Third Session, 42nd Parliament

(2022) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Afternoon Sitting

Issue No. 161

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Orders of the Day

Budget Debate

(continued)

J. Sims

I. Paton

G. Lore

T. Wat

B. D’Eith

S. Bond

M. Starchuk

A. Olsen

Hon. K. Conroy

C. Oakes

R. Russell

TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022

The House met at 1:32 p.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Orders of the Day

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

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Budget Debate

(continued)

J. Sims: It is a privilege to be able to stand up again, on behalf of the

constituents of Surrey-Panorama, to support a budget that has been well put

together, keeping in mind what British Columbians have been through over the

last few years, and making sure that it is a budget that is balanced on

addressing the needs of people, looking at infrastructure and making sure

that the services are in place.

I also want to say that this budget — the reason I support it so

passionately — has that human side that we did not see in budgets from the

previous government, from the year 2000 on. One of the areas that absolutely

delighted me, as I go through this budget, is the support it has in there

for kids, from birth right through to graduation, and also for those in our

communities who suffer — in the areas of sexual assault survivors,

specifically.

I can tell you that when I read the budget and I saw that item in

there, it made every minute in this House well worth it. That is the

reinstatement or the restoring of the budget to the sexual assault survivors

and to the centres that provide counselling, preventative medication,

critical crisis response. I remember when those cuts were made by the

Liberal government of the day — how decimating it was, and how devastating.

It had a huge, huge impact on those services. So I’m absolutely delighted to

see that that is there in the budget.

I was also pleased to see an investment in a growing sector, which is

the life sciences sector. We know that that is one sector that is growing, I

would say, at a lightning speed — and so it should. To have the investments

made by our government to encourage and nurture that sector says a lot about

where we’re going to be.

[1:35 p.m.]

We talk a lot about truth and reconciliation, and we can’t talk about

truth and reconciliation without talking about economic reconciliation.

There were huge, huge barriers, we know, for our First Nations and

Indigenous communities, in the lack of connectivity. Many of you know how

passionately I feel about that, and the need to make sure that the new

railroad, or the railroad of the 22nd century, is right there for all our

communities.

In this budget are built-in resources to ensure that by the end of

this budget cycle, 780-plus communities will have been connected with

high-speed Internet, and that’s since 2017. That is quite an achievement,

because that means it has an impact on…. We’re not talking about FaceTime,

by the way, though that is nice for grandparents, parents and our loved

ones. I’m talking about the foundation for health care services, the

foundation for education and the foundation for economic

development.

I can remember my friend telling me: “In the north, we can’t even take

part in the procurement process, because we can’t even access it online.” So

the fact this is there is actually very, very important. We always say that

the wealth of any province or any nation is its people. In this particular

budget, there is a huge investment in services for people, for

infrastructure to grow jobs and provide those services, but also in people

themselves, in growing a workforce.

See the investment in this budget in addressing the huge gaps in our

apprenticeship program. The previous Liberal government…. I was a

teacher-counsellor at that time, and I know how devastating it was when the

apprenticeship program, which was the pride of British Columbia, was

decimated. I’m so pleased to see the supports that are in this budget to

grow our apprenticeship program to grow the skill sets for the future

generation of workers. As we know, new kinds of jobs are coming up, so there

are resources in the budget, to make sure that we transition into the new

type of jobs that are growing.

More ECEs — we know we need them if we’re growing the child care

sector. And it is growing. Once again, thank you to the minister for the

work she has done in this area, making the lives of so many families so much

more affordable as a result of the work we’ve done. We can’t leave out…. One

of the key components is having enough child care — early child care

workers, educators. That is also important, and that is also in this budget.

We’ve already heard about growing more doctors and growing more nurses right

here in B.C., with the addition of the new spaces that are being

created.

Above all, what I want to say is that this budget is about building

stronger together, and it is there to make sure that the gap between the

haves and the have-nots is beginning to get addressed. It has a lot in this

budget for individuals, and what an impact it has on their families. At the

same time, I am so happy to see the number of hospitals, primary care

centres and child cares that are being built right around this province,

because we know we have a need for those.

When you look at this budget, whether you are young, middle-aged or

not so young, there is a lot in this budget. As a mother, a grandmother and

now a great-grandmother, I can tell you that when I look at this budget and

the work this government is doing to support people, it makes me feel

proud.

I. Paton: It’s an honour to rise once again in this House and present my first

set of remarks for the spring session. I’m happy to be able to be

representing my constituency of Delta South, a great community of,

generally, Ladner and Tsawwassen area.

[1:40 p.m.]

It’s been a while since I’ve been up here speaking, and I’d like to

give a shout-out once again to my great office staff in Ladner: Michelle

Pici,who is my part-time CA, and my fantastic CA Taylor Grant, who does such

a great job running our office in Ladner. A big thanks to my wife, Pam, who

is one of my biggest fans. She quite enjoys this political life that I do,

and she keeps in touch every day as to how things are going over

here.

I also want a big shout-out to all the great people that have got us

through the last couple of years of this pandemic, especially in my riding

of Delta South. Everyone from the health care workers, doctors and nurses,

custodians in our businesses and our hospitals, the truckers, people that

worked in our restaurants and our pubs to keep things going for us during

the last couple of years, our fire department, our paramedics, our ambulance

folks and, of course, grocery store workers and we can’t forget our farmers

that have kept working 365 days a year to keep going and keep groceries on

our grocery store shelves.

Since the conclusion of the fall sitting, I’ve spent the last few

months reconnecting with my constituents in Delta South, and what I’m

hearing from them is a feeling of frustration that the second-term NDP

government continues to let down British Columbians at a time when the

future is uncertain. People across the province are looking for hope and a

plan to tackle the big issues facing society going forward. This budget does

neither.

It is clear this government has no plan to secure a bright economic

future for British Columbians. This budget fails to properly address the

issues people in all corners of the province care about. I can speak about

some of these, such as affordability — the rising cost of housing, the cost

of gasoline and diesel fuel for our trucking industry, the cost of groceries

in our grocery stores and the inability to find affordable child care. So

$10-a-day — that was a slogan five years ago back in 2017, and we still

haven’t seen anything come of the $10-a-day daycare.

The safety of their friends or loved ones who may be struggling with

their mental health or addictions — 2,224 people died in 2021 from overdose

and drug addiction deaths, the highest ever in this province. This must be

addressed. They even created a ministry for this, and we have seen nothing

but numbers go up since 2017 when this government came into

power.

There is difficulty in finding a good job. Keeping their small

business open is more and more difficult every day. And the fact that they

have lost the doctors they relied on for most of their adult lives…. People

cannot seem to find a general practitioner, a family doctor. In fact, just

today I watched on Global TV Dr. Fernandez talking about how almost 800,000

people in this province still do not to this day have a general practitioner

or a family doctor.

These are problems that people are looking to government to help

solve, not just because they are top issues in every community, but because

these are the issues the NDP has promised time and time again to fix.

British Columbians are waiting for this government to finally make their

words, slogans and campaign promises a reality. But instead of delivering on

the issues that people really care about, all this government has to offer

are more empty promises and the same tired rhetoric they’ve used for the

last five years.

Just like their rehashed economic plan last week and their throne

speech the week before that, this budget is more of the same platitudes and

political theatre. Nothing to make good on their promises of a more

affordable British Columbia.

My constituents are beyond frustrated waiting for the replacement of

the congested, seismically unsafe George Massey Tunnel. It is certainly not

lost on them that they would be looking forward to the opening of the new

George Massey bridge later this year. The project included ten lanes, two of

which were dedicated to transit, major upgrades to the Steveston and Highway

17 interchanges, highway widening and the potential to see light rail rapid

transit come south of the Fraser in the years to come.

The government took all of this away from my constituents when they

ripped up the B.C. Liberal government’s plan in 2017. Instead, commuters

continue to wait, possibly for ten more years, thanks to a lengthy

environmental assessment. It’s simply not good enough. I’ll have more to say

on this later in my comments.

[1:45 p.m.]

What I’ve also heard loud and clear from the people I represent is

that life is getting more and more expensive. They’re seeing the costs of

food, gas, diesel and housing skyrocket. They’re faced with making tough

decisions between putting food on the table and making their monthly rent

payments.

The fact is that this government has been making promises for five

years now, and they consistently fail to deliver on them. In 2017, this

government promised they would make life more affordable. Today, in 2022, I

would say life is increasingly unaffordable for the vast majority of British

Columbians.

This is a government that imposed a slew of taxes on housing in 2018,

yet five years later, home prices are higher than ever. The average detached

home in Metro Vancouver now costs $2.3 million, according to the Real Estate

Board of Vancouver’s January 2022 statistics. That’s an all-time

high.

Despite their slew of new housing taxes, they are actually taking more

out of your pockets by banking on housing market profits and raking in over

$3 billion in property transfer taxes. To quote Amy Judd of Global

News : “High revenues are driven in part by the double-edged sword

of housing. Buying a home has become increasingly unaffordable, while the

increase in property transfer tax continues to support the province’s bottom

line.”

What about my home community in Ladner? The average single home now in

Ladner is $1.45 million, up 36 percent. The average family home in North

Delta is now costing $1.48 million. I don’t know how the member for Delta

North can tell his constituents that he and his government are working hard

to make housing more affordable. Prices continue to skyrocket under their

watch, even in North Delta.

Meanwhile, renters are feeling the pinch of this government’s broken

promises as well. In 2020, this government doubled down on their 2017

promise of providing rebate to renters in British Columbia — $400 to help

the cost of rent. Today, in 2022, there is still no rebate for renters

across the province. Where is the promised $400 renter rebate? The average

renter is now paying an extra $238 per month, or $2,856 more per year, under

this government. Renters in Delta are paying $260 more per month, or $3,120

more per year, under this government.

In fact, there are many, many more taxes — 26 new taxes since 2017, to

be exact. A brand new tax on online marketplace transactions, people trying

to make a deal on eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Increased tax on used car

sales. Whatever happened to the day when you went out and tried to make a

really good deal on a used car? You go to the ICBC Autoplan dealership to

make that deal. I really have to ask who is going to make that decision on

finding out and telling you what the actual price, the average price, of

that vehicle is. Some young person that happens to be working at the front

counter of an Autoplan dealership?

What if it’s a vehicle that you got such a good deal on? They said:

“This 2010 Dodge pickup truck has got some issues. It needs new tires. I

think the transmission’s about to go. But I tell you what. If you’re willing

to live with that, I can give you a heck of a deal on it.” But when you go

to register that vehicle and transfer it, somebody is going to tell you that

the average price of that vehicle is actually three times what you paid for

it, and you’ll have to pay the PST on that.

Increased taxes on the purchase of home heating systems that use

fossil fuels, like natural gas furnaces. We’ve discussed this many times,

even in question period, about the fact that people up north just cannot use

heating systems that are forced air heating systems. Of course, they’re

going to be taxed much more heavily on the fact that they have to use

heating systems based on the use of natural gas.

I always question why there is no PST on used electric vehicles. I

guess that’s a good thing. But in this day and age, when so many people are

looking to buy…. I’ll give you an example: a vehicle with a small,

4-cylinder engine that’s got a small fuel tank and is very efficient on

gasoline. I think there should be a break on people that go out and buy used

vehicles that are very efficient on using gasoline. Not everybody is going

to buy an electric vehicle.

For instance, I drive a pickup truck. It unfortunately costs me about

$140 to fill up that pickup truck.

Whereas my daughter drives a little

Toyota Tercel, a little 4-cylinder car, and it only costs her about $45 to

fill her car up. I think there should be benefits for people that use

those.

[1:50 p.m.]

This is the sad pattern of behaviour we’ve come to expect from this

government. Unsurprisingly, this pattern was on full display as I sat here

listening to the budget and, before that, the throne speech. There was

plenty of reflection on the past and next to no consideration for what we’re

presently dealing with or what’s to come in the future. Lots of recycled

promises and looking backwards.

This government cannot fix the province’s current problems if they

remain staring in the rearview mirror. Let’s look in closer depth at just a

few more of the problems facing British Columbians today.

In the aftermath of the havoc caused by the atmospheric river, I

travelled to meet with our farmers and ranchers, meeting them where they

are, to survey the damage caused by the many disasters we saw last year and

to hear how these folks were doing. They’re not doing very well. Many of

their homes, their farms and their livelihoods are completely

destroyed.

In January, I went to Sumas Prairie with the member for Abbotsford

West and the member for Abbotsford South. We toured farms that were hit hard

by flooding last November. Many of the farmers were in tears as they shared

with us how it felt to see three to seven feet of water in their barns, to

lose animals they had raised and cared for, to lose crops or to see them so

badly damaged they needed to be replaced. But it will take at least a decade

to bring them back to where they were before.

To lose their homes, the places they retreated to after a long day’s

work to spend time with the ones they love…. Hundreds of homes ruined, and

people are still not getting the money they need to restore their homes so

they can get back from living with relatives or with friends or living in

hotels and get back into their homes.

Lytton is a perfect example of people that are absolutely helpless.

They have no idea how they’re going to get back and get their homes rebuilt

in Lytton, B.C. Their losses are indeed tremendous. I saw them with my own

eyes, in Abbotsford and elsewhere, from a couple of helicopter tours I was

able to take and from my visits on the ground with these farmers.

I made it a priority to get out of the Legislature and go talk to them

as soon as possible after those floods. I was happy to say that I took two

helicopter tours as quickly as possible to survey the situation and to get

on the ground and talk to farmers in Abbotsford and up in Merritt. Not only

did I see the damage and destruction, but I heard, loud and clear, the

fears, the anxieties, the frustrations and the anger they were feeling

because for months this government was telling them help was on the

way.

Many of these farmers exhausted their private insurance options.

Others tried to apply for disaster financial assistance, or DFA as it’s

called, but were told they technically didn’t qualify for any support

because their farms are incorporated. Well, what farms aren’t incorporated

nowadays? Even my small dairy farm was a limited company, an incorporated

company, but it said that if you were incorporated or bring in more than $1

million a year in annual sales, you were not eligible for the $300,000

maximum of DFA.

You can imagine how distraught many of these people felt, and they’re

still waiting for money through DFA to be able to restore the homes that

they can go back and live in. They just want to get back to work, but

they’ve lost structures and animals. They’ve seen equipment failures and

face expensive repairs because of this catastrophic flooding. Yet they were

told, “Too bad. You don’t qualify for help,” because of this issue I just

mentioned.

So they turned their attention to the AgriRecovery program, which they

kept hearing was coming soon. “Don’t worry. It’s coming soon. It’s just a

few days away” — over and over again. It finally took almost three months

before the federal government and the provincial government got it together

and got the AgriRecovery program presented in front of farmers and ranchers

in British Columbia.

They were forced to wait way too long for the provincial and federal

governments to make this announcement. In the meantime, given the

disappointing responses they had received with regard to assessing DFA, they

weren’t really getting their hopes up.

The recent flood recovery program announcement was indeed welcome news

to thousands of people in the agriculture industry in Abbotsford, Merritt

and across British Columbia. These desperately needed funds will help

farmers and ranchers begin to recover from the damages that occurred from

the devastating flood.

The funds will help with the urgent need for land remediation, barn

replacement and equipment, but only as long as funding is released quickly.

The spring planting and calving season is coming, and farmers and ranchers

are under tremendous stress to prepare and salvage what they can for the

upcoming season. So, yes, the funding announcement is very positive.

However, I continue to have significant concerns about the government’s

ability to effectively deliver on the funds they have promised.

[1:55 p.m.]

The inability of the NDP so far to ensure that needed support is

provided in a timely fashion remains completely inexcusable. Support should

have been out the door months ago. The needless delays have put more

unnecessary strain on families already suffering.

I’m not going to knock the AgriRecovery package. I’m going to remain

cautiously optimistic that farmers in Abbotsford, Merritt and Princeton will

finally get the help that they need, but that better be the case. They’ve

waited long enough, and they deserve real support from this

government.

The Minister of Agriculture and her government are going to say that

they truly value farmers and understand their business. They cannot allow

government structure to impede their recovery. I just want to say that in

the fall, with the flooding, and in the summer, with the fires that took

place, I was proud of the fact that I took it upon myself to figure out how

we could get feed and hay up to the fire-ravaged parts of British

Columbia.

I got on the phone, and I thought: “I can’t really go there and help,

myself, in these fire zones, but could I support them with some feed?” I got

on the phone, and I got together with about five or six different farmers in

Delta. We sent three loads totalling 1,000 bales of hay up to Kamloops, to a

central location where ranchers and property owners could go to get hay to

feed their animals. I’m so proud of the farmers in Delta that stepped up and

of Mike Wolzen and his trucking company, who donated the three different big

truckloads of hay that we sent up from my riding of Delta to help out people

in the fire zones.

Right now when we look at recovery, whether it be related to the

floods or wildfires or heat domes, all of which had a tremendous impact on

agriculture, we see numbers in the budget but few details on what that will

mean on the ground. I know myself and other colleagues on this side of the

House look forward to getting more clarity as we move forward in the

estimates process.

I do note the budget commitment of $15 million over three years for

the beneficial management practices program. We will explore that further,

I’m sure, in the estimates process with Agriculture. This last year and the

many disasters we have faced have shown us that we need to take steps to be

better prepared for future events.

I’d now like to talk about the devastating floods this fall, which

were also a stark reminder of the importance of flood mitigation and

emergency preparedness. In particular, hundreds of kilometres of dikes in

Metro Vancouver are in urgent need of upgrading due to current seismic

standards as well as the threat of rising water levels due to climate

change.

As bad as the events of the last fall were, it could be a whole lot

worse in the future. According to the Fraser River Basin Council, a

one-in-500-year flood event could result in the displacement of over 350,000

people and economic losses between $20 billion and $30 billion. The Lower

Mainland is not currently prepared for such an event. The cost of completing

necessary dike upgrades in my constituency of Delta alone is estimated to be

over $650 million across the region — a price tag of over $3

billion.

Simply put, municipalities do not have the financial capacity to

shoulder this burden alone. We need to stop this model of municipalities

competing with each other for scarce funding sources. Instead,

municipalities must work together with the province and identify our most

vulnerable areas and prioritize funding.

This new approach will take a willingness to collaborate among

governments, the Port of Vancouver, the province and the federal government.

To find success, leaders from all these jurisdictions will need to

prioritize regional needs over local wants. I urge the government to take

this situation seriously and put a plan in place to fill this infrastructure

gap and to look after our dikes and the rising Fraser River and sea levels

in looking forward to mitigating disasters that we know may happen again. We

don’t want to see what happened again in Abbotsford.

One of the key learnings from the series of emergencies this year,

from heat domes to forest fires to landslides to flooding, has been the

importance of an emergency response plan. Part of that response moving

forward must be a provincially operated emergency alert system to warn local

communities when danger arises. Unfortunately, though the province has the

technology in place, emergency alert systems were not used to warn residents

of widespread flooding and landslides this fall.

In Washington state, farmers and residents were alerted, through the

sound of former air-raid sirens, of the imminent threat to their homes,

properties, barns, livestock and equipment, down in Whatcom County,

Washington. This came 48 hours before the catastrophic flooding. This gave

farmers time to get their affairs in order.

[2:00 p.m.]

They had time to move livestock to higher ground. They had time to

place sandbags around their properties. They had time to pack up some of

their belongings. They had time to move some of their equipment.

The farmers in Sumas Prairie, the farmers in Merritt and the farmers

in Nicola Valley did not have that same time. They didn’t receive an

emergency alert on their smartphones. They didn’t hear sirens. They lost

most of their livelihoods.

I certainly know that not every home, not every animal and not every

piece of equipment could have been saved, but this atmospheric river was

unprecedented. When these events arise, it is up to the province to use

every tool at its disposal to help those in need. Government must take

action and demonstrate leadership in times of crisis. We cannot deflect to

other orders of government. We have the ability to use emergency alert

systems, and we should be using them in future as these sorts of events

occur.

Now I’d like to talk to one of my favourite subjects, the poor passing

of the Massey bridge replacement. This year will mark my fifth year serving

the people of Delta South in the Legislature. For five long years, my

constituents have been asking for action from this government on a George

Massey Tunnel replacement. For half a decade, the NDP has dithered and

delayed on a project that should have been completed by now.

I watched as the bridge was being built. Friction piles were driven.

They were tested with load to make sure they were ready to hold the weight

of the bridge and vehicles on the bridge. Hydro towers were being relocated.

Preload was on the side of the highways for highway widening. There was an

office in Richmond that had 6,000 visitors seeing what the new bridge was

going to look like. A scale model of the whole new bridge system was even

delivered to the lobby, the foyer, of Delta city hall so everyone could see

the wonderful bridge concept that was moving forward.

But instead of a ribbon cutting, the government is preparing for

another decade of studies and evaluation. We would have been cutting a

ribbon to celebrate the opening of the bridge this summer of 2022. The

situation is quite shocking and has officially become a white elephant for

this government.

Recently the government actually bragged about signing nine contracts

worth almost $57 million for additional environmental assessments and

technical studies related to the Massey Tunnel replacement. Think about

that: $57 million in additional studies on top of the millions of dollars

that had already been spent on endless reports, consultation and

pre-planning for the bridge project. The project will continue to rack up

millions more in the years ahead, without a single shovel being placed in

the ground.

Every time I talk about the Massey Tunnel, I feel like I should pull

out my notes from five years ago, because nothing has really changed, and

100,000 people are still stuck in gridlock every day clinging to the vague

hope that a new crossing will be completed in ten years’ time. In the

meantime, despite years of promises, there is currently no federal

commitment to cost-sharing on this asset.

There is not even a guarantee that the project will pass the rigorous

environmental assessment process. You can bet that there will be significant

concern about the cumulative effects of plunking giant tubes on the bottom

of the Fraser River from First Nations and from environmentalists. I

honestly do not see how an environmental assessment will allow for concrete

tubes in the bottom of the Fraser River.

It wasn’t such a big deal in 1959, when people weren’t quite so

concerned about the environment and about spawning salmon and sturgeon, but

it certainly doesn’t take place nowadays, and it certainly doesn’t sit well

with Tsawwassen First Nations.

The government decided to play politics and cancel the project five

years later, and it will be another decade at least until we see this

project completed. That’s 15 years of dithering, delays and inaction on

behalf of this government.

There are serious economic implications of inaction, as trucks bound

for the Port of Vancouver, B.C. Ferries, the U.S. border, Tilbury Industrial

Park are stuck every morning in gridlock trying to get south on one lane —

one lane every morning. There’s a backup of, I bet, about six kilometres of

18-wheeler trucks spewing diesel trying to get their goods south of the

border — to the U.S. border, to the port, to the ferries, etc.

[2:05 p.m.]

The Delta Chamber of Commerce, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and

the Surrey Board of Trade have also expressed concerns. As the Surrey Board

of Trade likes to point out, Surrey is growing by 1,200 to 1,400 people per

month. As a region, we will have another one million people in 20

years.

I also made a speech yesterday in the House about the shortage of

veterinarians in this province. I’d like to move on to another topic, and

that is veterinarians, which are short, in the province of British

Columbia.

This is a critical shortage of veterinarians across our province. The

veterinarians that we do have are stressed out and burned out as they try to

keep up with the demand for their services, which were already stretched

before the pandemic. I have worked tirelessly with the B.C. veterinary

association on this and have posed several questions on this topic in

question period. This is more than about household pets. This issue impacts

farm animals, as well, and is beginning to have an economic impact on the

livelihood of farmers and ranchers across B.C.

B.C. needs 100 veterinarians per year for the next five years, but the

Minister of Advanced Education has refused to do so. Corey Van’t Haaff of

the Society of B.C. Veterinarians says:

“In 2018 we started asking for the Ministry of Advanced Education to

fund those 20 seats at Western College of Vet Medicine in Saskatoon. Since

2018, we’ve been told no, and since 2018 we’ve been refused a meeting with

the minister. Despite having the support of the Minister of Agriculture and

the chief veterinary officer, the Advanced Education Minister isn’t

interested in supporting the education of additional veterinary

students.”

The B.C. SPCA is also demanding that those extra B.C. seats be filled

at Western College of Vet Medicine in Saskatoon.

Child care. I also want to take time to discuss the urgent shortage of

child care spaces across our province. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen

just how heavy a burden it can be for parents to act as both child care

providers and full-time workers. Making child care more affordable would

help families while also giving the economy a needed lift.

Unfortunately, despite five years of promises, the NDP have failed to

deliver on affordable child care for families. They have also failed to

deliver the needed spaces they promised to parents who are growing

increasingly desperate. Once again, it’s all talk and no action. Now more

than ever, it is essential to support early childhood educators with more

training and competitive salaries.

I also want to turn, now, to the topic of our hard-working paramedics

that are burnt out after two years of COVID-19 response. According to the

Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., paramedics responded to over one million calls

for service last year. We know that there is a critical shortage of

paramedics across the province as we continue to see an unprecedented number

of call volumes due to both the pandemic and the ongoing overdose

crisis.

The problem is not just a lack of paramedics but also an inability to

retrain existing staff. Ambulance workers are also in critical need of

additional mental health resources to deal with psychological injuries

sustained on the job. If we don’t see additional resources put into our

ambulance services across the province, the result will be longer wait times

and declining standards of care.

In my own riding of Delta South, ambulance wait times continue to

increase every year. Just this week my constituency assistant informed me of

an elderly gentleman who fell outside of a coffee shop in Tsawwassen and

sustained a head injury, and it took over an hour for paramedics to arrive

with an ambulance.

We have only one service station in Ladner and no service stations to

serve the growing community of Tsawwassen and Tsawwassen First Nations.

Often, our ambulances are actually on the other side of the river, taking

people to Richmond General Hospital or to VGH, and suddenly, we have no

ambulances whatsoever in Ladner and Tsawwassen.

I’m so proud, however, of our Delta firefighters, who put in a program

several years ago to train all of our firefighters in Delta to become

emergency medical responders who can get to the site first, before the

paramedics get there, and lend some comfort and support for those waiting

for an ambulance.

As I conclude, I wish to look forward to the future. What is not

helpful is a reluctance to share information. It is time for this government

to demonstrate their trust for the people of Vancouver, who have achieved a

vaccination rate over 90 percent, and clearly communicate next

steps.

As always, it is a pleasure for me to rise in this House. I do what I

do because I love my community, and it is an honour to serve them each and

every day. I’m so proud to be here representing the people of Delta

South.

[2:10 p.m.]

G. Lore: This is my very first budget speech. After discovering my son’s brain

tumour around this time last year, this is my first opportunity to speak to

a budget, and I’m so grateful to be here and to be speaking to this

budget.

Before I really get into it, however, I wanted to set the record

straight on a couple of things. I have heard, in this House, a number of

members — including colleagues from Cariboo-Chilcotin, friends from Stikine

and Vancouver–False Creek — suggesting that their ridings are the most

beautiful in the province. I cannot help but observe that all MLAs spend

more time in my riding than any other riding, sometimes more than in their

home ridings. In fact, Victoria–Beacon Hill, on

Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ territory, must be the

most beautiful riding in a province filled with beautiful

ridings.

On a much more serious note, it’s also an honour to rise today to

participate in a democratic debate, thinking of brothers and sisters and

friends in Ukraine, and what I am doing here, and what they are navigating

there. My children’s great-grandparents left Ukraine after facing

significant violence at the hands of the Russians. I think about that legacy

in my children’s family. Personally, my family has been on the wrong side of

just about every event in history, and I think about that in this space,

often, too.

I’m going to speak to the budget today by talking about housing. It’s

one of the major issues for my community and I know for communities around

the province. Here, like many communities, vacancy is low and the cost of

housing puts significant pressure on seniors, families and individuals in

Victoria.

Fundamentally, investment in housing matters here. The $2 billion that

this government put into the B.C. HousingHub is making a difference in

Victoria in the development of affordable homes for middle-income families.

Just around the corner from my community office, 104 units are under

construction with the support of B.C. Housing to help people obtain a

mortgage and reduce their monthly payments.

This budget adds more money to speed up these projects. It’s essential

to speed up these projects. Communities like mine cannot wait. This

development includes three-bedroom units, desperately needed for families in

my community to stay in their community.

Around the corner from my home, we are working with local government

and the capital regional district to build 158 units of housing, including

three-bedrooms and four-bedrooms; and accessible units, townhouses — all

units that are mixed income, geared toward income, units at shelter rate,

family-friendly housing. This project is funded through the community

housing fund. This budget adds another $100 million to that fund. It cannot

wait.

I also want to address something that came up earlier this week during

the debate. A colleague across the way pushed on just what we mean by

accessible. I want to be totally clear: as we fund the community housing

that work for people with disabilities and mobility challenges. There are

units in these developments at the Caledonia project, at the fire hall

development, that are accessible from the perspective of both mobility and

income. My constituents, British Columbians, deserve nothing

less.

Sixty-one percent of my constituents are renters. The rental freeze

and then tying maximum rent increases to inflation, and the predatory

renovictions…. These are essential protections of renters in my community.

Houses are for homes, not investments. I know some of the members opposite

don’t like the speculation and vacancy tax, but thousands fewer homes are

sitting empty. When 61 percent of your constituents are renters, that

fundamentally matters.

The B.C. Liberals built 130 beds of student housing in 16 years. There

are 621 new beds opening this fall at the University of Victoria alone. This

is housing action.

When I taught at UVic, I had students who were homeless, who were

living in their cars. Not only will this improve lives and allow students to

focus on their studies, but it will take serious pressure off the very tight

rental market in our community.

We’ve also partnered with the city of Victoria to help create 220 new

non-market homes as part of a new community centre on Pandora.

[2:15 p.m.]

This budget also contains more rental supplements, rental supplements

that are accompanied by supports that people need and that people deserve.

Last year, there were more than 100 people camping in parks around my city,

a crisis amplified by the pandemic that left people with nowhere to go. Many

of those who were couch-surfing, staying with friends, doubling up in

low-income housing found themselves out.

We acted fast — dozens and dozens of new shelter spaces around my

constituency. We created space at the Save-On-Foods Memorial arena, and when

that was no longer an option, we created homes for those folks to move into

at the previously empty Mount Tolmie Hospital and built a new tiny town. We

created a new emergency shelter on Russell Street in Vic West, purchased

Paul’s Motor Inn and leased the Travelodge, among other efforts, to make

sure that people had a safe place to live with resources to improve their

lives.

This budget makes sure that the resources are there to extend those

leases, to retain spaces, to keep people housed while more permanent spaces

are being built. And they are absolutely being built: over 190 new permanent

supportive units in my constituency — new ones on four sites in my tiny

constituency. These are homes that will not only provide people with a roof

over their heads but also important services that they need and deserve.

Included in this housing are new homes on Catherine Street run by the

Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness, supportive housing by and for the

Indigenous community here.

I was listening last week. When the member for West Vancouver–Sea to

Sky calls this budget a spending-palooza, is this the kind of thing he is

not interested in having?

We are starting to see the impacts of housing that was made available

in my community: health improvements so dramatic that residents are no

longer recognizable. On the weekend, I talked to someone from the coalition

to end homelessness who told me about a constituent of mine that they work

with who, like many of those who are unhoused or insecurely housed, faced

numerous and overlapping health challenges, all while sleeping outdoors.

This person described the care they received with a roof over their head as

world-class, as life changing.

While members on the other side have repeated themselves ad nauseam

that a cabinet minister’s success and remuneration should be measured and

rewarded only by whether they balance the books, I fundamentally disagree.

People’s lives matter. Their health matters. Community matters. To be

absolutely clear, when you balance the books on the backs of people in

community, you do not balance the books. It’s a mirage.

Homelessness is extremely expensive. The health care needed to support

those who are unhoused and living in physical and mental crisis is extremely

expensive. The costs associated after looking after families, the loss of

economic and educational opportunities, the lost innovation, the lost wages,

the impact on business — these are massive. When your only bottom line is

the bottom line, when you balance the books at the expense of community, at

the expense of the people of B.C., it is not real. It is a

mirage.

Because the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized, here in my

community and around the province, were ignored for so long — because there

was a failure to properly invest in housing supports and the care — we were

reacting to crisis, creating and building shelters to ensure people had a

safe place to stay and, in my community, so that communities could go back

to using their green spaces.

Now, with this budget, we’re able to shift to proactive strategy. This

is how we do right by our constituents, especially those who need us to get

it right the most. New affordable homes to buy and rent, rental supplements,

supportive housing — these are key parts of that strategy.

So is complex care. This budget expands the first-of-its-kind complex

care housing model to at least 20 more sites, an investment of $164 million

over three years to support people with severe mental health and substance

use issues, traumatic and acquired brain injuries.

There are parts of my constituency, there are members of my

constituency, who need this. The mayor of Victoria has been a strong

advocate for this model, for this type of complex care. She said: “Complex

care housing will make a real difference in the lives of our most vulnerable

residents. It’s time to try new approaches to housing and to increase the

level of care and support services.”

[2:20 p.m.]

I couldn’t agree more. It’s time, and the investments in this budget

will bring that number to 20.

I want to speak to some more issues that matter to my constituents,

that matter here in Victoria–Beacon Hill: our environment, our forests, our

action to address climate change. These are issues that my constituents care

about a lot.

Last week I listened to the member for Nechako Lakes say that we are

just pandering to environmentalists. With due respect, action is for our

children, for my children. It’s for the communities that have been

devastated, absolutely devastated by climate change just in this last year

alone. Calling it pandering, opposing $83 million for a new climate

preparedness and adaptation strategy — this is absolutely irresponsible. We

have to act. We have to be prepared.

We have to show up like we are in a climate emergency, because we are.

That, in this budget, is not pandering. Grants for communities to build bike

lanes, multi-use pathways and other active transportation is not pandering.

It’s community-building, it’s climate action, and I am thrilled that it is

in this budget.

I also hear from many constituents of their love of our old-growth

forests and their concern for the future of those forests. They’re asking us

to prioritize value over volume. They’re asking us to protect the oldest and

most at-risk forest for future generations. Our budget will not ignore those

affected by climate change. It will invest in our old-growth forests. It

does take climate action. In doing so, it will not ignore the workers and

families and their communities — $185 million, over three years, to support

affected forest workers, contractors, industries, communities and First

Nations.

As Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, I know that change — the

economic insecurity, the community shifts — can increase gender-based

violence. This massive investment in communities, in families, as part of

this change is essential. We have to show up for our forests and for the

communities that depend on them.

We also will not ignore our obligations for reconciliation while we

undertake this work. I’m thrilled that this budget contains additional

opportunities for communities and for First Nations with the redistribution

of forest tenures, intending to double the amount of forest tenures held by

First Nations. Our forests are not for the biggest businesses, the biggest

corporations. It is not for them and them alone.

Another area my constituents care a lot about is health care. I’ve

heard it from many of my colleagues on all sides of the House as part of

this budget debate. I hear from constituents about how essential access to

primary care is for them. Without a doubt, they have called and written to

my office. They’ve shared their worry and stress about an inability to find

a doctor — a longstanding problem made worse by the pandemic.

The landscape of family doctors and practitioners is changing, and I’m

so glad that this budget is investing in new urgent and primary care centres

throughout the province. As my luck has gone, since being elected, I have

been to these urgent primary care centres in my constituency with children

with broken bones a number of times over the last year — incredible care and

dedicated staff. The last time, I met a doctor who was new to the urgent and

primary care centre on Pandora, newly arrived from Calgary.

I know these centres take time to set up and that the transition for

physicians and others to this team-based model of care also takes time. I

know we have to build a model of health care and primary care for the

future. Six hundred new nursing seats, including for nurse practitioners,

will make a difference in this shift. Primary care networks in my community

are essential, including special attention in the form of mobile care

attending to the most marginalized in Victoria. This is incredible

investment.

[2:25 p.m.]

As colleagues in this House must know, since they spend a lot of time

visiting my constituency, Victoria is also a tourist town. Many of my

constituents own businesses or work in industries that rely on tourists —

the tourists that come here to see our beautiful city, who arrive on cruise

ships — and they’ve been hit incredibly hard. They’ve been incredibly

resilient. Another $25 million in this budget earmarked to support tourism

is both needed and welcomed here in Victoria.

To miss two spring and summer seasons is devastating. On April 6, just

over a month away, the first cruise ship will dock just down the street,

setting off the start of what could be one of the busiest years — 350 port

calls planned, the first ship in two years. This industry is worth $143

million to Victoria annually. The support to get the industry through and

back up running is essential.

I’m also thrilled to stand today to speak to a few points, grounded

not just in my constituency, but through my lens as the Parliamentary

Secretary for Gender Equity.

In 2002, sexual assault centres and services for survivors were

dramatically and drastically cut. I know the sector organizations and

advocates have been struggling to ensure that there are services for

survivors ever since. I know because I spent a lot of time in this sector,

taking the middle-of-the-night calls, meeting survivors at the hospital,

supporting those making police reports. We had essential services not funded

like they’re essential. Access to justice, to health care, to critical

mental health supports, funded with unpredictable grants, if at

all.

In the organization I mostly was working with — 11 funders. They had

to pull together 11 funders to be able to provide round-the-clock,

supported, wraparound service. The precariousness of that, for one of those

funders to fall away, for one grant not to be renewed…. Essential services

were not funded like they’re essential, like they’re

nice-to-haves.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

In 2020 and again in 2021, we announced $10 million, for a $20 million

total, to the Ending Violence Association to provide grants for emergency

sexual assault services. Half of that funding went to services run by and

for Indigenous communities, from starting new sexual assault response

programs, to supporting survivors in emergency rooms, to extending services

to 24-7; from addressing community safety around industrial camps, to

providing outreach in urban areas and coordinating for better police

response.

From Surrey to Dawson Creek, from Victoria to Prince Rupert, I know

these services have directly impacted countless survivors and their

communities. I wanted to give a couple of examples of what that $20 million

did.

For the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, resources to provide support,

education, advocacy, emergency response and connection, all to assist women

and girls who’ve experienced recent sexual assault. DIVERSEcity in Surrey;

the creation of a new sexual assault response service to provide a

coordinated, culturally responsive emergency sexual assault service hub;

services for recent newcomer survivors, of any immigrant group; working to

prevent retraumatization, to foster increased reporting and to support those

who have experienced trauma.

For the Tahltan Band Council, that money created culturally safe and

relevant emergency support services — Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake, in

particular. The services include support accessing medical care, support

networks, referrals and navigating the challenging systems that survivors

must navigate. Around Williams Lake, emergency sexual assault services and

response for seven rural and remote Indigenous communities.

I am so thrilled that in this budget, $22 million over the next three

years for sexual assault services…. We know that services like these,

services that provide care and support after a sexual assault, cannot

continue to be provided by unpredictable grants. They are

essential.

[2:30 p.m.]

In this year’s budget, we announced the funding for these kinds of

critical responses will be dedicated and ongoing — that, Madam Speaker, to

services that were gutted and abandoned, that meant the abandoning of

survivors and organizations who scrambled to make those services continually

available despite that change.

Dedicated funding for services like these could not wait. But our work

is not done here. Next week we start our round tables for a gender-based

violence action plan.

Investments in this budget, also relevant to this file, increase

connection — the resources and the infrastructure for another 280

communities to be connected with high-speed Internet. Frankly, all of us

here are probably entirely exhausted of how dependent we have become on

virtual connections, but that is actually an incredible gift. This

investment is necessary for economic opportunities, for education and

connection, but it is also necessary to provide opportunities for safety and

services for those experiencing or leaving violence in rural and remote

communities.

Beyond gender-based violence, there are other aspects of this that, as

parliamentary secretary, I am incredibly, incredibly proud of our continued

investment in child care in particular. As a mom, as a neighbour and in my

role as parliamentary secretary, this is incredible. It’s options and

opportunities for economic independence and security. It’s quality and early

childhood education for kids in our community. This is about family. It’s

about family safety. It’s about opportunities for our children.

The wage supplements for early childhood educators will not only help

us address the shortage of ECEs, but it is action towards properly and

adequately compensating those who look after our children. From my

perspective, it’s also action to address the gender wage gap. The expansion

of this in this budget is good news.

The child care investments in my community are astounding. Again,

Victoria–Beacon Hill is a small community. The child care investments are

more than 296 spaces and fee reductions worth over $6 million. We’ve got a

$10-a-day site. I can’t tell what you this means. There are actual babies in

my constituency who are now in child care whose parents decided they could

have a family when this government first announced investments in child care

— actual babies now in those spaces.

Driving fees down by half — this is huge. This is action now. Are we

done? No. Is it incredibly impactful on people’s lives? Without a doubt. It

created new lives, as I said.

I’m going to end here on a few notes of appreciation. I am incredibly

lucky to represent Victoria–Beacon Hill. I have some of the most engaged,

connected and compassionate constituents. From Fernwood to North Park to

James Bay, Fairfield, Vic West, downtown, people are connected to their

community. They are active in their community. They are committed to city,

to neighbourhoods that are inclusive and active, that are about the need on

the ground but also about where we sit and what we owe the broader province,

country and globe.

I want to also say a couple thank-yous to the folks that allow me to

keep doing this job. Hannah Harris Hope and Anmol Swaich support me in this

place. Brittany Flamank keeps me going as parliamentary secretary. Matt

Landry, Andrew Christie and Kate Banky show up in and for my community and

my constituency office every week.

My significant other, my partner Rob, reduced his working hours to

confined school hours just over a year ago now. The impact of that in

continuing to look after our babies — especially the littlest one, who needs

us more than we could have known at the time — allows me to be in this space

— just three kilometres down the road, but not home in time for

bedtime.

[2:35 p.m.]

With that, I will again state my gratitude for being able to

participate in a democratic debate in this safe province and my incredible

support of this budget.

T. Wat: I’m happy to take my place in this year’s debate on the budget. I have

had the honour of serving the people of Richmond North Centre since

I’ve seen nearly a decade of budgets pass through this House, from

both our previous B.C. Liberal government as well as the current NDP one.

While I am by no means a financial expert, I have witnessed my fair share of

provincial budgets and have come to understand that the things we can learn

and dissect from the budget and fiscal plan go beyond just the numbers

outlined before us.

Our provincial budgets tell us more than the state of the province’s

finances, what supports will be allocated where and what investments our

government will make in various aspects of British Columbians’ lives. They

are a window into the state of our government as a whole: their fiscal

responsibility, their accountability to the people of British Columbia and

their understanding and willingness to address the immediate challenges

British Columbians are facing.

What do the numbers and decisions outlined in this budget show us?

Sadly, they show us a concerning lack of fiscal responsibility, a

determination to remove transparency and accountability and a disheartening

lack of understanding or concern for the real and pressing issues that

British Columbians want to see definitive action on.

When I talk about fiscal responsibility, it’s important to note that

it goes beyond appropriately managing the finances entrusted to us by the

people of British Columbia. It is about respecting checks and balances that

keep our ministers responsible and accountable in their own fiscal

management.

At a time when our province is forecasting a $5.5 billion deficit and

this government has made it clear they intend to forecast deficits for the

foreseeable future, they have decided to permanently eliminate the 10

percent salary holdback for cabinet ministers, giving themselves a $17,000

pay raise despite projecting one of the largest deficits our province has

ever faced. When the Minister of Finance was asked for the reasoning behind

this tone-deaf and greedy decision, she said that keeping the holdback would

send the wrong message to British Columbians.

[2:40 p.m.]

How would it send the wrong message when thousands if not millions of

British Columbians have seen their own personal income and finances take

massive hits from this pandemic and thousands of businesses have been forced

to close their doors for good?

How does taking a raise send the right message? If anything, I would

say this action sends the wrong message. When government ministers rewrite

the rules so they won’t take a pay cut in a year that so many have had no

choice, it is a prime example of how disconnected they have become from the

real world challenges British Columbians are currently facing.

There are countless examples of this level of disconnect all over this

budget, unfortunately. Take, for example, the new rules on used-car sales

tax, which will now be implemented on the greater value between the actual

sales price and the average sales price.

Simply put, if you get a good deal on a used car, you will have to pay

more in taxes. The minister described this new rule as closing a loophole,

which shows you this government’s concerning thinking behind this tax. Used

cars have already been sold and taxed once by the province. But just because

British Columbians want to give their friends, their family or even just a

fellow British Columbian a good price on a used car, this government is

labelling them as tax dodgers who are apparently exploiting a

loophole.

Meanwhile, a recent Angus Reid poll cited that 37 percent of British

Columbians say they cannot keep up with the cost of living. How can this

government claim that they are addressing affordability, when they are

taxing British Columbians for trying to save money and find the most

affordable deal?

The same can be said about the increased tax on heating systems that

use fossil fuels. While government thinks this will incentivize people to

all of a sudden spend thousands of dollars to change over to an electric

heating system, our rural communities and the brutal winters they face mean

that a gas heating system is not a luxury; it is a necessity. This tax will

disproportionately impact British Columbians in our rural regions, simply

because of where they choose to call their home. How is that creating

affordability for British Columbians?

This government’s decisions are not only making life less affordable

for British Columbians; they are stripping away the independence and choice

of care for many families too. This government is harming B.C. families by

clawing back autism funding and dramatically underfunding supports for

children and youth with special needs.

[2:45 p.m.]

Here, in my beautiful riding of Richmond North Centre, AutismBC, which

is a grassroots and non-profit organization founded in 1975, supports people

on the autism spectrum and their families. AutismBC empowers, supports and

connects the autism community in B.C. and encourages the inclusion and

acceptance of the entire autism community. They have grown to become one of

the most trusted non-profit organizations for autism in B.C. and continue to

support people with autism by providing loved ones and communities with

knowledge and tools and by engaging with people on the autism spectrum to

create stronger, more diverse communities.

The organization is housed in the Pacific Autism Family Network, or

GoodLife Fitness Autism Family Hub, a $28 million centre with a contribution

of $20 million from our former provincial government. It is a first for

North America and provides support for roughly 69,000 people of all ages in

B.C. that are on the autism spectrum.

Well, unfortunately, with the recent announcement by this provincial

government to phase out individualized autism funding by 2025 and the lack

of consultation on these changes, many families fear they will lose their

current support and choices. Families are also struggling with rising

service fees, as there has been no increase to funding for each child in

recent years.

Now turning to housing, British Columbians are facing the highest

housing and rental prices they have ever faced in this province, yet there’s

still no $400 renters rebate or any significant measures in this budget to

make the housing market more affordable. The 2020 CMHC rental market report

cites that since 2017, Richmondites are paying, on average, $1,400 more per

year in rent. This renters rebate, if we ever see it, won’t even cover the

rental hikes we’ve experienced under this government. How is this making

life more affordable? Government has failed to meet their housing targets,

and once again, it is British Columbians who are suffering as a

result.

Only 5,269 homes have been completed by the B.C. government. According

to the Minister of Housing, in the 2021 Budget estimates, this is just 4.6

percent of their 114,000 promised homes. A March 2021 report from the BCREA

says that the lack of housing supply is the key provincial factor driving

high housing prices. Our housing market has been pushed to the brink, and

the dream of home ownership is slipping away for more British Columbians day

by day.

This pandemic has also stretched our health care system to the brink.

Hospitals across the province are short-staffed, and British Columbians

cannot find a family doctor to save their life, yet this budget is plagued

with delays in our health care infrastructure and has no plan to train and

employ new health care professionals.

In my own riding, the Richmond Hospital has once again been delayed to

2031, despite the member for Richmond-Steveston promising shovels in the

ground in 2021. The hospital is not the only place where Richmond has been

let down in this budget. Like communities across the province, Richmond is

looking to recover much of the business lost in the pandemic, especially in

our vibrant tourism sector.

[2:50 p.m.]

As the critic for Tourism, Arts and Culture and the MLA for Richmond

North Centre, I’m so proud of Richmond, which has taken the top spot in a

ranking of Canada’s 15 most-loved travel destinations. The city claimed the

number one spot, with a tourism sentiment score of 28.30 and with air travel

as its top draw, according to the tourism sentiment index.

One of the most iconic tourist destination venues is the Richmond

Night Market. I’m so thrilled to learn that it will return on April 29, a

little earlier than usual this year. The market has been closed for 16

months due to the pandemic and reopened last summer with a reduced capacity

and smaller venue. The other venues ran from early May to October and drew

thousands of people from across the province in pre-pandemic

times.

Like many other businesses in Richmond, they have been struggling to

get support from the government. While I’m glad they finally got some, much

more support from the government is needed to help our businesses fully

recover. Government must take steps to help people abroad feel welcome in

our communities once it is safe to do so. But they also need to take action

to make our own people feel welcome in the places they call home.

We are still seeing horrific instances of racism and hate perpetuated

towards British Columbians who are visible minorities on an almost daily

basis. Last Thursday a video was captured by two young Richmond women in a

parking lot. A female aggressor can be heard shouting homophobic abuse at

the couple, along with a South Asian racial slur apparently directed at one

of the victims, despite her identifying as Indigenous. A few seconds later

the racist ranter can be seen jumping out of a silver SUV before walking

over to the couple’s car, trying to open their door and screaming more

abuse.

Police arrived shortly afterwards, took down the details and later

tracked down the driver of the SUV. Unfortunately, according to the couple,

police basically said that there was nothing they could really

do.

Racism is a daily lived reality. Anti-Semitism and racist incidents

have spiked amid the pandemic, yet government has still failed to carry out

on many of its promised supports to combat this rise in hate crimes. The

anti-racism hotline, which was promised to be in place by last year, is

still not available and is once again nowhere to be found in this budget.

The government needs to provide more funding to raise awareness of the

challenges faced by communities across B.C. and to confront and denounce all

forms of racism and discrimination. That’s the sad reality.

The budgetary decisions we see in February have real-world

consequences for British Columbians for years that follow. We saw this time

and again as our government faced the climate disasters of 2021, where a

lack of proper investment in paramedics and 911 call services resulted in

hundreds of deaths as a result of the heat dome.

[2:55 p.m.]

The slow rollout of funding and supports have left the people of

Lytton without a home or community to return to for more than eight months.

The constant delay in support for farmers impacted by the flooding of the

Sumas Prairie has left many scrambling to repair their soil and replant

their fields in time for the spring. This will not be the last time our

communities are going to face these kinds of environmental disasters.

Government needs to make the proper investment today to ensure our

communities are protected and supported against future climate

events.

Three atmospheric rivers hit our region last November, including one

that resulted in more than 130 millimetres of rain falling on Richmond over

three days. While we did not experience the same level of rainfall or

flooding issues as some areas of the Fraser Valley, Richmond did require

extensive use of the city’s 39 drainage pump stations and staff to keep

things secure.

At the peak of the November storms, each of the city’s 39 pump

stations were moving water at or near full capacity at some point during the

event. The capacity of these pump stations has been increased 29 percent

since 2005, and they now have a combined discharge rate of approximately 90

cubic metres per second. That is the equivalent of more than two Olympic

swimming pools every 60 seconds.

Current climate change science estimates that sea levels will rise

approximately one metre by the year 2100, while land in Richmond is

projected to subside by 0.2 metres over the same time span. Council recently

supported the need for more investment in the existing flood protection

infrastructure, despite its performance in managing one of the heaviest

rainfall months on record. The previous government invested so much in

strengthening the pumping station and dikes in Richmond in preparation for

the rainstorms. I hope this government will also focus on planning and

taking tangible action for the future.

I look forward to diving further into this budget during the upcoming

estimates process. But what I can tell you is that at face value this is

certainly not the budget that British Columbians deserve — one that will

encourage government accountability, one that will invest in people more

than politicians and one that will provide our communities the supports they

deserve to build back a safe and prosperous British Columbia.

B. D’Eith: I rise today to speak to Budget ’22, “Stronger together.” I’d like to

say that, as many of our colleagues, I’m very, very proud to represent Maple

Ridge–Mission and the constituents of Maple Ridge–Mission. This second term

has been very, very challenging for all of us, everyone in this House. I

just wanted to say thank you to everyone at home and everyone in this House

who has made incredible efforts during these very difficult

times.

Before I say anything else, though, I did want to start with just a

little acknowledgment about Ukraine. I know a lot has been said by all

members on all sides of this House about support for Ukraine and a

condemnation of Russia’s unlawful attack on this sovereign

nation.

[3:00 p.m.]

I’m very lucky, in fact. My wife’s ancestry is Ukrainian. Her

ancestors, her grandmother moved from Ukraine to the prairies of Canada, as

did so many Ukrainians. In fact, Canada is the second-largest place in the

world for Ukrainians to settle if they leave the Ukraine. I feel very

fortunate to have a family with Ukrainian descent, and my thoughts and hopes

go out to everyone in Ukraine.

I also want to say that it’s very good to see how many countries,

including Canada, are opening doors to refugees. I can say without

hesitation to any Ukrainians coming to Canada: “Please, you’re welcome.

You’re welcome in my riding. You’re welcome anywhere in British Columbia, so

please come.”

Next, I think it’s important, before I get into the budget, to talk

about two other pieces. It’s very difficult to jump into a budget without

talking about COVID recovery and, of course, the overdose crisis. I did want

to really thank the ministries, the staff, the front-line workers and the

people of British Columbia for all of the work they’ve done, particularly

during the pandemic.

My heart goes out to all the families who’ve lost loved ones to the

overdose crisis and dealing with mental health and addiction issues. I know

that the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, her staff and everyone

are working tirelessly on that front.

Also, as we saw in 2021, the impacts of climate change hit us very

hard, with the heat dome, wildfires and floods. Floods affected many of our

ridings, including my own, and particularly my neighbouring riding of

Abbotsford-Mission. I was very, very pleased to see $213 million of support

for farmers from the partnership with the federal and provincial government

— very important funding. Also, obviously, a thanks to the Minister of

Agriculture for all of her incredible work and, of course, the Minister of

Transportation.

I just went up to Stump Lake, which is near Merritt, to visit my

wife’s family for the first time in a number of months, because the

Coquihalla had been destroyed. Seeing the pictures of the Coquihalla —

honestly, I didn’t think that we’d be driving up that road for a year. The

fact that the ministry was able to mobilize and that engineers, workers,

builders and roadworkers were able to turn that around in such a miraculous

way was absolutely astounding.

Driving up that road, it was awe-inspiring to see what we can do

together, as a province, in a time of need. I think that’s part of the

reason why the Minister of Finance has called this budget “Stronger

together.” I think we’ve seen over and over again during the pandemic,

during the heat dome, during wildfires and during floods how British

Columbians come together and how we work better when we work

together.

There are a few things that I talked to in the throne speech that I

probably won’t get to specifically, so I just wanted to reiterate them

quickly.

I’ve heard a lot of the opposition talking about affordability, and I

will be talking about the housing crisis in a few moments. But I think it’s

impossible not to talk about affordability without talking about some of the

measures that have been taken by our government since we took office in

2017, including one of the first things we did, which was eliminating the

tolls on the bridges. That had a profound impact, particularly in my area,

on the Golden Ears Bridge and the Port Mann Bridge, in terms of

affordability — up to $1,500 a year.

Of course, the new leader, Kevin Falcon…. It’s been said you want to

say these things to his face. Well, citizen Falcon, I’m speaking to your

face right now the best I can until you get a seat in this House. Hopefully,

you will get a seat in this House. Citizen Falcon, I’m speaking to you on

this. I’ve heard that you have said you wouldn’t have gotten rid of the

tolls. In fact, you were one of the architects of the tolls. In fact, you

increased MSP premiums during your tenure. We eliminated MSP

premiums.

[3:05 p.m.]

In fact, the Leader of the Opposition was one of the ministers who

raided ICBC for years to balance their budgets on the backs of British

Columbians. We have made transformative changes to ICBC, and people are

saving an incredible amount of money, $500. We have one friend who actually

saved $2,000 — a young friend of our family — a year. It made a profound

difference in their lives, absolutely profound and transformative changes

for our young people and for people in this province.

Again, the Leader of the Opposition would have gotten rid of

those.

Interjections.

B. D’Eith: I hear chirping from the other side. The fact is we’ve done incredible

work in terms of affordability for this province.

Child care alone can save families up to $19,000. If you add it all

up, for a young family with young children, that’s $25,000 a year that they

can be saving under our affordability. Add up ICBC, add up sales, add up

child care, tolls, MSP premiums, ICBC. What would the leader of the

opposition do? He would get rid of all of that.

Let’s talk about affordability. They’re not interested in

affordability. They’re interested in tax cuts to the most wealthy and

cutting services, cutting things that people need.

I’ve heard this a lot. All of a sudden the opposition is talking about

people. Well, I’ll tell you what. When we came into government, that was

what we came…. Every single day when we step into that caucus room, we talk

about the people of British Columbia. We have put the people of British

Columbia at the centre of policy — not the people at the top, not the people

who used to pay their donations, like the developers who were the ones who

are profiting from this out-of-control real estate market.

We got rid of that, didn’t we? We got rid of big money in politics,

and that’s tough for the opposition because they took millions of dollars

from their friends at the top. So, hey, if that’s who they were beholden

to…. We work for the people of British Columbia; they work for people at the

top.

Now let’s talk about some of the criticisms we’ve had. I look at our

ministers, I look at our Premier, I look at our Minister of Finance, and

there are three things I really see: compassion, competence and prudence.

Those are three things.

Now, I have heard — this is a really interesting thing — from the

opposition in regard to our budget and the fact that there is a deficit.

Yes, there’s a deficit, but for the budgets that we’d had for the first

three years before COVID, we had balanced budgets. We are a prudent manager

of the public purse in this province. Everyone in this House, including the

opposition, when it came to funding businesses and people — the highest

per-capita funding for people and businesses in the country, I might add….

This opposition approved that.

Well, all of a sudden, now that we are moving slowly towards balance….

You look at every year, year over year. It’s going to take a long time to

get out of this pandemic. They know that. So what they’re saying to us is:

“You know what? You should go to balance right now.” Well, you go to balance

and what happens? That means we don’t have money for recovery. That seems to

be what they want. At the same time, they’re saying: “You’re not doing stuff

fast enough.” They have to make up their minds, because they don’t even know

what they’re talking about.

Now, as it turned out, the Minister of Finance budgeted $9 billion,

originally, for last year’s deficit because we didn’t know what was going to

happen. It looked really dire in terms of what was going to happen with the

economy, but because of the people of British Columbia having some of the

highest rates of vaccination in North America — in fact, the world — and

with the policies that Dr. Bonnie Henry was able to bring forward, we were

able to really bounce back in our economy.

In fact, we have more people — we have tens of thousands of people —

moving to British Columbia, which is another part of the challenge on

housing, but that’s because we have one of the strongest economies in the

country right now.

During the pandemic, we made some choices. It’s always about choices.

I think that’s the thing I’d like to speak about. When we got into

government, we chose to put money into people instead of cutting taxes from

the top and cutting programs and services. We put money into health care,

into child care, into Internet for rural and remote communities, into

housing and into supports for small business. These are the building blocks

that we’ve had during the pandemic, and it’s really paying off now in terms

of our economy.

[3:10 p.m.]

As I said, the opposition would like to see us roll these back and

halt our economy. I have no idea why they would want us to do that. Again,

compassion, competence, prudence. It’s just about making choices, and we

choose people. We choose people, and we don’t choose trickle-down economics,

these old, old economic versions, Reaganomics, that the B.C. Liberals keep

trotting out about giving tax breaks to the wealthy so that it’ll somehow

flow to the workers.

That just doesn’t happen. In fact, what we’ve seen with those outdated

economic policies is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We’ve

seen the income gap grow and increase over time.

Now, we believe, as the B.C. NDP, that the economy should be strong.

And it is strong. It’s been strong under our government. It continues to be

strong because of the prudent fiscal management of this province.

But the economy generally has indicated…. The indicators that a lot of

economists look at are GDP and things like debt-to-GDP ratios and all of the

things that are sort of the traditional indicators. Quite frankly, you could

literally have an economy that is “a strong economy,” yet you could have

massive unemployment. You could have people living on the street. You know,

in a war situation, sometimes what will happen is that GDP will go up,

because….

What I’m trying to say is it’s not the only indicator. In fact, in the

new economic plan that the Premier and the Minister of Jobs, Economic

Recovery and Innovation launched, StrongerBC, the economic plan…. This is a

new long-term economic plan that is about growing the economy but growing an

economy that works for people and families. The idea is that the plan will

make life better for people today and tomorrow. It’s basically built on the

belief that when you grow an economy, you can grow and thrive while

addressing two core issues: inequality and climate change.

We will continue to ensure that the traditional indicators will be

taken into account, like GDP and credit ratings, but also look at some other

key indicators to see about our success. Some of these missions, for

example, are supporting people and families, using what’s called the Gini

co­efficient, which looks at core housing needs, poverty indices,

post-secondary education.

Building resilient communities is another mission under this plan. It

looks at community resilience indicators like new business openings and

regional economic diversity.

Advancing true, lasting, meaningful reconciliation. That obviously

needs to be developed, as DRIPA would say, with Indigenous people, and we

will do that to get those indicators.

On the clean growth side, the mission’s indicators, of course, are the

gross GHG emission reductions that we need to hit our targets, leading

environmental and social responsibility, businesses reporting to ESG

standards. What ESG standards are is looking at criteria that is socially

conscious investors and using that to screen investments, to make sure that

there’s a social conscience attached to that — fostering innovation, for

example, looking at the value-added that innovation brings.

There are going to be a number of ways that we are going to do that.

We’ll have measurements. We’ll have a dashboard with annual reporting. We’ll

look at gender, race, age, economic region. All of these things will form

part of this new lens that we’ll put on what success is. Honestly, in order

for our economy to be truly successful, it has to be successful for

everyone.

What are some of the things in this budget that are going to directly

effect this plan? Well, there’s $664 million of additional funding for K to

12. There’s $148 million for the B.C. emergency health services action plan.

We’re going to have 40,000 child care spaces over the next seven years.

There’s going to be a new proactive approach to homelessness — $633 million

towards that, which is very important. It’s very important to have that

complex care that we know is needed in many circumstances.

[3:15 p.m.]

Investing in infrastructure will create up to 100,000 jobs. The

incredible investment we’ve put into Pathway to Hope, billions of dollars to

make sure that we’re dealing with the mental health and addiction issues and

addressing homelessness….

In Budget 2022, we’re saving families more money as we move to

$10-a-day child care. The average fees will be reduced this year to

$20-a-day or less. We’re increasing training seats for early childhood

educators, and we’re going to deliver 40,000 new licensed spaces over the

next seven years. That’s having a profound impact on the ground. In my

riding, we have a $10-a-day child care prototype site, which is Heritage

Park Childcare. It’s incredible. I’ve talked to parents there that burst

into tears when they had the opportunity to participate in that

program.

In fact, there are incredible investments being made. Just in my

riding alone, $26 million of total child care investments. Parents are

saving, through fee reductions, $16 million. Total licensed child care

spaces funded: 238.

This isn’t talked about a lot, because it happened during the

pandemic, but it’s the B.C. early childhood tax benefit. Now this is going

to the age of 18. It didn’t help me — I have kids between 19 and 25 — but I

can say that up to the age of 18, it’s important to have this money, because

costs of children actually go up, not down. So this is actually going to

help the income. It could be $1,600 for a family’s first child, another

$1,000 for the second child and $800 for subsequent children. This is going

to make a profound difference on lives.

As far as building resilient communities, since 2017, we’ve actually

connected 500 communities to high-speed Internet. This is very important for

the democratization of working within the province, to have that access to

high-speed Internet. It also is a very key part of reconciliation — nearly

$300 million invested to connect over 280 First Nations in rural and remote

communities.

Again, very important to allow First Nations to participate in the

overall economy. Eighty-two percent of rural and remote communities and 92

percent of First Nations communities will be connected to the Internet.

That’s a goal in this budget.

And $210 million for community climate change preparedness and

emergency management. We saw what happened with the floods. We saw what

happened with the wildfires. Having that emergency preparedness is so

important to build resilient communities.

Twenty-five million dollars to support our tourism sector. This is

very important, because during the pandemic, tourism was one of the

hardest-hit sectors, and it’s so important to support that.

The Homes for B.C. program — $1.2 billion a year. Now, can you

imagine, if the B.C. Liberals had spent $1.2 billion a year for 16 years,

where we would be with our housing crisis right now? Hmm. Well, we’d be in a

way better position than we are. In fact, what they did was they lived

through a time when, basically, houses and condos were being used as an

investment. They were sitting empty.

We brought in the spec tax and put 18,000 units back into the rental

market, where they should have been in the first place. You know, that’s

something, again, that the leader, Kevin Falcon, would get rid of — 18,000

units in the rental market. Absolutely a very, very successful

program.

Budget 2022 accelerates the construction of mixed-income housing,

through B.C. Housing’s community fund.

The highest infrastructure…. It’s unbelievable: $27.4 billion to

invest in schools, hospitals, affordable housing, rapid transit, highways

and bridges. My riding is one that’s benefiting from this.

For example, we are working on the final four-laning of Highway 7. We

finished the four-laning of Highway 7 near Mission. That’s completed, and

people love it. We’re working on the rest of that, which is really

important, because there were, since 2016, over 80 accidents in that area.

It’s a safety issue, and we are resolving that.

We also resolved our tent city in Maple Ridge, which was in the news

around the whole country. We were able to build two units of supportive

housing. Now one of those is becoming permanent, freeing up that space so we

can build over 50 units of seniors housing in Maple Ridge. Really excited

about that.

[3:20 p.m.]

Another example of the 30-point housing program, the provincial rental

supply program is Turnock Manor. It’s 64 units of fair market rental stock

in Maple Ridge. It’s just opening up. Absolutely amazing. Cornerstone

Landing is just opening up soon, a partnership with community services and

B.C. Housing — 94 units, including 20 for youth, which is really

exciting.

In Mission, we built 74 units of seniors housing, with MASH and B.C.

Housing. That was a $7.4 million contribution. That’s up and running, and

people are living in it. So it’s absolutely fantastic.

Also HousingHub. What an amazing program, $2 billion to basically…. We

know we can’t do this alone. I mean, obviously, housing is all hands on

deck, so that means non-profits. It means for-profits. It means

associations. It means the government. It means churches. It means cities.

It means everybody working together. And the fact is that HousingHub is an

amazing program.

One of the partnerships, Lookout, created the Cedar Valley suites, 68

rental homes. And 15 of those are actually low-income, between the rents of

$375 and $1,300.

There is so much work being done on housing affordability. I mentioned

the spec tax as part of the 30-point plan.

Another big one is student housing. The B.C. Liberals built 160 units

in 16 years — unbelievable. We have already built or have in construction,

5,854 new beds in this province — absolutely brilliant. Part of that is when

students can live in student housing, they are not using market housing.

That frees up market housing for people who need to work and live in their

areas. That is something that we’re doing; that’s something that the B.C.

Liberals did not do.

We’re on track, with 32,000 units built or underway, over ten years.

We are on track to hit our 114,000 units. A lot of work is being done when

you spend $1.2 billion a year on housing. I can tell you that we’re going to

work really closely with the cities, because obviously, one of the

challenges we have is getting the development permits.

It can take up to five years, sometimes, to get these permits. We have

the will. We have the money. We just need to get going, so I’m really

excited about some of the work that’s going to be done with our new Minister

of Municipal Affairs. That’s really exciting work, so that will be

happening.

I’m also really excited about truth and reconciliation. There’s $12

million for the creation of a new Declaration Act secretariat, and of

course, the new Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship, $44

million. Congrats to the new minister. I think she’s going to do a wonderful

job in this landmark new ministry that’s going to really, really help DRIPA

move forward. So very exciting work.

And I can see some of the exciting work that’s been done in my

community. For example, in Mission last summer, there was an agreement. It’s

actually called “Together We Paddle.” It’s written in Hul’q’umi’num’. I

can’t, unfortunately, pronounce that, but the translation is “Together We

Paddle.”

What that was, is 60 hectares of Crown land that were transferred to

the Leq’á:mel, Matsqui and Sumas First Nations, LMS Society. That’ll be to

create a community park, and also, there will be a housing development.

Absolutely amazing work, in terms of reconciliation — groundbreaking, in

many respects. I’m very, very proud that that actually happened.

Of course, another huge area is climate change, and that meeting

B.C.’s complete commitments is so important. That’s another part of the

economic plan. CleanBC is fully funded. It’s going ahead, $3.3 billion in

funding. There are so many parts of that. For example, rebates on

zero-emission vehicles, clean options like heat pumps, moving industry to

clean options so that they can deal with the change of our expectations

that, yes, we are moving away from a carbon-based economy towards a clean

fuel economy.

We’re seeing more bike lanes, multi-use pathways, transportation

infrastructure and so many other things. And of course, there’s also

adaptation. There’s $83 million for a new climate preparedness and

adaptation strategy, very important. It’s important that we work towards our

goals of a clean environment, towards climate change, but also

adapt.

[3:25 p.m.]

There’s also, in closing…. Well, no. Actually, I’m just getting

started. I’ve got four minutes left. This is great.

I did want to mention, on environmental and social responsibility,

which is another key pillar of the economic plan, that 2021 saw a 50 percent

increase in mining exploration, and $18 million is being invested to

continue growth of the mining sector, and $9 million to expand the

low-carbon fuel standard.

It’s really interesting that, yes, we have regulations. We have

regulations that regulate the mining industry. Yet we are seeing investment

in the mining industry. In fact, there’s a lot of activity. When I talk to

people in the mining industry, what they like to see is certainty. Certainty

of regulation. In fact, when you cut regulations, you often create more

uncertainty. So the regulations that have been put in place are for the

safety of British Columbia, the safety of the industry, and making sure that

we meet our climate change targets.

It brings back the memory that Kevin Falcon was actually the Minister

of State for Deregulation. Now think about that — a minister of state for

deregulation. The idea that you would actually have somebody working to

deregulate the province when we need regulations. Regulations are important,

because if you let companies run amok, you end up with poisoned water. You

end up with a whole bunch of problems, with tailings that leach into our

waterways. So they’re important.

I’m not saying that…. You know, we need to make sure that these are

efficient regulations. I think that instead of something like deregulation,

you would want to have efficient and impactful regulations. I think this is

a fundamental difference between our two parties in terms of how we see

things. They would just like to get out of the way of business and let

business come in and do whatever they want to the environment, to our coast

— to do whatever they want. That’s really troubling.

In closing, through Budget ’22, we’re building an even stronger B.C.

and making life better by investing in our province’s economic,

environmental and social strengths; ’22 supports bold actions to fight

climate change and to protect people in communities from climate-related

disasters. It helps with the cost of living by reducing child care costs. It

delivers a comprehensive approach to respond and prevent homelessness. It

makes investments needed to close the digital divide and grow an inclusive

and sustainable economy. It continues to strengthen the public services that

B.C. relies on.

As we continue to respond to the effects of the pandemic, to climate

change, to all of these things, we will be building on our strengths to

prepare for the challenges and opportunities that we will have in the

future.

S. Bond: I appreciate the opportunity to rise and speak to the budget. I can

assure you that you will be hearing something completely different from what

we just heard. I can tell you this.

Do you know the number of times, the absolute number of times that we

have heard the name of our new leader mentioned in this House? You would

think that this government would be anxious to make sure that we got a

chance to have our new leader sitting right in this very chair.

Maybe it’s time the government did what they should have done. It’s

been weeks now. We would urge the government to call a by-election, because

I’ll tell you what. It will be a lot harder to say the kinds of things that

member just said looking the Leader of the Opposition in the eye when he

actually gets to the Legislature.

I’d also like to remind the member that he talked about their ability

to look at how to balance the budget. I remember from the day that this

government took office…. I would remind them that they inherited the

best-performing economy in the country and the province that had the highest

job creation record in the country. That was what this government inherited,

so to suggest that they did miraculous work and suddenly balanced a budget

is revisionist history at its very best.

I very much look forward to hearing from the Premier shortly, calling

a by-election to make sure that we can have our new leader in the

Legislature, as he should be.

[3:30 p.m.]

As I begin my remarks today, though, I do want to recognize that today

is B.C. Seniors Care Providers Day. We take the time today to recognize and

celebrate the incredible people who work tirelessly to support and care for

B.C. seniors. We are so grateful for the work that they do.

I also want to thank members on all sides of the House for

contributing to the debate on the 2022 budget.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I have to say, after listening to many comments made by the government

members, you won’t be surprised that I don’t agree with them. But

differences should actually be expected and welcomed in this chamber. We

were elected to bring our constituent views and the voices of British

Columbians from all across the province. I am so very grateful and proud to

represent the people of Prince George–Valemount. I am grateful and thankful

for their continued faith in me to do this job on their behalf.

The observations of MLAs from all parts of the province should provide

the Finance Minister with ample commentary and, of course, valuable input. I

do want to congratulate the Minister of Finance for delivering Budget 2022.

It is no small task. In fact, in her budget speech, the Minister of Finance

included some comments recognizing that budgets are about choices and that,

in fact, some would choose differently than the priorities that she laid out

in her budget. On that point, I agree with the minister. There are things

that we would do differently. More about that later.

I would also like to offer my thanks to the staff that helped prepare

the budget. It’s an incredible amount of work, and it consumes the ministry

for many months. The debate that occurs here is not a criticism of the work

done by public servants. Government charts the path, and then the staff

provides the expertise to create the budget that is ultimately

tabled.

On a personal note, I, like others in the chamber, want to recognize

my family for their continuous support, their forgiveness for missing those

big days at home and for being willing to adjust dates to make things work.

They are my rock. I also want to thank our hard-working staff in Prince

George and Victoria for their dedication and effort on a daily basis. They

are so very good at what they do, and we are grateful.

Budget 2022 follows on the heels of a throne speech and the

much-awaited release of the first signs of an economic strategy after five

years and two terms of this government. Whether it was the budget, the

throne speech or the economic plan, the reaction was the same. The Premier

and his government simply failed to deliver.

To provide some context, let me just provide some words that were

shared by stakeholder after stakeholder after stakeholder after the budget

was introduced. It should give some context and certainly paint quite a

different picture than the member who spoke before me. Here are some of the

words.

“Disappointed.” “Left out.” “Shocking.” “Disappointed.”

“Unfortunately, the opportunity was missed.” “Status quo.” “A missed

opportunity.” “Failed to act on its promises.” “Bold responses needed in

2022.” “This budget just doesn’t deliver that response.” “Here’s what we

find disappointing.” “We were disappointed.” “There is little for small

business.” “Hoping to see measures to reduce costs.” “This budget was a

missed opportunity.” “Budget 2022 gets a failing grade from

taxpayers.”

The list goes on. Not my words. The words of stakeholders. The words

of important organizations. The words of British Columbians. I can’t imagine

that is something that members on the opposite side want to be proud of.

British Columbians expected and deserved so much more. They expected more

because the Premier made promises to them. He raised their expectations and

then failed to deliver. Let’s just look at a couple of those signature

promises.

The Premier promised to British Columbians that life would be more

affordable under his government, not just once, but twice. Two successive

election campaigns, and now, nothing could be further from the truth.

Groceries. Cell phone bills. Gas prices. Rental rates, and the skyrocketing

costs of trying to purchase a home. All this and increased taxes

too.

[3:35 p.m.]

In fact, this is a government that has increased or created so many

new taxes or adjusted taxes, we’ve lost count. In fact, there are three new

ones in this budget. And that, once again, after a specific promise from the

Premier that he would not be increasing taxes. But he did it

anyway.

There are three main taxes to highlight from this budget alone. A new

tax will require online marketplaces for used goods that collect payments to

charge the PST on those purchases. What does that cost taxpayers? More than

$100 million every year.

Home heating systems using fossil fuels will have their sales tax

increased from 7 to 12 percent. This will cost taxpayers $9 million every

year. And guess who that’s going to impact the most. Rural communities. Why?

Because rural communities are more likely to rely on natural gas heating

systems, and the tax increase hammers homeowners who live in cold climates.

Yet the Premier promised life would be more affordable.

New rules for private used car sales will tax sales on the greater

value between the actual sale price and the average sale price. If you get a

good deal on a used car, you’re going to have to pay more in taxes. This

will cost drivers $30 million annually once it’s implemented.

You know, the government didn’t even bother to try to pretend they

didn’t know who it would impact. In the budget, it says explicitly:

“Individuals involved in private vehicle transactions are more likely to be

low-to medium-income” — and guess what — “living in a rural

area.”

Can you imagine? In this House, we have heard MLAs, including the

member for Vancouver–False Creek, say that this was necessary to “curb a

behaviour” and that it amounts to tax evasion. Well, perhaps that member

needs to look a single mom in the eye who needs to get a vehicle to be able

to go to work, or a student who can’t afford a new car — look those British

Columbians in the eye who are just barely hanging on. Tax evasion? Hardly.

British Columbians are struggling and just trying to get by, and the member

for Vancouver–False Creek thinks they need to curb a behaviour. This isn’t a

tax evasion. It’s a tax grab.

It is about choices. That’s exactly what the Finance Minister said.

This government is choosing to tax the purchase of a used vehicle when they

know that it will impact low-to medium-income British Columbians who

typically live in rural areas, and the member had the audacity to suggest

that it was a tax evasion attempt. No, it’s actually about trying to live in

a world that’s becoming increasingly more unaffordable.

When you manage to figure out how to finally buy that car, this

government is going to step up and take more money out of your pocket. I

have yet to hear one of their members stand up and talk about how proud they

are of using taxpayer’s back pockets as their revenue-generating stream

instead of creating a vibrant, thriving private sector economy in this

province.

Here’s what’s so problematic. It’s not just people that we don’t know

their names or who they are. So 53 percent of British Columbians are now

$200 or less away from insolvency. Let that sink in for a moment as we

listen to the repetitive speeches on the other side about how life is more

affordable. So 53 percent of the people living in British Columbia are $200

away from insolvency, so let’s tax their purchase of a used vehicle — likely

more than $200.

One thing the government did manage to do in this budget was ensure

that the Premier and cabinet would be taking home more money, by removing a

significant accountability measure, because there is no balanced budget and

no sign of one. Much worse, not even an attempt to get one, to move toward

one in the years ahead, despite, once again, the Finance Minister saying:

“I’m going to lay out a clear plan for how we’re going to get there.”

Missing in this budget completely.

[3:40 p.m.]

The ministerial accountability act requires ministers to operate

within their budget to meet financial commitments. Listening to the

explanations that have been attempted in this chamber is nothing short of

laughable.

MLAs have made it sound like if the accountability measure continues,

we’re going to start seeing rampant cuts of important programs. Nothing

could be further from the truth. As a cabinet minister in the past who has

had to operate under that accountability principle, it was a motivating

factor for me to make sure that I did my part to be diligent and prudent

with taxpayers’ money. It didn’t cause me to want to run out and start

cutting essential programs.

The explanations that have been provided here are simply nonsensical.

How they can defend something that will send more money home with cabinet

ministers and the Premier when British Columbians are trying to figure out

how to put gas in their vehicle is simply unacceptable.

It apparently happened because deficits are inevitable. That was

despite the promises from a Finance Minister who said she would lay out a

path to a balanced budget. Instead, what it did they do? They took out the

accountability requirement, essentially giving themselves more take-home

pay. What message does that send to British Columbians that are just one

step ahead of insolvency, who just can’t keep up with increased

costs?

The Finance Minister talked about choices. Well, providing more

take-home pay to the Premier and cabinet ministers and adding new taxes that

include taxing used cars are certainly not choices we would have made, nor

do we support.

The Premier also promised renters that he would provide them a $400

renters rebate. That was five years ago. When we finally managed to get an

answer out of the Housing Minister just a week or two ago, his answer was:

“We’re working on it.”

While the government is working on it, life for renters in British

Columbia has gotten worse. In fact, the B.C. Rental Project gave B.C. a C

grade. Why? Because their strategy has been to pile on regulation and taxes.

This has forced many rental providers out of the market. Renters are paying

almost $3,000 more per year on average under this NDP government. How does

that speak to affordability? No sign of a renters rebate — in fact, another

promise that vanished right after the election signs had been taken

down.

On the housing front, B.C.’s been in the headlines for all the wrong

reasons. The dream of owning a home has become a nightmare under this

government. A National Bank report estimates that it would take 36 years to

save for a down payment for a typical Vancouver home. But it isn’t just

Vancouver. Chilliwack is up 40 percent; Langley, 39 percent; Abbotsford, 38

percent. The list goes on. Oxford Economics has reported that Vancouver is

the least affordable metro area in North America. All that when the Premier

promised life would be more affordable for British Columbians.

Perhaps one of the most upsetting broken promises was the one made

directly to families in our province. I listened today, again, to the way

that we continue to hear the description of: “We’re almost…. We’re going to

get…. We might make it to $10-a-day daycare.” Make no mistake about it. It

was a promise made for $10-a-day universal daycare that has been broken.

This is five years since that promise was made, and it has not been

delivered.

We have heard stories from all over this province about the inability

that families have to find a space for their child, much less find one that

they can pay $10 a day for. What does the promise look like now? This budget

touts $20-a-day average child care funding. The promise that was made is

five years behind

schedule and still nowhere near $10 a day.

Here in British Columbia, we’re becoming all too familiar with the

term “crisis.” We have many going on simultaneously, from COVID-19 to the

devastating opioid crisis to affordability to more frequent destructive

natural disasters. Our province is facing so many challenges, yet the budget

fails to provide meaningful relief for any of them.

All of us recognize and are grateful for the exceptional work of

health care professionals before and during the pandemic. They went to work

so we could stay home. They are facing fatigue, burnout and exhaustion, for

many of them. They need to know that this government understands that and

that it is prepared to take significant meaningful action.

[3:45 p.m.]

We are living with a health care system under immense pressure. This

is especially noticeable when we’re looking at chronic and worsening

staffing shortages seen throughout the health care system. From nurses to

primary care providers, hospital staff and lab technicians, we are seeing

shortages, and it is impacting the care that British Columbians receive. And

before any government MLA hops up and suggests that we’re being critical of

health care workers, nothing can be further from the truth.

These shortages do not fall on the shoulders of health care providers.

They’ve been working incredibly hard on the front line of the pandemic at

great personal risk. This falls on the government, for failing to take the

actions necessary to provide staff with the support they need and treating

the pressures in the health care system with the urgency they

deserve.

We have repeatedly asked this government about a health human

resources plan that will tackle the shortages of health care workers that

exist across our province. The Health Minister told us last year that he was

going to present a health human resource plan that addresses these issues in

the fall of 2021. But here we are in March, another throne speech, another

budget — nowhere to be seen.

The kind of investment we need to see in our health care system must

be part of a comprehensive strategy, one that assesses what the needs are,

where they are, and then builds a training plan around that work. It takes

years to train a doctor or a nurse or a midwife, all those essential

professionals that we need to ensure British Columbians have top-quality

health care. A health human resources plan is long, long overdue.

The issue of staffing will be impacted by yet another of this

government’s broken promises. The NDP committed to building an additional

medical school in B.C., planned for SFU’s Surrey campus. Well, I’m sure you

can imagine the disappointment that SFU, the people of Surrey and anyone

looking for a doctor felt when they saw there are no plans and there is no

money set aside in this budget for a medical school. This at a time when

recent statistics tell us this staggering number: almost 900,000 British

Columbians do not have a family doctor or a primary care provider right

now.

The NDP promised to attach more people to GPs, but since they came to

power, the number of unattached patients has steadily increased, getting

ever so close to the one-million mark. Think about it. Nearly 20 percent of

people in British Columbia can’t find a family doctor. What kind of

repercussions does this have for their health? What kind of stress does this

add on our ERs and our walk-in clinics?

Our ERs around B.C. are already under so much stress as it is. From

Saanich to the Kootenays to Ashcroft to Fort St. John, so many communities

in B.C. have seen their ERs close for extended periods of time due to

staffing shortages. It’s seen in every corner of the province, and it’s

indicative of the wider stress on the system.

We also need to see investments in infrastructure. If you compare the

service plans from last year to this year, we see numerous examples of

projects that have been delayed by a year or more and with increasing

construction costs, whether it’s Royal Inland Hospital, Burnaby Hospital,

Lions Gate Hospital or Surrey Hospital, which we all know and would probably

agree is basically an urgent and primary care centre.

Let’s look at Surrey. Only $2 million has been spent to date, barely

enough to move that project forward. As for the University Hospital of

Northern British Columbia, a regional centre that the government promised

would move forward with cardiac care and additional services to serve the

people of northern British Columbia, this budget says absolutely nothing.

These kinds of delays and cost overruns would be disappointing and

unacceptable for any infrastructure project, but they are even more

frustrating when the projects are vital for meeting the health care needs of

British Columbians today and into the future.

There are so many promises that the government has made around health

that are still not included in this budget. What about the ten-year cancer

plan or the funding for the free oral contraception promise the NDP

made?

[3:50 p.m.]

What about the Kamloops cancer centre, which is now in preliminary

planning, as opposed to being at Treasury Board?

We have a health care system under pressure, chronic shortages of

health care workers, aging infrastructure and increasing demands, a 911

system desperately in need of resources. I don’t know about you, but it is

incomprehensible to me that in the province of British Columbia, you can

dial 911 and you may or may not get the help you need.

We have growing surgical wait-lists and cancelled surgeries. We have

an opioid crisis that is taking the lives of more than six British

Columbians every single day, and there is no comprehensive plan to end the

tragic deaths we hear about month after month. But as we see from the

investment in that ministry, they plan to have a much better communication

strategy, instead of investing in desperately needed beds and

resources.

The list is lengthy. We have a health care system under pressure. The

time to act is now, yet I see little in this budget that will make a

meaningful difference to relieve that pressure. Unfortunately, it’s not just

health in general that has been overlooked in this budget, but seniors’

care. There is almost no mention of seniors in the Finance Minister’s budget

speech, even after the last two years, where we saw that seniors were

disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Terry Lake expressed this very

sentiment in response to Budget 2022, saying:

“It is shocking that after a pandemic that impacted long-term care

residents more than anyone else, there is no measure or mention of seniors’

care supports. There is far more on seniors’ care that is missing from this

budget than is actually in it. There are no new investments in long-term

care or assisted living. No increase in home care funding. No mention of

creating a ministry for seniors, as some stakeholders have called for. No

commitments to eliminate four-person rooms in long-term care.”

I appreciate the work of the B.C. seniors advocate. She never

hesitates to speak up and raise important issues that seniors are facing in

our province. As we look back on the last two years, we know that one of the

most devastating legacies will be the disproportionate impacts on seniors

and their families. Isolation, loneliness, confusion, and of course, the

loss of thousands of seniors as a result of COVID-19. Considering all of

this, it is hard to understand how this budget has little to nothing to deal

with the issues facing older British Columbians. Once again, as the Minister

of Finance said, it’s about choices.

In the coming months, we need to grapple with many critical issues

related to seniors. Investments in infrastructure. Access to home

health-support services. We have to grapple with the fact that they, too,

have reduced physician availability and very difficult access to family

doctors. We have to look at the costs of non-insured services such as

glasses, hearing aids and assistive devices. Timely access to long-term care

and assisted living. Lack of affordable housing. Wait-lists. Yes, seniors

are feeling the pressure and the lack of affordability as much as anyone in

British Columbia.

I also want to include in my comments today something that I have

found so devastatingly difficult to deal with. That is the issue of this

government’s intention to dismantle the current system of supports that are

in place for families who have children with autism. Since that announcement

has been made, it has caused anxiety, stress, grief and anger from parents

across the province. This budget simply adds additional concern.

[3:55 p.m.]

Simply put, there is insufficient funding to manage the transition to

a hub-based model. The money is not there. While the government will claw

back individualized funding from more than 25,000 children and their

families, there is only $40 million added in the budget for children and

youth with supportive needs.

The total transition to the hub model is expected to cost $172 million

over the fiscal plan, which is less than half of what some advocates

estimate would be needed for an effective transition. All this disruption.

All this pain. The anxiety based on a stubborn decision to move to a model

that has failed in other jurisdictions, yet the government presses on,

ignoring the voices of parents, advocates and experts.

We recognize the system isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t serve the needs

of other children who also deserve support. But why on earth would the

government choose to dismantle a system that works, instead of building on

it, expanding the supports and services to include more children and their

families?

The most disappointing part of this process has been the unwillingness

of members on the government benches to engage with families, parents,

providers and advocates in a meaningful and inclusive way. Despite the

minister’s oft-repeated messaging, it has not happened.

These families deserve so much more. They deserve to speak to their

MLA. They deserve to have the Minister and the Premier listen, hear and

understand the concerns that they have. But again, in the words of the

Finance Minister, it’s about choices. I can assure you we are going to

continue to raise the issue of this clawback over and over and over again to

support those families who feel like their worlds have been turned upside

down by this government.

The Minister of Finance said in her budget speech that a budget is

about making choices. On that point, I totally agree with her. The budget

that has been tabled fails to honour the primary promise that the government

— the Premier, specifically — made multiple times to British Columbians:

that life would be more affordable under his government. By almost every

single measure, the government has failed to deliver.

Added taxes, extra dollars for the Premier and cabinet, the cost to

buy a home skyrocketing, the price of gasoline and gas taxes the highest in

North America, no promised renters rebate or $10-a-day daycare, autism

support being clawed back, no substantive plan or resources to deal with the

increasing deaths due to the opioid crisis, little support for the business

sector, no health human resources strategy, no mention of seniors in this

budget — the list goes on.

The Premier promised British Columbians that life would be more

affordable, and they believed him. This budget does nothing to help British

Columbians deal with another crisis. This crisis falls squarely on the

shoulders of this government, and that is the affordability crisis. Another

broken promise. British Columbians deserve so much better.

M. Starchuk: Before I begin, I want to make some comments about the war in Ukraine.

Having the last name of Starchuk, as many will know, puts me into Ukrainian

roots. My grandparents left that country over 100 years ago under similar

circumstances.

My aunt, who is the keeper of all gen