The House met at 1:02 p.m.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Tributes

Hon. Brittny Anderson: Today it is my honour to celebrate a life well-lived. Alice Maitland served as the longest-serving mayor in B.C. history, and she passed away in Hazelton on February 26. She was 91 years old. Alice was the mayor of Hazelton for 41 straight years and on council for six years before that, for a total of 47 years in municipal government. She was also an original director on the regional district of Kitimat-Stikine board, created in 1967, and served there for more than four decades.

It wasn't just about the longevity of her local government service that stood out but the quality and leadership she brought to the job. She was kind, generous and also steadfast and determined. Some would even say “fierce,” but in a good way. I think it's great to be fierce. Package these attributes together, along with a small stature and a usually soft voice, and the impact was disarming to those in powerful positions with opposing views, who didn't expect such a force of nature when they first encountered Alice.

She never seemed daunted about expressing herself publicly and wasn't easily intimidated, which served her well in her early years in municipal government, when in most rural areas it was a scene dominated by white men. She was a magnet for people who wanted things to be better, and mentored and encouraged many in leadership roles, especially women.

Alice was often a lone voice speaking out for rural communities, seeking better practices and more control over nearby timber extraction activities that sustained not only local services but provincial programs. She linked that work to the ongoing fight for First Nations rights and title. Neither were especially popular positions amongst other rural local government leaders when she began, but the trail that she blazed is now endorsed by one and all.

Alice had a foot in both settler and First Nations cultures. Her father settled in Hazelton as a teen and eventually started a trucking business. Alice's extended family includes many Gitxsan and other First Nation members.

Alice is what we call today place-based. Her love of land, her family and the extended community began early. After attending Prairie Bible College, she returned to Hazelton and was enlisted by Polly to assist with Hazelton's incorporation. She eventually ran successfully to become municipal councillor in 1965.

[1:05 p.m.]

Alice's internal strength and commitment to community sometimes ran her afoul of those leading the province. Two stories were shared with me, but because of time I can't share those today.

Alice could be very feisty when it came to addressing injustices and defending her community, but there was always a gentleness and compassion as the first way of approaching an issue. Those traits sprang from a deep love of family.

To the people closest to Alice, including her daughter, the current mayor of Hazelton, Julie, who I got to meet in January, I am so sorry for your loss. Alice was a touchstone to many around the province, and she will be missed. Yet the spirit of determination she instilled in others will carry on her legacy.

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I rise today to pay a tribute to Theresa Janice Lowther, known as Hu’hüüłk.

Theresa Janice Lowther, née Bolton, was born on the 20th of May, 1951, in Hartley Bay, Gitga'at First Nation. Her first language was Sm̓algya̱x. She grew up deeply rooted in her Gitga'at heritage, learning to harvest traditional foods, prepare seafood and navigate the feast hall with respect.

Her upbringing instilled in her a strong work ethic and a deep understanding of traditional medicines and customs. Her love and respect for her roots, her people and the land were unwavering.

Theresa attended the Hartley Bay school until she was about 11 years old, and she was then sent to West Vancouver as part of the Sixties Scoop to attend boarding school, as was her brother. After the family moved from their ancestral land to the Prince Rupert area, Theresa and her brother were allowed to return home to their family and attend a local public school.

Theresa worked diligently at several jobs before in her true passion: teaching. She returned to school to earn her teaching degree, leading to a lifelong commitment to teach Sm̓algya̱x. From 1997 to 2016, she taught the language in the school district, though her work extended far beyond these years. She played a vital role in preserving and revitalizing Sm̓algya̱x, contributing to the Tsimshian Sm̓algya̱x language authority and the Aboriginal education council.

She worked tirelessly to shape policies that strengthened Indigenous education, attended international language conferences in New Zealand, Hawaii, Alabama and beyond. However, none of those accolades compare to the love and pride she had for her students.

Theresa retired from teaching in 2016 and gradually moved to Victoria to be closer to her children and grandchildren. Even in retirement, she remained deeply involved in language preservation, mentoring students and working with the Wa̱p Sig̱atgyet, House of Building Strength, the Indigenous education department in the Prince Rupert school district and the Tsimshian community in Metlakatla, Alaska.

She once said: “I will never turn anyone away who is willing to learn.” She took great pride in mentoring young language learners and guiding family members in cultural traditions.

After a brave fight with cancer, Theresa passed away on the 26th of November, 2024, at the age of 73. Theresa's legacy lives on through the language she taught, the stories she shared and the love she poured into her family and community. Her voice echoes in recordings, her teachings, enduring books, and her impact is forever carried by those she mentored and loved.

She was a respected knowledge holder, fluent speaker, devoted teacher, mentor, colleague, friend and, most importantly, a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister and auntie.

Introduction and
First Reading of Bills

Bill 6 — Supply Act (No. 1), 2025

Hon. Brenda Bailey presented a message from His Honour the Administrator: a bill intituled Supply Act (No. 1), 2025.

Hon. Brenda Bailey: I move that Bill 6, the Supply Act (No. 1), 2025, be introduced and read a first time now.

Bill 6 provides interim supply for ministry operations and other appropriations for approximately the first three months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

[1:10 p.m.]

Bill 6 also provides interim supply for a portion of government's anticipated financing requirements for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, including an amount equaling one-third of fiscal year 2025-2026 estimated capital expenditures, loans, investments, and other financing requirements and the full amount of the year's estimated disbursements for revenues collected on behalf of and transferred to specific programs and entities.

The Speaker: The question is first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. Brenda Bailey: I move that Bill 6 be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting in the House after today.

The Speaker: You have heard the question.

Motion approved.

Orders of the Day

Hon. Mike Farnworth: I call continued debate on the budget.

Budget Debate
(continued)

Larry Neufeld: For those who are riveted to their television screens and those that, I’m sure, were waiting outside the chamber to hear the rest of what I have to say, I’ll bring you up to speed on where we left off.

Essentially, I was talking about my beautiful region of South Peace and discussing some of the significant issues that we are experiencing up in the area.

Fire protection has been one of the more significant ones. The Pine Pass, a good portion of which is in the South Peace…. For those of you that may or may not be aware of where the Pine Pass is, it's actually the major or the only pass through the Rocky Mountains between Prince George and Dawson Creek.

The pass has seen untold devastation from the pine beetle kill. Thousands of hectares of timber were left to rot while standing while the Northern Initial Fire Attack Crew were moved from Chetwynd to Dawson Creek, a distance of approximately one hour further away. The communities of Powder King and Chetwynd are now exposed to a higher potential for a Jasper-style wildfire situation, thanks to the NDP.

Owning a recreation property in the community of Powder King, my wife and I have seriously been discussing removing any and all mementos that we have at that property, simply due to the very high risk of fire hazard.

By moving the northern initial fire attack further afield, the NDP have placed homes, property and, indeed, lives at risk. During a drive out to our vacation property in the Pine Pass last summer, my wife and I passed a small plume of smoke on the left-hand side of the mountain road. In the following hour that it had taken us to reach our final destination, a major fire had consumed a good portion of the valley. Our family needlessly was frantic to identify whether we were safe or not at that point.

[Mable Elmore in the chair.]

Why does this government continue to squander our forest resource? Why does this NDP government continue to put lives at risk through their thoughtless management of our firefighting resources?

Another very significant issue in the South Peace is that of the Taylor Bridge. For those of you that again may or may not be familiar with the region, the South Peace is bordered to the north by the mighty Peace, which holds the Site C dam and two other hydroelectric-generating dams as well, the latest of course being Site C that has the third generator online now.

Within the South Peace, there are currently, and only ever have been, three road crossings of this navigable waterway. By far the busiest crossing is the metal deck bridge in the community of Taylor, located between Dawson Creek and Fort St. John. The Taylor Bridge has a span of 712 metres, and it has a maximum height of 75 metres above water. It's a significant bridge.

[1:15 p.m.]

This is the second bridge in this location. It was built in 1960, that's 65 years ago, and that was built after the original bridge collapsed in 1957. The original bridge was of wooden construction, built in the early 1940s, and even though it was built in that location, the Peace River has been known to have unstable banks. A landslide collapsed one of the bridge's piers, causing a 122-metre section to collapse into the river. Fortunately, no vehicles were on the bridge at the time, and no one was hurt.

Fast-forward to 2025, and 7,500 vehicles cross that bridge every day, including approximately 30 percent that are heavy commercial vehicles. The Taylor Bridge is the main arterial for our farms, our mills and our mines. It is also the main access point for tourists to get to the Alaska Highway.

This bridge is old and hurt. Years of neglect by this NDP government are adding up. The bridge is showing serious signs of decay. During the last election campaign, our team was shooting video, and the heavy traffic caused the bridge to shake. Our camera operator screamed as the big trucks passed by us. Crossmembers presumably associated with a disused former subdeck pedestrian walkway have become detached over time, and they wave to and fro as heavy vehicles cross the bridge, slapping the steel beside them as we go.

As a professional engineer, I'm going to share the Canadian history and story behind the ring that I so proudly wear on the small finger of my right hand. The steel used to create the first rings given to graduates of an engineering degree program was taken from a bridge that collapsed during construction, resulting in a large and tragic cost to life. The collapse was the result of faults both in the design and the construction management process. The ring is worn on the writing hand of an engineer as a reminder that diligent action is required to prevent the loss of life to workers and the public.

As I leave this place to return home, I will drive across the Taylor Bridge, as I have done many thousands of times before. Will this be the time when history repeats itself and the bridge fails? Excessive annual repair to the deck results in many thousands of dollars per hour in cost to the local economy due to excessive traffic backlog.

In my career as a professional engineer, and having completed emergency spill response, I have crossed the Taylor Bridge on thousands of occasions over every conceivable time frame. Many times when returning from a jobsite and being stopped in long lines of traffic due to annual bridge deck welding, I would mentally calculate the cost to our local economy due to all of the vehicles sitting and waiting to cross.

As a consultant, part of my job is and was — sorry, was — approving and tracking costs. That vacuum truck in the lead is $330 an hour; the crane behind it, $750 an hour; the crew truck in front of that vehicle, $250 an hour; and it goes on and on. A kilometre or two worth of large-dollar items. The losses to our economy are astronomical.

Why is the Taylor Bridge not even on the ten-year infrastructure plan of this government? Do the NDP really need the bridge to fall down again before they act?

Rail access is another significant issue in the South Peace. I have heard from local farmers that moving our product by road over great distances is a significant cost. This makes our agricultural products less competitive, hurts our economy and costs local jobs. If we want locally produced food here in British Columbia, rail access to the coast must be a priority to ensure food security within B.C. Agricultural producers desperately need adequate rail access to the communities of Chetwynd and Dawson Creek.

Carbon tax is another one that's certainly a significant issue for me and for many, many others as well, as northerners. The carbon tax punishes northern and rural communities. Since the election in October, on multiple occasions, the temperature outside of my home has reached minus 39 degrees Celsius; adding the wind chill, it feels closer to minus 57. I stand in the window of my home looking at the windmills, and I notice that they are not turning on very frequent occasions. The reason that they don't turn is due to operational restrictions in the cold. I reflect often on why I am being punished by this NDP government for living in a northern climate.

[1:20 p.m.]

Carbon tax, reliably, has been double the actual cost of the natural gas that I burn to heat my home over this past winter. Those who find that hard to believe are invited to request an actual sample bill. You can get one from me or any of my constituents.

Yes, while the baseload in the electrical system is contributed by the presence of the Site C dam, located some 40 minutes drive from my home, and a number of wind projects in my riding, many NDP members in this House may not be aware that heat pumps do not operate below minus 25 degrees Celsius, which is a common winter temperature in the area in which I live. Heat pumps alone are not a reliable option where I live.

Perhaps I should cut some of the wood on my property and burn it in a self-installed, i.e., non-insured, wood stove. I've heard from neighbours who have gone in this direction simply due to cost. I will leave it to those familiar with the particulate emissions from wood stoves to decide if a marked increase in use serves the original intent of the carbon tax. Perhaps the government wants me to install a used oil burning stove in my shop. That's happening as well.

I have a couple of minutes left, so rather than cut you short…. I know everybody's just waiting to hear what I have to say. I stand in this place with pride in my heart to be here representing the fine hard-working people of the South Peace. I commit, both to those who expressed confidence in me and those who voted for someone else, to work tirelessly for the interests of all residents of the area.

As a business owner, a professional, a father and a grandfather, I'm committed to helping people to the best of my ability. I believe that the best way to do this is to build a strong, robust and resilient economy with a reasonable tax environment. I know that my constituents have a better understanding of how to spend their hard-earned money than I do.

I don't have time to tell you my story, so I will keep moving. I speak against this budget speech because I believe strongly that the NDP simply does not understand how the economy works. As a result, we are losing out on billions of dollars in investment. I believe that it could take generations to reverse the damage done to our economy by these lost investments. The people of B.C. deserve — and we demand — fiscal responsibility.

When my constituents are spending 25 percent of their provincial tax dollars to service the provincial debt created by this government, who can sleep at night? Not me. What legacy are we leaving our grandchildren? The NDP is leading us further down the path of debt and lost opportunity.

I started my first business in B.C. approximately 20 years ago. I do not believe that I could be successful starting that same business today, given the burden of red tape, excessive regulation and punitive taxation introduced under this NDP government. I speak against this budget speech as I have no confidence in the ability of this NDP government to deliver for the economy or to deliver for the people of British Columbia.

Hon. Garry Begg: It's my pleasure to be here today. Thank you for the opportunity to rise in response to the budget speech, which I will support.

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that we are gathered here in the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən people, including the Esquimalt and SXIMEȽEȽ First Nations.

It's an honour to stand and speak in response to the budget.

The speech made something very clear: we're standing strong for B.C. in the face of Donald Trump and his unfair tariffs. Our budget is a measured plan to protect jobs and the services people rely on while preparing British Columbia's economy to withstand the unpredictable impact of unjustified tariffs.

This was a very challenging time to deliver a budget, with significant uncertainty caused as the news about tariffs changed daily. While our economy is built to withstand Trump's tariffs better than most other provinces, the impact will still be very significant. This budget carefully manages B.C.'s finances and makes investments in critical public services to meet growing demand, putting people first and supporting businesses as we build a stronger future.

[1:25 p.m.]

Police are a vital part of public safety, and we need to ensure that the public has confidence in them. How police are viewed affects the public's willingness to report crimes, to cooperate with police investigations, to contact the police if victimized and to abide by lawful police orders. Part of this work is modernizing police services and ensuring they are fair, equitable and responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups.

Another part is making sure police have the resources they need to keep communities safe. That's why this budget includes $28 million to support the RCMP to increase their capacity to provide effective policing. There is also over $2 million for the First Nations and Inuit policing programs to stabilize and improve services there.

Budget 2025 also provides $67 million to improve community safety. This includes funding to expand training capacity at the Justice Institute of B.C. from 192 to 288 police recruits a year. Supporting front-line municipal policing is our commitment to making neighbourhoods and communities safer.

A few years ago, our government introduced the specialized investigation and targeted enforcement initiative, known as SITE. SITE is helping police agencies expand their abilities to crack down on repeat violent crime more effectively and to keep criminals off our streets. And 51 SITE projects have been approved.

Police have told me that SITE has been a vital program to strengthen their investigations into repeat offending cases and coordination between detachments and departments. That's why we're providing funding to make sure SITE is available for police departments, so that they can continue to address repeat violent offending, strengthen intervention services and make sure that people get the support that they need.

We're also allocating over $51 million for provincial police services and core policing to ensure that we support law enforcement in British Columbia.

For more than half of my life, I've had the privilege of serving on the front lines with the RCMP, including eight incredible years in Surrey. During that time, I developed a deep appreciation of Surrey's unique character, its rich culture, strong community connections, and the opportunities it offers to those who work and live here.

It's a city defined by its vibrant diversity, boundless opportunities and a strong sense of community, qualities that make it a place to call home. I've seen firsthand how Surrey thrives off that diversity. This culture of inclusion strengthens our neighbourhood and contributes to the character, community life and vibrancy that define Surrey.

I know the challenges the city is facing and the people and organizations who are doing amazing work here. Surrey is the fastest growing and soon to be the largest city in B.C., and I'm focused on getting these people the support they need. Built from the ground up, the Surrey police service represents a new chapter in law enforcement, one that builds upon the success of the RCMP, a chapter that brings together skilled officers from different backgrounds across the country to ensure the safety and security of the Surrey community.

As an officer, I saw firsthand how police work can benefit people in need. While there is still work ahead to fully complete the transition, this government will continue to provide support. That's why $30 million will be provided for the Surrey police service transition to continue.

People need to know they can rely on police, and I know that every officer puts their life on the line day in and day out to keep people and businesses secure. That's why the funding that we're providing in this budget to support the Surrey police transition is so important.

[1:30 p.m.]

In the face of the recently implemented U.S. tariffs, we're focused on reducing costs for families by locking in car insurance savings. As a public insurer, when ICBC is financially strong and stable, we all do better. Our goal is to keep basic insurance rates in our province affordable for all drivers. These rates will continue to be held steady until March 31, 2026, marking six consecutive years with no increases.

As a Crown corporation, revenue that ICBC generates stays within B.C. to help keep insurance rates low, to contribute to our province's economic health and to support local communities. Budget 2025 builds on this with the one-time $110 ICBC rate decrease to eligible drivers. We expect people will receive that payment in April of 2025.

While the rebate will benefit the personal finances of people living in this province, we understand that it's but a small piece of good news during a very uncertain time. In the wake of Trump's tariffs, we understand the importance of supporting Canadian businesses. Most of ICBC's direct work is done with Canadian businesses, and they're exclusively working with Canadian vendors to make these rebates happen.

This will be ICBC's fifth rebate since April 2021, delivering roughly $640 to eligible customers. It's possible because of sound financial management and better-than-expected investment income.

ICBC employs thousands of people across the province, providing jobs and supporting our economy. They also collaborate with a wide network of stakeholders, including autobody and glass repair shops, insurance brokers, health care practitioners and driving schools, generating additional income activity within this province.

ICBC's enhanced-care model is approaching its four-year implementation mark, and we're working to ensure a comprehensive and independent review of the model being conducted. Enhanced care provides drivers in our province with more affordable auto insurance compared to the previous legal-based system, while also providing anyone injured in a crash with improved care and recovery benefits.

As the system continues to evolve, we're working with ICBC to make sure that we have the best supports in place for people injured in car accidents, while maintaining affordable auto insurance. That's why ICBC's insurance system follows a care-based approach. Anyone injured in an accident, whether they're a driver, passenger, motorcycle rider, cyclist or pedestrian, can access benefits that support their recovery.

While care is available to all, regardless of who is responsible for an accident, fault still matters, and accountability remains to be a key tenet of the enhanced-care insurance model. Drivers who cause accidents or drive dangerously are still held accountable, continuing to pay more for their insurance and potentially facing fines or other administrative and criminal consequences.

B.C. isn't the only province in Canada that uses a care-based insurance model. It's also used in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and Alberta is adopting a similar model with private insurance providers in 2027. However, keep in mind that we take concerns about this model seriously. We're listening and responding to feedback from all road users, including drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, in addition to health care partners and industry experts, to continuously improve and deliver the enhanced-care model.

To ensure public safety, we rely on important institutions like the B.C. Coroners Service. They provide families with the answers they need when a loved one is tragically taken from them, and they provide data to inform policy-makers in their decisions, preventing future deaths and improving safety for people throughout the province.

[1:35 p.m.]

That's why we're providing $1 million to support coroners and their operational pressures. These include multi-year contracts required for body transport and storage, DNA testing and inquests, management of dedicated body storage and coordination of field operations and coroners’ investigations.

We will continue to support the B.C. Coroners Service in providing crucial data on all sudden and unexpected, unexplained or unattended deaths in British Columbia. This data serves multiple functions, including allowing the First Nations Health Authority and First Nations communities to inform community-based initiatives that reduce health and safety risks. It also informs the province's response to the drug toxicity public health emergency.

The funding that we're announcing with this budget is part of the work we're doing to improve the lives of British Columbians. But this doesn't represent everything that we do. Already doing all that we're planning to do is included. As the Minister of Public Safety of British Columbia, I am committed to building on the foundational work that we've already completed and drawing on my extensive hands-on experience. It's my responsibility to ensure that the systems we have in place are working as intended for all of the benefit of British Columbia while we continue to explore new ways to improve public safety.

Part of my mandate is to facilitate cooperation between the police, Crown prosecutors, probation officers and the federal government to reduce repeat violent and gang offences. When government saw that the federal bail laws weren't doing enough to keep violent repeat offenders off the streets, this province took action and led a national charge to push the federal government to change the laws. We're nowhere near satisfied with the results from Ottawa so far, and we will continue to push them to ensure the federal Criminal Code works to keep people in B.C. and across the country safe.

Ensuring community safety is one of the province's strongest priorities and my sole focus, but it's not something we can do on our own. Collaboration throughout government will be the key to accomplishing all the things that we have set out to do. That's why we've established a cabinet committee on community safety, chaired by the Premier. This committee will ensure that initiatives identified at the table are prioritized and delivered to British Columbians.

The people of B.C. expect their leaders to focus on keeping our communities safe, and that's exactly what we're doing. I'm working closely with my counterpart, the Minister of State for Community Safety and Integrated Community Services, to address a broad range of community safety issues, such as retail thefts and vandalism.

We're working across ministries to provide services and interventions to people struggling with mental health, addiction and brain injuries on our streets and ensuring that provincial services are relevant and available to support police officers engaging in front-line responses to people in conflict. This demands a coordinated effort from government, law enforcement, mental health and addiction services, supportive housing and much, much more.

We're going to keep taking action on issues that matter to people in B.C., including disrupting and dismantling organized crime. We know that these crimes put innocent people at risk and create fear in our neighbourhoods.

Illegal guns and organized crime are not just fueling crime and violence; they are at the heart of the toxic drug crisis in this province that has tragically claimed thousands of lives each year. This is a problem that crosses borders within Canada and around the world, and we're determined to make it stop.

While there is no single solution to eliminating organized crime, we continue to take a comprehensive approach, focusing on strong prevention, intervention, intelligence-gathering and enforcement initiatives so that every person can feel safe in their community.

[1:40 p.m.]

Last year, our government invested $500,000 in funding through the guns and gangs violence action fund to support their media campaign. This campaign is a crucial part of our ongoing efforts to combat the spread of illegal firearms, solve gun- and gang-related crimes and apprehend offenders before more serious crimes occur.

We're also committed to pursuing the forfeiture of assets that are suspected to be either the instruments of or proceeds from unlawful activity, which typically do also involve organized crime. Then we redirect the value of those assets to community safety and crime prevention initiatives. One example is MOSAIC, which received a grant for a provincewide project called ScamAware. That project supports immigrants, refugees, newcomers, seniors and socially vulnerable individuals against emerging phone and digital frauds.

This province will continue to take decisive action to remove the profits from unlawful activity. We're doing this, this year, by enhancing the civil forfeiture program. We're also setting up a working group to strategically use both criminal and civil legal approaches and tools to undermine criminal organizations. I look forward to providing an update on that as soon as possible.

B.C. is unique from the rest of the provinces and territories in this country. We share borders with the United States to the north and south, with 27,000 kilometres of stunning coastline, and we are home to numerous land, air and marine ports of entry. While we are Canada's Pacific gateway and a desired destination for newcomers, we're vulnerable to transnational gangs and the illegal flow of guns and drugs into this province. Organized crime groups remain relentless in exploiting any weakness they can find, from street-level drug trafficking in our communities to transnational schemes involving the shipment of precursor chemicals across our borders and ports.

Our ports of entry should never be an enabling mechanism to illegal cargo in and out of this province. For years, our government and municipal leaders have been advocating for meaningful investment in strengthening our borders and ports of entry. While port police are primarily a federal responsibility, a united approach across all levels of government is essential to effectively combat the influx of drugs and other illegal commodities coming through our land borders and ports. We fully support any measures that strengthen security at our ports and remove fentanyl from our streets.

As a province, we are actively exploring ways to enhance our participation in joint operations with federal and municipal law enforcement to supplement existing policing and security at our ports. We take this issue very seriously and continue to work alongside our federal and provincial partners and all stakeholders to ensure that we stop the illegal trade of goods, whether they be drugs, wildlife or other contraband through our ports and borders.

Donald Trump's tariffs could be devastating for B.C.'s economy, businesses and families. It amounts to the declaration of economic war against our country. We will not leave our people and industries to fend for themselves. British Columbians are united, and we're standing together to defend our workers and industries and seize opportunities with other partners.

In the face of this threat, B.C. has everything we need to protect ourselves and to come out stronger, including the most precious resource of all: British Columbians. British Columbians are hard-working, resilient and ready to meet the moment the same as we always have, by looking out for each other and building together.

In 2022, the province asked British Columbians for their perspective on cannabis to help guide the development of a strong, diverse and safe legal sector. For over six years, cannabis has been legal in B.C.

[1:45 p.m.]

We're supporting the continued growth and development of the regulated sector while disrupting the illicit supply chain and removing illicit products from the market. We will continue that. We will continue to streamline liquor and cannabis regulation compliance and enforcement practices and facilitate improved delivery services.

This includes focusing on establishments using a risk-based approach to identify violations that could threaten public safety, such as after-hours sales or serving liquor to minors. The minors-as-agents program allows minors employed by the province to attempt to purchase liquor or cannabis from licensed establishments and government stores. This helps LCRB inspectors monitor that licensees are checking identification and has been proven to increase compliance rates.

We’re also enhancing the effectiveness of the gambling regulatory framework by bringing the new Gaming Control Act into force and implementing, this year, an independent office. Substantial actions under the new act are underway, including a new general manager and regulations to prevent and detect problem gambling and unlawful activity, including money laundering in casinos and online.

We will continue to work to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of cannabis, liquor and gambling enforcement. This will be done through consistent training and identifying opportunities for coordination and collaboration between regulatory agencies.

Government is also committed to modernizing and expanding dignified disposition options in British Columbia. The Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act governs the handling and disposition of human remains and currently permits disposition only by a few options. The act doesn’t allow for methods such as ash scattering on water, which we know is culturally important to many British Columbians.

Additionally, we know that there is increasing interest from the public to allow for more environmentally conscious alternatives to traditional burial and flame cremation. Government is considering alternative approaches that reduce our environmental footprint and provide more choices to people and their families when they are making end-of-life decisions.

At the core of all of our work is improving public safety in British Columbia. We know there’s more to do, but the actions we have taken are starting to make a difference. Last spring, we introduced legislative changes that addressed topics related to municipal police governance, police oversight and tiered law enforcement within the current Police Act. The significant consultation and engagement work that has been taken over the past few years will help us determine what is most important when it comes to modernizing policing.

We’ve also been working on policy and legislative reforms called for by the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act, a committee that I was proudly a part of. We will continue to work with our partners with the goal of being responsive to the needs of diverse communities, fostering increased public trust in policing and improving public safety outcomes.

Police officers in British Columbia have firsthand experience with the unique challenges of responding to calls related to a mental health crisis or substance use issues. These situations often require specialized care. When police work alongside mental health professionals, it leads to better outcomes for those in distress.

Through community safety initiatives, the province is ensuring that law enforcement has the resources and supports that they need to respond effectively. By combining front-line expertise, their initiatives enhance community safety through rapid, care-focused responses to mental health emergencies while allowing police to focus on preventing and addressing crime.

We’re expanding mental health rapid response teams to more communities and providing trauma-informed care from trained peers and health professionals instead of relying on police. We’re doing this by establishing six peer assisted care teams across six communities. We’re also introducing mobile integrated crisis response teams in 19 communities, which pair a police officer with a mental health expert trained in de-escalation and provide crisis intervention in situations where there’s a safety risk.

[1:50 p.m.]

While the police play a crucial role in keeping our streets safe, other services are necessary for us to see a lasting change. We're working to refer more individuals under B.C. Corrections supervision, either in custody or under community supervision such as probation to cognitive behavioural or skill-based programs.

One of these programs is Living Without Violence, which helps individuals recognize the source of their anger; improve their communication skills; and learn respectful, nonviolent problem-solving. Another is the essential skills for success program, which helps remanded and sentenced individuals develop the skills people need to succeed at work and in learning, such as communications, goal-setting and resume writing. We will also continue to support initiatives that are proven to prevent and reduce crime and promote restorative justice in B.C.

Public safety is more than reducing violent crime. We’re working to improve road safety with a focus on reducing high-risk driving behaviours, increasing the efficiency of traffic enforcement and ensuring that B.C.'s licensing system supports safe driving. I spent more than half of my life serving on the front lines with the RCMP, and during this time I gained a real experience.

British Columbians have never shied away from a challenge. We've built this province on determination, resilience and belief in a better future. And when faced with adversity, whether economic, social or global, we do not falter. We stand together. That is why, in response to the threats facing our businesses, our workers and our communities, our government is taking decisive action. We've convened a trade and economic security task force, bringing together business leaders, labour, and Indigenous partners, because in times of challenge, we do not retreat. We unite as part of a strong and resolute Team Canada.

I’ve spent my life in service to public safety, and I know first-hand that the strength of British Columbians does not come from what we say. It comes from what we do, from sacrifice, from standing up for what is right. Today we stand up again to protect our jobs, to defend our communities and to safeguard the values that make our province and our country strong.

At the end of the day, all British Columbians want the same thing: a good-paying job that allows us to build a life we're proud of; a home we can afford in neighbourhoods where we feel safe; access to quality health care, education and the public service we rely on. But these things are not guaranteed. They are not given. We must strive to achieve them, and at times we must fight to defend them. That is our duty, to uphold the rights and freedoms of British Columbians, to shield them from instability and fear, and to ensure that no force at home or abroad undermines our prosperity, our security or our sovereignty.

British Columbia is one of the greatest places in the world, not because of our landscapes but because of our people, because of our commitment to one another. It's an honour to serve as the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Let history show that when British Columbians were tested, we did not waver. We did not back down. We stood firm, and we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder, working together to build a stronger, safer, more prosperous province for all. That is my commitment every single day.

Elenore Sturko: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and also, congratulations on becoming, I believe, the first Asian female to be Assistant Deputy Speaker here in the B.C. Legislature. I think that's an amazing accomplishment. I congratulate you for that.

[1:55 p.m.]

I'd also like to start off by saying thanks to some people who are important to helping me in this place: Gail Miller and Sam Schaap. They're my constituency assistants. They're the ones that help people back home in our riding, previously in Surrey South and now in Surrey-Cloverdale. They do a fantastic job.

I'm really proud. Some of the work that I'm the most proud of as a member of the B.C. Legislature, honestly, is the work that I've done together with them in the office, just at the ground level of the community, having had people come to us with some really, really challenging situations in their lives. Whether it was because of our collapsing health care system and a lack of cancer care, whether it is the absolute lack of daycare for families in our community, kids having to go on split days…. You name it. There's probably an issue in the community in Surrey — Surrey-wide, provincewide — that Sam and Gail have helped people try to navigate.

The reality is that there isn't always a solution for every problem, and that's because of the failed policies of the NDP. But it's not for lack of trying by Sam and Gail.

Also here in this place, helping me here in the Legislature, is a wonderful new assistant in the Legislature named Pegah Taj. She's probably watching right now.

Thank you so much. You're doing a wonderful job.

It takes literally an army of people to keep this place going, whether it's the Clerks of the Legislature who are forced to sit here and watch us right now doing this. But everybody behind the scenes. This is an incredible place, and I couldn't be more proud to have made it back.

Like the Solicitor General before me, I came here from policing. Actually, it was the things that I also experienced on the front line that brought me to this place, and I often get emotional thinking about it. I left my career early, only just shy of 14 years, because of the stuff that I saw on the street with people with untreated mental illness, people with severe addiction, the unhoused. We need a transformation.

So I'm going to talk a little bit, in my response to the budget…. I'm not going to be able to support it because I don't think that it is transformative enough for what our province needs right now. I don't believe that the plans that have been made by this Premier and by our Finance Minister go far enough to really changing the way that we do business.

You know, they've had seven years — almost eight, I guess, now — of running the show here in B.C. Yet I cannot think of a single ministry in which I can honestly say, being completely fair, that things are better now than they were when the NDP first got into power in the province. It's sad.

As much as I'm a member of the opposition, we are political opponents, but we're not enemies. We have the same shared goal for our province, and that's to make it better. Sometimes as sharp as I can be in my role as critic, last time as K-to-12 education, Mental Health and Addictions, and now as critic for Solicitor General and Ministry of Public Safety…. I can be sharp. I can be probably annoying at times, and in question period, a little biting. But it's because we have this goal that we want to push those that make decisions in this province towards making decisions that will transform our province.

Before I really dig into the meat and potatoes of my speech here, I would be really remiss if I didn't thank my most important supporter, and that's my spouse, Melissa.

I love you. I miss you when I'm in this place. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of our three kids. And I'm here because of you. I'm here because I want to make life better for our family and for families across this province.

Thank you for this opportunity, and I am very proud to rise to deliver my response to this budget. I learned over the lunch break that we have a reprieve from the U.S.-imposed tariffs, which is welcome news, of course. But we must not let up.

[2:00 p.m.]

I am going to still talk about a few things that I want to encourage the government to consider in response to the tariffs, because we don't know what the future will bring and whether or not this reprieve that we see now will be lasting, or if we'll be faced again, in a short period of time, with the implications of 25 percent tariffs on Canadian exports at any time.

I also want to make it very clear that I unequivocally condemn the unjustified actions of the U.S. President. It's not only an economic attack on this country; it's a threat to our sovereignty. As a British Columbian and as a Canadian, I believe that we have to stand strong.

I had an opportunity, when I was in the RCMP…. I think it was either 2015 or ’16. I actually went on an Arctic sovereignty patrol. I was serving as an RCMP officer and I was in G Division in the Northwest Territories, which was awesome. It was an amazing experience that brought me working with Indigenous people from the North, learning so much, policing in an entirely different way than I did when I was working in urban centres.

Being in the Canadian Arctic, we went…. We started off in Hay River. I was actually doing communications as part of a team with the Canadian Forces; Fisheries and Oceans — a bunch of federal organizations and government departments. I was the communications lead.

One of the things that was really important was to tell people, to get out those news releases and to do all of these events. Actually, one of the events that we did was a kind of cooking show with the Canadian Rangers. They were using their MREs, their Meals, Ready-to-Eat, their bush food, and for the media, teaching them how they would prepare their meals when they were out on a patrol, which was pretty fun.

The reason that we wanted to do these things, to have these media events on the sovereignty patrols was because — you know what? — this is our land. Canada belongs to Canadians, British Columbia to British Columbians, and I'm proud. I think that we need to make our voices strong, to be heard and to make sure that everybody knows that this won’t be the 51st state.

With 124,000 British Columbians at risk of losing their jobs by 2028 if we go forward with the trade war, I’m really concerned about the impacts on our province. My home community of Surrey is particularly vulnerable to tariffs. Surrey and White Rock businesses, especially those in manufacturing — they’re deeply concerned about rising costs and supply chain disruptions and, of course, the loss of market share.

Twenty percent of Surrey businesses export to the U.S., and that represents $2.8 billion in cross-border commerce. So a 25 percent tariff on our exports could force businesses to scale back operations. They might be forced to move south, or they might shut down entirely.

I'm very pleased that I was able to actually meet with the Surrey Board of Trade yesterday with the member from Surrey-Serpentine. We asked them if they would have an emergency meeting with us so that we could discuss priorities for our region, south of the Fraser. We wrote, together, a letter to ministers in the government, JEDI and Labour, to ask them to please meet with the Surrey Board of Trade. In fact, they’re doing some excellent advocacy, and they have plans that can actually help us get through this uncertain future.

The Surrey Board of Trade…. For those that don’t know, they support businesses, and they attract new businesses to Surrey. They represent about 6,000 member contacts and over 60,000 employees. Along with my colleagues from Surrey, I’m pleased to support their calls for action to our provincial government and federal government to protect businesses by halting all taxation changes that would deter business growth.

[2:05 p.m.]

We’re calling for an immediate freeze to all regulatory changes on industry that would add cost and red tape and to implement a strategic plan to ensure that businesses in the south of the Fraser economic region…. That’s Delta, Langley, Surrey, Abbotsford and all those border communities, where we have agriculture, manufacturing. It is really an economic hub for British Columbia.

We're asking for implementation of a strategic plan to ensure that those businesses in that region, which are particularly vulnerable to tariffs because of our proximity to the border, are provided with greater international trade support.

The Surrey Board of Trade already has an international trade centre, so we strongly urge the government to please work closely with the Surrey Board of Trade in their initiatives that they already have up and running to make sure that Surrey is well supported during the uncertain times.

But this is time for us to change the way that we do business in British Columbia. It's time for us to enter into a time of transformation. And I'm going to explain in this budget response…. It's not only our economy that needs transformation; it's about our approaches and service delivery models in just about everything that British Columbians rely on every single day.

Unfortunately, our province is now, again, on the precipice of a trade war. We’re actually struggling under the weight of fiscal mismanagement and broken promises. Our province has been gripped by an affordability crisis with the most expensive housing in Canada, historic numbers of people relying on food banks and a third of British Columbians thinking of leaving the province because they can't afford it.

The Premier made promises during his campaign, promise after promise in fact, to give people relief — a grocery rebate, like Mother Hubbard, promising a nice bone for everybody. And now it's gone. It's being blamed on the trade war. And the trade war is a significant economic threat. But the cupboard was already bare before Trump was elected.

As my colleague the member for Kamloops Centre so eloquently explained in his response to the budget, this budget was modelled on the numbers that the government were showing as of September 30 in their second-quarter report, and yet somehow they're still blaming the tariffs. And their budget has nothing in terms of a plan that will stimulate our economy.

The Premier has once again run up the largest provincial deficit while accumulating the largest provincial debt in the history of the province. The deficit is $10.9 billion, just to keep the lights on.

Look, we don't want people to be without. We're not asking for essential services to be reduced. That's where the transformation comes in, where you stop trying to play catch-up all the time, where things inevitably cost more, and the lack of planning and lack of management skills inevitably lead to cost overruns, at a time when we need to be responsible.

We have a crisis in health care, particularly in Surrey. Look, Surrey is a city that's been let down time and again by this government. Emergency rooms are overcrowded. Wait times are unbearable. Staff are stretched to the breaking point.

A few weeks ago, a doctor at Surrey Memorial told me that he started his shift and there were already 129 admitted patients in the ER. There's literally nowhere left to see a patient. Their very first patient on their shift — the doctor started at 6:30 a.m. — had been in the ER since 5 p.m. the previous evening.

This is a quote from that doctor. "It's third-world medicine," they said. They also said this: "Admitted patients should not stay longer than eight hours in the emergency department, or we can expect poor outcomes, and ours stay for days."

[2:10 p.m.]

Here's another quote from the same doctor: "We can't attend to their needs, and nurses are so stretched. It's a safety issue which leads to delays in care, escalations of emotions, leading to assaults. It's all linked.” They go on to say: “Ours is a house of cards with the biggest budget in the ministry.”

So the last quote from the doctor actually makes an important point about health care funding. Health care represents one of the largest ministries, one of the largest budgets, and yet the system across the province is in a constant state of playing catch-up. Trying to catch up with the demand for doctors. One in five people in B.C. are still without a family doctor. Trying to keep emergency rooms open. ER closures are happening at a rate never seen before in our province. British Columbians are being sent to Bellingham, Washington, for radiation treatment — five rounds.

Again, talking about fiscal responsibility and looking after…. Yes, we want people to get the health care that they need, which is why we called for transformation. We ran on a platform of transformation to change the way that our model works to have a single payer but to have more opportunities for people in Canada, in British Columbia, to receive the care that they need.

A cost of five rounds of radiation in B.C. is $3,854 per patient. That same treatment in Bellingham is estimated to be $16,000 per patient. While you might not need your credit card, you definitely need your passport. And you have to go out of your community, you have to go out of your province, you have to go out of your country to receive what should be a pretty straightforward and accessible care here in our province.

The point is, when we talk about budgets, when we talk about spending, we also have to look at the effectiveness of what we're doing. Fiscal responsibility — what are our taxpayers paying for?

The new Cloverdale Hospital and cancer treatment centre…. Look, this is a welcome addition to Surrey, particularly in my riding of Surrey-Cloverdale, but the project is already behind schedule, and it was a billion dollars over budget before it even broke ground. Before they broke ground, too, there were multiple…. I mean like I would guesstimate it to be probably close to 20 announcements, including media releases. And it hadn't even broken ground. In fact, at one point, they had trucked in equipment to pose with the equipment. And then the next day, the equipment was gone. It was pretty wild.

I'm glad now it's underway. But I understand they've run into some complications with the project, because having been built on a floodplain, they have encountered an aquifer. There are complications, and we haven't had an update in a long time. Now that they've run into trouble, the government hasn't provided us an update. So I hope that maybe they're listening to this now and we’ll get an update on that soon. I'm hoping that there won't be any more significant delays to getting that new hospital open.

Even with the new hospital, you know, we're still going to be hundreds of beds short, short on pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecological health services, surgery rooms, cardiology…. You name the service or the health care specialty, and we're still going to be behind that in Surrey. Actually, we're going to be behind that in the rest of the province, too.

As the 2025 budget clearly shows, this is a government that's content to play catch-up, spending money to plug holes, responding to crisis after crisis. If we ever hope to move out of the problems that we have now, move our health care system forward, we need transformation. It's time to transform our model, maintaining universal health care, single-payer system, but allowing for service delivery partnerships. Because after all, it's not universal health care if people can't access it.

In Surrey, we're facing the same crisis in K-to-12 education. This budget does not sufficiently address the needs of our school district. It doesn't even come close, not even close. Record enrolment, capacity pressures, inflation, insufficient government grants, rising replacement cost salaries…. They put a strain on our district's financial resources.

[2:15 p.m.]

School trustees anticipate that this 2025-26 budget is going to be their most difficult budget that they've had in years. The government's failure to adequately fund Surrey school district is having dire consequences for our students. The discontinuation of busing for the intensive literacy program. So kids with disabilities are not able to access their specialty programs because the NDP has underfunded the school district.

Closure of two StrongStart sites, another very, very successful literacy program. Closing Learning Centres. Dropping elementary music classes. Six schools on extended day schedules. There’s a potential that schools are going to have to shift to year-round trimester schooling or hybrid learning with courses online.

We still, in Surrey, despite the fact that…. I think it was a 2017 election promise that they would remove, immediately, all portables in Surrey. We have over 300 portables in Surrey. I know that the number of children in portables in Surrey is the same number — of kids in those portables — that some districts have in the entire school district's number of children, which is pretty wild.

The Board of Education approved a ‘25-26 capital plan, and they were seeking an additional $5.03 billion just for capital expenditures, for 63 capital projects that would address the exponential growth in Surrey and White Rock. The total amount in the 2025 budget for the province is $4½ billion. So Surrey needs more than $5 billion, and the province gives everybody in the province less than $5 billion. I don't think we're going to see any major success there.

Look. Again, this is about transformation, because we're not going to be able to catch up schools. You know, I'm bad at math, but I'm not that bad at math. If we keep just building one school after another school like the way that it's being done right now, we'll never catch up. We need to have a different approach to school infrastructure — taking over commercial buildings, taking advantage of expansion opportunities outside of the traditional school builds that we normally do.

I only have seven and a half minutes left, so I’m going to…. There’s so much to talk about in Surrey, whether it’s transit, housing, health care, as I said, schools…. I mean, you name it — homelessness. But I am the critic for Public Safety and the Solicitor General this time around, so I just want to talk a little bit about safety.

I think one of the things that’s very concerning is the toll that fentanyl has taken on our province and what the toll is on our country. Nearly 50,000 Canadians have died from fentanyl poisonings since 2016. That's the size of a city. And 16,000 of those individuals who perished are British Columbians. They're from our province. Yet there's no mention of funding specifically tied to trafficking fentanyl or manufacturing it, in the 2025 budget.

The reality is that this government's soft-on-crime and radical drug legalization policies have turned our province into a hub of drug production. Crystal meth being shipped outside this country. Fentanyl.

And look, you know what? Let's…. I want to be really clear. It doesn't matter to me so much if we receive pressure from the outside — I think it's important to be a good neighbour — but this is the right thing to do for our country, for our province: to fight fentanyl, to fight cartels, to fight gangs for our people. And in virtue of doing that, we will become a better neighbour, a stronger ally.

We need to work together with international friends, including the United States, Australia, everybody all around the world. Pacific Rim countries, in particular, are at risk of receiving crystal meth, for example, like the individual who had — I think it was — $250,000 worth of crystal meth in a carry-on bag from YVR over to New Zealand, over the Christmas break. It's embarrassing.

[2:20 p.m.]

That's why I'm going to call on this government to advocate for changes to Canadian laws, which…. Yes, it's a federal responsibility, but the voice has to come from our province. I will be asking the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, the Attorney General to advocate for aligning our laws, in some circumstances, to work better with international partners so that when we have a better chance of having a successful prosecution and that our allies won't be reluctant to have a court case prosecuted in Canada, as they are now. But they'll see us as a strong partner ready to kick butt against cartels and gangs because it's the right thing to do.

I’ve been very strongly advocating for witnessed safe supply in British Columbia, and I was pleased to see that the government made a move in that direction at the beginning of this legislative sitting. In fact, I thanked the Minister of Health and the Solicitor General for their action on that. I’m disappointed that it took so long, and it took, actually, whistleblowers releasing data before the government acted.

I also want to make it clear that a lot of the trouble that we have in this province is a result of failed policy by the government. Expenditures, including funding organizations that actively work against police, actively call for the defunding of police, actively advocate for the legalization of drugs…. It's the Premier's taxpayer-funded safe supply, in fact, that fuelled the fentanyl trade, giving people a street currency to buy fentanyl that killed them.

The decriminalization experiment took away enforcement powers from police at the street level for 15 months. It had an impact. All of these steps, whether they came from a good place…. Because at the end of the day, I think that there are people that had intentions to help. But then when the information and evidence came forward to show that a well-intentioned program was actually causing harm and was dangerous, where I am offended is that that information was ignored.

It's never the wrong time to do the right thing. I would strongly urge the Premier to call off the decriminalization experiment in its entirety at this time, to send a strong signal to drug dealers, cartels, and to stop the normalization of drug use in this province and get back to saying no. And warn people, for goodness’ sake.

I only have a minute and a half left, and I didn't nearly get to the things I wanted to discuss. But I'll tell you that the last day of the B.C. Legislature last year we discussed the overdose death of a student at the University of Victoria. I was very emotional. I think we all were, on both sides of the House. It was actually one of the reasons why I decided that I would do whatever I could to try to, first of all, make a change in government.

I wanted to win a seat because our work is not done. I wanted to fight for provincewide nasal naloxone. I wanted to fight against the diversion of drugs. I wanted to fight against cartels. I want to fight for a safer B.C. I want to work together with government to make B.C. better. I'm willing to do that.

One of the things that we've been failing at, to conclude, is that we have to warn people of the danger. We have to stop giving out the message that there is a safe drug, that there is a safe way for people to consume drugs, and get back to warning people that what might have been true even 20 years ago is not true on the street. Using even a single time can kill you. Let's get back to a place in this province where we protect British Columbians.

Thank you for the opportunity today, Madam Speaker. Thank you to my colleagues in the House for their support. Thank you to all British Columbians.

I won't be supporting this budget.

[2:25 p.m.]

Hon. Spencer Chandra Herbert: Well, it's an eventful time. It's a time where you turn on your phone, or you turn on the TV, or you talk to somebody and the news of the day has changed again.

One day it's a tariff; the next day it's not a tariff. One day it's threat to Canada; the next day, well, maybe not yet but maybe tomorrow. Indeed it's a tumultuous time, and that's a difficult time for everybody. That's a difficult time to govern, especially, as you're not sure if you are coming or going.

It's a difficult time for the public. Are they going to invest their dollars? Are they going to hold on to them? Businesses: are they going to grow? Are they going to shrink? It's tough all around, and I think that's why a budget, as presented by our Finance Minister, makes sure to protect those core services that we rely on: our health care, our education. It makes sure to invest in areas where we can see job growth, revenue growth, more support for the public, it's incredibly important.

I joined this House at a time of economic turmoil where Lehman Bros. and so on had just gone bankrupt, and there was real fear about what the economic future would look like. At that time, I made a similar argument: you need to invest in your core supports, your core services. You need to take care of the vulnerable. And you need to look at the economy of the future, which is now today, the diversification of trade, creative economy, support for things like tourism.

Over my time in this House, I've made many of the arguments that I now get to make as the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture and actually implement some of those changes and policies that I've long advocated for, I think, as many have, trying to get governments of the day to recognize the value of tourism, arts, culture, sport, the film industry, our creative economy, digital media and so forth. I'm really happy with those investments we've seen, both over the term of our government but also in this budget I'm speaking about.

Now, I want to start just by saying that I love Canada. I love British Columbia. I love Vancouver. I love our communities in this province. I think there's no place, really, I'd rather be, and I think that's the case for many of us in this province. I think there's the case that a lot of us have incredible pride in our province and will do anything to stand up for it.

I know there are those who will try and talk down our province, try and say it's broken, that nothing works and it's all failing. I don't think that's the case. I think there's a lot of room for improvement, as in anything. But I don't think it's right to try and paint a picture of how this is the worst place in the world, as I've heard some people seemingly talk about.

I think there's a lot to be proud of, and I want to make sure that our public servants, those that do those hard jobs…. Whether or not it be fighting forest fires, whether it be working in the front lines helping people deal with addiction challenges, mental health issues, in our hospitals, in our schools, they're doing incredible work, and I think it's our job to have their backs.

I wonder sometimes when I hear members of this House argue that we should reduce spending, cut spending, that we've got to cut it back. Well, those dollars are going to fund our nurses. They're funding our health care. They're funding our schools. And so I'll hear, "Cut spending," but also, "Spend more," coming out of the same person's mouth.

I get it. Sometimes in opposition you can have it both ways. Spend more, but spend less at the same time. Cut more; spend more. More staff, but less money. Reduce wages, but increase support. It's a bit difficult to take. I get it.

I know the opposition Finance critic argued that it wasn't his job to provide solutions, that it wasn't his job to make suggestions. I think it’s unfortunate, because indeed every member of this House, and I've heard it in other opposition MLAs, have offered good suggestions. They are offering passionate responses on behalf of their constituents.

I think that's all of our jobs. We're all elected to serve. We're all elected to stand up for our province. We're all elected to provide good ideas, and I think it's incumbent upon government and opposition to listen to each other, to work together for the best interests of this province. I really hope that's the direction we go in, because the desire to just say, "That's a failure, but I don't have to offer any solutions," I think is a failure in itself. I think you get better solutions when you seek them.

It's easy to say: “Bad.” It's harder to say: “Bad, but this is what would make it better.”

[2:30 p.m.]

Certainly, I always look for that opportunity to look for what we can do better. I'm positive by nature, maybe a little too relentlessly. So for some, I'm a bit hard to take sometimes early in the morning. I've got a great smile on my face, and I wish people the happiest morning, and sometimes I get a grunt. But that’s okay. Some people take their days a little different. Some people are more night owls, I guess, than I am.

I’d say that in that vein, there’s a lot that I’m positive about for our future. I think there are a lot of things I’m worried about, too, no question. But with this file of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, I can think about this last year.

We had the best year ever for the cruise industry, for cruise ship visits, and then the dollars that grow and support our businesses from that industry. Best ever, at a time when many others were saying, “B.C. is not a place that you want to come, and oh, I’m considering leaving, and oh, I want to leave and everyone wants to leave,” which is the message I hear from the opposition.

Couldn’t be farther from the truth. People are coming here in record numbers. I think last year, 2024, about 125,000 people moved to British Columbia because of the economy. I think last year was the…. We’re the top economy in all of Canada. All of Canada. While we’ve heard speeches suggest otherwise, that’s what Statistics Canada tells us. That’s what the results show us.

But now, of course, those results are sometimes felt differently depending on where you live. That’s where my job comes in. It’s to make sure we see more of the benefits of things like tourism in every part of this province. I had the opportunity to see folks from the Prince Rupert port, for example, today. I know that they’re keen and excited about the potential for growth of cruises in their economy and for what that does for them, too. Just on that one file, the cruise industry.

Now, we had the best year ever in terms of support for B.C. Place, in terms of the impact, at least, of that facility, provided by the province, with incredible economic returns in Vancouver. Hotels at record levels of occupancy. That’s job growth as well. Those are good-paying jobs in many parts of this province. We’re seeing that in the Okanagan. We’re seeing that in the North.

We’ve got work to do. I think there’s no question. We’re always looking for ways we can grow connections to other parts of the province. It’s a big province. Not everywhere is as easy to get to. Of course, there are always more improvements. I know the Minister of Transportation is working on those issues, as am I and as are we all.

Well, that’s the positive side. We’re growing. We’ve got good, positive jobs. I will later go into the film…. I’ll go into the digital economy. I’ll go into all those other files that I carry, but it’s in a backdrop of threat. We’re in a backdrop of where our biggest neighbour, our truest trading partner, somebody who has been an ally with that great, undefended border for many years….

The President has decided to turn his attention to us and to attack us, in a sense, and call for economic destruction to Canadians — make themselves richer at our expense. That’s the argument the President has made. This budget says no — no way. This budget says, “No, we’re Canadian. We’re proud to be Canadian. We will not be the 51st state,” as I’ve heard most of my colleagues in this House say.

I know some on the Conservative side argued that we should comply with Donald Trump — thankfully, I don’t think the majority of them — but that is an issue. I don’t think that compliance with an American president who wants our economic destruction, wants our resources, is a good idea. I’m glad that most of the folks on that side don’t agree with it.

I know some did argue that we should comply, and some argued that we shouldn’t launch tariffs in response to the unjustified tariffs coming from Mr. Trump. I don’t think that’s the right approach. You have to stand up for yourself, and you’ve got to stand up and speak out for your province and for your communities.

While we’re facing these threats — huge challenges to manufacturing, to agriculture, to many of our businesses, to service industries and so on — I want to make sure that folks understand that we can see increased growth in tourism. We can see increased growth in film and TV and the digital media clusters, regardless of what they do south of the border.

That’s because we’ve got incredible people working in those industries and a competitive tax environment. We have great locations and great companies doing the work. We can see that growth in those industries, and I think we have to. That’s where a focus of mine has been: looking for ways we can grow in ski; that we can grow in, as I mentioned already, cruises; that we can grow in film, in digital, and so on.

[2:35 p.m.]

Before I get into those sectors, I just want to stop, because sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. I’ve gotten a little ahead of myself, in the sense that I want to say thank you. I thank the Finance Minister, but I want to thank first — well, I guess I already thanked her, so it won't be first, but it should be first — my team in the West End.

Murray Bilida, constituency assistant, is probably the longest-serving constituency assistant in B.C.. and potentially in Canada now. I know we haven't done a survey of other constituencies across this province, but he started serving as a constituency assistant in the early 1980s. I think he was about two at the time, but he was very smart for the age of two. He has only done better and better in the years since then.

It has been an honour, and it's a privilege to work with him. I just think he's passionate; he's fierce. I know government officials and others are always very alert when he calls, because they know that he knows what goes on in this place. He knows if he's getting bluffed, he knows where to ask the tough questions, and he knows where to demand the answers. I think that's a skill that we all need, and it's a skill that has served constituents very well. Thank you to Murray for that.

I want to thank Heather Andrews, my other constituency assistant. She joined the team relatively recently. She works very hard. She did not write the speech. She said if she had written the speech, I would have remembered to thank her in the throne speech. Alas, I did not rely on my staff to write the speeches, so any errors in the speech are mine and mine alone. She's warm, effective, passionate and a great advocate — so creative. Really, it's a pleasure to work with her.

I know constituents are benefiting from Murray’s and Heather's advocacy each and every day, as am I, with their insights and their focus on serving the public. No matter which partisan affiliation people bring, we always make sure it's clear that our job here is to represent every British Columbian.

Our job is to listen, to learn and try our best on their behalf, even if sometimes we might disagree. We'll find a way to try and solve that problem so that the person can get their dreams fulfilled and so that they get the fairness that they deserve. Thank you to my constituency team.

Thank you to the team at the Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Ministry as well. I feel very well supported. They're passionate, incredible public servants that love this province. Many have served the ministry for decades, because of their love for this province and because of their love and insight into how tourism, arts, culture and sport benefit British Columbians in every part of this province.

The challenge: tariffs, economic threats, arguments about whether or not we should be allowed to sell our goods to America, whether or not we are allowed to be a sovereign nation. Of course we are, and we are proud to do that. It’s great to see the large Canada flag on the outside of the Legislature today and the strong advocacy of the government to diversify our trade, to stay strong and to make a real difference in supporting British Columbians’ lives as we face these challenges.

How are we doing that in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport? We have incredible investments. Businesses from all over the globe have invested in B.C. in tourism, whether it's hotels, resorts, golf, ski, as I mentioned, or access in the back country.

We certainly see strong investments in getting out the fishing economy, getting out and seeing the incredible back country we have, including hunting opportunities and many other aspects — recreational advocacy and support, culture, incredible festivals, the arts and culture scene we have here, our heritage.

People are wanting to come to understand Indigenous heritage in this province and get to understand Indigenous communities, their heritages, their cultures and their languages. We have so many valuable things in this province to share with the public. As a ministry, our job is to market them so that the public and the rest of the world can see that they should be here and that they should come visit — a very aggressive marketing campaign all over the globe.

[2:40 p.m.]

We also are working with our friends in the Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Ministry and the Environment Ministry to support the land-based tourism operators so that they can get some certainty on the land base.

If they have, for example, a hiking trail, or maybe they have horses, and you get out and do back-country riding, you know that they're not going to go out one day and that trail is, all of a sudden, gone because a forestry operation was also approved for the same location or a mining operation or something like that. You want to make sure that there is some certainty for them, just as you want to make sure there's certainty for mining and for forestry operations.

For a long time, tourism took the back seat, partly because it's so dispersed. There are a lot of small business operators, so sometimes they're not able to speak with the same clout as one large industry, one large corporation, one large historic resource industry in the province. I think we're changing that. We're recognizing that very closely and very clearly the benefits of tourism are felt everywhere in this province.

It is a resource industry in the end. It's about that resource of relationship, the resource of relationship to the people and to the land, the resource of the relationship to the story, the history. I think that it's well past time that we have that resource recognized for the incredible value it has to this province. That’s great jobs, as I mentioned, in every part of our province.

So working to get better certainty on the land base is vital. Faster permitting times so that people know that they'll be able to operate their business. They'll know that they'll be able to expand their business, so when they put in the money, it's not stuck waiting for decades before they get any sort of decision. That's very important because waiting is wasting in many cases. It's wasting time. It's wasting money. It's wasting energy. And it's denying or delaying the benefit that could come to the region, to the business, to the province.

I think we all know that we need to grow our economy, I believe, in order to provide good jobs but also the resources that we also all know that we need to rely on to support our health care, to support our schools, to support those vital industries. Job growth and investment growth is an area that I've certainly focused on as the Tourism Minister.

I think there's other work that we're working on with our ski hills to, again, as well, make sure that they can get their investments recognized, that they're able to reinvest in their businesses so that they have that longer-term certainty. Grow the jobs, grow the businesses, grow the benefit in the communities.

Certainly, at the First Nations Leadership Gathering, I heard a lot of interest from local nations across the province for growth of their own businesses, for partnership with ski operations across the province, for partnership with many of our bigger tourism industries but also with real excitement at the purchase and the creation of new tourism opportunities across this province.

A huge shout-out to all the entrepreneurs, the local nations, the local business people, everybody that's looking to grow the jobs and grow tourism in every corner.

Indigenous Tourism B.C. has seen really strong growth from when I first connected with the industry many, many years ago. I think 2008 was the first time I got to know folks with Indigenous Tourism B.C. I think at the time, there may have been 50 market-ready businesses in that field. I think there's now over 300 because of that huge growth and because of the support of groups like Indigenous Tourism B.C., which has received support through my ministry with Destination B.C. I'm glad to see that that continues to be the case.

Certainly, in any response we make around tariffs and diversifying our economy, we have to make sure that we are working with Indigenous partners, with nations across this province. They have that same interest as we do. Their governments have that same desire to support their people that we do, and we've got to do that together, not opposing each other, not fighting in the courts, as some people think is still a good idea. I don't think that's a good idea.

I think you don't fight with your neighbours; you work with them. You listen to each other. You learn, and you grow stronger together as a community, as opposed to throwing things at each other and not believing people, not listening to them, not understanding that history that our province has.

[2:45 p.m.]

Moving along, I've talked a lot about tourism because I'm so passionate about it. But I think there's an interesting tie-in. Today I understand we're getting an exciting connection. It's being launched at the Tourism Industry Association conference in Vancouver, likely right now as I speak or just a few moments ago. It's a project called Cineventure.

It's a project which has…. Because we're such a well-known film destination for the major producers of film and TV in the world, we've had a lot of shows and stories shot in our communities, places that people want to see, they want to learn about. They want to go and see the backlots. They want to go and see the locations of their favourite stories.

And so Cineventure is a partnership between Screen B.C., the industry advocate for film and TV, and the tourism industry of B.C. It's a way to take those stories, take that intellectual property, take those memorable moments and use those as a tourism asset as well so that you can go to a community….

And I know there's been lots of different communities in B.C. who have tried versions of this. I think of Steveston and the work they did around Storyville and Small Town, trying to tell that story. I think of Kamloops. They had an interesting project around showing, I think it was Power Rangers, where that was filmed.

Many will know of Hope. I'm told that in Hope still about 20 percent of their business through their visitor information centres is because of Rambo. You go back to Rambo, John Rambo and his big knife and the police and all those stories, you know, that's a long time ago.

Even Nelson — I think I was at Nelson, and they were talking about Steve Martin and films back to the early 80s. But that's because people have those loves.

I was talking to the mayor of Gibsons, and of course you’ve got Beachcombers and the love of that story and the desire, which I agree with. They should get it out, put it out. CBC should air it again, at least put it on streaming. Yes, Mr. Mayor, I'm with you on that one.

Those stories should be used to generate more business, and that's what Cineventure is doing. Finding those connections within our ministry, within our communities, within our businesses can only be good for all of us. I congratulate them on that venture, and I look forward to trying it out myself and to get to see some of the great stories we have in the West End. I think of where X Files was shot, where Scully's home was, a cool little apartment building in the West End — many stories like that, and I'm sure everyone's got one of their own in this province.

Film and TV is great for our economy. That's why I'm so proud that this budget increased the film tax credits to make our competitiveness even stronger. We're a competitive jurisdiction. We've got one of the best tax rates for film and TV in the world. We've got the best crews in the world and some of the best locations in the world, a great film commission, great Creative B.C. in terms of connecting them, incredible administrative qualities — all things that our customers have told us matter to them.

The film incentive tax credits have gone up for both the production services tax credits — so that's often what you hear of from big Hollywood producers that want to come and film here — but also the Film Incentive B.C. tax credit, and that's for domestic producers, for Canadian production.

I think of one of the producers I've met with who…. It's called Murder in a Small Town, and he's a Canadian producer, a Canadian story. His production company owns it, owns the intellectual property. It's an incredibly popular show on Fox. They purchased it, but they own the IP. So every royalty, every screening of this TV show is more support for that company so that they can then go out and invest even more in other Canadian productions and in other stories that we want to tell, and grow that company as a major producer within B.C.

Not just relying on the major American productions but making sure that we're growing our Canadian productions, our Canadian producers right here, I think that's so valuable. Because you often get more…. The screenwriters are Canadian. The actors are Canadian. The directors are Canadian, and so the whole gamut is Canadian. They show the incredible talent we have.

A huge shout-out to programs like the Pacific Screenwriting Program and others that have helped us up our game on all sides. We have great crews, but we also have great talent, and I think that's something that people don't always recognize: that our actors, our writers, our directors are the best in the world. They're people that tell incredible stories. And I'm so glad that increasing tax competitiveness will create more jobs in the film and TV industry in all corners of this province.

[2:50 p.m.]

Thank you to the Finance Minister for hearing those voices, hearing the voice of the Canadian producer who made very clear that our investments are helping, and they're going to help in a big way.

I heard from Screen B.C., and their message really was: "Thank you, on behalf of the film industry, for the investment you committed to with the recent tax credit increases. Since the first mention of this in late 2024 and the confirmation of timing earlier this year, we've experienced a marked increase in the number of calls, queries and opportunities for B.C. to star in upcoming productions. This change matters. Most importantly, it is sure to get industry artisans and experts back to set.”

That's very important. I know it's been a bit of a drier spell for a number of folks in the industry, and that's because we've seen a global contraction in investment in film and TV everywhere. That's, again, why this investment by the province matters, because we want those people to work. We don't want their skills to sit idle. We don't want them to have to consider changes of careers, because this is a great industry. Great careers.

Another area related comes through creative technology, the interactive digital media tax credit. Try saying that ten times fast. We've increased that tax credit — to go from 17 to 25 percent starting September 25 — and made it permanent. This will bring more jobs and more companies to B.C.

I understand that there are already companies looking at shifting where they were planning on investing and that B.C. is where they now want to invest. They loved what we had here, but they wanted to make sure it was tax competitive, that they could compete on the global market, that they could take their skills and grow their businesses, and they want to do that in B.C.

I've heard from businesses already based in B.C. that they're looking at ways that they can bring in talent from other properties, other companies, other subsidiaries around the globe to come to B.C. These are top talents. They're not easy to find. They're not easy to keep.

I think of Sony Imageworks. I was there for a tour the other day and seeing the incredible skills there. I think of EA now, on the gaming side, and the incredible talents and skills you have to develop intellectual property like that. Hugely successful projects, incredible return on investment, huge benefit to the B.C. budget, big support for high-paying jobs. Very important.

I'm continuing along. I'm going to just finish up. I see I've only got two minutes, but I would say just on the other aspects of the budget that I think really will matter in my community and my constituency…. Investments in mental health. Investments in addiction treatment. New investments in public safety. Making sure that those that are facing challenges either face the full effect of the law, because they're breaking the law, intentionally harming people. Dealing with mental health issues where people may not be aware of what they're doing, drug addiction challenges, what they're doing and that impact on the street and that impact on small business owners. I think those are incredibly important investments.

I want to thank Teri and her team at the West End BIA, the province of B.C. business improvement associationsfor that advocacy to look out for our small businesspeople and our shopkeepers. That's something we have to do. I know constituents want us to do it, because they want the folks that are struggling to get help, but they also want to feel that safety themselves on the streets in our province.

In small towns, big towns — every part of this province — I think British Columbians have good hearts. They want folks that are in struggle to get help, and they want to make sure that they themselves are also safe, and that's something we need to do both parts of. So investing on the mental health side, investing on the law enforcement side, I think, are important for our communities, and I'm glad the province is doing that.

There are more things. There's always more. I would just say I want to correct the record. One of the opposition MLAs argued it was one in five British Columbians don't have a doctor. Doctors of B.C. has said that, no, that's actually more like one in nine.

Now that's still not good enough, but it was one in five under the B.C. Liberal Conservative United. We've nearly cut that in half, so a whole lot more British Columbians are having access to family doctors. We've got to keep doing that work, because of course, early prevention is way more cost effective and just better overall for everybody.

I'm proud of the work we're doing. I think there are better times ahead. We're in a tough spot right now — no question. We've got to pull together, look for good ideas everywhere, and I think we will come out of this stronger, more united, prouder to be Canadian and a better province and better place to call home.

I support this budget. I thank my colleagues in the New Democratic Party for their advocacy for so many of these good items: strong economy, strong social supports, healthy environment.

[2:55 p.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Prince George–Mackenzie.

Kiel Giddens: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today to the government's budget.

This is my first opportunity to congratulate you on your position in that chair. It is great to see such a diverse group representing that chair in our assembly, so thank you.

I will get into my budget remarks, but before I do, I do want to start by thanking the people of Prince George–Mackenzie for giving me the honour of representing them in this place. It's very humbling to be elected by fellow citizens in our respective communities. It's also one of the reasons I have tremendous respect for our parliamentary democratic process. Each and every one of us was sent to this place directly by a community of citizens, and it's an honour that we should all respect and be reminded of our home communities each and every day.

Thank you to the people of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, the city of Prince George, district of Mackenzie, Salmon River, Summit Lake, Ness Lake, Bear Lake, Powder King, Mud River, and everywhere in between.

I also want to thank and congratulate each and every one of you in this Legislature for your election, including the Speaker, of course, and members of the government side of the House and the Third Party as well. We may come from different political stripes, but I do believe we’re all in this for public service.

To the members of the opposite side of the House, I also want to say that, like all of you, myself and members of my party would like to see the member for Victoria–Beacon Hill reclaim her seat.

The member and I went to the University of British Columbia together, where we both started our own political journeys in the Political Science Student Association. Several talented members on the Clerk’s table also were in the same club at the same time, as well as Bradley Vis, a current federal Conservative MP from Abbotsford.

During that time, when the member for Victoria–Beacon Hill was actually the president of the club, I was the vice-president. We remain very close friends to this day. I'm praying for her health each and every day, and I know she's a fighter.

What I remember most from my university days were the friendships formed at a really formative time in life. We could vigorously debate Canadian politics in the Pit Pub over a beer and still leave as friends. So I will try my best to engage in respectful debate on the issues, but respect the individuals involved. Although not all of us may be close friends, we should learn from one another while we're here, while staying true to our values.

It has been a conversation on values that have really restructured the status quo in British Columbia politics, and what a wild time it has been. I feel like I personally rode a rollercoaster with my family, my friends, my supporters in the cars behind me. I'm glad that we persevered to work on building a brand-new movement in our province through the Conservative Party of British Columbia.

I’d like to thank my constituency assistants, Brenda Federink and Tianna Klein. Brenda is in Prince George and Tianna is in Mackenzie.

You're both passionate about public service, and I appreciate you.

I'd also like to thank my legislative assistant, Jacob Burdge; research officer, Jaclyn Aubichon; and communications officer, Ryan Painter. To my friend Missy Nowakowski and all of the caucus staff: thank you for stepping up to serve.

It's humbling to be back here. I lived in Victoria from 2007 to 2013 serving the then government caucus. I started as an assistant legislative assistant. So yes, two “assistants” were in my title. I really got to work for some great MLAs and cabinet ministers during my time here. It was an honour and a privilege then when I walked up the Legislature steps, and it's even more so now as I stand with you here today.

There are some key people from my campaign that helped me get elected. I want to thank Judy Jackson, Charlotte Groot, Mike Davis, Rod and Denise McLeod, Aaron Kordyban, Todd Corrigall, Mike Millard, Domenic Cinnali, Alex Huber, Tianna Klein, Matt Daigle and Paulo Branco.

Thank you for showing up each and every time I called.

There were many more who knocked on doors, staffed the office, were poll captains, or anything else we asked of them. Together, we won as a team, and I’m so thankful for them.

[3:00 p.m.]

I didn't grow up in northern B.C. I actually grew up in Kamloops, where my dad, John Giddens, still runs a small family business that’s been operating continuously in the family for the past 111 years — so, third generation. He’s an active volunteer to this day, and I learned about public service and giving back to my community from him.

[Lorne Doerkson in the chair.]

My mom, Candice Giddens, was a pediatric nurse, and I learned about care and compassion for my neighbours from her. I'm grateful for both of them. I appreciate their support for my campaign and everything they've done for me and for our entire family.

One individual in particular, my wife, Elyse Giddens, who I introduced in the House earlier this week, was a rock star on our campaign, of course. I'm so lucky to have her as my biggest supporter, my life partner and my best friend.

Not only is she an amazing mom to our two kids, she's a senior administrator at the College of New Caledonia, she's on the board of the Prince George Elizabeth Fry Housing Society. She's currently completing her MBA from Dalhousie University. Now she's added one more thing to her resume: the best GOTV chair that Prince George–Mackenzie has ever had, helping us get to a 61 percent margin of victory. I'm very proud of Elyse every day, and I'm grateful for her love and for her support.

When I decided to run, it was a family decision. Elyse and I decided that young families needed their voice heard in the Legislature. This week's budget is the perfect reason why. Our kids, Thomas and Charlie, should have every opportunity to thrive in the province of British Columbia. Thomas is seven, currently in taekwondo and gymnastics. He's witty and thoughtful and could very well be an MLA himself one day. Charlie is five. He’s caring, he's goofy and says he wants to be Dr. Giddens or maybe a firefighter one day.

My main reason for standing in this house is to fight for their future so they can get everything they can to get ahead in life. This week we heard a budget that puts their future in jeopardy. We have a government that is so addicted to spending that they're mortgaging our kids' future and our grandkids' future and saddling them with debt because of today's choices.

The government announced another record structural deficit of $11 billion. As we heard from the Finance critic the other day, the NDP under this Premier have contributed more debt than the rest of the Premiers combined since the time of Confederation.

The total debt was $50 billion when the NDP took office in 2017. In this three-year fiscal plan, debt is set to hit $208 billion, with no plan whatsoever to get out of this mess. That's $36,411 owed for every man, woman and child in British Columbia, a 177 percent increase over the last five years.

Debt-to-GDP is rising faster than anywhere else in Canada. It's up to 27 percent this year and is on its way to 35 percent in the government's three-year fiscal plan.

Why does this matter? Taxpayers will be paying $5 billion next year in interest payments. We've already had three credit rating downgrades. And believe me, there are more to come. What does this mean for our kids? As I said, $5 billion in interest payments and growing…. That's more than half the Ministry of Education's entire operating budget. The $5 billion in interest savings could pay for not one but three patient care towers at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia.

As I mentioned, my mom was a nurse, and I understand how difficult that job can be. Many dear friends work hard in our health care system day in and day out to support patients. Yet here we have a government that has failed British Columbians on health care. People deserve so much better. Wait times are among the worst in Canada. The Mackenzie hospital has been closed 13 times this year, just since the beginning of January, and it's only the beginning of March.

Northern Health is the only health region in the entire province without a cath lab for cardiac care. The rate of acute care beds per 1,000 population is 70 percent lower in rural B.C. than it is in the rest of the province. We need to see meaningful progress on these major issues in our health care system. It's completely reckless and irresponsible that the NDP have made choices that mean our kids and grandkids most likely won't have publicly funded access to health care in the future if we keep on this path.

[3:05 p.m.]

The Finance Minister said that the government is ensuring that every dollar delivers results for British Columbians. Over the past five years, public sector employment in B.C. has grown by a third while private sector job growth has been virtually non-existent. We'll now hit 593,000 public sector employees.

What are the results from all that government spending? Housing starts fell 9.2 percent last year in a housing crisis. Food bank usage has gone up 81 percent the last five years in an affordability crisis. As the member opposite in the last part of the debate said, one in five British Columbians don't have a doctor today. That's in a health care crisis where people are struggling. The government's plan is not working for hard-working British Columbians.

I grew up working in the family business, serving customers. It's not easy running a small business, stressing about payroll and supporting your employees. That's why government needs to cut red tape, and get out of the way. It should be creating a competitive tax regime that encourages investment.

A buddy of mine sent me a text just yesterday morning that reads: "Man, the tone of this budget is not good. Basically nothing to support private business. And now they just set aside money for government handouts, putting the province even more in debt. Wow.” Well, he basically hit the reaction of the entire business community in one short text.

It mirrors what the B.C. Chamber of Commerce said, and I quote: "Today's budget is sobering for both businesses and British Columbians. It does not deliver the economic incentives, tax changes, programs or policy shifts that are required to kick-start our economy." Even the BCGEU said on Tuesday that we need an economic development plan.

Now with that in mind, let's talk about tariffs. The last time a serious tariff war happened, it extended the Great Depression for years and was a complete and utter disaster. President Trump is making a serious mistake that will only contribute to making Americans poorer.

I'm a proud Canadian and always will be, and I will always stand up for Canada. We have to stand up for British Columbians right now.

Since the election I've been doing whatever I can to stand up for workers in Prince George–Mackenzie. I was standing up for the 165 workers at the Tidewater refinery. They're at risk of losing their jobs because of broken government policy. I'm glad the Minister of Energy finally acted last week, before it was too late. But we need to ask ourselves: how many more workers need to be protected right now?

This is a budget speech where the Minister of Finance claimed that it's all about preparing B.C.'s economy to withstand Trump's tariffs. But what tangible evidence do we have in this budget speech to actually suggest this government is doing anything on tariffs? There's no tariff relief plan or any jobs plan to speak of referenced in this budget.

They could have chosen to follow the lead of Nova Scotia and presented a plan to lower internal trade barriers with our neighbouring provinces. They may as well get the job done and call the Leader of the Opposition's bill. That could give small businesses a chance to diversify their markets within Canada to withstand tariffs. That's something tangible to stand up for British Columbians right now.

As employers and workers struggle under the conditions this government has created, tariffs make a bad problem a terrible disaster, and workers will feel this hard in our province.

As the opposition Labour critic, I've heard from many employers that the government has disrupted the balance in labour relations, and it's a major reason we've seen such little private sector job growth.

Since 2019, there have been 12 public sector jobs created for everyone in the private sector. It's completely unsustainable, and nowhere else in Canada has been at this pace. These private sector jobs matter. I met with the Steelworkers today. Forestry jobs matter.

The NDP has dramatically shifted the balance away from employers' ability to get ahead. The province has made a succession of changes to the labour code, employment standards, WorkSafeBC, added to payroll costs with the employer health tax, all without properly consulting employers.

[3:10 p.m.]

All of these compounded with higher overall tax and regulatory environment here in B.C. have made it a challenging and risky place to do business. Capital is starting to flee. We're seeing it time and time again now.

At a time when we're worried about tariff impacts, it's also finally time that the NDP stop attacking the rights of workers, where they shut out the majority of workers unless they join NDP-favoured unions. These discriminatory hiring policies in public procurement have driven up costs, limited competition and have ultimately led to a raw deal for taxpayers.

The Pattullo Bridge just had another increase in this budget, going up to $1.637 billion. That's $300 million more than forecast last year. Cowichan Hospital is up to $1.5 billion and is 63 percent over budget. This is all due to the NDP's failed labour and procurement policies.

There's a better path. With a thriving private sector, we can build more projects, give all workers opportunities and a chance for powerful paycheques and not simply rely on public sector construction as the sole source of investment. That is the path to make sure workers in this province can have a fighting chance against tariffs. It's the best way we can support families right now.

We're already in a cost-of-living crisis, and saddling people with more layers of tax on their family budget is not going to do the job. How can we get people out of a cost-of-living crisis that the NDP have snowballed with their 34 new or increased taxes they've added for people and businesses in this province?

The NDP have broken their election promise of $1,000 to families. What other promises are they going to break? In the place of that $1,000, we have a budget that includes the carbon tax going up 3.3 cents a litre on April 1. That's a 20 percent increase. It includes a tax grab of the so-called speculation tax, of course, going up again, and a new EV tax.

We are at a breaking point. So how do we get out of this mess? How do we actually grow our economy in this province?

Prince George–Mackenzie is one of the ultimate resource ridings in this province. We have all of it, from forestry, mining, oil and gas to agriculture. Before being elected, I was part of the resource debates that we have had in communities, in media, in government-to-government meetings and within industry. We can choose getting to yes, or we can choose giving in to activists trying to shut down our resources.

Our resources are critical to the prosperity of B.C. At a young age, I witnessed the impact our resource industries have on family paycheques.

I worked in the resource sectors myself. My parents didn't have a lot of extra cash for university tuition, and I've always had an aversion to debt myself, so I always worked while going to school. For a couple of summers, I moved to Princeton, B.C. My uncle owned a logging business and got me a job at the Weyerhaeuser sawmill. People were proud of the competitive industry, and I witnessed the paycheques supporting hundreds of families in a small town.

Later I worked at the Highland Valley Copper mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in North America. Here was this incredible asset providing critical minerals and 1,000 high-paying jobs. My brother works there to this day.

Years later I would go on to work on the LNG projects. We had an opportunity to create a brand-new industry for Canada, to create brand-new and significant revenues to pay for critical services like health care. I know the members opposite would prefer that the LNG industry didn't exist, but here in B.C., we managed to do something pretty incredible despite the NDP.

The LNG story in this province is one where skilled Canadian workers prove they can build world-class projects safely, how Indigenous inclusion can be done better than ever before and how we can change lives through jobs and economic development.

I'm proud I got to work on the largest private sector investment in Canadian history, and soon the first cargoes from LNG Canada will leave the Douglas Channel, providing a direct path for value-added Canadian energy to global markets. This is the power of the private sector.

Because of this past experience, I've always believed that the path to prosperity is through private sector investment. But why would companies invest in B.C. at this point?

[3:15 p.m.]

The NDP just don't get resource communities. They continue moving the goalposts, and it's drying up investment, going forward.

We have an NDP government that attacked major projects like Site C and TMX and the LNG projects while they were in opposition, but they inherited gifts that were too far advanced by the time they got to office. They also had a Premier at the time who wasn't afraid to push back the activists in his own party.

Now that these projects are at completion, this government hasn't supported the certainty needed for major investment decisions. Now we have a radical activist Premier and a government that is driving B.C. off an economic cliff even before factoring in tariffs.

You'd think that the government would want to invest in northern transportation infrastructure if it actually wanted to move projects in the North forward, projects crucial for economic development and our exports. They clearly don't. I'm putting on the record for the people in Prince George–Mackenzie that there is nothing in this budget for Highway 16 whatsoever, nothing for Highway 97 north of Prince George whatsoever.

The only project north of Cache Creek is the Highway 97 slide repair at Cottonwood Hill. This is an important one because the Cariboo connector is the only route in and out for many in the Cariboo. But what about completing the twinning between Cache Creek and Prince George? The NDP quietly cancelled the Cariboo connector program on the main artery to the North for transportation.

Now let's talk about forestry. They've done nothing on the softwood file their entire term in office, and in the budget they basically signalled that their plan is to manage the industry's decline. The government is projecting a decline to 29 million cubic metres within three years, despite an AAC of 60 million cubic metres. It doesn't have to be this way. But they falsely labelled old-growth forests in Interior ecosystems where that doesn't make sense, and they've created a system where we have the highest log costs in North America.

About a year and a half ago, the former NDP jobs minister, now the Minister of Finance, came to Prince George and said that the North will be fine. Since she said that, hundreds of forestry jobs have been lost in my riding. It's the same story in other resource sectors. The NDP have made B.C. the most expensive mining jurisdiction in Canada to do business, despite having critical minerals right under our feet.

They have frozen permitting in our upstream natural gas development because of decision inertia. We have a government that is systematically driving out private sector opportunities. B.C. needs a new government to clean up this mess, and we almost got there. The good news is that we have a whole team of MLAs on this side of the House that will continue to push for better results.

I want to finish with a story about the promise of British Columbia. B.C. used to be known as the land of prosperity, and looking north was a way for a family to get a new start. My maternal grandparents, Penny and Willie Byron, might be watching at home. I'm so fortunate to have them in my life, and so are the rest of their grandkids and all of their great-grandchildren.

They moved out west from Manitoba in the 1950s. They had a Chevy pickup and 50 bucks to their name. They were young newlyweds with a child on the way. My grandpa worked in road construction when they first arrived in the Lower Mainland, but he soon heard about opportunities in mining. They moved their family all the way north to Cassiar, which is a ghost town now. There was an asbestos mine that had began operations in 1952 and created a little company town. That's where my mom was born.

Mining fed their family as they went from Cassiar to Endako near Fraser Lake. When they came to Prince George and saw Mr. P.G., my mom thought they had really made it to the Big Smoke. But they also spent time in the Kootenays and then eventually to Similco in Princeton, now Copper Mountain mine. Mining supported that family of four kids and gave them a life to be proud of.

We need to restore the promise of British Columbia again in this province. This is a place of opportunity. We have all the natural advantages in B.C.: rich in resources, access to tidewater and skilled workers in search of higher value opportunities.

[3:20 p.m.]

Instead, there was a record out-migration last year, mostly to Alberta and mostly young people. The NDP budget shows that British Columbia lost over 5,000 residents to other provinces. The government expects a net outflow of more than 14,000 residents in 2025.

It doesn't have to be this way. We can create opportunities right here at home to fight back against economic headwinds. We can make decisions based on science rather than caving in to activists' fearmongering. Let's make B.C. the investment jurisdiction of choice in Canada. Let's get to yes and stick to yes. Return B.C. to the province of prosperity through our resources and our major projects.

British Columbians deserve a government that listens to their concerns and acts in their best interests. The Conservative Party of British Columbia stands ready to provide the leadership and solutions necessary to achieve a prosperous future for all who live here. Let's restore the place that my grandparents moved to in search of a better opportunity for their family.

I won't be supporting this budget.

Rohini Arora: I rise to speak in support of the budget speech, Bill 6, the Supply Act(No.1), 2025.

I want to begin by acknowledging that I am speaking today on the lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, including the Songhees and the SXIMEȽEȽ Nations, who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial.

Noting the nations of this territory is not the only acknowledgment I have to share today. I also want to acknowledge that the residential school system happened and has caused intergenerational trauma.

I'm deeply disturbed by the ongoing anti-Indigenous rhetoric perpetuated by the member for Vancouver-Quilchena. In denying the impacts of the residential school system on First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, further harm is being caused. I worry for the health, mental health and healing journeys of Indigenous communities not only in B.C. but across Canada.

When a member of this very chamber holds such ignorant and harmful views and is using social media and a podcast to embolden other residential school deniers to do the same…. The member's job, like all of ours, is to serve all constituents of her riding. I urge her to issue an apology to the Opposition House Leader, to open her heart and to meet with First Nations communities to expand her knowledge on this issue.

I want to thank our Premier for standing up for the Opposition House Leader, whose identity goes beyond her political stripes.

As a member of my own caucus, I want to know that all my colleagues support me and want to help me to be as successful as I can be. I wish that for each and every one of us. As a racialized woman, I have spent much of my career furthering anti-racism policies in my workplace.

This workplace is no different than any other, except that all MLAs have a duty to uphold a high standard of care when representing many constituents and people who are the most vulnerable in our society. I felt that it was very important for me to say that today, Mr. Speaker, so I thank you for listening.

I also want to thank our stellar, powerhouse Minister of Finance, who is always steady in her resolve to ensure we are working round the clock to support the good people of British Columbia, from young workers to working parents and families, to seniors, children, immigrants, racialized Black and Indigenous people, students and people living and working with disabilities.

[3:25 p.m.]

This budget is about standing strong for our province and dealing with the impacts of these unjustified tariffs. The budget manages our finances and makes investments in critical public services to meet growing demand, putting people first and supporting businesses as we build a stronger future.

We’re doing this by growing the economy, helping folks to train for better jobs, getting more projects built and diversifying where we sell our goods. Managing our finances to safeguard all of the services that we all rely on. Improving health care and education by connecting more people to family doctors, and building good neighbourhood schools for our children. Delivering homes that people can afford while keeping our costs low, from child care fees to car insurance bills. Improving public safety with new community safety initiatives and by training more municipal police. Building up B.C.’s critical infrastructure with investments in roads, bridges and transit that keep us and the goods moving.

This budget demonstrates that we are working to continue the expansion of health care services, education and core services while also maintaining ongoing communication to work together with labour, business and Indigenous partners.

To the member who spoke just before me, Mr. Speaker, through you, I would just like to mention that there is a plan for tariffs. In fact, we had an announcement on the Legislature grounds just today. I would urge the member to check out some of the articles. There was media coverage around it, and that might help him to know what our plan is.

We will be introducing tariff response legislation over the next few days. It is clear that we are facing truly uncertain times, but we are standing together. We are united, and we are not backing down.

It’s why I’m so glad to see that our government is prioritizing the fast-tracking of resource-based projects while maintaining strong standards to ensure that job creation is part and parcel of our plan for economic growth.

We are diversifying externally and working to address interprovincial trade barriers, allowing us to set ourselves up for success through the Team Canada approach and decrease our reliance on the United States. This is vital to build a sustainable and independent future from the tumultuousness that is Trump’s presidency.

I want to shift now to some of the exciting projects that are happening in Burnaby. Burnaby has a new hospital redevelopment happening. It’s in phase 2, including the B.C. cancer centre. This project will add two new patient care towers with new units and operating rooms, resulting in 399 beds, a bigger emergency department and a new cancer treatment centre.

The province is also investing $633.3 million in phase 1 of the project and $1.7 billion in phase 2, which includes the B.C. cancer centre. The second patient care tower is expected to have 160 new beds and a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre. The six-storey pavilion, the new surgery centre and renovations to existing buildings are scheduled to be complete in 2026. Both phases of the project are expected to create 17,548 direct jobs and 8,574 indirect jobs.

[3:30 p.m.]

There are many schools getting updated. Brentwood Park Elementary School is going to have a seismically safer new school with room for 165 new students and a neighbourhood learning centre with child care space. The province has provided $39.3 million to the project. That is expected to be complete in 2026.

Then there’s Burnaby North Secondary School, which happens to be, of course, in the member for Burnaby North’s riding; however, the catchment wades over into some areas of my riding. There is a seismically safer replacement that took place, and the school opened in January 2024. The province provided $101.8 million to help create space for 1,800 students, and an additional $2.2 million to create 123 child care spaces, as part of the new neighbourhood learning centre.

Over on Stride Avenue in Burnaby, at the community elementary school, Stride Avenue Community Elementary, $43 million went to this project to build a seismically safer new school, and $2.3 million in ChildCareBC new spaces funding created 54 child care spaces. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2025, and it is directly creating 161 jobs and indirectly supporting 55 jobs.

CleanBC initiatives will also be reducing emissions. This is part and parcel of our plan, which is very holistic. It also features a neighbourhood learning centre with space for a community hub for Indigenous learning and child care services, as part of our ongoing commitment to work with First Nations communities.

At Kitchener Elementary School, a prefabricated addition will have space for an additional 375 new students. The province provided $22.5 million to that project. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026. The list goes on.

I want to give a special mention to Simon Fraser University, which is in my riding, and the First Peoples Gathering House. This project provides dedicated gathering, learning and ceremonial space to engage with Indigenous students and the broader Indigenous community. The Burnaby campus project will cost $27 million, with the province providing $11.4 million. It’s expected to be completed in late 2025. Once completed, the university will have an additional 300 spaces for students. It’s directly creating 74 jobs and indirectly supports 38 jobs.

There’s so much more. I’m looking at this list, and this list is long.

There are also a few projects that are really important, in the sense that they keep Burnabarians in Burnaby. On Sussex Avenue, 61 affordable homes for individuals, low-income families, seniors and seniors with disabilities are being created. Through B.C. Housing’s community housing fund, the province is providing $6.7 million in capital funding.

These are important pieces to ensure we can continue to move with the pace of growth in our city. I can tell from this budget, and I can tell from all the comments I’ve heard from many of the ministers, that this is what they’re thinking about in every city, in every area, in rural and remote areas.

Now I’d like to touch on child care, which is an area I’m focused on as Parliamentary Secretary for Child Care. We know that some families are still struggling to find child care, but I can tell you that things are much better than when my parents were looking for quality care.

[3:35 p.m.]

Since 2018 the number of licensed child care spaces has grown by 48,000, from 111,000 to 159,000 spaces. Our government has funded the creation of more than 40,000 new child care spaces, with over 23,000 of these already open and serving families.

In Burnaby alone, our government has funded 580 new child care spaces, including two projects announced last summer. So 160 more spaces are coming to SFU, and 74 child care spaces will be in a co-located, affordable housing development. Supporting child care space creation projects like these, where the spaces will become long-term community assets, will benefit families for years to come.

I'd also like to take a moment to acknowledge the people who make these centres possible. We rely on child care providers to partner with us, to deliver critical core services to B.C. families. We couldn't do this without you, and we want to continue to support you. That's why we are supporting child care providers through enhanced funding to help cover operational costs. Additionally, we're making sure providers have the support they need to pay their early childhood educators a better wage.

Child care needs 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. ECEs provide care, connection and safe learning environments to our kids at some of the most important times in their lives.

With the supports of our government, there has never been a better time to be an ECE. We continue to support educational and training opportunities for ECEs, along with the compensation and recognition that they deserve. With up to $6 per hour wage enhancements from the government, the median ECE wage is now $29 an hour. In Burnaby, over 180 ECEs, in over 30 child care facilities, are receiving that wage enhancement. We know that the wage enhancement and other measures have a direct impact on sector-wide recruitment, so this is an investment that is making a difference.

As we work hard to continue our mandate item to create more child care spaces on school grounds, we are relying on ECEs and other child care professionals who are providing before- and after-school care, making life easier for working families and single parents who are juggling so much and managing every minute of their day. Since 2018, the province has been helping to create 14,000 new child care spaces on school grounds, with more than 6,400 of these spaces open and providing care for children.

Right now, there is a total of 42,000 child care spaces on public and independent school grounds throughout the province. This allows families one pickup and drop-off location, which is a big deal when you have work, groceries, dry cleaning and god knows what else that you have to fit into a day. It is really important to cut down time, not be stuck in traffic and trying to get from one place to another.

Last year, we announced new child care centres on school grounds opening in places like Chilliwack, Saanich, Penticton and Courtenay. Projects are getting underway in Cranbrook, Dawson Creek, Cawston, West Vancouver and more. Our government is continuing to work with school districts as well as local communities, First Nations governments and non-profits to support bringing child care spaces to schools, to where the need is greatest.

We know that 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 and that they are supported in learning through play, along with other children in any child care program.

[3:40 p.m.]

Last year, we released the Inclusive Child Care Strategy and Design Guidelines for Child Care Centres. These are two of the many tools and resources that are available to support ECEs, child care providers and others in this sector to create a welcoming, inclusive space.

We're also committed to funding inclusive child care projects, where all children are valued and supported to belong. And we're enhancing access to child care for children with support needs through our supported child development and Aboriginal supported child development programs. We know demand is high for these services, and we're working hard to give every child the best start toward reaching their full potential.

An important piece of our ChildCareBC plan is our commitment to ensuring Indigenous children and families have full access to child care in B.C. We are partnering with First Nations and Indigenous organizations to build culturally relevant child care that meets the unique needs of Indigenous families. The most recent example is the opening of 87 spaces at Little Paws Children's Centre. This centre has a language immersion program that will help safeguard the Syilx Okanagan language and build confidence in SnPink’tn's youth, which is also known as the Penticton Indian Band.

We've heard the need for choice and flexibility in the types of child care available to Indigenous communities and the importance of a holistic approach that supports their distinct cultures and language. We continue to hear from communities around the importance of culturally based child care that (1) supports involvement and participation by Elders in the program, (2) includes land-based programs that foster children's connection to nature and (3) supports siblings to stay together rather than dividing children into groups based on their age. There are so many more, but these are the ones that particularly stood out.

It's crucial to support Indigenous-led child care and space creation, including through flexible funding offered by the First Nations early learning and child care grants to support the distinct priorities of First Nations throughout B.C.

Since 2018, based on the results of community engagement and Indigenous partnerships, the province has supported the creation or transformation of over 2,200 Aboriginal Head Start spaces provincewide, with more on the way. These are culturally based, full-day child care programs available at no cost to the families. In addition to child care aged zero to six, the Aboriginal Head Start program also provides wraparound family support and inclusion services at no cost. When we talk about reconciliation in policy, that's exactly what it looks like.

We are committed to engaging with Indigenous peoples on their early learning and child care priorities by working with First Nations and Métis partners to develop engagement and consultation plans. A significant way we are taking action on our reconciliation goals is through the first tripartite memorandum of understanding signed on early learning and child care for First Nations in Canada. This MOU is advancing First Nations early learning and child care priorities.

It's important to mention that getting to this place took time, and it took effort. It took many people to come together to lead the way, and I want to acknowledge their work. Again, we know that First Nations families and children are best supported by early learning and child care programs and services that are designed and led by their community and respond to local cultures, languages, traditions, practices and laws. Our government is committed to that work.

Deputy Speaker: Just a reminder that if you're using an electronic device, it should be on silent mode in here.

Pete Davis: It's an honour to speak in this House today. Before I start my speech, I just want to take a couple moments to thank some important people from my riding and in my life.

[3:45 p.m.]

The first person, of course — and if I don't do this, I'm going to get in trouble — would be my amazing wife, Heather. Thank you so much, Heather, for holding down the fort while I'm not there. I know it's tough. We haven't really been apart for this long of a time since we were married. We got married when I was 20 and she was 19. Thank you so much for all your support throughout this process, throughout the campaign. You were a rock for me.

Also, to my kids, Kaylee, Alyssa, Dylan and Tyler. I know sometimes you guys just hated doing it — door-knocking. But you know what, thank you so much for coming out and helping me. We had some good days and some bad days. I just love you guys so much, and I just want to thank you for all your support. Again, sorry I can't be there all the time with you guys, but I promise that when I am there, I will be there. We’ll see you guys tomorrow.

Also, to the people of Kootenay-Rockies, for trusting me to represent you in this house, I'm truly honoured to stand here. This is a dream come true. I promise that I will work tirelessly for you, that I will make sure that every person in our riding is represented, whether you voted for me or you didn't. I promise to be a strong voice.

You know, smaller rural ridings often feel left out. But I'm here to make sure that I'm going to be heard loud and clear for the people of Kootenay-Rockies, because they deserve a voice just like everybody else in every other riding, no matter how big or how small that you are.

I also want to extend a heartfelt thanks to my constituency staff, Kevin and Alisha, for their hard work while I'm on the road or here in Victoria. They've been doing an amazing job there. They kind of just jumped into the role and started going. They've been doing a great job, and I just want to make sure I just recognize the work that they are doing there.

So with that, I'm going to call it as it is. The more this government spends, the more British Columbians seem to struggle. That's the cold, hard truth. Under this NDP government, reckless out-of-control spending has driven our province to the brink. If this budget tells us anything, it's that they have no intention of changing course or making responsible decisions. They're digging us deeper into debt with no plan to fix it.

This budget isn't just a disappointment; this is a betrayal of every hard-working British Columbian who wakes up every day, puts in the hours and expects their tax dollars to be used wisely, not wasted by a government that refuses to get its act together. This isn't leadership. This is reckless, plain and simple. And it comes at a price, one that families, businesses and our future generations are going to be stuck paying.

British Columbians deserve better. They deserve a government that is accountable, that makes smart, responsible choices, not one that throws money at problems and hopes for the best. It's time to stop this spending spree and get serious about the future of our province before it's too late. I can tell you that I'm worried, and I know that the people of Kootenay-Rockies are worried as well.

Let me spell this out: British Columbia is drowning in debt, and this government is holding the hose. We’re staring down at a record-breaking $11 billion deficit, the largest in our province’s history, a staggering number that will haunt British Columbians for generations to come. Let that sink in — 11 billion in the red. The worst ever seen in this province — ever.

If that's not bad enough, this debt is on track to be more than triple under this NDP government. In 2017, our debt sat at $64.9 billion. By 2028 — ready for this number? — a jaw-dropping $208.8 billion. That's not just irresponsible spending; that's financial sabotage. What are we doing?

Let's put this into perspective for a moment. Right now, every single British Columbian — man, woman and child — owes $27,425. By 2028, this number is going to explode to $36,411 per person. That's my children. That's my grandchildren. These are my friends, my family, everybody.

[3:50 p.m.]

The interest…. Just think about this, though. Not only is that the worst part, but the interest alone on this debt is $13,000 a minute. So think about this. If I speak here for 30 minutes in this chamber, this government will have burned through another $390,000. I’m a good speaker, but I don’t think I should be paid that much to be standing here. That’s a lot of money. That’s $18 billion a year. It’s not being spent on service. It’s not being spent on infrastructure. That’s just to pay the interest on this reckless spending spree from this government.

What do we have to show for this money? Absolutely nothing. This government isn’t building a stronger future. They’re selling it off. They’re selling it off, piece by piece. They’re mortgaging the next generation’s prosperity, saddling them with debt that they’ll never ever be able to pay off and that they’ll never be able to escape from. This isn't just a budget problem; it's a crisis. This government must be held accountable before it's too late.

Now, let’s talk about some other concerns. Let’s talk about the carbon tax. On April 1…. By the way, my birthday’s in April. Every year this NDP government has given me a great birthday gift, not a gift that I want. It’s definitely not a gift that anyone in B.C. wants — another price hike on gasoline, another 20 percent. Thank you very much. That’s right. As if the cost of living isn’t already unbearable, this government is about to pile on even more pain for British Columbians. It’s getting to the point where we’re just being pushed to the edge.

This means, of course — we all know — higher cost of groceries. We all know that when transportation costs go up, food prices follow, like clockwork. We’ll feel it at the checkout line. Higher costs for businesses already struggling to keep their doors open, doing everything that they can to survive under this government’s suffocating policies and taxes. And of course, higher costs for families who are already drowning under the weight of skyrocketing living expenses.

Let me tell you, I grew up on welfare. I grew up with my mom and my brother in community housing. I know what it feels like to not be able to know where your next meal is going to come from, to not know what’s going to happen in the future. I can tell you that I can feel what the people…. Even regular people that have two incomes are getting to that point where these expenses are just drowning them. Does this government not realize that people are going into debt just to pay their basic bills, just to pay their bills.

You know what, I don’t know why this government would think there’s anything wrong with that, because that’s exactly what they’re doing with this province. Here’s the difference: regular British Columbians don't have a never-ending credit card like this government does. Families can't just rack up billions in debt and pass it on to somebody else.

This is a full-on assault on the financial well-being of every British Columbian. The government is out of touch, and they clearly have no understanding of the real hardships people are facing every day. It’s time we stopped this madness before it pushes even more families and businesses over the edge and out of our province. I urge this government to stand up for the people of B.C., as I'm standing up for the people of Kootenay-Rockies, and end this tax now. It needs to go.

I know there’s been some debate about the number of people that have been leaving this province. When I looked it up…. You guys can go look it up for yourselves. I looked up how many people left B.C. in 2024. Here’s what I found from Statistics Canada: 70,000 people left B.C. A majority of them went to Alberta — I don’t blame them — driven by factors like the cost of living and job opportunities. Like I said, if you don't believe me, look it up. It’s Statistics Canada. It’s a big number.

You know, what’s truly heartbreaking is all these people that are leaving, they have kids. They’re kids. They’re grandkids. They’re loved ones. They’re our future generation. I want my kids to stay in British Columbia. I don’t want them to have to go somewhere else to be successful. This government has made it nearly impossible for young people to start a life here. They can’t afford to stay. It’s awful.

[3:55 p.m.]

These aren’t just cold, detached numbers on a page. These are real people — entrepreneurs, skilled workers that we need here who are voting with their feet because they’re giving up. They don’t see a future here in B.C. under the devastating policies of this government. This is a crisis.

While I’m on the subject of crisis, let’s talk about crisis for a moment. Because this government loves to talk about the climate crisis and create fear in every single person while they continue to jack up the taxes. Let’s look at what’s really happening here in British Columbia.

In the last eight years, this NDP government has introduced 33 different taxes. Thirty-three. Let’s be honest, they’re not stopping anytime soon either. Because if there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that when it comes to squeezing money from British Columbians, this government finds a way to do it very, very well.

But let's get real. What is actually happening in this province? People are homeless. People are sleeping on the streets. This is a huge issue for the people in my riding, in Cranbrook. People are dying from overdoses, using drugs that this government supplied them. I can’t believe it.

Families who are fortunate enough to even have a home are forced to choose between heating their homes or putting food on their tables. Parents…. Hear this — and I’ve heard many stories — parents are skipping meals just so their kids don’t go to bed hungry.

We’re in British Columbia. This is Canada. This should not be happening. It’s unacceptable.

Seniors are being forced to go live in homeless shelters and forced to come out of retirement and go back to work because the pensions and the savings, the money that they saved their whole lives and accumulated, isn’t even close to enough to even pay their cost of living anymore. That’s wrong.

This is the real crisis, and this budget does absolutely nothing to help this. This government will stand up, pat themselves on the back and tell us they’re doing something. They all wave around and say, “Oh, social programs” and brag about their reckless spending.

But there’s a problem. Throwing money at a problem without a real plan is not a solution. After all this spending, what do we have to show for it?

Longer hospital wait lines. Leaving patients suffering instead of getting the care they need.

A public safety crisis. Criminals are walking free while law-abiding citizens are afraid to walk down the streets.

Failing, underfunded education systems, where overcrowded classrooms are leaving students behind. There are schools in my riding that are over 70 years old. These buildings are literally falling apart around these kids.

Sky-high living costs. Again, making it nearly impossible for families to get ahead. You can’t get ahead if you can’t save money. You can’t buy a house if you can’t save up a down payment.

I feel bad for these kids. I mean, I’ve got four of them. When you’re paying a $3,000 or $4000 rent payment, where is the money going to go so you can actually put some money away for a down payment? It’s never going to happen.

I bought my first house for a $100,000 when I was 22. But you know what? That’s long gone. It’s not going to happen. It’s unfortunate. Our kids should be able to have the dream and live the dream that we did. They should be able to get a family, build a home, build a family, live together, grow together, have children in their house, go on holidays. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. That’s the life that we want for our kids and our grandkids.

But right now, the way that things are, that’s not happening. It’s getting worse. This is the most frustrating thing to watch. We’re at record debt levels. This government is spending money like they’re shoveling it off the back of a truck. Yet nothing has gotten better.

This is insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome. Of course it’s not going to happen. Just throwing around record amounts of money isn't going to fix anything. Not when there’s no real plan, and that’s exactly what this government is missing.

This is the British Columbia that the NDP have created. They promised solutions but all they’ve delivered is high taxes, more suffering and a province in crisis. British Columbians, they deserve so much better than this.

[4:00 p.m.]

If we truly want to help this province, we need to get our house in order. That means paying down our debt and generating real revenue so we can invest in what actually matters: health care, infrastructure, schools, investing in our communities and the people that are in them.

But where do you get the money from, you might ask? Well, I have a good answer for you. Something that my riding and many other ridings are rich in: natural resources. This industry will put real money in the bank, real services to help lower the tax burden on hard-working British Columbians.

But instead of supporting this industry, this government has done everything in its power to strangle it, drowning it in overregulation, endless delays and crushing taxes that make it impossible to compete. Softwood lumber, aluminum, agriculture, mining — these industries are under attack and this government refuses to stand up and fight for them.

Look at forestry, once the backbone of so many communities, now left to fend for itself. In the last eight years, we've seen 16 sawmills shut down, three pulp mills, four paper mills, thousands of good-paying jobs. Where's the support? Where's the plan to keep this vital sector alive for the future generations? There is none. Instead, this government turns its back while entire towns suffer the consequence.

In my riding, forestry used to be thriving and a very well-paying job in a very well-paying industry, but today it's nearly non-existent. And let me tell you, it's not because we don't have trees. That's for sure. We've got the resources. We just don't have the leadership and the support to make it work.

We need action. We need a government that will stand up, fight for our industries and commit to unlocking the full potential of this province. Let's encourage our miners to mine. Let's support our farmers to grow food. Let's let our loggers go out and responsibly harvest the trees that we have abundance of. It's time to stop holding back and start building a future that works for everyone in British Columbia.

Let's not forget about small business, another huge part of our economy. These are entrepreneurs, the job creators, the risk-takers. These people put everything that they have on the line to start their businesses and employ people in their communities. I can tell you that as a former business owner, I know how hard it is, can be, for these people that drive our communities forward. Yet under this government they are being taxed into oblivion.

Corporate tax revenue is down, not because these businesses are thriving, but because they are struggling to survive in this high-tax, high-regulation nightmare that the NDP have created.

It's no surprise that we're seeing a massive exodus of both people and investment. How can we expect businesses to grow when every single policy this government puts forward makes it harder to succeed? How can we expect job creation when the biggest obstacle to success is the government itself?

British Columbians deserve better. They deserve a government that prioritizes affordability, that supports small business and fuels economic growth. Instead, they have a government that is burying them under mountains of debt, taxes and red tape.

As I close, let's face reality. British Columbia is not ready for the financial storm that's coming down the pike right now. Let's be clear. This didn't just happen by accident. This is a result of eight years of reckless spending, economic mismanagement and a complete failure to lead, by this government. This government has pushed us to the brink, and now we're broke. And their solution? Attack and try to shut down the very industries that could help us recover.

Because of this government, British Columbia has no financial backbone. We are exposed, without a plan, without stability and without leadership. It is the people of the province — the families, the small businesses, the resource workers — who are paying the price.

[4:05 p.m.]

This government has failed us at every turn, and British Columbians are the ones left struggling because of it. British Columbians deserve better, and we need to do better for the people of British Columbia on both sides.

Hon. Laanas / Tamara Davidson: I'd like to begin my remarks today by acknowledging that the work that we do on behalf of the people of British Columbia here in Victoria takes place on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples known as the Songhees and SXIMEȽEȽ Nations. As I rise today in support of Budget 2025, I am grateful to be here on this land.

It's a great honour to rise and speak as a representative of the people of North Coast–Haida Gwaii and to embody the trust placed in me as the Minister of Environment and Parks.

As with a number of other members, I want to take a moment to say a few thank-yous, first and foremost to my family: my mother, Lois Ruhlin; my daughter Samantha Bradley; her husband, Cohen Bradley; and Allan Davidson Jr.

I'd also like to take a moment and thank all of my clan members back home in Haida Gwaii from the Yahgu 7laanaas, Yahgu Jaanas clan of the Haida Nation. My clan members are an important part and an extension of my family.

I also want to thank the people who provide a lot of support for us here in Victoria and when we're out visiting our communities. For me, in North Coast–Haida Gwaii, that means thanking Josh, Georgia and Shelley, who are working in my constituency office and working hard to help my wonderful constituents. I also want to thank Nick, Mary, Shabi, Alyssa, Kevin, Alex, Chris, Jim, Catherine and Amy, who support me and my ministry's work here in Victoria.

As well, I'd like to thank the amazing team at the Legislative Assembly who have welcomed me and who have helped all of the members learn how we can conduct this important work in this important place. I can't thank you enough for all of the support for the new members as we adjust to these new roles.

I thank all these wonderful and hard-working folks for helping me, as well as for helping the people in the riding that I call home. And of course, I want to thank the people of the north coast and Haida Gwaii who have brought me to this place to be their voice. It's a great privilege and honour to be standing in the Legislature and to be representing the community where I live.

As a resident of Haida Gwaii, I understand the importance of ensuring that rural and remote communities like mine have a voice here in Victoria, and I am truly honoured to be here today as that voice.

All our communities are facing challenges ahead as a province. The good news is that we have everything we need to succeed, and we will succeed.

It is no surprise to anyone in this House that our province, and in fact our entire country, is facing challenging economic times. We know this, and we know that we cannot simply stand by as we face existential threats from our neighbours to the south.

As our economy faces the massive threat of Trump's unjustified tariffs, we are sending a clear signal to all British Columbians: stand strong. And while we prepare for the storm, I want the people living in our beautiful province to feel confident that we have their backs and that we will get through this together.

Our budget is a measured plan to protect jobs and the services that people rely on while preparing British Columbia's economy to withstand the unpredictable impacts of the tariffs. Our budget prepares us to carefully navigate these uncharted waters so that we can put people first as we build a stronger, more self-sufficient future. That's who we are in the true north, strong and free: resilient and resourceful, tough but caring, a friendly neighbour and ally but never anyone's backyard.

[4:10 p.m.]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we will never become the 51st state. Throughout history, we've met the moment, and we will do so again. It's all hands on deck to fight the threat and secure our economy for the future. Now is the time to safeguard our economy and build a strong and more hopeful future for all British Columbians, and that's exactly what our government is going to do in Budget 2025.

British Columbia's people — our workers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, artists, innovators — are among the most talented in the world. We are home to world-class educational institutions and public services. Our natural beauty is unmatched. We enjoy a rich biodiversity and abundant natural resources, and we are one of the most diverse places on the planet. My job is to help us leverage these advantages in uncertain times.

My job, as the Minister of Environment and Parks, along with my colleagues on this side of the House, is to outline and follow through on a vision for our province where economic growth, development and prosperity can coexist with strong environmental protections and stewardship. We don't have to choose between job creation from development projects and environmental safeguards. We don't have to choose between a thriving natural resource sector and protecting our province's ecosystems and wildlife.

By moving forward with our government's plan to promote clean and sustainable economic growth, we are not leaving behind our strong commitments to climate action and environmental protection. To ensure British Columbians can enjoy living in our beautiful province for generations to come, we do not have to choose between prioritizing the economy or the environment. We can do both, and at such a critical time for British Columbia, we need to do both.

I've heard concerns from people across the province about the affordability crisis — families who are struggling to put food on the table, working people who are worried about their job stability in these very uncertain economic times. I've also heard from people who are concerned for the health of our environment. They want to see bold climate action, and they want to see strong environmental protections and enforcement. Many of these people are young people, the future of our province.

I hear all these concerns, and I know there is a way forward, a future where economic growth and environmental protection can coexist. That's exactly the future that our government is working hard to achieve. We all have a role in creating this future, and it is truly an honour to conduct my work as the Minister of Environment and Parks in pursuit of this future at such a critical time. It's a critical time for both our economy and our environment.

My duty as the Environment Minister, and one that I do not take lightly, is to administer the province's parks, protected areas, recreation sites and trails; to monitor and enforce compliance with environmental laws and regulations and to manage discharges to the environment from human activities; to provide a diversity of outdoor recreation experiences that connect people to nature; and to protect B.C.’s biodiversity, ecosystems, native species and natural habitats in parks and protected areas.

My ministry acquires, manages and analyzes environmental and climate data to inform decision-making across the province.

As minister, I also administer the provincial environmental assessment process through the environmental assessment office. This important work will begin this year with an important mandate to protect the key services that British Columbians rely on, by working with the Minister of Finance to review all existing Environment and Parks programs and initiatives.

[4:15 p.m.]

We want to ensure that programs remain relevant, efficient and grow the economy, and help keep costs low for British Columbians. This reflects an essential focus of Budget 2025 and a guiding principle for this government as we continue to work hard for people across the province.

In these difficult economic times, in an uncertain global context, we need to focus on the core programs that matter most to British Columbians and work on increasing efficiency across government. That's exactly what Budget 2025 has proposed to do.

One example of how my ministry is doing this is by better aligning the staff behind B.C. Parks and Rec Sites and Trails B.C. By aligning our staff resources, we can streamline services, build capacity and give people a better outdoor experience while upholding our strong commitment to protecting the environment. This is just one example of how my ministry is working to increase efficiency as Budget 2025 emphasized as a key priority for our government.

Next, I am committed to find ways to increase access for families to B.C.'s parks in a cost-efficient manner. One thing I know, and we can all agree on, on both sides of this House, is that our provincial parks and protected areas are our natural treasures. They are a place where people go to connect with nature and with each other. They also play a critical role in preserving our world-class ecosystems. B.C. has one of the largest protected area systems in all of North America.

We have over 1,000 provincial parks, recreation sites, conservancies, ecological reserves and protected areas, protecting more than 14 million hectares of this province. Naikoon Park in Haida Gwaii is a living landscape of culture, biodiversity and natural beauty. It's co-managed with the Haida Nation and is home to many sites of spiritual importance, including the Indigenous village sites and important food-gathering sites throughout the park. As part of our commitment to reconciliation, we continue to work closely with all First Nations across the province.

Together, we are ensuring that provincial parks are plentiful, accessible and well maintained for British Columbians and visitors to explore for generations to come.

I am proud to share that 200,000 hectares were added to Klin-Se-Za Park last year. This land is culturally significant to the Treaty 8 First Nations. It is also home to vital southern mountain caribou habitats. Providing a large area that protects caribou and their habitat from development is a critically important step forward, and it builds on agreements that we made in 2020.

Through the park expansion, their habitats are now being restored as our protected areas grow. But what is a protected area if not a place for people to visit and to see our natural beauty firsthand? B.C. Parks does a wonderful job managing 170 campgrounds and more than 10,000 campsites. And through Recreation Sites and Trails, we offer affordable and often free camping at more than 1,225 recreation sites.

As our park and recreation sites continue to increase in popularity, we've been working to add more opportunities, more spaces, and to increase accessibility and reduce barriers wherever we can. Since 2017, nearly 2,000 campsites have been added to B.C. parks and recreation sites in regions with the highest demand.

Last year, we created 60 new campsites, which have been added to the reservation system for this coming season. Thirty of these sites are in Fintry Park near Kelowna. Fintry is a popular destination because it offers opportunities for camping, swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking and wildlife viewing.

[4:20 p.m.]

Closer to the Legislature, we opened 13 new campsites at China Beach campground, located in the world-renowned Juan de Fuca Park. Juan de Fuca Park is on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island, and it offers scenic beauty and spectacular hiking, marine and wildlife viewing and roaring surf in its course along the Pacific coastline and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The China Beach campground offers a vehicle-accessible camping experience in a gorgeous forest with open understorey. We're all excited for more people to come and camp there with an improved experience.

There are parks, recreation sites, trails and protected areas all across this beautiful province. Visitors can picnic in the Lower Mainland or spend a night in the Okanagan. People come from around the world to take in the views of the Sea to Sky or canoe off of Vancouver Island. There is cycling in the Thompson, hiking in the Kootenays, swimming on Haida Gwaii or sightseeing in the Cariboo. You can go from east to west in the Skeena or trek the trails in Omineca. These parks are our provincial parks. They are part of our British Columbia, and they always will be.

We are committed to ensuring that our provincial parks are as accessible and affordable as possible, acknowledging the difficult financial times faced by many people and families in our province and across the country. B.C. Parks strives to provide options for a getaway where people can enjoy the great outdoors and have access to outdoor recreation. This is just one of the many ways that our government is working to support British Columbians and our provincial economy during these difficult times.

Last year we worked to add more important safeguards to our cherished campsites, trails and ecological reserves by making important and long-needed changes to the Park Act and the Ecological Reserve Act. Our changes increased fines for environmental crimes, something we know that the public was excited to see. Fines of up to $500,000 are now on the list of enforcement options available to B.C. Parks staff. These fines are used to address a wide range of violations, such as cutting down trees, feeding wildlife and dumping waste. This protects sensitive ecosystems and wildlife.

Speaking of wildlife, we know that people in British Columbia are concerned about the human-wildlife conflict, which is a threat to people and wildlife alike. This is one of the realities we must navigate, and encountering wildlife is a part of living where we do in such a beautiful province with diverse natural ecosystems. That's why we have also hired new conservation officers to support communities to live in peaceful coexistence with wildlife.

Conservation officers are an important part of both urban and rural communities. They act as front-line public safety officers as well as investigators and educators to reduce conflicts with wild animals like cougars, bears and wolves. As a result, last year saw a dramatic reduction in the deaths of black bears: a 49 percent reduction since 2023, protecting people and bears alike.

We also work to protect wildlife, people and the natural environment from harmful waste. The plastics action plan had a big year, encouraging British Columbians to switch to reusable alternatives wherever they can. Small changes add up. An estimated 190 million single-use bags will be removed from circulation every year. This means that since putting restrictions in place last July, we have kept over 110 million plastic bags out of landfills and oceans.

[4:25 p.m.]

Last year we also funded a new phase of the plastic action plan. We provided over $14 million to communities, small businesses and organizations with innovative ideas for reducing plastic waste. There are now 32 active projects all aimed at repairing, reusing and recycling plastics.

One example is the Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise. They offered affordable repairs to damaged outdoor gear like tents, backpacks, skis and snowboards. This project keeps people from having to throw away their gear and buy more, saving the environment and saving people money too.

Nine of the other plastics action fund projects are Indigenous-led and funded through the new Indigenous projects category. In total, we created more than 100 jobs through the plastics action fund in 2024.

We continue to work, as well, to reduce municipal solid waste and build a circular economy through regional solid waste management plans. We work in partnership with the Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group on important initiatives to help First Nations design programs that incorporate their critical cultural knowledge and practices into sustainable planning for the future.

We work to promote organics recycling, food and plastic waste prevention initiatives and continuous improvement and expansion of extended producer responsibility programs. We continue to implement the Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation to reduce and prohibit the use of plastic and single-use items while encouraging the use of durable, reusable alternatives. This regulation includes restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags and food service accessories, such as lids and utensils.

In a clean economy, resources are never disposed but instead are reused, recycled and reintroduced as new products. Circular approaches help eliminate waste for a cleaner, healthier future, and they can also help save people and businesses money.

[Mable Elmore in the chair.]

Our ministry advances a clean economy through strong environmental leadership, innovation and future-focused policy and regulatory frameworks, targeted funding programs and robust environmental monitoring, reporting and enforcement. Budget 2025 is no exception. As we face difficult economic times as a province, my ministry continues to be committed to advancing the goal of a sustainable future and green economy for generations to come.

We are also taking action to protect the environment from spills and pollution. We know people care deeply about the environment, and we have strong protections in place to minimize the impacts of spills and discharges.

We have a robust response system to provide guidance and monitoring of cleanup actions during the incident and to ensure the appropriate actions are taken after the spill to restore the environment. We have safeguards in place to ensure that those responsible for polluting the environment are held accountable for its cleanup and restoration.

We continue to take strong action to ensure all companies comply with the law when it comes to environmental pollution. The use of penalties is just one example of holding polluters to account. We know that monetary penalties are successful, because the majority of follow-up inspections result in better compliance.

Recently, we have increased inspections by the ministry to demonstrate the importance of strengthened compliance and enforcement actions, and we are pleased to see companies working with us and other ministries to clean up their operations. Our goal is never to fine businesses or to deter them from doing business in our province and contributing to the local and provincial economy but to ensure that they do so in a sustainable and responsible way to preserve our environment and natural beauty here in B.C.

[4:30 p.m.]

We will continue collaborating with First Nations in implementing environmental quality objectives. It’s working, because we are working across ministries and with Indigenous leadership and business leaders to recognize Indigenous rights and title, protect our environment for future generations and support predictable and sustainable economic growth in our province to benefit all British Columbians.

Because this government knows that economic growth, environmental sustainability and meaningful reconciliation can and should go hand in hand, and that is reflected clearly in Budget 2025.

Underlying all our government's important work to protect the environment is our partnership with Indigenous peoples and our strong commitment to reconciliation. For example, earlier this year, B.C. Hydro selected nine clean energy projects through its 2024 call for power, and I'm proud to say that the projects are jointly owned by B.C. First Nations. This is just one example of how we are creating jobs, advancing economic growth in a sustainable way and working to generate more clean power in a way that protects the environment, all at the same time.

In my ministry, the parks and recreation program has also done some important work in partnership with First Nations. I'd like to highlight the Indigenous guardian partnership between B.C. Parks and the Kitasoo/Xai'xais Nation, the first of its kind in British Columbia. This innovative pilot project supported Indigenous guardians to be empowered with the same legal authorities as park rangers within the parks and protected areas in their ancestral territories.

In the past year, my ministry has also put the work in to strengthen how we communicate with First Nation communities when dealing with environmental emergencies like hazardous spills. We launched a new app called Alertable that ensures that First Nations responders and leadership get the right information as quickly as possible. As of now, we have over 50 First Nation communities signed up, with that number growing daily.

My ministry has been working hard to deliver. We are making sure that large-scale projects are properly assessed through the environmental assessment office, and it's critical to making sure that development is sustainable.

When we assess projects, we also have obligations to uphold First Nations jurisdiction, title and rights, supporting a shared vision for economic well-being and proper stewardship of water, land and air. This includes work to remove the requirement for wind-based clean energy projects to go through the environmental assessment process and to ensure that B.C. has the clean electricity it needs as the economy and the population continue to grow, while keeping B.C. Hydro rates affordable for people and businesses.

As mentioned earlier, B.C. Hydro has awarded 30-year electricity purchase agreements to nine renewable energy wind projects. These projects will provide nearly 5,000 gigawatt hours per year of electricity. That's enough to power 500,000 new homes, and it will boost B.C. Hydro's current supply by 8 percent.

We are also working together across ministries and trying to streamline our permitting processes and looking for efficiencies in those processes. The provincial government review of major projects like mines, pipelines and solar farms involves both environmental assessments and permitting. The EAO has been directed to work with other regulatory agencies to expedite authorizations and permitting for major projects, and we will be bringing forward options soon. In addition, the EAO is currently formally reviewing the Environmental Assessment Act, including looking at timelines and regulatory coordination. This work is being done to ensure that the government is acting swiftly on things that we know British Columbians want.

As I rise to support this budget, I do so knowing that it follows through with our commitments and continues the important work. I am proud of the progress that this government has already made and the action we are taking to address issues that are important to British Columbians.

[4:35 p.m.]

This budget was built during a time of uncertainty, but what I am certain of is that even in this new context, our values remain the same — having people's backs and tackling the big challenges we are facing together.

I'm truly honoured to be serving British Columbians as a representative of North Coast–Haida Gwaii.

Linda Hepner: I stand in the Legislature today as a proud representative of my riding of Surrey–Serpentine River, and I work closely with many of my colleagues who together represent the majority of the city of Surrey. However, it is with great disappointment that I stand here today to speak about how Surrey has been massively overlooked in this government's budget. This is not merely an oversight; it is a glaring neglect that continues to deepen the challenges and disparities that we face as a community.

As a friend of Surrey's mayor, Brenda Locke, and an ex-mayor of Surrey myself, I feel it is my duty to echo her sentiments. I have to say that this budget treats Surrey like a second-class city. We’re not a second-class city. Surrey is one of the most rapidly growing cities and needs infrastructure, transportation, education, health care and more. It is a city full of potential, ambition and resilience, yet despite all of this, the government continues to ignore our growing needs.

This is not just a matter of funding. This is a matter of fairness, of equity and of respect for the residents of Surrey, who contribute immensely to the economy and the fabric of this province. Our health care system is under severe strain, and our hospital is overwhelmed.

To put this into perspective, Surrey has only 18 pediatric beds, with more children than anywhere else in the province. Furthermore, once the new hospital in Surrey is complete, and only when it is complete, the total hospital beds in Surrey will still be 300 percent less than the beds in Vancouver.

This is a massive disgrace and is very clear evidence that there is a need for a children's hospital in Surrey. Data from the Surrey Hospitals Foundation demonstrates the fact that Surrey is the only major city in the entirety of Canada with a health care system that lacks the ability to treat the three leading causes of sudden death — heart attack, stroke and trauma.

That's in the biggest city in the entire province. If that is not enough to demonstrate the dire situation that Surrey is in, I certainly don't know what would. This lack of funding and investment is becoming unbearable for both health care workers and the residents who rely on those essential services.

With respect to education, Surrey is facing a crisis, and there is a lack of adequate schooling spaces, resulting in an overreliance on nearly 400 portables — more portables than many districts in this entire province have in their whole school district. That is a symbol of how little attention has been paid to the education needs of our children.

Furthermore, our public transportation system is overcrowded and strained beyond capacity. While 90 percent of Vancouver residents get to enjoy frequent transit service, only 27 percent of Surrey residents get that same privilege. Buses and trains are packed, and it is becoming even more difficult for residents to rely on taking public transit as an option for commuting to work, school and their other essential appointments.

[4:40 p.m.]

These are not minor inconveniences. These are real challenges that our residents face every single day, and the very government that has promised to make life more affordable and to lower costs has just slapped Surrey across the face again. This government's budget shows a clear lack of understanding of the reality that Surrey residents face every day. It is easy to make promises from the comfort of a distant office, but for those who directly communicate with our communities every day, it is disheartening to see such a big failure for such a significant community.

The people of Surrey deserve better. My community of Surrey–Serpentine River deserves better. They deserve real investment into a sustainable future for them and their families in health care, education, infrastructure and more. It is time for this government to stop treating Surrey like a second-class city and start treating it with the respect it deserves. How much longer do communities have to wait for this government to take that accountability and make those real changes?

This government will not stop blaming U.S. tariffs for their shortcomings. But guess what else was missing from their budget — a genuine strategy of how B.C. is going to afford the cost of tariffs. My riding was not the only one hoping to see real investments to help our local businesses survive, but once again, this was nowhere to be found in the budget.

We met yesterday, the Surrey-Cloverdale representative and myself, with the Surrey Board of Trade, which has an international trade division and is anxious to help business but doesn't have the capacity. It needs that kind of assistance that can only come from government help. We have thus asked for JEDI and Trade to please assist those businesses south of the Fraser and those that are along the border communities, like Surrey, and help them have their businesses quickly ramped up to diversify and access other trading partners.

The government has predicted a net outflow of 14,600 residents in 2025. Those are people who contribute to British Columbia's economy just gone in a heartbeat. It's no wonder they're leaving when this government has not been capable of preparing a budget that meets the needs or provides them with a level of hope that they were hoping for from their government. I would not be surprised if that prediction is actually well below the number, when we heard other members on this side of the House talking about 70,000 people leaving last year, which was just too sad to speak of.

One of the reasons I got back into politics after retirement was to actually instil in people the hope that we can turn things around. As a grandma, I did not need to be here amongst all you wonderful, beautiful people. But I came back to this life because I have so many grandchildren in this province that I want to stay here and to make life affordable and good for them.

But this budget has not yet satisfied me that we're in the place we need to be. In fact, I think this is a bit of a mess of a budget.

It came on the same day as the tariffs coming into effect. Had it been delayed, we may have actually been able to make some solid strategic implementation measures on how best to address the tariffs. But no plan on addressing international trade barriers. We know we have to do some things to make that possible. We should have taken the time to figure out what those strategies were.

[4:45 p.m.]

If we had delayed the budget, we may have been able to understand what obstacles there are and how to advance them quickly and evaluate how best to make sure that we were ready for what's coming down the pike and has already started, even though I did hear the Premier on the lawn today announcing some strategies that we would have liked to have had way earlier than this and be able to assess whether or not they will actually even work.

No plans to balance a budget. No real plan to respond to the tariffs. No plan to address the housing crisis. No plan to address hospital closures. No plan to address mental health and addictions. No plan to support teachers and schools. No plan to support seniors. No plan. No real plan.

The continuations: over-budget projects that should have been finished years ago, more funding for the Premier and a record $10.9 billion deficit. No plan, but so many opportunities. The government has over-promised, and it has certainly under-delivered.

The budget should reflect our commitment to services British Columbians rely on and to show investments into the projects we want to see come to fruition. Unfortunately, what we see is a government that has chosen reckless spending over fiscal responsibility, bureaucracy over efficiency and short-term political optics over long-term economic growth. On top of that, this budget does nothing to make our economy more resilient to American tariffs or make it easier for British Columbians to deal with real-life implications of those tariffs.

If you were to read into this budget and attempt to work backwards to isolate the priorities of British Columbians, what you would find is most definitely not anything I heard from any of my constituents in the past election, and I'm willing to wager the outcomes would not align with the priorities of many British Columbians.

Working back from the budget, you would assume that British Columbians prioritized paying big salaries to the Premier’s staff and accumulating debt. When I asked my constituents what they wanted during the most recent campaign, none of them ranked accumulating debt or paying the Premier’s comms staff as their top priorities, yet this budget allocated $10 billion to debt and $1 million to the Premier’s staff. It is ridiculous, and British Columbians deserve better.

Families struggling with the cost of living, young people unable to afford their first home and businesses drowning in high taxes and red tape — these British Columbians have been left behind by a government more focused on expanding its own size than serving its people. This budget does nothing to offer hope to those people.

The affordability crisis in British Columbia continues to worsen, with housing costs rising beyond the reach of so many residents. This issue, compounded by increasing grocery and gas prices, places significant financial strain on families across the province. Grocery prices skyrocketing. Gas prices soaring. Instead of meaningful relief, this budget offers Band-Aid solutions, new taxes and reckless deficits.

I want to talk about housing and housing affordability and how we, on this side of the House, believe we could do better. This budget fails to deliver on what I think is the number one issue affecting British Columbians. That is affordability, and housing is a disproportional factor of affordability and the cost of living.

For years, this government has promised to solve the housing crisis. They have announced grand plans, set up committees, commissioned reports, yet year after year, the dream of home ownership moves out of reach for British Columbians. Today the average home in B.C. costs over $1 million.

[4:50 p.m.]

For a young couple saving for a down payment, that dream is slipping away. For renters, sky-high rental prices mean they’re forced to choose between rent and food on the table.

And what does the budget offer? More bureaucracy, more government intervention, more costly programs that won't get houses built.

In reality, this budget's approach to housing is laughably irrelevant. I am truly disappointed in this approach. On housing and everything else, this budget reads as an attempt to not govern but to throw government spending on autopilot, regardless of the fact that we are in many crisis situations.

Instead of removing barriers and allowing the private sector to build homes efficiently, this government continues to introduce excessive taxes, burdensome regulations, unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles, further slowing down much-needed housing development. Instead of addressing the labour shortages that are slowing construction, they pile on more costs that make it even harder to build homes.

The government simply does not have a housing plan. A housing plan could look like: get government out of the way. We would cut red tape, streamline approval processes so that homes could be built faster and cheaper and end the tax-everything approach.

This government loves to tax housing — development fees, speculation taxes, foreign buyer bans that don't work and rent controls that make rental housing scarce.

We need policies that incentivize home building, not punish it. Build more supply, not more bureaucracy. Instead of throwing money at housing programs that do not deliver, we need to unlock land. We need to encourage the private sector investment and remove the layers of government slowing things down.

British Columbians want a housing market driven by innovation and private sector investment, not a system burdened by excessive government control and inefficiencies. They want a market that works, one where young people can afford to buy a home, where renters can find a place they can afford, where supply meets demand — it's economics 101 — not where government interference makes things worse.

The NDP continues to push policies that increase government control over housing, rather than fostering an environment where the private sector can build homes efficiently. Their approach has not only slowed down development but has driven up costs, making them less accessible for British Columbians.

The budget simply does nothing to fix the core issue: not enough homes are being built, and government interference makes it worse. The government is using taxpayer money to now cover up their housing failures — $375 million expansion of rental supplements. Really?

That's an admission that the housing market is failing under NDP leadership. Instead of addressing why rents are skyrocketing, the government is using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the cost of their own failed policies. If the private sector were allowed to build more homes, there wouldn't be a need for massive government subsidies just to keep people housed.

Another barrier to affordability in home construction in British Columbia is this aggressive push for step code requirements and net-zero building policies. The NDP claims these policies are necessary for environmental sustainability. But in reality, they drive up construction costs in a time of crisis, they delay housing developments and they make home ownership more unattainable for British Columbians.

[4:55 p.m.]

Under the B.C. step code, builders must meet stringent energy efficiency standards that require expensive upgrades in materials, in technology and construction techniques. This adds tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home, pricing out countless families who are already struggling to enter the housing market.

In a province where home prices are already the highest in North America, these unnecessary regulations exacerbate the housing crisis rather than solving it. Maybe there's time down the road when that makes sense, but in a time of crisis that makes zero sense.

They disproportionately impact small-and medium-sized builders. Even while large developers may be able to handle some of it, I can assure you those costs are passed on to you and to me and to those who are trying to get into the housing market.

The goal of energy-efficient homes is laudable, but the NDP's approach forces them onto homeowners, onto renters and onto builders, instead of allowing the market to innovate and to adapt naturally.

Looking at the rental assistance program, the threshold is rising from $40,000 to $60,000, meaning families now making up to $60,000 will qualify for rental subsidies. That, too, is laudable on the face of it. But it's a clear sign that middle-class British Columbians are priced out of the market and now need government support just to afford rent.

This government's repeated failures on housing projects highlight a pattern of inefficiency and mismanagement. Despite grand announcements, key projects continue to face delays, frustrating communities like Surrey and worsening the housing crisis. These setbacks, when combined with the broader slowdown in private sector construction, reveal a government unable to deliver the kind of results that the people of British Columbia expect.

A number of B.C. Housing projects are now delayed by a full year. I have them listed, but I won't read them out to you today. But I can tell you that none of them are in the city of Surrey. Not a single one. There are two paragraphs in the budget regarding housing, and then there is a list of projects that are under construction, none of which are in the city.

But these delays do mean fewer homes being built at a time when we need them the most. Every delay pushes families more into uncertainty. It's just not a housing plan. Frankly it's a housing disaster.

I just think that in this…. It just to me makes such common sense that when we're in a crisis that we wouldn't say: "What, as a government, are we doing?" That we can say: "Whoa, let's just put the brakes on that. We don't need to do that right now. This isn't the perfect time for that. This is costing 20 percent more on the cost of a house in a time when people need housing."

Just think about it. Since 2016, so a decade ago, B.C.’s population has grown by 24 percent. A quarter more people live in this province than they did a decade ago. Housing starts have barely moved. They've gone from 42 a decade ago to 45 now, with a population that has changed from 4.6 million to 5.7 million. Let that sink in. We've got now over a million people, and we're building at the same number of homes as we were nearly a decade ago. That has to tell you something.

[5:00 p.m.]

The net result? The housing shortage is worse. You have to ask yourself who was in power most of those years and what was the reason for the stagnation? Instead of fixing the problem, the NDP has choked home-building. When the private sector can't build, home prices go up — pure economics — rents go up; British Columbians suffer.

Another marquee policy of this government's approach has been the speculation and vacancy tax. The NDP's answer to everything is to add more taxes and regulations and punishments to those who are in a home. Starting in 2026, the government is hiking that tax. The tax on foreign owners will rise one more percent. By the way, there probably are no more speculators or foreign investors. So I'm not sure that matters.

Yet they doubled the tax on Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Who does that hit? Rural and recreational homeowners, people who own cottages and secondary homes, probably for decades. It means the middle-class families will have to sell their cottages, which have probably been in their families forever, just to pay for that. It is really unfair. They're actively making it harder to get ahead, while creating a structure that just isn't working and doesn't help at all increase the supply of homes. It will do nothing except have British Columbians suffer.

I'm running out of time, so I'm going to skip a couple of these, but I do want to make the point that the NDP is turning into a government-controlled rental company, where the government, not the private sector, decides how and where people are going to live. We are now looking at a perpetual NDP-landlord tenancy. That's what our province is turning into.

I also want to talk about the debt, the staggering $10.9 billion, worse than last year's $9.1 billion shortfall. I just want to put a couple of examples together. By 2029, the interest payments on this debt will cost more than $5 billion a year — $5 billion. That's $855 per person every year.

I also want to say, as a resident of Surrey, representing Surrey–Serpentine River, $5 billion would solve Surrey's school problem. That's your interest in a year. It would entirely get rid of portables, would build the new schools we need and would solve the entire school problem in Surrey.

The interest payment is more debt than any other line item outside of education and health on the budget. That is money that could have been used for infrastructure, but instead it's going to be wasted on interest payments because of the reckless spending. We, or this government rather, inherited a $65 billion deficit. Now we will inherit, at the end of 2028, a $209 billion deficit.

In the past eight years, this government could have made our province more resilient and given us a stronger leg to stand on, in the face of these tariffs, by being fiscally prudent and making savvy decisions to diversify and grow our economy, investing in the LNG to diversify our exports, reduce our alliance on American customers, growing our mining industries and making sure our forest industries stayed strong. But the only jobs they have created are political spin doctors.

Communities are witnessing now, as well, a rise in crime, and we haven't got the tools to take care of that.

[5:05 p.m.]

Despite their promises, we have no level of care for those in involuntary care. We did not see that in the budget. The lack of funding for involuntary care signals the government's unwillingness to confront the addiction crisis that is fueling much of the crime epidemic.

I am sorry, but I simply am disappointed in this budget, and I cannot support it at all.

Hon. Jagrup Brar: It's a real honour for me to stand up in this House and to speak in reply to Budget 2025 on behalf of my constituency of Surrey-Fleetwood. It's wonderful to be here this afternoon on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking people, the Songhees and SXIMEȽEȽ First Nations. I thank them for sharing these lands in peace and friendship.

I heard the member from Serpentine with interest. Let me start by saying this: Budget 2025 was created during uncertain economic times as British Columbians face tariffs from the United States. Budgets are built based on economic projections.

This is a time when no projection is accurate. It is a very difficult time. The uncertainty makes it very difficult for the province to predict the precise impact of tariffs as well as what steps may be required to help people and businesses in this situation. The province remains ready to respond to any scenario and defend British Columbians from these tariffs to protect jobs and the services people rely on.

I'll come back to the budget debate. First, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the people of Surrey-Fleetwood for putting their trust in me for the rare opportunity to serve them as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of this beautiful province. I am here in this House because of the people of Surrey-Fleetwood, and I represent them as proudly today as I did when I was first elected in 2004.

My special thanks to my staff members: Priyanka Mehta, Maseeh Dlir at my Surrey-Fleetwood constituency office; and Matt Damario, Balkaran Singh, Jalen Bachra, Ngaire Lord, Wendy Bell-Clinton and my chief of staff, Patrick Meehan, in my minister's office in Victoria. These are exceptional people, beautiful people, doing excellent jobs serving the people of British Columbia and helping me in delivering in my duty as an MLA and as the Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals. So thank you to all of them.

My sincere thanks to my elder brother Jaswant Brar, my sister-in-law Baljeet Brar, my nieces, Jaskiran and Jaspar for their unconditional support to me during my seven campaigns and their advice. So thank you to all of them. To my best friend, my advisor, and my beautiful wife, Rajwant Brar, and to my daughter, Noor Brar, and my son, Fateh Brar for their love and unconditional support to me during my long political journey in service of the people of this beautiful province.

Last but not least, thank you to my campaign team led by Sandra Houston and supported by hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life. Thank you to all of them.

[5:10 p.m.]

Now coming back to the throne speech, we are standing strong for B.C. in the face of Donald Trump's unfair tariffs. Our budget is a plan to protect the jobs and the services people rely on, while preparing the British Columbian economy to withstand the unpredictable impacts of unjustified tariffs. This is a very challenging time to deliver a budget, with significant uncertainty caused as the news about tariffs changes daily, sometimes every hour.

This is unprecedented economic confusion to build a budget in. It is like someone dealing with a starving and intoxicated elephant when one has no idea as to what and when his next move will be. That's what the situation we are facing is at this point in time.

Let me say this to the people of British Columbia. While our economy is built to withstand Trump's tariffs better than most other provinces, the impact will still be serious on our economy. The budget carefully manages B.C.’s finances and makes investments in critical public services to meet growing demand, putting people first and supporting businesses as we build a strong future.

The key priorities of Budget 2025 are as follows. Growing the economy by helping people train for better jobs. Getting major projects built and diversifying where we sell our goods. Managing our finances carefully to safeguard front-line services people depend on without hiking costs. Improving health care and education by connecting more people to family doctors.

Building good neighbourhood schools for our kids. Delivering homes people can afford while keeping everyday costs low, from child care fees to car insurance bills. Improving public safety with new community safety initiatives and by training more municipal police. Building up B.C.’s critical infrastructure with investments in roads, bridges and transit that keep people and goods moving.

We are standing up to protect services that British Columbians rely on. To defend our industry, good-paying jobs and workers, we have a three-part response to Trump's tariffs: strength, diversity and response. We are strengthening our provincial economy through actions like speeding up permitting and reducing trade barriers between provinces. We are driving forward our work with the federal government’s work to find new markets for B.C. goods, and we support and will participate in nationally coordinated retaliation if and when required.

Our budget prepares us to carefully navigate these uncharted waters so we can put people first and protect businesses as we build a strong, more self-sufficient future.

We are accelerating resource projects to grow the economy and to create good jobs for the people of British Columbia. We are accelerating 18 major projects that are ready to move forward and can create new jobs to support the B.C. economy in the face of tariffs. The province will work directly with companies to troubleshoot issues and drive solutions to support selected major projects with significant potential to boost B.C.’s economy. These projects are worth $20 million and are expected to create approximately 8,000 jobs during construction across the province.

[5:15 p.m.]

We are also diversifying our trade to connect B.C. businesses with more international markets. We are in a strong, more diversified position than most other provinces, but the impact of the tariffs, as I said earlier, will still be severe.

We are full steam ahead on diversifying our trading partners and working to find new markets for B.C. products. We have already opened three new international trade offices in Vietnam, Taiwan and Mexico to connect our businesses with these new markets.

Budget 2025 also supports better, faster health care when and where you need it. B.C. is an extraordinary place, with dedicated doctors, nurses and care teams who take pride in delivering quality health care. Like many places, we are feeling the strain of a worker shortage and rising demand for care. We are focused on improving access and delivering better, faster health care, no matter where you live.

Budget 2025 includes $4.2 billion to respond to growing demand for health care services. We are continuing to work on improving access to primary care; hiring health care workers; reducing wait times at emergency departments and hospitals; and opening and operating new and renovated hospitals. It also increases funding to support addiction treatment and recovery programs.

We are investing more than ever before in K to 12 so that our education system sets kids up for success. This budget invests an additional $370 million for K-to-12 education, including more resources for the classroom enhancement funds. This builds on investments to improve literacy for all students; boost the student and family affordability fund, which helps pay for student necessities like school supplies; and expand school food programs, with almost 90 percent of schools in B.C. now offering a school food program to students.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

Similarly, we have huge investments in capital projects. Our capital investment in school replacements and upgrades is stronger than ever. Budget 2025 invests $4.6 billion over three years in K-to-12 schools across the province. This means more seismic replacements and upgrades and more classrooms for schools in growing communities.

Since last year, ten new major school projects worth $1.1 billion have been approved to build good neighbourhood schools for our kids, including new elementary schools for Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby; new middle schools for Coquitlam and Langley; new secondary schools for Langley, Mission, Pitt Meadows, Prince Rupert; and an expansion for Surrey Fleetwood Park Secondary.

Now, I just heard the member for Surrey–Serpentine River talking about Surrey. I’m mindful about the time, as to how much time we have, but I want to talk about Surrey, as to where we are with Surrey. Surrey is the fastest-growing city in the province. We welcome about 1,500 people every month. This is not happening just now. This has been happening for the last 20 years.

Surrey is, of course, behind when we talk about building infrastructure. But we are making significant investments when it comes to building infrastructure in Surrey. The previous administration — whether you call them B.C. Liberals, B.C. United and now whatever — completely failed to build infrastructure for this fast-growing city. But we are.

We are building the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain to move people faster and safely. The project will expand the SkyTrain line by 16 kilometres, primarily along the Fraser Highway from King George station in Surrey to 203 Street in the city of Langley.

[5:20 p.m.]

It will improve regional transportation connections and provide fast, frequent and reliable transit services to the people of the region. The project includes eight new stations and three new transit exchanges.

I'm really pleased to inform the people of Surrey-Fleetwood that three of the eight stations will be located in the Surrey-Fleetwood area, to provide easy access to transit services for the people of Surrey-Fleetwood. The stations will be located at the corner of Fraser Highway and 88 Avenue, at Fraser Highway and 160 Street, and at Fraser Highway and 166 Street. This SkyTrain is scheduled to complete and start providing services in 2029.

We are also replacing the old and....

The Speaker: Noting the hour, Member.

Hon. Jagrup Brar: Noting the hour, Hon. Speaker, I reserve my time.

Hon. Jagrup Brar moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. Jennifer Whiteside moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

The Speaker: This House stands adjourned until Monday, 10 a.m.

The House adjourned at 5:21 p.m.