Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

HOMELESSNESS AND WINTER SHELTERS

Mr. Speaker: Member for Surrey–White Rock.

Interjection.

T. Halford: I’ve got one fan. There we go. We’ll see if I have it by the end of this.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

I rise on an issue, I think, that we all know is growing. At this time of year, when I walk into the building, it’s cold, and it’s getting really cold. We saw what happened last year. We see, with the change of climate change, what is happening year after year, whether we’re getting heatwaves or extreme cold snaps. Our vulnerable population is growing at a rate that we’ve never seen before. I am definitely seeing that in my constituency of Surrey–White Rock.

A few weeks back we held a homelessness rally. It was to raise awareness of the homelessness challenges that we’ve seen over the last four to five years. It was actually organized by those that do not have shelter.

I told one story. I’ll tell it again, because it’s worth repeating. I had a lady come up to me. She said: “Do you mind if, when you’re not here at your constituency office, I park in your parking spot?” I said: “No, I don’t. Not at all. That’s absolutely fine.”

[10:05 a.m.]

I said: “Do you have work around here? Is your child going to martial arts, which is above my office?” She said: “No. I’m living in my car with my daughter, and I thought that if I parked in the MLA’s parking spot, maybe they would let me stay there for the night. Maybe I would be safe because there’s security.”

That’s a pretty sobering statement to hear from one of your constituents. They are so desperate for housing. She and her daughter are taking shelter in their car, and the only place that they may feel safe is out in front of my office.

I have another constituent. Her home has been the bus stop of 32 and King George Highway for the last year. We were able to get her into…. Her home before that was on a deck, on a patio, for which she was being charged $15 per night.

These are the stories. I know these stories are very familiar to every MLA in this House. I don’t think my riding is any different from the challenges that they are facing. We have a significant problem here, a significant one.

When we talk about the shelters that we have in place…. Right now in White Rock and South Surrey, we are struggling. Even if we do have those shelters in place, we are beyond capacity before dinner is even served. So the challenge that we see is…. With a growing homeless population, we’re struggling to keep up.

I look at the fact…. We have seen such a dramatic uptake in those struggling with mental health, with addictions. In my riding, we have that. In my riding, we also have a number of seniors who are struggling with housing.

In White Rock proper, there are a lot of buildings that have been constructed in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s that are now getting demolished to build new units. With that come more units. I think that’s a great thing, and that’s something that we’ve been driving home with municipal governments. But with that comes a population that is on a very fixed income and that is struggling to make decisions on whether or not they are able to make their rent or pay for their groceries or get their medication. They are facing the challenges of homelessness right now.

I would say…. When I first started, the majority of my cases in my constituency office were health care. I thank the Minister of Health and his office for assisting in a lot of those cases. I would say now the vast, vast, vast majority of the cases that we deal with are housing, and they’re heartbreaking. They are absolutely heartbreaking.

Whether it’s a single mom that is getting evicted from the basement suite, whether it’s the seniors that are having to find a new location, whether it’s an adult with an intellectual disability that is moving out for the first time and trying to get housing, it is a challenge. But the biggest challenge that we have right now, given the weather, is shelter space.

I think that it’s imperative for all of us to work together for a solution, at every level of government, and to ensure we are doing the best that we possibly can for our most vulnerable people at this crucial time.

[10:10 a.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for North Vancouver–Seymour.

S. Chant: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very nice to see you in the chair.

I thank you for the opportunity to rise today and speak about a topic that is important to all people of British Columbia, for homelessness is something we all need to work towards eradicating.

Thank you to the member for Surrey–White Rock for his remarks thus far.

I would like to start by acknowledging that today I’m speaking from the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən people, the Esquimalt and the Songhees.

I work, live and learn in my beautiful riding of North Vancouver–Seymour situated in the unceded territory of the Coast Salish, specifically the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations.

The origins of homelessness are as unique as each person that finds themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to call home. Mental health and addiction, poverty, varied disabilities, including brain injury, trauma and illiteracy in its various forms, in reading, math and computers, social disconnection, the inability to find or retain adequate housing and predation are all factors, not to mention the influx of over 300,000 people to B.C. over the past three years.

Many initiatives are now in place. I cannot imagine what the situation would have been without them. Ministries have gotten together to create strategies and establish resources. Communities have done counts and set up shelters and transition housing.

Funding has also come from the federal government. Many communities now have outreach liaison workers who meet people wherever they are, working with them to establish, or reestablish, the basics of identification, income, health care and shelter.

The numbers and types of shelters have been expanded across the province, often with staff who work towards more permanent solutions for their clients. Increased numbers of supportive housing options have been opened or are in progress, housing that recognizes and accommodates the needs of folks who are not able to support themselves for a huge variety of reasons.

I was fortunate to visit a tiny home project in Victoria, a project that is being used as a model in other communities both within and outside of B.C. It was a gated community, with security to ensure the residents were safe. Each living space had a bed and a desk and a temperature control. There was a community kitchen and washroom facilities and laundry options close by.

I spoke with a couple of the people who lived there, one of whom said it was the best place he had ever lived in, mainly because he felt safe, and for the first time ever, he had friends. The social component cannot be underestimated in creating and maintaining homes.

This past summer, while on tour with the Finance Committee to many parts of the province…. One of the topics addressed was the challenges associated with temporary winter shelters.

Representatives from community-based non-profits spoke of the issues, which were not just funding related. Finding space. Ensuring that it was suitable or getting it renovated. Getting staff who were appropriately trained and suited the role and were available. Supplies and equipment — beds, mattresses, linens, towels, chairs and desks, to name just some of the endless litany of things that are needed to run a temporary shelter. Then those things all need to be stored or disposed of, only to be needed again the following year — a disheartening and frustrating process for the providers, even more discouraging for the people who depend on the services daily.

I’m pleased to acknowledge the efforts, in conjunction with B.C. Housing, made to convert over 1,600 temporary shelter spaces into permanent over the past year. This year the province is funding over 5,000 shelter spaces, in 50 communities, comprised of permanent, temporary and extreme weather shelters. Many communities with dashboards that are updated daily with bed availability information.

The following cities have shelter spaces opening November 1: Kamloops, 240; Kelowna, 270; Prince George, 145; Surrey, 530; Vancouver, 1,772; and Victoria, 335. Beds will be opening November 1.

I recognize homelessness as an ongoing concern that our government can never lose sight of in preventing, assessing and managing. I also want to express my gratitude to all of the community organizations, staff and volunteers who provide services, safe, dry and comfortable shelter and continuing advocacy for those who are unhoused. This issue remains needing to be addressed by all three levels of government and across many provincial ministries to ensure a combination of knowledge, expertise and resources continue to be applied.

[10:15 a.m.]

People who have never experienced homelessness take for granted the availability of a warm, dry, safe place to live in. This is not the case for many in B.C.

Our government continues to do the work needed to make home a reality for everyone to access and afford.

T. Halford: I thank the member for North Vancouver–Seymour for her remarks.

I think part of the challenge is…. The member listed the spaces that will become available November 1. It has been cold for a while now here, at least in the Lower Mainland. I can tell you that in my community, whether it’s Surrey or White Rock, we need more. These are at capacity instantaneously almost. We do have people that are sleeping out on the streets because they can’t get access, and we have had loss of life because of that.

We all understand the challenges that we are currently facing. We have to also understand that the dramatic rise in the homeless population is not going anywhere until we address the core issues of what needs to be done.

I can say, with all respect, to anybody that challenges that…. When you look at the fact, in White Rock, in South Surrey…. A lot of the people that are homeless there have grown up in that community.

That’s one of the challenges that I have, when people say: “Oh, well, they’re taking the bus down here. They’re coming to spend time here.” They’re not coming because they like the beach. They’re coming because they grew up there. They went to Semiahmoo Secondary or Earl Marriott. Somewhere along the way, something has been broken.

We have it on all of us to do our part to make sure that when we go to bed, wherever that may be, whether it’s in our own constituency or at home, we have done everything possible to make sure that our constituents are in a bed that is warm, free from the elements, with support. Right now we’re not there. We’re not even close.

You walk down any street in this community, whether it’s Victoria, whether it’s Prince George, whether it’s Kamloops, whether it’s Surrey, whether it’s White Rock. You’ll know that firsthand.

With that, I’ll take my seat.

I thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning on this issue, Mr. Speaker.

GOBYBIKE WEEK

M. Starchuk: GoByBike Week ran for two weeks. It began October 16 and ended yesterday, on Sunday, October 29. These weeks encourage British Columbians to experience the joy of cycling and to ride their bikes as much as possible, whether it’s to work, to school, for fun, for exercise, to stretch your legs between meetings or just to clear your mind, for no particular reason.

Over the last few years, and the only COVID bonus I can talk about, I’ve ridden my bike over 6,000 kilometres over trails, dikes, streets and highways. I do it for the sights you can’t see from your car. I do it for the exercise. I do it to get to work and….

Well, I don’t know how to exactly put it. When you’re having one of those bad days, where you just need a break…. You need a temporary distraction. You just need to refocus. That’s when I get on my bike, and I ride in traffic. Yes, I ride in traffic to make me focus, focus and focus more.

The GoByBikeBC Society, which was formerly called the Bike to Work B.C. Society, was initially formed as a provincial body to secure and share resources to help communities throughout British Columbia deliver successful Bike to Work Week events.

[10:20 a.m.]

The Bike to Work Week event began in greater Victoria in 1995, with a core group of commuter cyclists committed to raising the profile of commuter cycling. That inaugural event counted almost 500 participants that year.

Over the years, this event has expanded into a bike-to-school component. Many communities now run a combined Bike to Work and School Week, while others run separate Bike to Work Week and Bike to School Week events during the same time.

The goal of bike B.C. week is that people discover how enjoyable it is to ride a bike and to continue riding their bikes year-round. One of the benefits is that it leads to improved mental health and physical health and that people will encourage each other to get healthy and help the environment by riding a bike through forming teams and celebrating the joy that cycling brings.

When I think about the comment about forming teams and encouraging each other, I’m reminded of how Rob Shaw was encouraged to ride a bike for the ride for the cure with the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. I know that last summer, I may have given Richard Zussman a reason to upgrade his daily commuter bike when he borrowed my bike for a week and realized that maybe it was time to finally do the upgrade.

One of the observations my staff have made over the past is how much happier I am when I get into my constituency office after riding to work. I’m not sure if those are backhanded compliments, but either way, starting my day with a ride does a few things.

Nothing wakes up a rider in the morning better than 5 degrees. It makes it crisp, and it makes you alive instantaneously. In the morning school rush hour, nothing says, “Happy, happy, joy, joy,” like riding past blocks of traffic at a standstill while I enjoy the bike lane. There are some of those days that my ride is only mere minutes longer than it would take me to drive to work.

Getting that early-morning exercise sets the tone of the day and provides the energy to keep doing what you need to do till the end of the day. And at the end of the day, I have one more ride. Oftentimes I do it in the opposite direction just to free up that brain space.

In 2019, 92 percent of the post-event survey respondents said that GoByBike Week motivates them to continue to use their bikes for transportation after that event was over. In 2022, more than 7,000 teams were formed for GoByBike programs.

The GoByBikeBC Society is a non-profit society that facilitates GoByBike Week, Bike to Work and Bike to School programs in more than 100 communities across British Columbia. They work to break down the perceived barriers that prevent people from using a bicycle for everyday transportation by creating an environment of encouragement and support to people trying to do this for their very first time.

Here is some of the history and some of the numbers and some of the stats that the current GoByBike Week stats fell into this fall. It doesn’t include those people that had school rides or the ones that you would expect to be on the streets that didn’t register.

This past fall over 7,000 riders registered, and thousands who participated didn’t even officially register. Almost 2,000 teams registered, and over 2,500 new participants took place this last fall. That meant that over 260,000 kilometres were biked during this two-week period. Over 23,500 bike trips were logged during this time, and over 56,000 kilograms of GHGs were saved.

Lastly, the stats from the spring GoByBike Week, which was B.C.-wide, have some staggering numbers in front of us. Over 41,000 people participated, and that’s up over 16,188. During that time, there were over 1.403 million kilometres that were logged. That means, as far as greenhouse gases that were saved, that there were 3,004 kilograms of greenhouse gases saved.

GoByBike Week is a success. It leads to the other things that we often forget about: the joy of actually getting on those two wheels, getting out in the fresh air and enjoying what we can. That leads a lot of us to taking the time to bike ourselves to work and leave our cars at home.

[10:25 a.m.]

R. Merrifield: I appreciate the comments made by the member opposite in thoughtful commentary.

I rise with enthusiasm to discuss GoByBike Week, which is an initiative that has yielded significant benefits in our beautiful city of Kelowna. We have been a living testament to the transformative power of community-based biking initiatives.

Take, for example, the downtown bike valet program, which began as a two-month pilot this past summer. Not only has it been embraced by the public, but it has helped to make a small but mighty dent in traffic congestion and in lowering our carbon footprint. This program is a testament to Kelowna’s dedication to fostering sustainability and promoting an active healthy lifestyle.

Biking is not merely a form of transportation in Kelowna. It has evolved into a lifestyle that many of our residents passionately follow. You can’t venture far in Kelowna without seeing our purposeful bike lanes as well as our many mountain-biking trails that surround our constituents and take us through nature.

Now I am not quite as experienced a rider as the member for Surrey-Cloverdale is. I certainly came into biking a little bit later on in life, because my experience with biking growing up was a pedal bike that went one way — and two ways to brake — and had one gear. So I’ve certainly learned a lot as an adult in terms of all of the different gears that you can have, as well as the new e-bikes that have emerged that allow us to do all of the hills that surround us in Kelowna.

We all know that the practice encourages physical fitness. It fosters community bonding and even uplifts our mental health. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in pollution reduction and enhances the overall quality of life for everyone involved. British Columbia’s reputation as a haven for biking is further elevated by scenic routes like the Sea to Sky Highway, a project championed and completed by the B.C. United.

However, while we bask in the advantages of a strong biking culture, we also must be mindful of its limitations. Let’s be clear. Biking is not a one-size-fits-all solution. For some, particularly in rural areas, relying on bikes as a primary mode of transportation isn’t just impractical; it’s virtually impossible. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to broaden our vision for transportation.

We need policies that are inclusive and accessible, serving all British Columbians. Our responsibility extends beyond merely encouraging biking. We must invest in a variety of eco-friendly transportation options. This means a strong commitment to enhancing our public transit system, developing better traffic management solutions and focusing on pedestrian-friendly urban planning.

Earlier this year the government introduced an e-bike rebate program which, although well intended, was vastly oversubscribed within mere hours of its launch. This glaring oversight left many citizens rightly frustrated and unable to make that significant investment in an e-bike. It really raises questions about the government’s commitment to real, tangible progress as opposed to mere headlines and lip service. This program highlighted a severe misallocation of funds.

As we celebrate GoByBike Week, let’s not just promote biking as an isolated solution but as part of a broader, more comprehensive transportation strategy that serves everyone. And as we pedaled through this past week, let’s remember that the real power lies in creating a policy framework that is as inclusive as it is ambitious.

I appreciate this opportunity to share my thoughts, and I wish everyone their weeks with the joy and freedom that comes from the simple act of riding a bike, as described by the member for Surrey-Cloverdale. Let’s all experience the power of the pedal while also advocating for a future that accommodates each and every British Columbian.

M. Starchuk: Thank you to the member for Kelowna-Mission.

I would kind of disagree that it’s the simple act of biking. There is momentum. There is speed that’s required to keep yourself upright. And when you lose contact with momentum and speed, you find yourself horizontal, with no warning whatsoever. Then we have the member standing there. Yes.

[10:30 a.m.]

As far as the area goes, I can tell the member for Kelowna-Mission that I have spent some time on that rail trail and ridden it all the way out to the member for Vernon-Monashee’s riding, all the way out to that area that’s there. So I appreciate the terrain that’s there.

The Ministry of Transportation invests in active transportation in the province through education and encouragement programs, grant funding to Indigenous and local communities, and through incorporating active transportation infrastructure into the ministry’s capital and major projects.

A three-year budget lift was provided in Budget 2022, increasing the total amount of funding for grants and education and encouragement programs from $14 million annually to $24 million annually. This represents a record investment in annual grant funding. Last year $25 million was committed to 74 infrastructure projects and network plans across the province.

Budget 2023 invested an additional $100 million over three years into an active transportation capital fund that will improve connections between various active transportation networks along provincial corridors. These projects will increase safety, comfort and convenience and encourage mode shift to active transportation to meet the CleanBC targets.

The active transportation infrastructure, built on ministry rights-of-way as part of major projects, continues to increase, including $60 million for the Surrey-Langley transit SkyTrain project. Active transportation is a key part in the upcoming clean transportation action plan, to meet the 2030 clean mode share and the GHG emission reduction goals.

When I think about safety, I think about Bill 23 receiving royal assent on May 11, 2023, where British Columbia became the first jurisdiction in North America to combine minimum passing and following distances to protect pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users. By implementing the one-metre minimum of safe passing distance and a three-metre minimum following distance that the drivers of motor vehicles must observe when sharing roadways with pedestrians, cyclists, e-bikes and other similar devices, we’re working to ensure that drivers take the proper precautions when pedestrians and cyclists are using a roadway.

Lastly, in order for me to feel safe on the road, I never leave my house without a flashing red light on my helmet, a flashing red light on my seat and a bright strobe on the front of my handlebars. It’s imperative that all cyclists do what they can to be on the road in the safest manner possible.

FORAGE PRODUCTION INSURANCE

M. Bernier: What I want to do is start off by a big shout-out to our farmers and our ranchers in the province of British Columbia. I’m sure everybody else in this House, like me…. I enjoy eating. I enjoy food. But that’s not going to happen if we don’t continue to support our agricultural sector. That’s if we want to eat local food that’s produced here.

There’s probably nobody in this House that knows agriculture better than the member sitting next to me from Delta South, but I’m going to do my part to try to bring attention to an important issue here in the province of British Columbia. That’s really around our forage production insurance.

Our production insurance, I think…. When I hear from a lot of the people who work in our agricultural sector, our farmers and our ranchers, this year was probably one of the worst years that many of them have told me they have faced because of the fires, the droughts, floods — the impact that’s had on the landscape — and disease, frost. You could name so many different pressures that our agriculture sector has been under this year.

One of the challenges is, when you have forage production insurance that comes in under western Canadian farmers, the support that you’re supposed to have…. One of the things I’m hearing is the inconsistency or the lack of support within that insurance for flexibility because of what’s happening on the landscape.

Case in point is perfectly addressed when we look at what’s happened this year up in the Peace region, for instance, where production insurance payout for many farmers — if they bought insurance for their crop, especially when it comes to the hay crops — was around $90 per tonne.

Here’s the challenge, though. The insurance might sound really great at $90 per tonne, but it wasn’t flexible to the supply-and-demand issues that we faced this year because of the drought situation. That drought put so much pressure on the production this year.

[10:35 a.m.]

For instance, I looked at a lot of farmers in my region who might be looking at three, four, five bales per acre that they would get, for hay, to be able to sustain them throughout the winter. But because of the drought year that we had, they were only getting one bale per acre.

I looked across…. The member for Delta South, thankfully, came up and actually came into my riding and looked at some of the impacts. You can imagine, when you’re trying to sustain, if you’re using that to feed your cattle through the winter on the ground, not getting enough bales. Even if you had insurance at $90 per tonne, because of supply and demand, we were seeing costs of like $300, $320 per tonne starting to happen in the region because of the supply and demand.

Insurance wasn’t covering it, and so many of the ranchers in our region had to make the tough decision of would they even keep their cattle throughout the winter. We were starting to see many operations — especially our smaller mom-and-pop farming operations, who are the lifeblood, really, of agriculture in British Columbia that we should be supporting — having to come into my office and tell me that insurance wasn’t covering it.

Unfortunately, they were put in a situation that they now had to look at selling off some — in some cases, all — of their cattle, because they knew they didn’t have the funds. They knew that they would basically be in a situation where their cattle would starve through the winter, because even with the small payouts that insurance was promising, the supply wasn’t there anyway. Those larger operations that were willing to spend the hundreds and hundreds of dollars were able to scoop up what they could for feed.

For those that were growing hay, if it wasn’t for their own operations, they maybe did okay. For the limited crop they had, they were able to recoup some of their costs because of the higher rates that they were able to charge. But at the end of the day, that did nothing on the ground for local, small producers that were just looking for that hay to be able to keep their cattle throughout the winter. Again, I’ve heard so many sad stories. We need to look at the forage production insurance and make sure that we have some flexibility built into it.

Here’s another issue that I actually didn’t know about until many people brought this to my attention. It was that the insurance doesn’t cover your bales if they’ve already been combined and they’re in storage. The insurance only covers it while it’s on the land.

So while it could be, as we know in Delta South, with a lot of the fowl that we have down there that are really devastating a lot of the crops that are in there…. What’s happening in the Peace region is that people might be lucky enough to get some bales off. Then they put them in storage to feed their cattle throughout the year and throughout the winter months. Then they get devastated by wildlife. The amount of elk….

We need to do a better job managing our wildlife, for one, but up in my region, when I see herds of 100, 125 or 150 elk going across a field, devastating all of the round bales that have been…. Luckily, where they were able to get small amounts off, they’re in storage.

How horrible is it to find out that they’ve lost their entire production of hay, and to find out afterwards that it’s not even covered, in most situations, by the production insurance? Here’s another perfect example of where we need to, in western Canada, be more flexible with this insurance. In the get-go, we should be doing more to promote our agricultural sector to begin with.

Now, this year was a devastating year, as I said, because of Mother Nature. An insult to injury was to hear that insurance didn’t cover a lot of the impacts that our agricultural sector faced because of that.

I have a few more points that I’d love to make after the member opposite talks about this, but really, it’s important. At the end, I’m hoping I’m hearing that yes, we need to be looking at some flexibility around our insurance, and more importantly, looking for ways to promote and support our agricultural sector in the province of British Columbia.

[10:40 a.m.]

R. Russell: Thank you to the member for Peace River South for the comments. I agree with, I think, pretty much the entirety of what was identified there.

Again, I would echo his shout-out to the farmers and the importance of that sector for B.C., identifying that as a bit of the fabric of what this province really is. I appreciate those comments, specifically around the struggles that the agricultural sector and our farmers have been struggling with in terms of climate disasters and otherwise — the droughts, the floods, the fires, the disease, the hot weather and the cold weather, all of those challenges — and the uncertainty those impose on their production systems.

Also recognizing just how important that food security is for all of us in B.C., everything from…. Of course, we think about that, typically, on the side of the equation that is access to food for vulnerable populations, but at the same time is the production of food out there in the fields with these farmers and how we get there.

I also recognize and appreciate that there are kind of multiple levels to this. There is the aspect of making sure that the insurance systems that are in place, that framework, are able to support the agricultural sector and our farmers in a way that actively and effectively manages that risk. As well, in some cases, there is how government is supporting the agricultural sector with other policies and programs that help lower those barriers to support them. I certainly would also appreciate and acknowledge the flexibility that the member opposite identified as part of that package to support farmers.

I would use one example recently, from my part of the world, which is the Boundary-Similkameen. We had the Premier visiting a couple of weeks ago. On that trip, he managed to hear firsthand from many of the vegetable growers, from orchardists, from grape producers about many of the same challenges, the challenges around insurance, particularly, and flexibility and suitability of those programs, recognizing how problematic it has been for some of those producers to navigate through that.

Those pain points for many of those farmers include things like the cost of that insurance. That then pays for some of those production replacement costs but not necessarily, as the member opposite also mentioned, the entirety of the impacts there for them, looking at things like labour costs, and so on; with getting replacement crops or plants established; and how, for example, an insurance payment may provide part of that but not all of that.

We heard during that same visit just how significant the impacts of not having an effective suite of support programs and funding might be in terms of the challenges, in terms of farming operations going bankrupt and having to close their doors because they just simply can’t navigate the struggles that drought, and so on, cold weather in my part of the world particularly, is imposing on them and how much they need government to help support them.

I’m very attentive to those challenges. I think we recognize how difficult those have been, and we see how, for example, a different version of insurance would look like — programs like disaster financial assistance, post-recovery or post-disaster, which is meant to cover unreplaceable or uninsurable losses; and how programs like DFA weren’t particularly suitable. They didn’t provide that flexibility for the agricultural sector. So we advocated for those changes, and we saw a number of those changes enacted by the government in terms of providing more suitable coverages for farmers in those sectors.

We also, I think, really need to just focus on figuring out how we work better with the industry, who knows how to do their work well, and our federal partners, as well, to determine how to work to produce a better suite of supports for agricultural producers that provides that flexibility and provides them the supports when necessary.

[10:45 a.m.]

This is in addition to the other kind of structural supports and all the funding that the government has pro­vided for programs like replant to help support them.

With that, Speaker, I will say thank you, and I’ll turn it back over to you.

M. Bernier: Thank you to the member for Boundary-Similkameen for highlighting some of the challenges that we are hearing from the agricultural sector.

I’ll maybe start where the member was kind of finishing off on some of his commentary around the disaster financial assistance. We saw that this year with some of the impacts, again, with the drought and the fires on the impacts. Unfortunately, on the ground, we’re not seeing the benefits. I’m hearing from so many people in the sector that said government is making the announcements that the member just alluded to, but it actually hasn’t come to fruition or hasn’t had any benefit to people on the ground.

I appreciate the member highlighting that. I’ll just maybe flag that they can always do better, because at the end of the day, our farmers are paying the price. Our ranchers are paying the price, which means the families in British Columbia are the ones being affected.

One of the other things around forage production insurance that it doesn’t cover, that it doesn’t support is when we have all of the impacts and increased taxes and costs on farmers, whether it’s the increase on feed, which I addressed in my first point. Insurance wasn’t covering the fact that bales could be up to $300 a bale. Farmers aren’t compensated for that increase through production insurance.

Fuel prices and increased taxes on fuel…. Farmers aren’t compensated for that through any insurance program that I’m aware of and that I’m hearing from farmers. So when fuel prices are at an all-time high in British Columbia, somebody has to pay for that, and it’s our farmers.

At the end of the day, when we’re starting to see increases in our dairy products or in our bread or in our grocery stores for our produce, there should be no surprise when tax after tax after tax on our producers…. At the end of the day, again, it’s our families, who are stretched in British Columbia around affordability, that are struggling with that.

One of the other ones that we’re hearing right across the province and that I continue to hear — my colleague from Delta South talks about this one all the time — is fertilizer. If you don’t have fertilizer, you’re not going to have a very good crop in so many parts of our province. But many farmers are having to make the choice of whether they can even afford fertilizer right now, with the increased costs.

I think it’s important to highlight, in my last few seconds here, that our agricultural sector is one of the founding sectors for the province of British Columbia. These are small businesses. These are mom-and-pop operations in so many areas that are just looking for any little bit of relief, any little bit of support, so they can stay in business, a multigenerational business for many of them.

They want to keep doing what they’ve done, which is supporting the people of British Columbia in the agricultural sector, and we should be supporting them as well.

NON-PROFIT RECOGNITION

K. Paddon: I am very privileged to rise today to talk about non-profits. Non-profits are vital to people and communities in our province. We all know this. They help people overcome challenges, and they make a difference in the lives of so many residents in British Columbia through a range of essential services, including health supports, safety, housing, access to food.

We are incredibly grateful for all the work and want the non-profit sector not just to survive but to thrive, so that we all can. By putting people first, B.C. is leading a strong economic recovery, and non-profits are a critical part of that. We are so lucky to be living in B.C. and have such a strong and diverse non-profit sector.

I like to say that, professionally, I was raised in non-profits, with a particularly impactful and foundational decade between 2005 and 2015. It was during this time working in non-profits that I truly learned what person-centred means. I learned the importance of teams, and it reinforced commitment to community and to hard work. I learned what happens when funding is cut, not just what it looks like on a budget sheet or in a headline but what happens in the program and in the home and to the people who are most vulnerable.

It was while in the non-profit sector that I learned how much a dollar could actually be stretched and then how it could be stretched just a little bit more.

[10:50 a.m.]

I learned a lot about priorities, about who benefits and who loses when the decision is to cut programs and services in order to protect the bottom line of the elite. I learned that it means that people are hungrier, that people are lonelier and that people are more vulnerable. I learned who has a voice and a seat at the table and who doesn’t.

I loved working in the non-profit sector. But the lessons I learned there when funding and services were cut? Well, eventually, they led me here to make different choices. I’m so grateful that the voices of those I served and the voices that I served with help me every day.

Non-profits are incredible partners in our community common work to support and respond to the needs across B.C. During COVID, we all experienced the need for huge provincial and federal programs to be delivered locally and in a nimble and relevant way. Perhaps more than ever, more people than ever saw the impact of non-profits and how they’re ideally suited to knowing the local situation. They play a significant and critical role to targeting services to where they’re needed the most.

The nimbleness that was demonstrated by non-profits over the past few years, although not new — they’ve been doing it the whole time — perhaps is newly understood. Non-profits are often what make it possible for us to identify the needs and focus in real time on what’s most critical in a specific area or event, whether that’s through existing partnerships and programs or direct advocacy. The partnerships with the non-profit sector are invaluable.

Non-profits are vital to people and communities in our province. They help people overcome challenges and make a difference in the lives of many people and families, often delivering services to the most vulnerable and at-risk populations. Non-profits employ 87,000 people in British Columbia. They contribute $6.7 billion to the province’s economy, and beyond the direct economics, we know that non-profits take care of people. They take care of families and of communities in ways that benefit and enrich us all.

Non-profits reach into every facet. They enhance the quality of life for people and communities by providing essential services — non-profits like Chilliwack Bowls of Hope, the YWCA, Chilliwack Community Services and Chilliwack Youth Health Centre.

Non-profits build community resilience, like Agassiz-Harrison Community Services, Project AIM, Chilliwack Healthier Community, B.C. Alliance for Healthy Living and Chilliwack Restorative Justice. They support social inclusion, like Chilliwack Society for Community Living, United Way, Streams Foundation, Chilliwack and District Seniors Resources Society and Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of B.C.

Non-profits create vibrant spaces through the arts and culture, like Chilliwack Cultural Centre, the Belfry Theatre, Chilliwack School of Performing Arts and B.C. Alliance for Arts and Culture.

And non-profits advocate for social and environmental change, like Chilliwack Pride, Cultus Lake Aquatic Stewardship Society, Chilliwack Vedder River Cleanup Society, Ending Violence Association of B.C. and QMUNITY, just to name a few.

I’m so grateful for the work that the teams and volunteers and staff at non-profits do to serve our communities as well as the work and dedication of the boards and leadership in stewarding organizations through what has been an extremely difficult and trying time. We know that the work they do makes such a difference in the lives of so many people. To non-profit teams across British Columbia: thank you most sincerely for your work.

Our government understands the challenges that non-profits face. Non-profits are facing significant challenges following the pandemic, and now, with the stress and uncertainty of the current climate, they need ongoing support to ensure that they can continue providing important services throughout the province.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that we can’t do things alone. It takes all levels of government and businesses, private and not-for-profit, to truly move things forward to a stronger, more resilient B.C. That’s why we’re working in partnership with associations such as Volunteer B.C. to ensure that they can provide services and deliver programs that support all people.

[10:55 a.m.]

Last year we announced $30 million to support non-profits to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The funding was administered through Vancouver Foundation. This year, we saw the stabilization of funding for over 70 sexual assault services, and I have been moved beyond words to hear about the real impact that stable funding will have for people.

Non-profits are there for people when they need it most, when they’re at their most vulnerable and in their most challenging moment. It’s why I’m so proud that after funding cuts, people are being put first, and our government is making different choices.

I. Paton: I’m glad to rise today and participate in this debate. I’d also like to thank the member for Chilliwack-Kent for her comments.

Today we commemorate Non-profit Recognition Day, a time devoted to honouring the remarkable organizations that serve our communities throughout British Columbia.

In my riding of Delta South, there are so many amazing non-profits in the region. A few include the Delta Hospital Foundation, the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust, South Delta Food Bank, Delta Community Foundation, Little House addictions facility, Delta hospital auxiliary, Delta Community Living Society, Deltassist, B.C. guide dogs, KidSport Delta, to name just a few.

I have had the opportunity to see all the incredible work of these organizations, and I have personally helped almost every one of them in supporting their fundraising efforts with my auctioneering abilities. I cannot emphasize enough the significance of recognizing these non-profits and their invaluable contributions to the people in our province.

The people behind these non-profits are often the unsung heroes of our communities. These people, many of whom are volunteers, represent the spirit of generosity and compassion, striving day in and day out to make life better for those around them. Their work spans various areas, from health care to education to housing, disaster relief and animal welfare, making them the backbone of our social safety.

I would like to extend a special shout-out to my wife, Pam, who is the current chair of the Delta Hospital Foundation, and my mom, Marge….

Interjection.

I. Paton: MVP, most valuable Paton — right, Minister?

And my mom, Marge Paton, who is an original volunteer member with the Delta hospital auxiliary going back to 1969.

Why is it important to acknowledge these non-profits? The answer lies in the invaluable services they provide and the dedicated people who work each day to keep them operating. Non-profits address gaps in our system that offer vital support and assistance to those who require it the most. Their efforts enhance the well-being and quality of life for countless British Columbians, enriching our communities.

Today I would like to particularly highlight and reflect on the work of non-profit food banks. These organizations do everything they can to make sure British Columbians have access to the food they need. They exemplify the community-driven spirit that defines our province. Unfortunately, their necessity has grown in recent years due to the skyrocketing cost of living and the rising costs of production for our farmers and ranchers, forcing people to choose between food and paying rent.

In my community of Delta South, each year our local farmers generously donate hundreds of pounds of potatoes and beets, which I gratefully pick up in my truck and deliver to our local food bank.

According to the most recent HungerCount by Food Banks Canada, in British Columbia since last year, there has been a 20 percent increase in total visits, a massive increase in just a year’s time. Since 2019, there’s been a staggering 57 percent increase in visits to our food banks.

Increased reliance on food banks not only shows their importance but also highlights how much British Columbians are struggling with the rapidly increasing costs of living, along with B.C.’s agricultural sector having faced a major increase in production costs. This has created a ripple effect on food prices, increasing their cost and making them less affordable for many in our province.

We have heard about the current cost increases for food, both for producing food and for those purchasing food. Many individuals and families contact our offices and outline their struggles with massive grocery bills while trying to also pay for high gas prices and facing the worst housing affordability in North America.

This reality is a clear indication that more people in our province are facing food insecurity, and this is not a path we want to continue down. The people of British Columbia deserve affordability and food security.

However, we also take a moment to applaud the incredible work of our non-profit organizations — what they do for the benefit of the people in our province. Many non-profits play a vital role in ensuring that British Columbians have easy access to food, preventing hunger and food insecurity from becoming a more widespread crisis. Others advocate for the important causes, invest in arts. They invest in culture, and they deliver vital services in our communities.

[11:00 a.m.]

I encourage all members of this House to recognize the importance of providing non-profits with the tools they need to continue their essential work. Supporting these organizations means supporting our communities and investing in British Columbians.

K. Paddon: Thank you to the member opposite for their support of non-profits and for all of the comments.

I want to bring it a little closer to home now. It’s fantastic to recognize not-for-profits across B.C., but I want to talk a little bit more about Chilliwack-Kent. In 2021, my office hosted the very first Chilliwack-Kent non-profit round table. Since then, it has taken off. It’s a quarterly meeting. It’s an opportunity for us to connect, for non-profits to have a direct line to government and for people to be able to network and understand what else is happening in the community.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

The membership…. It’s very well attended, and participation is enthusiastic. Membership includes a range of service providers from across the sector, in areas of arts and culture, social service, faith groups, human rights, kids and youth, environment, animal rights, Indigenous-led services, health and education.

I am extremely grateful to the ministers, the public servants and parliamentary secretaries who have attended this meeting to be able to provide answers and guidance to the non-profits, because we’re all working together, in partnership, to serve. I’m also very grateful for the work being done in our community and to the organizations that have connected in this way so that we can learn and create a stronger, more sustainable path forward in service.

We have had dozens of organizations participate, many who have been in on these discussions since early days, like Chilliwack Youth Health Centre, Fraser Valley Down Syndrome Society, Agassiz-Harrison Community Services Society, Chilliwack Society for Community Living, Sardis Doorway, Downtown Chilliwack Market, Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation, Stó:lō Community Futures, Creative Centre Society, Ann Davis Transition Society, Chilliwack Learning Society, BC SPCA, Chilliwack Pride, as well as United Way, Chilliwack and District Seniors Society, Community Futures, Chilliwack Community Services, Salvation Army Care and Share Centre, chillTV, Pearl Life Renewal Society, Streams Foundation Canada and Chilliwack Bowls of Hope.

These and other non-profits serving Chilliwack-Kent are truly great partners in the common work we share to serve our communities across B.C. They play a critical and significant role in targeting services and supports to get them right where they’re most needed with a nimbleness and dedication that makes them best suited to respond locally with precision.

Today and every day, I applaud and thank non-profits and the entire organizational teams for their dedication, advocacy and action in creating a stronger B.C.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I ask the House to consider proceeding with Motion 56, standing in the name of the member for Kootenay East.

Deputy Speaker: Unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed to Motion 56 without disturbing the priorities of the motions proceeding it on the order paper. If any member is opposed to the request for leave, please indicate now.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 56 — GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO
DRUG USER ORGANIZATIONS

T. Shypitka: Today I make the motion:

[Be it resolved that this House opposes taxpayer-funded drug trafficking and requests that the Auditor General of British Columbia investigate the use of public funds by the Drug User Liberation Front and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.]

I make today’s motion to join British Columbians in being appalled, frustrated and deeply concerned to have learned that this NDP government has used taxpayer dollars to fund drug trafficking in our province. You heard that right. Under this Premier, the taxpayer-funded drug crisis is real, and it has exploded. How did this province get to a point where the public taxpayer, through this NDP government and health authorities, is purchasing illegal drugs off the dark web for public consumption?

The catalyst for this crisis we are now in goes back to 2022, when the NDP sought an exemption from Health Canada to decriminalize the possession of harmful addictive drugs, such as heroin, morphine, cocaine, meth, and fentanyl, with a weight of 2.5 grams or less. On January 31, 2023, decriminalization came into effect with the conditions that treatment and enforcement would be in place to ensure public safety.

[11:05 a.m.]

Now, I wrote a letter to the editor back on January 16, 2023, two weeks before the implementation of decriminalization. I spoke to local care providers and local RCMP, and it was apparent that those guardrails were not in place. It’s more than apparent now, because social media platforms, such as Reddit, are being used to openly self-divert hydromorphone pills by the tens of thousands.

The chaos does not end there, as it has now been revealed that the NDP government has supplied $1.2 million in public funds to the Drug User Liberation Front, known as DULF, and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, known as VANDU — two organizations involved in the purchase of illicit drugs and drug trafficking.

DULF has been trafficking drugs from the dark web, knowingly putting money in the hands of organized crime. These publicly funded drugs are tested as clean and safe and, allegedly, sold at cost on the streets. These drugs eventually find their way to school yards. Allegedly, they’re using money from those sales to purchase the highly toxic drugs that those with serious addictions are craving. This is wrong on so many levels.

Here’s a quote from a DULF worker in a September 2023 Economist article: “‘What DULF does is illegal, and we know that, and the police know it. Nobody has been arrested, because we’ve built such a huge group of people around it.’ DULF is funded by the regional health authority as an overdose prevention site, and by the Centre on Substance Use as a research project.”

Our B.C. caucus is calling on the government to do what is reasonable and responsible, and request that the Auditor General of B.C. investigate this use of public funds and discover how the situation was allowed to continue for more than a year without government intervention. I ask the people of B.C. — is this not a reasonable and responsible request?

This fall B.C. United put out our Safer B.C. plan. This is to identify restoring public safety, to close the Premier’s revolving door of justice and put the interests of law-abiding British Columbians first. Core to the plan is to end the NDP’s failed and reckless decriminalization of illicit drugs, introduce alternative sentencing and rehabilitation, and pursue civil litigation against dealers in cases where they sell lethal drugs that result in death by overdose.

I used to own bars and nightclubs. My establishment bartenders and servers were legally responsible for how much we serve somebody. How is this any different?

B.C. United has also come up with the Better Is Possible plan, and there are several things that I’m sure some of my colleagues will be referring to on what that plan consists of. It’s everything from recovering communities to affordable, accessible treatment; treatment on demand; comprehensive care, corrections and rehabilitation; complex mental health support. The list is long, and it’s very comprehensive. I hope most people will pick up the Better Is Possible plan and read it for themselves.

Finally, in the plan, words matter to our children. Our plan will adjust the language in addiction recovery so that there is no confusion that any addictive drug is clean or safe. I’ve mentioned this in this House many times. I had a brother that died, due to what is referred to as “clean and safe.” It matters to people, and it matters to our children, that we get that message straight: any addictive drug is not clean nor safe.

It’s time for real action to address the taxpayer-funded drug crisis, and an independent audit into how this government will be able to fund the trafficking of illegal drugs. It’s time for a government that prioritizes the well-being of British Columbians and delivers results that will save B.C. lives.

A. Singh: Hello to the baby. It’s always good to see babies in this hall, even if they’re on the screen.

I’m actually a little bit stunned at this motion, the way it’s worded, as if there were no doubt of the actual allegation insinuated within it: that the government somehow knowingly did this.

The opposition knows for a fact that the contract between Vancouver Coastal Health and DULF for 2020-2023 was explicitly and exclusively for drug checking and overdose prevention training and harm reduction services.

These are critical services to keep people alive and help people to stay alive. Our chief coroner, who would probably know something about this, has unequivocally said that there is no diversion of safe supply, that that’s a myth. That’s an urban myth.

This motion comes in the middle of an extreme health crisis where we’ve had thousands of deaths due to a supply of poisoned drugs. The unregulated illegal drug supply is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people aged ten to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined.

[11:10 a.m.]

An unpredictable mix of dangerous substances contaminates the drug supply. The people affected are not pariahs or those that have moral failings. These are our brothers, sisters, family members, neighbours and community members, and they matter.

The province is committed to working with a range of organizations who are in the front lines of the devastating crisis. The opposition may want the government to do less in the face of the crisis, but we will not give up on British Columbians. Every life matters, and we are fighting to keep people alive. We remain committed to doing that, and we will continue to do that.

We thought that all members of the House were in agreement that the lives of British Columbians matter and that this is a health issue. I quote the opposition critic from earlier this year. “The government likes to talk about harm reduction, particularly with publicly supplied addictive drugs. This government has had the opportunity to expand medically supplied drugs since 2019 to help individuals who are suffering from addiction. Why has it taken so long to expand those programs?”

This is from their side earlier this year. Apparently, we couldn’t get this work done fast enough earlier this year. So what has changed? What’s changed is that the political right is going back to its roots of increasing stigma for those with a mental health issue, increasingly couching their normative approach in evangelical morality. The message that drug users are bad, that they have a moral failing, harkens back to the Reaganite days of just saying no. Shame on you for increasing stigma.

There is no coincidence. It’s a concerted, coordinated effort. They recognize that society has grown more empathetic and understanding of mental addiction, and they can’t use their slogan of just saying no anymore. It doesn’t resonate. So they couch it and just focus on treatment — only treatment, treatment, treatment.

Well, let me tell you a stark fact: you can’t treat someone who’s dead. What we need is a complex care system that keeps people alive so that when they’re ready for treatment, they can get it. Then, to ensure that they stay clean after treatment, we need support systems in place. That’s why we’ve launched our safe supply and harm reduction programs.

Mr. Speaker, you may be surprised to know that safe supply is part of my journey too. It’s no secret that I’m a recovering alcoholic. This August I celebrated 13 years of sobriety. There was a time when I was in the depths of the hell of addiction. But the one thing that I knew, the one thing that I was assured of at that time, was that I wouldn’t be poisoned by my drug of choice, alcohol.

The state regulates and provides a safe supply of alcohol and has done so for decades. This is an experiment we’ve been doing for a long time. It was not always so. There was a time that it was unregulated. Alcohol was illegal, and there was a poisoned supply. People died. People went blind.

Some will say: how can you compare alcohol to deadly addictive drugs? Mounds of research will show you that alcohol takes thousands of lives per year in Canada directly, never mind the increasing cancer risks, heart attacks, all the other diseases that come from it. It destroys more families than in any other drug out there. You’ll find its abuse underlies a large amount of the dockets in criminal courts.

Safe supply is harm reduction. Harm reduction works. I’m living proof of it. I was able to survive and get to treatment and then have the aftercare to ensure that I stayed sober.

We know there’s much to do, and we’re committed to investing in harm reduction and treatment and recovery services so British Columbians can stay alive and get the help that they need and deserve.

D. Davies: I’ll start off by saying that I know what people of British Columbia are stunned about is the inaction of this government by how they’re dealing with this crisis.

The statements made by the member from Richmond just previous to me that we don’t care about the lives is absolutely hogwash. We want nothing more than for British Columbians to get on the right path forward. Right now this government is doing nothing, absolutely nothing for that other than getting people and keeping people stuck in addiction — period.

I’m going to talk from a different angle here. Like the member from Kootenay has mentioned, I come out of a family…. I lost my oldest brother to drugs. I now have a niece who pretty much was raised around me as a little sister and who’s now entrenched in addiction right now, living on the streets.

She has reached out a number of times in Prince George as well as in Fort St. John. I’m going to talk briefly just about the Fort St. John experience…. She has reached out to mental health and addictions saying, “I need help; I need help,” even to the point of mental health and addictions calling myself and saying: “We have your niece here, and we don’t know what to do. We have nowhere to send her. We have no detox, and there are no beds available.”

[11:15 a.m.]

I’m sure everybody agrees that when that person comes in, in that moment of clarity, there’s no “come back in a week or two, and we’ll put you on a bus and hope things get better.” That moment of clarity is literally that moment of clarity, and it’s upsetting when we see this government going down a path of just keeping people stuck in addiction without all the supports.

I think that is what we are really fighting for here. There are no supports for British Columbians. I do fully support my colleague’s motion. People are deeply frustrated. People are concerned about the direction that this government is going. We see the government going down, putting dollars toward individuals that are, quite frankly, trafficking drugs.

We have seen how the taxpayer-funded drug crisis has exploded in this province. We see it by the death rate, which is not going down. It is dramatically increasing. We have other jurisdictions around the globe that look at British Columbia, at how not to manage a mental health crisis and a drug crisis. Other jurisdictions are laughing at British Columbia. “Don’t do what they’re doing.” We’ve seen that. We hear it on media reports. We talk to colleagues around the globe. We hear this over and over again.

Recently the chaos has got even more crazy, as it has been revealed in the media last week that the NDP government has supplied $1.2 million in public funds to the Drug Users Liberation Front and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Both of these organizations are involved in illicit drug trafficking in British Columbia. VANDU has openly supplied addictive drugs to people on the streets, dating back to decriminalization times.

We’ve seen this over and over again, that these organizations are publicly flaunting: “Yeah, we know we’re doing this.” We know the government is part of this. But we don’t see any action by this government that is really making a difference in people’s lives.

One of the things that we’ve been doing is calling for an audit of the government funds that are being used to support organized crime right under the NDP’s noses. The government is aware of the criminal activity that has taken place.

As mentioned previously, we’ve seen and we’ve offered a path forward. B.C. United’s safer plan is ending the failed plan of decriminalization of illicit drugs by this government and introducing alternative sentencing and rehabilitation — which are so desperately needed, a choice between traditional incarceration or secure treatment. These are real steps that can make a difference in people’s lives.

It’s clear that the NDP’s approach is not working. Instead of continuing down this endless debate about harm reduction versus recovery that we must provide, we need to move forward with a path that is going to work better for British Columbians.

H. Yao: First of all, I want to express my sincere condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this unfortunate toxic drug crisis. I cannot imagine the pain British Columbians have to endure when one of us has lost a loved one so suddenly, so prematurely and so heartbreakingly. Approximately 14,000 British Columbians have lost their lives.

The unregulated illicit drug supply is now the leading cause of death in British Columbia for people between ages ten and 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disasters combined. Toxic drugs are contaminated by a growing and unpredictable mixture of dangerous substances, including synthetic opiates like fentanyl, benzodiazepines, xylazine and other adulterants.

[11:20 a.m.]

The lives we’re trying to save are our brothers, sisters, fathers, family members, neighbours and other community members. Saving their lives must be a top priority and is the top priority of our government, because every life matters.

The toxic drug crisis and the events that followed for the past few years are undoubtedly some of the most challenging times this province has ever faced. Even as B.C. makes progress in recovering from COVID-19 emergencies, the increased drug toxicity that comes with it continues to worsen, while social and climate-related emergencies create significant challenges, all of which are impacting individuals’ mental health and substance use for every age of our population.

Addictions and mental health concerns are health care issues, not criminal ones, and our government utilizes scientific and evidence-based strategies to keep British Columbians’ loved ones alive. In the hope of saving lives, our government is urgently working to build a seamless system of mental health and addiction care, expanding treatment and recovery services and life-saving harm reduction, strengthening prevention and early intervention and breaking down the shame and fear that keeps people from seeking help.

We have invested in hundreds of units of complex care housing. Our government has invested a historical $1 billion to build an integrated and seamless system of mental health addiction care that people need and deserve, including $586 million for treatment and recovery across British Columbia.

Since 2017, the province has implemented 360 newly public-funded treatment beds. Our government has been expanding our other treatment and recovery services, which span a range of options such as outreach programs, community counselling, day treatment, withdrawal management, harm reduction services, as well as residential treatment, bed-based services, medical assistance treatment and more.

Although treatment is vitally important for an individual’s recovery, if a life is lost prematurely, all hope is lost. That’s why our government places great emphasis on saving lives in our communities. That’s why the province is committed to working with a range of organizations over this devastating crisis.

Every life matters, and we are fighting to keep people alive, combat social stigmatization, discrimination and fear created by irresponsible confusion and conflation of homelessness, crime, mental health, and/or addiction. British Columbia must work together to address stigmatization and to keep our loved ones alive.

I want to be absolutely clear that everyone in the chamber is against illicit drug trafficking in all forms. The contract between Vancouver Coastal Health and DULF was explicit and exclusively for drug checking, overdose prevention and harm reduction services — clinical services to keep our loved ones alive and help people stay safe. The contract was terminated when we learned and confirmed DULF transactions on the illicit market. The contract in no way, shape or form was designed to fund the purchase of illegal drugs.

The government fully expects that a contract is awarded for specific purposes — in this case, to save lives and prevent overdoses. The police are now conducting and have conducted an investigation that has led to arrest warrants for individuals. Those who break the law are held accountable, and that’s exactly what is happening.

The Ministry of Mental Health also sent a letter to all the PeerNet organizations providing vital services in B.C. and working hard to keep British Columbians’ loved one alive during this unrelenting crisis, reminding them that it is the ministry’s expectation that partner organizations follow the law.

While government is continuously finding ways to keep British Columbians alive, we also work hard to strengthen safety in our community, like Bill 34, the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substance Act. That is designed to complement our government’s decriminalization effort to address harm reduction and will also strengthen our community safety.

There’s much more work to do. I know the member mentioned about addiction, so I also want to welcome the member, in the future…. If there’s ever a motion around sugar and alcohol addiction issues, I would welcome the member to join us as well.

M. Lee: For seven years under this NDP government, it’s clear that their approach is failing, and it’s clearly not working.

As we’re seeing demonstrated in this chamber here this morning, we can’t continue to have these countless, endless debates about harm reduction versus recovery. We must provide all the support possible to people trying to overcome addiction and give them the opportunity to get well.

[11:25 a.m.]

We know that regrettably, as we’ve seen in August alone, the B.C. Coroners Service reports a minimum of 174 drug-related deaths in our province. Each of these deaths is a tragedy, a person to whom the family and loved ones…. They deserve much better from this government.

We know that under B.C. United’s Better is Possible plan, we would make sure and deliver more treatment, make it more accessible and affordable, increase services for complex mental health needs and implement awareness and prevention education campaigns.

We need concrete actions from this government, and what we see instead is a taxpayer-funded drug crisis that has clearly exploded in our province. Doctors, parents, police and communities themselves have voiced their concerns for months as this government condemns more and more British Columbians, including vulnerable youth, to a life of drug dependency and the risk of death.

This is not an urban myth. Social media platforms such as Reddit are being used to openly sell diverted hydromorphone pills by the tens of thousands.

We know that the chaos doesn’t end there. The $1.2 million in public funds that this government provided to the Drug User Liberation Fund, DULF, and VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, two organizations involved in the purchase of illicit drugs and drug trafficking…. VANDU has openly supplied addictive drugs to people on the streets, dating back to pre-decriminalization times under this government. DULF, on the other hand, has been trafficking drugs from the dark web, knowingly putting money in the hands of organized crime.

Mr. Speaker, as you likely will know, the dark web is a primary operating platform for organized crime, gangs and drug cartels. It is a source of human trafficking, illegal weapons and child pornography and is a funding stream for criminal activity and terrorism. In an article from 2021, published by Vancouver CityNews, it highlights how both of these organizations went to the streets to hand out drugs that have previously been tested.

The Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General likes to claim that his government is taking action on gang activity. But how is it possible that for over a year, DULF was able to operate and use public funds to support organized crime right under this government’s watch? For this government not to be aware of the criminal activity taking place at these organizations, it must be either suffering from ignorance or wilful blindness. It is failing to do its job in being responsible in terms of how public taxpayer jobs should be used.

This is the reason why this damning situation requires a full audit, but the Premier refuses to take accountability. British Columbians deserve better. They deserve to know how this gross oversight happened in the first place.

Our B.C. United caucus is calling on the government to do the right thing and request that the Auditor General of B.C. investigate this use of public funds and discover how the situation was allowed to continue for more than a year without government intervention.

This government’s record and approach is failing British Columbians. We know that under B.C. United’s Better is Possible plan and the B.C. United Safer B.C. plan, we can do much better. It is time for action in our province. It’s time to ensure that British Columbians are provided with those pathways to recovery, not the fuelling of this drug crisis by public taxpayer dollars in an illegal activity manner.

This government has failed, and it needs to be responsible and held accountable for its failures to hold that contract, those duties, those responsibilities to British Columbians to fight this drug crisis.

M. Elmore: We know that 14,000 British Columbians have died in the toxic drug crises in the province and that addiction is a public health matter. The loss of life and the pain and sorrow of the families’ and friends’ loss is unimaginable.

[11:30 a.m.]

I echo the remarks from my colleague the member for Richmond South Centre in terms of extending condolences and sympathies to the families that have had loved ones lost.

I know people who have passed away. I think every British Columbian has been touched by this toxic drug crisis in our province. That’s a reality not only in British Columbia. The toxic drug crisis hits across our country and around the world. That is why our province is answering this crisis with an approach to look at standing up a seamless system of mental health and addictions care, since 2017, bringing in a ministry to address a provincewide network to provide services for individuals needing help and support to deal with addictions and mental health.

As well, when we talk about how we support individuals with addictions issues, we need to look at the continuum of care. It includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery to aftercare. That’s why our government has invested $1 billion towards this goal to address this crisis, to provide support to individuals and to families, to take on this crisis.

An important component is decriminalizing people who use drugs — to fight the shame and stigma around addictions. We know, and I know that all members in this House agree, that addiction is a public health issue. It is not a criminal issue and not a criminal justice one. We need to break down the barriers, to help to create pathways to life-saving services and care.

We need compassionate solutions to address the complex issue and investments along the full continuum of care. What are some of the groundbreaking investments that we have made in our province to support people and to reach out our hands and to ensure that they have a pathway out of addictions, to break the stigma but to provide the services in communities? We have invested to expand treatment and recovery services and life-saving harm reduction.

We have brought in integrated child and youth teams, expanded on Foundry youth centres brought in by the previous government, and brought in and invested in over 130 new health care workers to support and provide these services. In addition, we brought a new model of housing to provide support for folks under addiction and mental health issues, the complex care housing, so that there are health professionals there in their housing to provide support.

We know that folks struggling with mental health and addictions are not able to be housed in other types of housing, so to bring that in. The investment of over $1 billion, the commitment of our province and, I know, the sentiment shared by all legislators here to provide services on the ground that support people.

There are, in addition, the mobile integrated crisis response teams that pair a police officer with health care workers to respond to mental health care calls. We know that often when individuals in crises phone police, it’s not a criminal justice issue. We need to ensure that they have support of health professionals answering their concerns.

The $1 billion support is not only to expand treatment and recovery beds. We have over 300 treatment beds in the last number of years to provide support for British Columbians, and today we have a record number of British Columbians accessing care. Over 23,700 people are on some form of medication-assisted treatment. That’s the largest number today.

Saving lives and taking steps — our government is committed to that. We’re going to continue to expand our support for individuals and families facing the difficulties and challenge of the addiction and mental health crises.

[11:35 a.m.]

L. Doerkson: I appreciate the comments made prior to myself here this morning. But the fact is that it’s not working. The problem is getting worse.

I rise today, of course proudly, to support the motion: “Be it resolved that this House opposes taxpayer-funded drug trafficking and requests that the Auditor General of British Columbia investigate the use of public funds by the Drug User Liberation Front and Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.”

Better is possible. We have to end the NDP’s failed and reckless decriminalization of illicit drugs. We have to consider alternative sentencing and rehabilitation. We can do that through a number of means. Individuals facing sentencing could be presented with choices between traditional incarceration and secure treatment. We absolutely must litigate against dealers in cases where they sell lethal drugs that result in death by overdose. Traffickers who sell fatal drugs like fentanyl, carfentanil, and W-18 must be held accountable, and they must pay the price for their actions against British Columbians.

As I said before, better is possible. We could deliver on that plan, which will deliver results through a three-step approach to make treatment more accessible and affordable, increase services for complex mental health needs, and implement awareness and prevention and education campaigns. We must create affordable and accessible treatment throughout British Columbia, including rural British Columbia.

We will build a minimum of five regional recovery communities for addiction treatment, where residents can stay for up to a year with individualized, holistic, long-term residential treatment, including Indigenous-specific care. It must be comprehensive care, building on a model of single-parent employment initiatives supporting those struggling with addiction with residential treatment, counselling and job training for a year.

We absolutely must consider compassionate involuntary treatment. We will bring forward legislation allowing the limited use of involuntary treatment to keep our most vulnerable youth and adults, at risk of harm to themselves or others, safe in modernized, compassionate facilities with 24-7 psychiatric and medical supports.

With respect to homelessness, we absolutely endorse the plan by Dr. Julian Somers and Simon Fraser University that provides an effective road map to address street homelessness with a focus on evidence-based services, partnerships with Indigenous organizations and a highly effective model of person-centred services, and also establishes independent housing alongside of existing supported housing throughout the province.

Under this Premier, the taxpayer-funded drug crisis has absolutely exploded. British Columbians are truly frustrated. Doctors, parents, police and communities themselves have voiced their concerns for months, and this government condemns more British Columbians, including vulnerable and young people, to drug dependency. The chaos that the NDP has caused and created is real. It has been revealed that the NDP government has supplied more than $1.2 million in public funds to the Drug User Liberation Front and to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, two organizations involved in the purchase of illicit drugs and drug trafficking.

British Columbians are, as I said, absolutely frustrated with what is happening in this province right now. Many have lost loved ones to this tragedy, and to those I offer my condolences also. But this absolutely must end.

N. Simons: Let me begin my comments by expressing my sadness for the loss of life in this province and for the impact on families. We all know parents, we all know siblings, we all know people who have suffered directly from their loved ones’ use of drugs.

[11:40 a.m.]

I think that keeping that at the centre of our mind should keep us from overly politicizing this issue. Quite frankly, I think, as legislators, we owe it to our constituents to be rational and reasoned in our debate without the need for over-dramatization or for reactionary comments. I don’t believe that anyone in this House has all the answers to the crisis that our province and, indeed, many parts of this continent and beyond North America are facing.

This is a toxic drug supply fueled, obviously, by organized crime, and we have to find numerous ways of dealing with it. As other colleagues have said, there’s no one-size-fits-all to this. But what we should keep at the centre of our minds is that we should do everything we can to ensure that we can prevent the death of an individual, prevent the sadness that occurs in that person’s family and their community. By focusing on that, I think we would do better to serve our constituents.

Now, we know the opposition states publicly that they support harm reduction. We’re not entirely sure about the new Conservative Party’s position. I worry that by politicizing this issue, we get a glimpse into the concern that the opposition has with the emergence of a party that is more reactionary than they are when it comes to drug policy. We know that at least one member of that party referred to drug users as criminal. He did apologize later for that comment. But we do know that there’s a spectrum of approaches to this issue.

The opposition, unfortunately, is sounding more recently to be against harm reduction. I think that guise is covered by this particular motion. It not only politicizes the issue but politicizes the Office of the Auditor General, I think unnecessarily. The opposition knows full well that the government has taken a number of important steps. Social programs and such do not have immediate results.

To pretend that they can claim that nothing is working or that government is not doing anything, I understand, is just the way that opposition talks about government. But it is highly politicizing, and it’s highly inaccurate. It continues the whole effort to stigmatize. It, unfortunately, reinforces negative perceptions about people who use drugs, and it doesn’t do anything to further a decent response to what is a health crisis.

I note, in particular, others will talk about the number of beds that have been created, the number of spaces that have been formed, the number of community action teams and Foundry organizations that have taken root in our communities to help with the preventative side.

We’ve also regulated recovery houses in British Columbia, a place where people, on their departure from institutions, try to find their feet and get back into the community. By being regulated, we expect a higher level of success for those individuals attending. We also ensured that while people are in prison, public health services are made available and are not contracted resources. These are just a couple of things that we can do to try to stem the tide.

When I was a social worker, I made many efforts to bring people to treatment. Sometimes it was successful. Sometimes there were no beds available. Sometimes it was very frustrating. But the core of what we did was that we tried to find every opportunity and every mechanism available to ensure that we could address people’s drug dependency and, better yet, to prevent their drug dependency.

[11:45 a.m.]

C. Oakes: Enough is enough. On behalf of constituents from my region, including Prince George and Quesnel to Williams Lake, we are calling on this NDP government to take immediate action, course-correct and take steps to ensure that our communities are safe and that our people have access to critical services.

The recent escalation in crime and violence in our communities is ensuring that community members feel afraid for themselves and their families. We’ve seen a deterioration of neighbourhoods as safe places to live, work and play. That fear is evidenced in the business community by employees being afraid of being assaulted in and around their job locations and customers becoming increasingly nervous over venturing into certain commercial areas.

The NDP government has the knowledge of the issues, the financial and people resources, the legislative authority and responsibility to fix these issues. It is time for government to accept their responsibilities and respond in a comprehensive manner that provides measurable results.

This past weekend I visited businesses in Quesnel, including those that have been most recently targeted. I talked with staff and community members. I met with the mayor, Ron Paull, who is part of a leaders’ group from across this province that, as of 11 o’clock today, has launched the SOS: Save Our Streets coalition, a non-partisan group that is calling on government to implement innovative, aggressive and comprehensive solutions now.

The issue of repeat offenders is well known to this government, and the NDP’s catch-and-release programs need to change. There needs to be accountability for criminals.

It is also important for all members of this House and members in our community to understand how we got here. Over the course of this motion this morning, I’ve heard members of the NDP repeatedly stand up and talk about the amount of money that is being spent.

I can tell you that the services that the members talk about in this House are not available in our communities. I’ve met with family members who have tried to get loved ones into any kinds of supports. It’s a challenge. And the money that they’re spending is not delivering the measurable results that are helping save lives in our communities.

That’s why it is also important that this House recognize the motion today to support the motion to request the Auditor General of British Columbia to investigate the use of public funds by the Drug Users Liberation Front and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

It’s not enough for the NDP government to say how much money they’re spending. It’s about delivering results. An important step of this is to understand how $1.2 million that could have gone into recovery spaces in communities in the North could have gone to this organization. We need to be looking at measurable results, and that is what people in communities that I represent are calling for.

So what would we do? What would B.C. United do? I think it’s important that, as legislators, we stand and recognize what we would do if we were in government, because we feel that what the NDP is doing is not working.

Under the B.C. United’s Better Is Possible plan, we would deliver results through a three-step approach to make treatment more accessible and affordable, increase services for complex mental health needs and implement awareness and prevention education campaigns.

Better is possible. It’s not just a slogan but a plan that shows commitments to take concrete actions that prioritize the well-being of British Columbians: affordable and accessible treatment, recovery in communities in all regions of this province, treatment on demand, comprehensive care, complex mental health support, compassionate involuntary treatment.

On the homeless front, we would endorse the plan proposed by Dr. Julian Somers of Simon Fraser University in July 2021 — awareness and prevention, look at system navigation, reducing the red tape, data and transparency — because we want to help British Columbians save lives.

[11:50 a.m.]

R. Parmar: I think this is a really tough topic for so many people in this House and for all British Columbians, the impact that the toxic drug crisis has had on the lives of so many people. Fourteen thousand lives that we’ve lost here in British Columbia is something that I think is on the minds and the hearts of all of us as legislators. Certainly, I take this opportunity to pass on my condolences to those British Columbians who’ve been impacted by this toxic drug crisis.

It’s so important that when we talk about this, we’re talking about people. We’re talking about people in our communities. And it’s so common that we have an opposition party here that makes it about politics all the time. It’s always politics with this opposition party. To hear the members across the way talk about….

You know, the member for Peace River North talked about laughing, that people are laughing at British Columbia. The member for Cariboo North talked about: how did we get here? Let’s talk about that. Let’s take an opportunity to talk about the disastrous cuts that the B.C. Liberal, now B.C. United, government made to mental health and addiction services.

When the Leader of the Opposition was a cabinet minister in 2002 — the member for Prince George–Valemount will remember this — they supported the B.C. Liberals’ massive cuts to social services, including a 23 percent cut to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. It’s absolutely shameful. And that included $34½ million from youth justice and mental health.

It didn’t just start there, and it didn’t end there. It also included…. When the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister of Health, he cut $360 million from health authorities — $360 million. An internal memo at the time from the executive director of Coast Mental Health in Vancouver called the reductions staggering and incomprehensible. Those cuts were in mental health and addiction services.

But let’s not stop there. When the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister of Deregulation — we often hear the United clap at the thought of deregulation and the fact that the Leader of the Opposition had this title when he was in government — he deregulated addictions treatment. Boy, am I ever thankful that we have a Minister of Health that is re-regulating these homes. We have a minister responsible for mental health and addictions that is doing this important work.

So when we talk about Better is Possible, I’m sorry; better is not possible under the B.C. Liberals and B.C. United. We’ve seen their plan. And again, they’ve brought back a leader who is stuck in the past and is suggesting things, but we know it’s past, and we know the record he has.

I’m happy to talk about solutions. I’m happy to talk about approaches that our government has taken with our strategy. And I’m certainly happy to talk about the conversations I have with people in Langford–Juan de Fuca. But not once…. I’ve only been in this House for a few weeks now, but I’m not going to get lectured from members on the other side about their record — never, never, with the cuts that they made.

Maybe I should share this story. Again when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister of Transportation in 2008, he was stuck in traffic. I think a lot of us get frustrated when we’re stuck in traffic. He was stuck in traffic after the Vancouver police closed the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. I think many people remember this.

Interjections.

R. Parmar: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It’s good to good to hear the member for Prince George–Valemount comment.

But let me remind her and the members on that side of the House that instead of supporting the successful effort to save someone who is trying to commit suicide, what did the Leader of the Opposition say? “I’m utterly perplexed” that it took “six hours to deal with an elderly female.” The members of the opposition may forget that, but that was their Leader of the Opposition when he was on this side of the House.

I am proud of the efforts that our government has taken. We’ve got a lot more work to do — a lot more work to do — to be able to ensure that we’re opening more housing, to make sure that we’re providing substance use beds. Just here on Vancouver Island, the minister announced 40 new beds. That’s something that I heard loud and clear when I was knocking on the doors in Langford–Juan de Fuca.

[11:55 a.m.]

We’re working with organizations on the front line. I had an opportunity just a couple of weeks ago to be with the Sooke Shelter Society and have those conversations, and I’m looking forward to working with a government that is going to be delivering for people all across British Columbia.

S. Bond: What’s absolutely shameful is that member said not one single word about the motion that’s in front of the House today. Now, if that isn’t all about politics, I don’t know what it is about.

In fact, let’s be clear that the motion today is about the fact that there are organizations in British Columbia that potentially used taxpayer dollars to buy drugs off the dark web. And not one single NDP MLA has had the courage to stand up in this Legislature and say maybe, just maybe, we should check to see where taxpayer dollars went in this province. Not one member, including the member who’s shaking his head.

Let’s be clear. If he thinks for half a second that there are adequate resources in British Columbia to actually meet the needs of people who need recovery and treatment, he is absolutely wrong. Let’s just listen for a moment to what the now Attorney General of British Columbia said, related to the Health Committee and the services in this province. Not my words. Let’s listen to those words. “We heard that some British Columbians are not able to access life-saving supports and services because they are not available in their community or because of other barriers.”

That quote comes from the current Attorney General of British Columbia. So to suggest that everything’s just fine is absolutely embarrassing for that member and every single member of the NPP on that side of the House.

So let’s be clear about what this motion seeks to do. The member for Powell River–Sunshine Coast wants to talk about reasonable. I think British Columbians think it’s absolutely reasonable that when their money is being given to grants in British Columbia, if there is one slight possibility that that money was used to buy illegal drugs off the dark web, the government may well want to know where that money went.

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Members, one member has the floor. Take a deep breath. Lunch is almost here.

S. Bond: Every single NDP member has refused to admit or acknowledge that an audit is what we are asking for. We are asking that taxpayers in British Columbia have certainty that the money that was given to two organizations did what it was supposed to do, not purchase drugs off the dark web.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

If these members haven’t taken the time to go and look at the photos or read the comments about the availability of hydromorphone in this province, they should go check it out, because social media platforms openly boast about diverted hydromorphone. In fact, there are photographs taken beside prescription bottles with piles of drugs, and guess what: that’s on this government’s watch.

If that isn’t enough, imagine $1.2 million — not the NDP’s money, taxpayer dollars — and guess what? These organizations actually brag about the fact that those dollars went to be used for illegal purposes.

Here’s a quote: “What DULF does is illegal, and we know it, and the police know it. Nobody has been arrested, because we’ve built such a huge group of people around it. DULF is funded by the regional health authority as an overdose prevention site, but it’s being used, and by the Centre on Substance Use, as a research project.”

That is an actual quote that admits that what DULF does is illegal, and not one NDP MLA in this House this morning has had the courage to stand up and say: “Let’s just stop.”

What we want to do is ensure that taxpayer money in this province is not being used for illegal activity. Is that not a reasonable and responsible request? I would suggest that British Columbians absolutely believe that that is a fair question. And they want to know how on earth, under the NDP government’s watch and even when the Vancouver police department are involved, just as we have seen this morning…. The NDP members want to point the finger everywhere else, including talking about the fact….

If the member for Powell River–Sunshine Coast would like to mock, he could get up and do that now.

Let’s be clear. The motion is straightforward. We should be seeking an audit of the use of taxpayer dollars.

S. Bond moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Farnworth moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 p.m.

The House adjourned at 12 p.m.