premier earlier today — brought excellent news for these families and our school district, and $135 million is being invested to build the 1,000-seat Burke Mountain middle and secondary school. I worked closely with hundreds of parents lobbying for this school and am pleased that our government’s promise to build it now is officially underway.

In addition, our area has received $20.5 million to build the 430-seat Smiling Creek elementary school and $6.2 million to expand Panorama Heights Elementary. Since 2017, 2,050 school spaces have been approved in the Tri-Cities, and $298 million has been invested in major and minor capital projects in our school district.

It is well documented that the challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic caused a decline in the mental health of a significant number of British Columbians. Demand for mental health and addiction services has increased each year. In response to this need, the 105-bed Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction was built in Coquitlam, and $130 million was invested in this facility, which treats people who live with the most severe and complex substance use and mental health issues.

The lands where the Red Fish Healing Centre are located were formerly the home of Riverview Hospital, which closed ten years ago. In recent years, the local Kwikwetlem First Nation filed a land claim which includes the Riverview property, now known as səmiq̓wəʔelə.

B.C. Housing has commenced a public planning process in partnership with the Kwikwetlem First Nation to determine future uses of the property. I’ve been following the process closely, in the hope that the needs of many stakeholders, including the local government, the First Nation, mental health advocates and environmental groups in the surrounding community can be accommodated in the best ways possible.

On the matter of more and better health care, I’ve joined with my tri-city MLA colleagues, who are working with the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, to secure more resources for our regional hospital, especially for a new MRI. The Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation has a strong focus on getting an MRI at the Eagle Ridge Hospital to improve its diagnostic imaging capacity, improve patient care, shorten hospital stays and give residents of the Tri-Cities the same access to an MRI already enjoyed by residents in almost every other community serviced by the Fraser Health Authority.

I consider myself fortunate that my constituency is home to such a diverse array of citizens who have travelled from countries all over the world. Each year, many of my constituents celebrate the lunar new year. On this day, families get together to enjoy delicious food and exchange warm wishes. Young people salute their elders and light fireworks to drive away negative energy.

On January 15, the member for Port Moody–Coquitlam and I hosted a multicultural lunar new year celebration at Inlet Theatre in Port Moody. A large audience gathered to welcome in the Year of the Rabbit and enjoyed multicultural performances by talented local artists, and a diverse number of community organizations offered numerous cultural activities, which included paper-cutting, lantern-making and Chinese calligraphy.

[2:15 p.m.]

I’d like to thank our co-hosts Linda Lee and Ernest Wu of the Tri-City Chinese Community Society and all their volunteers, as well as Jean Liang and members of the Golden Maple Culture and Arts Association, Teacher Wang of the BaoBao Arts Centre and Wayne Gao of Ping-Point Media and his amazing team, who ensured all went smoothly backstage.

Thank you to the Kwikwetlem First Nation Chief, Ed Hall, who started our celebration off in a good way. This was truly a team effort that resulted in a dynamic array of performances enjoyed by all. There were many wonderful performances, beginning with an energetic lion dance and included a children’s ballet class, an Iranian choir, a solo dance, a Korean K-pop dance group, a cello ensemble and a traditional Chinese orchestra. Special thanks goes to the BaoBao Arts Centre, whose students participated in many of those performances. Your enthusiastic support was greatly appreciated.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the hard-working staff in my Coquitlam–Burke Mountain constituency office who work tirelessly to put on the multicultural lunar new year celebration, along with our community partners, and who work tirelessly every day to serve the good people of Coquitlam–Burke Mountain. Linda Asgeirsson, Justin Smith and Perisa Chan, who currently work in my office, and Kaitlyn Gorman and Brett Collins, who formerly worked in my office but have moved over to Finance and to the party, respectively. I can’t thank them enough for all of the help and the hard work and how they prepare me and each of us in our respective roles as MLAs. My hat’s off to how hard they work for us, day in and day out.

It was marvellous to meet so many people at this year’s multicultural lunar new year celebration, from newcomers to those who have lived in the Tri-Cities for decades. I believe by joining together at community celebrations like the lunar new year event, we are building a foundation of understanding and harmony which will make our communities and our province stronger and healthier in the future.

I spoke earlier about how our government aims to pro­vide a stronger, more secure future for British Columbians. I’d like to now highlight some of the work that we’ve been doing with the new Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship toward establishing a restoration economy, working to heal and protect the land and to heal and protect B.C.’s watersheds.

Healthy watersheds provide fresh water that’s safe to drink, good for growing food and needed to sustain communities and culture. They absorb flood and storm water and protect against wildfires and drought. They provide habitat for wild salmon and other animals. They keep forests and wild habitats healthy and store carbon. They make the air we breathe cleaner and support community and mental health. They help protect and uphold Indigenous rights, and they support many economic sectors that rely heavily on water.

As climate change accelerates, resulting in record droughts, wildfires and flood disasters, the actions taken to heal and protect B.C.’s watersheds are essential. Watershed work happening across the province is making lands and waters healthy again, creating good jobs and training opportunities, building resilience to climate change and strengthening communities. The hands-on work of First Nations, local governments and community groups is an example of what can happen when we work together and make strong investments in watershed security.

I’d like to use some of my time today to highlight the projects that have happened since our government invested in the healthy watersheds initiative. The Golden District Rod and Gun Club restored disturbed areas within the Blueberry rivershed to promote wildlife habitat recovery. The club worked with First Nations and conservation organizations to plan the project and undertake restoration work.

The Elk River Alliance’s community-based water-monitoring program is gathering data to monitor Elk River tributaries that are critical habitat for wildlife. By collecting data and identifying trends in ecosystem health, the Elk River Alliance will be able to create an early warning system to identify the effects of climate change and land use decisions. The Scw’exmx Tribal Council is conducting water monitoring to track agricultural effluent along the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers. Communities and decision-makers will use this data to understand how water quality may be impacted by agricultural activity during the spring freshet.

[2:20 p.m.]

The Tŝilhqot’in national government increased First Nations water management and analysis capacity by implementing a new data management portal to centralize, analyze and share up-to-date water quality and quantity data; repaired hydrometric stations and installed new ones; expanded monitoring data collection. This project equips First Nation decision-makers with the information needed to prioritize projects related to ecological and forestry recovery, climate change resilience and flood and drought mitigation.

Here’s a project I visited last summer. The city of Trail has restored over 900 hectares of wetlands, floodplain and tributaries in the Cambridge Creek Reservoir and Violin Lake by decommissioning four dams and rebuilding the surrounding wetlands and streams. By undertaking this large-scale work, the city improved the health of the watershed and has made the site safer for the public.

I’d just like to give a quick shout-out to my friend Evan Brown, the minister’s executive assistant, who accompanied me on this and many other trips that I managed to make and visit this summer, and for organizing all of those visits. To all of the staff at Water, Land and Resource Stewardship who helped make these trips happen, thank you for all the work that you.

The district of Kent replaced a culvert on the Lower Agassi Slough to open the water for fish passage. A new fish-friendly floodgate is making valuable habitat accessible to overwintering juvenile salmon and other fish species.

Interjection.

F. Donnelly: There we go. I’ve got a fan.

The Gitxsan Watershed Authorities restored McCully Creek by channelizing abraded lower reach of the creek into one channel with sufficient water depth and flow for salmon passage and habitat use, restoring access, connectivity and quality of critical salmon habitat while engaging and training Gitxsan community members.

The Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance and Carrier-Sekani First Nation worked with governments and communities to build a weir on the Endako River. After constructing the weir, their team monitored water flows and mitigated dewatering during low flows to protect the spawning habitat of important chinook and kokanee salmon populations.

The Rivershed Society of B.C. is implementing a foodlands corridor on the Salmon River in Langley, in the shared territory of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo and Matsqui Nations. They’re working in a collaboration with Səýeḿ Kwantlen, the business subsidiary of the Kwantlen First Nation, Langley Environmental Partner Society, Kerr Wood Leidal, the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance, farmers and multiple landowners along the river.

At various stages throughout the project planning, Rivershed has consulted and worked with Kwantlen and Katzie knowledge holders to integrate culturally significant plants in their habitat restoration plans, which also focus on the animals and other targeted species that have been harvested and hunted for spiritual, nutritional and medicinal purposes. To uphold the traditional place, plant and animal names, knowledge holders are providing translation in local dialects of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation deployed the Wetlands Workforce across the province, in collaboration with conservation organizations and First Nations, to improve riparian area habitat, monitor the effectiveness of wetland restoration sites, advance collaborative restoration projects with First Nations and communities, provide employment opportunities targeting women, young adults and First Nations and support provincewide monitoring initiatives that improved wetland management.

[2:25 p.m.]

Cowichan Tribes performed extensive work to rehabilitate the Cowichan and Koksilah Rivers by focusing on sediment management and habitat rehabilitation. Work involved removing almost 90,000 square metres of sediment across six sites, repairing the hatchery and old south side dikes, excavating and reactivating side channels and monitoring of sites for flood and drought management.

The Comox Valley Project Watershed Society, in partnership with K’ómoks First Nation and the city of Courtney, dismantled and restored Kus-kus-sum, a former sawmill site on the Courtenay River, to its native estuary, salt marsh and riverside forest. Restoration of this site benefits at least nine fish species, 145 bird species and 281 plant species.

The World Wildlife Fund Canada supported Katzie First Nation in restoration work on four critical salmon habitats in the Upper Pitt watershed. This work installed intakes, created new channels for smolt habitat, reconnected historical hydrological systems and constructed bio berms to protect spawning habitat.

I could go on and on with examples of amazing work that’s happening across our province. I just want to say that mentioning these projects, you can tell…. I think many members in this place can see themselves in these projects, because they represent all corners of this province. Whether in the southwest or the southeast, on the Island, midcoast, the northwest or the northeast, there are groups all over our province that are doing tremendous work. Whether it’s First Nations, communities, local organizations, they are all working hard to heal and protect the watersheds that we all live in and depend on.

I’d like to highlight now and take a minute to talk about a variety of benefits of watershed restoration for our communities and the province.

Watershed restoration projects are rebuilding the natural infrastructure of our watersheds at a fraction of the cost of recovery efforts after extreme climate events, drawing on Indigenous knowledge alongside Western science. They are advancing commitments to UNDRIP through Indigenous leadership, knowledge and meaningful partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. They are providing employment and training, and contributing to the growth of B.C.’s watershed workforce, including youth, women and Indigenous people.

They are helping protect drinking water sources through the restoration and management of water-filtering wetlands. They support food security and sustainable food production, and have cross-sector industry benefits for forestry, fisheries and tourism. They help ensure rivers continue to flow, wetlands are restored and wild salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and other species can not only survive but thrive.

As the first-ever Parliamentary Secretary for Watershed Restoration in British Columbia, I’m inspired daily by the dedication and commitment of people doing this critical work in their local watersheds to safeguard their communities. I’m excited to continue working alongside local governments, Indigenous nations and community groups to advance watershed security and secure the investments needed to keep the momentum going.

I firmly believe this kind of work is leading to the change of a needed restoration economy, a new way of living and working in British Columbia, one that leads to a stronger, more secure future. Given the current climate, we certainly need that.

D. Davies: Following on the inspiring speech from my colleague before me, I will try…. Well, I know it’s going to be very difficult to be as inspiring, because this throne speech actually was not very inspiring.

[2:30 p.m.]

I do want to start, on behalf of my constituents of Peace River North…. I’m truly honoured to be giving some feedback on this year’s throne speech. I’ll be giving feedback based on a lot of what was said but, more so, how it connects to my region, to my colleague’s region — or, actually, how little this connects to our region.

I’m certainly proud, like all of us are in this place to represent our ridings. My riding, I’ve mentioned, is quite large, from Taylor to Hudson’s Hope, Fort St. John to Fort Nelson, the many little hamlets that are spread throughout and my Indigenous communities that are really spread across almost 170,000 square kilometres that make up a large chunk of northeastern British Columbia.

With that, obviously, I do require some incredible staff. I do want to thank my constituency staff, Kim Eglinkski, Tamara Wilkinson and Natasha Scott, and my legislative staff here, Wendy, David and Ryan, who always, all of them, work together as a great team to make sure that they’re supporting me in the work that I need to do to make sure that I am representing my constituents.

Finally, I certainly want to recognize and thank my family, of course, where I draw most of my inspiration for being here. Because I am doing this because I want an incredible province for my children to grow up in. I do this for my son, Noel, and my daughter, Hana, who have sacrificed so much to have me here and away from them, to which I think everybody in this chamber can attest and experiences in some way or another.

As I mentioned a moment ago, I can really only use one word, and that’s “dismay,” when I listened to the throne speech a couple of days ago. In fact, I’ll mention Vaughn Palmer’s headline: “Long on promises, short on details.” That really sums it up. In fact, I will use a couple of other quotes — Rob Shaw, also: the Premier “hit snooze” on his “uneventful throne speech.” That is really, I believe, what British Columbians saw, the vast majority of what British Columbians saw, that was displayed in this throne speech.

Displayed in this throne speech: how out of touch this government is with the pain and the challenges, I think, that the vast majority of British Columbians are feeling and seeing right now. The throne speech from this government did not provide hope. It provided very little vision at a time when people are looking for hope, when people are looking for that vision, especially now, on the coat-tails of the incredible challenges that everyone has faced these past couple of years.

What British Columbians have been given is nothing, really, more than a laundry list of what happened yesterday, spewing out of promises that were made in 2017 and made in the 2020 elections — some of them just reused over and over again. Well, maybe not all. I didn’t hear anything on the elimination of portables. I know that was one there. I guess they’ve given up on that one. Renters rebate. I don’t recall seeing anything on the renters rebate. I guess they’ve given up on that one.

But these are campaign promises that have been made by this government for almost the last six years that, I think, British Columbians have given up on. They don’t see any action from this government. They don’t see any action in this throne speech that was presented. We have seen very little action over the last number of years. I think this is what is driving a lot of the worry. When I talk to people in my constituency office or when I travel to different parts of the province, people are really concerned that this government is not looking out for them or, as the title of the throne speech is, “We have your back.” British Columbians do not feel that the government has their back.

[2:35 p.m.]

I’ve said this in the past. This is a rudderless government lost in the ocean right now, a government that seems to have no real idea of the direction that we’re going in — and, sadly, dragging British Columbians along with you. Again, I love using quotes. Rob Shaw, as well, mentioned: “At 26 pages and 5,000 words, it said very little of substance on what his new government intends to do over the next few months.”

British Columbians are listening. British Columbians are worried. All of us in this House, down on the floor, many people watching recognize that the throne speech is a cornerstone of this place, of all governments across this country. It’s a chance to put down, in black and white, the direction that you plan to be going, to lay that vision out and to provide hope for British Columbians. It maps out what the government intends to do. But there was nothing really of that in this throne speech.

What was really concerning was…. There’s no real vision for stimulating the economy, which is something really important in my area, the northeast part of British Columbia, which is really a powerhouse, a breadbasket of the province, incredible natural resources that include forestry. There’s mining, natural gas, oil, vast amounts of agriculture. British Columbians are very lucky to have an abundance of resources across the province.

There’s no vision. The throne speech was quite clear. It did not even mention anything about how we are going to grow British Columbia’s economy, which is truly based on our natural resource sector.

A sentence on forestry. Actually, I think there might have been two short sentences on forestry.

Interjection.

D. Davies: Yeah. Maybe not.

A sentence on mining. Yeah. Mining is good.

It breezed over a couple of little comments on agriculture.

No mention of British Columbia’s oil and gas sector, especially natural gas. That is concerning.

We all understand how important the resource sector is to the province of British Columbia. We all want to have incredible schools. We all want to have a great health care system. We all want our roads maintained. We all need these things. This is what British Columbians expect. But if we don’t have an economy to support that, which this throne speech certainly doesn’t promote, we are going to be in a great pile of trouble.

As I mentioned, very little comments, very little discussion about the North. I think it was mentioned three or four times in the throne speech. There was talk about the Mainland but, again, very little comfort for my constituents in Peace River North.

LNG, as we talked about…. We have, right now, one of the biggest projects being built in Canada, one of the largest projects in Canada being built up in Kitimat, with LNG Canada. An incredible project that will divert an incredible amount of CO₂ from the atmosphere by supplying a much cleaner fuel to countries such as India and China and other growing countries around the world — Europe — that are struggling to get their energy.

These are great opportunities for British Columbia that we’re not even seeing this government talk about. Opportunities to use a resource that has been, for the last decades…. Certainly, in the last decade, it has, through innovation, how the extraction of our resources is done, become incredibly environmentally friendly when you compare it to other countries that are still going to be there providing, regardless, energy around the world. This is something, again, that really worries me.

[2:40 p.m.]

Right now we’re looking at Cedar LNG, which is kind of in this awkward holding stage, and Tilbury. These are projects that we need to be seen to move forward. These are projects that the province needs to see move forward, again, if we’re going to continue to maintain the fantastic education program that we have, to improve our much-needed health care system that we have.

Of course, in my riding of Peace River North, the natural gas sector is the largest sector. It is the largest sector that employs people. It keeps our communities going. There are good-paying family jobs. These industries that are part of our communities — some are small, some are big — are really a big piece of the cloth of our communities. They’re the ones that are funding all the little extra things that our communities rely on.

It doesn’t matter if it’s sports teams; funding many of the social service programs in and around the Peace country, up into Fort Nelson; or providing food through food banks. This is all provided by a lot of these companies, which are right now, and have been for the last number of years, feeling threatened by this government, which does not talk with or display any love at all for these important sectors — not just the oil and gas but others that are seeing the challenges they’re being faced with right now.

Actually, it seems like this government is an anti-resource government — period. We’ve seen the crumbling of the forest sector. Again, the forest sector plays a significant role in my riding, definitely. I know the member for Peace River South recently had a mill closure in Chetwynd. I have a pulp mill in Taylor that has been indefinitely curtailed. These are challenges that are challenging not just my region but communities across British Columbia.

The impact is felt not only in rural British Columbia, but it is felt in the larger centres throughout the Lower Mainland, on the Island. Forestry plays a significant role, yet we’re seeing these jobs being lost and families being displaced, with very little sign of a lifeline being thrown to them: “Yeah, we’ll train you up for the tech sector.” Well, if you look at a sector right now that is actually losing people, it is the tech sector across the world. As you can see, there’s not a lot of hope in the 2023 throne speech.

Another thing that is really prominent in my community is the farming aspect. Over 90 percent of all the grain produced in British Columbia comes from the Peace region. I know my colleague from Delta South has been up there a few times and toured. You know, it looks a lot like Alberta up there. The amount of farmland there is vast — hundreds of thousands of acres of canola, wheat, barley. Even our farmers are feeling threatened because this is a government that doesn’t seem to support many of the aspects that are unique to the farming community in the North.

Allowing people to have a second residence is one thing that I’ve heard over and over again. I know we’ve addressed that a number of times with the former Agriculture Minister. I know we’ve talked about it. Having title on a second piece of land, on a farm, is a challenge.

[2:45 p.m.]

These industries — again, as we have talked about — do support our health care system and all the other pieces we all rely on, but the health care system is shambling. I can tell you firsthand that it is — probably; well, not probably — the number one complaint I receive in my office in Fort St. John, as well as in my office in Fort Nelson.

The number one phone call I receive from constituents is on health care or the lack of: can’t get a specialist, wait times. We have people driving to Grande Prairie, Alberta, when they’re injured because they can get into emergency quicker than they can in Fort St. John or even in Dawson Creek. They’re driving to Grande Prairie, Alberta, to another province, because it’s quicker. You add a two-hour drive, your wait, procedure, whatever happens and home in quicker time than they can get served in their own community. That’s a shame.

We’ve seen diversions, emergency room closures. What we get year after year, throne speech after throne speech: “We’re improving it. It’s getting better. It’s going to get better.” Well, it isn’t; it hasn’t. You can ask British Columbians across the province, anyone, anywhere on the street, “Has health care got better for you?” and I know that the answer will be a resounding: “No, it has not.” Not a lot of positive outlook for health care.

I’m going to interject a little piece here. I forgot. I was going to talk about this earlier. Just a couple of days ago, the B.C. Labour Market Outlook came out, which looks at, as it says, the market. What is British Columbia going to look like going forward for the next decade or so? It was interesting. I pulled out the northeast, and I just want to read it here.

These are what are expected to be the big things that are going to be happening in the northeast, where labour is going to be needed. “Industries that are expected to grow fastest are nursing and residential care facilities.” Okay. Probably won’t argue with that. “Universities.” Hmm. That’s interesting. We have a satellite campus of UNBC that has a classroom in it, so I’m not sure how that is one of the fastest-growing industries in northeastern B.C. “Fishing, hunting and trapping.” Well, we’ve seen the challenges around fishing, hunting and trapping the last couple of years, so I’m not sure how that industry is going to grow. “Online shopping is expected to grow in northeastern British Columbia. Private trades and education, telecommunications, postal services, couriers and messengers.”

These are what the B.C. government says are going to be the growing industries in northeastern B.C. It’s quite shocking, actually.

No mention of forestry. Well, I guess we know it’s not going to grow. There’s no mention. There’s not even an inkling of a hint for it to grow. No growth. I guess the mining industry is not going to be growing up in northeast B.C. The oil and gas sector is certainly not going to be growing. I guess farming is not going to be growing.

Again, another great example to show how out of touch this government is by releasing something like this. Stunning.

In the throne speech, there was a mention…. Again, this is the out of touch piece, talking about how many peo­ple are moving to British Columbia because they see the opportunity here. This was in the throne speech. I can’t remember what page. I’m not going to read it. But people are moving to British Columbia to seek out better.

Interestingly enough, CTV did a story just a week or two back on the record-high number of people leaving British Columbia, going to Alberta. A 20-year high, according to Stats Canada, of people are departing British Columbia, heading for Alberta. As you can imagine, the number one stated reason is affordability. British Columbia is the least affordable place to be living in Canada, one of the least affordable places on the continent.

[2:50 p.m.]

Kathy Blanchard, who moved to Spruce Grove from Victoria: “I really wanted to retire here in Victoria, but I just couldn’t do it.” Debra Kahl: “It sucked. I left all my friends and all my family behind, except for my one son that came with me.” She moved to Edmonton. People are moving out of British Columbia, seeking better.

In this throne speech, the government stated: “We’ve got your back.” Well, a number of these people that have left certainly didn’t feel that this government had their back. The one message that Ms. Kahl said…. “Those who have felt pushed out of B.C. really hope that policy-makers are listening.” Policy-makers, we know, are the ones who wrote this throne speech that did not provide any hope for British Columbians.

This government has no idea how to make life more affordable for British Columbians. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I think we’re up to 29 new taxes and fees that this government has put on us — I’m a taxpayer; all of us — in their almost six years of being in government. It’s an additional over $12 billion dollars of tax revenue that needs to be collected every year. That is a lot of money.

And you know what? It wouldn’t be bad if we could actually, all of us, say: “Man, we are getting the bang for our buck. Health care is great. I can see specialists. I can do this, and I can do that, and the roads are good and schools and….” All those things. But it’s got worse.

Twenty-nine new taxes. Around $12.5 billion of new taxes received every single year by this government, and things are worse. That’s not a very good record. In fact, since 2016, this government has almost doubled British Columbia’s debt. What took from 1871 to 2016, to accumulate almost a $40 billion dollars debt — this government is now approaching doubling that in under six years. Good job.

Again, I have to go back to…. I guess these guys had no other way to do it, because they’re not supporting the resource sector in this province. So the only way they can get revenue is by dipping into British Columbians’ pockets.

We hear, and I’ve heard this from….We have a lot of multinational companies up in the northeast and have had a number of meetings over the past — since I’ve been elected, actually. These companies are leaving because they don’t feel there’s hope here. They’re moving to Alberta, They’re moving into the States — jurisdictions where it’s easier to do work.

[2:55 p.m.]

This province, this jurisdiction has become, probably, the least competitive jurisdiction on the continent, and companies are fleeing, heading to other jurisdictions where they can work. With them are going good-paying jobs, families — some of that record-high number of people that are moving into Alberta.

As I move to conclude my remarks, it’s very clear that this is the same old NDP that’s addicted to taxation.

Interjection.

D. Davies: Let’s talk about that surplus. That surplus has come from a resource sector that this government doesn’t really want to support. The surplus from over-taxing British Columbians.

Interjection.

D. Davies: You had your turn.

I heard the member’s throne speech yesterday. It was a big nothing sandwich, other than pointing at…. I don’t know. I can’t even guess what it was. It was quite the speech, anyway. It was a speech that…. How much hope did it provide? Did it provide hope and a dream forward? No, it did none of that. But he had his chance.

I am going to conclude my remarks there. I do want to thank all of the folks in my riding that have sent me here to represent them. It is my absolute honour to do that. With that, I’ll take my seat.

B. D’Eith: It’s wonderful to be back in the House and to be able to speak to the throne speech, which was just presented this week. But before I start, I did want to take a few moments to thank some important people who work with me, my constituency assistants.

As we all know, without them, nothing happens back home. They’re so important. I’m so proud to have this incredible team of Tara Cooke, Sunny Schiller, Alysa Huppler-Poliak and Sophia Kreuzkamp. They do incredible work, and I’m so proud of them and everything they do.

My legislative assistant, Pavan Sodhan, is an amazing guy. I just started with him, but he’s already running around doing all the things that legislative assistants do.

I wanted to take a moment to thank Patrick Vachon, who was my LA last year, and Andrew Christie for jumping in at the end there. I really appreciate all the work that you do.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

I wanted to also shout out to my RCO, Devon Leathwood, who is not only an amazing singer but an amazing person when it comes to dealing with the complex areas of communications. So thank you so much.

I’d like to start my speech by acknowledging the traditional territory upon which we’re speaking today, which is the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking people, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. I’d also like to recognize the First Nations at home, the Katzie, Kwantlen and Stó:lō, who I’m very proud to work with on a daily basis.

I’d really like to take the opportunity to thank all of my colleagues for the hard work they do in this province so that we can, indeed, thrive as a province.

I’d also like to…. We heard the former Premier speak today. It was a bit sad to see the Premier leave. But I’ve got to say that we heard about the legacy that he left behind and the love from all three sides of this House for the man, whether you agreed with him or not. I just wanted to say thank you to the former Premier for supporting me, supporting my riding and the people in my riding and always being there for me whenever I needed to vent my challenges. He was always very, very, very helpful.

I also want to take an opportunity to thank the new Premier who, in his first 100 days, has already shown that he’s ready to get to work and do the important things that need to move us forward. Of course, those things are reflected in this throne speech.

We know that we’re facing challenges as a province. Obviously, we can’t do anything without acknowledging the profound impact that the pandemic had on all of us.

[3:00 p.m.]

We all know, having been locked down, all of the things that have come from that, from having to deal with the pandemic itself; to the mental health challenges that have come from that; to the supply chain issues that we’ve had to deal with, not just here, but globally; to the ongoing economic challenges that the pandemic has given us.

Not only that, but at the same time having to deal with an opioid crisis — two public health challenges.

Part of that challenge has also led to things like…. Peo­ple have had to deal with inflation and the cost of living. Of course, British Columbia is not a cheap place to live. It’s a very desirable, wonderful province, and when you have a desirable province, often that pushes prices of everything up. So I want to acknowledge the fact that a lot of folks are dealing with inflation right now, and our government is very much committed to helping people through that.

Another thing, a challenge that we have to recognize — and this was reflected in the throne speech — is the fact that we’re growing as a province, We have unprecedented low unemployment rates. We have people moving in. We had over 100,000 people move in. We’re expecting a similar amount to move in this year. So the question is: where do they live? Where is the housing? Can they afford to be here? All of these questions have to be addressed, and those are part of the challenges that we have to deal with.

Of course, we have a health care system that’s been under challenge because of the two public health emergencies. Our Minister of Health, along with Dr. Bonnie Henry and other important officials in our province, has worked so hard over the last few years to keep us safe and to make sure that our systems are improved. It’s a testament to the hard work to see the number of surgeries, for example, increase during a pandemic or the number of imaging to actually increase in such a challenging time. I have to give some props to them, but we all know how challenging things are right now.

And, of course, mental health and addictions. We’ve been hearing about that all over the province, and it’s so important.

The housing crisis is something that we inherited, and it continues. It was obviously prompted by…. When the opposition was in power, nothing was done to fight the rampant speculation and, of course, building the wrong kinds of housing. We were building housing that was profitable for developers but not necessarily for filling the needs of our community. Those are the challenges that we have been trying to grapple with for the last five years.

Another challenge that we’re facing is labour shortages and the demands for skilled labour. We’re going to need one million new people working. It’s wonderful to have a new minister of state and minister working in this area to help us build these important things. And, of course, the Minister of Advanced Education, who I know has a lot of chops in having been the former Finance Minister and is going to really help tackle this.

Part of that is that we recently heard how important child care is to allowing us to fulfill this need — for our labour shortages. In fact, because of the work this government has done in child care, which I’ll talk about later, it has allowed people to get back to work, in particular women — allowed women to come back to the workforce or enter the workforce. So very important.

Another challenge that we have to deal with this is climate change. Not only do we have to reduce our carbon footprint and do everything we can to move to new, cleaner energy, but we also have to look at the new realities of child care.

I look at my friend and colleague the member for Abbotsford-Mission and what she and the former mayor of Abbotsford had to deal with, with the floods. It was absolutely…. And, of course, the former Minister of Agriculture, who also had to witness some of the most challenging and difficult things that would happen in our province. The devastation was something that seemed unreal. It seemed like this would happen somewhere else, but it happened here in our own backyard.

I really do have to give props not only to my colleagues but to the colleagues on the other side of the House, who all really worked together to make sure that farming communities were safe.

[3:05 p.m.]

I just wanted to acknowledge that, but also acknowledge that we do have to do this very difficult work in regard to adaptation in climate. That’s work that needs to be done, and that’s why I’m very proud of our CleanBC plan, which is one of the most robust plans in the world, and certainly in North America.

The other really important bit — and we were talking about this this week — is our work on truth and reconciliation. Again, we can talk around the entire House — that historic day when we all voted DRIPA, accepting the declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples into law in this province. It’s one thing bringing that into law. It’s another thing doing the hard work. That is the work, again, that the throne speech addresses, not just in regards to the minister who deals specifically with this, but every single mandate letter deals with moving the dial in terms of truth and reconciliation.

It’s wonderful to see, for example, the support for the bill that’s moving through the House today in regards to the day for a solemn reflection for truth and reconciliation.

I’m also going to talk in regards to challenges to the ministry that I have the privilege to work in and have done since 2019, since the pandemic started. I was asked by the previous Premier, because of my background in the creative industries and arts and culture, to find out what we could do to help arts and culture and the creative industries in a very, very difficult time.

I was privileged in 2020 to be appointed the first Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film for this province. Very pleased to be working with the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport to continue to look at these very challenging times for some of the hardest hit sectors in our province.

Those are some of the key challenges that we’re facing as a group and, certainly, challenges that have been addressed in the throne speech.

Let me first look at inflation and affordability. One of the reasons I ran was the lack of affordability. Yes, our people in our province are dealing with inflation, high inflation, and that is being dealt with, with things like higher interest rates, which also causes a lot of problems for folks. But even in 2017, we were faced with people, especially working people and seniors on fixed incomes and young people coming into the workforce, that really were having a hard time just making ends meet.

I’ll talk a little bit about housing later, which is a very big part of anybody’s monthly expenses. There were a lot of things that were really having an impact on people in terms of their everyday lives.

I know in my area in Maple Ridge and Mission, the tolls on the bridges had a huge impact. For example, we had a business that did a lot of work in Langley and Surrey, and they were back and forth every day with multiple employees. They were spending thousands every month on tolls. It was actually enough so that this person, once the tolls were lifted, they could hire another person to help their business, so it made a profound impact on them. Those are the businesses. The individuals often saved up to $1,500 a year, and that’s money in their pockets, and it made a big, big difference.

Another one that was the biggest tax cut that we’ve seen, certainly in my lifetime, the MSP premium cut. It made such a profound impact — $1,800 to families. In my community, just with those two things alone, they’ve had incredible savings. If you have children, the child care programs have had such an incredible impact, saving families up to nearly $20,000 a year. It’s absolutely life-changing.

Of course, other important cost savings measures, like the B.C. child opportunity benefit — that’s saving families a significant amount of money. The Premier, when he was the Attorney General and, of course, the Solicitor General, who also worked on this file, did a lot of work to get our public car insurance company, ICBC, into shape.

[3:10 p.m.]

It’s pretty indisputable, as the Premier said when he was AG, that this was a dumpster fire when we took it over in 2017. Now it is under control, and not only that. We were able to save folks an average of $500, but that’s the average. I’ve had people come to me who have saved thousands every year, especially younger folks, with ICBC rates. Because of the change to the no-fault system or the benefit system, we were actually able to give rebates, and the rebates have actually had a big impact. There have been three rebates.

To put things in perspective, the last rebate that we got, the Leader of the Opposition referred to as stupid little cheques or however he put it. I might be paraphrasing. But that’s $400 million to the coffers that went back into the pockets of British Columbians. That’s not little money; that’s big money. That makes a big difference to everybody. Also, same thing: better management of Hydro has meant that we were able to give a rebate on hydro. There’s more to come, and that’s what the Premier has promised. So on the affordability side, there is a lot of work to do, obviously, but we’re doing that hard work.

Now let’s talk about health care. We’ve heard a lot about health care this week and in other weeks. It is probably at the top of the mind of most British Columbians, but we have to look at, again, what we inherited. We inherited a health care system where, in 2009, there was $300 million dollars in cuts to health care. We keep hearing about the Surrey Hospital, but who sold the land of the Surrey Hospital? These are things that we’ve been playing catch-up on for years, trying to get to where we have been. But health care has been a priority for our government since the day we got in.

One of the biggest challenges is connection to a family doctor. So then the question is: how can we keep doctors practising family medicine when they can make more money as a specialist? When they’re coming out of school and saying, “It doesn’t make sense for me to stay as a family doctor. I can go and do any other specialty and make more money,” how do we attract doctors to stay in family practice?

One of the key things was looking at their pay model, and this isn’t an easy thing. The fee-per-visit model has been in place for so, so many years, and having to work through that took some time. But I’ve got to give props to the Minister of Health and to the college and to the all the divisions of family practice, including mine, who worked very hard to lobby to get this pay structure changed so that it makes sense to be a family doctor in this province. That’s not only going to encourage new doctors to stay in family practice, but it’s also going to help attract foreign doctors and others.

I think this is really important, and I’ve heard feedback from some of the people in our local community who really felt that they were listened to. One constituent said that the government has to be commended on their latest pay structure for B.C. doctors. That’s going to make a big difference.

Another issue is nursing. A lot of nurses, especially foreign nurses that are coming in, have a lot of barriers to getting into nursing. So the recent announcements that will allow nurses to have a faster track will make a big difference. We had a Filipino nurse who came into our office and wants to be a nurse. She’s trying to apply, and she was really excited about the changes and could see herself really being able to get in, in a much quicker way.

As far as other things that have been happening in our community, obviously, mental health is a big issue. It’s a big issue to me and my family. I’ve said this before in the House. Members of my family have struggled with profound mental illness. It was, again, one of the reasons I ran. It’s no secret to me that there were cuts to mental health.

[3:15 p.m.]

Right away, when the B.C. Liberal government got in, in 2001, they cut $35 million to supports for mental health. The Leader of the Opposition actually deregulated recovery homes, so there were no standards, and that made a big difference. I already mentioned the $300 million cut in 2009. It was said to be staggering by the industry, those cuts. Of course, very importantly, closing Riverview…. I understood at the time that closing Riverview made some sense in terms of putting supports into the communities, but you can’t close Riverview and then not put the money into the communities. So that’s what happened. The B.C. Liberals downloaded that to the cities, and all that did was make matters worse.

Our government has been focusing intensely on mental health and addictions. In fact, we created, in 2017, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and spent over $2 billion on this and on trying to create that continuum of care so that we can deal with harm reduction, so we can deal with treatment, so we can deal with prevention and enforcement and all of these things, these pillars. We’re working on all those together.

I’ve talked to doctors like, for example, at our Foundry. It’s such important work to have kids be able to come in and get the help they need when they need it. Another big piece is the ICY teams. This is something that was piloted in Maple Ridge and just recently was announced to be launching in Mission. It’s exciting work. We had some people working in the industry come out. We heard from Jennifer Derinzy, who’s a youth peer coordinator from Fraser Health, and Jessica Harrington. Jennifer, Jenny, said, “I deeply believe in ICY because of the way the model values and is centered around youth voices,” which is really important.

We talk about treatment. I was able to go to the Maple Ridge Treatment Centre, and recently, two more beds were added for youth treatment, which is really important. We also have our RCMP in Maple Ridge that has an embedded program for mental health, which is really helpful. We had one constituent who came in — her son was really struggling with substance use — and she actually said that that connection, the way the RCMP was able to deal with it, actually led to her son getting the treatment that he needed. So that work — we’re expanding that. That’s very important.

We’re also…. You know, prevention is so important too, and giving opportunity to youth is so important. So we’re having youth in care being able to get the opportunities they need. When we did the tuition waiver for youth in care, it actually had a profound impact. When you have youth in care going and getting that post-secondary, going and getting that training, getting into work and being able to move forward in their lives…. Thousands of students have been able to do that, and it’s making a profound impact.

Of course, housing is another big piece. The Leader of the Opposition opposes the speculation and vacancy tax, which put 20,000 homes into the market, but that’s what we needed. I appreciate the fact that perhaps his friends would prefer to continue to build luxury condos and make money on that. But the reality is we need more rental stock.

As part of this ignoring of the actual needs in the crisis…. An example of that is student housing. Student housing — there were 130 units, 130, in the whole 16 years the B.C. Liberals were in. We’ve already got 6,800 student beds that are being built or are underway. And, of course, B.C. Housing is well underway of hitting our ten-year target of 114,000 units. Of course, part of the 100-day plan was getting strata corporations to allow rentals, which is good, but also increasing money to be able to deal with…. If problems come up, to be able to increase the amount of money that’s going to the residential tenancy board so that we can deal with issues that may come up. This is going to, again, have a profound impact.

As far as my community…. We talk about outcomes, outcomes, outcomes. I keep hearing that. But we’ve had some…. Notwithstanding the fact that my previous council didn’t help me in Maple Ridge, we were able to do quite a bit over the last few years, and I’m really excited about the new council and what we’ll be able to achieve.

[3:20 p.m.]

One of the projects that just got launched is called Cornerstone. It’s run by the community services in Maple Ridge, and it’s quite amazing. They actually filled up right away, within five months of opening — fully occupied. They have seniors in there, 15 vulnerable seniors. They have five families. They have students, and they have 20 youth beds. The really cool thing about the youth beds is they filled up right away, but they also have services there as well, so they have wellness checks and life skills, and they connect with Foundry.

I was told a story of a young tenant who was couch-surfing and managed to get one of these subsidized units. A 20-year-old and very excited to be in there. He would have been on the street, and now he’s got stable housing close to his home so he can finish his high school. He moved in with a couple of garbage bags over his shoulder, and he realized that it was outfitted with towels and cooking equipment and a bed, and he was overwhelmed by the generosity of the community that wrapped their arms around him. That’s exactly what we need to do moving forward. I want to thank Vicki Kipps and everyone at community services for all the work they’re doing.

We’ve built other projects: Garibaldi Ridge, which is 51 units of supportive housing; Royal Crescent, supportive housing that is actually moving to Fraser Street so that we can build seniors housing there. We’ve got Turnock Manor, which is affordable middle-income housing of 66 units. Really important stuff. Then, with HousingHub, we were able to work with Era, which is a condo development. There are going to be 49 units of affordable rental housing in there.

Now, in addition to that, we have projects that are under­way. As I mentioned, seniors housing will replace the Royal Crescent property. Then we’re also trying to work really hard with the Salvation Army, for example, who have had a building that was never built for what they wanted to use it for.

We did a recent announcement around complex care. That was one of the criticisms we had about wraparound services, and complex care is going to make a huge difference. We have eight complex care spaces that are being looked at now. We’re still looking, as we have been, at youth supportive housing, more of it. That’s very important.

As far as reconciliation, with Katzie First Nation, that’s a really good example of 40 units that will start being built in the summer of 2023. It’s a really good example of reconciliation in action and just doing the work. Even though it may be a federal jurisdiction, we’ve just got to get the work done.

Cythera Transition House is building 21 low-income pieces.

Of course, I talked a bit about the Foundry. The Foun­dry actually bought their building with help from B.C. Housing, and they’re actually looking at building youth housing there as well.

In Mission, my other riding, there was Cedar Valley Suites, that Lookout did in 2019 — 68 units in partnership with B.C. Housing. And the wonderful Boswyk seniors centre, which, with MASH, the local community has 70 units for seniors, which is just so well received and so important.

We have underway a number of projects, like the King­haven supportive housing and the Red Lion Inn. There’s also the Hurd Street modular that is going to be built. We also have SARA women’s transition housing in the future.

Of course, child care is a big part of what we believe in. It’s core to everything that we’ve done. What it does is it provides that ability for folks to get out and get into the community and get the support they need and not get in that trap where you’re having to choose between looking after your child and working and then finding that the amount of money you make in work is just paying for the child care. Then you’re like: “Well, why am I working?” That trap, right?

Some of these programs, like the $10-a-day-or-less program, are really important. We work with Lorraine at Heritage Park Childcare Centre. She remembers when it was opening and that parents were literally in tears. They were in tears because it has had such a profound impact on their lives. So this work will continue. I’m very proud of it, and I’m very proud of the work that they do.

I wanted to touch, in my last two minutes, on arts and culture. I did want to get into Indigenous issues around DRIPA and other housing and the amazing work in Mission with the Crown land transfer, which is just unprecedented. But with arts and culture, I’ve been the parliamentary secretary for the last few years, and we have an incredibly strong and thriving arts community but also one of the most challenged over the pandemic.

[3:25 p.m.]

I do want to say that I wanted to thank the B.C. Arts Council — Stan Chung and Dana Claxton, who are the chair and co-chair — for their work, in not only allowing B.C. Arts Council to pivot during a very difficult time, to help all the organizations, but also to use this as an opportunity to make profound changes at B.C. Arts Council so that we can actually be better.

One of the things the pandemic did is that it shone a spotlight on many of the deficiencies that we have right across the government, and we’re dealing with that. We’ve actually been able to increase, uplift, since 2017, B.C. Arts Council’s funding by $15 million, and we’ve put about $35 million, in addition to the core funding, into a pandemic recovery.

We also have incredible programs like Amplify, which is $22.5 million, through Creative B.C. I want to thank Prem Gill, who’s on the creative industries side and who actually did similar kind of work, pivoting all of their programs to help keep venues and festivals and all these things alive.

We should be really proud. Our film industry thrived during the pandemic. Because we were one of the safest jurisdictions in North America, we had the biggest years we’ve ever had — not just during the pandemic, but ever. It was because of the work that we did between the industry and public health.

We have a thriving music industry; however, we’ve all heard about festivals having struggles. We’re really working hard to work with those festivals to make sure that they can survive this very difficult time. Let’s remember, folks: the pandemic isn’t actually over yet, even though it feels like it. Some of the these organizations — like tourism and arts, culture, sports festivals — are struggling too.

Part of this throne speech, I think, is an acknowledgment that we have a lot of work to do. We’re doing that hard work. I want to thank all of the ministers for all of the work they’re doing in a very difficult time.

T. Shypitka: I’m honoured to take my place in the debate as the MLA for the greatest riding in the province, and the very southeast corner, which is part of the Rocky Mountain Trench — the Elk Valley, South Country and those in Moyie, the essential welcoming mat for those that travel west here in Canada — Kootenay East. It’s a great place to live.

I want to start off by giving a big salute to my team that is undoubtedly the best in the province as well. I’m just trying to get a lot of controversy going here early in this debate, but I really mean it.

In my constituency office, Jonah Gowans, who some of the members here remember as a staffer, is my constituency assistant. He is a transplant from Powell River, and he has fit in pretty good. He’s a rural guy coming to a rural place, and he understands all the issues that rural folks face every day. He’s thrown himself into a lot of organizations like JCI and Rotary Club, and he has been a big help.

Kris Dickeson is my other assistant. She used to work with Jim Pattison Group. She’s a real fireball. She likes to do the investigative side of things, and she really digs in for the constituents. Her claim to fame, actually, is that she interviewed Charles Manson. I know; it’s quite something. It was a pretty intense conversation, she tells me, and I wouldn’t doubt her for a bit. She’s great, and I love her at our office, for sure.

Wendy King, here, my legislative assistant, somehow keeps me on track. That’s a tough thing to do at the best of times. Ryan Braude tells me all the right things to say. He’s the communications guy I have. Dion Weisner, in research, does some incredibly difficult portfolios that I do with Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation. Big creds to Dion.

Also, regrettably, I’d like to make a few recognitions, as I traditionally do for the throne speech, remembering those in Kootenay East we have lost in the past year. These are all fine people that made life a better place in the Kootenays.

I’ll start off with Anne Edwards. She was a former MLA. She was an NDP MLA. She was a great lady, a real fine lady. I knew her sons; I went to school with a couple of them, and we were great friends. It was really sad to see Anne go.

Frank Sandor. He was a volunteer community leader. He owned an equipment rental business, and he was always giving to the community. Every year at Christmastime, he would do great things, right throughout the year.

[3:30 p.m.]

Ron Demaniuk, artist, with Rockin’ in the Rockies car club. Joyce Aasland was a great volunteer. Dr. Allan Daniels, a physician and pastor. Peter Warland, a retired teacher. Sonia Mama, a realtor and volunteer. Sally Passey, a volunteer and community supporter. Brian Ironmonger was with the South Country Cowboys Association.

Another gentleman here, Bob Jamieson, was an incredible wildlife and habitat advocate. I learned a lot from Bob when I first became elected. He told me everything about the back country. He was one of my main sources, one of my main go-to guys, who really balanced the conversation on wildlife and habitat.

Sadly enough, Colin “Clem” Morrison. He was a farmer, a rancher, a poet, an athlete in his younger days. He was a past president of the Waldo Stockbreeders Association, which actually is the oldest stock breeders association in British Columbia.

I see my colleague here nods in approval.

He was a past member of the Kootenay Livestock Association as well. He was just an all-around good guy, and we were sad to see Colin go.

Sadly, in my First Nation — my riding is in the Ktunaxa traditional territory, the Ktunaxa Nation — we lost some members in the Ktunaxa Nation: Robert Louie, Sr., Kelly Lezard, Melissa Morigeau, Brandon Alpine, Frankie Alexander, Nicolas Francis Pearson and Clarine Capilo, all sadly missed. We all give their families the greatest sympathy, on behalf of the riding of Kootenay East.

Naturally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that last September British Columbians were deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She wasn’t from Kootenay East, obviously, but she did visit there when I was a young kid. So I had a chance to see the Queen.

Unfortunately, there are many others I have failed to name. On behalf of the constituents of Kootenay East, I offer sympathies and condolences to all that have lost their loved ones.

Turning to the throne speech, I can tell you…. I’ve noticed a bit of a glaring pattern between the three sides of the House. It is a stark contrast — a contrast, I believe, between ideology and reality, between what is said and what is heard. If you tell fables enough times, sometimes they become non-fiction.

Where reality comes in is in the first few pages of the throne speech, actually. The throne speech identifies the grim realities of what the people of B.C. and this side of the House have been saying for several years. It’s right in the throne speech itself. I’ll just read you a couple of quotes, from the first couple of pages.

“People are facing real challenges. Food prices are going up. It’s hard to find a doctor. We continue to see mental health and addiction challenges…. Housing costs continue to rise…. People in B.C. are working harder than ever. But many feel like they’re just getting by, not getting ahead. Communities in B.C…. are seeing our streets change for the worse. Finding a decent…home is challenging. We’ve seen a rise in violent and repeat offending.” Those aren’t my words. This is from the throne speech.

I’ll have to commend the writers of the throne speech for, like I said, realizing and accepting what we on this side of the House have been saying for years now and what the people of British Columbia have been screaming about. It’s good that these facts are starting to resonate with the NDP government. However, it’s troubling that, for all the causes of this disaster, what is said…. The NDP have all kinds of reasons, and they’re littered throughout the throne speech, for why this is happening. They cite things like global inflation, toxic drugs, interest rates, climate change, global conflicts, threats to democracy, global forces.

[3:35 p.m.]

Now, these are, obviously, all valid rationales for changing economies, but let’s remind everyone in this room that British Columbia is not exclusive only to the ups and downs of global and domestic pressures. It happens all over. It’s relative to all jurisdictions across Canada and throughout the world.

Of course, as we heard from the previous speaker, what NDP blame game could ever be complete without that nefarious crew: the former government? What members on the other side sometimes seem to forget is that the former government is actually themselves. We are sitting, now, past the halfway mark of a second term; we’re in year six. From the last speaker we heard once again that we’re going back in time constantly.

The honeymoon is over, essentially, is what I’m trying to say, but the good old faithful that comes back time and time again — we heard it right at the end of the speech here; it never seems to get old — in the throne speech is: “COVID-19 set us back.” But I would like to know exactly who “us” is. When the throne speech says “us,” does it refer to the general public? Small business? Industry? I want you to think about that amidst a government that brags of a $6 billion surplus, as we just heard.

It appears to me that COVID-19 did nothing to set this government back at all. As a matter of fact — and I’ll explain — they benefited. If you can recall the 2019-2020 budget, Finance Minister Carole James said that the government’s final budget numbers show a deficit of $321 million from a projected surplus of $227 million. They went from a surplus pre-COVID — from $227 million — to a deficit of $321 million.

Then, in the 21-22 fiscal the former Finance Minister announced that the province recorded a $1.3 billion surplus. This is now in COVID. This surplus was entirely due to a big boost in revenues. Provincial revenues were up significantly, due to the higher natural resource revenues that we saw in all the industries — mining, oil and gas — higher Crown corporation earnings and overall tax revenues. I’ll get to the tax revenues in a second.

In total, revenues in 2021-22 climbed $13.5 billion higher than anticipated in Budget 2021, representing a 22.9 percent increase. Simply put, the B.C. government’s bottom line benefited from rising inflation, high oil and gas prices, and increased consumer demand and activity. This had nothing to do with financial management and tightening the purse strings — when the rest of the province was expected to do so.

People stayed at home, essentially. That’s what happened during COVID. I mean, that’s what was the responsible thing to do. In the recent taxes that were increased — as I believe the member for North Peace recited, the 29 new taxes — part of that was a 7 percent tax on streaming services like Netflix. What a perfect time for that to happen. That brought in, I believe, about $12 million just off the backs of people watching a movie when they tried to get away from the realities of COVID. It’s almost like they knew what they were doing.

Mineral exploration companies stayed at home. They couldn’t go abroad. They kept their shovels here. They looked for treasure due to very high commodity prices. They were some of the highest commodity prices we’ve seen in quite some time. They stayed here at home.

Despite the massive delays in permitting, mineral exploration in British Columbia hit new heights in 2021, almost a record, $660 million spent on the backs of modern-day treasure hunters. I call them that — great folks, great people. Salt of the earth, I would call them. They want government out of the way, and they just want to do their thing. They brought in the $660 million they spent. The estimated production value for mining output in B.C. in 2021 was about $7 billion, a $5 billion increase over 2020. It seems that COVID didn’t really negatively affect the government’s coffers. That’s for sure.

[3:40 p.m.]

Something that seems never to be mentioned in any NDP throne speech is oil and gas. We heard it again, or we didn’t hear it again, this time around, even though it’s one of the largest financial revenue sources the government has, which makes up billions of dollars to their coffers. LNG Canada, to date, has spent close to $4 billion — I think about $3.95 billion — on contracts and procurement from B.C. businesses, including more than $3 billion to Indigenous businesses in the Kitimat-Terrace region.

Now, I’m not exactly sure of the population of the Kitimat-Terrace region. I can’t imagine it…. I don’t see my colleague from Skeena here. I don’t know if I can say that. I don’t think it’s that much.

Sorry, Madam Speaker and the member for Skeena.

But $3 billion was spent. That went to Indigenous communities in the Kitimat and Terrace region. That is mas­sive. That is a massive injection. That helps…. I’ve heard the member for Skeena talk passionately about this for a long, long time, what that money means to those communities — self-determination, getting the hand up and not the hand out, taking care of those that are ill or disadvantaged or marginalized.

This is liberating. This is a higher level of skills training, higher pay. They’ve got pride. This is what the member for Skeena tells us all the time, and this is from our natural gas industry. Yet — almost a slap in the face — it’s never mentioned in this throne speech. As a matter of fact, it’s not even mentioned when the Premier goes to the Natural Resources Forum. He goes to the Natural Resources Forum and doesn’t mention liquefied natural gas.

I’m not sure what to make of it when the government talks and brags about getting LNG Canada over the finish line. We were the government that did the ribbon cutting for the largest private infrastructure project in Canadian history, yet they never talked about it.

Even the words “oil and gas” are being stricken from the Oil and Gas Commission. It’s now the B.C. energy regulator. I think it’s in hopes that government supporters will be tricked that government doesn’t reap benefits from this industry. I really think that’s what it is.

When I first got into the role of the critic for Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, it was actually…. Before that, it was called Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. I guess they just didn’t want the word “petroleum” in there. I’ve got nothing against low-carbon innovation. I think it’s absolutely fantastic, and I’ll talk a little bit later on hydrogen projects in the province. It’s absolutely fascinating how we can do our part to lower carbon emissions. I’ve got no problem with that, but we need to call it what it is.

We are naturally rich. We’ve got a natural resource–rich province here in B.C. We do it better than anyone else. We have the best environmental standards. We have the best work standards, the best human rights standards anywhere. We have a bounty of goods here in the province that we can share with the world to get other countries off thermal coal. Third World countries still, quite honestly, burn cow dung for their energy — wood, forestry, very carbon-intensive ways of securing energy.

We can do our part. We’re makers, not takers, in this country. We provide. We may not necessarily fit in the thresholds of climate targets of some other countries that are on the same even keel with us on these global targets. They receive. We make.

We’ve got one of the largest countries in the world with a less dense population. So naturally…. Yes, we live in remote areas. We travel. We drive. We don’t have rapid transit right across the province. So yes, we are going to have a little bit more impact than some of the other countries that are more densified and that have more rapid transit, more centralized societies.

We can’t all fit inside this…. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. We have to just call it for what it is, and I’m afraid this government doesn’t want to do that. They want to bury it a little bit. I’m kind of going off skew here a bit, but I’ll talk about what I mean in a little bit more detail.

[3:45 p.m.]

Burrard thermal, for example, used to be a thermal plant. It was natural gas. It provided about 10 percent of the energy for British Columbia. It was closed down, care and maintenance. It was just repurposed — and I see the member from Port Moody — for a hydrogen facility. It’s a great facility. It incorporates turquoise hydrogen.

Interjection.

T. Shypitka: Yeah, Burrard thermal, same place.

Anyways, turquoise hydrogen. What turquoise hydrogen is…. It strips the carbon from the hydrogen. Hydrogen is burned for energy. The carbon is captured, stored and made into fibre and graphite, and it’s sold for construction purposes.

The plant, when fired up, will fire up the equivalent of about 3,000 homes. That’s pretty good. It’s a pilot project. We’re checking out the logistics of how it’s going to work and the sustainability of it all, but it’s a good pilot project. It’s going to drive innovation. It’s going to do great things.

The hydrogen plant uses natural gas, the same things that they don’t want to talk about. So call it what it is. It’s a great win-win for everybody. But the hydrogen that is being produced comes from natural gas.

Now, there are all kinds of different hydrogen energy models. There’s black hydrogen, brown hydrogen, grey hydrogen and blue hydrogen. There’s turquoise, as I said. There’s red hydrogen, pink hydrogen, yellow hydrogen and white hydrogen. All different uses. Some make the hydrogen from solar. Some make it from water, which is green. Some are blue, which are from natural gas. The emissions are stored. The methane is stored into reservoirs underground.

There’s lots of really cool stuff happening. I love to see it. I love to see our industry being involved in it. I love to see the workers in the Peace region right now. I see the member from North Peace. He’s been handed some bad news on how the land is going to be used in the future. It’s troubling. It could kill an industry. We hope it doesn’t. This could fire our energy demands for tomorrow, and we could be world leaders in reducing greenhouse gases right across the planet.

I hope we keep on it. My message here is: please call it for what it is. Don’t be afraid to say: “I love natural gas.” Don’t be afraid to say that.

When you add up all this stuff that I just talked about…. I kind of digressed here. I’m trying to see where I left off.

Another stream of revenue that the government uses quite a bit, which they greatly benefited from during the COVID pandemic, was the property transfer tax. Here in B.C., thanks to rising housing costs in North America’s hottest real estate market, the government is raking in billions of dollars on that as well.

When you add up all of this — and not to include, as I said, the 26 new taxes, although I did talk about the Netflix one there — you’ve got to wonder who they meant when they said that COVID-19 has set us back. It hasn’t set government back, but it set the people of British Columbia back.

I do know some of the people, quite intimately, that have been handed a bad hand during the pandemic, and that was tourism and small business. I’m talking about guide-outfitters, fishing guides that rely almost exclusively on international visitors. Their revenues were close to nil while their expenses kept piling up.

I watched and tried to assist with grants, increased rod days, readjusted allocations for guide-outfitters that lost harvest numbers due to the pandemic, with little to no help. I saw ski hills and snowmobile adventure companies dry up in tourist towns like Fernie, trying to get some form of financial relief. It was almost next to impossible.

[3:50 p.m.]

Small businesses. I don’t know if you remember the old cliché. Small businesses were always told to pivot through the new mandates, protocols and restrictions, yet the B.C. government didn’t do the same, with very rigid responses. Once again I think we all know who “us” refers to when government says that COVID set us back.

I just want to share a sidebar here. Man, time goes fast. I’m not even halfway, not even a quarter of the way through, and I’ve only got seven minutes.

Today the town of Fernie, I just noticed, got a designation. They just got announced as one of the top 100 places in the world for most-loved travel destinations. They were No. 74 on the charts, and this was an across-the-planet kind of survey. They came in No. 74. They’re one spot ahead of Aspen, Colorado and one spot behind Puerto Rico and Santorini, Greece. Congratulations to them.

I used to always tell people that Fernie, B.C. was the Aspen, Colorado of Canada, but maybe the message should be that Aspen, Colorado is the Fernie, B.C. of the United States. I don’t know. But that’s quite a recognition for Fernie.

On the same day, later this afternoon, it was announced that they are the top eight in North America of places to go to RV in the wintertime. They just got inched out by Banff National Park. So Fernie, in my area, has really come a long way.

Jikke Gyorki is the present CEO of Tourism Fernie. She’s just fantastic, and she’s done an incredible job. I just wanted to give her a quick high five and thank her very much because she does an incredible job.

I’m going to skip to mental health and addiction issues right now. Actually, you know what? I’ll leave that to my other colleague.

I just want to talk about something that was definitely not said in the throne speech and never is. The member for Coquitlam–Burke Mountain, I believe, was just here, and he talked a little bit about it. That’s on another natural resource we have in the province, and that’s our wildlife. I don’t have my notes, but I think I’ll just go off the hip here.

Our wildlife is in big trouble. I brought a private member’s bill here a year ago to bring forward an independent funding model for wildlife and habitat so that fees and licences and any other revenue sources from wildlife didn’t go back into general revenue and instead went into an independent funding model that could incorporate other sources of revenue, whether it was corporations or philanthropy, maybe a dedicated tax of some form. I’m not sure what it looks like, but it would kind of resemble what the Freshwater Fisheries Society looks like. It has gained a lot of ground.

We have a declining population right now, especially our ungulates, our moose, deer, elk, our habitat. We’ve heard through this House, on all three sides, actually, the warning signs that we need to do something. This funding model would do that. This funding model would put that money, that resource, back to wildlife, to ensure that wildlife is looked after.

They do it in the United States. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are some incredible models across the globe that already do this. It’s a no-brainer for me, and I believe for many members in this House, that this model should be going forward.

I noticed the member for North Saanich and the Islands putting a wildlife amendment bill forward, tabled one yesterday, I believe: the Wildlife Amendment Act, 2023. That’s for preserving bear dens. That’s part of the plan. I think we need to get together.

Then I also heard a nice conversation here yesterday on parliamentary procedure, on how we can get forward private members’ bills and make it more inclusive and make it more collaborative between all three sides of the House. I think it’s an absolutely fantastic idea.

We heard the leader of the Green Party yesterday talk about exactly that and say that we’re kind of like the lone wolf in all of this because other provinces and territories are already having very collaborative talks and discussions and debating private members’ bills on the floor. You know, they don’t have to all pass, but at least you can get your opinion forward. And that’s a good thing.

[3:55 p.m.]

I would join with the member for North Saanich and the Islands, with his private member’s bill on wildlife and maybe couple that with my private member’s bill. I’d love to see the members on the other side take that seriously. I believe I’ll be tabling that in the near future, re-table it, and maybe have some good, honest discussion on preserving, perhaps, our greatest natural resource, which is our wildlife.

I look at the province — for my last two minutes — and I see this throne speech and I absolutely…. I kind of shake my head when I see what’s real and what’s not. Like I said at the beginning of the speech, sometimes if you tell a fable over and over and over, it becomes non-fiction. It becomes believable. That’s what we’re seeing right now. People are screaming.

I look at my own community, with crime. We look at the decriminalization of hard drugs. Without those support systems, without those four pillars of recovery, prevention, treatment, enforcement…. Without those legs of the stool there, you’re balancing on one, and that’s not going to end well for most people. We’re seeing it in real time right now — what it’s doing. I question some of these policies. We’re playing with fire. We are seeing crime in my community. We’re seeing crime at an all-time high.

We’ve got residents in my community that are…. Well, I don’t want to say it, but it is what it is. Some of them want to take matters into their own hands. It’s almost like they’ve had enough. There are people breaking in, so store owners will wait inside now with bats or something. Somebody is going to get hurt. We have to get a handle on this. We need some money allocated, and we need some time to think about where we’re going.

It seems like it’s just a “make it up as you go” kind of government here. We’ll throw some good policy out there and some legislation, and let’s see what happens. Let’s see if it works. Anyways, I’m disappointed with the throne speech. I think that’s pretty much the theme on this side. Thank you for your time.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member. We’ll continue with debate on the throne speech.

Hon. A. Mercier: Before I get into my response for the Speech from the Throne, I want to correct something. The member for Kootenay East said, which I know, as the critic for energy, is something he takes a keen interest in…. The project he talked about isn’t Burrard thermal. The project he talked about is a project where FortisBC is partnering with Australia-based Hazer Group and Suncor at Burrard terminal, which sounds like Burrard thermal. Burrard terminal — it’s got nothing to do with Burrard thermal.

I’ll just start my response, but first, I want to thank my wife for the role that she plays in allowing me to do this work. I know all of us have family at home, and how…

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Excuse me, the Minister of State has the floor.

Hon. A. Mercier: …tough this work can be when you have family at home, when you effectively leave your partner solo for 18 weeks of the year. Kate Makarow is my rock. She’s my partner in all things. We met at an NDP convention about 15 years ago and haven’t looked back, so she kind of knew what she was getting into. But without her and our two children, Charlotte and Simon…. That’s really what gives me the strength and the drive to come and do this work.

I especially want to thank my daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte is 4½, and Charlotte has really stepped into the role of being a strong big sister, especially when I’m gone. I know that she behaves. She goes to bed on time. She doesn’t cause a fuss, and she more than makes up for that on the weekends when I’m back.

I’d also like to take a moment…. I think I speak for all my colleagues on this side of the House when I thank the member for Langford–Juan de Fuca for everything he’s done for this province. I’m not going to miss him coming up behind me and running his hands through my hair. It was weird the first time he did it. It was weird the last time he did it. It’s not something I think I’m ever going to get used to.

I just want to mention some folks from Langley and some folks from my life, similar to the member for Kootenay East, who’ve passed in the past bit. We lost Lynn Coxworth, who was a long-time NDP stalwart in Langley.

[4:00 p.m.]

He was a tradesman. He wired up the phone banks, I think, in every campaign office for every campaign in Langley, probably over the past four decades. Lynn was a rock, and he’s missed by everybody.

Also a personal friend of mine, George Oliver. George Oliver was a Teamsters business agent, at local 213, that we lost to cancer just last year. George was the most disarming guy — short, stout, stocky, tattoos up and down his arm. You would never guess that the guy was basically on a BTS world tour to take his two daughters to every BTS concert that they won tickets to, which was apparently a lot. He’d get mistaken for security more often than not when they were in the hot tub with, I guess, the BTS backup dancers. Not something you would have expected. But he was a really solid guy. We resolved a lot of issues, particularly in the ready-mix concrete industry. It just goes to show you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

We also lost Erna Zinn. Erna Zinn was another longtime Langley New Democrat. She and her husband, Harold — goes by Hal, Hal Zinn — were fastidious gardeners. Every NDP meeting I went to where they were there, I left with several zucchini.

I should mention that Hal has turned 101 in the past few weeks — 101. He’s a Second World War veteran and a heck of a guy. He’s still going strong, very involved in the Langley seniors centre — great guy.

I’d also like to say a word about my constituency assistants, Dawn and Jen. They are moving mountains for folks in Langley. I hear about the results of their work all the time. I door-knock once a week, and more often than not, I’ll run into a constituent that Dawn and Jen have done something for, to help along the way.

I want to get into my response to the Speech from the Throne. I’m going to start by just responding to some things that were said by the member for Peace River North.

The member for Peace River North kind of ended, on the Speech from the Throne, talking about the labour market, and in particular, the recent release of the Labour Market Outlook. He said: “Look, I don’t understand how universities and colleges can be such a big growth area.” If he went through and read the Labour Market Outlook, he’d see that we’re in a situation where we’ve got one million jobs coming in the next ten years, or slightly over one million jobs in the next ten years, 80 percent of which require some level of post-secondary education or training — 80 percent.

The demand that drives in training…. Really, now, the economic question or strategy for us as a province and as a country has to be on training. We need to make sure that we’re training trainers and that our post-secondary institutions are set up to do that work so we can retain our competitive advantage economically.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I don’t think it helps to call the Labour Market Outlook out of touch. I think it’s perfectly in touch and aligned with what I hear from business owners constantly about the skills gap and about their need for people.

I also just want to correct some comments the member for Peace River North made about people fleeing the province of British Columbia. He told this story about watching a CTV news story, Mr. Speaker — good to see you in the chair — about people fleeing British Columbia for Alberta.

If he watched that news story to the end, he would see that the crux of it was that B.C. is net gaining an interprovincial immigration and that we’re really growing at a phenomenal rate. It’s easy to kind of cherry-pick things here. But we’re gaining people, which is good. We need people. We have more jobs than people right now. We’re going to have more jobs than people for the next decade. We need people to come to British Columbia to build the housing, to work in health care, to do the work that we need.

There were some comments about the debt that I think were very ideological that were made by the member for Peace River North, about how they were able to keep the debt down. I just want to mention that the last time they were in government, they didn’t really build anything. There was no significant infrastructure south of the Fraser River built for the last 30 years.

When we look at SkyTrain, SkyTrain is the first mass transit project — the extension to Langley, to my constituency — in the last three decades. You know, I’m a Langley boy. I grew up in Langley, and SkyTrain is something that’s been talked about for that period of time but not done, because we had 16 years of folks that weren’t interested in building infrastructure south of the Fraser River. Thank God that’s changed.

[4:05 p.m.]

I want to talk about Langley, and I want to talk about SkyTrain and the impact that SkyTrain is going to have on my constituency. I was on the SkyTrain the other day, just from Surrey Centre, to go downtown. I was really just thinking about the impacts that mass transit has on the communities around it.

We’ve got a new mayor in Langley city, and a new council. My friend Nathan Pachal is now mayor of Langley city. He’s a former city councillor in Langley, a great guy, very dialled-in to transit planning and policy. We’ve got a new council which is a good mix of incumbent councillors, who have experience and have a lot of history in the area, and a good mix of new energy. Really, Langley city is poised to take full advantage of the $4 billion investment that SkyTrain is. It’s really a great thing.

I’ve spoken before in this House about the official community plan in Langley city and how it’s going to take advantage of that through densification and the good work of the CAO of Langley city, Francis Cheung and Carl Johannsen and other staff. Really, Langley city is booming. It’s continuing to grow. It’s young families moving in, like my wife and I, with young kids, and it’s really driving a lot of demand. We have been able, through our government and my relationships with the city, to really do great things.

We are retrofitting the Douglas Recreation Centre in Douglas Park, two blocks away from the SkyTrain station, into a child care centre. We’re adding 78 spots. There are already several spots there for Cookie Monster Preschool, but we’re adding 78 spots, including before-and-after care. That is huge, when you look at the development in that area, the density in that area.

We’re also building affordable housing just a few blocks down from my office. Residents in Langley will know Saigon market. Right across from Saigon market, there’s a 62-unit building going in, funded through a HousingHub loan to build affordable rental. Because of the work mayor and council are doing and because of their partnerships with the province, 40 percent of the record amount of developments happening in the city right now are purpose-built rental. I think that’s really an incredible thing, not stratas that are built and then rented out but purpose-built rental, which is really incredible. I think that’s important, because we know that there is a significant housing need.

The member for Kootenay East talked about the pandemic and what we’ve been through in a kind of dismissive way — that the pandemic is over, that the pandemic didn’t really have that much of an impact. Well, I would beg to differ. We couldn’t have been through a more unprecedented time. The stresses on the healthcare system, the need to set up a mass vaccination program from scratch that was as successful as it was is a testament to everyone that has been involved in health care in this province.

That’s not the only challenge we’ve had and the only challenge government and our society have had. If you had told me, when I ran for office in 2020, that we would have been regulating the sale of gas, or that a highway would have washed into a river, I would not have believed you. The fact that that now seems like it happened so long ago is just a testament to how unprecedented times have been.

We have got real challenges, not the least of which — that is laid out by the throne speech — are the challenges with cost of living. It is so easy to forget how bad things were before 2017, where we saw a completely different approach to these issues. If you look now, we are adapting, and we are addressing the cost of living. We’re holding basic rates at ICBC to zero percent. What a difference from a government — the last time, the B.C. Liberals, or united conservatives or whatever their name is — that jacked up ICBC rates on April 1 of every year, that jacked up MSP, that reached into the pockets of British Columbians with tolls.

Tolls are taxes, and that penalized people south of the Fraser River. Not only were we not getting new infrastructure; we were unfairly taxed. The opposition talks about taxes. Who did they give tax cuts to? High-income earners, big corporations, where they’re reaching into the pockets of working families just trying to get by. This is about priorities, and this throne speech is about priorities.

I see the impact of cost of living every time I go to the grocery store, every time I fill my car up — of course, I drive — because they didn’t invest in infrastructure south of the Fraser. You see the impact of those costs. We’re doing things that help people — Hydro rebates, the B.C. Affordability Credit and, like I said, ICBC — never minding the fact that the Premier, the former Attorney General, when he was Attorney General, executed one of the most significant corporate turnarounds, probably in North American history, by putting ICBC on the right foot.

[4:10 p.m.]

Now I just want to talk about what the work we’ve done and the work we’re going to do actually means for working families. I want to talk about child care. There is not a single person that I have talked to that has children under five — you know, like you, Mr. Speaker, I think I spent a lot of time at four- and five-year-old birthday parties — that hasn’t brought up the impact of the child care rebates and fee reductions on their personal incomes. It is huge. My son goes into child care next month. It is going to cost less to have two kids in child care than it was to have one in. That is significant.

I saw the president of the Langley firefighters union the other day, and the first thing he said to me was: “Thank you for the child care fee reductions.” His wife owns a business. They’ve just adopted a second child. She is able to work because not only can they afford the child care now, but we’ve created more spaces. I see it around Langley city constantly. We’ve invested over $25 million in child care in my constituency — not even just in all of Langley, but in my constituency. That is huge.

It’s been important for our economic recovery, and it’s been important for women re-entering the workforce. It’s not an accident that the number of women re-entering the workforce is significantly higher in this province because of the work we’ve done on child care.

The throne speech also outlines the work we have done on the right to join a union. Times are tough. People have the right to collective bargaining and to negotiate wages for themselves and negotiate conditions. We saw the other side’s approach to collective bargaining. It was to strip that right away. It was to — coming out through court documents, it turns out — attempt, as a strategy, to provoke a strike with the teachers union, which belies belief, and to rip up contracts and to outsource work in hospitals.

That’s not a government that respects the collective bargaining process. I would say that that’s a lack of respect, frankly, for working British Columbians. So we’re going in the other direction on that by allowing people to exercise their Charter rights to join a union and to negotiate a collective agreement.

We’ve also done great work on asbestos licensing. I think I was with many members of this side of the House at the unveiling of the asbestos memorial by the B.C. Labour Heritage Centre at Jack Poole Plaza, hearing from people who have lost their loved ones to mesothelioma and the importance of having a licensing regime for contractors that deal with asbestos and inspections from WorkSafe. All of the work done there — I really think that is going to save so much heartache decades from now, because mesothelioma and asbestos is a ticking time bomb if you’ve been exposed to it. That’s just an example of the good work that we’ve done and the good work we’re going to continue to do.

But we’ve got real challenges facing this province. I said this in response to the member for Peace River North: we have got more jobs than people, and we’re going to be in that situation for at least ten years. We’re going to have one million job openings for ten years. Part of that is due to growth; part of that’s demographic and due to retirement. In the skilled trades, we have 117,000 job openings. And 12 percent of job openings are going to require some level of apprenticeship, and that is huge and it’s significant.

What a contrast the approach that we’ve taken as government has been. I hear this from industry all the time. This is not a partisan statement. What a contrast from the approach that they took the last time they were in office. When they were in office, they shut down the Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission. They laid off every apprentice adviser in the province and replaced them with three people in a phone centre in Richmond — for 15,000 apprentices. Graduation rates for certificates of qualification and registration all dropped precipitously when that happened. Now we’re in a skills gap in the skilled trades, and you look at the time we lost as a consequence of that.

[4:15 p.m.]

When I talk to industry, it’s pretty universal. Whatever side of the fence people sit on, they bring that up with me. What we’ve done is created a made-in-B.C. solution with skilled trades certification to raise the prestige of the trades and to encourage young people to get into the trades. Because when we talk about one million job openings — 117,000 in the skilled trades, but one million job openings — if you’re a young person, that is an opportunity. That means that there are career pathways there, and there are careers for advancement, where you can get good, meaningful, well-paying jobs, and really make a life for yourself.

One of the best parts about my role is I get to talk to these young people all the time. The other day at the Labour Market Outlook, I had a great conversation with Savannah, a non-binary cook’s apprentice who wants to go into working in a vegan kitchen. Just the opportunity and the pride that they have for the career choice they’ve made and the work that they’re going to do…. It’s really a great opportunity. If you’ve got a young person in your life, I would advise you to push a career in the skilled trades.

I think there was a lot of damage done by the B.C. Liberals, or B.C. United or united Liberals, the last time that they were in government, to apprenticeship and to skills training. It really set industry back. It was so bad that when the member for Prince George–Valemount, in the last term that they were in government, they had to commission a report telling them to undo the modularization of trades training that they did. I mean, that’s the state of it. They had done so much damage that they had to unwalk it, but we’re taking a different direction now. I think that’s right, and I think that’s as it should be.

We also need to take into account that there are also all kinds of misallocations in the labour market that go on. When we’ve got folks here with credentials that are foreign but skills that are universal, we have to help create pathways for them into employment. We’ve been doing that work. Right now, there are 2,000 internationally educated nurses being fast-tracked in health care. Last year another 5,500 nurses had said they want to work in B.C., and they are welcome to come here.

Creating pathways for skilled immigrants is the right thing to do. It’s the work that we’re doing, and it’s work that we’re going to be doing more of, in terms of removing barriers, because this is something that touches every part of the economy.

If you’re just talking about health care and the work done in health care and the challenges in health care…. The throne speech talks about this, and it has been on the minds of British Columbians, rightfully, for the past while. The work being done in health care in British Columbia right now is unprecedented. We’ve got a new deal for doctors that is transformational in terms of the health care system, and it’s a full credit to the Minister of Health for the work that he has done on that.

I look at my community in Langley, and I see the new MRI suite, a new MRI machine that runs 16 hours a day and is able to help with medical imaging for folks that need medical imaging in the Langley area. We’re building a new hospital in Cloverdale. That’s just seven minutes from Langley city hall, and it’s going to do a lot to take the pressure off Langley Memorial Hospital. We’ve added 602 nurse seats, so that we can train up more nurses.

The new Foundry in Langley is open, and I can’t say enough about how great that is. The Foundry in Langley city is really a testament to the whole community coming together to help plan that, to fundraise for that. Government assisted with it, but it really belongs to the community. What that means is that youth in Langley city have access to a whole range of supports, in a supportive environment with no stigma.

I got to tour the Foundry site, and I went to the opening. You couldn’t get a better crew of people running it than you’ve got there right now, with Encompass. It’s really just a fantastic resource.

[4:20 p.m.]

There’s a lot of talk about repeat offenders and mental health and street disorder. One really positive thing that’s come to Langley city has been the FACT team, the forensic assertive community-based treatment team. The forensic as­sertive community-based treatment team is a team based out of Fraser Health, focused south of the Fraser, that has given supports to 50 people, 25 of whom are from Langley, who are chronically street-entrenched. The F stands for forensic, which means there are forensic psychiatrists and professionals involved. It can fill the gap between the criminal justice system and the mental health system, and we can get people off the street and into the care and the supports that they need.

This is the approach that our government is taking, and this is the approach that we’re going to continue to take. British Columbians are going through uncertain times, and there’s a whole range of issues.

What they know is they’ve got a government that’s on their side. They’ve got a government that’s looking out for their interests with the cost of living, not raising their costs like the B.C. Liberals did. They’ve got a government that’s focused on training apprentices, not one that is leaving apprentices high and dry and out on their own to try to drive down wages. They’ve got a government that’s focused on helping people with foreign credentials and that’s focused on helping to fix the health care system — and not just fix the health care system but really bolster it and reimagine it.

I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this government. I think it was a great Speech from the Throne.

We had a comment from the member for Kootenay East saying…. He was shaking his head. He couldn’t believe what’s real, what’s not. I couldn’t help thinking about Christy Clark’s throne speech with her imaginary LNG fund, her fantasy fund, and just thinking about what they would be doing if they were in. They would be talking about stuff and not getting it done.

When I look at the private sector investments that have bolstered the economy, they came in under the NDP, and that’s just a fact. So results matter. Results matter. I’m proud to be a part of the team that’s doing that.

With that, I’ll take my place. It was a great Speech from the Throne, and I’m looking forward to hearing my colleagues’ responses as well.

R. Leonard: I’m actually very excited to be able to stand in this House today to respond to the throne speech.

I am feeling a little bit inadequate after having had a very inspiring speech from the member of the Legislature for Langford–Juan de Fuca, our former Premier. As always, he presents very well with that very personal touch.

It’s an inspiration to get up and be able to speak in this House about my community, about the province, about the places that we’ve been and where we’re going.

I want to, first of all, say thank you to my husband, Ron Eby. Yes, he is related to the Premier. However, he is many, many generations removed. When you work in this environment, where you’re ping-ponging back and forth between your home and Victoria, it can get a little bit disorienting. It’s really wonderful to have that foundation, that rock at home to make sure that you know where you’re landing and that, when you leave, you are sure to be able to come home and just pick up where you left off.

It’s really important for the constituents of every corner of this province that they have a member of the Legislature who is there for them. I can’t be there all the time. I, along with everyone else, am here in this House during session, creating laws and seeing programs put into place to help every single British Columbian.

We have wonderful staff at home. I have a long-serving constituency assistant in Leanne Rathje.

[4:25 p.m.]

I have had, since the pandemic started, a second assistant named Lisa Jaster who has been one of those amazing people who has come on board to help. She recognized what we do here is important, and she wanted to support. She was also one of those folks who had that optimism and actually had started a business that got shut down almost the same day that it was opening because of the pandemic.

She is an example of one of those relentlessly optimistic people that was referred to in the throne speech who have been supported through the pandemic by different programs that we have rolled out to support individuals as well as businesses. And to see now her business is starting to thrive…. I’m not sure that I will always have her at my side, and that’s okay. That’s okay.

There are so many great opportunities in this province. Our throne speech that we got to hear this week has definitely got that sense of a strong future, not for the short term but for the long term, as was mentioned.

I want to also thank my executive in Courtenay-Comox, the B.C. NDP. They are an incredible group. We have a new cast, some old folks and some new folks. All along the energy is really strong, and I’m always very proud to talk about our accomplishments and to see us grow.

I want to thank all of the volunteers and supporters who have made the path that much smoother and given me confidence that we are headed in the right direction. You’re not a leader if there’s no one there with you.

The throne speech started with a recognition and an acknowledgment of the passing of many British Columbians. In Courtenay-Comox, we’ve lost a lot of folks. I wanted to mention a couple of the more recent passings.

Comox lost its mayor. Russ Arnott had served a number of terms, and he was a real champion of the town of Comox. The return of his cancer came just at the very end of the nominations for the local elections. Thankfully, we have a strong council. We have strong members of our community. One of the councillors stepped up and put her name forward. So we have a new mayor in Nicole Minions.

I want to say congratulations to the rest of the council that was either re-elected or newly elected. It was a fresh start come the end of local elections, and this is a new era that we’re in. It’s nice to be able to count on our local officials to support each other and for them to support the work that we do. For the work that they do, we get to support them. It’s showing in our community in Courtenay-Comox.

I wanted to also acknowledge the passing of Jim Palmer. He was a local environmental activist. That’s how I…. I met him as a father at my daughter’s elementary school and got to know him over many decades.

There’s a species of lamprey that is an endangered species. It’s called the Morrison Creek lamprey. It’s not a very pretty beast. It does mean it gave an opportunity…. Jim just embraced Morrison Creek and made sure that every year there were different projects. He gathered people around in classrooms, and he has grown an interest in stewardship. He moved from one job….

I read his obituary. There were things I didn’t know about him. I think we were really privileged to have him in our community helping us build a healthier and a stronger community.

[4:30 p.m.]

I know there are many, many people who work in stream stewardship and across many different walks of life who will definitely be missing Jim. He came relentlessly to make sure that things were happening for Morrison Creek.

I also want to acknowledge nameless people — people I’m not going to name. I was going through one of the things…. It’s sort of morbid, but I go through the obituaries when I get home, to see who is no longer with us. It was evident that since Christmas we have lost three people, probably, to the illicit opioid and toxic drug supply. We’ve had advisories from Island Health, warning people, but it still is happening.

Who is it happening to? It’s happening to men in their 40s and their 50s. It is happening to young women. It is heart-wrenching to see. When we had the announcement about the decriminalization exemption from prosecution that was coming at the end of January, I think the most heart-wrenching story, the one that was the most impactful for me, came from the woman who talked about losing her husband, talking about how she didn’t know the extent of his trials with substance use, what it did to the family and why she supports decriminalization.

I thought of the families of the people who were lost in the Comox Valley. I know that I have heard, over time, how important this step is. We’ve heard it, sitting on the Health Committee. We heard from experts. We heard, from people all over the world, about the importance of ending stigma so that we can get a handle on something that has run out of control. What we had been doing has not been working. As the minister said, it is only one tool of many that we have to employ to really get a handle on the deaths that are happening.

Drug use has been with us since time immemorial, I would say. It will remain with us, but we need to have a system of care in place. That’s what I’m so proud to see every day: new announcements coming, about what we are doing to try and stem the tide of pain, injury and death.

I was very excited when we opened Foundry in our community. I was very excited when we became the second pilot for integrated child and youth teams. It’s a challenging job to change a system. Change is hard, change is sometimes frightening, but sometimes change is so very necessary. This is one of those occasions where we have to recognize that. I think we have opportunities here to make a real difference. I’m very proud this throne speech that we just heard is taking us further down that path.

Before I go any further, I just wanted to put the framework of what the throne speech was aiming at…. It’s about taking action today so that we’ll have a stronger tomorrow. It’s recognizing some of the really serious challenges that we’re facing today — challenges of a scope and magnitude that we have never faced before. People recognize that we are in a new world. The pandemic made a huge difference in people’s lives. It made a huge difference in society. We recognize that we do have to adjust.

[4:35 p.m.]

It is so impressive how so many people have come out of the trials and tribulations of the pandemic and who have come out of the agony of the disasters around the wildfires, the floods and the mudslides. We have people who are stronger and more resilient. We have people who are also suffering and need that extra support. That is a shift. That is an opportunity for us to all grow together.

It was spoken of many times, earlier today, how we are stronger when we work together, how important it is and what we can accomplish when we work together. That’s what adversity gives you. It’s that opportunity to grow stronger. That’s why I was particularly tickled by the notion that we have a British Columbia that is full of people who are relentlessly optimistic.

I mentioned my CA, Lisa. She’s only one of many people that I’ve met that have started businesses or adjusted their businesses and found new opportunities to grow — people who have taken the challenge of learning more, of innovating, of seeking new truths about how our world can unfold.

There are six cornerstones, almost like the faces of a diamond, that we can shine from. That is when we are a government that is working to respond to some of those challenges, challenges around helping people with costs, with the escalating inflation rate, the supply chain constraints and the fact that we are a growing community. That brings its own challenges.

We are tackling the housing crisis. We are strengthening public health care. We are making communities safer. We are fighting climate change and building an economy for everyone. We are working in partnership with Indigenous peoples. All of those things matter in 2023, and they’re going to matter in many years to come. The actions that we’re going to take in this year, in 2023, will have a lasting effect.

I want to talk about the housing crisis. That has been a number one issue in my community. Right now, when I go home, I can drive past a number of sites that are having housing built, and I can drive past a number of sites where housing has been built. I can look forward, I know, to seeing more housing built because of the support that we’re going to see in this next year and in the years to come.

We recognize how important housing is. People can’t come to a community to work or go to school unless they have a place to stay. For people who retire and get on a fixed income, their circumstances change, and they need a place to live as well.

We have housing that’s coming in Comox, which is being built in Comox, for seniors. We have 217 student beds that are going to be built up at North Island College. That’s going to open up the market, across the valley, for more people to find a roof over their head, a place to sleep, a place to be able to thrive in our community, which is growing.

I’m also very proud of all of our local governments. Our councils have been so supportive to make sure that we can move forward on initiatives that will help bring that affordable housing to the people in the Comox Valley.

I mentioned Russ Arnott. He was a real champion and made sure that a very innovative housing project went up, with money from this government, to build child care in the same building, affordable housing units for seniors, as well as business, all in that place. It was something new and untried in this community. It worked really, really well.

Interjections.

[4:40 p.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Members.

Members, one member has the floor, please. If you want to have a conversation, please take it outside. Thank you.

R. Leonard: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Also in Courtenay, we have a number of housing projects that are underway. One of the ones that was championed by the city council and by our transition society was to have second-stage housing built, and it’s underway now.

There are another 40 units that are underway, too, that the Wachiay Friendship Centre is building. That’s going to be bringing housing for Indigenous people and families and seniors.

The HousingHub has supported the building of another market rental housing unit, but at a more affordable rate.

Each of these projects has been well supported by the city of Courtenay and by the town of Comox, and it’s for sure going to make a difference in our community as we continue to see that success helps breed success. When others see how supportive we are in making sure that we can see developments proceeding, the more we’ll see other developers coming on board and working with the provincial government, with B.C. Housing, to make sure that we get those housing units in place so that we can see our communities continue to grow.

I want to say congratulations, as well, to not only the town of Comox for their elections but also to Courtenay council, who also…. Well, they saw one new person, I think, on their council, elected. But they’ve been very progressively supportive of all of the changes to help vulnerable people and to help us move forward.

I also want to say congratulations to the K’ómoks First Nation. They just had their elections in January. They have a new council, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they can continue to progress. The last council received a number of grants for projects on the K’ómoks lands. So it’s pretty exciting to see new faces. And 2023 is an opportunity, as I say, for us to continue to be relentlessly optimistic and take action that’s going to make our communities stronger.

I want to talk about public health care as well. It’s taken some time, but we have a primary care network, which is one of those team-based approaches that was one of the new things that we put forward as a new government. It took some time to get it underway. It’s under the auspices of the divisions of family practice, and a number of doctors — I’m not even sure how many dozens of doctors — have signed on to it and have these teams supporting them to serve more people. I know it’s including my own family physician.

It’s an opportunity not only just to serve more people but to serve people who have not traditionally sought the help of our traditional medical system. It’s bringing in those people who have been left out. It’s just one cog in the wheel of the health care system as it’s growing stronger every day. We lost some doctors. One physician passed away. Two left. Then some more left. There are more doctors coming than we lost. That’s pretty exciting news.

From the perspective of government, our new agreement with physicians has been received very well in my community. I heard from a lot of the physicians about the challenges that they were facing. I was talking with a pharmacist, and somebody came in off the street whose daughter is a physician. He says to me: “I just wanted to say thank you.”

[4:45 p.m.]

He said: “My daughter is a young mother, and her colleague is a young mother. They were struggling to keep their practices alive. With this new agreement, they see a future as physicians and not something to have to turn away from.” That serves them, and it serves all of us. So I’m really excited to see how it continues to unfold in 2023.

I’m also excited to see what’s coming with the addition of more nurses, the addition of more physicians — of streamlining the opportunities for people to advance through the medical professions, to go from a health care worker to an LPN, for folks to move from LPN to registered, all of the things that give people hope and optimism, so that they can have fulfilling lives and fulfilling careers and that they can make our community so much healthier and better. It’s an exciting time. It’s a challenging time. Goldarn it, if we can’t admit that it hasn’t been a challenging time, we are in deep trouble.

We also recognize, too, that some of the structures that are in place and some of the rules that are in place are challenging some of our downtown businesses around safety and the comfort level that people feel when they are seeing people who are different from them on the street. There are so many opportunities. Once again, there are opportunities for us to do things differently.

One of the things that we can look forward to is teams — once again, working together — who are going to be going out, not just police officers but mental health workers, peers, people who can work through some of the challenges that aren’t criminal but make other people uncomfortable and are putting individuals themselves at risk and need a different kind of help.

The strategies that are being turned out to make our communities safer are something that we can look forward to, not just in Vancouver and not just in Victoria but in every community, but we have to work together to make it all happen.

Climate change is another one, another facet that’s relentlessly coming at us. I couldn’t be prouder of the work that we have done in this province to work together to create a plan to move forward, to create accountability, to create mechanisms to measure and to create mechanisms for us to shift and to accelerate when we need to. That’s the kind of work that we are going to see continue through 2023.

I’m excited, too, by the changes in technology and the opportunities for more changes in technology as our un­derstanding grows. As we make more space for people to learn and to apply their understanding and help innovate, we will see so much more progress on the climate file. While people can have climate anxiety, people can go out and protest…. That’s all to the good — that they’re protesting — because that means that they’re holding our feet to the fire to continue to act. We’re also helping by doing that to make sure people….

Interjection.

R. Leonard: Okay, holding my feet to the fire may not have been the best…. But it’s a reality that those extreme weather events are what have created the climate disasters that we have been facing. We do need to do the right thing, because whole communities are suffering, and people are suffering. We do this on a global stage. Climate action is a global challenge, just as inflation is a global challenge.

[4:50 p.m.]

Our commitment to environmental, social and government cornerstones is something that the business community is embracing, and that’s where success is going to build. That’s an exciting place for us to be too — to be on the cutting edge, to see the kind of changes that we need to see so that our children will see that we have taken action and that we are building a stronger tomorrow for them.

In my community, there are so many organizations, people who volunteer. I know the Speaker spoke this week about the advantages of volunteering, and that is so true. It’s how I met my husband, through volunteering. I’ve met so many people in my community, and it’s amazing to watch those organizations grow and mature and to bring in new people. I invite everyone in Courtenay-Comox to find that niche, to find that community and help us become a better place.

I thank the Premier for giving us a roadmap to 2023, to move forward, in the throne speech, and I look forward to seeing the budget come forward to fill the plates, as this table has been set. I look forward to working with everyone in this House to make sure that it all comes to fruition.

B. Anderson: I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to speak in support of the throne speech today.

First, I would like to recognize that today, I’m speaking to you from the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-​speaking peoples, the Songhees and the Esquimalt First Nations.

As MLA for Nelson-Creston, where I work and represent is on the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, the Sinixt and the Syilx peoples.

When I look at this Speech from the Throne, I see huge benefits for my communities. I’m absolutely delighted by the work that is ahead of our government. Certainly, there’s going to be a lot of work ahead of us, but I do feel like this provides us with a really great roadmap.

First of all, I want to talk a little bit about some of the different communities that I represent. Nelson-Creston, which is in the Kootenays, is an extremely beautiful region. I think I have absolutely the best riding in the province to represent. I grew up in the Kootenays, so the Kootenays are my home.

My parents and my brother still live in the Kootenays, and my partner and I have settled there. We feel so grateful this is our home and that we get to represent it there. I want to start by thanking my family so much for all of the support they give me. I would not be able to do the work that I do if it were not for my partner, Paul Dixon, who is just down here in Victoria for the first time this week.

It was really special for me to be able to introduce him to my colleagues and to be able to show him the building, to be able to meet the incredible staff and for him to get a little glimpse of what my life here is like down in Victoria and what the work entails and for him to be able to hear the Speech from the Throne. I know he was very excited to be able to hear about the work that our government is going to be doing moving forward.

I also had two other special guests with me this week. It was Emerson Kelly, who is the vice-president of my riding association and a grade 12 student at L.V. Rogers in Nelson, British Columbia. Emerson is extremely smart and dedicated, and he absolutely loved the building. I think his favourite parts were the library and some of the really beautiful old books, but also Keith Baldrey’s studio. That was a big hit as well. Again, thank you always, Keith, for providing that extra bit of information. Thank you for that.

Paul Kelly, Emerson’s father, also joined us for the Speech from the Throne. Paul is a friend. He worked with Community Futures in the cannabis business transition initiative. It was wonderful for him to be able to see the work down here in Victoria and accompany his son, Emerson.

[4:55 p.m.]

I also want to thank, of course, my CAs, Anna and Sarah. They hold it all together in our constituency office in Nelson. They’re both very smart, compassionate, talented individuals that are very supportive of not only the constituents but also of me.

I’m just so grateful every day that I get to work with you, Sarah and Anna. I just thank you so much for the work that you do. I know that we’ve…. Sometimes people come in and they’re inflamed and they’re upset, and you have a remarkable ability of listening to them and communicating with them and helping them solve their problems. I know, on several occasions, people have said afterwards that they felt like they were really listened to and that they were so grateful that we were able to help them. So I just want to, again, thank them for all of their support.

I want to also thank our community. We have absolutely incredible communities across the riding. It’s a diverse community with people with a lot of different interests and backgrounds, and it’s becoming even more diverse, which I think is absolutely wonderful to see. So I just want to thank my community so much for giving me the tremendous honour to serve as your MLA for Nelson-Creston and represent you in the Legislature here in Victoria.

I’d also like to thank all of the staff here in the Legislature, whether it’s the folks at Hansard, the Clerks, the LAs, the RCOs or the people that cook for us and serve us and clean this building. None of us would be able to do the work that we do without all of your support, so I just want to give a shout-out to everyone that works here in the Legislature.

Then, also, I want to say thank you to the folks that work in the public service. My dad, Terry Anderson, spent 30-some-odd years working for the public service in various ministries surrounded around environment, and I know how much work he did and how dedicated he was to his community through that work. With that, I just want to say thank you to the public service workers.

A lot of the challenges we face today are due to some of the cuts that occurred when I was in high school. Now I want to tell you about a day I will never forget. This was in 2002. I was a high school student in grade 10 at L.V. Rogers school in Nelson.

Of course, cell phones existed then, but many young people and students didn’t have cell phones. I think I only remember one friend that was able to borrow her mom’s cell phone every once in a while, but students didn’t have cell phones in rural British Columbia back then. But what we did have was a student phone, and it was right in the entrance of the school, right by the doors to the gym. Usually, if you needed to use the student phone, there were maybe two or three people ahead of you. They’d make quick phone calls, usually to their parents, you know, to check about their plans later that evening.

On this day, there was a lineup like I had never seen it before. Students were lined up immediately, as soon as lunch started, and the lineup snaked down the hall, around the corner and over into the next hall. Students were lined up there making phone calls to their parents. They were my friends. They were other students that were in my class. They were lined up, and the look on their faces when they would turn around crying because their mom had just lost her job. Then their dad had been transferred to Kamloops.

These are students in grade 10, 11 and 12. It’s January. We’ve just had the holidays, and now all of a sudden there was so much uncertainty within our community that day. I know some of my friends’ parents, one of them would get transferred to Kamloops and the other one would get transferred to Cranbrook. What is a family supposed to do when it’s split because of deep, deep public service cuts? And these were cuts in all of the different ministries. There were cuts to our hospital sector. We know that there were so many people laid off in our community, and it had a tremendous and a very profound impact.

[5:00 p.m.]

Watching people absolutely sobbing because of these cuts was really something I never want to see again. That’s something that we absolutely cannot go back to. So when I hear other members across the way speaking that they’re disappointed in this budget, instead I see a lot of hope, and what scares me more than anything would be going back to the days of those cuts.

If our government hadn’t been here for the last six years, working really hard to build all of these sectors up through a pandemic, through the atmospheric river…. We’re experiencing the impacts of climate change. That’s why I am so grateful to see so much optimism in this Speech from the Throne. I thank the Premier and his team and everyone that has poured so much effort into this work. I can’t wait until we’re able to accomplish several of these goals.

I know Nelson has faced a zero percent vacancy rate for over a decade now. It is so hard to find a house. Just a few months ago, I was helping one of my dear friends, who I’ve known since childhood. We were boxing her stuff up. Sometimes some of the stuff…. We were putting it in garbage bags because she didn’t have enough boxes, and we were moving her out of her rental.

When she first called me, actually, I was here in Victoria, in the grocery store, and she called me sobbing, saying: “You know, I don’t know where I’m going to be able to live now. I have to go find a place. I’m in my mid-30s. I’m a professional, but I can’t afford to own a home on my own.” Now she’s scrambling. You’re using, basically, your network of friends. You see Facebook posts like this all the time so that people can find housing.

When I see that our government is working so hard and so focused on ensuring that we’re going to have housing available for people like my friends, for some of the seniors that come into our office that are concerned about housing…. Just within the last six years, we’ve seen incredible investments in housing in our region. For people with disabilities in the Creston Valley, there’s a fantastic facility.

I was at a really incredible day in the village of Kaslo. We were breaking the ground on their new housing facility. It’s going to be ten units. When we lined up for the photo, what was really incredible…. Erika Bird — she’s the president of the society. We had the mayor there. We had the chair of the regional district and myself. This has been something they had been working on — the society — for over 20 years, and it was all women standing up in that photo, which was really neat. It’s neat to see women in these positions and making this work move forward.

I just am so grateful to the village of Kaslo for all of the work they’ve done and for the housing society to keep pushing — and that our government is delivering for the village of Kaslo.

In Nelson, we’ve had three major projects that now have people housed in them. This is able to transform people’s lives. They had waiting lists, so we’re not done. We still have more to do.

But we also know that there’s going to be student housing both in Nelson at the Selkirk College campus but then also in Castlegar, at the campus there. We’re creating student housing in both of those locations, which is going to support students in our region but also students that come to study at such an incredible post-secondary school. I’m very grateful that we’re able to make those investments into our community.

We also are expanding our health care in our community. We have Mount St. Francis, which was another project that has been at least 20 years now in the making and really spearheaded by the local community, and they’re really envisioning this health campus. Our government is delivering that. We’re delivering long-term-care beds for people, and it is so needed in our community. There are going to be other services that are going to be moving up there. It’s on the Mount St. Francis lands. It’s a beautiful site, and it will be a wonderful place for people to be able to live with the supports that they need.

I want to talk about some of the services that we’ve been supporting in the Creston Valley. A lot of our agriculture in the Kootenays is in the Creston Valley. If you haven’t been to the Creston Valley, it’s absolutely stunning.

[5:05 p.m.]

We’ve also created a food hub there. So what the food hub is going to do is…. It’s supporting agricultural producers but also folks that have other small businesses in mind that want to use that local produce or local food products. They’re able to process it and then sell it both locally and beyond.

We’re so excited. They’ve gotten a lot of equipment in there. I was able to go on a tour with the minister last summer. I can’t wait until it’s fully operational and to see how that is going to help the community thrive in the Creston Valley.

We also have really key non-profits in the community that offer a tremendous amount of support. I just want to say thank you so much to the Creston Valley services and societies that are supporting, in many diverse ways, the community. I just want to give a shout-out to them.

I also want to talk a little bit about some of the impacts that climate change has had in the Creston Valley. When we had the heatwave, we had…. I think it was 80 percent of the Lapins cherries were lost during the heatwave in the Creston Valley. That was absolutely devastating to farmers.

I went to the Creston Valley and met with several farmers in one day. You could just see the tremendous amount of stress on their faces. They almost had a total crop loss. Not only were they facing that economic challenge, but they still had to deal with the fruit. You can’t let the fruit rot on the trees.

Our government stepped up to be able to provide them with supports. I was so grateful. I was able to connect with the minister that day, before I went, and she was able to confirm that, of course, we were going to be able to support these critical food producers in our region.

I also had a community that ran out of water. Going up to a community when you have folks that are…. They were using municipal water. It was getting trucked to their communities on the backs of private trucks. Then some of them had hoses that were able to attach, but other people were just drawing from that.

I spoke with one woman. She was crying and trying to explain how her husband…. It sounded like he had Alzheimer’s, and she was trying to, then, re-teach him how to use the bucket to flush the toilet. The whole community was really upset.

Now our government has put in monitoring stations for them. So we’ll be able to see what’s happening with that water table and try to support them through this.

We know that water is going to be absolutely critical for our future. It’s going to be a huge challenge, with climate change, as we face droughts and, then, unpredictable precipitation. So I’m so glad that, in the throne speech, there is a deep commitment to fighting climate change.

I’m the Premier’s special adviser on youth. We had the StrongerBC Young Leaders Council. All of the youth on that council and all of the youth that I have spoken with in my time as an MLA but also before are deeply concerned about climate change, and they should be. There’s so much uncertainty because of climate change.

None of us could have ever predicted an atmospheric river would cut off services to the entire province. Our government had to work so hard to rebuild those highways, to work with the livestock, to work with the farmers and to try to solve that.

I just want to thank all of the workers on those projects who were able to get things moving and get people and goods flowing across the province. I know that people worked long and hard to get that.

It’s critically important that we are doing everything we can and that we’re being really strategic to reduce our GHG emissions. In British Columbia, we are leaders. What that means is that other people are going to follow our lead. So we need to keep taking bolder steps as we prepare. We’re not only reducing our GHG emissions. We also have to prepare our communities.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Nelson, a few years ago…. It was determined that the risk of wildfire was extremely significant. The partnerships between the regional district, the city of Nelson, private land owners and parks with the provincial government…. They’re working, in that area, to reduce the wildfire risks in Nelson. They’re also doing that work in Creston and in Kaslo and in Salmo. That work is going to be critically important, as we know that the summers are going to be hotter and drier, moving ahead.

[5:10 p.m.]

I’m so grateful that we have a new ministry that is going to help to prepare us for the future with climate change. We know that there are significant challenges ahead.

I want to talk a little bit about the East Shore. Some of you may not know where the East Shore is. When I refer to the East Shore, it’s the east shore of Kootenay Lake. If you’re in Nelson, you would drive up to Balfour, and then you take the Kootenay Lake ferry across. From there, you can go north to Riondel or go south. It will take you through several communities, including Crawford Bay, Gray Creek and Boswell, until you get to the Creston Valley.

The East Shore is an extremely beautiful place. The road winds right along the lake there. Crawford Bay is one of the central hubs. “Artistic by nature” is their community slogan. That’s where they hold Starbelly Jam, which is a small, family-friendly music festival. They have North Woven Broom, which actually made the brooms for Harry Potter. That is very exciting. They have, also, people like Janet at Barefoot Handweaving who make absolutely incredible textiles. So if you haven’t visited the East Shore, I suggest that you do.

When I was over there this summer, I got to visit some seniors. They were gathered together because of the TAPS program. This is a lunch and social program for seniors on the East Shore. We chatted over lunch. They spoke to me about how grateful they were for that program. Our investments in supporting seniors in rural areas and places like the East Shore are absolutely critical.

We also have, in my community, Kaslo. If you haven’t been there, it’s very stunning — again, on the shores of Kootenay Lake. You might recognize the SS Moyie. It’s the sternwheeler that’s there. It’s also home to the Kaslo jazz fest and May Days, where they have the logger sports.

Just north of that we have Qat’muk, which some of you might know as Jumbo. Our government was the government that protected that area, which was very important and special to the Ktunaxa. This is an Indigenous-led conservation area that our government protected.

We know there are other areas in that region, particularly the Argenta–Johnsons Landing face, that folks are…. They want to see some level of protection. They’re concerned about their drinking water sources. They’re concerned about landslides. They are also concerned about fires. We need to somehow reduce the fire risk but make sure that area…

I would love to see it preserved. We will see what we’re able to do. That is something that I will keep working on with folks like Carolyn Schramm and Suzanne Simard and other folks like the regional district chair, Aimee Watson — to try to protect that area if we’re able to. I know that’s really important to many members in the community.

Salmo is just south of Nelson, very close to the U.S. border. It is the home of…. They have these beautiful stone murals. I was just there a few…. I guess it was after the holidays. I was at the legion attending an awards dinner. I just wanted to thank the legion for their incredible hospitality on that. They were thanking various members of the community for their support and for their legion membership.

They also have the Salmo Ski Hill, which is a volunteer, community-run ski hill. It’s a great place for families, for people that are learning how to ski, and it is very well loved and used by the community. In the summertime, they have a beautiful farmers market. It’s near an area where you can take a trail through some really incredibly stunning old growth. It’s also home to groups like the Salmo Valley Seniors ATV Club. That’s where groups of seniors get together and enjoy their ATV sports.

It also is, of course, home to Shambhala, which is the large electronic music festival where artists and people from around the world come to enjoy the community that Shambhala creates. They have done extensive work in terms of harm reduction and drug checking to make sure that people are able to stay safe while they enjoy themselves there.

[5:15 p.m.]

The largest municipality that I get to represent is the community of Nelson, which is the community where I grew up. I feel so grateful for that opportunity. There’s an incredible arts community there. We have the Nelson Arts Council. We have the Capitol Theatre and the Civic Theatre. We have the mural festival in the summer, which is the whole community. It’s a free event, and we have artists that are local but also from other areas that come. It’s a great community party.

We also have Touchstones, which is the local museum. Actually, I think it was just rebranded to be the Nelson Museum. They’ve done a lot of work in terms of reconciliation. So I just want to thank them.

Actually, all of these arts groups have done a tremendous job at really trying to be intentional about working towards reconciliation. I do want to thank them for that.

Of course, Nelson and area, the entire Kootenays…. We are a sports mecca. We have the Whitewater ski hill. We also have Baldface. That brings people from around the world. It’s a short helicopter ride away from Nelson. They’re able to enjoy incredible skiing at both locations, whether it’s Whitewater or up at Baldface. We also have the Nordic Ski Club right now. I used to spend more time doing downhill skiing. Now I spend more time doing Nordic skiing. They have even night skiing up there, which is wonderful, also, for families.

We’ve definitely faced some challenges in Nelson. I want to thank some of the folks that have done some really incredible work.

First of all, the Nelson street outreach team. We just had a meeting with them recently about some of the challenges that they’re seeing, in terms of the opiate crisis, responding to overdoses with the toxic drug supply, and how they’ve seen this escalation get worse and worse, even as we provide more supports, like the Hub. It’s about a half a block away from my office and across the street.

People are able to get wraparound services and different supports there. It’s a really welcoming place. It’s a place where people that don’t feel like they have a place are able to go. It’s calm. They have access to things like a computer. There’s also an area where people, if they use drugs…. There’s an overdose prevention site there. I want to thank all of the staff there for the incredibly important work they do to support vulnerable people in our community.

There are vulnerable people that spend a lot of time right behind my office in the alley, and I’ve gotten to know some of them over time. One of those women, who had actually volunteered at my office, had faced an overdose, and my staff had to go and call the ambulance. She, thankfully, lived. It was great. She was able to come to my holiday party this year. It was wonderful to see someone like her, who I would consider a friend, and then also people like the mayor.

I would like to congratulate the new mayor of Nelson, Janice Morrison, and all the councillors that were elected and re-elected on their appointments, for the work that they do. I know we work together really well with all of our municipalities and our regional governments. So I just want to thank them for that.

I also want to give a…. I talked about climate change earlier. I should have mentioned the Youth Climate Corps. During the pandemic, I remember getting a phone call. It was from one of my fellow councillors at the time, and they asked me if I would be interested in having a call with some folks that had this really innovative idea. That was the beginning of the Youth Climate Corps.

They partnered with Wildsight. What they’re doing is employing youth to do projects that help mitigate climate change — for instance, like FireSmart areas. Then they also did…. One of the projects that I really loved is…. They did a retrofit on a home. This was a home that was run by a non-profit society. Adults with disabilities live there.

I was able to go up on the day they were having their celebration because the work had been done. I got to speak with one of the residents there, Nick. Nick has been a longtime resident of Nelson. I would call him a good friend. When I asked Nick what he thought about the renovations, he was so grateful. This was in the middle of the summer, and he could immediately feel that his home was cooler.

[5:20 p.m.]

When we’re able to leverage the skills of youth and teach youth these new skills to do things like retrofit a home, especially a home this non-profit would have had a challenge with…. They’re trying to do as much work as possible in our community and to support as many people as possible. This work, because of different partnerships, was able to happen.

I just want to thank the Youth Climate Corps for their innovation, and I know that there are other MLAs that are keenly interested in the Youth Climate Corps being able to do similar work in their communities.

B. Anderson moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. A. Dix: I wish everyone a good weekend.

I move that the House do now adjourn.

Hon. A. Dix moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until Mon­day, February 13 at 10 a.m.

The House adjourned at 5:21 p.m.