Orders of the Day

Hon. R. Kahlon: This afternoon I call response to the throne speech in the main chamber.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

[2:50 p.m.]

Throne Speech Debate

D. Routley: I move, seconded by the member for Langford–Juan de Fuca:

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

In so moving, I would like to start by acknowledging the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, upon whose territories we are gathered today.

I would also like to echo the throne speech in thanking Elder Butch Dick of the Songhees Nation and Elder Mary Anne Thomas of the Esquimalt Nation for starting us off in the good way that they did yesterday.

I also would like to quote the speech in recognizing that: “This building, long a symbol of colonialism, now has messages written in the lək̓ʷəŋən language permanently inscribed on its stone perimeter. These words about ancestors, warriors and children symbolize a new era, one of meaningful reconciliation where we work together to preserve Indigenous languages and acknowledge the true history of these lands.” It was Hereditary Chief Edward Thomas Sr. of the Esquimalt Nation who said during the unveiling: “This is a long time coming.”

I would also like to acknowledge the nations upon whose territory I work and live. Those are the Lyackson, Cowichan, Halalt, Penelakut, Stz’uminus, Snuneymuxw, Lake Cowichan and MÁLEXEŁ Nations. It is an honour to work and represent those lands in this House.

I would also like to repeat the message that I brought in the statement I made earlier about the passing of Squtxulenuhw, Chief Chip Seymour, the former Chief of Cowichan Nation, who passed recently and has left a void in our communities, one of leadership and one of positive representation of the rights and titles of the Cowichan people.

I would also like to acknowledge the passing of a friend, a former CUPE 606 president, Rob Zver, with condolences to his family.

I am honoured, in my last session in this House, to stand and support the throne speech and move it to this House. I am very moved by the throne speech. I am very inspired by the values and principles represented in that speech and am proud to represent a government that has embodied and actioned those principles in every step it has taken. The constituency I represent, Nanaimo–North Cowichan, has benefited from all of the elements that the throne speech mentioned.

No matter where you live in British Columbia, we all share common hopes for ourselves, our kids and our grandkids, for our neighbours and for our friends. We all want to work hard and get ahead. We want to be able to afford a decent home. We want the community we live in to prosper, and we love the communities that we call home.

We all need access to quality health care, and this government has taken great steps to provide that. We all need access to a family doctor. I would note that the Vancouver Island Health Authority, the region in which I live, has the distinction of attracting the most new doctors in the province.

There have been over 600 doctors brought to the prov­ince in the last year. This is a great step in accomplishing that goal of everyone having a family doctor and access to health care where and when they need it.

We all want to see our kids grow up happy, healthy and with every opportunity available to them. People’s priorities and our government’s priorities align. They are at the heart of our work, and this spring’s session of the Legislature will reflect that in legislation brought forward and policies proposed to the people of British Columbia.

There will be at least 20 new bills introduced in this session. They will be focused on making life better for the people of B.C. and their families. That has been the focus of this government from the very beginning.

What people care about, and primarily are challenged by in this province at the moment, are housing, everyday costs, the strengthening of health care and keeping children safe in our province.

[2:55 p.m.]

This government is committed to providing more homes for everyone in the province, but particularly with a focus on middle-income people at this point. This is a generational challenge, as the speech lays out, and it is up to us to meet that moment. This is not something that will be satisfied through tinkering around the edges. It is a core problem that this government will tackle head on and take up that challenge with strong action on all fronts.

The changes over the last year help people lay the foundation for a housing market that will work better for them. We turned short-term rentals like Airbnbs into long-term homes, thousands of units freed up for the people of British Columbia. We have sped up housing permit approvals that depend on the province. We have fixed zoning rules that block the construction of middle-class homes in existing neighbourhoods.

We have set municipal targets for new housing construction, and the municipalities that I represent have taken up that challenge wholeheartedly. We are having more housing built near public transit, which makes efficient use of public dollars on multiple levels. We are building student housing at an unprecedented rate, as the Premier said earlier today in question period. Over 8,000 housing units built for students, compared to 138 built during the time of the previous government.

These are essential steps that combine and protect the rentals and housing costs of this province from being turned into, simply, luxury condos for big real estate corporations. This month we saw the first purchase made under the rental protection fund, which saved nearly 300 affordable co-op units in Coquitlam.

There is a lot to do, and our Premier is taking on these big challenges head-on. This is what you can expect from his team. It is exactly the steps that British Columbians know are required to address the challenges we face.

Some of the other ways we are showing how we are taking action to be in people’s corner and back them up. The Premier and the Housing Minister recently announced the B.C. Builds program, which is building housing for middle-income people and just got a boost yesterday, from the federal government, of $2 billion. With that announcement, that increases that fund to $4 billion to support middle-income housing development in this province. We have seen rental housing approvals and rental housing construction increase by 30 percent year over year.

The priorities of people when it comes to housing, cost of living, health care and keeping kids safe are reflected in the Speech from the Throne yesterday. We are continuing to take action to support people through challenging times, and the provincial budget tomorrow will take great steps to achieve those goals.

We cannot have a retrenchment back to the policies of the old government. The opposition declares a sudden concern for renters. This is a bit hard to accept when what we saw, during their time in office, was a capitulation to developers and a vacating of the field when it came to public leadership in providing housing.

Every time the Leader of the Opposition has had a chance and a choice, he has sided with speculators. He plans to get rid of the speculation tax, which also has freed up thousands of units. He says he would cancel the flipping tax, which of course added to the inflation in this province.

When we restricted inflation of rents…. They had de­termined, in their time in government, that inflation plus 2 percent was fair for renters. At a time of spiked inflation, this government held that to 2½ percent. Had we not done that, had this government not restricted that rental increase, we would have seen a permanent increase of rents.

[3:00 p.m.]

Of course, as costs related to increased interest rates and debt servicing recede, as is anticipated this year, we would not have seen rents recede. They would have stayed permanently at that inflated rate.

Every British Columbian, I think, when they look at this circumstance, can see that the government is in their corner. We are supporting the challenges that we all face together. This government is not surviving by accenting the divisions in our society. We realize that people face challenges on every level in their lives, and it’s through our collective pursuit of solutions, our working together, that British Columbians find unity.

We do not take advantage of the divisions in our society for political advantage. We instead focus on the positive opportunities available to us to work with British Columbians, because we believe in British Columbians. We believe that investing in British Columbians and supporting our communities is the key to successful communities and a thriving province.

When it comes to forests, we are moving to a whole new paradigm of viewing our forests and understanding and valuing our forests for a range of values beyond simple commodities. We are returning control and management of forests to communities, First Nations, to the people of B.C.

This is a huge shift in the way the province’s natural re­sources are managed. It recognizes our obligations under UNDRIP but also calls on British Columbians, through the forest landscape planning tables, to contribute their views and their values to the management of our number one natural resource. This couldn’t be further in its contrast from the way the previous government managed the natural resources of our province.

The throne speech commits to deliver more middle-class homes to British Columbians faster, to help families and small businesses with the costs they face, to strengthen public health care and services and to build a cleaner economy that works for everyone, not simply just those who find themselves at the top. The speech also committed to expanding on actions to protect children from harms at schools and online.

Even as the world faces inflation and a slower global economy with higher interest rates, this speech points to positive signals that our government’s actions are working. Seventy-four thousand jobs, mostly private sector, were created in the last year. We’ve seen a 30 percent year-over-year increase in new rental homes registered in this province. We’ve seen 700 new doctors added in BC. We’ve seen a 75 per cent decrease in stranger attacks in Vancouver.

Rather than take advantage of those crises to divide people, this province tackles them in a way that supports people, brings them together in a collective commitment to solutions. Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians are receiving help from cost measures like free prescription contraception.

This throne speech has shared stories of people who have been helped by these measures taken over the last year and focused on the efforts to improve health care with more family doctors, better cancer screening. We have pointed to the new addition of addiction treatment beds, and we have cut the cost of child care for families.

Just in the constituency I represent alone, $79 million has been invested in child care. That has put $24½ million back in the pockets of the people I represent in Nanaimo–​North Cowichan. This is both good for the economy but also liberating for people and families, allowing people to participate fully and know that their children are being well cared for.

[3:05 p.m.]

In Nanaimo–North Cowichan, we’ve seen over 1,500 new housing units provided by this province. As we face that housing crisis and a crisis on our streets of homelessness, this government is acting and supporting communities and British Columbians.

We have seen, in the communities I represent, a new hospital in the Cowichan Valley; a new high school in Duncan, in the Cowichan Valley; a new ICU in Nanaimo, at the Nanaimo Regional Hospital; and many more investments that have supported the people I represent. The people I represent understand that these are the elements that they require for their families to thrive and for their communities to be successful.

We are strengthening public health care by continuing to attract more family doctors, but we’re also investing new resources into cancer care and long-term care for seniors. We see new testing programs that are saving lives and showing the prospect of, indeed, possibly eliminating deadly cervical cancer from the lives of British Columbians. We are attempting and succeeding in building an economy that works better for people by leveraging British Columbia’s strength in natural resources and training people for the good, clean jobs of today and tomorrow.

My own daughter, who was trained as a chef, was dislocated from her profession during COVID. She’s currently training to be a heavy-equipment operator with the support of this government. So even in my own life, I can turn and see how positive these influences are and how liberating it is for British Columbians to feel that their government really is behind them, that we really can stand on a foundation together and build a better province not just for those at the top but for all of us. This is a core value of the government of British Columbia currently.

We are protecting B.C. from climate emergencies with year-round wildfire fighting resources. Another member of my family, my stepson, Matthew Baird, a wildfire fighter and a volunteer firefighter in Cowichan Bay, has benefited and has been touring this province, defending communities against the ravages and threats of wildfire.

I’m very proud of his work. His mom and I worry about him, but we know that with the training and the investments in equipment and people that this province is making, we are seeing the burgeoning of a new wildfire service that will be year-round and will help communities tackle all of the threats of climate change.

This is a deeply important measure that we all need to appreciate. I can tell you very clearly that our family sees that benefit, and we want to be full partners with the government in providing that support to our neighbours and to communities across the province.

We’ve seen actions to reduce pollution from big industrial emitters. We’ve seen a reduction in our emissions. We are committed to protecting 30 percent of the province by 2030. These are the values that I hear from the people at the doorsteps where I call home and where I go and ask for support. These are the things that people tell me they care about, and I know these are the things that this government cares about most and acts on.

We believe in the people of British Columbia. We un­derstand the challenges they face. We feel the same pressures in our own lives, and we feel the same pressures in our own communities. We are responding to those. We share with British Columbians a commitment to this province. We share with British Columbians a commitment to each other. We share with British Columbians a commitment to a collective response for one and for all of us that will lead to a better B.C.

The opposition would have us turn around on all of that. They would like government to simply step out of the way and leave British Columbians to fend for themselves. We know that British Columbians are capable. We know that what British Columbians need is a partnership. We know that British Columbians need a government that will stand with them in the face of these challenges. We share that commitment with them.

[3:10 p.m.]

We understand the pressures that brings to families, and we are taking action every day to support those families and those communities. We will continue to invest in British Columbians, to support British Columbians, to rebuild this province and to aspire to a province where everyone has a place, where everyone can succeed and feel as though they have a place and a role in this province.

We believe it because it works. We’re showing it works. We’re showing that in investment in education, like the training of my daughter. We’re showing that in the investment in protecting communities, like the Wildfire Service that my stepson is devoted to. We’re showing that in standing up for people’s rights. Standing up for equality and justice in our province leads to a better place for all of us.

We’re also showing that we don’t have to antagonize the differences between British Columbians to generate support. Instead, this government is committed to bringing people together.

As I have said to so many people…. When they’re frustrated with the length of time it takes to have material change in public policy and to realize that on the ground, I tell them the story of an intersection on Gabriola Island where there were a lot of accidents. There were several proposals put forward: four-way stop, large stop signs, flashing light, roundabout. It took two years to generate a consensus on that simple issue.

When I look at the steps and strides that this government has taken since we were elected, as represented in promise in this speech, I am astonished that so much could happen so quickly: so much change that supports British Columbians, so much positive building in this province, building of housing, building of child care spaces, investments in people, all of that training.

The first thing I did as an elected member of the government caucus was accompany the former Premier, John Horgan, to Vancouver Island University, where we an­nounced that people who had been in the care of the province as minors would receive free tuition. It was an astonishing moment. This is not the centrepiece of public policy, but at that moment, every person in that room was in tears. Even the Premier’s security detail were wiping tears from their eyes.

We understand that levelling the playing field is what it takes to build a province that has strong foundations, that is durable, that can endure the challenges we face together. That’s why we invest in people: because we believe in people. We know that British Columbians have the resiliency, the energy and the capacity to build a much better province.

I’m so proud of this province having lived my life here, yet I know how much better it could be. Not through dividing people, not through picking on the vulnerable to rally people to positions that are built on the lowest emotion but by appealing to people to come together, to walk arm-in-arm into a future for this province that’s built, for one another, by us.

That’s why this government makes the investments it does: because we want to share that struggle with British Columbians, not divide them. What unifies us are shared struggles and meeting them. What divides us are politics that seek advantage by antagonizing differences between the people we represent. I find that offensive.

As somebody who’s stood here now for 19 years, at the last throne speech that I’ll have a chance to speak to, I feel inspired by the fact that we now have a government that is fully committed to being that partner with British Columbians.

[3:15 p.m.]

No matter who you are, no matter what community you live in, this government is interested in you, cares about you, wants to build your life together with you, wants to provide the foundational backstops that people require in order to realize their full potential. That’s what this throne speech says to me.

I have stood here and spoken to throne speech after throne speech, in opposition, that was vague, that didn’t offer real solutions, that didn’t offer, really, promise. That’s what’s so satisfying about this moment for me — to be able to stand here and speak to a throne speech that is the antithesis of that. It is a clear commitment to a value that draws us all together.

This government, as projected through the Speech from the Throne by the Lieutenant-Governor yesterday, will re­main committed to the lives and well-being of British Columbians and will make the investments and take the brave steps in public policy required to achieve those goals. But know that it isn’t the government.

We shouldn’t take credit. The credit we are due is simply being the partner we’ve always been obligated to be to British Columbians and to have the faith in the people of the province that they, themselves, are the engine of change. They, themselves, are the ones who fuel the change and the success that we all aspire to.

Mr. Speaker, I won’t stay here much longer. I hate to sit down, in a way. As I’ve said, this is the last throne speech I am able to respond to.

It has been such an honour to be able to speak in this House every time, an honour provided to me by the voters of Nanaimo–North Cowichan and by those ten First Nations I mentioned upon whose territory I live and work.

To thank all the members of the House. To thank you, Mr. Speaker. To thank the members of the opposition who have been dutiful servants to their own constituents. And to thank my lovely partner, Leanne Finlayson, for her support, over these years, in being able to do this job.

With that, I will end my response to the Speech from the Throne and my moving of that speech and say simply that I am moved by it. I am moved by the fact that it satisfies what I think we came here to do, and that is to be a foundation for British Columbians.

R. Parmar: It is my pleasure to rise to second the mo­tion: “That we, His Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in session assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious speech which Your Honour has addressed to us at the opening of the present session.”

I just want to begin by acknowledging how honoured I am to be in this seat in the Legislature, in these chambers, on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, the lək̓ʷəŋən-​speaking peoples, and thank them for sharing these beautiful lands with us.

In an acknowledgment of the throne speech and the focus that our government, since day one, has made on reconciliation and, certainly, an acknowledgment of the steps this Legislature has taken, under the leadership of our Speaker, in acknowledging the importance of that reconciliation journey we’re on, I want to acknowledge the T’Sou-ke Nation; the Sc’ianew, Beecher Bay; the paaʔčiidʔatx̣ Nation; as well as the MÁLEXEŁ Nation.

I thank them for sharing the beautiful territories of Langford–Juan de Fuca with me and the people that I have the honour of serving. I certainly acknowledge the efforts that they do in showing and sharing their cultures and traditions and outcomes with me.

In doing so, I also want to recognize that since we last gathered, there have been some changes in leadership in those nations.

[3:20 p.m.]

I want to acknowledge and congratulate the new Chief of the T’Sou-ke First Nation, Larry Underwood. I’ve had an opportunity to engage with Chief Underwood and talk about the challenges and opportunities before us. In particular, I was able to share, on his first official day as Chief, in an exciting announcement of a $500,000 investment that our government made in the new community health centre, which is going to have solar panels and a solar system to be able to give it the energy it needs to succeed.

I want to acknowledge a mentor to me. Someone who helped welcome me into the chamber by drumming me in was Chief Gordie Planes, who is now the former Chief of the T’Sou-ke First Nations. I want to thank Chief Planes for his mentorship to me ever since I became the chair of the school district and for being such a visionary figure in my life and, I know, of so many leaders in the Sooke and Juan de Fuca area.

I also want to acknowledge the new Chief of the paaʔčiidʔatx̣ Nation, Arliss Daniels, who is returning to being Chief after a bit of a sabbatical a number of years ago. I’m looking forward to engaging with her and her new council.

In doing so, I also acknowledge the incredible leadership shown by Chief Jeff Jones. Jeff has been a tremendous representative for his people. We’ve worked very hard on a number of files, and I just want to acknowledge him for, again, his leadership since day one and for showing me the important work that he needs to do.

As we begin the discussions around the throne speech, as I know that we will over the next couple of days and into next week, it also serves as an opportunity for me to be able to acknowledge the incredible voters of Langford–Juan de Fuca, who have given the gift to me to serve them in this Legislature, to be their representative.

I want to thank my friend and colleague the MLA for Nanaimo–North Cowichan for his remarks and, more importantly, for the leadership that he’s provided to his community for 19 years in this place. I’ve remembered watching him from home, from school when I was watching question period. We’ve known each other for a number of years, and I’m just so thankful to him for all that he’s done for his community and, most importantly, for all British Columbians in the number of files that he’s had as a legislator. We’re certainly going to miss him on this side of the House.

I know it’s not just him. There will be others who will be taking an opportunity this session to speak for a final time. I know that we’ll take an opportunity to acknowledge them.

I look across to the MLA for Abbotsford West, who has been an MLA longer than I’ve been alive.

Interjections.

R. Parmar: I know. Sorry, I just had to say that. Looks great, though. Looks great. He has definitely got the energy for federal politics.

I know that we’ll have an opportunity to be able to acknowledge members from both sides of the House in the days and weeks and months ahead in this legislative session.

Like I said, the opportunity to be able to respond to the Speech from the Throne also provides an opportunity for me to be able to acknowledge how incredibly important it has been for me as a new MLA to be able to be rooted in my community. Again, it’s been a gift to be able to serve the people of Langford–Juan de Fuca since July of last year, when I was sworn in as the MLA, and I work hard each and every day to fill the incredibly big shoes left by our former Premier and the former MLA for Langford–Juan de Fuca, John Horgan.

My approach, which, I know, is very similar to many in this room, and I would share an approach that’s very similar to many people across British Columbia, is that when you have a new role, when you’ve taken on a leadership role, it’s so important before you act to take a step back and to listen and learn. That’s been my approach.

When I engage with stakeholders, with people that walk into my community office, people I see at the grocery store — you name it — I often share that if you want to talk about education, if you want to talk about building new schools, if you want to talk about curriculum, I’m your guy. I’ve been talking about those sorts of topics for well over ten years as a former school board trustee and chair. But in this job, it’s not just education. It’s transportation. It’s housing, health care, the economy and so much more.

[3:25 p.m.]

Really, what truly is the gift in being the MLA for Langford–Juan de Fuca is the opportunity to be able to meet people in their communities, in their homes and talk to them about the issues that matter to them, the challenges that our communities face, the challenges that people of British Columbia face, and also talk to them about the opportunities that are before us. I know that that’s what the throne speech also lays out.

The people of Langford–Juan de Fuca have given me the gift of being able to represent them, and I’m very thankful. It’s a large community, starting in Langford, urban and growing, one of the fastest-growing communities in our province. The constituency captures, of course, the Highlands, East Sooke, Sooke, Otter Point, Shirley, Jordan River, all the way out to Port Renfrew. So I really do get an opportunity to be able to, on a daily basis, deal with the challenges of growth, deal with urban communities, but also deal with small rural communities as well.

As we listened to the Speech from the Throne from Her Honour yesterday, we touched on a number of issues. I, again, think to the conversations I’ve had over the last number of weeks. I’ve been, in preparation for the legislative session, holding a number of town hall events, specifically in smaller communities that I represent.

It’s very difficult to door-knock in Shirley. It’s scary to door-knock in Shirley, long driveways. I’m scared of bears and cougars as well, so that doesn’t make for success for me. I’m terrified of cougars and bears and all that sort of stuff, those critters. So I decided: why not provide an opportunity for me to be able to engage in a safe setting in a community hall?

For the last number of weeks, unfortunately — I guess it could be fortunately — they’ve been on Fridays, Friday nights at seven o’clock. In both cases in East Sooke, and Shirley–Otter Point is going to be forthcoming in the days and weeks ahead, they’ve been great discussions, with hundreds of people turning out to be able to voice their concerns on local issues.

I want to acknowledge Al Wickheim, the regional director for the CRD, for partnering with me, to be able to allow for people to talk about local regional issues that their CRD director is focused on and, of course, provincial issues I’m focused on as their MLA. Whether it’s transportation infrastructure, making sure that we have water infrastructure, health care, education, a vibrant economy for workers, supports for seniors, they’ve been incredibly valuable discussions to me as an MLA.

The throne speech talked about a number of issues. It provided an opportunity for me, as I was sitting in my seat, to think about the investments that have been made in my community and in communities all across British Columbia.

I want to start with public education, which again is my go-to. I think folks would understand and hopefully appreciate that. I do believe, to my core — I think it’s been acknowledged in our work as a government and certainly acknowledged in the throne speech — that public education really is that foundational service that grounds us, that creates the next generation of citizens that our communities need now more than ever.

In particular, as I think about public education, I think about new schools and a growing community of Langford–Juan de Fuca and how, over a period of time, for 16 long years, we didn’t get the investments we needed. We’ve dealt with the challenges of overcrowding schools, more and more and more portables being added.

I’m proud to be a member of a government that has invested over $250 million in the Sooke school district to build nearly 3,000 seats. Many of them have been completed and a number, in particular probably close to 600 — probably more than that, actually, now that I think about it, probably close to 1,000 — that are currently under construction.

We have SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ, a beautiful name gifted by the Sc’ianew First Nations, an elementary school in south Langford that is currently under construction, that’s using mass timber in its construction. It’s going to be one of the cleanest and most efficient buildings in our constituency, in the city of Langford. It’s going to be opening up next year, welcoming the growing and rapidly growing community of Happy Valley in Langford.

[3:30 p.m.]

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

I also think about just a couple of months ago, when the Minister of Education was in my community in Langford to announce a 400-seat expansion, in two parts: one, 190 seats, to Ruth King Elementary, a school in the downtown core of Langford; and really just down the road, a couple-minute drive away, to David Cameron Elementary, in the constituency of the MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin.

Two schools that, because of their closeness to the downtown core of Langford and the density we’re seeing in our downtown core, have been growing rapidly and have certainly been seeing challenges with overcapacity. They are now getting these incredibly important expansions so that we can continue to ensure that students growing up in their community can go to their neighbourhood school.

What I’m particularly excited about in that project, and again, it was acknowledged briefly in the throne speech — Madam Speaker, welcome to the chair — is the fact that we’re using prefab construction. We’re beginning construction about now.

Anyone who drives by Ruth King, which I have the ten­dency to do on a regular basis because my constituency office is right across the street from Ruth King Elementary, will see a big dirt hole right now. But in a few short months, just in time for welcoming students back to the ’24-25 school year, we’ll see 190 seats, new classrooms for the growing population of Langford attending Ruth King Elementary.

I’m proud of the record that our government has made in education. We’ve got a lot more work to do, but that’s not all.

We’ve also…. I think we are going to be spending a lot of time in this legislative session talking about health care. It is certainly a challenge that I’m sure all MLAs hear about in their constituency offices, in their daily lives, from family members. But I’m proud of the efforts that our Minister of Health has made on health care, the important work that has been done since the pandemic, really, to be able to strengthen our health care system.

As was acknowledged a few short days ago, we have welcomed here in British Columbia, and it was acknowledged in the throne speech as well, 700-plus new doctors, which is fantastic. That’s good news for people all across British Columbia. It’s good news for people in Langford–Juan de Fuca. Seven hundred sounds like a lot. We need a lot more. That means our work doesn’t stop. It means we continue strengthening our health care system.

I had an opportunity to be able to engage with the Westshore Primary Care Society just a few short days ago. They shared with me in their efforts to open up more clinics, to bring more family doctors, in particular international doctors, which I’m looking forward to touching on in these remarks later, in the new role that I have.

They talked about how the new deal with doctors, which has been in place well over a year now, has had a huge impact on their ability to be able to recruit more doctors here to British Columbia: interprovincial doctors, people from Ontario and Alberta, in particular, but also international doctors from the U.K., South Africa, you name it.

We’ve got a lot more work to do to be able to strengthen our health care system. I know as a fast-growing commun­ity that Langford–Juan de Fuca and Sooke are, we need to continue to make investments so people can access health care. That’s why, as was acknowledged in the throne speech, the important investments we’re making in health care: the largest capital infrastructure program in the Ministry of Health’s history — the largest, building new hos­pitals all across the province.

It doesn’t stop there. We will be beginning construction, I would assume, very soon. It was acknowledged in a previous announcement not too long ago, about a year ago, that the West Shore is going to be getting 300 long-term-care beds. That is something that people…. I know that my colleague the MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin has been working very hard on this file ever since she got elected, to be able to ensure that when people age in our community, they have an ability to age in care closer to home.

I’m looking forward to construction beginning on the new long-term-care facility in Royal Bay in Colwood, and I know it’s going to benefit the entire West Shore and Sooke region.

But that’s not all. About a year ago the former Premier John Horgan and our minister announced funding for a new community health centre in Sooke. I know the mayor of Sooke and partners like the Sooke region community health folks have been working very hard to get an idea and a concept they have been working hard on for a number of years to fruition. I certainly acknowledge those perspectives are perspectives they have shared for a number of years. Again, as was acknowledged in the throne speech, it is so important that we take those ideas and make them reality.

[3:35 p.m.]

That’s why the investments that we have made in health care continue to strengthen a system that, frankly, for so long had been gutted under previous governments — in particular, the previous government before us.

I want to talk about a number of other files that were mentioned in the throne speech. I want to touch briefly on the economy, obviously a file very close to my heart with my previous role in government.

We welcomed over 70,000 new jobs in British Columbia in the last year. Again, we’re leading in many ways. We have led Canada’s economic recovery. And I think we are really in a very key position here in British Columbia with the successes we’ve had with our life sciences sector. That was acknowledged as the fastest-growing life sciences sector in Canada. That’s because of the incredibly hard work that our Minister of Jobs has done, and other folks in government, to be able to ensure that we can encourage more growth in that sector.

We announced a substantive investment in AbCellera to be able to grow their footprint here in British Columbia, in particular, in Vancouver. I think that’s under the constituency of my friend from Vancouver–Mount Pleasant, or somewhere in that area. Those are going to be really good-paying jobs for people all across the province — again, in particular, in Vancouver.

But that’s not all. Again, those 70,000 jobs reflect jobs in our natural resources sector, jobs in health care and education and all the sectors that make up our economy.

We can’t stop. We need to continue growing our economy. We, I think, often forget about the advantage that we have of being a trade superpower in terms of the ability to be able to connect with Asian markets. I know that my colleague the Minister of State for Trade is working on strengthening and building relationships with partners on a daily basis. It’s so important, as was acknowledged in the throne speech, that we continue that work.

A couple of other pieces before I move on to a different topic. Post-secondary education. In my community, we’re going to be opening, later this year into next year, a new university, the first university in Langford, a first of its kind in Canada.

You have four post-secondary institutions and the Sooke school district coming together — Royal Roads University, the University of Victoria, Camosun College and the Justice Institute, in partnership with the Sooke school district — to be able to open a new university. People living in Langford–Juan de Fuca, across the West Shore and Sooke region and, in fact, in the Cowichan area, as well, will not have to have those long commutes into Victoria just to be able to go to school.

As someone, not too long ago, who had to deal with those commutes, whether it was in a vehicle or, initially, on the bus…. Those were challenging. And I can only imagine…. The circumstances I’ve had, certainly, where I’m very privileged enough to be in a position at the time to have a vehicle or to be able to have a bus pass…. There are a lot of other people in my community that didn’t have those same opportunities, and for them, post-secondary was not an option.

Because of the investments, as was laid out in the throne speech, we’ve made and are going to continue to make in post-secondary education, a new university in Langford is an option for people in the West Shore and Sooke region.

It’s a long, long time coming. I remember talking about this when I was in middle school. I remember being asked by my principal to come and participate in a round table to talk about the idea of a new university in our community. And I’m just so appreciative of being a part of a government that is now delivering on that commitment.

I want to talk about child care. Our new Minister of State for Child Care reminded me, certainly because we’re neighbouring MLAs, of the real opportunity that child care is, that child care is an incredibly important social program that our government has launched and allowed to prosper in our communities. But also, I think, it’s often forgotten that child care really is an economic boost to our communities and to our province as well.

I think it was in the previous year that three-quarters of the jobs that were created in British Columbia were from women. And I think it’s important to acknowledge that that would only be possible because of the investments we’ve made in child care.

[3:40 p.m.]

I know this was acknowledged in the throne speech, the important work that we’ve done on child care and how we have a lot more work to do, especially in communities like Langford–Juan de Fuca that are growing — lots of young families.

In Langford–Juan de Fuca alone, we have made, since 2018, over $60 million in investments in child care programs — $60 million in those communities that I have the honour of representing. Again, since 2018, till 2023, we have been able to put in the pockets of families and parents, just in Langford–Juan de Fuca alone, $34 million. We’ve had $34 million in savings to parents in Langford–Juan de Fuca. That’s because we’ve been the government focused on ensuring that we can have a thriving child care program, an important social program, but also using it as an economic driver.

Also, briefly, before I change topics, I want to just highlight housing. It’s really a generational challenge that we’re facing here in British Columbia — in fact, across the prov­ince, of course — but across the country and throughout North America and around the world.

I often think, as I have an opportunity to listen to the Premier’s remarks…. One of the things that I’m so appreciative of in his leadership is the fact that he’s acknowledged that we have a lot of incredible thinkers here in British Columbia that have a lot of experience in housing, but British Columbia alone won’t be able to solve this. We need to hear from people all across the world.

Certainly, in the Premier’s visits to other communities and the trade missions that he participated in to Asia last year, he was able to learn from nations like Singapore and Seoul, Korea, and take the knowledge of those governments and those stakeholders in those communities, in those nations, and bring them here to British Columbia.

The throne speech talked about the work we’ve done on housing and the incredibly important investments we’ve made in social housing to build more affordable housing in communities all across the province. Again, Sooke, a community that barely saw any investments in affordable housing under the previous government, is in the process of opening up the largest expansion of affordable housing in Sooke’s history.

My thanks again to M’akola Housing, in particular, for the work that they’ve done on the projects that they’ve received funding for from the government of B.C. as well as the CRD housing corporation as well as the federal government through CMHC.

We have made investments in building more affordable housing, but we have also talked about supply and the need to build more housing, to be able to work with the development community, to work with not-for-profits. A lot of people…. I think it’s my job as the MLA for Langford–Juan de Fuca — again, in particular for Langford — to acknowledge that Langford has done a lot in terms of building supply in housing. They have been the leaders across the country and I would say, in fact, leaders across the world in building more housing.

I want to acknowledge the leadership that the former mayor, Stew Young, provided when he boldly said that he was going to be providing permits, responses, within 48 hours, or, in some cases, within a week. That led to investment coming in to our community. I know that the new mayor and council are working very hard to ensure that that same investment environment is there, because we’re seeing record housing.

In some cases, we’ve seen more housing being built in Langford than in the entire CRD, the other communities in the CRD combined. We’re seeing more housing in Langford than, in some years, Vancouver and Surrey combined. That’s a fact that Langford has done an incredible amount of work.

That is why I was so glad to see Langford acknowledged for that, as was recognized in the throne speech, the building communities fund, $1 billion in investments in communities all across the province, all the communities that we represent. Langford received $16 million to be able to use to strengthen the transportation services, the infrastructure services, recreation — you name it — and to be able to support that incredibly fast-growing community.

We launched BC Builds a week ago. It’s been, I think, acknowledged as a tremendous success. There’s a lot more work to do to roll it out. There are already four projects in place. But I think a key marker in success is when the federal government recognizes that B.C., and in particular our Premier, have been leading the way in the country on building more housing.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the Premier was one of a handful of people across the country that acknowledged the challenges with housing prior to anyone else, even before….

[3:45 p.m.]

We had another government that sat on this side of the House that turned a blind eye to the challenges with housing. The Prime Minister acknowledged the Premier leading the way, and by doing so, acknowledged BC Builds as one of the tools that we’re using to build housing for middle-income families.

The number of people that I come across that earn a good living but can’t afford rent, can’t afford to buy in their communities…. It’s struggling to hear those comments. It’s struggling to hear those stories. But the BC Builds partnership and the program answers that.

It’s been acknowledged that by doing so and by the announcement that we made, the federal government heard. They listened, and they cared enough to be able to bring $2 billion towards that partnership. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the federal government move that fast. One week ago, BC Builds was announced. The next week, $2 billion towards that partnership. I think that’s worth celebrating. Thank you to the Minister of State.

There’s a lot more work to do. Again, we restricted Airbnb units. I know that is something I hear about from folks in Langford–Juan de Fuca all the time. We’ve taken steps to build more multi-unit housing. We’ve taken an incredibly important and bold step on transit-oriented development and a number of other steps that we’ve taken, and certainly have acknowledged in the throne speech that we need to continue to deal with this generational challenge.

The throne speech laid out our vision for building a stronger province that works better for people. I think that we all can agree, no matter what political party that we come from, that we all have that same shared hope, no matter where you live in British Columbia, whether it’s in Sooke or Grand Forks or Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Kelowna, Richmond, Chilliwack, you name it. We all share that common hope for ourselves, for our kids and grandkids. I think we can all agree on that.

I think we can all agree that our role as MLAs is to work hard each and every day and ensure that by the important work that we’re doing, whether it’s government enacting new legislation or new policies or programs, or the opposition holding government’s feet to the fire on the commitments that we’ve made and the ideas that they’re putting forward….

It’s that all we want is British Columbians from all walks of life to be able to be in a position where they can work hard and get ahead; to be in a position where they can afford a decent home in the communities that they love; to be in a position to access quality health care, including primary care, a family doctor.

I think we all can agree that we want to see our kids grow up to be happy, healthy and with every opportunity before them. Probably one of the best parts of the job is being able to go into elementary schools, middle and secondary schools, and able to talk to the future generation — or what I refer to as the leaders of today, because we need them more than ever — about their priorities, the challenges that they see in their lives. It’s such a valuable way to be able to collect their feedback.

Again, we can all agree that we want the young people, our kids and our grandkids and great-grandkids, to have every opportunity available to them. At the end of the day, as was laid out very clearly in the throne speech, people’s priorities, the priorities of British Columbians, are our government’s priorities. That’s our key objective. It’s been our key objective since 2017 when this government was sworn in.

At the end of the day, we’ve acknowledged on this side of the House that people, the people of British Columbia, are our competitive advantage. We’re going to work each and every day, from now until the end of this legislative session, until the end of this term, to ensure that every investment we’re making is in support of the people of British Columbia, because they are our competitive advantage.

I want to conclude my remarks in the time I have left in talking about the challenges ahead. This was touched on numerous times throughout the throne speech — the challenges that are before Canadians, the challenges that are before British Columbians.

I want to talk about the fact that in the last session we welcomed a new political party to the Legislature, the Conservative Party. What has been brought to this Legislature, and in fact to communities all across the province — in conversations that I’ve certainly been privy to, and I know that so many have — is Trump-like politics here in British Columbia.

[3:50 p.m.]

That is what the Conservative Party has brought to this House. That is what they’ve brought to British Columbia: Trump-like politics. We’ve already got one Trump. We don’t need another one here in British Columbia.

Conservatives, each and every day, have been focused, ever since the leader of the Conservative Party became the leader of the Conservative Party, on dividing British Columbians. I want to spend some time talking about that.

I’m not going to spend time talking about the BCUP because they’re irrelevant. They’ve become irrelevant over a number of years. You can spend as much money as you want on advertising. I think if you spend enough time on the doorsteps, like I have in the last year, you’ll see that they’ve become irrelevant.

What we’ve seen, and I think what was acknowledged in the throne speech very clearly, is a party, the Conservative Party, that has been focused each and every day, not on bringing people together, not on making sure that our communities can come together, but on dividing British Columbians. In our throne speech, we have an opposite plan.

They’ve been focused on dog-whistle politics. They’ve been focused on bullying kids, the most vulnerable kids in our society. That is what has been their focus. They’ve been focused on spreading misinformation, on pitting ethnic communities against one another, on bullying kids. That is what they’ve been focused on ever since they entered this House, and that is what they are spreading in communities all across the province.

The throne speech reiterated our commitment to fighting climate change, but here we have a party in this House — a party in this House — that doesn’t believe in climate change. Ridiculous. In 2024, we have MLAs that don’t believe in climate change.

I think we can all acknowledge that being an MLA is a tough job. I haven’t been an MLA for very long, but I certainly acknowledge that there are a lot of tough days. There are a lot of tough conversations that we have with people in our communities. There’s a lot of tough work that comes into our constituency office, but I value that work. I value the feedback that I get from the people of Langford each and every day.

I am so focused — as I know every member on this side of the House and, I’d like to think, the members on the other side of the House as well — on bringing people together. At a time when you have division…. When you have a political party that is stuck in the past…. That is the B.C. Conservative Party. They are stuck in the past.

We need now, more than ever, a government that is focused on the future, a government that is going to be building a province, building a stronger province that works better for everyone, building a more inclusive society where you can feel safe in your communities. The Conservative Party of British Columbia is a threat to that each and every day, each and every day.

As was acknowledged in my remarks, we have a lot of challenges before us. I was reading the Bank of Canada report yesterday. Certainly, inflation has fallen to 2.9 percent, largely due to gas prices. It was acknowledged, as well, in that report, that we still face the challenges with shelter inflation. That reiterates our need to build more housing, to build more affordable housing for people from all walks of life.

It was acknowledged that food inflation has gone up to nearly 4 percent. That reiterates the commitment that I think everyone in this House should have — and, certainly, our government has — to address food insecurity, using new technologies like agritech to build more food here in British Columbia, to process more of our food here in British Columbia, so we’re not reliant on other jurisdictions like California for our food.

I think what was acknowledged in the Bank of Canada’s report was the turmoil that we’re seeing in the world, with wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East, and all of the challenges before us. Again, these are not challenges unique to British Columbia. These are challenges that every community and every government is tasked with across the country, across North America, around the world.

What I think is really key is…. We need to be focused on those efforts each and every day. We should not be focused, as the B.C. Conservatives have been, on dividing people in British Columbia. We are going to be focused on bringing people together and bringing people together in a way that addresses their challenges, addresses their concerns and makes the investments. Again, I reiterate. People are our competitive advantage. In the case of the Conservative Party…. They don’t see it that way.

[3:55 p.m.]

I only have a couple of minutes left. I just want to touch on the excitement that I have in not talking about the Conservative Party for the next three minutes but also talking about a new file that the Premier has given to me. That is as the new Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials.

I want to acknowledge the work that has been done by my predecessor, the former Minister of State for Workforce Development, now the Minister of State for Forestry Innovation, in bringing forward legislation this past fall that recognized credentials. There was a lot of work done, I know, through the engagements that he participated in. It’s now my job to get us across the finish line and get us to a place where British Columbia becomes a place that welcomes newcomers to our province, from everywhere in this world, and recognizes the skills and credentials of people that are making our communities their homes.

It still boggles my mind. I remember being out on the doorstep and talking to people in Langford–Juan de Fuca during this past by-election and coming across one person, in particular. She shared with me that she immigrated here from Czechoslovakia well over 20, 30 years ago. She came here with a master’s degree and was well educated.

When she got here and wanted to practise her skills and have her credentials recognized, she was told…. Of the success that she has had in her career, they would only accept one credit of her master’s. It broke my heart. I’d like to think that was the only conversation I would have on the doorsteps of Langford–Juan de Fuca, but there were a lot more.

I’m so proud of the work that our government has done on international credentials. I can’t wait to get to work engaging with the stakeholders in this community, talking to international students, talking to people from, again, all walks of life, from around the world, to let them know that when they come here to British Columbia….

When we ask them to make British Columbia their home, we do so in a way that recognizes all the skills and contributions they’ve made in their home country. We get rid of bureaucratic policies like the Canadian work experience and other things that hold them back, that hold their ability to be able to be doctors and nurses, that hold their abilities to be able to take on important roles that we need now more than ever.

We have one million job openings over the next decade here in British Columbia. It’s now more important than ever for us to be able to be taking the steps on international credentials and a whole host of other important steps that our government has taken.

Again, I really want to thank all of you for listening to me speak for the last 30 minutes. It has been an honour to be serving as the MLA for Langford–Juan de Fuca. I am looking forward to continuing to do so throughout this legislative session.

As we laid out in the throne speech, we have got 20 pieces of legislation coming forward. We’ve got a budget being introduced tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of challenges ahead for British Columbia, but I’m proud to be part of a government that is focused each and every day on British Columbians.

I’m going to say it again. British Columbians, the people of British Columbia, are our competitive advantage. This side of the House will never forget that.

R. Merrifield: It’s always an honour to rise to my feet in this place on behalf of the amazing constituents that I get to serve and represent, the fine people of Kelowna-Mission.

The throne speech should inspire us and unite us. In­stead, we find ourselves at this really odd place.

I wish I could go back to my constituency with some good news about how the government fully understands how it’s doing and is going to get to work. The one thing that the throne speech did well was actually describe how terrible things are. They are really bad for people right now.

To the hard-working people of Kelowna-Mission and B.C., results are the only thing that really matter, and the results of this NDP government are horrific. You don’t need to hear someone else describing the problems you’re living with. You need solutions that you can see and feel. And this was not the case.

British Columbians can’t find housing. Even if they do, they can’t afford it. They can’t get a doctor. They can’t see a specialist or are waiting for six, eight, 12 months for care or even longer. That’s if they get to see that specialist before they pass.

British Columbians see trauma lying on our streets, being treated worse than we treat animals.

[4:00 p.m.]

British Columbians are losing their children to other provinces for better-paying jobs with less cost of living.

British Columbians aren’t making ends meet. Their work downtown remains locked at all hours just so that they can feel safe.

British Columbians can’t get child care and are making choices to leave our province just to afford to live. Some are even choosing to not have children, as evidenced by our falling statistics of birth rates. According to StatsCan and reaffirmed by the Legislature-appointed Representative for Children and Youth, among families using child care in B.C., 58.8 per cent reported difficulty finding it in 2023. That’s up from 46.5 percent in 2019.

Families are left abandoned. They can’t make ends meet and are debating between rent and food. We’ve known for a long time now that grocery costs are up nearly 30 percent, and food bank usage has increased by 60. This leaves almost half of all British Columbians about $200 away from not being able to pay next month’s bills.

All this while the NDP talk about how many great things they’ve done to solve all of these crises and how, somehow, all of these issues are somebody else’s fault or a global issue. They fail to realize that they have had seven years to fix all of these issues, and in every case…. Housing, health care, child care, mental health, public safety, cost of living — all are failing, imploding and worse than they have ever been before in history, and the worst in Canada.

This scenario is reminiscent of the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and it perfectly encapsulates the current state of our province under the NDP’s guidance.

We were promised a wardrobe of solutions from 2017 to 2024 to drape over our province’s most pressing issues. Yet here we stand, worse off than ever before, being told that the emperor is wearing clothes and that the NDP’s solutions have worked.

This government either believes that the people of B.C. are naive or blind. But I can assure you that on the doors, in the town halls, in airports, around B.C., people know that this government has failed. And yes, it is all generations but particularly the younger generation that is crying out: “The emperor has no clothes.”

Maya Angelou once wisely advised: “When somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” The NDP has shown us their true nature. They herald non-achievements. They brag about glaring omissions and say that their failures are all someone else’s. This inability to take responsibility for their seven years and two terms in government speaks volumes, and we should believe them.

They have shown that they are unable to make positive change. Their tenure has been characterized by lofty rhetoric that, when dissected, reveals a void where substantive action should reside.

Let’s take the housing crisis, for example. I like to call this promises unfulfilled. Kelowna has consistently ranked as the most expensive place to rent over the last seven years. British Columbia has some of the highest housing costs not just in North America but in the world. Our housing market is unattainable for most, but especially for our seniors and our youth.

My own kids don’t think they will ever afford a home in Kelowna or anywhere in B.C. Their dream of home ownership is gone. This is a common refrain when I speak to young people and young families all over B.C. and in Kelowna.

[4:05 p.m.]

Our seniors? You remember them, Madam Speaker. Well, they’re the ones who built our province — our seniors that paid their taxes, raised families, built businesses. Many of them are either trapped in a house that no longer serves their needs or are close to homelessness because they can’t find anything affordable to move into. Worse yet, they’re homeless.

B.C. seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie released her latest report last week, noting that 4 percent more rural seniors can’t find a family doctor or nurse practitioner than urban seniors, many at a time in their lives when they may need consistent primary care the most.

We know over one million British Columbians don’t have access to a family doctor. Despite what the Minister of Health would like to do with some funny numbers, that number is still one million. One can only imagine how this impacts those who are vulnerable and need care, such as our seniors who live in more rural areas, many of whom have been pushed out by the NDP’s worsening housing crisis.

The NDP can’t even get the promised supports to those that need it the most. In fact, just yesterday, Postmedia reported that a review of B.C. Housing reports found that tens of millions of dollars in provincial rent subsidies haven’t been spent: “In the 2022-23 fiscal year alone, B.C. Housing’s rental assistance programs reached about 30,000 households, almost 10,000 fewer than its target for the year. As a result, $32 million that was supposed to support low-income British Columbians didn’t get spent.”

We all remember the NDP’s promise to British Columbians to build over 114,000 homes during the 2017 election. I think they called the plan back then Homes for B.C. It had a flashy 30-point plan. It’s hard to find now, because it has mysteriously disappeared from all conversations.

But help was on the way, exclaimed Premier Horgan at the time. Who was the Housing Minister in charge of this big plan? Hmm. Wait a second. It’s our now Premier. This grand plan was, basically, abandoned halfway through with a dismal, dismal record of actual homes built, a record so bad that this NDP government has to reach back to the 1980s to take credit for homes built then and then warp, somehow, the statistics. Shameful.

This NDP government took the first five years of their mandate to try and quell demand and punish homeowners. Only in the last two have they actually decided it’s a supply issue, and they’re ready to take action.

But now they spent the last two years taking credit for others’ work, like the federal government’s CMHC rental program and GST abatement on purpose-built rentals. Yeah, we got to hear how they’re taking credit for that number of 25,000 purpose-built rentals.

In fact, the Premier, in his latest grand plan, actually said they can’t rely on the private sector. Yet if we look at the record of the private sector in building purpose-built rentals, 25,000 dramatically outstrips the 16,000 that the B.C. NDP have been able to actually create. So while this government would like to restrict a homeowner’s ability to afford the skyrocketing interest rates, punishing renters with the worst rental rates in history, who is actually responding valiantly? The private sector is.

The only good news on the horizon is that it doesn’t have to be this way. On this side of the Legislature, we’ve proposed a bold, innovative plan that will fix housing. This plan is built on a common-sense principle — to make housing more affordable, you need to make it less expensive.

By creating a rent-to-own program that will require developers of new housing to set aside up to 15 per cent of homes for first-time buyers only, their rent goes towards a down payment, so they can become homeowners.

By eliminating the property transfer tax for first-time buyers, they will immediately save up to $18,000 on their first home, reducing their upfront costs and further easing access into the housing market.

By eliminating the PST on all new residential construction and by building affordable housing on empty government land, we’re going to make it less expensive to build more homes for families.

[4:10 p.m.]

That’s our plan. United, we can fix housing.

I hope the government once again steals our homework, like they did with the cell phone bans in schools, halting the clawback of autism funding, directing Crown prosecution to focus on prolific offenders, stopping amendments to the Land Act, or even creating a small fund for businesses dealing with vandalism. Steal them all. Our goal in this place absolutely should be to support the best ideas, no matter which side they come from.

Another one that the NDP has failed on is health care. A band-aid for a hemorrhage is what they’ve done. Sure, the throne speech touched on it, but the NDP’s actions in this domain have been woefully inadequate.

Our health care system used to be the envy of many and — yes, when we were in government — was ranked number one in Canada. Now it’s ranked last. It’s literally collapsing around us. We hear the stories that confirm this almost every single day. The NDP’s approach has been to apply a band-aid to gaping wounds, a system hemorrhaging, without addressing the underlying, systemic issues.

Wait times continue to soar. Access to essential services is increasingly out of reach for many. Fresh off the presses: B.C. now has the worst wait times for walk-in clinics in the entire country, with longer waits every year and no end in sight under this NDP. Wait times to see a doctor, across the province, have more than doubled since 2019. The NDP can’t blame anyone else for this one. Kelowna is the third highest in Canada for wait times.

Finding a doctor is ever-more elusive, and specialists are taxed beyond measure. This failure isn’t just an inconvenience; it is a life-or-death situation for those who find themselves caught in the system’s failing grasp. We literally have doctors telling patients to seek care outside of the system, because they know that they will die before they are seen or treated.

The NDP then tried to say, in the throne speech, that they were the only ones to ever increase medical spaces — patently false. The B.C. United were the only ones to ever increase spaces and, I say, doubled medical school spaces. Not only that, but we distributed them throughout B.C., in four campuses. But wait. There’s more. When we did that expansion, we created UBC medical, with the capacity to increase another 30 percent without having to add another capital dollar.

Instead of this NDP immediately opening that extra capacity, this government went ahead and promised a new medical school that’s going to be graduating doctors. Oh, wait. This year, there’s not even a shovel in the ground. Shame. Shame.

The government bragged about adding general practitioners, but in reality, they’re simply playing a game of robbing Paul to pay Peter and Peter to pay Paul, simply moving them from other parts of the health care system to private practice. Some 250,000 people with a new GP? News flash: 230,000 moved to B.C. last year. We’re not even meeting that demand.

The NDP has failed at health care. I would challenge any MLA to walk into a hospital, talk to a front-line worker and ask them how it is. Our system is imploding, the dam is breaking, and people are dying as they wait. The morale of our health care professionals is at an all-time low, because they trained to save people, and more people are asking for MAiD because they won’t be seen in time.

[4:15 p.m.]

The NDP want us to believe that they’re fixing it. Sure, they can laugh all they want — that they just need more time and that it’s like this all over Canada. No, not every province has gone from first to worst. We have, under this NDP government, and we all know it.

We don’t have doctors. We’re told to wait. There are wait-lists to get onto wait-lists. People are choosing to end their lives rather than wait for our health care system. British Columbians know that this health care emperor has no clothes.

Mental health? Let’s call it a patchwork quilt of underfunded programs.

On the topic of mental health, the throne speech’s promises fell flat. Echoing hollow in the chambers of unfulfilled commitments, the NDP has pledged to prioritize mental health over and over again, spending more and more money yet not delivering any tangible results. More people died this year than last year and last year than the year before.

Half of the landscape today is just this patchwork quilt of underfunded programs and half-hearted initiatives. This lack of a cohesive strategy and adequate funding and treatment leaves many individuals without the support they desperately need, exacerbating a crisis that touches every corner of our province. Instead, people are just given free drugs and relegated to a life of addiction. Their trauma and mental illness are put on display for everyone to see.

I ask this House: would we treat our dementia patients this way? Would we put them onto the street and say: “Best of luck to you”?

All this talk of increasing the government supply of drugs. We never, ever hear of a similar increase in treatment for addictions and mental health.

Here’s another one for the NDP to steal, please. We have released Better Is Possible.

B.C. United has already shown them the way. It does provide a true system of care. By eliminating user fees at publicly funded addiction treatment beds and providing direct government funding for private beds to ensure that no one faces financial barriers to treatment. By building a minimum of five regional recovery communities for addiction treatment, while residents can stay for up to a year — not six weeks, not two months, a year — with individualized, holistic, long-term residential treatment, including Indigenous-specific care.

Free and accessible treatment. Recovery communities. Treatment on demand. Comprehensive care. That’s our plan.

The status quo isn’t working, and doubling down and doing more of the same will fail. The evidence is in the latest coroner’s report and on every street in every downtown in this province.

This NDP government is presiding over the worst hu­manitarian crisis to face our province, and their policies have only exacerbated it. In the last seven years, over 13,000 of our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives have perished on our streets. Better is possible. It just has to be.

Then there’s the cost of living. In the emperor’s classic tale, the vain emperor is swindled by two weavers who promise him a suit of clothes invisible to those unfit for their positions or hopelessly stupid. The emperor, clothed in nothing, parades before his subjects, who are too afraid to speak the truth until a child exclaims: “But he hasn’t got anything on.”

Today we find ourselves in that fable, narrated by the current administration’s promises to make life more affordable for the people of British Columbia for too long. We have been the spectators to a parade of pledges and proclamations, where the reality of our daily struggles starkly contrasts the grandiose visions, a.k.a. clothes, laid out before us.

[4:20 p.m.]

The government, like the emperor, has strutted and preened, adorned in the fabric of false assurances and unfulfilled promises, leaving the most vulnerable among us exposed to the harsh realities of ever-increasing costs of living.

As the cost of essentials from groceries to utilities sky­rockets because of taxes and carbon pricing, the government’s response has been to layer on more promises, go further into debt, spend more frivolously and be less transparent. Or, worse, to take money through the highest taxes ever, with more than 30 new and increased taxes, and then give back a mere trinket, thinking that that will somehow make ends meet.

Our citizens are not fooled by these illusory measures. They seek relief, not rhetoric. It’s time. It’s time to say that the emperor has no clothes.

Let’s talk about child care. I love that the member before me brought this up. As one who has dealt with finding child care, I know this situation intimately.

This government claims to have created more spaces. Patently false. They are closing as fast as they are opening due to the flawed NDP funding system, which means this: the NDP are wasting our money.

Stats Canada released the numbers just this week. There are now 10,600 less children in child care in B.C. than in 2019. What? Our population has increased by almost 700,000, and there are now 10,600 less children in child care in B.C. than in 2019.

I will talk about the difficulty in finding spaces. So 58.8 percent of British Columbian families have had a difficult time finding space, which is a 12.3 percent increase over 2019. Again, I’m using 2019 numbers because there is no one else that the NDP can point fingers at. There is no one else to blame.

So what does this mean? Well, less families with two incomes. Less women are going to work, and more families will move where they can afford to live. So despite the victory laps the NDP would like to do on child care, it simply is not the case. Numbers don’t lie. The emperor has no clothes.

It’s time to reduce the burden of provincial taxes and fees on the necessities of life, ensuring every resident of B.C. can live with dignity and security. B.C.’s economy needs to be stimulated with empowerment, not bogged down with barriers.

The Economic Forecast Council reported that near-recessionary conditions are forecast, with a mere 0.5 percent GDP growth this year, even worse than the government’s already dismal projections. Our small and medium-sized businesses, the very heart of our economy, are stifled by a cloak of regulations and taxes and are bleeding a death of a thousand cuts, all created by this NDP policy and administration. Yet the NDP’s promises of support and relief remain as elusive as the emperor’s clothes.

To truly invigorate our economy and safeguard the livelihoods of our citizens, we must champion a climate that nurtures business growth, fosters innovation, actually wants investment and generates sustainable employment. We need higher-paying jobs, a better investment climate and a better business environment.

As for the throne speech, filled with ambitions and fu­ture investments that span ten years, let’s remember that the garments of governance must be woven with the threads of transparency, accountability and fiscal pru­dence. We have received none of those aspects. The emperor has no clothes.

The people of B.C. deserve a government that wears its intentions plainly, ensuring that not a single dollar is wasted and that every policy is crafted with the welfare of its citizens at heart. It’s time to acknowledge the truth that echoes on the streets of our province: “But they haven’t got anything on.”

[4:25 p.m.]

The administration must clothe itself not in empty promises but in actionable, tangible solutions that address the real and pressing needs facing British Columbians. Let us cast aside the illusions of prosperity and work towards a future where no citizen is left exposed to the cold realities of poverty under their watch.

There is a better way. On this side of the House, we’re united for lower costs. We need to be practical. B.C. United’s plan would end the pain at the pumps permanently by eliminating the 15-cent-per-litre provincial fuel tax, saving British Columbians money every time they fill up with gas or diesel.

Our plan cancels the Premier’s carbon tax increases. The next one is on April 1. This may come as a surprise to some across the aisle, but hiking taxes doesn’t make things cheaper. Whatever you tax becomes more expensive.

My personal favourite is our plan to remove the carbon tax from all home heating. British Columbians should not be punished for keeping warm in the winter. As someone who does have a heat pump, I can assure you that it does not work at minus 20 to minus 30.

Our farmers that fill our bellies with their delicious food also deserve a break. Our plan would take the carbon tax off farm fuels so they can provide cheaper food at the grocery store and we can continue to buy B.C.-grown fruit. The tree fruit industry, decimated over the last four years, deserves better than silence from government when they’re asking for help. I didn’t hear agriculture mentioned once in the throne speech.

The throne speech was an opportunity for the NDP to chart a new course, to move beyond the veneer of action and deliver tangible results. But instead, we were presented with a master class in political theatre, rich in promises but devoid of meaningful action.

For the last seven years, the NDP have shown us their preference for grand gestures over the hard work of governance, for rhetoric over substance. I urge British Columbians: believe them. The NDP have shown us exactly who they are and what they are not able to accomplish.

As we look to the future, it’s clear that British Columbians deserve more than just to be spectators in this parade of ineptitude. They deserve a throne speech that is more than the government giving itself a pat on the back while they sit in absolute crisis.

We don’t want to hear any more about how this government plans to keep up with British Columbia because we don’t believe them. The challenges their policies have introduced or made worse is what we believe.

We need a government that not only promises to ad­dress the challenges we face but delivers results on those promises with concrete actions. It’s time for a leadership that actually knows how to get results that will matter and, finally, give the emperor some clothes.

Hon. B. Bailey: Thank you for the opportunity to re­spond to yesterday’s throne speech.

The throne speech, of course, centred people first — people, of course, as the driver of our economy and, as I’ve so often heard our Premier say, as British Columbia’s most important resource.

I’m going to pull a couple of highlights from the throne speech that, to no surprise to anyone, focus on the economy. Right now British Columbia’s unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Canada. In 2023, we added 74,000 new jobs, some of the strongest job growth in the country. We were first among provinces in year-over-year growth in average wages last year.

We’ve been an economic leader since 2017. B.C.’s GDP growth of 14.4 percent is the highest among large prov­inces, ahead of Ontario, ahead of Quebec, ahead of Alberta. B.C.’s debt-to-GDP ratio is less than half of that of Ontario and Quebec.

[4:30 p.m.]

We have the highest credit rating among provinces as of October 2023. Our latest labour force survey from Statistics Canada shows that despite a slower global economy and higher interest rates, the unemployment rate de­creased in British Columbia to 5.4 percent, which, in fact, is lower than the national average.

Since January 2023, we gained 70,900 jobs, 49,000 full-time and 21,900 part-time, including some of the strongest private sector growth in the country, adding nearly 35,000 jobs. I’ll say that again. Some of the strongest private sector growth in the country, adding nearly 35,000 jobs.

Our average wage now is $36.25 an hour. Excitingly, women’s full-time employment has increased the third of any province, and in January 2023 to January 2024 we increased by 12,800. I think that’s really pointing out the importance of a strong child care program.

I want to talk a little bit about our tech industry. It’s an interesting time in our tech sector. While our sector remains strong, and we’ve been leading growth in our tech sector for three years in British Columbia, the largest growth of any sector across North America year over year for three years, we are seeing layoffs. It’s a bit of a dichoto­mous situation to have both layoffs and growth, but that’s what’s happening.

While, of course, those numbers might sound like a good news story, I do want to acknowledge how much that takes out of people — to be laid off, to go through that experience of being laid off and having to look for work again. It’s very deflating. I have many friends and family in the tech sector who have been impacted by this.

It’s an unfortunate tool that many large for-profit companies that are interested in maximizing value to their shareholders, which of course is their job as large corporations…. But these layoffs that often happen in December, and then they pick back up again in March, really take a toll on individual people. Having said that, it is true that there are more jobs available than there are people looking for jobs, so I guess the silver lining for those folks who are experiencing layoffs is that there is opportunity out there.

We have seen our growth around 20 percent in 2023. There are about 11,000 tech companies employing be­tween 150,000 and 200,000 people in British Columbia. A CBR report from last year showed that Vancouver is, in fact, tied with Austin for fastest growth in North America, and in 2021 to ’22 that was 26 percent. Vancouver also attracted $402 million in venture capital in the first half of 2023.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

It has been a tough while in terms of investment. The investment climate has been challenging due to global factors and increased interest rates, so it’s encouraging to see that, really, for half of the year last year we were almost at half a billion dollars.

B.C. is investing in growing companies through our Crown corporation InBC. It’s great to see that InBC has moved forward with direct investments into a number of really promising tech companies. I’ll highlight a couple that come to mind, which I’ve had the opportunity to meet with lately.

Clarius med-tech is a very interesting company that InBC has made an equity investment in. Clarius is building hand-held AI-enabled ultrasounds. What’s interesting about this particular deployment of AI is the size of this ultrasound is very small. It’s very mobile, and rather than being attached to a large cart that one has rolled over to them when they go to a clinic or into a hospital, this is more like the size of a cell phone. It can fit in a physician or a practitioner’s pocket. The information that’s gathered from the scan goes directly to the phone of the practitioner.

Why that’s important is when you think about some of the challenges we have in health care and the solutions that we can bring forward from our B.C. technology, this is a great example. So this technology….

Historically what would happen when you get an ultrasound, you make an appointment with your doctor, you go in, an ultrasound technician will do the ultrasound. They’ll send that for interpretation to a radiologist. The radiologist will send that back to the ultrasound technician or directly to the physician. The physician then communicates to the patient.

[4:35 p.m.]

You can see that while there’s a lot of professionalism being applied, and that’s really important, it’s also timely, and it’s using quite a lot of resources. The solution Clarius has created is a solution that goes directly to the doctor. It’s not for deeply complicated ultrasounds, but many of the ultrasounds that are being performed are quite accessible to this type of disruption — for example, things like pregnancies or a torn ligament.

I can share that I tried this technology myself, and of course I have no medical training. With the assistance of AI, I was able to correctly identify a tendon that was what was looked for in this ultrasound scanning. It’s extremely easy to use.

This is an example of how B.C. technology can help us with the challenges we have in an increased population and a health care sector that was underfunded for too long. The investment of $5 million that InBC has made into this company will help unlock other investments. InBC was the lead investor in this particular round.

Another company that InBC has invested in is quite interesting. It’s a mushroom-harvesting investment. This company has built a robotic solution to harvesting mushrooms. Now, apparently, mushrooms are unpleasant to harvest. They grow in small areas that are dark, and it’s difficult to harvest them. It’s an unpleasant task.

Robots are perfectly suited to this unpleasant task, and the investment that InBC has made in this company has drawn other investments into the company. They now stand poised to be the leading product in terms of robotic harvesting of mushrooms. So nice to see some B.C. technology doing well, and particularly since that company, which is called 4ag Robotics, is actually based in rural British Columbia. We’re delighted to see that.

AI is playing an increasing role in our economy, an in­creasing role in our tech sector and an increasing role in incredible solutions, such as the one I shared from Clarius. We also have companies called LifeBooster, Motion Metrics, PALTOI, Technical Safety B.C. and many, many other deployments of AI that are assisting us in our productivity.

LifeBooster is a company which keeps workers safe by identifying and responding to ergonomic and environmental risks before they result in injury.

Motion Metrics uses expertise in AI and computer vision to improve safety and energy efficiency in mines.

PALTOI uses advanced analytics, remote sensing and geospatial big data to automate the insights necessary to identify threats before they become costly and dangerous incidents in industrial settings.

And Technical Safety B.C. has created an AI system to help employees make site visits faster and safer, more productive and more accurate.

B.C. is home to the fastest-growing life sciences sector in Canada. We have more than 2,000 companies, and while many of those companies are small, it’s wonderful to see the growth that’s occurring in the sector — medium-sized companies that are scaling up and some companies which are, in fact, becoming anchor companies.

The life sciences strategy that we rolled out last year is very impactful, and it’s really working well. I just want to share that the reason, in my view, that it’s working well is that it was designed in full consultation with industry. Industry identified what inputs government could have to help us grow this sector.

This is such a promising area for British Columbia. The potential for GDP growth here, for job growth and for outcomes that will have really, really positive impacts on our population and can be exported globally are phenomenal.

People may or may not know that every single candidate during COVID that came forward for vaccination in­cluded technology that was developed here in British Columbia. We are a leader in life sciences, particularly in regards to mRNA and lipid nanoparticles.

Our life sciences strategy includes a number of different areas where we’re focused to help growth. For example, we’ve identified that in order to have an ecosystem that continues to grow and scale the way that this sector can, we need to invest to make sure that we have anchor companies, homegrown anchor companies but also to attract anchor companies into our ecosystem.

For this reason, we have made a $75 million investment into a company called AbCellera, and that was matched by a $225 million investment from the federal government and a $400 million investment from the company themselves.

[4:40 p.m.]

This $700 million campus is underway in Mount Pleasant and will be open soon and will lead to 400 to 500 additional jobs in British Columbia. Importantly, it’s really worth noting that just ten years ago this technology was uncommercialized at UBC in a lab. This is the change that we’re driving forward in our economy right now.

British Columbia has long been good — and, I’ll say, both sides of the House have long been good — at making investments into science and research. We do well in that regard. We’ve created some extraordinary scientists. But the bad part of this story is that those scientists go and work elsewhere, most often because we haven’t had the jobs and the ecosystem to employ them here.

What’s different now with the investments we’ve made into this life science sector and the growth that we’re experiencing is that those scientists are finding work here in British Columbia. What’s more, I’ve met scientists who’ve been working in Europe and working in the U.S. who are now coming back, taking that tremendous expertise and applying it into our sector here. The growth that we’re seeing is extraordinary.

It’s also a story about how we unlock the value of our investments. When we invest in universities and we invest in science and we invest in innovation and research…. Yes, it has value in and of its own in terms of being at a teaching institution. But how do we have those investments roll into commercialization so that we can see companies grow and continue to be successful and add value and benefit to British Columbians like the results that we’re seeing from companies like AbCellera?

This is so important. The role that we’re taking with life sciences to be able to make some of these investments and help this growth is really, really key. In the life sciences sector, they talk about this being from bench to bedside. Usually we’re good at bench, but it never gets to bedside. That’s what we’re changing through our life sciences strategy.

We have invested $195 million for health research through Michael Smith Health Research B.C. and $2 million towards establishing a national biomanufacturing training centre at BCIT. I’ll just explain this a little bit because it’s one of the major legs on the stool that becomes life sciences.

The industry has identified that yes, it’s true we need anchor companies. It’s true that we need investment in science. But it’s also true that we need to find workers. We know that the labour shortage is across every sector, not just in British Columbia and Canada but truly internationally.

So in identifying that we need to have more lab technicians, what we were able to do there is, again, partner with the federal government and identify this need and fund a national biomanufacturing training centre at BCIT. The feds put in $5 million. We put in $2 million. This $7 million has allowed us to stand this up. They will graduate 700 students a year.

Rather than taking the time to develop our own teaching materials, what we did — because we need this to move quickly; this is an opportunity that exists right now — is we took the training tools from Ireland called the CASTLS program, which is working so well there.

Ireland is such an interesting example in the life sciences sector. They’re a small country, about the size of British Columbia in fact, yet they have one of the top three life sciences sectors in the world. They’re a great model for us to look at. They’re very cooperative, and using the CASTLS training, which has been proven so well in that context, is a wonderful way for us to support the needs of our life sciences sector and to do it quickly and at scale.

We’ve also invested $10 million into adMare BioInnovations, which is our wet lab investment. This is another area where industry said: “If you want us to grow this sector, we need more wet lab space.” What is that? What’s a wet lab space, and why is it important?

People can have an imagination, I think, when we say labs. But wet labs are a bit different. They’re secured. It’s almost like you wear a hazmat suit. You’re all suited up. It’s a very protected space. In addition to that level of risk of contamination, it’s also a particular lab because it has very expensive equipment that most start-ups just simply couldn’t afford.

When a company is starting up out of a university, which is very often the case in the biotech sector, they have access to all kinds of expensive, fabulous equipment at the university — a genome sequencing machine, for example. But when they go out to start their small business, they can’t possibly afford these multi-million-dollar machines. So what to do? That’s where wet lab space really fits.

[4:45 p.m.]

This is a way to support the growth of these burgeoning companies so that they can have access to the high-quality equipment that is so necessary for their development. Very, very key. In addition to the $10 million wet lab space we’ve invested in with adMare BioInnovations, we also invested $2.5 million to the Vancouver Island Life Sciences Centre to ensure there’s wet lab space available here for companies that are rolling out of UVic and our excellent institutions here on Vancouver Island.

We’ve also invested $200 million over two years to the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre to expand B.C.’s leading genetic research, including life-saving cancer and medical research. An addition to the genomics centre will play a key role in understanding areas such as forestry, marine science, agriculture, biodiversity and the effects of climate change.

Before I step away from the life sciences sector, I want to make a couple of other points. One of the really key pieces of our biotech strategy is that it was developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.

I’ve talked to other people in this role in different prov­inces who are rolling out life sciences strategies. People want to see this sector grow. Everyone understands that these are really important jobs, and the sector is a burgeoning one. The difference British Columbia has is that we are doing it in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. Some of the other provinces haven’t gone that direction. That’s seen as a great benefit.

The reason is this: in order to have successful invention reach its way to commercialization, it has to go through quite a regimented clinical trial process. Currently, other than cancer — which, of course, is so important — British Columbia does not have stage 1 clinical trials. Why that matters is there are four stages to clinical trials. If you’re leaving British Columbia to do your stage 1 research, or even stage 2, it’s quite possible, and in fact likely, that you might take your company with you when you go to do those trials.

When you go to other jurisdictions and do that work, the appeal of staying where you’re doing the clinical trials is quite strong. We don’t want to see that kind of IP and business leakage. We want to keep these companies successful, ensure that they have what they need to really have success and home runs in British Columbia.

By building out, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, the opportunity for stage 1 clinical trials to oc­cur in British Columbia is really, really pivotal. It’s also a real benefit to British Columbians because some of these drugs that are being tested are what we might call Hail Mary drugs.

I’m sure everyone in this room would recognize that when we have a loved one who is in a critical situation and unable to access drugs and there’s nothing available to help them, being able to try a clinical trial and perhaps have success…. Well, it’s just a really important aspect that we want to make available to British Columbians.

So that together is our life sciences strategy, and it’s really paying dividends. We’re being noticed around the world. I recently did an interview with Newsweek maga­zine, which has a readership of 100 million people. I mean, think about that. That is 2.5 times the entire population of Canada that is going to be reading about our life sciences strategy.

I really want to raise my hands to the excellent, excellent work that’s happened in conjunction with industry, with the fabulous team that we have here in JEDI and the life sciences organization, Wendy Hurlburt in particular. It’s very exciting what’s happening in that space.

I do also want to talk about our natural resources be­cause, while there are really incredible things happening in our life sciences and tech sector, we all know that British Columbia is a province that has been built on natural resources, and natural resources will continue forever to be a deeply, deeply important part of our economy. People have heard me say before that I come from a forestry background, that my dad worked in the forestry industry as a heavy-duty mechanic at Madill’s in Nanaimo and taught heavy-duty mechanics.

I remember back in the day, in the ’70s, us talking about how important it is that we do value-add. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, decades of talking. But the thing is, we’re actually doing it. We’re doing it, and it’s so exciting.

[4:50 p.m.]

The opportunities that come to us right now because of our mass timber strategy and the transition that’s happening into value-add are so significant. British Columbia has the opportunity to be a true leader in the mass timber sector. In fact, that’s where we’re going.

Already our mass timber designers — the people who are designing mass timber buildings, the cluster of people we have doing that work — are considered the best in the world. We have more mass timber buildings right now in British Columbia than in all of the U.S. added together. That is extraordinary, and there is more to come. What’s exciting about this is that we’re getting more value out of every single log that is pulled out of British Columbia forests. These are high-paying jobs. We’re very excited about the future of mass timber.

We’ve also been able to attract a major mass timber conference, Woodrise, into British Columbia. I understand that that’s a major coup. So congratulations to the team members who did that great work. It’s an opportunity for us to really showcase the incredible work that’s happening on mass timber. We want to grow this sector. It’s a tough sector to grow. It’s very competitive. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re determined to continue this work and to make it successful.

One of the ways that we’re supporting the growth of mass timber is through our manufacturing jobs plan. The manufacturing jobs plan, as folks know, was funded at $180 million. About half of that, or perhaps a bit more than half, is really designed to assist in the transition that’s happening in our forestry sector.

There’s no question our forestry sector has been hit from a number of different directions, and there is a need for transition. What that can look like is funding opportunities for forestry companies, for example, to transition one of their lines into a value-add line. There are other ways that money is being used, and we have more announcements coming, some of which are in the mass timber area.

I also want to speak about REDIP, which is our rural economic development and infrastructure program, which has supported over 200 projects for rural economies, and there are more on the way. This is a really exciting program. It was funded at 33.5 and then repeated at 33.5. We’ve seen just an incredible diversity of programs being applied for and funded through this program.

It’s designed to be quite broad in its scope. It’s designed so the applicants are not filling out a huge application in a void and sending it off to a black box. It’s really designed to work with communities in developing and thinking about what the opportunities for economic development are.

Of course, not every community has the size, the scope to be able to do economic development within their municipality, their regional group. You can apply to receive funding to hire someone who’s an economic development expert, and you can then apply for the next tranche to deliver the project. It’s designed specifically to address that challenge some smaller communities have experienced.

We’re hearing really good things about how this is being received in communities and, as I say, just a huge range of really, really innovative projects that are coming forward. It really does reflect a perspective that we hold, which is that the folks in communities know what they need, right?

This is not a top-down program that says: “Victoria knows, and you must deliver.” It’s the opposite of that. This is a program that says: “We understand how important our rural communities are to us.” Our rural economies are deeply important. There’s been a lot of change that has been happening in these communities. How can we support? What would help you? What do you define as the opportunity in your community that we can assist you with? That’s how we approach it.

Some examples of some innovative programming that we’ve seen. In the Cariboo, for example, Xeni Gwet’in, $1 million to support the Nemiah Valley Lodge, which is going to be a meeting facility. This is really about Indigenous tourism.

We’ve also supported a project in the Kootenays, the corporation of the village of New Denver, to assist them in their commercial core vision, how they want their downtown core to look.

[4:55 p.m.]

We’ve made a near-$500,000 investment, $488,720, into Futurepreneur. Now, Futurepreneur — I love this organization — is doing incredible work across the country. In this particular application, they’re delivering entrepreneurial skills to folks living in rural settings. Don’t kid yourself; there are extraordinary entrepreneurs rurally. I’ve had the chance to tour the province, and one of the things I’ve most enjoyed is connecting with entrepreneurs, all over our province, who are doing extraordinary things.

When I was at the Natural Resources Forum a little while ago in Prince George, I had the opportunity to meet with a company that has designed solar panels for maritime application that are profoundly strong and can actually be on the side of boats, providing a source of energy as these boats sail — really innovative stuff.

We’ve also seen some results in terms of the work that we’re doing to ensure that we maximize relationships with forestry companies. Canfor has announced a new $200 million high-efficiency forestry facility in Houston, B.C., through investments that we’re making with them. Cariboo Gold received their environmental certificate through our new streamlined process, and they plan to bring hundreds of jobs to the Cariboo.

The reality, we know, is that when we support rural communities and the infrastructure that they depend on, we’re supporting our economy. We’re supporting all of us.

I see that I’m getting close to the end of my time. I’ll just speak a little bit about some of the direct investments we’re making in the clean tech sector, specifically to highlight the great work that’s going on with E-One Moli. E-One Moli is a $1.05 billion investment into lithium-ion batteries, and it’s right in Maple Ridge. The company has a very interesting story, so indulge me as I tell it to you.

Moli Energy, as I understand, was founded in 1976 at UBC. At that time, British Columbia was the leader in the world in lithium-ion technology. Isn’t that an extraordinary thing? We were the leaders in the world back then; we’re not now. This is a cautionary tale, because it’s a story of IP leaving our province, and we’re so focused on reversing those stories. In that way, Moli Energy is a good-news story, in coming back home.

Moli Energy rolled out of UBC and built some amazing early technology for cell phones, those big bricks that my dad used to carry, for example. But they didn’t get the investment they needed to continue in our economy, and they were sold to Japan and later sold to Taiwan. The return of this technology into British Columbia is a happy day. This is going to grow 450 jobs in Maple Ridge. I can’t say too much about the specific application of the batteries they’re building. They’re transformative to a number of different sectors. We’re very, very delighted to see them there.

I will share a quote from the mayor of Maple Ridge, Dan Ruimy, who said: “This investment in the expansion of a new clean tech manufacturing facility is an economic milestone to support job creation and growth in our community. It aligns with the city’s economic development and climate action strategies.”

To wrap up, what I’ve done in the last few minutes is highlight some economic pieces that are spoken about in our throne speech. British Columbia continues to drive forward on major initiatives in clean tech, in opportunities to ensure that we have value-add in our forestry sector, to support our tech sector, to grow out our amazing biotech sector and so much more.

While many of these investments are local, it’s important that we continue to support our rural economies, which we are doing through our REDIP program and our manufacturing jobs program, among others.

S. Furstenau: I’m happy to provide a response to the Speech from the Throne today.

As we look ahead to the spring sitting of the B.C. Legislative Assembly, on behalf of the B.C. Green caucus, I am grateful to be here on the lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking people to respond to government and provide our vision for what the B.C. Legislative Assembly could achieve, were it to be focused on addressing the issues of highest importance to British Columbians.

The session starts at a moment of historic inequity. British Columbia is now home to seven billionaires and many centi-millionaires, while more than half of this province is $200 away from being unable to pay their bills. We have extraordinary wealth being hoarded by international businesses, while thousands of our citizens sleep unsheltered in our parks and on our streets.

[5:00 p.m.]

This inequality is leading to a generation of British Columbians who are living lives of despair, who don’t believe there is any chance they will ever be able to buy a house, have a family here or find secure and meaningful employment.

People are working multiple jobs and still paying over half their income on rent. Our cities are less vibrant and less safe because we have failed to provide paths out of poverty. Our politics are mired in distrust, and our society sees increasing social unrest and discontent. As the gap between the affluent and marginalized widens, the social cohesion that binds us together weakens, leading to a fractured and polarized community.

In addition to being a moral and fiscal failure, this is a climate catastrophe. As Oxfam points out, economic inequality has become an existential threat to our societies, crippling our ability to end poverty, corroding politics and putting the future of our planet in peril. Indeed, billionaires emit one million times more carbon dioxide than the average person.

This House could spend the next three months developing the necessary economic and fiscal structures to ensure that wealth is taxed properly and that pollution from industry and transportation is effectively covered in our fiscal settings. These settings would provide a stable revenue, which can be used to ensure that all British Columbians have somewhere to sleep, that people who weren’t able to capture the windfall of rising property values aren’t left behind and that our schools, hospitals and public services are funded adequately.

We can and we must solve more than one problem at a time. The purpose of government is to protect and support the interests of people and the ecosystems on which people depend. Support for people to live the lives that they want to live. Support for the most vulnerable. Effective regulation of dangerous and polluting industries should be one of the core functions of this House and of government.

Across British Columbia, Indigenous people continue to feel the devastating legacy of colonial policies and institutions. Government institutions spend more time and energy policing Indigenous, racialized and marginalized communities than in providing them with the necessary supports for full and active lives.

This government has given $36 million to support the community-industry response group, an RCMP unit that targets Wet’suwet’en land protectors. In fact, we’ve seen the mandate for C-IRG broaden to monitor pro-Palestine protests. It feels like a decision has been made that there is unlimited money for cracking down on protesters, especially when those protesters are Indigenous or from a minority faith or ethnic community, but there is only limited money to support communities to invest in education and health care.

This House has the ability to change these statistics. We can change our spending and our priorities to empower communities, to support people and families and to pro­vide assistance without overwrought surveillance. We are, in fact, in a fortunate position in British Columbia to be surrounded by internationally recognized experts. We should take advantage of these experts, such as outgoing coroner Lisa Lapointe, who has offered the government solutions for reducing the impact of the toxic drug crisis, which is killing seven people every day.

The outcomes we are seeing are the results of government decisions. We can make different decisions. We can make the choice to actively protect people rather than protect corporations. We can protect renters rather than protect real estate investment trusts.

Too many times recently we’ve seen a lack of ambition from this government. We’re told to accept that access to health care is just not going to be possible for many people in this province, that people spending half their income on rent is the way that life is, that our beloved flora and fauna going extinct is sad but unavoidable.

Our social safety net has had so many holes cut into it in the last 40 years. It’s not a net anymore. It’s a high wire. In all of our communities, people are falling off the high wire and discovering too late that the net is not going to catch them.

[5:05 p.m.]

These conditions mean we are losing the true wealth of generations, the wealth we all benefit from when people can take risks, chances, when they can be creative or entrepreneurial. Instead, we have people in their 20s and 30s and 40s imprisoned by housing costs that trap them in jobs they don’t want and prevent them from doing the things that move us forward as individuals and as a society — going back to school, taking courses, pursuing a passion, art, music, writing, dance or even starting a family.

What I see from this government is an inability to see that life for British Columbians could be so much different. We’re so fortunate in B.C. We have a beautiful environment, an educated and hard-working population, access to world-class minds and enough good food and income for everyone to live a life of security, dignity and joy. So why is the government settling? Why are we in this new normal?

As B.C. Greens, we don’t accept that we must live lives where people are terrified of becoming sick because they might not be able to access health care, where disability condemns a person to a life of poverty or where our children lack access to the technologies, resources and supports that they need and deserve to have.

We have the means and the options to protect our old-growth forests, to ensure that everyone has access to world-leading cancer care and for a social safety net that provides those who need it with the opportunity to find their way out of poverty rather than be trapped in it.

I believe fiercely and deeply that we have the capacity to solve the problems we face in our province. We can solve homelessness. We can address the toxic drug crisis. We can produce abundant, clean energy. Our communities don’t have to endure boom-and-bust economic cycles.

So the role of government. We are here in this House with a duty to legislate, to take active steps to make life better for people. We should be focused on action. Instead, we have a government that has been focused on announcements.

We have a tradition in our caucus. When the government makes an announcement, instead of assessing it on its merits immediately, we first unpack it. How much of what is said is new? How many of those beds in a hospital will be staffed? How many of them were actually an­nounced by a different minister in a different week? How much of that money is from the federal government and should have been spent last year?

Effective governance is about being clear, transparent and focusing on making changes, not endless media stand-ups and announcements.

Effective governance is about being proactive, looking at the horizon, looking at funding mechanisms for public transportation and understanding that a fossil fuel–based funding model is no longer fit for purpose, and looking at old growth and seeing it as a treasure that needs protection for the next 500 years.

Effective governance is about recognizing that local governments play a crucial role in planning for infrastructure and should be involved in developing housing legislation. It’s about acknowledging that this House is a core part of scrutinizing legislation and planning to ensure that we have sufficient time to debate each bill that government puts before us.

It’s about putting all of the changes they’d like to see made to the housing rules in one piece of legislation, pro­viding the modelling and data that underpinned their recommendations before we did the debates, and not being scared to have an evidence-based discussion with other parties and with the public.

Finally, as a House, we also have a responsibility to en­gage thoughtfully and meaningfully with each other, to not allow disinformation or misinformation to go unchecked, to debate issues, not people, and to remember we are all here in service to the people of B.C. and to the future of this province.

E. Ross: It’s an honour to get up and respond to the throne speech, 2024.

In listening to the throne speech…. I stopped taking notes when I realized it’s almost the repeat of 2023 and almost 2022. I went and found my throne speech response from last year. I just scratched off 2023, and I put in 2024.

Interjection.

E. Ross: I’m kidding. It’s a joke.

[5:10 p.m.]

I listened to a lot of what was said. There was a lot of comment about the economy and health care and not much about really anything happening on the ground in terms of reality.

One of the things that jumped out at me right away was that the throne speech mentioned UNDRIP, or DRIPA. It didn’t really mention the fact that the NDP government argued in court, against the Gitxaała First Nation, that UNDRIP was not legally enforceable, that it was only an interpretive aid.

I understood this when I read UNDRIP when I was a chief councillor. In fact, I talked a lot about it and said it’s really redundant in terms of what Canada has already done with the constitution and all the case laws that have been provided to us over the last 40 years.

But a lot of the other statements were just obvious rights that everybody has, not just specific to First Nations, like the right to save your culture and language. Yes, we’re not living under the Indian Act anymore. We have the right to save our culture and language. Same with the Italians and the British and the English and the Africans. They all have that right.

To see it in a court case…. This is one of the things I talked about when we were talking about UNDRIP and saying we established case law over 40 years to figure out the rules between the government and First Nations.

One of my fears was that we’d have to go back to court to define what UNDRIP was. We saw the first court case. Gitxaała, like many First Nations, were truly believing that UNDRIP was going to uplift First Nations and B.C. to a higher level. I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see the substance in DRIPA. That was quite unfortunate for First Nations to learn firsthand.

The second issue I came across, quite by accident, actually, was I was trying to figure out…. This relates to the throne speech in terms of the economy. I don’t know where the numbers are coming from, especially when you talk about exports. But I travelled to the Peace. I travelled down south. One of the biggest issues for people in the resource sector is they can’t get permits — forestry, mining, natural gas — to get the gas out of the ground and into the pipes, get it to Kitimat, ship it to Asia. They can’t get permits.

Quite by accident, somebody mentioned to me that Halfway River and Doig River were taking the B.C. NDP government to court over the Blueberry agreement. I couldn’t make comment on the Blueberry agreement, because the copy that we got was heavily redacted. But previous to that, we debated UNDRIP on the word “veto.” The minister at the time swore up and down that it was not a veto but played with the word “consent.”

Part of the claim Halfway River is talking about, that they’re alleging, is the B.C. NDP government gave a veto to Blueberry River. Now, of course, we’ve got to wait for the court to decide whether or not that’s true, but Halfway River and Doig River are no strangers to court. They are two of the First Nations that helped develop the case law in the last 40 years, so they know what Aboriginal rights and title are. They know what treaty rights are. Basically, they have evidence to show that while they were negotiating in good faith, the B.C. NDP were negotiating “in bad faith.”

Doig and Halfway River trusted that their rights would be respected and honoured as per section 35 of the constitution, so they signed the letter of intent. Their petition to the court says not only were their rights for their territory taken away and basically subverted over to the Blueberry agreement; they’re also saying that the benefits that went with that territory went to Blueberry.

This is not ignorance on the government’s part. Everybody knows that First Nations have overlap issues.

[5:15 p.m.]

One of the claims that the Halfway River talks about is saying the B.C. NDP even took the atmospheric benefits from Halfway River’s territory and transferred them to Blueberry. Atmospheric benefits mean carbon credits.

I talked to my wife about this. I told her. I said it would be like taking the benefits from Haisla territory, in terms of LNG, and allowing the government to transfer all those benefits to my neighbouring First Nation.

This has to be proven in court. I understand that. But the amount of claims Halfway River is talking about, and the quotes in it…. They’re talking about how they felt that they were deceived by the government and that the government actually omitted crucial information. It talks about DRIPA being based on section 35 and the pursuant jurisprudence. Well, the case law talks about, fundamentally, how the Crown, meaning the government, has to act honourably.

It’s quite surprising to me, as well, that Halfway River is talking about the permits that are not getting issued for mining, forestry and LNG that they want to see issued because they have an economic interest in those permits being issued. When the throne speech talked about leaving nobody behind….

I think Halfway River and Doig River feel left behind, not only in terms of economics but in terms of Aboriginal rights and title case law and section 35 and their treaty rights. When I mentioned this today in the House, I said this is probably the most dishonourable thing I’ve seen a level of government pursue in the last 20 years. I’m really talking about the case law. The case law says the Crown has to be honourable.

In terms of the economy and nobody being left be­hind, we’ve got Cedar LNG, which, basically, was overdue in terms of decision-making. We had to bring it to this House, and we had to actually force the government to admit that they checked all the boxes, and it had to be approved.

What’s interesting, though, is we don’t have any mention of Nisg̱a’aa Ksi LNG in the throne speech. Why I bring this up is because their certificate is in danger of being expired. If it expires, they’ve got to start all over. An environmental assessment in B.C. costs millions and millions of dollars to achieve. I hate to imagine how much money LNG Canada or Chevron spent just to get their environmental certificate. Nisg̱a’aa, being a treaty nation for the last 20 years — it was celebrated in this Legislature, by the way — is in danger of starting all over again. Not one mention of Nisg̱a’aa LNG.

Yet we see the results of LNG Canada, which was actually lobbied for by our First Nations, as well as Chevron. That made such an impact on B.C., not only in terms of jobs and training and contracts but also to the coffers of B.C. It provided the revenue for B.C. to provide the services that the throne speech is talking about.

We’re also talking about…. There was a comment about value-added. I agree. We’ve been talking about it forever, but we haven’t really done anything. The latest value-added initiative happening in B.C. right now is ammonia and hydrogen being sourced from natural gas. We’ve got one project in B.C. that’s proposing this. This is McLeod Lake. They’ve got a long way to go. They’ve got to get an environmental assessment certificate as well. We’ve actually got Trigon, which is going to ship ammonia from Alberta to Prince Rupert and then export that to Japan — ammonia sourced from natural gas.

We’ve got huge natural gas reserves in the Peace, and we’re not entertaining that. Even if we thought about it, we’re not going to issue the permits to get that gas out of the ground.

[5:20 p.m.]

We’ve got another proposal up and coming that’s being sourced by Frog Lake, in Alberta, in partnership with com­panies in Alberta, to actually create ammonia and hydrogen out of natural gas and rail it to Kitimat.

They also see the economics of this. What they’d prefer is to build an ammonia plant between Kitimat and Terrace, with First Nations support and partnership, to be closer to tidewater, and get ammonia to Japan, which is currently trying to transition their economy away from natural gas and oil and start using ammonia and hydrogen to power up their society.

That’s a great transition. While the rest of the world is starting to figure out that electric vehicles have a lot of drawbacks, Japan is saying, “Let’s transition using an affordable energy source like natural gas and extract the ammonia and hydrogen from it to power up vehicles and their industry.”

There’s not enough hydrogen, with the proposed projects right now, for Japan. They want more. In fact, that’s why I went to meet with Japan’s consul general, along with my colleagues from Langara and the Kootenays, to talk about how we can get more ammonia and hydrogen, sourced from LNG, to Japan.

The throne speech talked about global economic uncertainty and how it’s affecting us. It shouldn’t really bother B.C. if you just issued the permits. I mean, LNG Canada alone is going to provide $36 billion in revenues to the B.C. government.

Just imagine if Chevron had completed their $30 billion project. Imagine if the permits for forestry were issued right now. You wouldn’t have to worry about economic uncertainty. The world is begging for natural gas to come from B.C. They’re begging for forestry products. They’re begging for mining products, but we can’t issue permits.

Even though these companies and First Nations are going through the process and doing what they’re told to do, they still can’t get permits. I don’t think global economic uncertainty should be used as a reason for why the economy is not robust here in B.C.

You talked about affordability. It doesn’t help that 30 taxes have been created or raised in B.C. under the NDP. It doesn’t help that the carbon tax has doubled. It doesn’t help that British Columbians are being restricted in their choice of energy and are being steered toward an electricity source that doesn’t exist. We’re talking about no supply of electricity, and we’re not talking about the infrastructure that still needs to be built.

With one project out of Prince George being proposed, it can take up the entire supply of Site C. So why did we say no to the Okanagan getting an expansion for natural gas pipelines as an energy source to heat their homes? It doesn’t make any sense.

By the time we figure this out, when we shut down natural gas all across B.C. and we rely heavily on electricity that doesn’t exist, we’re going to end up buying more electricity off the North American grid. And the United States gets their electricity from coal.

The politics, in the wording and the demonization of energy like natural gas, just doesn’t make any sense, especially when you’re talking about propane exports increasing, going to Asia and coming out of Rupert — a by­product of natural gas. But natural gas — those are a bad couple of words.

[5:25 p.m.]

At the same time, coal exports have increased in B.C. We heard a comment about how exports were actually increasing in B.C. Yeah, but you didn’t mention that that’s really coal. And coal…. I agree with the Premier. You need coal. You want to build wind towers? You need coal. That’s how you get your steel.

You can permit coal, you can permit propane, but you can’t permit the natural resources that come from B.C. You’re okay with ammonia coming from Alberta, but you can’t permit anything coming from B.C. to go to international markets.

I saw the announcement from the B.C. government and the federal government of the heavily-subsidized battery plant to be built in Langley. I actually talked to the president there. Anything relating to the economy is a passion of mine, especially when it builds up people and communities. My point was: wouldn’t you rather source the minerals from B.C.? Why would you want to export all the critical minerals for a battery plant from outside the borders of B.C. and Canada? Why would we do that?

It’s a simple fix. There are a lot of projects up in northern B.C. that…. All they need is a permit. They’ve got First Nations support. They’ve got First Nations partnerships. You want to build up B.C. and First Nations? Issue the permits. It’s very simple. If you can do it for coal, you can do it for mining.

In terms of building up B.C., there are really only three main areas I’d like to concentrate on: governance, the economy and First Nations. They’re all connected. I agree with the case law that first said that we better learn to reconcile because, let’s face it, none of us are going anywhere. So anything that builds up the economy and people makes us all stronger.

This makes me more than disappointed that Edison Motors, a backyard company out of Merritt that develops off-the-shelf technology to build a logging truck that is a hybrid, diesel or gas, battery-operated logging truck…. They had to get their sourcing from crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, because they applied to the B.C. government, and they got rejected. But who did the B.C. government fund? They funded their American competitors.

They’re going to show up here soon, I hope. These guys dress in hoodies and plaid work shirts and work boots. When they showed up in my office, I thought: “You guys can’t be the CEOs. You guys can’t be the executives.” They have got an amazing product, an amazing company. They’re moving to Terrace, B.C., my riding, because they didn’t want to go to the United States, where they were offered land and tax cuts. The United States wanted them to locate in the United States, but they want to tough it out.

From what I understand, crowdsourcing is basically just going out there and telling the general public: “Hey, do you want to invest in our company?” I thought it was like GoFundMe.

But Edison Motors, a made-in-B.C. story — they cannot get the support of the B.C. government. They’re going to try again. They’re going to apply again.

I’m begging the B.C. government: give these guys money. Fund them. They can grow. They can be massive in Terrace, and they can expand to other parts of the country. They can match up perfectly with your Langley battery plant.

They also actually address the right to repair. It’s not copyrighted, so if any of their equipment breaks down, whoever owns the equipment can go to the local store, pick up the parts, repair it themselves.

There seemed to be a lot of issues with the land management act amendment that was found out about by accident by the media. And yes, we did do town halls as the B.C. United party, because people were flooding our emails, saying: “What’s this all about? Does this mean I don’t get a hunting permit, don’t get a fishing permit, don’t get to go logging, don’t get to go hiking?”

[5:30 p.m.]

The only thing we could think of was: “Hey, why don’t we just try to have a town hall and basically tell them what we know?” Which was not much. We didn’t know much.

In my previous life, from 2003 to 2011, I was the chairman of treaty negotiation for the Haisla band council. We talked a lot about shared decision-making. We talked about the jurisdictional issues in terms of the ministers and the government, and we understood that. We understood the rationale of why the government would not entertain us in terms of shared decision-making. In the end, I started to agree with them.

It’s a lot of responsibility. That’s why the ministries have so many lawyers and staff and consultants. If you have a Mount Polley disaster, the first thing you look at is: who signed the authorization? For my band, I didn’t want to hire a whole pile of lawyers and consultants to do a job that’s actually the responsibility of the Crown.

But what was most troublesome about this Land Act amendment was watching people get angry at First Nations and vice versa. It had nothing to do with people on the ground. It had to do with the government selecting, handpicking specific groups of people to talk to and no doubt getting them to sign confidentiality agreements so the result would only be a one-sided story coming out of government.

I think people had a right to be afraid. The whole point of being an open and transparent government is actually going out there and telling them yourself: “This is what they’re proposing, and this is what we’re basing it on.”

I get Aboriginal self-determination. I get that. But if you look at bands that are successful, highly successful, they got this far, from 2004 to 2017, without shared decision-making. The case law is pretty clear. The Haida court case is pretty clear that government has got a job to do. First Nations have an interest. Proponents, a third party — they have an interest. But at the end of the day, the case law also said: “Government, you’ve got a bigger responsibility because you’ve got to look after society at large.”

That was never talked about. There was no fearmongering from the B.C. United Party. There was no fearmongering from other organizations. People just want to know what’s going on. What does it mean?

It’s a complicated issue when you start talking about section 35 and the Haida court case. It’s a complicated issue. So I reject that idea that somehow we were misinformed or uninformed or we weren’t telling the truth. We didn’t even know what the truth was.

I would love to see what those handpicked organizations really thought about what was put in front of them. We currently can’t get permits out of the ground right now for LNG, for forestry, for mining. Would this have made it better or worse? They can’t get permits out of the Peace for natural gas, and nobody’s talking about it.

The biggest news is health care and drugs. In Skeena, I was trying to figure out why so many doctors were leaving and nurses were leaving, only to find out that nurses weren’t really leaving. They were actually leaving the public service, going to work for a private nursing company and then getting hired back as private nurses to work in the hospitals with reduced hours, less stress and more pay.

On the other side of it, doctors — even one that came here just over a year and a half ago — are leaving. This is the story for Skeena. It’s probably true for a lot of areas around rural B.C., and nobody’s really talking about why. I heard words like “toxic workplace,” “disgruntled workers.”

I was actually part of a meeting where the citizens of Kitimat and the representatives, the leadership, put together a meeting to talk about how we recruit more doctors and nurses. I’ve done a lot of recruitment in my days as chief in council, and it’s tough.

[5:35 p.m.]

It’s really tough. You can’t really talk about recruitment unless you know what the baseline is in terms of what government and the health authorities have been doing to date. What are the incentives? Whatever those incentives are, they’re not working, because we have a problem with retention in Skeena.

Then one of the things I’d point out is that when you look at the overworked healthcare workers in a place like Skeena, Victoria looks really attractive. Vancouver looks really attractive. My family doctor moved from Kitimat to Victoria. Why? A new doctor came in a year and a half ago. She’s leaving. Why? I don’t get it.

I agree that recruitment, especially in today’s day and age, has got to be a community effort. Everybody has got to chip in — First Nations, councils from municipalities, government health authorities, corporations. But you’re not going to get over this until you figure out why people are leaving and why people are not coming to places like Skeena.

I thought it would be a very attractive place to come to — Skeena. We’ve got a booming economy. We’ve got a brand-new hospital being built in Terrace that was actually campaigned on in 2017 by both the NDP and by the B.C. Liberal Party at the time. We got that. So how come people aren’t sticking around? It’s a tough question, but you do need answers if you’re going to figure this out.

In terms of the drug experiment that we actually…. I think we’re in year 2 of the experiment here in B.C., the decriminalization of hard drugs — 2.5 grams, I believe it is. The decriminalization was never debated here. It was a deal struck up by the federal government and the NDP government here in B.C. So we never had a chance to go back and tell our constituents what’s in store for them. Now we’re trying to scramble to keep it out of our parks and out of our doorways, and it’s failing.

For some reason, we looked at different models, especially the United States, and without even thinking about whether or not it was going to work, we jumped in without thinking about what it would mean in our communities.

Oregon is now backing away from their decriminalization because they’ve had the worst opioid crisis in their history — in fact, in their country. They had the most opioid deaths in their country. So they’re going to take back their decriminalization laws.

Here we are in B.C. We’re going to double down on it. We’ve gotten our shelters…. The workers are saying that they have to take everything from the clients that go in and spend a night in their shelter, and what they find a lot of is the government’s safe supply of drugs in a blister pack.

My friends and family are still dying from drug overdoses, and some of them are young. They’re not drug addicts. They’re experimenting, just like a lot of young people in this place experimented with booze and drugs. But in our day, we weren’t exposed to fentanyl. And going to bury friends and family just because of a decision maybe to have a good time is heartbreaking. It breaks apart a community, especially First Nations.

I’d really like B.C. and the federal government to rethink their decriminalization experiment.

B. Banman: It is, as always, a pleasure to be able to stand in this House and respond to a throne speech.

[5:40 p.m.]

Yesterday the Premier went to downtown Vancouver to take selfies with our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Together, they’re proposing to solve the home ownership crisis by siphoning off taxpayer money to subsidize developers and long-term rentals. The Premier’s NDP government and Justin Trudeau’s NDP-Liberal government are proud to shell out public money to build housing for British Columbians who make as much as $190,000 per year. That is five times Vancouver’s medium income.

Make no mistake. This NDP Premier is asking British Columbians, no matter how much or little they earn, to give up the dream of home ownership. Together, thanks to the NDP and the B.C. United/Liberals, the housing market is so badly broken that this government is taking taxpayer money from workers and families to subsidize rental housing for wealthy people who earn as much as $190,000 per year.

British Columbians did not vote for this kind of socialism when they voted for John Horgan, but that is precisely what they’re getting from this Premier. The NDP Premier’s message is clear in this throne speech. Work hard. Do everything right, and you’ll own nothing. In other words, don’t worry. It’ll be all right. Don’t worry. Be happy.

Frankly, I find this kind of socialist thinking troubling and downright scary. The dream of home ownership for everyday working people must not be buried in British Columbia. We Conservatives want a B.C. future where you can build a future for your family, for your children, where the dream of owning a home is alive, not buried.

In the next weeks and months, British Columbia’s Conservatives will fight in the B.C. legislative House to protect people’s property rights, to protect their health rights and protect taxpayers’ rights. In short, we will fight for a future for everyday hard-working British Columbians.

As we approach an election year and the election is upon us, we will put forward a plan to build a B.C. where people who work hard can always, always get ahead. Our message to everyday hard-working British Columbians is simple. The NDP and the Liberals ran this province for 32 years, and the results are in. British Columbians are paying more and more and getting less and less. They’re paying more, and they’re getting less. For working people, for young families and everyone else, things are worse than they have ever been.

In my home community of Abbotsford, we see less in investment in transit and infrastructure. We have worse health care and longer wait times and chaos in our schools.

[5:45 p.m.]

The polls have shown two things. One, British Columbians know that this socialist NDP government is failing on every issue, and two, B.C.’s commonsense Conser­vatives are on the rise and polling higher than ever before. Change is coming to British Columbia come this election in 2024.

B. D’Eith: Before I start, I just wanted to put out a few thank-yous, if I could.

I’ve recently hired a new CA, Christina Shearme, and with my other CAs, Tara Cooke and Sunny Schiller, I kind of think I have the dream team now. They’re amazing, back at home in Maple Ridge and Mission, and doing incredible work. I just wanted to thank them for everything they’re doing.

I also wanted to thank my legislative assistant, HK Norman. They’re doing great work for us. I’d like to thank also the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport for allowing me access to their ministerial adviser, Diego Cardona — who, as anyone who may have worked with Diego knows, is an amazing support — and everyone in the ministry office helping me with my role as Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film.

I also just wanted a shout-out to the two mayors I work with: Dan Ruimy and his council in Maple Ridge and Paul Horn and their council in Mission. It’s really wonderful. I spent a great deal of time with them recently, and it’s just wonderful to see everyone working so well together.

And to congratulate Chief Grace George and her council for re-election to the Katzie First Nations Council.

I did want to say as well, before I start, that Maple Ridge is located on the traditional territory of the Katzie First Nations and Kwantlen First Nations. I’d like to acknowledge that.

Mission is situated on the traditional territory of the Stó:lo people, including Leq’á:mel, Semá:th, Kwantlen, Sq’éwlets, Máthexwi, and Katzie traditional territories. The traditional language spoken by Stó:lo people is Hal­q’eméylem.

Of course, I’d like to recognize that today we’re speaking to you from the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən-​speaking people, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

In particular, I was quite moved yesterday when the Lieutenant-Governor entered with the Songhees dancers. It was actually a very powerful and symbolic moment to have that happen and to acknowledge and embrace and celebrate Indigenous culture and dance and song.

Another piece that’s happened recently is the Indigenous language signs that have been permanently mounted around the precinct that speak of ancestors, warriors, settlers and children. Hereditary Chief Edward Thomas Sr. said that the presence of Indigenous language signs at the Legislature is a show of respect to the past and an open door to the future. I couldn’t agree with that more.

I know, when we brought DRIPA into law in this prov­ince, bringing UNDRIP into law in this province, that everyone in this chamber voted unanimously for that. It was one of those weighty moments I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. Now we have to do the hard work.

The throne speech yesterday. I would like to speak in favour of that and maybe go back to when I was first elected in 2017. It seems like a long time ago, but it has gone by in a flash. So much has been done.

I think for the folks back at home in Maple Ridge, for example, getting the tolls off the Golden Ears Bridge was absolutely huge. Basically, that was an unfair tax on people on the north and south sides of the Fraser. Nobody else was having these kinds of charges. It saved families up to $1,500 a year.

Another big savings of cost was MSP premiums — the only province that still had that, and doubled under the B.C. United. When we got rid of…. We’ve got to remember. That was the biggest single tax cut in a generation in this province, saving families up to $1,800 a year.

Another very important piece is child care. And child care is transformative. I meet with folks back at home who have had the benefit of $10 or less child care, and it’s such a change for their lives. We’re talking about thousands of dollars, up to $18,000 or $19,000 a year. That’s huge for young families to start out.

[5:50 p.m.]

We all know, anybody who has children, the trap of having to work a full job just to pay for child care. This is transformative work, and it’s saving families thousands of dollars as well.

Another big move. The Premier, when he was formerly the Attorney General, took on the ICBC dumpster fire that was created when the opposition decided to use ICBC as their own personal piggy bank, and was able to reduce premiums by an average of $500 a person, which is a lot. Of course, we’ve been able to see, because it’s running so much better, three rebates to people. Again, in a period where people needed it, we were able to give back — the same with Hydro, with rebates as well.

One really big change we don’t talk about a lot is the B.C. family benefit that has now increased to people up to 18. We all know it’s great having it when the kids are younger, but kids don’t get cheaper when they get older. I mean, we’re talking about hockey, sports, music and all the things they love to do. It’s great to recognize that families need that support right up to the age of 18. That can be thousands of dollars a year for a family of three.

Now, another important piece is the climate action tax credit, which is already benefiting families around the province. It’s really important to remember, when the opposition talks about the carbon tax, that over the next few years, there’ll be a shift of the tax from individuals to corporations. By 2030, 80 percent of households will have access to the climate action tax credit and will pay, probably, nothing. Many people will be paying absolutely nothing for that. That’s an important thing. As we move and shift the onus of burden onto the biggest polluters, that will happen.

Another big thing for families: kids 12 and under can ride free on transit. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about that. That’s a big savings for families.

When we move to the throne speech we’ve got this session, there’s a lot that’s going to happen. What the Premier has promised and what the ministers are working on is delivering more middle-class homes faster. We’re trying to help families and small businesses with costs, because we recognize, coming out of the pandemic, that there have been a lot of challenges with inflation and costs.

We’re going to strengthen public health care and services. Really importantly, we’re going to build a cleaner economy that works for everyone. That’s really important to know: that you can invest in a cleaner economy and actually grow the economy. That was something that we were always told: “You can’t have a cleaner economy and grow the economy.” Well, it’s a multi-trillion-dollar economy worldwide. The U.S. has embraced it. Everybody is embracing it, and we’re embracing that as well. It’s really important.

Also important in the throne speech was our commitment to keeping children safe, not only in their schools and in their communities but also online. We’ve seen so many kids being victims of bullying online.

It’s interesting that even though there has been a slowdown in the global economy and higher interest rates, a number of positives have happened in the province. There are 74,000 mostly private sector jobs that have been created in the last year, a 30 percent year-over-year increase in new rental homes registered.

The work the Minister of Health has done in health care…. I’ve got to say it. I get a call from the Minister of Health at nine o’clock on a Sunday, because the guy works 24-7 for this province, and I don’t know anybody who works as hard as our minister. Adding 700 new doctors is a significant achievement, and I’ll talk a little bit more about that later.

Also about public safety, a 75 percent decrease in stranger attacks in Vancouver, very important. That bail reform piece was critical, and it’s really helping. Also that work provincially to make sure that folks who are perpetrators of repeat violent offences are kept in touch with, that we know where they are and can keep an eye on them.

There’s another important piece, free prescription contraception. That’s a huge, huge thing, not just for costs but for equality. I think that’s something that our caucus and our government are very much committed to.

[5:55 p.m.]

There are so many other things that I wanted to talk to that were directly in the budget, but I did want to just jump right in to probably the biggest costs that people are facing nowadays, which is housing. We’re in a housing crisis. This is primarily caused by decades of underinvestment in rental and affordable housing, opening up our markets to rampant speculation and money laundering and many other things that have caused this crisis that we’re in.

The previous government kept saying: “Let the market take care of it. It’ll be fine. Let the market take care of it.” I’m sure Adam Smith would have been happy with this idea of laissez faire economics, but we know what happens with laissez faire economics: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. What we’ve seen over the last decades is the erosion of the middle class. That’s something that we’ve got to fight.

What’s been happening is the wrong kind of housing has been built for a long time. It’s about building housing where greed was driving the product, instead of need informing the zoning. That’s the fundamental shift we’re trying to make.

In last fall’s legislative session, we brought in new legislation, and it’s really important, where the official community plan, or OCP, work will be the public engagement. Once that’s established, it can be a game-changer, because once you attach the complementary zoning to that OCP, there won’t be that need for separate public hearings for each project that needs rezoning.

Not only will that stop all of the shenanigans that have been going on for decades, in NIMBYism and people fighting rezoning in their neighbourhoods; it’s also going to help stop this sort of haggling that goes on with rezoning. Another piece of that, which is important, are the community amenity contributions. This is something that’s happened in the past that has driven a lot of the problems — for example, exchanging development rights for density and these sort of things.

This new amenity cost charge is going to give municipalities some certainty, some upfront certainty, to make sure that they can have the funding they need to build the infrastructure to support the housing that’s going in. If we go back again to 2017, we’re already at over 77,000 homes that are otherwise built or are being built. The 30-point housing strategy has been working incredibly well.

Since the Premier took office, he’s been taking bold action, because that’s we need. To fight the crisis, you need bold, decisive action. That means cutting through red tape, getting approvals faster, and incenting the types of housing that we need to be built. We all want to work hard, to get ahead and to be able to afford a decent home in our communities that we love.

Before I get to local, I heard all these things…. The opposition is always talking about taxes and how bad taxes are, but the reality is, if you look at one of those, the speculation and vacancy tax, that has put 20,000 units of housing back into the market. Now, they’d get rid of that. That would mean that 20,000 homes are going to be empty again.

They’re opposed to the flipping tax where people are merely profiting on speculation and, again, pushing prices up. They’d undo that. They’d undo the crackdown we have on short-term rentals, which has significantly impacted the rental market over the last few years.

We talk about results. The opposition is always talking about results. Well, I can say that in my area, in my riding, there’s a lot that’s happened. The Boswyk Centre — they tried for over a decade to build that seniors housing. We built that seniors housing. There’s the Hurd Street supportive housing that’s going in and that will be completed soon. There’s Lookout’s Cedar Valley Suites, with the Housing­Hub, another great project.

Welton Towers, 61 units of seniors housing, is being renovated to make sure taht we can keep the seniors housing that’s there. In Maple Ridge, we’ve got Garibaldi Ridge supportive housing, on Burnett Street, which has been operating extremely well, and then Royal Crescent, which we’ve had some issues with, because it was only built for the short term. We have Fraser Street supportive housing being built right now, and that’s going to be done in the summer.

[6:00 p.m.]

What’s really great about that is that the property is being designated for seniors housing, and it’s already going through the city for approval. Again, we have a great working relationship with both our cities, in Maple Ridge and Mission, to get some of these things going.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

Cornerstone Landing with Community Services, ano­ther big project. Turnock Manor is now middle-income rental properties as well. All of these things have hap­pened in the last seven years, and there’s more to come, which is really exciting. There’s also the rental tax credit that’s happening.

Really, what we’ve done is we’ve tried very hard to work with our local companies, with our non-profits, with our cities to make sure we get the housing that we need. Now that we have the growing communities fund to support infrastructure around that housing, I can’t say how excited I am about the future of my area and the province.

Now, yesterday was a really great announcement. When you have now $4 billion for BC Builds, doesn’t it make sense, instead of selling off land like the opposition used to do, to actually use the government land to build that needed housing?

Another big priority, of course, for people is health care. I mentioned earlier about the hard work that our Minister of Health has done over the years. I can say there is a minister that works incredibly hard and has done some very transformative work. One of the challenges we’ve had is: how can we recruit and retain doctors?

It came to the conclusion that so much of this was the payment model. In fact, by changing the fundamental way we pay family doctors, we have now added over 700 new doctors. A lot of that has to do with the fact that people want to come here. They want to work here. They want to train here. Also, working to try to get family doctors accredited quicker, especially foreign-trained doctors, is so important.

In addition to that, we’ve added thousands of nurses and technicians to the system, increasing seats in post-secondary, speeding up foreign credentials and making the workplace safer for nurses, which is another reason they got burned out during the pandemic. We want to keep nurses safe.

Another really great piece to try to sort of take the pressure off doctors, especially family doctors, is allowing for pharmacies to prescribe medications for minor ailments and contraceptives. I went out to one of our pharmacists at Magetta Family Medical Clinic in September, and Sahid Attari told me about how he had this older client that couldn’t get to her doctor, and she was getting frustrated. He said: “I can help you. I can do that.” She was so excited that he could actually take care of her.

You know, I went in the other day to talk to my doctor. I said: “So how do you like the new plan?” He was ecstatic, absolutely ecstatic, very, very pleased with the new fund, and the division of family practice who helped drive this is very pleased.

I did want to say, though, a shout-out to Mission Mem­orial Hospital. Unfortunately, they had a flood there. I did a tour the other day, and I can see how stressed that situation is. I did want to say a big thanks to everyone who’s muscling through a really tough time with an emergency that is being operated out of rooms that weren’t intended for those sorts of uses.

Also, a shout-out to Angel and everyone at the Mission Hospice who have allowed the third-floor access so that emergency can use that as well. It’s so wonderful to see everyone working so well together. I want to get that place fixed up so we can get our CT scanner in there as soon as possible.

Man, time goes so fast in here, hon. Speaker. I’ve got many more pages, and I’m not going to get to them. So I’ll try to talk about one thing that’s near and dear to my heart as my role as Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film, which is our commitment to arts, culture and the creative industries in this province.

I’ve said this many times, but one of the reasons I ran was I used to run Music B.C. We had all our funding cut, and I couldn’t get anybody in government to listen to us. The film industry had all the domestic film production funding cut, and they couldn’t get anyone to listen. I guess the only way we’re going to change things is to get involved, so get elected, get into government and make changes.

We’ve done that. We’ve done a lot of really great work for artists, film and television companies, book publish­ers, magazines, musicians, music companies, digital devel­opers, festivals, theatres, venues — all of these important groups and people that make up our creative industries.

We all know COVID was a huge challenge to any group that had a live element to it, so we really stepped up. I want to thank the Ministers of Tourism, Arts and Culture who did that really hard work, allowed me to go out, engage with all of the sectors and find out what they needed, and we delivered.

[6:05 p.m.]

We allowed all the organizations like B.C. Arts Council and Creative B.C. to pivot, to fund venues that we hadn’t funded before, to allow organizations to keep the funding that they couldn’t use because they couldn’t have live performances or tour. They were able to get through, and that was really, really important. Being able to get that solid funding for Amplify B.C. was really important.

Also during the pandemic, we had $35 million of additional funding for B.C. Arts Council to really help try to keep the lights on. It was very important. A very popular and needed fund was the fairs, festivals and events funding. I’ve got to say that that initial $30 million was so critical — again, just to keep the lights on for these events and festivals — but they said: “Look, we’re barely getting started. We need that again.”

The minister and treasury and everybody stepped up again last year with another $30 million, and they got through last summer, which was really hard with all of the costs of production. This year it was, in some respects, even harder, because they’re trying to come back and trying to make things work. So being able to get another $15 million of one-time funding has just been so well received and so important — not only to have that funding but to keep these organizations going.

Last year we were able to fund 1,172 events. That’s a lot. That’s all over the province. That’s things VIFF, the Vancouver International Film Festival, or the Whistler Film Festival, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Abbotsford International Air Show, the Maple Ridge Caribbean Festival, Campbell River Salmon Festival, Castlegar Sunfest, Chilliwack Fair, Kamloops Theatre Under the Trees, the 36th annual Mission Folk Music Festival or Fernie’s Elk Valley Pride Festival and so on.

It’s so exciting, because these are so important for our people, for our soul, for our mental health, just for our communities. I’m really, really pleased that we’re able to help sustain those. We’re a leader in the country. We just had the Canadian Live Music Association out visiting us, and they were just so pleased that B.C. is leading the way in the province for this type of transformative help. They’re using that to be able to go back to other provinces and the federal government to get the funding to support arts, culture and creative industries.

It’s the same with Amplify B.C. We’ve got that renewal for $22.5 million, and we recently announced 220 music companies and artists that were funded — artist Dear Rouge, Shred Kelly, the 5X Fest in Surrey, the Jade Music Fest, companies like Monstercat — trying to keep these companies going and thriving. It’s great.

Another important fund…. We have really come back harder. I mentioned the cut to the film industry back in the day of the old government. We’ve really funded domestic film production with $16 million last year. That’s going to help leverage productions like Fashionable Productions’ The Supernaturals project, Norman Lawrence Coyne’s Con­quest, Raven House Films’ So You Want to Be An Indian? There are a lot of awesome productions that are coming up.

I also want to thank the incredible work of the B.C. Arts Council under the leadership of Stan Chung and vice-chair Dana Claxton and the entire B.C. Arts Council. They’re doing some really important work with Extending Foundations, which is really getting to the root of making sure that we’re dealing with our diverse communities and making sure our funding reflects that and that we actually are able to make the forms more accessible so that everybody can benefit from this amazing thing which is the B.C. Arts Council. Thank you to them.

I did want to mention another thing that was important to my community. That’s education. We were so thrilled that the Mission Secondary School was funded. We’re moving forward with that. It’s going through the stages of development. We were also able to fund, in my riding, the Eric Langton Elementary School replacement, which is absolutely great. We just recently announced $11.2 million to our local PACs to deal with all sorts of programs that they’re doing, whether it’s at c̓əsqənelə School, Mission’s Fraserview or so many others.

[6:10 p.m.]

Another really important piece for our area is post-secondary. We have a very high, high school graduation rate, in the 90 percents, but we unfortunately have a lower-than-average percentage of students coming out of high school and going into post-secondary.

Part of that is that post-secondary is a long way away, whether you’re driving to BCIT in Burnaby or you’re driving to Chilliwack to go to the University of the Fraser Valley or you’re driving all the way out to UBC. I mean, it’s really difficult for kids to get out there. So it was really great that we were able to announce $250,000 for a feasibility study very recently to look at post-secondary opportunities in the area. We’re really excited about that.

Another big piece that we need to look at when we build all the housing that we’re going to be building is infrastructure. One of the challenges we had in my area when I first got elected was Highway 7. It was basically four lanes until you got to the middle bit, and then all of a sudden it went to two lanes. I did some research on this, and between 2016 and 2019 around that area, there were over 80 accidents around the 272nd area and over 40 injuries.

So this was something the people of Whonnock, the area just below this highway, had been calling for, for years. I was so excited, again, when we were able to announce the final four-laning of Highway 7 between Maple Ridge and Mission. During the first term, I was able to oversee the four-laning on the Mission side, in the Silverdale area.

Now if you drive out to my city, and please come out to Maple Ridge and Mission to visit, you’ll see the work being done on Highway 7. It’s getting done, and I’m super excited about that.

Another big piece of all of this is transit, and I hear about this all the time. One of the things that’s really exciting is that our mayor, Dan Ruimy, in Maple Ridge pushed really hard for TransLink to include us in the first iteration of the BRT, the bus rapid transit technology that’s coming in. We’re on the list now of the first three to get TransLink to push forward with.

This will link Maple Ridge with the new Langley Sky­Train station. That could be really important, not just for getting folks around but also thinking about developing housing around transit hubs. Really, really excited about that.

We also got a whole fleet of West Coast Express refurbished, so that’s really, really great. I was able to go out and be part of that refurbishment announcement, which was really, really cool.

In closing, I did want to say that right from the beginning of when I was elected in our caucus, I can tell you that when we sit down, we always talk about what’s best for people — always. It’s always about: okay, we’re making a decision here. What’s the best decision for the people of British Columbia? Not what’s best for my buddy, the developer, not what’s best for big corporations and their profit, but what’s best for the people of British Columbia. If you do that, you tend to make the right decisions.

I’m really excited about the 20 new bills that will be coming this fall, focusing on more homes for middle-income people, getting everyday costs down — we have talked about that — strengthening our health care and keeping kids safe, which I think we can all agree is so important.

There’s lots to do. There’s lots to do to make this happen. We want to strengthen our public health care system, and we want to build a clean economy that works for everyone. That means looking at our electric grid and working with Hydro to increase the amount of electrification so that we can electrify the industries that we hope to and really make a difference in terms of our commitment to climate change in the world.

I’ve always felt that even though B.C. is kind of small in the global issue around climate change, one of the things that we can do is show leadership — leadership in Canada, leadership in North America and, hopefully, leadership in the world. Our CleanBC plan is the best plan in North America right now that I can see, that I’ve read. And we’re doubling down on all of this work that we need to do to deal with our climate change.

[6:15 p.m.]

Unlike one of the opposition parties, we believe that climate change is man-made and that we can do something about that and that we should do something about that. We are doing something about that. Not only that; we also have to look at the other things, which are mitigation and dealing with adaptation.

We’re making sure that we have a wildfire service that’s around all year round, which is really important, so we’re ready to go. We’re dealing with all sorts of different issues, like floods. We have to make sure we shore things up. We just announced some improvements to Abbotsford’s flood mitigation, and that’s really wonderful.

With that, I’m so excited about what we’ll be doing, and I’m so supportive of this throne speech.

E. Sturko: I rise today, of course, in response to the throne speech delivered in this very chamber yesterday.

Listening to the throne speech, I was reminded of the myth of Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, there was a devious king named Sisyphus. He ruled over the city of Ephyra. Through a variety of malicious activities, Sisyphus offended the gods.

As a punishment for his transgressions, the gods de­vised a particularly cruel fate for Sisyphus. They condemned him to an eternity of ceaseless labour. His task: to roll an immense boulder up a steep hill. But here’s the catch. Every time he neared the top, the boulder would slip from his grasp, and it would roll back down, forcing him to start all over again, the cycle repeating endlessly, rendering his efforts utterly futile.

This myth of Sisyphus has left a lasting impact on our social and cultural lexicon, because when we describe tasks that are both laborious and ultimately pointless, we use the term “Sisyphean.” It serves as a reminder that some endeavours, no matter how diligently pursued, may lead to no meaningful outcome.

Listening to yesterday’s throne speech, I can only conclude that we are dealing with a Sisyphean government repeating, over and over again, unfulfilled promises, doubling down on the same tactics and ultimately failing to achieve any meaningful results for British Columbians.

The throne speech was so full of repeat promises that, halfway through, I wondered if this government even bothered to write a new speech or if they just simply placed last year’s speech into a new binder for the Lieutenant-Governor. An example of this was the reference to the new medical school in the Surrey campus of the Simon Fraser University.

I can tell you, Madam Speaker, that in October of 2020, the NDP made an election promise to create this new medical facility to address the doctor shortage in this province. According to the announcement at the time, the first cohort of students was to start at Simon Fraser University last year.

It took two years for this government to finally begin funding the school, and now the projected timeline for this program is three years beyond the original promise, and it’s delayed till 2026, if you can even trust that timeline.

Members of this government are very well aware of their failure to deliver on promises that they’ve made over the last near decade. That’s why they use language that’s meant to obscure their true results.

Housing is one of those areas where this government loves to employ this tactic. Seven years ago, in 2017, the NDP — another election promise made to British Columbians pledging to build 114,000 homes.

After five years in power, on March 31 of 2022, it was announced that they’d only delivered just over 12 percent of the 114,000. In Tuesday’s throne speech, the government reports that between new-builds and legislation that they’re forcing on property owners that will relinquish their short-term property rental rights, they’re going to deliver hundreds of thousands of homes in addition to these 78,000 homes that are — here’s the language — either complete or on their way. This is just a way for this government to pad their numbers and hope that we won’t notice.

They also use this kind of language when they’re talking about their response to the overdose deaths public health emergency.

[6:20 p.m.]

This is a quote. It says: “Almost 3,600 publicly funded treatment beds and recovery beds are open throughout the province, with more on the way.” However, documents obtained by freedom of information tell the true story, that in March of 2017, months before the B.C. NDP formed this government, there were 3,041 treatment beds in B.C. So the truth is that this government has only added a few hundred beds during the last near decade — near decade — of this public health emergency that is killing seven people a day in British Columbia.

After the third straight deadliest year on record for overdoses in British Columbia, there’s no vision. There’s no urgency to address the still-growing crisis. In fact, we know this government is actually closing resources. The ten-bed facility at Carlile Youth Concurrent Disorder Centre at the Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver will be closing. This one-of-a-kind facility has cared for youth ages 13 to 18 for seven years, and its closure will leave the large region served by Vancouver Coastal Health with no in-patient adolescent psychiatric beds.

It’s also a facility that’s been a resource for Indigenous communities. And now, despite urging from those communities, this government is closing it down without even revealing how they are going to close these gaps in crucial services.

The throne speech also didn’t speak to this government’s setting their priorities of action to address wait times for treatment and recovery services. No mention of action to address the diversion of the NDP’s safe supply, publicly addictive drugs, prescribed alternatives, such as Dilaudid.

I heard the member from Maple Ridge talking about this government’s priority to keep people safe, to protect children. Yes, I actually applaud work being done to keep kids safe online. That is absolutely important. It’s also important to protect kids from the diversion of drugs, drugs provided by this government. Yet there is no word on that, only that this government plans to double down on a failed policy, even sending take-home fentanyl for kids without their parents’ knowledge.

There’s nothing new in this throne speech. It speaks about using every tool in the toolbox to reduce harm and stigma. It says recovery, and building “a more connected system of mental health and addictions care.” But we’ve heard this all before.

Yet today the overdose deaths and the public health emergency are worse than ever. Sisyphean. Think of Sisyphus pushing that same boulder up the hill over and over, doing the same thing repeatedly and never achieving the desired end result. So too is this government. It’s doing the same thing over and over again, never achieving the desired end results. Yet again we see them setting their priorities on the same strategies that have failed British Columbians for seven years, nearly a decade.

In every single ministry, we see this phenomenon.

Education. One-third of high schools in Surrey are going to have to start running in shifts due to a lack of classroom space. Despite their plan to have double-decker portables, they have finally run out of spaces, and this government is the one that promised to eliminate portables seven years ago.

After neglecting my home community of Surrey for seven years — failing to address school shortages, failing to address the crisis at Surrey Memorial Hospital, which also has a portable in front of it because of the crisis-level overcrowding in pediatrics — the NDP is very eager to spin any semblance of success in both Surrey and White Rock.

In the throne speech they say that 8,000 kids are reliant on school food programs. Listen. I’m not saying that we should not feed hungry children. Of course we should. The fact is that kids who are fed and who have food to eat learn better. We all know this. But the fact that more and more British Columbians are reliant on food banks and meal programs is not a success story, no matter how you spin it.

[6:25 p.m.]

Under this government, one out of every three food bank users is a child. The total number of visits to B.C.’s food banks has increased by 57 percent since 2019, and this increase rises to 101 percent in B.C.’s rural areas.

B.C. has become the most unaffordable province in Canada, with the most expensive housing in North America, with more than half of British Columbians less than $200 away from not being able to pay their bills.

Health care. I heard the member from Maple Ridge talking about the hard work being done by the Health Minister. He put out the number of new nurses that were hired in this province. It, again, comes down to the language. The reality is that there are actually over 3,000 nursing vacancies in British Columbia right now.

He talks about the 700 new doctors, but these are not net new doctors. This is all, again, in the language, the spin. How many of these doctors were simply going from one program…? Now they’ve simply been moved to another and counted as net new doctors. Again, more spin.

When it comes to seeing a doctor in British Columbia, we saw today, in some very interesting news, that B.C. again has Canada’s longest wait times in the entire country. In line with their Sisyphean efforts, it has been getting worse. The wait times actually went up by a quarter of an hour between 2022 and 2023.

Not everything has seen increases. The member for Maple Ridge–Mission, again, brought this up. He talked about child care, which we know is important. In fact, Stats Canada has released numbers, and there are now 10,600 less children in child care in B.C. than in 2019. Of those families who do use child care, 58.8 percent of them have had a difficult time finding a space for their child. That’s a 12.3 percent increase over 2019.

Madam Speaker, no matter what ministry…. This government is continuously trying to roll the boulder up the hill, and time and time again, they are failing. It’s clear that this government is content with its failures, choosing to do more of the same, choosing to spend more of your hard-earned dollars on strategies that have failed for nearly a decade. It’s time for change.

R. Russell: It’s my privilege to rise here to speak in fa­vour of the Speech from the Throne.

I particularly liked, in the Lieutenant-Governor’s words, her story that she shared at the beginning of that speech around the Chinese zodiac. We had a celebration here today around the Year of the Dragon and the lunar new year. In her speech, she talked about the 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac and how they were selected through a race.

The Year of the Dragon, which we’re in…. The dragon is the only mythological creature in the Chinese zodiac. The dragon didn’t win. The dragon came in fifth place.

The jade emperor asked the dragon why he didn’t win the race, especially given that he could fly. The dragon responded: “First I encountered a village suffering from drought. So I stopped to make rain. Then I saw a rabbit stranded on a log in the water and blew a puff of wind so that the log would float to the riverbank.”

I am thrilled that that was the opening to this throne speech. The nature of that conversation, I think, is around: what do we do in this place that is easy to count? What do we do in this place that provides results that matter to us?

[6:30 p.m.]

It recognizes that so much of what we do in this place, so much of what we do in our families, at home, is about things that are not easy to count and still matter enormously for us. Really, it is about how much further we can go when we work together and focus on those things that maybe are very difficult to count but still matter to us.

For example, I would say…. We heard some conversation earlier about a desire from some folks to not have the work that this government is doing in housing to support people, both through the elimination of speculation in our housing system or, for example, with the recent announcement of billions of dollars now between the federal government and the provincial government for BC Builds. To me, those are really important steps in the right direction to help provide things that matter to people in ways that are more than just what is simple to count.

I appreciated that metaphor, that opening for the Speech from the Throne. I think it is tied directly to the Lieutenant-Governor’s comments about the fact…. At the end of the day, we need to recognize that, really, the resource that matters most in this province is the people around us, whether those are our friends, our families, each other. It is the opportunity for us to come together and work towards those solutions.

I would use examples like the Okanagan Gleaners in Oliver, a facility that takes food that otherwise would go to waste. They do an amazing job of converting that into food that is going to be given to people. They produce millions of servings of dehydrated food. They employ a great number of volunteers in the community and some staff. They do an amazing service that goes so far beyond the quantifiable aspects of what they can create.

I would say opportunities like that are examples of how we invest and how we support ourselves, our communities, to be able to do things that matter to one another and people that we have potentially never even met. So I ap­plaud those kinds of opportunities, those kinds of projects, such as the Okanagan Gleaners deliver.

I would say a similar example would be child care. It’s our investment in something…. We can share the millions of dollars. For my riding, the boundaries of the South Okanagan and Similkameen, my understanding is…. That is an investment in the order of $25 million in child care.

We can count those numbers. Those numbers are im­portant. They’re remarkable. So $8 million into the pockets of parents and caretakers that are looking for that support. That matters, certainly, but it’s also the aspects of those kinds of investments in people that are very difficult to count.

The opportunities, from the stories I hear from talking to constituents about…. For example, the opportunity that unlocks for those parents that have spoken with me. For them to get a chance to go and study and decide: “I want to be a nurse. I want to be a doctor. I want to be whatever it might be.” They are able, then, to pursue those upgrading skills, to pursue those careers and to unlock that potential that they know they have. But they need those investments in people to help support them.

I applaud the commentary from the Lieutenant-Governor about how important that is and how important it is that we invest in each other and help support each other in going where we need to go.

The member opposite recently was mentioning how…. There was no scenario where she felt that it was worth being proud of the investments in our school food programs, for example. At least that was my understanding of what she was saying.

Recently I was in a school in Surrey. I was helping serve students that were receiving food because of that feeding futures program. I would say that it goes, I think, quite the opposite. There is no reason not to be proud of those kinds of investments in our children.

I looked…. In that situation, in that school…. They had over 40 different languages spoken in the school.

[6:35 p.m.]

We can talk about the metrics of success of a program like feeding futures based on how many students get food. That matters. That is enormously important, certainly, to me.

Beyond that, it goes to, for example, the language skills. Those children were coming up. They were having the opportunity to have to choose among options that were being provided by the school. They were engaging socially with the people in the school. They were helping serve the food. They were engaging with their friends.

Those are the kinds of social connections and social value that help those children thrive. Even if they’re hard to count, I certainly would say those kinds of investments in our future and our children are something to be proud of in many, many ways.

We talk about, certainly, the work we do in this place. The Lieutenant-Governor mentioned the expectation that we are going to see upwards of 20 different bills brought forward in this session. I would say some of those bills will end up providing those concrete results. They’ll be able to be the type of work that we do here that enables, for example, the statistics that we heard in that presentation around the 74,000 mostly private sector jobs that were created or the 30 percent year-over-year increase in new rental homes that are registered or the 700 new doctors in B.C.

They will be those things that we can count and that matter to us. They will also be the types of supports that help inspire our youth, that help inspire our communities, that help provide our communities with the capacity and the opportunity to live up to their full potential, that will be much more difficult to count but that we know matter for people around this province. Certainly, in the work that I have the privilege to do around this province in rural communities, I know that those investments matter.

Earlier today we also heard some discussion in this place around this notion that was seemingly brought forward about the fact that progress is a zero-sum game. Those are my words for that definition. But this notion that in order to move ahead…. We have to take something from somebody in order to give something to someone else.

I would say, certainly, in my experience, if we want to look at examples…. We want to look, for example, at the opportunities in the clean, green economy. It, I would say, sits quite exactly in contrast to that, in terms of the opportunity. We want to talk about the mining sector, what the opportunities are there. Our investments into, for example, the electrification of mines are helping not only offset the climate crisis, this risk that we see on the horizon. They’re also….

For an example, using Copper Mountain mine in my riding, near Princeton…. The kinds of investments there are helping ensure not only that those children in that community have a healthier future, but they’re also ensuring that those children have the opportunity to assume that they’re going to have a job in that sector.

It is precisely those kinds of investments and that kind of effort to build a clean economy that will provide us with that opportunity for a win-win. It is not a short-term game. It is not this scenario where, in that story about the dragon coming fifth in that competition, in that race…. The dragon could have won the race, but it would come at a cost. It would come at a cost to the rabbit. It would come at a cost to that community that needed water.

Those are the kinds of values that we can deliver in a win-win situation, where we get to the end of the day, and we recognize that we have supported our communities. We’ve supported our neighbours. We’ve supported our families. I think those are the sorts of opportunities…. What we heard in the throne speech is about what we are here to support.

I looked at examples, for example, of the work in terms of engaging with the rural colleges. The rural college presidents are set to be here soon. The opportunities there, working with those colleges, in terms of their vision for how they help support, particularly, remote and rural communities….

[6:40 p.m.]

Engage and inspire the people in those communities to live up to their potential. Allow them to do what they want to do by not making them travel, necessarily, to the education, but bring those opportunities, bring that education to them.

Examples like the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and a mobile welding trailer — to be able to bring those opportunities out to communities so that people can see and learn and touch and feel what they might be interested in learning a lot more about.

Those are the kinds of opportunities that, certainly from what I heard in the throne speech, are the opportunities that we have a mandate to help deliver and that matter so much to people in terms of inspiring people to be able to live up to what they hope to live up to.

I think, with that, I will take my place. I am proud of that vision for those of us in this place to be able to work for a future that works well for our communities and that is not simply focused at quick and easy wins that we know are not durable and that will not last and that will lead us into the kinds of crises that we’ve seen ourselves get to because of historic underfunding of the people that matter in our communities — our neighbours, our friends, the people around us.

P. Milobar: I’ll endeavour to not spend five minutes on mythology here. I’ll try to get to the meat of the matter and just correct a couple of things that were in the throne speech that have already become out of date.

I was quite concerned how, with basically only nine weeks’ worth of legislative time, once we get to Monday, we would actually deal with 20 pieces of legislation the government was talking about bringing forward with any significant amount of time to spend on the debate. Then we found out today that the government has pulled back on the Land Act legislation, bringing us down to 19.

This government has already reduced that number, so we can correct that. It is interesting, because the minister responsible was on media shortly ago saying that it’s really only about a half-page’s worth of legislation, that there would only be three or four bullets to it.

It’s surprising that that would be pulled if the opposition was so far wrong and the people who had concerns in the public were so far wrong about the Land Act — that a piece of legislation with that small amount of writing needed wouldn’t already be drafted and provided for the Legislature and the broader public to actually look at and have an actual public conversation about what the true intentions of government were when they actually see the writing.

As we all know, in legislation, the difference between the words “may” or “must” carries a very significant difference to what the government’s intention would be. So it’s unfortunate that the government chose, in a way, to pull that legislation — which was only going to be a half a page and three or four bullets, according to the minister’s own words — before we could actually scrutinize it.

The other point I would just make to the member op­posite that spoke before me is…. He seems to be missing the point about the dire need for children to access food support systems from the government. The whole point is that after 7½, eight years of this government, we’re seeing record levels of kids at school needing to access government-provided meal programs because their families can no longer afford to provide the food at home.

That, to me, is a very sad, sad statement to see actually put in a throne speech as if it’s an accomplishment by government — as if by funding a program to feed children, because they’ve created such an unaffordable province to live in that their parents can no longer afford the food to feed those same children, it is somehow a glowing achievement by this government.

That speaks to the total disconnect and, frankly, arrogance that this government shows on a regular basis on topic after topic after topic. A throne speech — in an election year, of all things — that was devoid of any vision, that was just a rehashing of the same types of programs over the last seven years that, year after year, have failed to deliver any measurable….

The speaker before me talked about things you can measure. Government can measure all these things.

[6:45 p.m.]

We know that wait times at walk-in clinics are now the worst we’ve ever seen in B.C. Now, I’m from Kamloops. We would love to have a walk-in clinic, but those have all closed under this government’s watch. We don’t actually have a walk-in clinic anymore. We’re seeing that happen in Victoria. We’re seeing it happen in Vernon.

Quite the legacy this government is creating, yet they applaud the throne speech, a throne speech that actually was pointing out all that is wrong in British Columbia — what we, as the opposition, have been pointing out for years now is wrong in British Columbia.

The fact we have a housing crisis with rents so high that the Premier has to announce a rent subsidy program for households that earn $190,000 a year just so they can afford rent…. No wonder those people need help from the government to feed their children, as well, when they go to school. That’s how bad things have gotten.

We have had 15 or 16 months straight of negative interprovincial immigration — in other words, people that grew up in B.C. moving to other parts of the prov­ince, mainly Alberta, to try to find an affordable place to get a start in life. So when we bring forward our B.C. United plan around rent-to-own, which is a legitimate, serious housing policy to try to give young people in our province the hope that they can actually make a career for themselves, a family life for themselves, a work-life balance for themselves, by being able to actually afford the down payment….

We know they earn enough money for a mortgage. They don’t have a down payment. They don’t want to wait 34 years — which has, I think, grown to 37 years under this government’s watch — to save up for a down payment.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

We’re saying they should be able to save that up in three years or less, with a little bit of help, so we actually will have health care workers in our communities, so we will have first responders, so we will have teachers and all the city workers and all the types of workers that we rely on, on a daily basis. That’s a compelling difference of how our caucus would govern versus what we’ve seen for seven years.

When you have the Premier stand up and talk about a program that’s a repackaging for housing around public lands, as if he didn’t realize for the last seven years that there have been public lands available…. Why didn’t they action any of that for the last seven years? And now they’ve magically found the solution to unlock this housing and have it all under construction in the next 12 months. What convenient timing with the election on the horizon.

It’s almost like when this government brought forward the bills around densification — those bills that the Pre­mier had committed to be in this House a year earlier. Oh, but that’s right. Then we would have been able to track, in a tangible way, the lack of results, yet again, that that is actually going to have happened.

What have we seen after the bills were presented? Cities and planners across this province agreeing with everything the opposition was saying during bill debate: that those bills are actually not going to accomplish anywhere near what the government has been promoting it’s going to do.

In fact, it’s going to cause exactly what we said it was go­ing to cause: disruption in planning departments, a slowdown in permit processing, a reworking of all the official community plans unnecessarily, bogging down development cost charge developments and updating of those all done by the same staff within a city.

So when you look at the throne speech, you have to question why a government, after seven years, with a Premier that did anything and everything he could do in a leadership race to ensure there was no actual leadership race, to so desperately try to become the Premier…. And this is the vision we get out of a throne speech?

[6:50 p.m.]

It really does make one wonder if this is not a government that is completely out of ideas. It really does make one wonder what will be in the budget tomorrow, other than a spraying of money all over the place on programs that have failed over the last seven years, programs that we see worsening health care on a monthly basis, ever-rising housing costs, ever-rising rents, a CPI, cost-of-living index, which routinely exceeds the national average when we see other provinces regularly under the national average.

Program after program after program. Crime and disorder on our streets at an alarming rate, spiking all over. Businesses not sure how they’re going to make it. This is the government that brought out, literally on an $80 billion budget, a $10½ million program to spend two fiscal years to try to help small businesses to access $2,000 to fix broken windows, and they can’t even get that money out the door. They’ve layered so much red tape and bureaucracy on it, they’re essentially saying to businesses: “We think you’re going to try to scam the government for $2,000.”

Not surprising, the minister responsible for that program was also the one that stood in this House and characterized people buying used cars by private sale as trying to be tax evaders and tax cheats. Tax evasion. Same minister, same mindset.

You have $73,000 over the last several months, distributed out of a $10½ million program. I’m sure members on the government side would look at that and say: “See, there’s not really a problem with small businesses and vandalism and crime. No one’s accessing the money. It really wasn’t that big of a problem.” I’m sure that’s what the government is thinking.

The reality is they didn’t actually listen to the business community, which was trying to tell them it’s too onerous for them to try to access a couple of thousand dollars, a one-time couple of thousand dollars. They don’t seem to understand the stress and strain all these small businesses are under on a regular basis, trying to keep up with all the regulatory changes and forms this government puts in front of them to begin with.

The ever-increasing employer health tax costs, the sick days, the extra statutory holidays, all those cost pressures added on without a blink of an eye and without a worry for small business.

God forbid that they try to access a program that this government created to get $2,000 or, worse yet, $1,000 for the other half of the program. Then they get treated like they’re criminals, they’re con artists, they’re scammers; they’re going to bankrupt the treasury.

I’m not saying there don’t need to be checks and balances with government money. There absolutely do. You only have to look at what’s going on in other parts of the country to know that. But there has to be a level of reasonableness, or what’s the point of having the program? What’s the point of having a program that no small businesses can actually access, so they’ve just given up trying?

I say, based on the government proud of the fact that we have record levels of kids needing to access food banks and school food programs — need to, not by choice…. That’s one of their crowning achievements in the throne speech. I’m sure they think everything is just fine in the business community and they’re overstating the impacts of crime and vandalism and shoplifting, all without consequence. This government will always say: “Well, what would you do different, when you’re in opposition?”

Well, we’ve actually put out Safer B.C., which puts forward exactly what we would do around crime and safety and creating consequence.

I recognize we’re getting near the end of the evening. I do have a lot more to say on this lack of innovative throne speech, but I will certainly note the hour and reserve my place.

P. Milobar moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. L. Popham moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

The Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 10 tomorrow morning.

The House adjourned at 6:54 p.m.