The House met at 1:32 p.m.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

Orders of the Day

Hon. Ravi Kahlon: I call continued debate on the throne speech.

Throne Speech Debate
(continued)

Sheldon Clare: It is my pleasure and privilege to rise today and respond to the throne speech. I congratulate the Speaker on his acclamation in this important role. I look forward to working with you to support the democratic processes in our constitutional monarchy.

[Lorne Doerkson in the chair.]

These are unique and challenging times for British Columbians, and it is my deep honour to be entrusted by the people of Prince George–North Cariboo to represent them in this chamber and to hold the government to account.

Thank you to my daughters, Elise and Danielle Clare, for their support and for keeping me grounded. They have grown into fine young women and great skiers. I am proud of both of you. I only wish that my parents, Hilliard and Helen Clare, were alive to see their oldest son elected to this House. They taught me and my younger sister, Karen, and two brothers, Kevin and Bryan, important lessons about community service, responsibility and fairness that inspired my interest in politics.

I very much want to thank my friends who have supported me, and my political family — that team of dedicated volunteers led by my campaign manager, the capable and effective Dr. Elizabeth Wilson, ND. Elizabeth, I appreciate your energy and dedication in building the success that got me to this position.

I’m likewise incredibly grateful to all those who went to some 14,000 doors and drove all over this massive riding to put up signs, raise funds, put me up, and give me good advice. To my staff — my executive assistant, Ethan Williams; senior constituency assistant, Adam Schaan; constituency assistant, Johnathan Raine; and administrative assistant, Shalan Pozer — thank you so much for your hard work in getting our offices up and running and for serving the day-to-day needs of our constituents.

I would also acknowledge my predecessor, Coralee Oakes, who served in this place for 12 years. She has moved on to become a director with Barkerville Heritage Trust. I wish her all the best.

In contrast to comments made by the NDP, this isn’t the B.C. Liberal Party. While there are some who have seen the light provided by Conservatives and joined us, we are quite different, as you are discovering. There may be opportunities for some shared ideas across the floor. Let’s find those opportunities and build bridges.

[1:35 p.m.]

I tip my hat to the classy victory of the Canadian hockey team in the 4 Nations tournament in Boston last week. It demonstrated incredible teamwork and sportsmanship. I am especially proud of their coach, Jon Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup winner from Prince George, British Columbia. The grace and humility presented by the Canadian team should be an example for us all in what was a hard-fought tournament.

Since the election in October, I have hosted several meet-and-greets, attended many community events and recently held a transportation town hall meeting in Quesnel with our Transportation critic, the member for Langley-Abbotsford.

I look forward to continuing direct engagement with my constituents and bringing their concerns to the Legislature. Regardless of whose sign, if any, a constituent displayed on his or her lawn, I am here to serve everyone in my riding, and I will continue to reach across the political spectrum to engage.

I have travelled most of the breadth and width of the spectacular riding of Prince George–North Cariboo. However, there still are some areas to see, and I include in this the community of Kluskus in the far west of the constituency. I look forward to spending time there this August in their annual powwow.

As many of my fellow rural colleagues can attest, representing the hinterland of this province presents unique challenges. The scale and scope of our geography is immense. With a riding the size of Belgium, ensuring that my staff and I regularly reach its various, unique communities is essential to my work as its representative.

Just two weeks ago, I travelled some 1,000 kilometres by road, touring the southern reaches of my riding, visiting McLeese Lake, Wildwood, Williams Lake, Horsefly, Beaver Valley, Likely, Big Lake, as well as Wells.

And with all this engagement, the consistent theme from people of all backgrounds and political persuasions is that times are tough, folks are struggling, and action is essential. The deep feeling of insecurity is pervasive, and concerns for the future are all too real. What is not only expected but absolutely needed for the constituents of Prince George–North Cariboo is a responsive, responsible government.

This throne speech broadly fails to meet the expectations and needs of British Columbians. I cannot help but feel some déjà vu with the rhetoric this government has presented to the people of this province.

So many of the platitudes in the throne speech are regurgitated commitments yet to be fulfilled from a tired government with a reduced and marginal mandate. Anything of value in the throne speech was merely lifted from the Conservative Party’s platform in one of the most remarkable pivots of all time.

In December, I outlined some of my key priorities for 2025, including health care, jobs, agriculture, mining, forestry, public safety and transportation. Subsets of those priorities involve decriminalization and the plague that is the drug crisis.

An overarching problem affecting all those issues is DRIPA. In Prince George–North Cariboo, application of DRIPA policies is driving resentment and division and is working strongly against any hope for reconciliation.

The most pressing matter that I have heard from the constituency of Prince George–North Cariboo arises from our failed health care system. The Speech from the Throne reads: “Providing life-saving care for everyone, without taking out a credit card.”

That comment simply does not reflect the reality that people are facing. My constituents, who are travelling out of British Columbia to get life-saving treatments, are being forced to choose between their health or their credit cards. That situation is unacceptable when they have already paid taxes in British Columbia for a system that continues to fail them.

My office has heard from many people worried for themselves and their loved ones about either keeping the doctor they have or waiting an indeterminate amount of time to acquire a family doctor. The other issue is the excessive delays obtaining diagnostic services and treatment. It is especially concerning for the elderly and the most vulnerable and those affected by life-threatening conditions.

I have heard from doctors looking to leave British Columbia because they cannot provide the services their patients need. Many are overworked and stressed. Some are unable to be in reliable contact with their families. I have encountered nurses who are leaving the profession due to overwork, ill treatment and even violence in their work environments.

I have constituents who are opting to travel to Mexico, the United States and other countries and provinces to get the health care they need, and often at considerable cost.

[1:40 p.m.]

This is Canada; this is British Columbia. Our constituents should not have to resort to such measures to ensure their well-being.

Recruiting doctors from other countries is, in effect, a brain drain that removes the best and brightest from those places and thus serves to make a provincial problem a global one. Key to this uncertainty in our health care system is the struggle to train, recruit and retain health care workers.

Despite the valiant efforts of local governments, including a joint initiative between the city of Quesnel and the Cariboo Chilcotin regional hospital district board, communities are in competition with each other to attract a limited number of health-related professionals.

The throne speech states: “Your government is responding by adding more nurses and family doctors, opening more community clinics and building more hospitals than ever.” This ambitious claim belies the reality that medical professionals are moving away, and some are even leaving their professions. The vaccine mandates of the COVID era forced out many health care professionals, some who have long since left for greener pastures elsewhere or changed their professions, never to return.

To that end, I look forward to the conclusion of the series of ongoing reviews, including by the Office of the Merit Commissioner, who I had the pleasure of meeting with in Victoria last week. It’s time to make these people whole. Perhaps the House could consider including municipal workers in the mandate of the Office of the Merit Commissioner, to review municipal worker terminations during the COVID period.

How are people in Williams Lake and surrounding area, which includes many of my southern constituents, supposed to process such empty rhetoric when just the past Family Day weekend, again, the emergency room at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake closed its doors to the public? Promises of access to more health care professionals ring hollow in the face of closed emergency departments.

You had better believe the constituents of Quesnel, Williams Lake and across the rural parts of Northern and Interior Health, in my riding, are not experiencing what the throne speech claimed. Quote: “In the past two years, British Columbia has connected hundreds of thousands of people to a primary care provider. More are being connected every day.” Is it just one for hundreds of thousands? It sure feels like it in many communities.

My office has been working with the Canadian National Institute Deafblind Community Services British Columbia to provide profound and life-changing support for deafblind people throughout our province. A particular interest and concern is the state of intervener services moving forward. Intervener services enable some of our most vulnerable constituents to participate in society.

As a constituent of mine from McLeese Lake, who my staff have met with, stated: “I want to have intervening service until the day I die. I don’t want to be just left wasting away in my own mind. It’s very vital that all of us who are deafblind can be able to participate. We have perfectly good minds. We have intelligence. We just can’t access a lot of the information that everyone else can.”

A further response from the Minister of Health and the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction on the standing of intervener services in British Columbia moving forward will be appreciated. I do appreciate the preliminary response.

I look forward to finding cooperation this session for the end to hospice palliative care fees offered by the various health authorities in the province. End-of-life care groups throughout British Columbia have reached out to me to express their desire to see an end to such fees so people can die with dignity without the stress of leaving additional costs for their loved ones.

The NDP claims that they are addressing crime in the throne speech, and throughout the campaign, but tell that to the people of Prince George, Williams Lake, Hixon, Quesnel and rural communities across British Columbia. These communities are withstanding the very worst of this government’s failure on drugs and crime.

Repeat violent offenders are back on the streets within hours, thanks to soft-on-crime policies that prioritize criminals over their victims. Police officers across rural and urban communities are stretched thin. They are disrespected and they are undermined by this government’s failure to empower them to do their job and to protect our streets.

British Columbians are fed up. They deserve to be safe in their homes and in their communities. But instead of locking up real criminals, this government has decided to focus its energy on doing such things as supporting the disarming of law-abiding constituents. It is becoming clear to me and to millions of British Columbians that this government has no concern for prudent and effective public safety policy that supports families and businesses.

[1:45 p.m.]

The government claims to be tackling crime, yet its current tendency of ignoring the activities of terrorist sympathizers, drug dealers and organized crime is unacceptable. It’s time to fight crime. To that end, decriminalization policy is a complete and utter failure. It needs to end now.

As a longtime post-secondary educator and faculty union bargainer for many years, I am concerned with the state of education in British Columbia. I was pleased to meet with the presidents of the University of Northern British Columbia and the College of New Caledonia, as well as the Faculty Association of the College of New Caledonia, to discuss their ongoing and contrasting situations.

Declining enrolments, both from domestic and international students, have caused pressures on administrations, staff and, especially, faculty. Of particular concern is maintaining existing programs needed to support opportunities at rural campuses and the needs of immigrants and Ukrainian refugees.

In meeting with the Prince George for Ukraine group, a society advocating for those displaced by war in eastern Europe, I found a significant need for English language training that is currently in jeopardy. These people are refugees, and they are in need of that support.

As well, there is a need to return to merit and academic excellence in all levels of education, and it is frankly insulting that DEI is used to limit critical analysis. There’s, likewise, a need to end programs that limit the role of parents in the K-12 system and that cause confusion among young children. It is the case that Conservatives oppose bullying every day. And virtue signaling around such an important matter needs to end.

As someone who has negotiated for faculty and walked picket lines, I am concerned about the state of the impending and ongoing bargaining situation in B.C. It will be critical to balance fiscal needs with the needs of workers while getting solutions at the negotiating tables. I was grateful to be welcomed at the picket lines of postal and railroad employees in both Quesnel and Prince George to hear their concerns and also to encourage a rapid resolution of the issues.

Also, there are concerns about shutting down driver training schools in British Columbia at a time when such skills are essential for the jobs that enable our logistical operations to support all sectors of our economy.

Forestry remains the economic bedrock of communities across Prince George–North Cariboo. I have met with industry in my area, including Parallel Divisions and Dunkley Lumber, to discuss the growing concerns of fibre access, permitting, international trade relations and the baggage of years of disruptive NDP forest policy. Forestry needs stability to function well. To that end, it is time to come to a fair softwood lumber agreement with the United States once and for all.

When I met with the Horsefly River Roundtable, they raised concerns with me about the need to protect the watershed and salmon habitat that require proper land management. While resource extraction is essential to British Columbia’s economic success, it must be sensitive to requirements for fish to flourish, respecting the vital role our ecosystem plays in our economy and for First Nations’ food supply, as well as for commercial fishers and recreational anglers. It is really important to look after this.

As our economy faces continued uncertainty, an uncertainty that certainly existed prior to the recent election of the President of the United States, clarity is required so that the private sector can have confidence in its investments into British Columbia.

The mining sector is an important long-standing contributor to the economy of Prince George–North Cariboo. As we continue to diversify from a forestry-dependent economy, mining has enormous potential to provide good-paying jobs. But these jobs, both union and non-union, and the sector itself, face great uncertainty due to DRIPA and the incoming mineral claims consultation framework. I hear about this every day. My staff are called about it all the time.

In the face of prolonged delays in permit processing, one hopes for sincerity in the comments from the throne speech indicating that permits will start being processed expeditiously. Our mining critic, the member for Kootenay-Rockies, will be in my riding in March to hear from stakeholders deciding whether to keep investing in this unstable environment or to leave the province for good.

On agriculture, it is a privilege to lend my support to the Nazko First Nation’s ongoing food security and sovereignty initiative. Having already achieved two phases — significant milestones — phase 3 seeks to further enhance their capacity to address food security challenges.

[1:50 p.m.]

From installing modular facilities for food processing, including canning, cold storage and dehydrating, to upgrading greenhouse systems and improving soil, Nazko First Nation aims to increase food production and extend the growing season. Phase 3 is a critical next step to improve access to nutritious and culturally relevant foods and to promote the long-term sustainability of their food systems.

My office is also in discussions with ʔEsdilagh First Nation to assist in enhancing their food production capacity to better serve members.

This session I will also be championing a long-standing issue of immense importance to cattle ranchers, range users and even animal rights groups alike, that being fencing along publicly owned railway lines. The British Columbia NDP, during their time in opposition, tabled the B.C. Rail Corridor Safety Act, 2007, seeking to address this matter. This issue needs to be revisited, and there is room to cooperate on this file.

My office has been in communication with the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, and I look forward to bringing forward ideas that may, in cooperation with our federal counterparts, finally resolve this issue.

The Tidewater Renewables refinery and hydrogen plant in Prince George faces closure if B.C. subsidies to out-of-province competitors that prevent it from being competitive are continued. To that end, I want to make sure that the members understand and support the member for Prince George–Mackenzie’s pending bill to help address that significant problem. It’s important to protect this critical infrastructure by allowing it to compete on a level playing field, because if this refinery closes, it will never open again. Passing that member’s bill will benefit all British Columbians.

Like the throne speech claimed: “When we build roads, highways and public transit, we help make workers more productive by getting them to their jobs and back to loved ones faster.” Yet when it comes to Highway 97 and the substantial bottleneck at Quesnel, these words ring hollow for all who use this important provincial transportation corridor.

During my recent town hall in Quesnel, many issues, needs and concerns regarding transportation were raised by local government representatives, community groups, medical professionals and especially the public. Issues raised included the state of Highway 97 Quesnel River Bridge and the Quesnel rail overhead bridge, the urgent need for the Quesnel north-south interconnector, the serious public safety concerns with the proposed permanent closure of sections of the Quesnel-Hixon Road, the Old Prince George Highway, the status of various Cariboo Road recovery projects in need of redress, and the quality of general winter road maintenance.

According to our own analysis, the superstructures on Highway 97 at Quesnel need replacement as they are at the end of their service life. Further to this point, we have received reports of concrete falling from the Highway 97 Quesnel River Bridge and nearly hitting local search and rescue teams while training under the structure.

The north-south interconnector is not just critical to the city of Quesnel. It is an essential component of the province’s transportation network. To replace the bridges, they will need to be serviceable while their replacements are being constructed. It is unlikely that engineers will continue to certify these bridges as serviceable for much longer, if at all.

In addition to mitigating the increasing costs to maintain these aging structures, justifications for the Quesnel north-south interconnector include the reduction of pollutants to the Quesnel airshed, relieving traffic congestion in the city of Quesnel, accommodating the passing of extraordinary loads to improve supply chain networks in the province, revitalizing the downtown road network opportunities in Quesnel and improving pedestrian, cyclist and motorist safety.

Quesnel-Hixon Road is a critical alternative route in the event that portions of Highway 97 north of Quesnel are shut down. Such an event, an unfortunate fatal vehicular accident, occurred in November at Hush Lake, which shut down Highway 97. Due to the closure of the Quesnel-Hixon Road, no alternative routes were available.

I was at that accident, and like many others, I was forced to turn back to Prince George. This event, as noted by Quesnel physician Dr. Johannes McDonald, prevented a premature baby in critical medical need from being transported in a timely manner from G.R. Baker Memorial Hospital in Quesnel to the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George. It’s a drive of approximately an hour and a half.

[1:55 p.m.]

There have been many other such incidents along the stretch from Dunkley Lumber through to Ten Mile Lake which have closed Highway 97 for extended periods of time.

Olsen Road is in dire need of repair due to numerous potholes and degrading shoulders. Having travelled these roads several times recently, I can tell you that on Olsen Road there is insufficient winter maintenance, with minimal sanding. Olsen Road has, in addition to residential traffic, industrial, agricultural and recreational users. This traffic includes school buses, logging trucks and hay trucks. There’s no turning lane, north- or southbound, on Highway 97 at the intersection with Olsen Road. The limited line of sight and undulating ground at the approaches to the intersection have resulted in numerous close calls and significant vehicular accidents, including with loaded logging trucks.

Another pressing infrastructure need in my riding is the Three Rivers Community Forest’s application for fuel management on Dragon Mountain. Dragon Mountain possesses the north Cariboo’s main communications tower site. This critical infrastructure requires protection through extensive fuel management activities. Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia funding will enable this important work to be expedited.

My office will continue working with the cities in my riding, including Quesnel, Prince George, Williams Lake and all of the smaller rural communities, as well as with the province, to better ensure the safety of the constituents, their property and the critical infrastructure that we all rely on during the wildfire season.

This throne speech and all its claims of change raise these questions. Why did it take close to a decade, a near $10 billion deficit and a $100 billion debt load for the NDP to finally decide, if only in rhetoric, to change course? Why was nothing done before? It has become obvious to many working people that the NDP and its champagne socialists do not represent them or their families. They are finding a welcome home in the Conservative Party of British Columbia. I met them at their doors.

Due in no small part to a legacy of poor governance for many years, this government today is woefully unprepared to address the unprecedented challenges our province faces. Before you think I am referring to our neighbours to the south when I speak of the challenges we face, in fact, what I am referring to is the ghosts of NDP policy past coming back to haunt us all, and DRIPA being a paramount example of these policies. The lack of a coherent answer on how the government plans to get shovels in the ground while accommodating those who wish to shut down industry and resource development is deafening.

Police officers need and deserve our support to deal with the crime that they are facing. Let’s enable Crown prosecutors to end decriminalization and put people who are committing crimes, attacking businesses, breaking windows and starting fires into places where they can be properly incarcerated or receive the treatment they need to get better. Let’s get that done.

Our province and its people deserve our very best efforts in these unprecedented times. I thank you for the ability to speak to you today, and I wish everyone all the very best in this session of the Legislature.

Hon. Diana Gibson: As Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation in an era of unprecedented economic threats, it’s my privilege to serve British Columbians by committing all my effort and those of our government to protecting and growing our economy. We will continue the supports and talent needed within a strong and robust economic environment for businesses to grow and expand and create good jobs for people and families throughout British Columbia.

British Columbians have told us of their concerns during this stressful period of instability and uncertainty that Trump is causing. We will not leave our people and industries to fend for themselves. British Columbians are united, and we are standing together to defend our workers and industries and seize opportunities with other partners.

[2:00 p.m.]

We will continue full steam ahead, strengthening and defending our economy.

What a privilege to navigate our economy through this challenging moment with this government and with Premier David Eby. With businesses and citizens feeling the uncertainty from south of the border, our government and Premier Eby have been unwavering.

The strategy we have is to respond….

Deputy Speaker: Member, just a reminder that we don’t use names.

Hon. Diana Gibson: Oh, sorry. No names. The Premier. Thank you.

Our strategy has been strong: to respond, strengthen and diversify our economy to meet this challenge. It’s important to not underestimate what a challenge it is that we’re meeting. But at the same time, though this is a challenge, it also comes with an opportunity too. I want to speak a little bit to that because with that opportunity sits the ability to strengthen and diversify our economy.

B.C.’s tech sector, which is one of our fastest-growing sectors…. In fact, B.C.’s life sciences and biotech sector is the fastest growing in the country. I was recently meeting with a small start-up here in Victoria, MarineLabs, a company that was working on cutting-edge AI solutions for shipping and real-time weather for monitoring the environment for marine operators. And they were, at the same time, collecting data for monitoring our climate change.

It’s two graduates from the University of Victoria with an idea, using AI to track weather and ocean health and help mitigate the impacts of climate change at the same time. They started with a laptop, a borrowed office space and a dream. Today, they’re hiring talent, expanding their reach and putting B.C. on the map as a leader in AI-driven sustainability.

This is what B.C.’s tech sector is about — ingenuity, resilience and the drive to make a difference. It’s why our government is prioritizing investments in innovation, making sure companies like theirs have access to funding, mentorship and the support they need to continue to grow.

I have another example coming up from in the Interior. Last fall, speaking with two young women who had just completed a coding boot camp through the provincial skills training program. She told me how she’d struggled to find stable work before enrolling in the program. But after six months of training, she landed a job at a fast-growing tech firm specializing in cybersecurity.

That’s why the investments outlined in our throne speech, especially those focused on skills training, digital literacy and workforce development, are so crucial. We cannot lead in tech without investing in people. That’s why our government is expanding tech training programs, increasing support for co-op placements, working with post-secondary institutions to ensure graduates have the skills that employers need. We’re making sure B.C. workers, no matter where they live, no matter their background, can access high-paying jobs in our innovative sectors.

These are just a few examples of the many I’ve met in the months recently. I’ve been working across the economy, meeting with businesses, with industry associations, with community leadership and local governments, talking about how we work together to unlock innovation and economic growth. This is part of our strategy to strengthen the economy and to diversify it.

There was another innovation at the Invictus Games. It was so exciting to see the exoskeleton, with Chloë walking across the stage, somebody who had been in a wheelchair standing up and walking with the flag across the stage — with incredible innovation by local B.C. companies, making someone walk again. This is the kind of innovation our economy has.

When I first moved to B.C. from Alberta to be the CEO of our growing company, I was so surprised at how many businesses and community organizations there were. I asked one of the local foundations: “Are there more here than elsewhere?” And I was told: “Yes. B.C. is one of the most densely populated areas for small businesses and for new associations and non-profits.”

I noticed when two or three people would get together to solve a problem here in B.C., they’d form a new business. It’s an incredible culture of ingenuity and problem-solving and innovation that is really one of our major strengths. These individuals are the backbone of our communities and our economy. They’re our neighbours, they’re our friends, they’re our family, and they’re what helps our communities to thrive. They’re also the value proposition that B.C. brings to the opportunity in this crisis for us to thrive and grow. It’s our people.

[2:05 p.m.]

When a large tech company looks to set up in B.C., they ask one question: what’s the talent pipeline? It’s our strong and excellent academic institutions that are helping to educate and build that talent pipeline. It’s our entrepreneurial businesses in that ecosystem, giving them those jobs, starting that first idea, scaling, growing, manufacturing, doing clinical trials and building our economy.

I want to turn now to trade diversification because that’s the other really important pillar of our response strategy to tariffs. Despite the Trump threats, we are ensuring this province has an economy where B.C. businesses can grow, expand and provide jobs for people — excellent, quality jobs. We’re using B.C.’s strengths to create more opportunities for our businesses to export, attract investment, drive sustainability and economic growth.

Through our trade diversification strategy launched in 2023, B.C. has been effectively diversifying our trade and will continue to do so. B.C.’s international trade, when compared to other Canadian provinces, is already quite diverse.

Our two-pronged approach has made us successful in reducing trade reliance for a more resilient economy. One, we are creating new opportunities for trade and investment in new markets while expanding in existing markets. Two, we’re increasing the number and diversity of our exporters in B.C.

I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about the incredible work our ministry team is doing. B.C. has a network of over 50 trade and investment representatives in 14 key markets, including the U.K., the EU and the Asia Pacific. We’ve established trade representation in Mexico, Taiwan and Vietnam to help B.C. businesses reach new markets and form valuable partnerships.

Over the past year, we’ve received considerable interest from three highlighted markets, including visits by a Taiwan hydrogen delegation, a delegation of Mexican business leaders and entrepreneurs and a multiprovincial delegation from Vietnam.

We have opened a Forestry Innovation office in Vietnam to promote B.C. wood products. In Vietnam, our team has leveraged the CPTPP to create opportunities for B.C.’s blueberries and other products that have achieved new market access. We have been promoting B.C. as a supplier of low-carbon innovation and resources in Taiwan, and we’ve seen increased interest in B.C.’s solutions.

Our newly opened office in Mexico has been establishing relationships with prominent Mexican industry organizations and clusters in aerospace, ICT and clean tech to promote B.C.’s capabilities, promote collaboration and lay the groundwork for future trade and investment opportunities.

The Minister of State for Trade and the Parliamentary Secretary for Asia-Pacific Trade and I are fighting for B.C.’s exporters — businesses of all sizes in all sectors that are contributing to the strength of the province’s economy and ensuring people in communities throughout the province have sustainable jobs. B.C. offers multiple programs to support businesses with their efforts to be successful exporters. Our export navigator program, delivered by Community Futures B.C., gives B.C. businesses access to free export advisory services. This is something that will become increasingly critical as this trade crisis unfolds for us.

Our export navigator assist program is delivered with export advisers based in communities across the province, who help B.C. businesses to become export-ready. These are small and medium-sized businesses. These are the local entrepreneurs I’m talking about.

Since September 2024, export navigator clients have also had access to a new export navigator technical specialist pilot, providing access to advisers with specialized expertise in areas such as cross-border legal, accounting and logistics.

Since its launch in 2016, the export navigator has provided export advisory services to over 1,200 companies. We also offer a trade accelerator program that is designed to help them in the next stage as small and medium-sized entrepreneurs develop new market entry strategies and enter new markets to expand their export goals.

The B.C. trade accelerator program has been running since 2017 and has been delivered by the World Trade Centre team. Since it started, 554 companies have graduated. This number represents so many more people, families and communities that have benefited from the courageous and determined business owners with a vision and the ability to see it through.

As a former business owner myself, I have a deep respect for those who are facing these challenges and the boldness it takes to go forward. Exporters face many challenges beyond their control.

[2:10 p.m.]

Of course, right now at this moment, Canadians and British Columbians are facing unprecedented and unjustified tariff threats from the United States, and yet we stand strong and defend British Columbians, workers and industries. We stand up to defend our industries so that we have well-paying jobs for our workers and communities.

Exporters have told us about the challenges they’re facing dealing with these shifting regulations, with challenges like cultural language differences, currency fluctuations and, of course, global inflation. Despite these challenges, B.C. exporters have been successfully creating and shipping world-class products and services to global markets. In 2023, B.C. exported more than $56 billion worth of goods. In 2022, B.C. exported over $32 billion worth of services. That was a 23 percent increase over the prior year. These are powerful numbers.

There is an interesting story behind them, and that is the diversity of our trade activity. We have diversity of destination, and we continue to expand our international markets for B.C.’s goods and services. B.C. conducts significant trade with several economies, including the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany and the United Kingdom, amongst others. In 2023, aside from the United States, our top markets were China, at nearly $8 billion, and Japan, with over $6 billion worth of goods.

And there’s diversity in our export products. B.C.’s exporters represent a wide variety of exports, including from energy products to solid wood, from professional services to marine technologies, from life sciences to food and beverage and so much more. As you can see, B.C. is a source of high-quality goods and services across both natural resources and the technology sectors.

And there’s diversity. I’m proud to say that our strategy involves everyone from Indigenous groups to underrepresented communities, making sure diverse voices are part of our international trade efforts. Our trade diversification strategy is working, and we will continue to build on it with initiatives such as the trade accelerator program and our excellent export navigator services program.

Our trade team continues to advance trade diversification opportunities in many areas, including value-added innovation in forestry and other natural resource sectors, to unlock jobs as well as in emerging sectors like our tech and life sciences.

B.C.’s trade and invest representatives promote B.C. as a prime location for investment in quality goods and services, driving sustainable, innovative and inclusive economic benefits for British Columbians. No one can deny British Columbia’s key trade advantages as Canada’s west coast capital of opportunity and a global gateway.

I look forward to working with the Parliamentary Secretary for Asia-Pacific Trade to further engage with B.C. businesses to better understand the challenges and opportunities they see in bringing their products to markets across the EU, the U.K., the Asia Pacific and more. The Parliamentary Secretary’s personal experience and skills with the Korean language and culture will support our efforts to expand trading relationships with South Korea and across the Asia Pacific and to advance our economic and cultural goals of increasing prosperity and relationships across the Pacific.

British Columbians have also told us it’s vital that we explore new opportunities, not just internationally but across the country, to unlock economic development through unlocking interprovincial trade. B.C. is working with our provincial counterparts to identify regulatory requirements in each jurisdiction with the intention of achieving mutual recognition that will cover goods and services across Canada. Our current global uncertainty posed by potential tariffs from the United States and the Committee on International Trade at the end of January provides an opportunity to boldly move forward with new agreements.

Just last week I was in a meeting with my counterparts from across the country and the federal government talking about internal trade, and later this week I will be doing more of the same. This is an opportunity for us to come to the table with new energy, to reduce barriers and unlock economic development. B.C. has been a leader in reducing internal trade barriers.

Let me emphasize that B.C. is already the least US-trade-reliant of the Canadian provinces. Our province is one of the founding parties of the new west partnership trade agreement, a regional trade enhancement agreement that surpasses the Canada free trade agreement in terms of ambition, coverage of economic sectors and lack of exceptions.

B.C. has also been a strong advocate for all provinces and territories and the federal government to conclude an agreement through mutual recognition of goods and services. Our goal is to unlock economic development through reducing unnecessary regulations and duplication so that we can create more jobs and make ourselves more resilient to the U.S. tariffs.

[2:15 p.m.]

As we continue to work with our Canadian counterparts, we will ensure we uphold our commitments to British Columbia’s First Peoples, First Nations and Indigenous communities for economic development as well as investment in a climate that is environmentally, ethically and economically conscious.

We’re working hard on multiple fronts to ensure British Columbians have the tools and resources they need to live the life they want here in our beautiful province. We will continue to help them advance in their business, their education, and get the skills they need for great jobs and much, much more.

Another area where we’re unlocking economic development within the province is ease of doing business. In our mandate letters and in the throne speech, strong commitments have been made for the government, in this time of uncertainty, to ensure we don’t have unnecessary barriers to business growth and economic development.

I’m engaging with businesses and meeting with businesses across the economy, large and small, and from sector to sector, to talk about how we can identify and unlock barriers that might be getting in the way of growth and economic success. Since 2016, our coordinated omnibus regulatory amendment process — better regulations for British Columbians — has delivered over 4,000 regulatory amendments through eight processes.

We’re updating our laws and regulations by transitioning from paper-based processes to more efficient electronic methods for citizens and businesses — for example, e-transfers, payments and posting notifications online. What we’re doing is creating easier and faster interactions for businesses and government services, enhancing accessibility and convenience. We have not slowed down on our work to streamline permitting and reduce red tape, and we’re already seeing the benefits of new investments in projects like the Cariboo Gold mine in Wells and Artemis Gold’s Blackwater gold project.

We are introducing regulation to ensure rapid permitting and robust regulation of renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar. These new projects will supply communities, people and businesses with clean energy while ensuring First Nation interests and environmental mitigation are protected and maintained. The development and construction of new clean energy projects will generate between $5 billion and $6 billion in private capital spending throughout the province.

These projects are part of our commitment to fast-track 18 projects to grow the economy and reduce B.C.’s reliance on trade with the U.S. This entire list includes energy, mining and critical minerals that are worth approximately $20 billion and will employ 8,000 people across the province. We continue that trend of approving projects, working with investors and growing our economy in the face of U.S. tariff threats through our three-part approach: respond, strengthen and diversify.

Another area we’re helping unlock industrial and economic development in is with our industrial land. Industrial lands can be challenging to access, and we’re working with our municipal partners, industry and communities to ensure that we are protecting industrial land and that it’s being used to its best use. This is another mechanism for us ensuring business can grow and thrive in our communities.

Our government will work to create an inventory of existing industrial lands in this province and carry out a land use assessment so that we can continue to create economic development and an environment that supports economic growth and job creation in B.C., making it easier to do business while developing a strategy for protecting and growing our industrial land.

Another area where B.C. has been investing is in our rural economic diversification. We’ve got a rural economic diversification and infrastructure program.

Over these last three years, we have been supporting local governments, First Nations and other organizations to strengthen their communities through REDIP, our rural economic diversification and infrastructure program. Through the first two intakes, we committed $99 million for over 300 projects that will make a positive impact for people in communities.

We’ve also got our rural business and community recovery initiative, which has been investing through our Island Coastal Economic Trust, the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior and the Northern Development Initiative Trust. These trusts have helped create 90 advisory positions focused on recovery and economic development.

A key part of strengthening and diversifying our economy is also, of course, value-added on our natural resources. I’m very proud to be able to speak to the B.C. manufacturing jobs fund. This fund has been working to build not just value-added in our forestry and in our agro sector but also supporting manufacturing jobs in emerging sectors like our life sciences and tech.

[2:20 p.m.]

This fund has committed $146 million towards 132 projects to date, unlocking private investment of over $1 billion. This leads to the creation and protection of over 4,700 jobs, more than half of which are in the forestry sector. Every $1 million invested in that program is creating $7 million in total direct capital investments in B.C., as well as $590,000 in tax revenue for the province and $5.3 million in provincial GDP.

This is how we strengthen and diversify our economy in response to tariffs. We unlock private sector investment through government initiatives that build our manufacturing and that diversify and support our economy with value-added and emerging sectors.

I want to turn now to a few minutes’ talking about my riding of Oak Bay–Gordon Head. Oak Bay–Gordon Head is a beautiful and welcoming place. Like the rest of our province, it’s diverse, it’s welcoming and it’s home.

The other day I was in the community on the weekend with the FIRST Tech and Robotics competitions. This brings me back to B.C.’s advantages, our innovation and the spirit we see in our community.

I was working with a bunch of youth that were involved in a tech challenge with a robot competition, making their robots move blocks, stack them, hang them on hooks and do incredible things. So many of the young people in this competition were women, which brings me to a moment where I get to acknowledge that International Women’s Day is coming.

The kinds of programs we’re working on help encourage women in STEM — sciences, technology and math. The young women that I saw in this robotics competition were just thriving and were ready to unlock their futures with innovation, growth and inspiration. It was something that made me feel so inspired to see, and so excited about our future.

We face huge challenges in this province, but we also have incredible advantages: our people, our culture of innovation and our incredible academic institutions, two of which sit in my riding of Oak Bay–Gordon Head.

It’s my privilege to be able to engage with both University of Victoria and Camosun College, and both of which have incredible engineering, tech, biosciences and also humanities — programs that are teaching the next generation of citizens. To be able to engage with them in this moment is also a recognition of the opportunity.

We have incredible advantages in this province with our citizens, with our academic institutions, with our incredible quality of life and welcoming communities that are bringing innovation, development and economic growth to our province.

For me, I also want to thank the incredible team of people that got me elected in the community of Oak Bay–Gordon Head. There’s my family, of course, one of whom is my daughter, who also is looking at a STEM future, thanks to the support that the B.C. government gives to our institutions and communities to grow women in STEM.

My mother was a single mom who inspired me by never letting a door be closed. When she was younger, her father had said to her: “You can be either a teacher or a nurse.” She thought, “I don’t want to be either,” but she went ahead, became a nurse, had five kids and ended up a single mom.

One day she had the opportunity to go back to school in her 50s and get a PhD, and she did. Then she became the head of a university institute, became the head of Canadian Circumpolar Institute, worked on Canadian International Health Institute as an adviser and had an incredible new career.

She taught me that it doesn’t matter what stage of your life you’re at and what comes your way, that we can all have an opportunity to ensure doors stay open for us and for women coming ahead of us, that there isn’t a moment in life where you can’t say there’s a door we can open.

She showed great courage, as a low-income mom with five children, to follow her dream, which wasn’t easy and inspired me to continue in my life to pursue dreams, goals and ambitions that brought me here, into the incredible privilege of being in this House today — to be able to speak to the agenda of our government to continue to build opportunities for women and for all of our citizens of British Columbia with inclusive economic growth, with diversity and with businesses that can thrive across communities.

[2:25 p.m.]

Hon. Speaker, let me reassure you and all British Columbians that my ministry team and I will work with the Minister of Finance to review all of our programs and initiatives to ensure programs remain relevant, efficient, grow our economy and keep costs low for British Columbians and B.C. businesses. Underlying all our work is partnership, collaboration with Indigenous people and First Nations rights holders for economic reconciliation.

With the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act as the foundation, we’re taking action to support a future where First Nations are full participants in the social, cultural and economic landscape of our province. We look to a future where First Nations are driving economic development in B.C., where First Nations are leaders and decision-makers in shaping sectors and emerging opportunities.

We’re taking an active role in promoting growth for First Nations communities and their businesses, creating a business climate where First Nations lead and benefit from the development in their territories.

I want to take a moment to say what a privilege it was to be at the First Nations Leadership Gathering, where First Nations came forward with economic development opportunities that ranged from fisheries and forestry to clean tech, where First Nations are taking on initiatives in their communities and working in collaboration with their local governments and with industry to unlock economic development, and where we can work together to meet the challenge of this moment and unlock that growth in an inclusive and diverse economy.

We will continue to collaborate with businesses, workers and communities to attract investment in our new and traditional sectors, as well as emerging sectors of our economy, to talk about how we can use AI to harness our strengths, grow our economy, and improve and grow our jobs. We can adopt it across traditional sectors and new sectors, where we can create innovation and increase productivity.

We are going to work with approaches that will bring certainty for business and security for workers and that will generate the wealth needed to support the essential services British Columbians rely on.

What I’ve talked about today is a ministry that’s focused on working to meet this moment for British Columbians, to respond, strengthen and diversify. We’re going to be strengthening this economy every day, all day — meeting with businesses, meeting with industry associations, meeting with communities and talking about what we can do together to meet this crisis moment, as British Columbians, standing strong for jobs and communities.

We’re going to be working every day to diversify our economy and diversify our trade relationships, to work with other countries and across this country with other provinces and the federal government, to continue to diversify our trading relationships and unlock economic development by the movement of goods and services across this country, so that we can protect jobs that our citizens in British Columbian communities rely on — jobs that create the kind of fabric that we all need to thrive.

These are the people going out in our community to get their hair cut, to buy local products, to eat in the local restaurants. This is what supports our communities to thrive, and this is what we will be defending. British Columbia’s government every day will respond, strengthen and diversify going forward. We hope to work together, collaboratively across all sectors, to ensure we’re able to continue to do that.

Peter Milobar: It’s my pleasure to rise to the throne speech, in my first time representing the newly named riding of Kamloops Centre.

Certainly, every election is always a bit of an interesting journey, and this one was likely more interesting than most, especially for me. When the switch was made, Elections B.C. created two new geographic ridings within Kamloops. They left the name of one the same — Kamloops–North Thompson, which I previously represented — which created further confusion in the communities as to how the new boundaries got reshaped.

With Kamloops Centre being half the population of the former Kamloops–North Thompson and the other half the population of the former Kamloops–South Thompson, it really was a bit of a challenge getting people to understand exactly which ridings both I and the now member for Kamloops–North Thompson were running in. Then you couple in the chaos — let’s face it — and the B.C. politics craziness of what unfolded over the summer in late August and early September.

[2:30 p.m.]

I found myself with a decision to make: to continue to seek office and do the work that I love so much as an MLA, and hope the electorate would bring me back here, or to start looking to do other things within my life. Certainly, this job is a passion of mine. It wasn’t an easy decision to come to one way or the other, because you’re always looking at things.

Since I first was elected in 2002 as a city councillor and 2008 as a mayor and then 2017 as my first time as an MLA, I’ve always had a very strong core group of supporters behind me and electorate that have always felt very comfortable and feel like they know what they get when they vote for me. I’ve always prided myself on that, of trying to be good to my word and good to my actions on how I move forward.

For those that have supported all the way along, I really did lean on and rely on their advice and reaching out to them to find out what they thought I should do or not. Overwhelmingly, they were encouraging me to continue to seek to be an MLA, to bring my voice here on their behalf of Kamloops Centre residents and to really bring forward my perspective to mix in with the 92 other perspectives in this place for the betterment of all British Columbians.

I really do want to thank all of those people who have been there every step of the way on this journey with me. Certainly, as I say, amazingly enough, a great many of them are actual volunteers. I’m not going to start naming them all because I’ll miss some for sure. But there has literally been a very strong core group of community leaders behind me since 2002. They’ve really just been there whenever I need them to help and to support and to move me through various election cycles.

I’ve had interesting elections. I won my first mayor’s race quite handily. In my second mayor’s race, I was three hours away from an acclamation, and I wound up only winning by 235 votes. Then it was a complete landslide the next time. And then a 4,500-vote margin the first time I got elected as an MLA, down to 196 votes the second time and then back up to 2,000 this time despite all that turmoil.

Again, I very much view those elections as snapshots in time, but one thing that I’ve tried to be consistent in is seeking the advice of those that I truly do respect in the broader community and then trying to conduct myself and be good to my word.

And so obviously, there’s a volunteer side, but there’s also the family side of the equation and my wife Lianne, my kids. My youngest was only, I think, four years old when I first got into public office. My oldest was only eight, and they’re all adults now. They’re all married. I’m fortunate that they all happen to live in Kamloops, and I have three grandkids as well.

You start looking at that and that expanded family that’s kind of growing the whole time doing this job, and you realize just how important it is in terms of that to set example even within your own family. I say all that because as I’m standing here saying this, I realize that even during the election and even before all the transitions happened at end of August, early September, there was people coming to me. There were gatherings. There were meetings we had where people were wanting to know what exactly would I do, faced with some of the turmoil that we’re seeing in the world today.

One of those events was actually a gathering with leadership with Tk̓emlúps where it was what they call the sacred covenant with the Catholic Church around residential schools and trying to get access to records and how they were going to work forward with the Catholic Church to work on the Kamloops residential school issues moving forward. I was honoured there to be presented with an owl staff, representative of the Le Estcwicwéy, the missing.

There, in front of probably 150 or so Tk̓emlúps members, a very respected former Kukpi7, Manny Jules, who I’ve considered a friend for many years now, point blank asked me when I was at the podium in front of everyone: “What will you do in the face of denialism? What will you do in the chamber? Will you be our voice to push back against that?”

And I flat-out said: “Yes, I absolutely would.” I wouldn’t be true to my commitments if I didn’t take opportunities like that have presented unfortunately over the last week or so out there to make sure people understand exactly where I stand on things.

[2:35 p.m.]

I come from this with a bit of a background that maybe people aren’t quite aware of. I come with this not just because of my commitment to the broader membership, to respected Elders and current leadership, but also with my own family. My wife, my kids, are all Indigenous. My grandchildren are Indigenous. My son-in-law is a Tk̓emlúps band member.

These types of things are very personal, and so when denialism does from time to time raise up in the broader conversation, both in B.C. and across the country, it has a direct impact on Tk’emlúps. They’re faced with people literally showing up with shovels to try to prove a point, to get into secure areas. We wouldn’t expect that in any other situation, yet it seems to be fair game.

So to those back home that I’ve made commitments to in terms of keeping my word and standing up and speaking out, making it very clear where I stand on certain issues…. I want the Tk’emlúps membership to know. I want the rest of my constituents to know. I know there will be many, unfortunately, that don’t agree with me, and that’s okay, I guess. We’ll try to bring people along this journey, but I wouldn’t be fulfilling what I went through making decisions in the summer, early fall about trying to come back to this place if I didn’t stand here right now and lead off with these words as well. That kind of struck me as I was talking about family and supporters.

With that, we’ll switch gears a little and talk about the actual throne speech, which was very similar to former throne speeches. It’s almost like a rinse and repeat on this side of the House when we have throne speeches.

Again, we’re facing a tariff threat like never before, and the government’s response to that is: “We’re going to grow the economy. We’re going to speed up permits. We’re going to help industry. We’re going to get competitive.” Well, let’s look at those statements. What the government is actually saying with all of that is that they will use tariffs as the excuse to finally take action on the economy that the business community and the broader population has been calling for the whole time they’ve been in government.

They’re essentially saying that they’re okay running record deficits in this province, knowing they’re essentially leaving money on the table by not having a fully functioning, firing economy. They know that steps could have been taken to accelerate permits. They’re admitting now that government revenues could increase if resource projects were going. They’re admitting that we have a skills shortage that hasn’t been addressed, so now they’re trying to scramble and say that they’re going to create these spaces. They’re admitting that they’ve been lagging in the tech area.

All with record deficits, record deficits that far exceed anything that happened in COVID. No wonder the Premier, bizarrely, went back to World War II to try to evoke imagery about a trade war. He’s far outstripping spending on COVID, so I guess he didn’t want to use the most recent economic crisis that struck our province as how to respond.

Governing is not easy. The hardest thing you can do when you’re governing is say no, because you get way more good suggestions and ideas on how to spend taxpayers money than you have money to do. This government has been unwilling to say no for seven and a half years. Lord only knows what that means for public sector bargaining in the backdrop of all of this, where 80 percent of public sector unions are up for negotiations this year, I believe, if they’re unwilling to ever say no.

Despite the fact that they defended running record deficits and insisted that they were doing all they could do to keep the economy moving, now in an effort to try to deflect away from what will be, undoubtedly, a sea of red ink in their budget next Tuesday, they’re trying to blame a possible tariff war with the United States. I say “possible” because last I checked, it was supposed to start a month ago, and it didn’t.

[2:40 p.m.]

We also don’t know how long, if it starts, it will actually continue on for, but this government seems to want to go all in on the excuses ahead of time for why they’re going to fail. It’s peppered throughout the throne speech, with all the same language they have said year after year after year in this place.

I’ve lost count of how many years they said they were going to speed up permitting. One year when they were going to speed up permitting, the current Premier’s plan to speed up permitting was to hire 200 more staff to speed up permitting, even though we haven’t seen any permitting speed up. Not cut through all the rules and the regulations and the 96-page applications you need to fill out and condense those down to speed things along. No, let’s hire 200 more bureaucrats, because more bureaucrats, apparently, is more efficient to the NDP.

It simply defies logic. Then, in a year where the only way they can cling to power is to cut a deal with the Greens yet again…. It feels like the first time I got elected to this place, in 2017, all over again. The deal they cut with the Greens…. Literally, a few days later, they’re announcing they’re waiving environmental assessments for wind farms.

I still don’t understand how the Greens reconcile that. I don’t understand how an industrial road you need to build into the back forty to build a wind farm, going over creeks, going through denning areas, interrupting potential freshets, spawning seasons, bird migration paths…. TMX had to halt construction for certain cycles of salamanders.

I don’t know how building that exact same industrial road to get the equipment in you need to build a wind farm is okay to do without an environmental assessment, but if you’re building that same road to open up a logging cutblock, you’re mired in years of regulatory hurdles. If you’re putting that same industrial road in to open up a mining area — years. If you’re TMX, this is literally the government that was going to use every tool in the toolbox to stop you from doing it, and they had to go through a lot of hurdles.

My old riding, Kamloops–North Thompson, had probably the longest stretch of the TMX pipeline. It had almost a third of the stretch of the whole pipeline in that one riding. Fairly well versed with it. The amount of start and stop that was forced upon it because of this government, and the added cost to us, the ultimate taxpayers…. Because the federal government had to come in and buy it. Guess what? We’re federal taxpayers as well.

Now we’re supposed to believe, at the 11th hour of a tariff war, that this government has figured out how to speed up permits and environmental assessments. Now, I want to be 100 percent clear. We are not saying as B.C. Conservatives that there should be no environmental oversight. We’re saying it should be efficient, it should be quick, and it should actually get to the root of what you’re actually trying to protect or not.

We’re the only jurisdiction that takes as long as we do to set out the standard that a company needs to adhere to for the environmental assessment. That’s a problem. That’s a problem when this government suddenly jumps to handpicking one type of industry to get special treatment. But as with all NDP promises, it’s always in the fine print.

I touched on this yesterday, and I know the Energy Minister wasn’t thrilled with this, but we’re now, what, 3½ months post cabinet being sworn in. We’re 2½ months post the Energy Minister saying that there was going to be this expediated process. Yet he’s acknowledged they need to bring the legislation to this House to make that expediated process happen. But all their speeches in the last 2½ months have talked about the expedited process like it’s already there. It’s not. Not only that, the legislation isn’t in front of this House.

[2:45 p.m.]

So the big urgent tariff war lectures we got yesterday and wrapping in the flag from the government…. Despite all of that, and despite what we’re hearing in their throne speech debates, they don’t have the legislation ready for us.

How urgent is it? Tariffs are supposed to hit in seven days. Do we wait till May? Do we wait till there’s a week left in session to have it finally brought forward?

I get that it might be complex, but the Premier yesterday in question period, when he was asked about the carbon tax on dirty coal…. Yet again, I would love to hear how the NDP is explaining this to the Green Party. We’re suggesting a carbon tax on the dirty coal being mined — newsflash for the Premier — in Republican states, so that should be right in his wheelhouse, getting shipped up to Canada, coming through Kamloops on record-long coal trains to get to our port because they can’t get into a U.S. port because they won’t accept it because it’s so dirty of a coal to burn in other jurisdictions.

This is the government that’s supposed to be all about bringing down our emissions. What do they do when a rational, logical way to try to get the attention of the Americans around not only softwood but the tariff fight in general…? Bringing in a carbon tax — not a tariff; a carbon tax — which we have taxing authority in this province to do, and holding it in trust until the softwood lumber deal is finally solved.

The Premier’s response in question period was: “Well, if it was easy, we would absolutely do it.” It’s in Hansard. Go look it up. Apparently, this Premier and this government, in a tariff war, are only prepared to do what’s easy.

Again, governing is hard. There was an economic crisis in 2008. There was COVID. There were intervening potential problems, things around SARS and other issues like that. There’s now a tariff threat. There’s always something in the life of most governments — especially if they last more than one term, and this is now the third term for this government — that is going to come up. So excuses don’t cut it.

You shouldn’t have put your name on the ballot if you weren’t prepared to deal with the unexpected big issues that come up. “If it was easy, we would absolutely do it.” That’s the man-of-action Premier, talking yesterday.

I can only imagine, with that throne speech and based on what the election promises were and what the NDP candidates thought they were running on as a platform, the shock it must be for them all to be in this place, and an hour before the first question period find out that safe supply is now cancelled.

They certainly didn’t campaign on that. They certainly weren’t told by the Premier: “Don’t worry. Once we get in, we’ll just get rid of safe supply.” I can’t imagine what it must be like to be, especially the new MLAs, finding how fast and easy it is for a Premier to snap their fingers and make a fundamental change in policy like that.

Now again, to be clear, we agree it should be scrapped. We also were asking for drugs in playgrounds to be scrapped, and it took over a year of haranguing the Premier to deal with that. It took over two years to get safe supply actually acknowledged, despite diversion and everything else being raised for two years in this place. I can only imagine sitting in a caucus room in the NDP thinking: “What did I sign up for? And what am I to believe that I’m being told is the direction of our party?”

We heard today the Solicitor General say that we’re playing politics with diversion. Well, isn’t it convenient that for the government who got called out by a report being released about diversion, its first response was to blame us for releasing a report, even though police confirm it will not impact any investigations whatsoever. Actually, we checked and had that confirmed with police before we released it. We weren’t trying to be irresponsible with the information.

So you have a government that’s hiding information before an election, during an election, after the election, and their first response is to blame the opposition for doing their job and letting the public know what’s actually going on.

[2:50 p.m.]

Their second response was to wait until an hour before question period, despite the report being out for a few weeks before we actually started in this place, and say: “You know, we were working on this all along. The timing was just coincidental. We’ve been planning to get rid of decrim all along.”

Come on, let’s see you raise hands on the other side. How many people campaigned knowing they were getting rid of decrim all along? I thought so.

We had secret land deals in Pender Harbour. Pender Harbour, where on August 1, the government tells everyone in Pender Harbour: “Don’t worry, we’ve come up with a new dock management strategy.”

August 26, they sign a secret deal without telling the broader public what’s going on, one that actually has financial implications for governments moving forward at about $20 million a year. On the grand scheme of things, not huge dollars to a $90 billion budget, but still you’re locking in future governments, and you’re a month away from a general election that you’re not confident, at that point, that you’re going to win. But you don’t tell anyone, and it goes totally contrary to what you were telling people in the broader public on August 1.

At the same time, you have the Premier saying: “Don’t worry, we’re never bringing back the Land Act changes again.” Well, how can anyone believe that now?

When you talk about divisions within Indigenous communities, the government has a large share of this as well. They set expectations in Indigenous communities to an unrealistic level because they oversell what is actually happening in a legal framework basis. They continually go and talk in private and never include the public in those conversations.

You would have thought they would have learned with the whole caribou problem that they had up in the Peace country a couple years ago and how that blew up on them. But they just keep going back to the same thing and then they change their packaging a little and say: “Trust us. We’ve learned. We’re doing it different.” That’s what this throne speech is. It’s just repackaged language saying they’re going to do the exact same thing over and over and over again.

Now, it was likely an easy transition between the Energy Minister and the Health Minister because they switched roles. And I say it must have been an easy transition because apparently the briefing books just changed. Because for the previous 7½ years, all we kept hearing, when we talk about mental health and addictions, and the fentanyl crisis, and the absolute mess of health care, is: “We have much work to do. We’re working on it. We’re hard at work.”

That’s what we heard from the former minister repeatedly in question period. I’ve heard that as an answer in almost every single health question this session already, and we’re only four days in to question period.

And it’s interesting to me that this government has a new-found way to expediate permits for energy projects. They suddenly have a new-found way to bring efficiencies and improve our health care system, with the two ministers that used to be responsible for those exact two roles switching places.

Again, it’s a shuffling of the deck chairs. Unless there’s meaningful change, meaningful action actually taken, not words, action, the outcomes are going to be the exact same. And that’s the underlying problem with the throne speech. It’s high on rhetoric.

I mean, somehow, the Premier managed, on a ministerial statement around a three-year sombre recognition of the war in Ukraine, to start politicizing the tariff war again. He seems just infatuated with war metaphors and the tariff.

The Ukraine conflict, the Ukraine war is in real-time with brutal atrocities happening. And the Premier learned nothing from trying to compare somebody’s house being bombed to someone losing their job and having issues with their bank around mortgages. He didn’t learn from that like four days earlier, so he just doubles down in the response about the war in Ukraine. Overshooting the runway again.

[2:55 p.m.]

The words and the track record are consistent. This Premier has overshot the runway continually. He overshot the runway with the prop rep vote. Some say it was on purpose just to appease the Greens to have the vote but make sure it failed. We’ll never actually know; only the Premier actually knows. Overshot the runway on using every tool in the toolbox for TMX.

I think we were on about year 4 when he was the Attorney General before he even came close to having a decision in the Supreme Court this government even came close to winning. I think we were at 0 and 9 at that point. It’s calling him the O-fer Attorney General.

Continually overshooting the runway, continually dragging B.C. down as an investment climate.

Now in the middle of a potential tariff fight — when we’re desperate to attract investment, where we’re already the least competitive jurisdiction in Canada, if not North America — we have no commitment on what’s going to happen on carbon tax. It’s playing games with that. We have no commitment on what’s going to happen on tax structure overall to help the investment climate in B.C. A hurried rush to get down to L.A. to hobnob down there and give a tax break. Great. The film industry is very important in B.C. I understand that.

You know what else is really important? People having groceries in their house. Suddenly the government didn’t have money for that even though they promised it. They like to talk about our promises in a campaign. It’s interesting given that they were already at a $9.5 billion deficit and their promises exceed over $3 billion a year. Last I checked that would have put them well past a $12.5 billion deficit, yet they insist ours was going to be $11 billion based on our campaign promises. But far be it for me to let the numbers and the facts get in the way of the spin that comes from this government.

This government that talks about hiring freezes that’s supposed to be overseen by the Finance Minister. I’ve lost count of how many people have either been hired or promoted in the Finance Ministry since the discussion of this has happened. And not for actually doing finance work: all in the communications department for the Finance Minister, because that’s critical to the function of government.

While other ministries are worried they might be getting laid-off, the Finance Minister, who’s supposed to be overseeing the austerity of the government overall, is making sure her spin doctors are very well paid and promoted and expanded within her own ministry.

That’s the decision-making that we’re seeing out of this government right now. That’s what we’re going to keep holding to account. They would love to be talking about something other than this throne speech but unfortunately the government has no other business for us to work on.

We’ll continue to do our part and speak to the throne, point out the hypocrisy of this government, wait for a piece of legislation that has some substance to it, especially something that might have anything to do with the tariff war whatsoever and, in the meantime, we’ll just have to wait, I guess, and see how long that actually takes.

Thank you for this time, Mr. Chair.

Hon Chan: I seek leave to make an introduction.

Leave granted.

Introductions by Members

Hon Chan: It is truly exciting to welcome another group of students from Richmond Secondary School in my riding of Richmond Centre to the Legislature today. This is the second day in a row, and it is fantastic to see so many young people eager to learn about our democracy.

These students are the future of our province, and it is our responsibility to ensure they grow up in a safe, supportive and prosperous community. Let’s give them a big round of applause and warmly welcome them to this House.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, and welcome to our throne debate.

[3:00 p.m.]

Debate Continued

Rohini Arora: It’s an honour to be standing here speaking in support of the throne speech as a representative for the riding of Burnaby East.

I’m grateful to be speaking to you all on the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, including the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

And thanks to both Elders Frank George and Mary Thomas for the heartfelt welcome. I have deep gratitude for the medicine that was offered on the day of the throne speech. I honour their wisdom, traditions, culture. I come with all due respect, and I will move on this territory with integrity.

I also acknowledge that I am privileged to live and work on the lands of the Hul’q’umi’num’ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, who share a deep connection to the water and the lands since time immemorial.

I am honoured to call Burnaby East my home for over 20 years, and it’s where I got to marry the love of my life. I wouldn’t be here without the support of my own family, who I’d like to take a moment to thank.

My husband, Luis, who was my rock throughout the campaign. He ensured the kids were fed and the medicine was had. And by kids, I mean our geriatric guinea pigs, Junebug and Luna. We lost Luna recently, and it has been heartbreaking to not hear her little wheek-wheeks when we come through the door, demanding snacks. My husband is such a loving fur dad.

My mom, Maninder, is the real all-star in my life. She had my sister and I ten and a half months apart. She was a shift health care worker, and she used to carry us both in her arms, hopping on a bus, dropping us to daycare and going about her day. She worked very hard to ensure we had every opportunity.

You see, we are Sikh Punjabis, a minority faith back in my parents’ home country. Our grandparents were all displaced from the Pakistan side of Punjab after partition in 1947. There was a lot of violence and fear at that time. My maternal grandmother and her family lost their home, belongings and her brother, trying to get to safety. Many people belonging to the South Asian community, particularly from India and Pakistan, are still dealing with the intergenerational trauma of that colonial violence.

After my grandfather passed, my mom made her way here to Vancouver as a teenager, and she had to start all over. All of my drive to make change comes from my mom, a strong, independent woman who came here for a better life. A union activist herself, I have seen her speak up in the toughest of spaces. That’s shown me that when you speak truth to power, there’s nothing to fear.

Because of my mom’s benefits, my sister and I had access to PharmaCare and dental care until the age of 25. I remember paying for a crown myself and being shocked by the bill. It made me realize the value of having a union job and that it cut costs so that you could plan for the future. So shout out to my union, United Steelworkers Local 2009. It’s why my sister, Jasleen, and I have inherited our mother’s advocacy to fight for what’s right.

Like any sibling, I have wanted to protect her and my family. I have been on the other side, and I know firsthand how tough life can be. Today I see my sister so happy and healthy and doing what she wants with her life. It’s all thanks to our parents’ sacrifices.

I’m thankful to my brother-in-law, Justin, for loving on her and being such a doting husband. I have to thank both of them for gifting me my little squirrel, my nephew, Jeevan, my own daily reminder of a future worth fighting for.

I know my dad, who is no longer here, is proud of this family and of me, I hope. I’m grateful to my family for their continued love and support. And I must tell you, running as a candidate yourself truly requires the encouragement and support of your family, friends, loved ones, plus a strong campaign team, donors, an engaged electorate and the dedicated volunteers who are the bedrock of any campaign.

[3:05 p.m.]

I couldn’t have achieved success without my campaign manager, Derek, and my campaign team Anika, Angela, Cody, Paramvir, Pritpal, Avtar, Daniel, Cassandra and Pranjali. This team was truly the dream team.

It’s through the many connections I made that I crossed paths with the youngest volunteer on my campaign, Abigail, whom I’d met with her lovely mom. At just eight years old, this strong-willed and smart girl didn’t hesitate to get involved. She dropped leaflets, knocked on doors, played with the neighbourhood cats and ensured to let them know that I was running.

Abigail has been a continued source of inspiration for me, because at just eight years old, she shared her dream of becoming Prime Minister one day. She asked me tough questions about education on our first meeting, and I realized this was a very serious endeavour. In fact, at five years old, she had already made up her mind. And with a family that fully supports her, I’m sure she will realize this dream. I’m on her volunteer list, and if anybody else wants to join me, they’re most welcome.

It’s also with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to thank the former MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed, Katrina Chen, who encouraged me to run, and former MLA Jane Shin for her words of wisdom and support. The work they both did for British Columbians is immeasurable and paved the way for this brown girl from Burnaby. Not too long ago, racialized and Indigenous communities couldn’t vote, let alone run.

It was amazing to connect with so many people who shared the same vision to make Burnaby East and the province, this beautiful vision, a reality. Many of these folks have been dedicated volunteers over decades, like my EDA volunteers. For many, it was their first time working on a campaign. I want to thank each volunteer who came rain or shine, who drove, dropped leaflets, put up signs, knocked on doors, ran zone houses and brought food. This win would not have happened without their support.

And I want to thank the donors. Your donations meant we could run a winning campaign, so thank you.

Learning about the history of B.C. has taught me of the sheer will, strategy, resilience and grit of so many communities, driven by their own sense of justice. So I want to honour the many early anti-racism advocates and workers who fought for our right to vote and to be here: Harry Daniels, a Cree leader and founding member of the Indian Brotherhood of Canada, now known as the Assembly of First Nations; Mary Two-Axe Earley, a Mohawk woman who fought for Indigenous women’s rights; Alexander Cumyow, a leader in the Chinese community; D.P. Pandia, who not only fought for South Asians but also a woman’s right to vote; and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, who fought to form their own union because early unions didn’t accept Indigenous, Black and people of colour. And many more.

I could spend all day talking about these trailblazers. Without their work, myself and many members in this chamber wouldn’t be here. I hold their contributions dearly and recognize that there is more work to do to address the structural and systemic inequity that impacts marginalized communities today.

Systems of oppression operate together. I’ve learned that if only one piece is addressed, the whole system stays intact. Many people experience ableism, racism, homophobia and transphobia as a by-product of the patriarchy. When anyone has an intersectional identity, the marginalization compounds.

These are not abstract ideas, but result in real-life consequences. For example, I am a woman. I’m a woman of colour. I’m often only seen as my gender or as a person of colour, but to truly understand me, you have to acknowledge that I am both at the same time.

[3:10 p.m.]

This statistic from Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls really hits home. Indigenous women and girls are four times more likely to be the victims of violence than non-Indigenous women. To truly understand any issue, we have to acknowledge people’s intersecting identities in order to address the inequity they face.

Coming to Canada as an immigrant, my mom’s hope was that one day, when she had her own family, things would be different. But there were still challenges. My sister and I went to a school that didn’t always understand many of the cultural communities that were a part of it, and the experience was not a fun one. School staff didn’t understand us, and we were looked at as foreign — which meant, often, that our humanity felt dismissed.

There was, and remains, an undercurrent to assimilate, and while learning the rules of Canada and its ways is important, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t challenge harmful perceptions or that you have to abandon your culture, your language and your identity to survive.

I am thankful for this life experience, because it allows me to bring these lenses to Burnaby East, and to the people I serve. It is the epitome of diversity, a mosaic of the rich and vibrant cultures of people from all around the world. I met so many people from different backgrounds at every single door — First Nations and Métis; South, Southeast, West and East Asian; Afro-Caribbean; Italian; eastern European; and a growing Middle Eastern, East African and Latin community.

Burnaby is one of the most diverse cities because there is no majority group. Over 120 languages are spoken across Burnaby, and it’s a marvel. I am transported around the world just walking down the street in my own neighbourhood.

It has also long been known as a sleepy suburban neighbourhood of Vancouver, where working people built their homes and raised their families. Only the latter is true: it is still a largely working-class riding, and it’s growing.

People choose to live there because it has beautiful scenery, mountains and the Burrard Inlet, forests, conservation areas and Barnet Beach all in one spot, including one of the best universities, Simon Fraser University, and a growing life sciences industry in Amgen and Stemcell Technologies, working on cutting-edge care that utilizes your own body’s ability to heal you.

In the city, major funding investments by this government in clean energy, like hydrogen, are ensuring that we move to a green energy future.

The expansion of the Burnaby Hospital, including the BC Cancer Centre, will allow for more people to get care closer to home. Many people are sharing that they found a family doctor, and this is thanks to the work of this government, including more nurses and addressing international credentials to ensure we get them working quickly. While there is more work to do, it makes me proud to know that this government works round the clock to address the health care challenges we face.

Growing up, I worked in the family business in Burnaby East, which meant that I connected with working people in the neighbourhood, hearing their stories of what worked and what didn’t in community. As the child of a working family, I recognize the people who work hard every single day to make B.C. the amazing place it is today. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, making our province more creative and vibrant. My focus is to see to it that my community and communities across B.C. continue to thrive.

The Kensington Plaza complex is in the northwestern part of my riding. It’s a one-stop shop for everything you need. On weekends, many stop at Cockney Kings Fish and Chips, which has been a popular spot for 60 years. It has won best in Burnaby for 25 years.

One of my favourite spots in Kensington is called the Ambit Café, and I often drop in for a London fog and a tuna melt. They have these pink pickled onions. Everyone who knows me here knows I love pickled onions.

[3:15 p.m.]

The Forest Grove area is known for co-op housing, which provides affordable, quality housing for people of all budgets. At the doors, many constituents shared their concerns about affordable housing. For seniors and low-wage workers, moving doesn’t just mean they lose the familiarity of their surroundings. Schooling can be disrupted, child care ends up being further away, and a loss of social networks often means isolation.

So I was thrilled to see that the government provided funding to preserve 425 units of affordable co-op housing for seniors and people with low incomes on Mayberry and Cardston in my riding. This government has shown it understands the value of quality and affordable housing, which provides stability, especially for marginalized communities.

Farther east in the riding, we have the amazing K-Town plaza, a bustling business community near Lougheed Town Centre, which has great food, cafés, notaries, insurance, hair salons and nail salons, like Diva Brow Bar and Spa, owned by Maria Ko. I’m a regular there, because Maria goes the extra mile for her clients.

There is the Anvil Centre, owned by Angelina Park, which is made up of several small businesses. There you’ll find music and choir lessons, skin care, a dance studio, a florist, a clothing designer and more. It has a central space for the community to meet.

My constituency office is in the Crest Plaza, in the most southern part of the riding, with my team that I could not do my job without: Jessica Wei, Lynn Hardy and Paul Dayson.

The threat of tariffs has shown that we will stand up for each other, bringing us closer together as we witness the potential for increased costs on goods, particularly in the agro-industry, manufacturing and retail. This is a shared challenge, and it has united us.

People are rallying to support local business, and the government is working to ensure that we protect and grow jobs here at home by fast-tracking resource projects, while maintaining strong standards. It has reinforced the importance of collaboration, resilience and commitment to strengthening our provincial economy while protecting the livelihoods of all British Columbians.

Now I’m going to turn to child care — a very, very important topic. We know that access to affordable child care is life-changing, and it matters, given this moment that we are in.

My parents needed to work when I was young. We wouldn’t have had food in the fridge or even a roof over our heads if they hadn’t. Like so many families in our province, especially those with single parents, we went to daycare, babysitters and sometimes the neighbours. These experiences weren’t always safe, and I wish we’d had the ChildCareBC plan back when I was young.

It’s why I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as the Parliamentary Secretary for Child Care. Along with the Minister of Education and Child Care, I look forward to advancing our government’s goal of building a future where access to affordable, quality, inclusive and culturally relevant child care is a core service that people can rely on.

Child care is critical for parents, especially mothers, to work, study and pursue opportunity. It is a necessity for gender equity. This investment doesn’t just benefit parents; it strengthens our economy. Research confirms that access to affordable child care has a positive impact, not only on a woman’s employment but on their earnings as well. Our ChildCareBC investments are part of building a stronger B.C. for everyone.

On affordability, a big part of our ChildCareBC plan is reducing the cost of child care for families. For many families, it can be the biggest household expense. As our province faces great economic uncertainty, families are worried about the cost of living going up even more and are worried about how far their budgets will stretch.

[3:20 p.m.]

I’m proud to say that since introducing our child care plan, we have lowered the average cost of child care by over 50 percent. Families are paying an average of $19 a day. Without our programs, those families would be paying an average of $47 a day. In Burnaby alone, over $4 million has gone back into the pockets of families in 2024-25.

Parents of over 154,000 children are receiving reductions on their childcare bills, thanks to our ChildCareBC affordability programs. For example, Tanya, a mother in B.C., shared how she felt to be receiving these savings. She said: “I’m very happy and lucky that my daughter is in a high-quality care centre, and I appreciate the government working with them to lower the fees. This will have a big impact on my family. With the extra savings, we will pay off our debts faster, have extra recreational activities for the kids and save for the future.”

Like Tanya, families with children kindergarten-aged and younger, accessing child care in participating licensed programs have been saving parents up to $900 a month, per child. We know that the cost of child care doesn’t end when children start school, which is why, in September 2023, we expanded the fee reductions to include families of children in licensed preschool and before- and after-school care. Families needing additional child care hours are saving up to $145 a month, per child.

We also have the $10-a-day ChildCareBC program. Families of more than 15,300 children are paying just $10 a day for child care. And we are on track to reach 20,000 $10-a-day child care spaces by spring 2026. In Burnaby, there are 480 $10-a-day spaces.

Kim, a parent at one of these centres, said: “Becoming a part of the $10-a-day program is truly life-changing for our family. This will give us a chance to save for them, provide more opportunities for learning and play and ease finances at a critical time. In particular, for a child who benefits from additional support, we can’t understand enough how much this means to our family.”

Families can also access additional income-tested support through the affordable child care benefit, which can add further savings of up to $1,250 per month, per child. For some families, the combination of the affordable child care benefit and either the $10-a-day or fee-reduction programs means child care at no cost.

We know that some families struggle to find child care, but I can say that things are getting better. Since 2018, the number of licensed child care spaces has grown from 111,000 to 159,000. Our government has funded the creation of more than 40,000 new child care spaces since 2018, with over 23,000 of these spaces already open and serving families.

In Burnaby, our government has funded 580 new child care spaces, including two big projects announced last summer. So 160 more spaces are coming to Simon Fraser University and 74 child care spaces co-located in a new affordable housing development.

We are also helping unlicensed child care operators who provide child care in their home to become licensed through the start-up grants program. This program not only creates more options for families but also ensures that unlicensed providers are meeting government requirements for health and safety, staff-to-child ratios and more, giving parents more options and peace of mind.

Before I go further, I’d just like to take a moment to acknowledge the people who make child care centres possible — and a shout-out to the racialized and Indigenous providers who are helping to foster a culturally sensitive environment. We rely on child care providers to partner with us to deliver critical core services to B.C. families.

[3:25 p.m.]

We couldn’t do this without you folks — I’ve got to look up in the camera so I can see you in the eye — and we want to support your success. That’s why we are supporting child care providers through enhanced funding to help cover operational costs.

Child care also needs the skilled professionals who provide early learning and safe care, allowing children to thrive, families to be supported and workplaces to be successful. I’m so thankful for the incredible people who have a passion to make a difference in the lives of children and have chosen child care as their profession.

With the supports from our government, there has never been a better time to become an ECE. We continue to support educational and training opportunities for ECEs, along with the compensation and recognition they deserve. With up to $6 per hour in wage enhancements from the government, the median ECE wage is now $29 an hour. In Burnaby, over 180 ECEs and over 30 child care facilities are receiving that wage enhancement.

We know that the wage enhancement and other measures have a direct impact on the sector, especially on recruitment and retention. This is an investment that is making a difference.

In fact, here’s what Suzanne, an ECE, said: “As professionals in this field, we create kind, inclusive, responsive environments that support children to reach their potential in a constantly changing world. The additional hourly wage raise is another financial step to keep us in this field.” We know there is more to do, and we are developing and testing a wage grid for ECEs.

Since 2018, the province has been helping to create over 14,000 new child care spaces on school grounds, with more than 6,000 of these spaces open and providing care for children, helping younger children become familiar with their school communities and providing an easy transition for older children moving between their school and before- and after-school child care. Along with the minister, we will continue to implement our mandate item and prioritize before- and after-school child care on school grounds and space for child care as we build or replace schools.

We can’t have quality child care without ensuring that we also have inclusive child care. We know families of children with support needs face unique challenges, and we’re committed to making child care a core service where all children are welcomed, supported and valued. As a person living with a disability, I can attest to how important inclusive options are, and we want children who need supports to be included and not othered. Having inclusion in child care is crucial to allow children to thrive, learn and belong in community.

Through our ChildCareBC plan, we have committed to partnering with First Nations and Indigenous organizations to build culturally relevant child care that meets the unique needs of Indigenous families. We’ve heard their need for choice and flexibility in the types of child care available to them and the importance of a holistic approach that supports their distinct cultures and languages.

I also owe a big debt of gratitude to my friend Katrina Chen, as well as Mitzi Dean and our member for Victoria–Beacon Hill, who have all taken action for families in B.C. in the role of the Minister of State for Child Care. I am indebted to the people who have come before me and who have dedicated so much of their energy and time to make life better for working families, for women and for newcomers through our ChildCareBC plan.

Korky Neufeld: I’m honoured to rise in this House to give my response to the throne speech.

[Mable Elmore in the chair.]

Like the member across the aisle, I am also an immigrant, like many British Columbians, of German background and of German Mennonite heritage. I had a chance to go to the library here at the Legislature to look up the history of the Mennonites here in British Columbia. Many Mennonites immigrated in the early 1900s but actually couldn’t start voting until 1949.

[3:30 p.m.]

Well, my grandfather, David Neufeld, at age 44, was arrested, tortured and killed in the Ukraine in 1935, all because of his faith in God, in the backdrop of communism and socialist views and beliefs.

My parents, with their families, escaped Russia under the tyranny of Stalin. With immigration to most countries not an option, they were relocated to Paraguay, South America, by MCC, Mennonite Central Committee.

I actually have a painting in my constituency office of the steamboat the Volendam, which brought my parents to their new homeland in Paraguay. This painting was painted by my niece Jocelyn Neufeld, and I would like to say thank you, Jocelyn. Great painting. It will remind me every day of why I’m here and to be so grateful to be in this great country.

This new homeland that my parents went to in Paraguay was called the Chaco desert, and I found out that there were four other people groups that tried to tame the Chaco, but nobody could until the Mennonites got there. At great personal cost, today it flourishes with agricultural productivity.

Just before COVID, in March 29, I visited my birthplace, Paraguay, South America, with five of my older brothers. I visited the Mennonite museum in Filadelfia, Paraguay, which revealed to me just how difficult it was for those first Mennonite settlers who came to this desert land. I saw the farmlands, the agricultural vitality of this former desert land absolutely transformed.

But my parents realized there would be a better future in Canada for their children and for future generations, so they uprooted and moved once again. We landed in Canada on November 20, 1964. My parents had about $1,000 in their pocket and eight children. We arrived in Canada, and relatives wanted to take our family on a tour of a new homeland, Vancouver. But my father instead went to Army and Navy to buy work clothes, to buy tools and a lunch bucket, and he started working the very next day.

We still have my father’s lunch bucket. We’ve bronzed it, put a nice plaque on it. It stands there, prominently displayed, to remind us of what he did for us. Our dad worked six days a week for many years, provided food on the table. Feeding ten growing children is no small task. Putting clothes on our back and a roof over our heads…. Today all their children — my siblings and I — have become contributing citizens to our communities and to this province.

I would like to give a shout-out to my siblings right now. I would like to say hi to my oldest identical twin brothers, Werner and Wolfgang; to my other older brothers, George, Henry, Walter and Herb; and to my younger siblings, sister Lydia and — second set of twins — brother David and sister Betty. That’s right, my mom was a courageous woman.

I won’t regale you with stories of our upbringing. You’re going to have to wait for the movie or the book. Our father, our dad, Rudolph Neufeld, passed away on Father’s Day, June 16, 2013, at the ripe age of 91. Our mother, Susa, passed away on July 8, 2022, at the age of 94.

When I talked to my parents, they never thought they’d reach that age. Coming from a war-torn country, being malnourished, my dad was 5 foot 10. His father was 6 foot 4. All their children are over 6 feet. He was malnourished. It stunted his growth. He never thought he’d live to the age of 91. What a great, great country we have here in Canada. What a great opportunity.

I had the privilege and honour of being my mom’s caregiver for almost ten years after my dad passed away, because she lived in Abbotsford. I can tell you stories of navigating the health system. I could tell you lots of stories. I’m just going to tell you one story.

My mother tripped on the sidewalk in the city of Abbotsford, fell down and hit her head on concrete. We took her to the ER. Now, she’s 93 years old. We sat there for five hours, finally got into triage, and then after triage we sat another several hours before they took us into another room where there were curtains set up with about six chairs behind each cubicle of curtains, and then the nursing station is in front. Every one of those chairs was filled with residents of Abbotsford who needed help.

My mother sat there. Then it took several hours to get an MRI on her head, only to show that she had bleeding on the brain. I was told that they were going to have to monitor her overnight. Now remember, she’s 93.

[3:35 p.m.]

So I sat back down, and we waited. And we waited. Then I went up to the desk, and I said: “When is she going to get a bed? When is she going to get a room?” “Oh no, there’s no bed. There’s no room. She has to sit there in that seat, at 93, and we’re going to monitor her from the desk.”

The health care workers and doctors are overworked. It’s not their fault. But folks, this is unbelievable. My parents faithfully paid their MSP and taxes and felt very proud to do so and obligated and responsible. But when they needed the health system most, it failed them, like so many British Columbians today.

To think that one day one of their children would sit as an MLA in this province, in this Legislature…. I don’t think it even crossed their mind. But I’m sure my parents would be very proud. I owe a great debt of gratitude to my father and mother who risked everything so that I could have this opportunity and this privilege.

You see, my parents left a British Columbia to their children filled with hope and opportunity. But it’s not so today. I cannot say I’m leaving a better British Columbia to my children and their children’s children. That is why I’m a candidate and that is why I’m an MLA — to stand up and fight for my children and their children’s children and for your children and their children’s children, to be able to have a hope and build a future in this province.

I also owe some thank-yous, because I could not get here on my own. First of all, I’d like to thank my wife, Cynthia, who has supported me and partnered with me through every adventure in life together, and there’s been many. So thanks, Cynth; appreciate it.

To our children: our firstborn son, Josiah, and his spouse Alyssa, who have gifted us with one grandson, Bearett, who is five years old, and a beautiful granddaughter, almost two, in March, Everlee; our only daughter, Janessa, and spouse Bryan — we have two granddogs, Chicago and Cash, gotta say hi to them; our second son, Jesse; and our youngest son, Jaden. I could not be prouder of who each of you have become. Thank you for your love and your unwavering support of me.

I also want to thank those people who supported me during the election — too many to name, but you know who you are, and I know who you are. To my volunteers, to my campaign manager….

I especially want to thank the residents of Abbotsford West, who shared with me their concerns about the condition of every sector of our economy and every area of our community. They have concerns for their children’s hope and future in this province. Many shared tears with me as I knocked at their doorstep. They were losing hope. They were seeing no path forward. I am reminded of them while I serve in this House every day.

Finally, I want to thank my CA, Jean Hooge, a veteran constituency assistant who more than manages the office. She deeply cares about our constituents who daily come through our office doors. Thank you, Jean.

Now to the work at hand — why I’m here. As the critic for Post-Secondary Education, I just want to thank the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills for our brief introductory meeting just the other day. I’ve already done some research. I have some more questions, and I’ll be contacting you shortly. So thank you for that.

I have visited many public and private institutions across the province, from presidents to administrators to educators to researchers to student unions and students. She knows about that because she followed some of my trail as I followed some of her trail.

Many institutions will not be able to reach their budgets in the coming year. They will need to have significant cuts, submit deficits for the coming year. Also, students are facing unaffordable costs and safety issues in our publicly funded institutions. Especially Jewish students today face threats and blockages to classrooms because of their heritage. This is not Palestine; this is British Columbia. B.C. taxpayers’ public institutions…. On those campuses…. Appalling and disgusting.

The unaffordable costs of these students is tuition, it’s housing, it’s food insecurity, it’s transportation.

[3:40 p.m.]

Many young people are going to have to make a choice. They may have to forgo a post-secondary education because it’s just not affordable anymore. It’s unaffordable for them.

At a time when we have workforce shortages in every sector, we need students to go on and get the trades, get the technologies, get the education so they can enter our workforce, but now it’s becoming unreachable for many.

I hope it doesn’t become a rich man’s hobby of going to school and not allowing everybody in the province to get an education. We will need to look at delivering post-secondary education differently if we hope for this to change, both in the private and public sector. I did not hear much of that in the throne speech.

Now regarding the riding I am privileged to represent, and that is Abbotsford West. Abbotsford’s population growth is projected to be about 250,000 by 2050. We are a rapidly growing region. This will require major infrastructure investment throughout our city. Sixty-four percent of our residents work in Abbotsford, but 36 percent rely on the transport corridor in the Fraser Valley east of the Port Mann Bridge. I’m not sure if any member in this House has ever experienced navigating the traffic gridlock on Highway 1. It’s a religious experience. More on this later.

The Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre was built in 2008, and it did not take long to become well over maximum capacity. ER overcrowding, beds in the hallway, staff overworked. Sound familiar? It’s in every community across our province. Our health care workers are stretched beyond their ability to cope. Patients are more than frustrated with a lack of services and long wait times. I experienced this scenario many times, personally, looking after my parents. Our hospitals urgently need specialists and front-line nurses, like all other regions across this province.

Let’s touch on the agricultural land reserve and land commission. What is unique about our city is that it is boxed in by ALR, agricultural land reserve. So 78 percent of our land is in the ALR, which means very little land for housing, commercial and industrial use. Abbotsford has a major shortage of industrial lands.

This province needs to majorly reform the ALR, which was formed in 1973 with very few improvements since. The ALC, Agricultural Land Commission, is 50 years old. B.C. has changed, but they have not. It needs to be updated. The ALC needs equal representation from all regions of the province so that we can get answers and solutions for every sector of this province.

Let’s talk about the Fraser Valley Highway 1 corridor. There’s an improvement plan underway. Phase 3A is presently underway. This will improve 53 kilometres of highway, from 264 to Mount Lehman, right at the entrance of our city, scheduled to be completed by 2029. Phase 3B, the next 39 kilometres in the Abbotsford corridor to Highway 11, Sumas Way, will be completed in 2031.

But here it is. No commitments beyond 2031. Here’s the problem. Sumas Way is a large U.S.A. border crossing. Highway 1 is the major trucking route for most goods and services. As the flood of November ‘21 revealed, it is a major artery for the rest of the province and beyond. There are no commitments to continue Highway 1 improvements beyond Sumas Way or the Highway 11 crossing.

While our city is very thankful for these long-awaited improvements, it is crucial that this government commits to Highway 1 improvements all the way to Yale Road west. It cannot create a logjam of traffic within our city corridor. Let’s finish the work. It benefits all of British Columbia.

Let’s hit the Sumas Prairie flood mitigation project. Many choose to forget that the Sumas Prairie had a flood in 1990. How many remember that? When the Nooksack River in Washington state overflowed its banks from heavy rainfall, a thousand people were evacuated on both sides of the border. Two people perished. The water receded after about a week.

Here’s a good thing. The Nooksack River International Task Force was created. This task force included members from federal, provincial, local governments, both in the U.S. and Canada. Problem? They failed to meet on a regular basis. In fact, they didn’t meet for over seven years consecutively. A nice glossy report was created but little to nothing initiated.

[3:45 p.m.]

The latest flood of November 2021 was even more devastating, and not only to the Fraser Valley but far beyond. This could have been prevented. Had they looked at the report from 1990, initiated those initiatives from that report, they could have prevented this.

This devastation impacted other regions to the interior corridor of Highway 1. This flood was the top ten for insurable natural disasters in Canadian history. Top ten. I will not go into details on the impact, except to say many farmers still have not been adequately compensated. Oh, our Prime Minister came in. He told us he was standing with us, got a nice photo op, and now, no federal money. Nothing. [A language other than English was spoken.]

This present government has committed, however, $76 million to upgrade the Barrowtown pump station. But it only protects one-third of the farmland in the Sumas Prairie from future flooding. The Sumas Prairie mitigation plan requires both provincial and federal funding to protect the rest of the two-thirds of the Sumas Prairie farmland.

For future food security reasons alone, we need the Sumas River Conveyance System and the First Nations component, the spirit of the lake habitat enhancement and flood storage, to be completed. You asked the question why. Good question. Because 65 percent of dairy and eggs from the province comes from Abbotsford.

I had the privilege of meeting with the B.C. Dairy Association here at the Legislature last week. Dairy farmers in B.C. contributed $1.2 billion in provincial GDP. They support over 12,500 jobs. But dairy farmers in B.C. are in survival mode today. Costs keep rising, profits keep plummeting and bureaucracy is killing the industry.

Our dairy farmers are asking this provincial government for four things. One: reduce business costs for dairy farms. How do you do that? By tax reduction for farmers: carbon tax, PST exemptions; by cost offsets for feed, for fuel, for operations; by enhancing financial options on ALR lands; by program tailoring to expand insurance coverage, reduce premiums and adapt existing programs to the needs of the farmer, not the politicians.

Two: investment in dairy processing. Tax credit incentives to encourage processing growth and improve capacity and strengthen the industry.

Three: secure water resources — this is absolutely crucial — by creating an agricultural water reserve to protect water access under watershed security strategy; by local water governance to establish a framework involving farmers and fund water management roles; by enhancing water infrastructure investments to ensure cost-sharing accessibility and streamlining permitting for on-farm water storage. This will help the farmers grow the feed. And this feed makes its way down to the Fraser Valley and feeds…. A lot of our food that we take for granted lands on our kitchen tables. But if they do not deal with the water, they can’t grow the feed. Without that, our food source will be minimal.

Four: disaster preparedness recognition. Essential service designation. That’s what they’re asking for. This recognizes farmers as essential service providers for emergency response and access during natural disasters. Flood infrastructure investment by prioritizing funding for flood prevention and infrastructure to protect farmland and secure food supply in the Fraser Valley and beyond.

Let’s get back to Abbotsford. We urgently need to complete all three phases of the flood mitigation plan. Only if we commit to completing all of this work will British Columbians be assured of a sustainable food supply. Had all levels of Canadian and Washington governments acted on the study of 1990, the flood of 2001 would not have been as impactful.

[3:50 p.m.]

But instead it cost more than $2.4 billion in damages, and costs are still rising. Many farmers are still not in full production. Second and third generations of farmers still do not know their future moving forward. Their children may not be able to carry on farming. This will negatively impact all British Columbians.

Let’s talk about homelessness, mental health, addiction and crime. We used to only see this homelessness, mental health and drug addiction on the east side of Vancouver, which was shameful enough. But today every city, every town, every village, every hamlet is plagued with homelessness, mental health, open drug use and crime on their streets, in front of businesses, on school playgrounds and in city parks.

I just received a letter from one of my constituents. Let me just share this with you briefly. She went out and walked her dogs when there was a blanket of snow on the ground a couple of weeks ago. The dogs were frolicking around in the snow. Then she brought the dogs home, and all of a sudden one of the dogs started acting a little off.

She was monitoring it and monitoring it and had to take it to a vet, only to find out it had swallowed toxic drugs from eating snow. The dog survived. But if that was a child…. How many of us ate snow when we were children? Can you imagine?

Abbotsford is no different. We have issues. We have nine homeless encampments on the highway lands in our city, and they constantly move around. Like other municipalities, we pick up the costs from any services that are not our responsibility. This has been downloaded. It falls under either provincial or federal jurisdiction.

Abbotsford needs more provincial support. Supports for detox and treatment beds. Supports for detox and treatment staffing. Supports for short-term and long-term housing. We need involuntary care for mental health disorders, when they can’t take care of themselves.

I see, in Abbotsford, many people living on the streets, and they’re without an arm or without a leg. That is somebody’s son. That is somebody’s daughter. They’re not being taken care of on the streets.

We need involuntary care for mental health disorders so we can take care of them in a humane way. We need more day programming and spaces. We need the province to clean up their lands when homeless camps rest on them. We need precinct encampment support. We need criminal justice reform for repeat offenders.

This list is long — the needs and supports that municipalities across this province need. I could go on and on and on.

I know that our municipality has invested many city tax dollars to come up with ways to manage this growing crisis. These dollars are now diverted from the other needs that our residents are actually getting taxed for. We have to stop downloading all this crisis and the cost of it from the province to the municipalities.

And now some comments regarding the brittle B.C. economy.

The economy of British Columbia is one of Canada’s most diverse and dynamic provinces. But for how long? Many are leaving our province at alarming rates.

We are situated on the west coast, British Columbia, and it stands out for its natural beauty, abundant resources and growing technology and service sector. However, despite its economic advantages, B.C. faces several challenges that must be addressed to ensure sustainable growth and prosperity. British Columbians did not hear hope for their future in this government’s throne speech.

Historically, British Columbians’ economy has been heavily reliant on its natural resources, particularly forestry, mining, energy production. The province used to be one of Canada’s largest exporters of wood products, and its mineral sector used to play a significant role in global markets. How long have applications for permits been logjammed by the bureaucracy created by this government?

We should be supplying an abundance of natural gas, as well, to the energy industry, to countries all around the world. But again, bureaucracy continues to hamper B.C.’s ability to do that.

One of the most prominent issues affecting B.C.’s economy today is in the real estate market, or the lack of real estate opportunities. Vancouver, the province’s largest city, is notorious for its high property prices. Now the Fraser Valley, where I live, has become unaffordable like many other communities.

It’s not just our urban centres but all across the province. Housing costs, housing shortages plague every region. The housing market should be a key driver of economic activity, but it is not. Not in this province, it isn’t.

[3:55 p.m.]

As home prices have soared, affordability has plummeted for many residents. According to reports, Vancouver is one of the least affordable cities in the world, the least affordable city in the world when it comes to housing. This has led to increased income inequality and created a large divide between homeowners and renters, leading to homelessness.

The government has introduced some measures, but these and other policies have had little positive effect. In fact, just the opposite. Housing affordability continues to be a crucial issue that requires innovative solutions, which I also did not hear in the throne speech.

I would like you to come to the Fraser Valley sometime, where I live, to see all ages of people, all types of families, living in their vehicles — if they can afford one.

The provincial government removed a camp rest stop by Bradner Road in order to expand Highway 1. Where did they go? There’s a camp presently at Cole Road Rest Area, on the east side of Abbotsford. You can go there, and you can see people living in RVs, living in campers, living in their cars — families with children, elderly. That’s if you’re lucky to live in something like that. The rest are on our streets.

This does not just impact the quality of our neighbourhoods; it negatively impacts businesses. Abbotsford residents have invested everything in their businesses, hoping to pass it on to their children. But now they’re watching it all being clawed away by unaffordable taxes, to crimes that go unpunished, to homeless people living and shooting up in their businesses’ entryways.

Where is the future they are desiring for their children? It’s not because these businesses are not willing to work hard or heavily invest. It’s because of outside forces they have no control over. This government has that control.

The way forward requires bold leadership and a commitment to both economic and social well-being. I will give everything I have and everything I am to that type of bold leadership and commitment. British Columbia should lead the way in creating an economy that is not only prosperous but also sustainable for future generations. That is why I’m here as an MLA and what I am committed to doing for my children and your children for a hopeful future, for them to have confidence in a government that they can count on.

This is probably the most crucial thing: can the residents and the children of those residents in British Columbia count on this government? That’s what they want to know. Not to flip and to flop. Not to test the wind to find out which way the wind is blowing and turn. They need to know that there’s a future for them and future generations. That’s what I’m committed to doing.

Hon. Anne Kang: I’m grateful to be here speaking on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking people and the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.

It is also my honour today to rise to speak on and support the throne speech.

I want to begin by thanking my campaign team; my campaign manager, Eric Peters; my family, mom and dad, my daughter and my son; but as well, the constituents of Burnaby Centre, who have put their faith in me so that I can serve our community.

It is their voices that I bring to this chamber. I am constantly reminded that it is a great privilege to be able to serve the people of British Columbia. The responsibility to represent the most dynamic, diverse and vibrant province is something that I never take for granted.

One takeaway from the election is that British Columbians have sent us a strong and clear message. The people of British Columbia have made it clear that they expect all of us who are in this chamber to deliver on the promise of their prosperity and the collective prosperity of the province, address the cost of everyday living and focus on the priorities they deeply care about.

At the end of the day, British Columbians all want the same things. British Columbians want bigger paycheques that provide stability and help us save for the future, a home that we can afford and access to health care when and where our loved ones need it the most.

[4:00 p.m.]

These are essential to building a good life in the beautiful place we all call home, and this government is well-positioned and committed to delivering on the needs of the people of British Columbia. As a government of growing the middle class, as a government of supporting the industries and enterprise and as a government of growing the pie that is a strong, sustainable economy, it is my hope our commitments are shared by all members in this chamber.

As a former teacher, a proud mother and a lifelong learner, I know that education is critical to building a future. It is certainly front and centre in my home as my two children are near the end of high school and are both looking forward to post-secondary education and pursuing trades as their post-secondary education. Whether it is high school students like mine looking toward furthering their education for a new career, or mid-career workers and professionals looking to expand their knowledge and grow their paycheques by going back to school, post-secondary education and training is key to our province’s success.

Part of my mandate as minister is to ensure that public post-secondary institutions are strong, are responsive to the needs of British Columbians, are relevant and sustainable, and that they continue to offer British Columbians the training, the skills, the opportunities they need to be successful to help grow our provincial economy.

I am so honoured to serve as B.C.’s Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. I know that post-secondary education is the most reliable pathway to the middle class, good-paying jobs and powerful paycheques. One of my top priorities is to ensure that our education and training programs remain meaningful, efficient and responsive to the needs of students, workers, industries and public services, so that British Columbians can seize the job opportunities available now and in the future, and ensure that our people and our province remain the jewel of Confederation.

Over the next decade, B.C. is expected to have nearly over one million job offerings. And a vast majority of these jobs will require post-secondary education or skills training. It’s crucial to ensure workers of today and tomorrow are well-equipped and prepared to take advantage of these opportunities and that employers can find and match the skills individuals need to drive our province’s prosperity and deliver the important services that we all rely on.

That is why our government introduced the StrongerBC future-ready action plan in 2023. This plan focuses on making post-secondary education and training even more affordable, accessible and responsive, helping people reskill for high-skill, high-salary, in-demand jobs and breaking down barriers so every British Columbian can find a job and career that grows their individual wealth.

As part of the action plan, we launched the future skills grant, which provides $3,500 per person to cover the cost of short-term skills training at public post-secondary institutions. These responsive skills training programs provide people with a quick, immediate and flexible way to gain the knowledge and skills needed in the labour market and help them explore opportunities in high-demand, well-paying areas without sacrificing their job and foregoing their responsibilities.

The future skills grant supports people at any stage of their career to make necessary steps to improve their skills and achieve their employment goals. This grant, this investment in British Columbians, has never been endeavoured or implemented in the history of our province until this government consulted and listened to what people and the industry wanted to improve their livelihoods. And British Columbians responded.

Over the past two years, more than 7,000 British Columbians have benefited from the grant, gaining access to over 400 short-term training courses. Public post-secondary institutions successfully worked with industry in B.C., and these courses cover a wide range of high-demand fields, including construction, technology, project management, health care and clean energy. By providing access to skilled upgrading training, this grant not only enhances job prospects but also strengthens our economy.

With the threatened assault on our way of life by the new American administration, this grant is another arrow in our quiver, as we strengthen and diversify our economy.

[4:05 p.m.]

Investing in skills training equips people with relevant skills, grows the wealth of people in our province and ensures resilience in an ever-changing world. Our public post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of making, creating and shaping our province, our nation and our world.

Sectors like clean tech and agritech are shaping our province and driving innovation and growth. These technologies are also redefining the nature of work and the employment landscape. That’s why we’ve created 3,000 more tech-relevant spaces so that more people are trained for great jobs as well as the clean, innovative economy of the future.

Our government has provided Mitacs with funding to support 10,000 internships over five years for students in priority sectors that affect all British Columbians such as clean technology, life sciences, emergency management, advanced timber and agritech.

Moreover, we’ve expanded graduate scholarships for students in STEM fields and introduced awards to inspire a new generation of women to pursue careers in tech.

We believe that economy should work for people. Thanks to these scholarships, people like Ann Duong, a B.C. graduate scholarship recipient, can go deeper into their research and explore new ideas that are putting them on a path of a great career while making this province stronger.

We know that some people in B.C. face more barriers than others when it comes to accessing training and education. That is why we work hard day in and day out to break down barriers that are keeping people out of the workforce and unable to live the best life they deserve.

For example, former youths in care. In 2017, we created and delivered the provincial tuition waiver program that waives tuition and fees for former youth in care. The provincial tuition waiver program covers a wide range of undergraduate study options, including programs leading to a certificate, a diploma or undergraduate degree, apprenticeship programs and continuing education courses.

These people-supporting initiatives go a long way to increasing the number of skilled people in the workforce, accelerating the adoption of new technology by employers and opening pathways to careers for thousands.

In 2023, our government doubled down on our commitment and opened the program to all former B.C. children and youth in care, regardless of age, wherever they are. This action also included the introduction of a new $3,500 Learning for Future Grant to support educational costs such as books, computers and supplies. Since that part of the program in 2017, we have supported over 3,000 former children and youth in care to realize their dreams and their own future.

For Mallory Woods, a student studying at Vancouver Island University, this program has provided the security and support she needed to take the leap into post-secondary education. She said: “It took a village to get me this far, and it will continue to take a village to bring others alongside me.”

The provincial tuition waiver program offers to those who have been in care the possibilities to make strong strides towards the life they want to live, even if they once thought that life was unattainable. I am so proud of Mallory. This is exactly what we want to achieve, and stories like this steel our resolve for people like Mallory and for every British Columbian.

We also know that the cost of housing, tuition and everyday life is a top concern for many students and their families. That’s why we brought student financial aid support into the 21st century and created more flexible repayment terms.

Before our government, students in B.C. received half of what their counterparts in other provinces received. That was simply unfair and shortsighted. It put our students, the future workers of our province, at a massive disadvantage.

Our B.C. NDP government also ended the practice of charging interest on student loan payments in 2019 because our government does not believe that we should treat education like a profitable commodity.

[4:10 p.m.]

Our government believes that people of this province are its strength. That is why we delivered the B.C. access grant, which provides as much as $4,000 per year to students from middle-class families to attend B.C.’s public post-secondary institutions. More than 74,000 British Columbians have received funding through the B.C. access grant to help with costs such as tuition and living expenses.

The students who have benefited from this program are now teachers and nurses, counsellors and engineers, police officers and firefighters, among other careers. And the parents and guardians of these students are better off because they were able to make the cost of education more affordable by removing the cost of up to $16,000 from their expenses.

By removing barriers for students and making the necessities of life cost less for parents, we are empowering our future generations to become the change-makers and the leaders we know that they are. We will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that our programs remain responsive to the evolving needs and provide the training and skills people need to succeed, so that more British Columbians are well prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

People are the backbone of our society, and businesses are the engine that drives growth in our province. Together, they drive innovation and job creation and lift our standard of living. Developing people’s skills and supporting the most skilled workforce in the world is crucial for ensuring that businesses remain competitive in both domestic and global markets.

Workforce development is particularly crucial as we navigate the threat of American tariffs, which could have a massive impact on trade and economic relations. There will be no confusion. Our government will do what it takes to strengthen our economy, diversify where we buy and sell goods and services, and respond to any unjustified threat against Canadians and British Columbians.

Many industries are facing the challenges of hiring and retention, due to shortages of skilled workers and professionals. We know there is no single solution to this challenge. That is why we are implementing practical and effective solutions across multiple fronts. This includes ensuring access to high-quality education, promoting training programs for in-demand jobs and removing barriers to credential recognition.

The B.C. employer training grant program is one example of how businesses can leverage opportunities to address changing labour needs and help workers gain essential job skills. The program provides funding to enterprises to support skills training for their current or prospective new trainees.

Considering my new mandate and the current threat from abroad, I will be working hard to make sure that this program meets the moment in response to the needs of industry and unleashes the full potential of work that government, workers and businesses do. While the program helps employers across all sectors and regions, we are and will continue to give priorities to small businesses and industries facing skills shortages.

In 2023-24, we supported over 1,700 companies to train more than 7,000 workers across 20 sectors. Almost 80 percent of the companies were small businesses with fewer than 50 workers. Over 50 percent of workers surveyed reported a wage increase because of the skills training supported by the B.C. employer training grant. I am extremely proud that the program contributes to positive employment outcomes for workers, and we will ensure that the program does even more going forward.

B.C. has seen a high record of population growth in recent years, and that is not surprising because it is the most beautiful province in the country. But this rapid population growth has also put pressure on public services — in particular, health care, education and child care.

My entire family lives in B.C., and my grandfather turned 100 this year. I know a sound health care system is fundamentally important to support families, like mine, across British Columbia. Our province needs more doctors, more nurses, care aides, and health care and health science professionals. We have made significant investments to improve B.C.’s health care system so that people can have access to care when and where they need it.

[4:15 p.m.]

As part of this key priority, my ministry’s focus is to prepare students for these health care jobs. We are training more health care workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, allied health professionals and many more for our province. From 2017 to 2023, we provided training to over 61,000 health care professionals. This included at least 1,700 doctors, 11,000 nurses and 1,400 paramedics.

Training more family doctors to deliver health care services for British Columbians is one of our government’s top priorities. We are creating a new medical school at Simon Fraser University in Surrey, as well as adding more medical training seats at UBC. I am optimistic that all members in this chamber wholeheartedly support these actions. The SFU school of medicine will be the first medical school to open in western Canada in almost 60 years. This will mean more family doctors graduating each year to provide care for people here in British Columbia.

This complements the work currently underway to significantly increase the number of doctors we are training at the UBC medical school. Beginning in 2023, we increased UBC’s undergraduate medical education program by 40 seats, distributed across four campuses across the province, bringing the total number of first-year doctor of medicine seats from 288 to 328. This means more future doctors will be equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to provide quality primary care in communities across the province.

We are funding more than 665 new nursing seats at colleges and universities throughout B.C., adding to approximately 2,000 existing nursing seats in the province. From 2017 to 2023, we trained a total of more than 11,400 nurses, including over 8,800 registered nurses.

Nagisa Matsunaga is one of the students currently enrolled in the nursing program at Langara College’s faculty of nursing. She is an immigrant from Japan whose skills are valuable and needed. The nursing program at Langara allows her to transfer the nursing skills she acquired in Japan to Canada. After completing the program, she will be able to become a registered nurse in B.C.

We know that with the work my ministry and the Ministry of Health are doing, more health care professionals like Nagisa will benefit from our health care programs and contribute their knowledge and skills to our hospitals. We will continue to take action to recruit and train more health care workers to meet the needs of everyone here in B.C.

Of course, B.C. families also need more early childhood educators. Access to affordable child care is a crucial component in supporting parents to seek or maintain employment or pursue training. That is why we are providing better access to training opportunities for early childhood educators throughout the province. Since 2018, our ministry has supported the expansion of early childhood education programs, adding over 2,700 spaces across 17 public post-secondary institutions in B.C.

John Harrison, an ECE student, could take the UBC online program and live where he wanted, in the Okanagan. With more early childhood educators like John trained to deliver the core services our communities need, more parents can pursue their careers while knowing their children are safe and cared for.

There is no doubt that our population growth has also led to an increased demand for housing and critical infrastructure. While the federal government has reduced immigration targets, we still need time to catch up. This means building more housing and infrastructure to meet the needs of people. We are working hard to make sure we have enough skilled people working in the construction trades to support these developments.

[4:20 p.m.]

As we all know, apprentices play a crucial role to an entry point into the skilled trades. Over the next decade, B.C. can expect over 85,000 job openings in the skilled trades. To make sure more people can access skills training and complete their apprenticeships, we are currently funding over 28,000 training seats across every region here in our province, and we are building a new trades training facility at BCIT that will benefit 12,000 people every year and grow apprenticeship supports.

These efforts are already yielding positive results. In 2023-24, there were more than 46,000 registered apprenticeships in B.C., the highest apprenticeship number in the province that we have ever seen in our history. And in the same year, B.C. saw more than 18,000 new people registered as apprentices, a 22 percent increase over the previous year.

Our government unequivocally supports the trades, as they are the foundation of our society. Apprentices are the ones who repair our roads, build our homes, schools and hospitals, and keep our communities and province running. Life without trades would be unimaginable.

Another piece of the work this government does is to encourage more Indigenous peoples, women, youth and other underrepresented groups to join and thrive in trades careers. To remove barriers for people, we work with training partners and Indigenous organizations across British Columbia to offer services and supports to underrepresented people in trades, such as hands-on trades exploration, mentorship and employment placement.

With these efforts, we have been seeing a strong interest in skilled trades apprenticeships and careers from Indigenous peoples, women and youth apprentices in 2023-24. This includes a 16 percent increase in Indigenous peoples’ apprenticeships participation, a 25 percent increase in women entering skilled trade apprenticeships and the highest participation of youth in the skilled trades, with over 11,000 participating.

I am proud to say that my own teens, Elizabeth and Theo, are among the young people who want to pursue a career in skilled trades, and they have made my heart fill with pride with their decision. They are drawn to it because, in the trades, they get to work with their hands, solve problems, use their creativity and see immediate results, and know that they are building a better province. With so many different trades to explore, it’s not just a job for them; it’s a career path with plenty of room to grow.

By continuing our work in skilled trades and apprenticeships, this government will continue to inspire more people to pursue their passions and participate in this rewarding, good-paying career that is helping to build B.C.

Apart from training more careers and workers, we are also supporting skilled workers and professionals to access job opportunities in B.C. through different programs and initiatives. Many newcomers are coming to our province with years of professional experience and qualification. However, for too long, the credential recognition process has been lengthy and difficult for internationally trained professionals.

Past governments didn’t tackle this problem, but we did. In 2024, this government listened to people who wanted to work in their fields, and we listened to industry, to people who needed people. We passed the International Credentials Recognition Act to remove unfair barriers, to increase transparency and to make the process faster and more effective for 29 occupations.

I look forward to working closely with my colleague who is sitting right beside me, the member for Vancouver-Langara, who is also the Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials, to further advance this important work. We will engage with individuals holding international credentials to ensure the implementation of our legislation is relevant, meaningful and effective. We will also work to ensure that professional regulatory authorities comply with the rules and requirements so more internationally trained professionals can transition into employment in their areas of expertise without unnecessary delay.

The federal government recently cut B.C.’s provincial nominee numbers for 2025 by 50 percent, from 8,000 to 4,000. It is a bizarre decision, especially since the PNP program is a workforce development tool that brings in the workers we need to deliver in-demand services to people here in British Columbia.

[4:25 p.m.]

This federal decision works against our provincial efforts by limiting B.C.’s ability to respond to our workforce needs and recruit health care workers, skilled tradespeople and other in-demand professions, which is the wrong approach. We continue to engage with the federal government to advocate for B.C.’s need to ensure the immigration system brings in workers to support priority services for British Columbians and lives up to the intent of the program. But despite their actions, B.C. will continue to be the best place to work and live.

This is not my first time serving as the Minister of Post-Secondary Education. However, the landscape of post-secondary education has changed significantly in B.C. and Canada in recent years. There is a lot of dynamic at play and lots of work to do.

Post-secondary education plays a key role in growing the middle class and developing the workforce. Recent changes to the federal government’s international student cap have created significant funding challenges for colleges, universities and institutes. We are moving quickly to manage and mitigate these unilateral changes and limit the negative impacts on the public post-secondary sector from federal policies.

We are also committed to helping post-secondary institutions find new ways to generate revenue and reduce costs. This is going to help ensure our public institutions stay strong and sustainable as they work through these tough financial challenges.

I want to emphasize that international students play a vital part in our education ecosystem and create connections with the rest of the world when it comes to science, business and trade. We value the contributions that international students make to our post-secondary institutions and communities. In fact, I am a proud daughter of an international education student.

In closing, I would like to once again highlight the incredible challenges and the years that we have ahead of us for the post-secondary sector. Our institutions have been impacted by broad economic factors such as global inflation. The federal decisions regarding caps on student visa application and the language that they have used to implement their plan have put a chill in international student recruitment, significantly impacting our institutions’ revenue.

We recognize uncertainty with the post-secondary community as many institutions grapple with tough decisions during their budget process. I want them to know that I will be their best partner and I will be their strongest advocate. This is undeniably a difficult environment, and I appreciate all post-secondary institutions for working diligently to minimize the impact on their students, faculty and staff and for the efforts they have made to prioritize the delivery of high-quality education despite these challenges.

British Columbians have a strong and resilient economy, and our government believes in investing in people. We remain fully committed to supporting the post-secondary sector and the students who choose to pursue education in B.C. By working together, I know that we will emerge from these challenges even stronger and turn them into opportunities.

Thank you so much for allowing me to show my support for our throne speech.

Hon. Ravi Parmar: I seek leave to make an introduction.

Leave granted.

Deputy Speaker: Go ahead.

Introductions by Members

Hon. Ravi Parmar: I’ll be very brief. Good to see a friend from the media out in Surrey, Jograj Singh Kahlon from Prime Asia TV, someone who I’ve gotten the chance to know over the last couple of years as an MLA, as a Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials previously and as a minister now. He does a fantastic job taking complex issues and making sure that they can be understood by the Punjabi community.

Welcome, Jograj. It’s good to see you.

The House, please make him feel very welcome.

[4:30 p.m.]

Debate Continued

Lorne Doerkson: I guess this is maybe my second speech. While I sit up in the perch high above everyone and suggest don’t have your phone go off, mine goes off. So apologies for that. I think I turned it off earlier, but I turned it on.

I bring greetings from Cariboo-Chilcotin, and I’m proud to do that, of course. I want to clarify right off the top, because I’ve heard a number of claims that seem a little wildly out of line to me, that Cariboo-Chilcotin, of course, is the most beautiful riding in British Columbia. There’s no question about that.

I have so much to be grateful for, and I’m going to actually name some names today. I want to thank, first off, the staff that I work with every day. It’s a bit of a newer crew, but with us is Beverly Marks. Beverly Marks is a constituency assistant that has served people in Cariboo-Chilcotin for a long time. She’s done an amazing job, and I’m so glad that she chose to stay with me for the coming term.

I also want to thank Jenny Huffman, who took up an opportunity at the Williams Lake First Nation this past year, but she spent four years with me and also did an incredible job. Replacing her is Kristen Weir, who comes from the agricultural sector, and she’s been an amazing addition to our team. When I said self-starter, I meant it. She has done an incredible job of joining our team.

I also want to thank staff here: Lindsay Shepherd, who helps me with communications, and also Bella Scrase, who is my LA. They are amazing, and we form Team Cariboo-Chilcotin.

I have a number of other people that I want to thank: a very good friend of mine for decades, Shane Mills, who has helped me through what has been a pretty incredible year for me, frankly. I want to thank Melissa Nowakowski, as well, and also Brad Zubyk, who have helped.

I also want to thank, of course, the member for Nechako Lakes, who has been, certainly, a huge help to me over the past year.

I want to talk a little bit about the riding itself and the campaign. My riding now, for those of you who don’t know, is massive. It takes seven hours to drive across, and we welcomed a number of new communities: Clinton, Cache Creek, Ashcroft, Tobiano, Cherry Creek. That is a huge amount of territory to cover. The furthest point west of Williams Lake is Anahim Lake, so it is a huge territory to cover.

I want to welcome all those new communities, which, certainly, I’ve been doing my best to get to. I spent the weekend last weekend in that area, and it is an incredible part of our community.

I want to start by thanking a number of people on the campaign team. Donna Barnett teamed up with Bryan Withage. Many would know Donna Barnett’s name as a past MLA in this place, but she and Bryan Withage have been just an unbelievable support system and somebody that you could call at two o’clock in the morning and wake up if you were in a moment of need.

Bill Carruthers, Scott Tucker — my financial agent — Pat and Juanita Corbett. Pat took care of all the marketing for me. Juanita makes the best muffins you could imagine, and she was kind enough to throw a couple in the truck once in a while, so I really want to thank her.

Barb Lambe, Barb Gale — amazing women. Patty Gehardi, Pam Defoe — all amazing. Dave Brace, Steve Alexander — all incredibly helpful. Dan and Jenny, Greg and Glenn, Dominic, Randy and Michael Henschel, the president of our riding association — I definitely want to thank those folks.

I also want to thank Shelley, who’s my partner. I’ve introduced her in this House as the most patient woman in British Columbia, and she proved it this year, because as you all know, it has been a pretty wild year. I’m grateful for her. I refer to her often as my research and development department, and she is very active in collecting information for me, so I’m grateful for her.

I want to thank my mom. I had to take Shelley to the throne this year. Mom was here last year, but she told me the other night: “Lorne, I am your biggest fan.” So I love her a lot for that. She is an incredible woman, and I’m grateful to her as well.

To my daughters, Shelby and Miranda. They, too, have run the gauntlet with me, and I’m grateful to them for their incredible support.

I want to thank Mike Moses. Mike Moses is a city councillor. He was the NDP candidate that ran against me. He’s a city councillor in Williams Lake. We spent plenty of time on the road together because of the size of the riding. We had a number of face-offs throughout in different communities. So I want to thank him for his work.

[4:35 p.m.]

Finally, I want to thank first responders. The reality is our nurses, our doctors, search and rescue, RCMP, paramedics, B.C. Wildfire, ESS do an incredible job all throughout the province. But in Cariboo-Chilcotin, it’s unbelievable. But they need help. They are short at every turn. They are short.

That’s where I want to tell you a few stories about Cariboo-Chilcotin. I’m going to spend a little bit of time on health care, and I’m going to explain why that seven hours across that riding is so important to understand for this House. There are serious challenges.

Last week I met with parents of a son who struggled with a number of mental health issues. Now, this gentleman lost his doctor last year. It’s important to note how difficult it is, because this is a crisis. I’ve heard a lot of numbers in this place, but the last I checked and the last conversation I had publicly with the past Minister of Health, there were 10,000 people in Cariboo-Chilcotin — that’s the old Cariboo-Chilcotin — without a doctor.

Now, this gentleman lost his doctor last year, and I want to tell you a little bit about his story. In his efforts to secure the drugs that he needed, he failed. He was unable to get them. He tried to navigate through online, tried to navigate through emergency rooms. He tried.

Here’s the problem. He was dealing with serious mental health issues, and in that time, he had assaulted his wife. He had gone after his parents. He’s not a young man, by the way. He’s my age. Well, that makes him pretty young. He did not have a history of violence outside of these events.

He found himself in jail, where he was released. He met with his wife. By the way, I want to make it very clear his wife absolutely supports him to this day. He met with his wife, assaulted her again, and this time he found himself in prison. In that moment — in that time, in prison — he got a doctor, he got the drugs, and he got better almost instantly.

It is shocking to me what people are going through without doctors, and it is shocking to me how difficult it is to find one. We hear it all the time. We hear: “We’ve hired 700. We’ve done this. We’ve done that.” It’s not happening in Cariboo-Chilcotin. I haven’t had a doctor for 2½ years. It is a crisis that we are dealing with in rural B.C.

I found myself advocating last week for a gentleman who had been in Vancouver General Hospital for five weeks for a hip replacement. Again, young like me, about 52 or 53. I got a call from his mother — you can imagine how senior she is — that they are about to release this gentleman onto the sidewalk of Vancouver General Hospital in socked feet, no phone and no credit card, no money.

I can appreciate that many might doubt that, but I have the letters to prove it. I have the communication with the Minister of Health, because we had to go to the top level in this province to solve this. It is shocking to me that we find ourselves in a position that we have to do that. We got him home. He’s back in Cariboo, thank goodness. I’m happy to report that he came home in an ambulance. But his mother was sick about this event. And so was I, frankly, when I heard it.

Here’s why it’s so important for rural B.C. I’ve asked questions in this House and in this place about hospital closures that have been many. Last year I held a rally on the August long weekend — very hot, no shade in our park. And as I was putting up speakers, I thought that this was not a great idea. Nobody’s going to come. Before I know it, I look up, and there are 300 people.

[4:40 p.m.]

A friend of mine — her name is Carly King — injured herself at a rodeo in Anahim Lake, which is the furthest point west in my riding. By the way, it’s a great stampede. You should take it in.

Carly hurt her foot badly while she was racing barrel horses. Our hospital closures have never had a good warning system. We find out within an hour that the hospitals are closed. Carly could have gone to Bella Coola, but they checked and the hospital was open. She drove east from Anahim Lake for 3½ or four hours with a crushed foot to find out that the hospital was closed when she got there. This happened many times last year.

Of course, for Carly…. She’s tough. They headed to the 100 Mile Hospital. The 100 Mile Hospital is an amazing hospital with amazing staff, but they did not have the tools required to deal with Carly’s injuries. So she went to Kamloops.

Now for anybody that knows the Cariboo, that’s a seven-hour trip, folks. Seven hours with a crushed foot. Probably with a horse trailer on. I don’t know what she was hauling. But it is outrageous to me that we find ourselves in that situation in Cariboo-Chilcotin. I know that other ridings are finding themselves in that same situation.

It’s often forgotten just how big an expanse this province is. Now the North…. Peace River North and South — those are huge. Those MLAs must need helicopters up there. They’re massive, massive areas. But when these hospitals close, people’s lives are in harm’s way.

Now to add insult to injury, I’ll tell you a little story about a woman named Judy Launchbury. Judy Launchbury is a good friend of mine. She’s a senior citizen who simply would’ve taken the ambulance to the hospital. She fell in her driveway. She had very serious injuries to her spinal cord, to her shoulder. The reality is that her neighbours covered her up in the rain for hours with a tarp. They were afraid to move her because she noted that she had something wrong with her back.

They finally, after three or four hours of waiting…. This is a senior citizen laying in her driveway covered with a tarp because it’s raining. Judy and her neighbours were amazing. They finally made the very serious decision — and everybody in this room knows how serious that decision is, to move somebody in a case like that — to load her up in the van and take her to the hospital. Thank goodness the hospital was open that night, and she was treated well. But it’s a problem at every front.

So when I started off with a thank you to those front-line responders…. I think that, oftentimes, they feel as though this is an attack on them. I want them to know from me that I know how amazing the care is. I have just as many examples of great care. But when this system fails somebody, know that that failure could be very serious, particularly in cases where we have a long, long way to get to help.

I want to turn my thoughts to EMCR. I mentioned ESS. They do incredible work. There’s no question about it. In fact, our 100 Mile emergency services last week won, I think, second place for the best decorated outhouse at the Lone Butte outhouse races — another event that is a must see.

We’ve got 80 units at Terra Ridge in Williams Lake. They’re all senior citizens living in this facility. Again, I’ve talked about this place in this room before. Last year, four of those units were condemned. The sad reality is that we are dealing with what has been dubbed an ancient landslide in Williams Lake. The reality is we’ve tried before. We’ve tried with a number of different ministers in that role. In fact, I think DFA used to be in a different ministry altogether.

[4:45 p.m.]

I am shocked to know that we have been able to get nothing for these individuals. The reason I’m shocked is that my understanding — and I would certainly stand corrected, but I think I’m pretty right on this one — is that their loss does not fit the criteria, which is, in this case, that it must be sudden and it must be unexpected loss.

While that landslide has been moving for a long time, I can assure you that when those seniors, some of them very senior, got their notice at eight o’clock in the morning that they had to depart their home by that afternoon, it was incredibly sudden for them.

I’m saddened to know that DFA is not working entirely. I know it’s working in some cases. Again, I’ll give credit where credit is due.

But we’ve also had the Kutnick family, which I’ve also spoken about. Now, that’s getting to be three or four years old, but the Kutnicks lost their home. In the end, they lost their home. We applied for DFA, and we applied knowing, by the way, that the application would fail. But the reason we did it was trying to prove a point.

I know that we had a rewrite of the Emergencies Act last year. In fact, I was very active with the minister in questioning, and we had a real fulsome debate and conversation. I think there were many changes that had to be made. But this is one that I am not going to stop advocating for.

It’s not just Williams Lake. Folks, I can share with you that homes in Sechelt have succumbed to sinkholes, different things. There’s just so much that residents are exposed to, it seems. Things have changed in the landscape, right?

I mean, you can be exposed to someone discarding a cigarette carelessly and burning down hundreds of thousands of hectares of our property, losing houses in that. You could be exposed to somebody leaving a campfire. You could be exposed to, sadly, a controlled burn that goes wrong. The Minister of Forests is here. He knows the challenges that our firefighters face.

I included them when I started by saying that I want to thank front-line responders, because they’ve done, in so many cases, an incredible job. But there are those days that it doesn’t work out, and people lose their homes. We saw some of that on the north shore of the Shuswap Lake, and we’ve certainly not been immune to fire.

I really think that this House has got to, in the future, contemplate what we’re doing around disaster financial assistance.

I want to talk about seniors for a second, because our seniors in Cariboo-Chilcotin are amazing. There is no question. They are amazing. I have joined them on many occasions on protest lines. Last year some of you may have heard about the tin cup rallies. Those tin cup rallies were organized by an amazing woman named Tina Derksen — no relation. She was absolutely committed to supporting our seniors. Last year we saw the seniors of our community have these rallies.

I can assure you that the seniors in my community are extremely frustrated with not just the high cost of carbon tax and heating fuels. When you look at a bill and realize you’re paying so much more for tax than the commodity itself, it’s shocking. I delivered, in this House in the last session, a petition to that effect from seniors — hundreds of seniors, I might add, that signed that petition last year — just to demonstrate the frustration that seniors are feeling.

They’re frustrated with everything else as well. Health care. They are waiting a long time for serious operations, things like that. Many will tell you that the golden years are not that golden when you spend a couple of years waiting for a knee replacement or a hip replacement or something that is challenging your mobility.

[4:50 p.m.]

But what they’re really frustrated about right now is backing up on that $500 or $1000 promise that was made during a campaign. That would have meant so much to seniors in my riding, and they have for certain showed me and explained to me just how frustrated they are.

I know that we’ve done some work with respect to the thresholds for SAFER and other programs that would help senior citizens in British Columbia, but there is so much more that we need to do. I see this every day.

Some of the seniors that have actually shared their monthly income with me…. I am shocked that they manage to get by on that, manage to get by on $2,200, $2,300 a month. I challenge pretty much anybody in here to try to get by on that, especially at a time when we are looking at some of the highest costs of living we’ve ever experienced, not just at the grocery store, not just with respect to rents, not just with respect to those items, but everything else. Everything else. I think my natural gas bill was probably three hundred bucks last month. It is incredible that that promise has not come through for seniors.

I want to talk about our infrastructure. A few people have talked about infrastructure here. I don’t recall who it was. But it is crumbling in rural B.C. This is not something that we can stand for. This is access, not just to a park…. But it might be access to a wildfire. We are seeing now forestry roads…. We’re seeing other roads just be unserviced at all going forward.

The biggest challenge I have right now — and I think I’ve written to the minister on this — is with respect to a road called the 2000 road. It services an entire community and has serviced that community for decades. But now, because of a non-use of a tenure, that may not be serviced going forward.

I can assure you, when you have a meeting with residents in Big Creek and 60 or 70 people show up, that is a massive town hall. Residents are very concerned. They’re concerned at Young Lake. They’re concerned all over my riding.

I know that there are two parts to this argument. I know that there are many people that feel that we don’t want to have all that access. But I’m telling you right now, for ranchers that need access to high-consequence dams and for fire crews that need access to get an hour up a dirt road to go fight a fire, to find out that road has been deactivated by the Minister of Forests is very frightening.

It’s not just the rural roads. We have, obviously, issues on all of our roads. Certainly, I’ve advocated for a bridge in 100 Mile, which has been delayed because of a number of studies that have needed to be done, but that project has doubled in its cost. I think it was $1.8 million, $1.9 million. It’s now $4 million, if you can imagine, for a little community like 100 Mile.

That is the case through all of Cariboo-Chilcotin. Our paved roads are falling apart, and we need to protect that infrastructure.

I’m running out of time, and I want to talk about permitting. Permitting has been talked about in here a little bit, but it is wreaking havoc on our industry. It is unbelievable to me that you are waiting, in some cases, multiple years for a permit.

I’m going to explain a story about a fellow by the name of Dan Peron. Dan Peron is a miner on the Fraser River. Dan’s permit expired on the Fraser River, and it took three years to renew that permit — three. After that permit was renewed, I tried to get hold of Dan and he was busy. When I finally did get hold of him, he explained just how busy he was. Guess what he was doing? He was hiring people. He was buying equipment in Kamloops, a couple of trucks, a new digger. Everything that Dan Peron was doing was a taxable event to this province, income for all of us.

[4:55 p.m.]

Last year I asked the past Minister of WLRS questions around approving even half of the permits. What would that do to the GDP of this province? Now, nobody knew the answer to that, and I didn’t expect they would. But what we did agree on is that that would be a huge number.

We have to get permits going in this province. I am telling you: if we get them going, we will create industry and jobs and business and commerce like we have never created before. But we have to get out of the way on some of this.

I’m not saying that we should be reckless. I’m not saying that. But we hired a lot of public staff to take care of this task, and it has not been completed. I promise you, we will grow our GDP, we will grow commerce in this province if we just get out of the way.

I want to finish by talking a little bit about Atlantic Power. I’ve spoken about Atlantic Power a lot, and I’m going to keep speaking about Atlantic Power. This is an electricity generator in my community. It is an incredible facility, frankly. It creates power for 50,000 homes in British Columbia. That’s certainly more homes than are in Cariboo-Chilcotin. It uses by-product to create that power. And there are multiple facilities like this.

Now, I can appreciate that there are some challenges around a contract that was signed between B.C. Hydro and Atlantic Power. But this facility…. Not only does it create power for 50,000 homes, it employs 40 people full-time. It employs a hundred people indirectly. It is the largest single taxpayer in Williams Lake, with respect to property tax, at $1.7 million, $1.8 million per year. The loss of this type of a facility, when we are purchasing power from Alberta and Washington, at a time like this, is shocking to me.

I’ve called on the Minister of Forests, the Minister of Energy and the Premier, repeatedly. I hope that I’m going to walk out of this room and somebody’s going to say: “Hey, stop talking about it. It’s solved.” But we’ve been talking about this for a long time, and it’s not solved. And I can assure you, we are going to lose this facility. That’s what’s at stake.

For Williams Lake, it’s not just about the power; it is about the fibre that we use. I mean, we talked about infrastructure in here. This facility is infrastructure to Williams Lake. There’s no question about it. It uses the remnants from mills, the remnants from logging, the remnants of fire. And so one more plea, as though the Forests Minister was here.

Madam Speaker, I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent the riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin, the much-expanded riding, and I certainly look forward to my new role as Assistant Deputy Speaker, and I wanted to congratulate you on your appointment as well.

Debra Toporowski / Qwulti’stunaat: I would like to congratulate the member for Burnaby–New Westminster on being back in the Speaker’s chair. I am looking forward to my first session.

I would like to acknowledge my friends and relatives of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking people, in the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, upon whose territory we are gathered here today.

I am so honoured to take my place here in the Legislature as the MLA for the Cowichan Valley. I also want to mention that it is the first time in my political life that my traditional name is shown not only on the screen but also on my business cards. It is a very important day for my family to see this, along with my nation. To have our original name recognized is a great part of our reconciliation in our province.

First, I want to share my deep gratitude and thanks to the people of the Cowichan Valley for putting their trust and hope into me. I’m humbled by the opportunity to serve them as their representative.

[5:00 p.m.]

I want to do a special shout-out to my family. None of us sitting in this chamber would be able to do our jobs without the support of our families, our partners and our friends. My father, Howard Wong, for the values he taught me about working hard and taking pride in what you do. To my late mother, Ethel Jack, who instilled in me the meaning of determination.

A shout-out to my sister Sue White, the sacrifices she faced to make us better siblings and who looks after us and the whole family in a motherly way. To my sister Linda, who was always there for everyone, not only for our family but also for our First Nations community. Her tirelessness, dedication, pride that she gives to our cultural ways — our mother would be so proud of her and all she does. I want to thank both of my sisters for always being there for me.

I want to especially thank my spouse, Doug, for his unconditional support in whatever venture I take on, especially this journey that I’m about to embark on. He has a saying: “We haven’t done this before.” This is what he would say when travelling to new places or with any new experience. He reminded me of this the other day. I am so thankful that we found each other. This is someone that truly gets me.

I realized we have been together for almost 14 years, but it feels just like yesterday that we had gone out on our first date, a dinner and a movie. We will never forget that night. We had the coffee shop guy pick out our movie, which made it unforgettable because we both equally did not like the movie.

And I couldn’t possibly forget thanking my grandson Weston — or as the local reporter said now, “Your famous grandson” — who helped put up signs for me. Grandchildren are special gifts, and he is always there to brighten my day.

There were days and there are days in our lives when we think: “Okay, why are we doing this?” For me, it always goes back to my constituents and to my family. They are a constant reminder of why all of us here work so hard in the Legislature and in our communities to build a more just and inclusive world.

I also want to thank my incredible election team. Every one of us is going to say that we had the best team in the world. We all did, for our ridings. I want to do a special thank-you to mine, both my election team and my campaign manager, Ed Dale, who flew in and then flew out. Thank you for all your hard work that you did and the amazing volunteers.

This victory is a testimony of the hard work and collective efforts of everyone involved. It’s because of supports like them that we were able to run a campaign that resonated with voters, a campaign focused on creating real, lasting change for people in our community.

I want to acknowledge Joanna Lord. She not only came out to help me, but she has done so much for me. I want to thank her for her patience with me and giving me the time and space and the many phone calls when I needed a listening ear. Thank you.

I could not have done this without all of these incredible people that worked on my campaign. I want to thank my constituency advisers, Pam Cooling and Brie Robertson. They do the incredible work of looking after the riding while I’m sitting here in this building.

I’m so lucky to have Pam, who used to work for the now-retired member for Nanaimo–North Cowichan, Doug Routley. She is a hard-working individual and is an incredible addition to my constituency office. I want to thank Brie for applying for this job and taking the chance to work with me. I hope she finds this job as rewarding as I did when I was a CA.

I also want to thank Sarah Miller, who stepped in to help when we needed her, and Antonio Iannidinardo, the young New Democrat that volunteered his time.

[5:05 p.m.]

To my legislative assistant, HK Norman, who from day one has taken the time to get things set up for me and get used to my leadership style. My spouse knows what I’m talking about.

I just want to shout out my deep appreciation for all the work that these individuals do every day.

I cannot continue without mentioning the beginning of my journey to the Legislature. Back in 2005, I walked in to volunteer in a campaign office. I had never done that before. That was the first time I met the candidate Doug Routley, who went on to win the riding, which was called, at that time, Cowichan-Ladysmith.

He called me shortly after opening his constituency office and asked me to work for him. I asked him for one day to think about it, and I’d get back to him. I’d gone home to talk it over with my boyfriend and to think about it. I was terrified. This was out of my comfort zone, and then I thought to myself that I really need to give this a try.

Well, three months into working for him, I wanted to run from the building and not come back again. I don’t recall every detail, but someone said something to me that changed the way I needed to adapt to this new journey I was on.

I must say I’m thankful that I did not give up and that I stuck it out. I gained so much and found it such a rewarding job. I want to thank my former boss and member, Doug Routley, for believing in me and giving me such an incredible opportunity. I wouldn’t be where I am politically without him believing in me all those years ago. It was the start of my path here to this place.

I was a witness to his hard work, the care he had in our community, the relationship-building that he developed with the Cowichan Tribes’ Elders and how much they had come to love him. Those bonds are still strong today.

I wish him well in his retirement. I want to say that he has made a profound difference in my life, and he will be missed not only by me but by his former colleagues here, as well as his constituents that he served.

I’m very pleased to speak in support of the throne speech. I want to start with truth and reconciliation — the truth about my mother and my respected Elders, not only in my community but throughout B.C.; the reconciliation work that I am so honoured to be able to be a huge part of with this government.

I mourn my mother, the late Ethel Jack. She was a beautiful mother, and I’m sad that she’s not here to celebrate with me today. She was a survivor of the residential school. This had an effect on my life, my siblings. And it was something that she passed on to us, that she had learned. She could not speak about what happened to her, all of it. It was too painful.

Later, through conversations with each of my siblings, I heard bits and pieces of her story and the horrible things that happened to her — not only to her but to her friends and her relatives. My mother, as a young girl when they took her, witnessed things that no child should ever see, feel or hear, which would go on to torment her to the day she died.

She wasn’t allowed to speak her language in school, and she was scolded for speaking English at home. She spoke to me about how she struggled with both languages.

When she married my dad, she lost her status. The federal government gave her a blue card that she carried around with her at all times. She did this until she went into the care home. This card allowed her to go into shops in downtown Duncan. First Nations had to get permission to leave the reserve.

[5:10 p.m.]

This little blue card read, and I’m going to say at the top: “Indian Affairs branch certificate of enfranchisement. This is to certify that Ethel, formerly of the Cowichan Band of Indians, was enfranchised by the order-in-council dated October 20, 1966, and from that day is deemed not to be an Indian within the means of the Indian Act or any other status or law, statute or law.”

I know I’m only sharing bits and pieces of so many familiar stories that my mother and Elders shared with me. Just think, for the members that have or had young children, that someone came and took them away and you couldn’t do anything about it. The grandparent steps in to try to help, to try to stop this from happening. They are jailed for it. These children were ages five to 12 years. When they arrived at the residential school, they could not speak to their other siblings if they had siblings there. They were separated.

Like I said earlier, my mom witnessed and had unspeakable things happen to her. The children did not see their parents until they were 12 years old. Some were taken away, really far away. When they did come back, like my mom…. She went to day school. That’s a whole other story for another day. I’m going to stop here about my mother. I know I will have other opportunities to continue sharing what I know and what she shared with me.

In this Legislature, I am committed to fighting for issues that matter most to my riding. With this government, we can turn these goals into actions, but it’s only through ongoing support that we can continue this work effortlessly. I will not be alone in this work.

The new B.C. NDP cabinet is focused on what matters to people: reducing costs for families, including by helping people access homes they can afford through support for first-time homebuyers; increasing the supply stock; stronger measures to crack down on housing speculators; enhancing health care by expanding access to family doctors; and recruiting and training more health care professionals, ensuring that every British Columbian can access the care they need, no matter where they live.

We will always increase access to additional treatments and provide help for people who struggle, requiring intensive support. There are many young people receiving help in my community. This government recognized the need, improving public safety by working with law enforcement and social agencies to address the street disorder, crack down on organized crime and do all we can to ensure repeat offenders stay behind bars.

Promoting economic growth that benefits all British Columbians, we will collaborate with businesses, workers and communities to attract investments in both new and traditional sectors, as well as emerging sectors of the economy. This approach will bring certainty for business, security for workers and generate wealth needed to support the essential services British Columbians rely on.

Our team is also committed to building strong relationships with Indigenous communities and taking significant actions on climate change to secure a prosperous future for the entire province.

About one in five B.C. residents, or close to 1.4 people, live in rural areas…. A significant proportion of the rural residents are Indigenous populations, and the most isolated communities are largely First Nations. Ongoing provincial commitment to inherent rights of Indigenous people and to self-determination in health and wellness…. In this work, we will commit to continuing our collective journey towards truth and reconciliation.

[5:15 p.m.]

I also want to thank my constituents for sharing their concerns with me, and the couple who shared their story with me, Herb and Susan. Herb told me that without our health care system, the two of them would have been in a much different situation. He said: “I probably wouldn’t be alive today, and Susan would probably be crippled or possibly in a wheelchair.”

Herb had a heart attack and needed to have open-heart surgery, and his wife, Susan, needed hip replacement surgery. He told me that he was so thankful that they both did not have to worry about taking out their credit card to pay for these two procedures. He was thankful for our health care in B.C.

We have tripled the nurse practitioners in the province. I know there’s so much more we need to do, but I know this government is committed to continuing the work. People in Duncan and the surrounding area will benefit from having better access to urgent primary care through a new urgent and primary care centre. The Cowichan UPCC, which is scheduled to open in late 2025 at 940 Government Street in Duncan, will provide same-day care for people who need support for their health concerns within 12 to 24 hours but do not require an emergency department visit. Conditions such as sprains, cuts, high fevers and minor infections are appropriate for treatment at the urgent and primary care centre. The centre is part of the government’s ongoing work to enhance access to health care services within our communities.

I want to thank the Premier for his outstanding leadership during these troubling times that we are facing due to the leader to the south. As he said, we won’t back down or be bullied into becoming another state. We will never stop standing up for B.C. and Canada. It is an honour and privilege to be standing with this Premier.

I’m also honoured to be appointed the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health. We will tackle the challenges people worry about at the kitchen table. The focus in my new role will be to work with the Minister of Health to engage with key stakeholders, including front-line service providers in rural and in Indigenous communities, to seek their advice on how best to deliver access and effective care in their unique rural and remote communities. We know how important it is to support people no matter where they live. We know that living remotely can offer its challenges, but accessing life-saving services shouldn’t be one of them.

Since 2017, we hired over 1,100 paramedics. That brings the number to a total of 5,040. I am proud of the actions that our government has taken to strengthen our public health care system and meet the needs of the people close to home. I know that there is much more to do, and I look forward to working with the Minister of Health on these initiatives that will benefit everyone in B.C., no matter where they live.

In closing, I want to say that I think about my Elders, some that are still here and the many that are gone, for their strength and their courage. It was never easy for both of my parents. Each had their trials and tribulations. Life is a journey filled with them that tests our resilience, strength and character. Each of us faces obstacles and setbacks, and it is through these difficult experiences that we learn, grow and develop better versions of ourselves. How resilient they were and how protective they were in keeping us safe. As I grow in my many roles that I hold and have held in my community, I understand how much I have already lost and how much we need to rebuild together.

[5:20 p.m.]

Sharon Hartwell: I, too, am going to take the opportunity to let everyone know that I live in the most beautiful part of the province, a small community named Telkwa in the northwest. That is why the province has taken the acronym — that is, Beautiful British Columbia. We can all take pride in that.

This is not my first time in politics, nor is it the first time in the Legislature building. It is a privilege to stand here in the new capacity with my Conservative colleagues, having the opportunity to provide comments about the throne speech. As with all of us, we had a singular goal, and that was to create a team that had the same goals and seek change for the people that we now represent.

To have the privilege to stand before you today…. As has been said, it would not have been possible without a team that were absolute stars. As I have told them repeatedly, their passion and dedication to the people of Bulkley Valley–Stikine was and is exceptional. They stepped up from all walks of life and age groups. Their passionate dedication to wanting to see change was fuel for the whole group.

There were so many wonderful individuals. I did want to name each and every one of them to know what their commitment meant to all communities in their riding, but I didn’t want to miss anyone. To say thank you does not seem enough, but thank each and every one of you.

My family were very supportive. My sister Beth — who’s older than I — has MS, and she passed out brochures and came out to vote. My sons were supportive and helped out as well. They both work in construction. My other sister, Anita, helped out in the campaign office also, knocking on doors. What a strong team we had. Their dedication was infectious.

I chose to re-enter politics when I became aware of Bill 36, now referred to as the Health Professions and Occupations Act. There was a family member that was very ill, and after visiting our local hospital, it was clear that they were understaffed and overworked. I was appalled to see the state of the hospital here at home. The health care professionals were stretched to the limit and on the verge of burning out — unfortunately, not uncommon in all of our northern communities. The communities have facilities that are understaffed and need to reduce hours, and in doing so are putting their residents and their communities at grave risk.

Travelling up Highway 37 North, either going to work or travelling home…. There is a huge gap in health care along Highway 37. Going up to Stewart, they have only one part-time staff in their health centre and only one paramedic for 365 days, on call seven days a week. This is not sustainable, nor is it even acceptable. They have from time to time been able to have a locum come in for a short period, but only if someone is available.

The community of Stewart was incorporated in 1930 and has a rich history of gold and silver mining, all of which has provided the government with much-needed revenue. You can also reach Stewart by the Portland Canal. This port is an integral part of the mining industry in the North.

Three kilometres west of Stewart is Hyder, Alaska. Stewart is the closest community for health care, food, groceries and some clothing. This is not the only U.S. border crossing in my riding. The other one is farther up north and is located at the very top of the riding, called Pleasant Camp, which is on the Haines Highway/Yukon border, which is Highway 3, and is a border crossing between Canada and the United States.

Every journey begins with a single step. I was fortunate to start my journey on a farm in Quick, B.C. My father, with other family members, came to B.C. from Alberta to buy land to start a dairy farm. This property became Meadowbrook Farm, delivering milk throughout the Bulkley Valley. To get started, they needed lumber to build buildings required for housing their families, barns and outbuildings. The brothers went to work, fell the trees, milled the lumber and built the buildings that are still there today. This is the strength and commitment of the people in the North.

[5:25 p.m.]

As the rural community quickly grew, it needed a teacher. My mom applied for and was hired for this position. The Green family provided accommodation. Back in those days, that was what was required as part of the employment contract for the province. That’s where my mom met my dad. I was the one who followed my dad everywhere. I had three other siblings; we were all girls. I remember the freedom and the joy of farm life. I’m sure my sisters would paint another picture as they were all older.

There was water to pack, wood to chop and carry in the house. We each had responsibilities for the day-to-day chores that were required in the running of the household. This is not much different here in the House of the people. We each have a duty and responsibility to ensure that the best decisions are made to help people and build safe and healthy communities.

There was no power in those days, but we had a generator which was to help run some of equipment in the dairy. Power only came to the northwest after the W.A.C. Bennett dam was built. That was when the North started to grow and prosper.

Later, when the farm was sold, and at the age of eight, we moved into the village of Telkwa, where mom had a teaching position and my dad worked for the B.C. Forest Service. I was raised to ask questions and not just accept the current narrative. Listen, observe, and if you think that things are wrong, speak up, especially for those that are less fortunate than you.

As the years went by, we always had discussions at suppertime about what was then called current affairs of the day. I was introduced to government and politics at a very early age. My father sat on the council in the village of Telkwa. And many years later, I was elected to council, where I sat for 20 years, 12 of those as the mayor. In my time as councillor, I listened and became interested in the development of my community. After serving a part term — as I was elected in a by-election — and then a full term, I then ran for mayor and was successful. That position I held for 12 years.

It became clear to me very early on that not only my small community was being ignored, but the north of the province as well. I know that for me to understand how our community fits into the government structure, I needed to become more involved, if I wanted to be able to help my community grow and prosper. I ran and was elected to UBCM, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, as a representative for small communities in British Columbia, a small community that was defined as having a population of 2,500 residents or less. At that time, there were 83 small communities in B.C.

As the mayor, I also had a seat at the regional district table. This enabled me to support my community and allocate tax dollars that would benefit not only my community, but the rural area as well. The village of Telkwa is a small community, so to have any voice at all, it became very clear that we needed to be at every table. I wanted my community to share in the prosperity of the province, as a large portion of the provincial revenue was generated here in the North. The community of Telkwa has a very small taxbase, so to enable me to travel and interact with other levels of government, I needed to be elected to these positions, which I was successful at each and every year.

Provincially, I was successfully elected to the regional district of Bulkley-Nechako, as well as the director for NCMA — which is now called NCLGA, which is the North Central Local Government Association — was elected as a small community representative of UBCM and also chair of the northwest regional hospital district. I held these positions for several terms.

I sought the chair position for the northwest regional hospital district, as it was clear to me that the chair that was elected was most interested in their own community. I felt that this was the wrong approach. My commitment, as I spoke to the board for the election, was to ensure that each community had the funding available to purchase equipment or upgrade their facilities. Clearly, the message was what the board of 27 wanted to hear, as I was elected.

During that time, we saw many improvements to facilities, purchased much-needed new equipment, and built a new hospital in Masset. This only happens with collaboration. Moving forward, I then ran and was elected to FCM, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. In that capacity, I was appointed as vice-chair for Healthy Communities as well as vice-chair for Transportation and Infrastructure for Canada. I sought this position because I wanted to change the funding formula for small and rural communities across Canada. This was my goal.

[5:30 p.m.]

I sat on the Rural Caucus Forum, assuming that it was the same as what we had in B.C. I was in for a shock. Our first meeting, there were only five. Five of us to represent all the small and rural communities in Canada. I thought I was in the wrong room. It was very evident that there was much work to be done. The message was clear to me. I asked why so few members. Small communities have small budgets, so to go to FCM…. It is expensive. So not too many small and rural communities in Canada attend, as I observed at FCM.

This needed to change. We had a new FCM president that year, and I asked him if we could present what our UBCM organization does for the province of B.C. He said yes.

[Lorne Doerkson in the chair.]

I was then tasked with preparing a presentation to as many of the small communities in B.C. as I could. It was so well received that other provinces adopted the plan and also engaged their communities to become members of FCM. I lobbied the FCM members, and they agreed that they would amend the funding formula for small and rural communities in Canada, which would allow more communities to become members.

At the end of my term, we had grown to 450 members and amended the designation of the size of small communities in Canada to 150,000, down from 250,000, which is still way too high. It does not reflect the true nature and size of small and rural communities, nor address what their needs are.

I was a director on the environmental committee for FCM, as well as the watershed and water quality committee. We have many natural resources in the northwest, and I wanted to be involved on the ground level as these projects were proposed. I was also asked to sit on the Canadian rail safety committee supporting and speaking on behalf of the Canadian communities on FCM.

All this is relevant because all of these levels of government are important to not only my riding but all of northern B.C. I will share with you some statistics about the diverse riding of Bulkley Valley–Stikine.

The riding of Bulkley Valley–Stikine covers 196,484 square kilometres. To visit my farthest community of Atlin, it will take me two days to travel there, have a meeting, and two days to return if I come back right away, making this a five- or six-day trip depending on how many communities we want to meet along the way and depending upon the weather.

The riding of False Creek covers 6.71 square kilometres, and Richmond South Centre covers seven square kilometres. The argument is always that it is divided up by population. Well, that may well be, but the people are just as important in the North as they are in the south.

The people of the North, and we keep hearing, and I added “proud” to this…. The proud people of the North are strong and proud and free, and we will no longer be used as pawns or sidelined for convenience. The vast resources come out of this riding, and we will no longer be left out.

From Telkwa, my home community, to Pleasant Camp, which borders Alaska…. That is 1,581.9 kilometres from my home in Telkwa. And my riding borders the Nechako Lakes riding, another 20 kilometres to the east. I need to travel 18 hours or more, depending on weather and road conditions.

Many of our northern ridings have large and diverse geographical conditions. Telkwa to Atlin is 1,276 kilometres and about a 15-hour drive with limited places to stop or get fuel. This is what the people in the North have to do to access health care, banking or any other government services that might be required. Families in Atlin have to visit their loved ones in long-term-care homes in Whitehorse, as there are no facilities within their own communities.

These are some of the communities in the riding of Bulkley Valley–Stikine — it’s not an exhaustive list: Atlin, Lower Post, Good Hope Lake, Dease Lake, Telegraph Creek, Iskut, Stewart, Kitwanga, Hazelton, New Hazelton, Gitanyow, Gitwangak, Gitsegukla, Witset, Jade City, Cedarvale, Smithers, Telkwa, Kispiox, Tatogga Lake, Bell II and others.

I have two regional districts in the riding as well. The regional district of Bulkley-Nechako and part of the regional district of Kitimat-Stikine. Also included are two school districts, school district 54 and school district 82. This also encompasses the northwest regional hospital district. This includes five hospital districts of which…. They’re not all in my riding.

[5:35 p.m.]

The issues facing the people in these communities are urgent and complex. I heard nothing in the throne speech that even comes close to addressing the complex needs of these communities, which include a new ambulance station in Kitwanga, an upgrade to one in Atlin, improvements to Highway 37, municipal infrastructure for communities, a bridge that connects a community to the port in Stewart, which is integral to the ongoing activities in the North, long-term and intermediate care homes.

Houston is needing help to complete a palliative care facility. Some of these communities have plans in place and partial funding in place. They only need one more partner, the provincial government, to complete these much-needed projects in their communities. These communities are strong and proud. They have raised their funds with very inventive events. If you are not aware, Houston is a forestry community and has been hit extremely hard with mill closures.

There is no mention of seniors in the throne speech. The senior population is growing in number, and in five years, 25 percent of B.C. will be seniors. We are definitely not ready.

Is this government going to continue to punish our northern communities? How many times has the Premier referred to the true North strong and free? The people in my riding are strong and proud, and they are people that are getting up every single day providing critical resources to this province. They have been ignored long enough. I’m adding one more word to the phrase “true North strong and free,” and as I said, that is: “proud.”

This is a quote from the Premier. The Premier says that he will use his new diminished one-seat majority government to “reach out to rural British Columbia,” an area that largely rejected his party in the election. But he says he’ll only be speaking to those he deems hold acceptable views, part of the new bright line that will limit cooperation.

I’m confused. His views? My view of government and democracy is to listen to the people that go to work every day and provide valuable resources to help build a strong economy. Here we are, billions of dollars in debt, threats from our neighbours and still no tangible solutions.

As I remember, a member on the other side of the House made the comment and called us the opposition Liberals. Well, pardon me? I think the member had misspelled the word, and it should have been “rebel,” because we are rebels. We will rebel against tax hikes. We will rebel against overspending, and we will seek better solutions for our constituents. From the Alaska border to the bottom of Hungry Hill in my riding, the people that rise every morning are going to work. They are expecting something better than what they are getting.

Jody Toor: I seek leave to make an introduction.

Leave granted.

Introductions by Members

Jody Toor: I have the pleasure of introducing our newest communications officer with the Conservative caucus, Jograj Singh Kahlon. I kindly ask all members of the House to join me in making him feel welcome.

Deputy Speaker: Welcome.

Debate Continued

Sunita Dhir: I’m grateful to be standing here in the House today on the unceded and traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking people and Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

It’s an honour to rise and speak today in support of the throne speech. I would like to first take a moment to thank the people of Vancouver-Langara for placing their trust in me and for giving the opportunity to serve our community. I would like to give special thanks to my campaign team, Ryan Hurley, Stefan Nielsen, Keiran Ellis, Georgia Becker, and Dominic Denofrio. They all worked incredibly hard to get me elected.

I would not be here if it weren’t for a wonderful lady I met when I first walked into our B.C. NDP regional office, Heather Stoutenburg. I mean it, Heather. Special thanks to our EDA president and my godson, Nick Hsieh, for inspiring me to run for office, and our awesome team of volunteers and various union members who came out in all sorts of weather and knocked on doors with me. I could not have done this without you all.

[5:40 p.m.]

I’m truly grateful to my dedicated friends Suddhodan and Tifa Baidya. During our door-knocking efforts, we endured many falls and trips, but they were always there pushing through with me. I’m lucky to have such loyal and passionate supporters on this journey.

I’m so incredibly thankful for my sister, Monika Dhir. She has always been there for me, no matter what. We have shared so many laughs and tears over the past years, and she always knows how to bring out the best in me. Thank you, bhain, for everything. I could not have asked for a better sister.

A heartfelt thank you to my dad, Prem Nath Jethi, and my mom, Surjit Kaur Jethi. Your support has meant everything to me at every step of my journey. You gave me this greatest gift of all — education — and raised me to understand my worth, even in a society that didn’t always value girls. You always believed in me and taught me to never give up. From the bottom of my heart: thank you.

I’m especially grateful for my amazing children, Arun and Kevin. You both work so hard and are doing so well in your lives, which has allowed me to focus on other important things. I’m so proud of you, and I can’t thank you enough for making this journey easier for me. Love you, Ernie. Love you, Kevo.

Last but certainly not least: my husband, Navdeep Dhir. He is the most selfless person I know, the best husband and father of my kids I could ever have hoped for. Throughout the campaign, he always made sure I had a fresh cooked meal, though I’ll admit sometimes it was freshly cooked frozen pizza. I can’t thank him enough for his dedication, love and all the little things he does for our family. Love you, Deep.

Let me take you back to 1992, when I was 21 and I arrived in Canada with two university degrees and two suitcases packed with hopes, dreams and a bit of fear. Fast forward to November 2024. When I walked into this beautiful building, I felt those same emotions, so many dreams and aspirations yet still a little bit of fear in my heart, as I stepped into the unknown once again.

When I first came to Canada, I had a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in science from India. After the initial excitement wore off, I realized I needed to find a job in my field. So I took all my transcripts to the international credential evaluation centre at BCIT, hoping for guidance. While they gave partial recognition to my credentials, I was left without any real support to continue the process of becoming a fully licensed teacher.

It was a tough reality to face, but it didn’t stop me from pushing forward. I visited several universities, hoping to find programs that could help bridge the gap in my credentials, but I had no luck. On top of that, I couldn’t find a job because I lacked Canadian work experience. It was a tough situation, and at that point, I wasn’t sure how to move forward.

It took some time to figure things out, so I took on my first survival job at McDonald’s. While it wasn’t what I had imagined, it taught me valuable lessons: how to work hard, show up on time and be part of a team. Those lessons stayed with me and shaped the person I am today.

While working minimum wage jobs, I was also blessed to welcome my two sons into the world and decided to become a full-time mom. I’m incredibly grateful I had that opportunity, and I’m so thankful to my husband, who worked two jobs to support our family during that time. It wasn’t easy, but we made it work together.

[5:45 p.m.]

When our older son started school in South Vancouver, I realized that our community only had an annex up to grade 4. As someone passionate about education, I knew I had to get involved, so I joined the parent advisory committee and became vice-chair, hoping to make a difference for our kids and our community.

My goal was to turn that annex into a full school, and I knew the way to make that happen was getting the attention of the provincial government. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I was determined to do whatever it took to make it a reality for our community. I gathered petition signatures from the parents and sent a letter to the then B.C. NDP government. Our school was approved for funding in 1999 and finally opened in 2002.

While the school was being built, we still had a few things to take care of, like a playground, computers and books for the library. So the PAC, along with the community and school staff, came together to organize samosa sales, hot chocolate fundraisers and book sales to raise money. By the end of our first year, we had raised enough to buy 200 books, ten computers and even build the playground from the ground up. It was amazing to see how the community came together to make it all happen.

This experience taught me that when public servants and communities come together, we can truly move mountains. It’s incredible what we can achieve when we work together as a team. To this day, I still consider upgrading the annex to an elementary school as my greatest achievement. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of, and it means so much to have been part of something that made a real difference in our community.

During that time, I had the chance to help many immigrant women learn conversational English, and that experience truly inspired me. It led me to pursue my Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages diploma at Vancouver Community College and eventually become an English-language teacher at SUCCESS, a non-profit organization. It has been such a rewarding journey helping others find their voice in a new language.

While working at SUCCESS, I had the privilege of connecting newcomers to Canada with the support they needed, whether it was related to employment, health, education or other services. It was incredibly fulfilling to help them navigate their new life here and find the resources that could make a real difference.

One challenge I noticed during my work at SUCCESS was how foreign-trained professionals struggled to work in their fields. Whether they had credentials in construction, health, education or accounting, there were so many gaps in the recognition processes. It was disheartening to see so many talented people facing barriers simply because their qualifications weren’t fully recognized here.

It’s especially heartbreaking to see these highly skilled professionals struggling to find work even though the industries they are trained for are desperately in need of their expertise. It’s a tough situation, and that should not be happening, and it has always stuck with me. As I saw this happening more and more, I couldn’t help but wonder: what more can I do to help? It really pushed me to think about how I could make a difference and support those who are facing these challenges.

Last year I made the decision to run for office because I truly wanted to make a difference in my community and do everything I could to help. It felt like the right time to step up and be a part of the progress we’ve been waiting for.

In the four months since I was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I have had the privilege of meeting so many amazing people — students, educators, workers, business owners, community leaders and so many others — who are the heart of our communities here in B.C.

[5:50 p.m.]

It has been such an inspiring experience, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with those who are making a real impact. Every day I’m reminded of what a true privilege it is to serve and represent the people of British Columbia. It’s an honour I don’t take for granted, and it keeps me motivated to do my best for all of you.

I’m truly grateful to my colleagues and fellow members who stand beside me in the House today. Your leadership, knowledge and shared commitment to serving the people of B.C. inspires me every day. It’s a privilege to work alongside such dedicated individuals.

As an immigrant, I often find myself reflecting on how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. The opportunities this province has given my family and me are countless, and I’m truly grateful for all that we’ve been able to build here.

That same sense of gratitude and pride should extend to the people and communities we serve every day. They are at the heart of everything we do, and their well-being is what drives us. We have a responsibility to ensure that British Columbia remains a place of hope and belonging for everyone. It’s up to us to ensure that everyone feels welcome and has the chance to thrive here.

As highlighted in the throne speech, our government’s top priority is to make life in B.C. better for everyone. This means making housing more affordable, improving access to health care services, providing better support for education and skills training and creating more opportunities for people to obtain stable, rewarding careers. Let’s work together to build a B.C. where everyone belongs, everyone can get ahead and no one is left behind.

As a first-generation immigrant and someone who has long advocated for newcomers to Canada, I truly believe that welcoming international professionals is crucial to building a stronger and more prosperous B.C. Their skills and perspectives are essential to our growth and success. I’m honoured to serve as the Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials, because I know firsthand the challenges and barriers people face when moving to a new country and building a life from scratch.

I want to help make the process easier and fairer for highly skilled newcomers so they can use their experience to find meaningful careers and also help fill the skilled labour shortages in our province. I look forward to working closely with my colleague the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, who’s sitting in the House with me today, to continue this important work and develop innovative solutions.

As we all know, B.C. is an excellent place to live and work, with beautiful landscapes, diverse cultural scenes and endless opportunities to explore. That’s why it’s not surprising we have seen the population grow at an increasingly rapid rate in recent years. With approximately 30 percent of its population made up of immigrants, B.C. is the most diverse province in Canada. Newcomers enrich our communities with their global perspectives and unique experiences.

While a growing population may mean that there’s an increased demand for housing and infrastructure, it also means we have an incredibly valuable opportunity to continue welcoming talented professionals from all around the world. We can help meet those demands and improve the delivery of essential services that all British Columbians rely on.

We recognize that many businesses and employers are facing challenges in finding and retaining workers. We need more people in essential service sectors like health care, child care, education and construction. To keep up with these tight labour market conditions, there’s no doubt that we will need to rely on the skills and contribution of international professionals. From the hundreds of newcomers I have had the chance to work with, I know that international professionals are ready and eager to start working so we can all build a brighter future in B.C. together.

[5:55 p.m.]

For many years, we have had great success in attracting international professionals to work and settle in B.C. through our B.C. provincial nominee program, also known as B.C. PNP. B.C. PNP provides a pathway to permanent residency for international workers and entrepreneurs who bring great benefits to B.C.’s economy.

Through B.C. PNP, we are helping to deliver more homes for people faster by prioritizing occupations that the construction sector needs to succeed in this objective. We are strengthening the services people rely on by selecting workers in key service areas that British Columbians need, such as health care, child care and veterinary care, and building a stronger, cleaner economy that works better for everyone by selecting nominees in target occupations that our domestic workforce cannot fully supply on its own.

In 2023, the program nominated an all-time high of 8,200 individuals for permanent residence. This includes the nomination of 779 new health care workers, which is a 160 percent increase over 2022 numbers, and 842 new early childhood educators, a 97 percent increase over 2022 numbers. In November 2023, our government added construction as a primary sector to address the housing and infrastructure demands in our province. Through this program, many internationally trained professionals have been able to find work in their fields of expertise and build the life they desire here.

Now, the federal government’s recent decisions to reduce immigration targets and restrict study permits for international students undermine our government’s values and workforce development efforts. The new targets and international student cap will have a significant impact on both the post-secondary education sector and the skilled workforce.

We recognize that these are challenging times. The province is moving quickly to manage these changes and limit the negative impact of federal policies on the post-secondary education sector. We will continue to advocate for B.C.’s priorities and work together with post-secondary institutions, organizations, industries and Indigenous partners to navigate these difficult times.

In 2024, we passed the International Credentials Recognition Act. This new legislation removes unfair barriers, increases transparency and makes international credential recognition faster and easier for 29 occupations. These occupations align with B.C.’s economic priorities and directly impact the high-demand sectors of health care, education, construction and housing. From paramedics to engineers to architects to early childhood educators, we need these international professionals to join our workforce.

This is why, with this legislation, we are taking action to close the gaps so people can get to work faster, fill in-demand jobs and provide important services to people in B.C. Specifically, the new legislation helps make things fairer for international professionals by removing unnecessary work experience requirements.

This reminds me of a story of a female engineer, Sara, who moved from the Middle East to B.C. a few years ago. Sara was told by regulatory authorities that she needed prior Canadian work experience to be recognized as an engineer in B.C. But when she tried to apply for jobs to gain Canadian work experience, she was told she needed to be a recognized engineer first. After months of searching and with help from immigrant service organizations, she finally connected with a small engineering company that welcomed newcomers.

[6:00 p.m.]

She worked hard to demonstrate her abilities and prove she had the qualifications to work as a permanent employee. But she still needed to wait another three years before the regulatory authorities could officially recognize her as an engineer in B.C.

You see, many people who came to our province before this new legislation needed to have Canadian work experience to start working in Canada. The catch-22 was they couldn’t start working because they lacked Canadian work experience. This new legislation eliminates unnecessary Canadian work experience requirements. This means that international professionals can start working faster in their chosen fields.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

We are also eliminating unnecessary and redundant English language testing requirements. To start working in B.C., individuals must meet minimum English language requirements through testing. This is to ensure that quality services can be delivered throughout the province.

But in the past, many individuals had to retake English language tests even after meeting the requirements. This added unnecessary steps to applicants’ processes. That’s why we are prohibiting regulators from requiring applicants to provide new English language test results if they have already submitted valid ones.

We know that newcomers to B.C. have had to bear higher financial burdens for credential requirements compared to domestic applicants. This is on top of all the other costs that come with starting a new life in a new country. Through this legislation, we are requiring regulators to charge similar fees to international and domestic applicants.

The legislation further helps to increase efficiency by making sure that applicants receive the information they need to get the professional training and certification required to start working. By requiring regulators to publish all information about their international credential recognition processes online, we are able to ensure transparency of the process.

We have also introduced new reporting requirements to ensure that regulators are kept accountable for complying with the new legislation. This legislation will not only smooth the credential recognition process for newcomers but will also benefit those already in the assessment process. Individuals who have faced barriers in the credential recognition process will experience shorter wait times.

The International Credentials Recognition Act is our first step towards ending stories like the ones we heard today and making sure that internationally trained professionals, with or without Canadian experience, can get recognized in our province. We are proud of what we have accomplished so far, and we are excited to continue making improvements.

To further support the international credential recognition process, the ministry invests in the credential assessment improvement fund. This fund supports projects led by professional regulatory authorities to improve the fairness, efficiency and transparency of regulatory processes for assessing international credentials. Since 2019, the province has invested $3.3 million toward 23 projects that reduce or remove unnecessary obstacles for international applicants in regulated occupations.

In addition to the International Credentials Recognition Act, our government also supports internationally trained professionals through the Career Paths for Skilled Immigrants program. This program provides career guidance and matches professionals with jobs that value their skills, training and foreign qualifications. Through the consultation services, permanent residents can get support for recredentialling, job-related language training, referral to employers and career planning and coaching.

[6:05 p.m.]

Every year the province invests $5.8 million through the Career Paths program. To date, we have been able to help approximately 1,600 people new to B.C. find employment that matches their pre-arrival skills, education and experience. We anticipate several positive outcomes from the International Credentials Recognition Act.

In partnership with the Ministry of Health, we’ve been able to create more pathways for internationally trained physicians to enter the B.C. workforce. The province also funds programs like postgraduate medical education and the international medical graduate program at UBC, which allows international medical graduates to complete their residency and practice here as a physician in B.C.

I’m truly excited about my work as the Parliamentary Secretary for International Credentials and just as thrilled to serve as the MLA for my beautiful home riding of Vancouver-Langara. Having lived and worked here for years, I can confidently say there’s no place I would rather be.

Marpole, Sunset and South Vancouver are more than just neighbourhoods. They are vibrant, close-knit communities where families look out for one another. Even in an urban setting, you will find a strong sense of community. Neighbours gather, kids play street hockey, kites fly in the park, and grandparents enjoy time together outdoors.

Vancouver-Langara is home to so much that makes our city special: the iconic Punjabi Market, Sunset and Marpole Community Centres, neighbourhood houses, Langara College, several places of worship, beautiful parks and trails, top-notch schools, two Canada Line stations, and of course, incredible restaurants.

Our constituency office is right in the heart of the Punjabi Market on Main Street, where our amazing team — Amy Li, Kathleen Serrano and Kayla Charchuk — is always ready to help constituents with their provincial matters.

I’m honoured to serve as their MLA and will continue working to uplift and support this incredible community we call home.

Thank you, hon. Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in support of the throne speech.

Teresa Wat: At this first Legislature session since the October election, I would like to take a brief moment to thank my staff and volunteers who have supported me and continue to support me as I continue to serve in my roles as an MLA both in Richmond and in Victoria here: my constituency assistants, Trix Chan, Daniel Cai, Lu Wei and Caroline Yung; my staff here in Victoria, Peter Si, Ryan Painter and Jaclyn Aubichon; as well as Ken Lam, our caucus director of Chinese media.

I would also like to thank the people of Richmond-Bridgeport, who have supported me since 2013 and have once again put their faith in me to serve as their voice in Victoria.

Special thanks must be given to the president and vice-president of my riding association, Chad Pederson and Wayne Duzita, for their strong and ongoing support and input since 2013, when I was first elected as an MLA representing Richmond Centre. My special gratitude to my campaign manager, Al Lau, and our team of many volunteers who worked very hard during the election campaign.

Finally, to my only daughter, Tin, and my son-in-law, Terry, and my three lovely grandchildren, Andre, Ashton, and Abigail, for their support and encouragement for me to continue to serve my constituents and British Columbians.

As a matter of fact, a major reason for me to run for my fourth term as the MLA representing Richmond-Bridgeport is because of my daughter’s family, my three lovely triple-A grandchildren. I really would like my only daughter to return to our beautiful province with her three children.

[6:10 p.m.]

Unfortunately, the economy is doing so badly now in B.C., as one in three British Columbians is leaving or seriously considering leaving our province, while one in two young people is thinking to do the same. Given my daughter’s worries about our health care crisis, our poor education, the deterioration in our law and order, the high cost of living, as well as well as the unaffordable housing, my daughter and her family simply cannot bring her family back to B.C. with this government in power.

I’m proud of my beautiful riding of Richmond-Bridgeport. It is a place of rich cultural and culinary destinations, a place where you can discover the raw beauty of nature and unique adventures. It is where tourists first land by air in British Columbia, and it is home to the world-class Vancouver International Airport. Richmond is often the first part of Vancouver and British Columbia that many people get to experience. And it has served us well, as no other community better embodies the spirit of diversity, openness and inclusion that we pride ourselves on as a province.

Yet, British Columbia’s economic resilience depends on its ability to trade freely, strategically and globally. Yet under this government, we have witnessed a series of missteps that have left our province over-reliant on a single market and weakened our presence on the international stage.

As the Minister of International Trade from 2013 to 2017, I had the privilege of leading initiatives to expand B.C.’s trade partnerships, particularly in Asia. Our previous governments established and maintained pan-Pacific trade offices, ensuring B.C. businesses had the support they needed to access rapidly growing markets. We worked tirelessly to diversify our trade relationships, reducing reliance on the United States while fostering connections in Asia, in Europe and beyond.

Unfortunately, this momentum was halted when the current government came to power. The decision to close B.C.’s pan-Pacific trade offices in 2018 to 2019 — at the end of the year of 2018, on the 31st of December — was a shortsighted move that undermined years of progress. These B.C. trade offices served as vital bridges to key markets, facilitating billions of dollars in trade and investment opportunities for B.C. businesses. Closing them was not just a mistake, it was a betrayal of B.C.’s long-term economic interests.

The reopening of these trade offices under this current government is a clear acknowledgment of their initial misstep. Rebuilding these offices now comes at a significantly higher cost than if they had been maintained from the outset. This pattern of reactive policy-making wastes taxpayers’ dollars and fails to deliver the steady leadership British Columbians expect and deserve.

[6:15 p.m.]

B.C.’s over-reliance on the U.S. market, for 54 percent or more of its exports, underscores the need for trade diversification. This level of dependence makes the province vulnerable to shifts in U.S. trade policies, leaving businesses exposed to tariffs and other economic pressures. We need to shift our focus and create a new goal, one that seeks to reduce the reliance on the United States and shift the export share to 30 to 40 percent, creating a more balanced trade portfolio that could withstand external shocks. We must redouble our efforts to expand B.C.’s capacity to diversify our export market, while we build and strengthen new economic ties. Rebuilding our trade relationships will not be easy, but it is essential.

The solution lies in re-engaging with Asia and actively pursuing opportunities in emerging markets. Countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam offer tremendous potential for B.C. businesses. So do India and the broader Pacific region. Restoring trust and connection in this market must be top priority if we are to position B.C. as a global leader in trade once again.

The Premier and the current government cannot undo the damage they have caused overnight, but they can begin by committing to a comprehensive strategy. This strategy must prioritize diversification, long-term planning and fiscal responsibility. British Columbians deserve a government that looks beyond the next election cycle and takes bold steps to secure our province’s economic future.

When we walk into this legislative building in Victoria, on the second floor, you look up and you see four murals on the ceiling. They represent the four major founding industries of B.C.: agriculture and farming, fishing, lumber and natural resources. These were historically all used to export to other countries and have built the wealth and abundance of this beautiful province. B.C. has always been a trading province. Our prosperity has been built on our ability to connect with the world, sell our goods and attract investment. By mismanaging the trade portfolio, the current government has left us vulnerable.

As we look into the future, let us recommit to the principles that make B.C. a leader in international trade: strategic vision, fiscal discipline and a willingness to embrace opportunities of a globalized economy. It is time to move beyond reactive policymaking and focus on a proactive trade agenda that strengthens our economy for generations to come. Of course, I’m talking about even my children — my only daughter and my grandchildren and their children and their grandchildren.

Now I want to talk about supportive housing. I am outraged and disappointed by this government’s reckless decision to approve the supportive housing project on Cambie and Sexsmith Road, in my beautiful riding, without any proper consultation. This project, while well-intentioned, was rushed through without adequate consideration for the concern of Richmond residents. The lack of transparency and disregard for community input are staggering.

We all want to support vulnerable populations and provide necessary services, but not at the expense of community safety and well-being. The residents of this neighbourhood have legitimate concerns about increased crime and open drug use.

[6:20 p.m.]

It is unacceptable that this government ignored all these concerns, failed to provide sufficient information and disregarded the very people they are supposed to serve. We demand better. We demand transparency, accountability and genuine community engagement. It’s time for this government to listen to the people and address the concerns that have been ignored for far, far too long.

I urge this government to take immediate action, to conduct thorough community consultation to address concerns and gather feedback. Provide transparent and detailed information about the project, including safety measures and support services. Develop a comprehensive plan to mitigate the impact of the project on local residences and businesses.

We will not stand idly by while our community is disregarded and disrespected. We will continue to fight for our rights, our safety and our well-being. We need supportive housing, but this government needs to do a better job of bringing people along and providing the support needed for the people who will be there. We see time and time again that they do neither.

Proposing a location where there’s hardly any public support sets the people who would live there up for failure. The government failed here. Why build a project on a foundation of failure? Why? I just cannot understand.

This government knew they wanted this project here but, knowing that they failed, put it on ice. After the election…. We all thought it was a shell game and it would come back if they won. Here it is. If this government says this isn’t about politics, why did they stop it for the election and reintroduce it now?

They say they have reviewed other locations, but they haven’t released anything. They said: for confidential reasons. They didn’t even tell the Richmond city council. Aren’t they supposed to work with the city level? They better talk to the mayor and all the city councillors.

We need more supportive housing. It’s very clear that we do. But we need to build the supports around it and the security for neighbours to feel safe. You need to win over the neighbourhood. If you don’t, it’s doomed to fail. Talk before you decide. It makes people feel like their voices means nothing. Is that democracy? I don’t think that’s democracy.

And it’s no wonder Richmond residents get so angry, so furious. We have other supportive housing in Richmond that has had problems with drugs and crime. While it’s a different project — on Alderbridge, also in my riding — it has zero supports, no security.

But I honestly want to thank the city of Richmond for listening to residents who said an emphatic no to the plans for ill-considered supportive housing units at Sexsmith and Cambie. We need to help those in need. But it should not be done behind closed doors and without the community involved.

Shame on our provincial government for proceeding with the project without proper public consultation. Shame on them for putting this project on pause prior to the election with the full intention of bringing it back post-election.

[6:25 p.m.]

Shame on the Premier and the Minister for Housing for saying this was the best location, over community opposition.

The Speaker: Noting the hour, Member.

Teresa Wat: Noting the hour, I reserve my right to continue and move adjournment of the debate.

Teresa Wat moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. Brittny Anderson moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 6:25 p.m.