Third Session, 42nd Parliament

(2022) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Monday, May 30, 2022

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 214

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Routine Business

Introductions by Members

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

School fundraising and new food guidelines

K. Kirkpatrick

M. Dykeman

Celebrating our schools

J. Sims

T. Halford

Cost pressures for farmers

I. Paton

R. Leonard

AccessAbility Week

D. Coulter

M. Bernier

Private Members’ Motions

Motion 13 — Museum replacement project

L. Doerkson

B. D’Eith

M. Lee

A. Walker

B. Banman

G. Lore

R. Merrifield

M. Starchuk

M. Bernier

A. Mercier

T. Halford

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

The House met at 10:02 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: R. Merrifield.

Introductions by Members

T. Halford: Attentively watching on TV down in my office right now is my son,

Benjamin. Ben is joining us from South Surrey. I ask that the House please

make him welcome.

R. Russell: It is my distinct pleasure today to rise to express my pride and

congratulations to the Grand Forks Secondary School Ultimate team, who took

home the double-A B.C. provincial championship after their games on Friday.

Thanks to the coaches — Dan MacMaster, Keith Kuromi, Char Thiessen and

Kristy Kuromi.

Certainly, their dedication to the kids is awesome, but mainly I’m

rising today to introduce the House to the young athletes who went home very

happy and very exhausted after playing so well: Abby Devries, Adam Gillis,

Adaya Moss, Aiden McKenna, Avyra Zibin, Benson Moss, Brennin Sjoden, Cameron

Bryant, Danny Macmaster, Gabriel Russell, Iona Carlyle, Jordyn Dlerma,

Kendra Leslie, Kohei Dunnet, Lincoln Faulkner, Luna Churchill, Maddox Hampf,

Marcus Perkins, Nathaniel a.k.a. “Nato” Wark, Neil Matheson, Sam Sjoden, Tao

Kuromi, Travis Bryant, Vilian Matheson, Wyatt Cairns and Zaylen

Romaine.

[10:05 a.m.]

It’s a sport rooted in principles of good spirit, honesty and respect

— something maybe we could take a lesson from here in this House — and these

kids demonstrate it in spades with their opponents. Thank you, and please

join me in congratulating them.

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

SCHOOL FUNDRAISING AND

NEW FOOD

GUIDELINES

K. Kirkpatrick: All parents want their children to be healthy. Good food is the

basis for good health, for academic success and for physical and mental

wellness. Since 1942, Canada’s food guide has been around in one form or

another. It’s a basic education tool designed to help people follow a

healthy diet. For more than 80 years, the food guide has provided

healthy eating guidelines to Canadians and has been the foundation of

food and nutrition policies across the country.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Admittedly, the food guide has never been perfect, but it has

provided a framework for parents. Over time, as we’ve learned about the

impact of various foods on our health, the Canadian food guide has been

updated. In 2019, Canada released the latest version of the food guide,

with concrete advice on healthy food choices and eating

habits.

It included plenty of vegetables, fruits and protein foods,

choosing whole-grain foods and making water your drink of choice. It

also pointed out that healthy eating is more than just the foods you

eat. It’s about your whole relationship with food. It encourages

Canadians to cook more often, be mindful of their eating habits, share

meals with others. We need to celebrate food as part of our lifestyle.

Canada’s food guide is intended for all Canadians.

When it comes to children, parents make the best choices that they

can for their kids, including the food they eat. We teach our kids how

to make healthy choices, and it’s important that schools offer those

healthy options as part of their food programs. But they can’t take away

the fun. New food guidelines for B.C. schools apply to food that’s

offered, served or sold in schools, including school fundraising

programs, as well as parent-organized events and sports

events.

It doesn’t apply to what kids bring to school for lunch

themselves. Providing food guidelines is one thing, but dictating food

choices, such as prohibiting the selling of hot dogs at a community fun

fair or sports drinks at a school sporting event — that’s another thing.

Seriously, ice cream is listed as a food to avoid. Are parents supposed

to make asparagus pizza on bulgur crust for these events?

As Canada’s food guide has already provided nutritional guidelines

for families and children, people of all ages, I would argue that school

food guides go too far when they start policing or dictating food

choices for children — for one, proposing dramatic limitations on

essential food fundraisers such as pizza days, hot lunch and bake sales,

chocolate almond sales. These play such an important role in helping

PACs and schools actually provide the funding for necessary sports,

libraries, music programs, supplies and equipment for

schools.

The reality is that our schools are underfunded, and an overhaul

of the whole system is needed. Now, these fundraisers are often

organized by hard-working parent advisory councils. They’re periodic.

They’re not even weekly. They’re about having fun a few times a year,

while bringing in thousands of dollars to supplement a school’s budget.

These events, again, are about more than just funds. They also create a

sense of community by bringing children, teachers and parents

together.

They help children learn important life skills such as handling

money and setting goals, and they build teamwork and boost confidence.

Fundraising is an all-around education experience, and it’s about so

much more than the food being served. With no more hot dogs, pizza,

cupcakes or ice cream, all the fun is gone, and it could be the end of

these fundraisers.

Let’s be honest. Kids don’t go head over heels for broccoli day. I

admit that I was the mom that sent carrot sticks to the grade 3 birthday

party, but I quickly learned that that container would often come home

just as full as it was when it left. Don’t we all remember those

in-class birthday parties where parents sent little cupcakes and

home-baked cookies? It was fun. But now it’s bad.

[10:10 a.m.]

As suggested by Canada’s food guideline, and as I mentioned in the

beginning, healthy eating is so much more than the foods you eat. It’s

also about your relationship with food and with healthy habits. To eat

healthy, moderation is key, and we need to teach kids that, not by

taking away their food choices.

In addition, as life becomes more unaffordable and grocery bills

continue to rise up, policy-makers shouldn’t impose unrealistic

guidelines when many families are struggling to put food on the table.

According to Stats Canada’s most recent consumer price index, groceries

are rising at the fastest rate in 13 years. In March, food prices went

up by almost 9 percent from the previous year. This was the biggest

year-over-year increase since 2009.

The jump in food prices were driven by dairy, meat and pasta.

Amongst these, dairy and eggs rose faster since they had in 1983, with

milk prices up almost 8 percent, cheese 10.4 percent and butter was 16

percent. Fresh and frozen beef prices have surged 14 percent in the last

year. Those things that we’re talking about being healthy…. Well, higher

grains also pushed up pasta prices in March by more than 17 percent,

while breakfast cereal rose more than 12 percent year over year — the

biggest increase since 1990.

Amid such rising food costs, a food guide diet might be simply

unaffordable for many households that have to compare prices and shop

within a budget. This can provide food shaming, and let’s not take the

fun out of fun days with our pizzas and our ice cream.

M. Dykeman: Thank you to the member opposite for that very passionate

statement. As a parent, I share the sentiment of how much fun those

events are and how hard PAC parents around the province work to make

their schools the most exciting and fun places possible.

On May 3, the federal government, Canada, published a new food

guide resource. In that resource, it provided updates and new

recommendations on how food programs, where there are policy-makers and

health professionals, should be implemented in schools. They’re actually

currently working with provincial governments and policy-makers

throughout the country to help align with those new

guidelines.

You can learn all about it on the Canada food guide website. The

federal government has a wonderful little picture about how there should

be lots of vegetables and fruits and proteins and water and whole

grains. Those updates and that implementation are going

forward.

What I wanted to talk about was what it was like to be a PAC

parent. I mean, there was a period of time — I can’t remember exactly;

it might have been 16 years — that was just absolutely gutting in the

school systems. I remember when my son started in grade 1. We received

this list, and it was kind of like walking in and thinking that perhaps

we might be being evacuated from some disaster. You had to bring six

reams of paper, 42 rolls of toilet paper and 19 pens. You had to pack

everything.

Then on top of it, as a PAC parent, you had to fundraise for the

most basic things. I would think to myself all the time: “How is this

happening?” There are a lot of people sitting in this room that are in

the positions we’re in now and had started as really excited parents,

with our kids in kindergarten and grade 1, and then we walked into the

system, and we were quickly disillusioned.

It’s really exciting to be elected now and watching the changes

that are taking place. For instance, this week I was at a couple of

events where I got to go on a playground. You know, I’m a farmer, but I

did learn this weekend that I can climb a ropes course in heels, which

was really exciting — in the pouring rain.

At one time, I was the DPAC president and then went on to a

trustee, watching parents fundraising at these exciting nights that the

member opposite was talking about to build basic things like a

playground and the amount of money that had to go into that.

[10:15 a.m.]

In the last three years, actually since 2018, just in my riding,

or in the Langleys, I have been able to see six playgrounds — two of

them. at $125,000 each, that are accessible — go in, and those were ones

that I got to visit this week. Accessible playgrounds were something

that a PAC just couldn’t possibly imagine building. I mean, you’d be, as

a parent, fundraising for a playground your child will never have the

opportunity to go on, to raise that much money.

The community gaming grants over the last three years — nearly $30

million has funded programs at schools across the province, and 1,300

PACs and DPACs have actually received that funding in the 2021-2022

year. That is such a great thing, because I remember in 2009, when we

were told, as PACs, we could expect to see our gaming grants slashed in

half. So that was a whole lot of candy bags that would’ve had to be sold

to make up that. Programs, like the other things that PAC has had to

turn around and fundraise for — like sports grants for B.C. young

athletes and how those were cut….

These investments are something that I really was excited to have

the opportunity to talk about today, because these are the things that

make a big difference. Absolutely, the fundraising — the west Langley

PAC in my district had, during the period of time before the playground

program had started funding…. They raised $20,000.

The $20,000 they put in is such a huge achievement for PACs and

something that shouldn’t have ever had to have happened in years past,

and that’s why these grants, going forward, make a real difference and

benefit families and allow PACs to focus on more of the fun things

instead of the critical infrastructure that allows children to move and

play and grow and have the opportunity to have fun on their

breaks.

I really was excited to talk about that. It was a great week back

in the constituency.

K. Kirkpatrick: Thank you to the member, and thank you for all of the work that

she has done with PACs. The parents that participate and run PACs are

the backbone of the school programs.

I love raspberry yogurt. I really do. But I would not be able to

purchase raspberry yogurt at the cafeteria in my daughter’s high school

under these guidelines. I also love Girl Guide cookies. Who does not

love Girl Guide cookies? But we’re not going to be able to sell Girl

Guide cookies in the school, because they’re on the bad list.

So besides income, many other factors influence our food choices.

These include culture; personal preference; medical conditions such as

allergies, diabetes, gluten and lactose sensitivities; and sensory

issues. Many parents have raised their concerns that these guidelines

miss the mark on the dietary habits of many students and families,

particularly for children with disabilities.

For example, kiddos with autism may be sensitive to taste, smell,

colour and texture of foods. In fact, they may only want to eat one kind

of food over and over again, and now it might not be a food offered at

the cafeteria. This leads to exclusion, and unfortunately, the new food

guide has failed to take these into consideration.

I recall, when my child was young, sometimes I would just be

grateful she ate anything. Lunchtime, dinnertime — it was very

stressful. Food was stressful. But she wasn’t destroyed by the

occasional chocolate chip cookie. Today she has a healthy relationship

with food, and she makes good choices, because it’s about education and

it’s about balance.

Food is also a window into our diverse culture and history. It’s

an opportunity for our kids to experience food traditions that shouldn’t

be subject to restrictive food guidelines creating a list of foods to

promote food-shaming when someone judges or criticizes what others eat,

based on the idea that certain foods are listed as good foods and

certain as bad. It’s usually not deliberate and often with good

intentions. However, it would only hinder rather than develop a healthy

relationship with food.

Ultimately, food-shaming leads to negative feelings about food and

becomes the breeding ground for low self-esteem and eating disorders,

which is harmful for children, in both the short and long term.

Furthermore, the lack of food choices in schools could have the opposite

effect and lead to more children eating less healthy options.

[10:20 a.m.]

My daughter tells me that at her high school, many kids already

order McDonald’s, A&W, 7-Eleven and pizza to school through these

food delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber. Reducing options for

children will likely increase finding healthy foods

elsewhere.

CELEBRATING OUR SCHOOLS

J. Sims: It really is a pleasure to rise and speak in the House and, after

a week in the riding, to come here to talk about some pretty important

things.

First today I do want us to take a moment in our own seats to

reflect on the tragedy that happened in an elementary school in Texas

where kids were butchered, along with two teachers. It’s tragic,

heartbreaking for the families. I kept thinking about what it must have

been like to be a teacher and a student and to go back into that school

and to try to explain to those who are alive and to those who have lost

their friends and family and their loved ones.

The topic I have chosen for today is about celebrating our

schools. A school is the heart of a community. I don’t think there is

anyone in this room that would disagree with that. If we had any doubts,

I want us to reflect on how whenever a school is closed, no matter for

what reason, the community becomes mobilized. When school closures

happen, not only do we get a lot of media interest, but what happens is

that you get people in that community coming to life.

It’s because what happens in our schools is, yes, our kids go to

school there and learning happens. But so many other things happen in

our schools, whether it’s lunchtime, playtime, after school or before

school. There are so many community events that happen, and a community

loses its lifeline once a school disappears from it. It loses its heart.

That’s why I really wanted to stand up today and celebrate our

schools.

When you celebrate schools, you absolutely want to celebrate the

amazing people who work in our schools. I want to celebrate our

teachers. I want to celebrate our education assistants who do some

amazing work with kids with special needs. I want to celebrate our

support staff who make sure that our schools are clean. I want to

celebrate the principals, the vice-principals, the school trustees. I

want to celebrate the parents who devote hundreds and hundreds of

volunteer hours to make that school community what it is — truly, a

throbbing heart of every community.

During the last few years, we’ve been through some horrendous

challenges, and schools have had to adapt to those challenges. I want to

say that today, in those very schools, they are dealing with the results

of the pandemic. They are dealing with mental health issues. Teachers

are dealing with behaviour, social issues, financial impact on families.

I also want to say something I used to say a long time ago: teaching is

not about teaching a subject. It’s not about math, it’s not about

subject.

When you go into teaching, you go into teaching because you care

about kids. Even if you went in caring about your subject, because you

wanted to teach geography 12, I will tell you that good teachers, the

ones who survive in the system and who excel, are the ones who are there

for kids.

It’s not their high salaries or the Bentleys they drive that are

parked in every parking lot around the province — a joke — that attracts

people into the teaching profession. What attracts people into the

teaching profession is the love for teaching and their desire to make

the world a better place. Every teacher, every education assistant,

every principal — everybody who works in our schools — touches the lives

of the students in that school, and they’ve touched them for a long,

long time.

[10:25 a.m.]

I’m reminded of that, and maybe it’s my age right now. Wherever I

go — whether it’s here going out for a walk or whether I’m in Nanaimo,

in Surrey, or in Kelowna — I’m amazed at how many of my ex-students I

bump into. They always have a story to tell. Thank you to our teachers

for all the lives you touch. For so many of us in this room, we wouldn’t

be where we are today if it hadn’t been for some amazing teachers who

inspired us and who got us to be where we are.

Let me finish with this — I know that my first segment is coming

to an end: I absolutely believe that a good teacher is a teacher who

looks beyond the subject and who cares about the kids they teach. If

they care about the kids they teach, then they have to care about every

ism that walks into that classroom, whether it’s sexism, gender issues,

racism, poverty or domestic violence. All that happens outside in the

communities walks into the classroom with the kids.

Our kids can’t park those things at the door and then walk in. As

a result, teachers have to get involved in policy-making, become active

and engaged. They volunteer in our communities. They coach before

school, after school. They run leadership clubs, and they give up many,

many more hours than the hours they spend actually in the classroom. Why

do they do that? It’s because they care about the kids, and they want to

make sure that the kids have those opportunities.

I want all of us in this room — not just for teachers but for our

other education workers, people who work in our schools — when you go

back into your ridings or when you’re out there, to go out and let them

know how much we appreciate what they do. You let them know what it

means to you. Connect with an old teacher who, for some of you, may

still be around. For some of us, some of them are not, right?

School is the heart of our community, and I’m so proud of our

government that is investing in schools, investing in education, to make

sure that the heart of our communities is palpable.

T. Halford: I am pleased to rise to speak to this motion today, Without a

doubt, I know that it’s our top priority to ensure the safety of

students in British Columbia. Children in our communities play, learn,

grow and do so much more at school. The classroom is where they spend

most of their days discovering who they are, learning their curriculum,

informing a lens through which they will see the world.

I do want to take the time and thank the member for

Surrey-Panorama for reflecting on the horrific tragedy we saw last week

in Texas. Words won’t do it justice. Thoughts and prayers won’t help. I

will say that on the opportunities that I have to walk my kids to

school, particularly my daughter, when I walk her into her grade two

classroom every morning — I know that other members in this House have

that opportunity, whether it’s their own children, grandchildren or

children close to them — it never crosses my mind that a tragedy like

this could occur.

I guess that’s a blessing for where we live, but it is also

absolutely incomprehensible to see the stories that we are seeing every

night on the news right now and that we continue to see. That is

something, I know, as a parent, that I struggle with more and more. When

our kids are exposed to this and they’re going into class, they need to

feel that they are safe. Their teachers and the educational assistants

need to feel that they are safe. The people that are in that school need

to feel they’re safe.

Now, education is prominent in my family. My brother is a teacher

in the district of Surrey. My sister is an educational assistant in

Surrey. In our community of Surrey, school district 36 has 103

elementary schools, 21 secondary schools and five student learning

centres. I’m sure if I’m wrong on that information, my colleague and

friend from Surrey-Panorama will point it out in her next

remarks.

[10:30 a.m.]

Our schools are the heart of our communities. As of September

2021, the Surrey school district has almost 75,000 students, and that is

continuing to grow.

As we know, those students in Surrey and all students across the

province should have access to quality education and safe learning

environments, and a safe learning environment can mean a few different

things. It can be an environment free of bullying. I think that we’ve

seen stories in the past. Maybe we’ve experienced it ourselves. Maybe

our kids have experienced it. Or it’s perhaps one that is inclusive and

accessible for students of all kinds, especially those with diverse

needs, whether that be autism….

We can consider a safe learning environment to be more literal and

fundamental in the sense in which we ought to consider the learning

conditions and the safety of the buildings our children go to school in

as well as the spaces that our teachers and support staff work

in.

In 2017, the current government promised British Columbians that

it would “accelerate the seismic upgrade program for B.C., making

schools safer for our kids should an earthquake happen during school

hours.” I applaud that as well.

Interjection.

T. Halford: We good? Okay.

Interjection.

T. Halford: You do not know. Somebody chirps while you are talking about

seismically upgrading schools….

Interjection.

Deputy Speaker: Okay, Members. One member has the floor, so let’s stick with it.

If there does need to be an intervention, then the Chair will make it.

Thank you.

T. Halford: That was a quote from 2017 that I was reading into the record, so

I don’t know how that would be a partisan attack. I will leave that in

the capable hands of you, Chair.

As the latest report from the Ministry of Education — the current

government has a net increase of 38 completed schools in five years, 23

under construction and preceding construction when we left government.

Within those five years in my riding alone, only one school has received

seismic upgrades. It’s not a pattern that gives us pride or a desire to

celebrate our schools.

As our children appear, we need to make sure that when they’re

going to a school, those schools are seismically upgraded, and that

needs to be a priority of not past governments, current governments.

Every government needs to make sure that our schools are

safe.

Alarmingly, in Surrey, there are over 300 portables being used,

despite the government’s promise to eliminate portables in 2017. Being

forced to learn in portables should not be celebrated. Being forced to

learn in unsafe buildings should not be celebrated. In doing so, we need

to make sure that in districts such as Surrey, we are doing everything

possible to make sure that we are putting our children at the best place

possible to learn.

J. Sims: I want to thank my colleague for his words and his support for our

education system, of the schools being the heart of our

communities.

I want to say that, absolutely, if schools are the heart of our

community, we also have to be building schools. I am so proud of the

schools that have been built. I want to say that I’m proud of the fact

that 11½ thousand new spaces have been created in Surrey since

I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the deficit in

the infrastructure that’s needed for education. I do want to say that

the seismic upgrading…. Record amounts of investments are being done in

that area right around the province, including in Surrey.

I want to get back to what actually happens in our schools, what

makes them the heart of our communities. I want to talk about the

amazing music programs that happen in our schools right around the

province. I want to thank the teachers who work extraordinary hours and

have to do fundraising and all kinds of things in order to run some of

their programs, in order for the kids to participate in some

inter-district competitions and to play.

To all of the coaches…. Let me tell you that I haven’t met a

teacher or a coach or an education assistant or a principal who loves to

fundraise, right? They don’t. But they do it, and they do it in their

own time. They do it after school. They do car washes at the weekends.

Why? In order to run some of the programs and to give the kids who may

not have other opportunities really rich experiences that they may not

get otherwise.

I think about the STEM competitions that are happening around the

district that makes them part of our new technology and our growing

technology sector, and how important they are. I look at the grant

writing that teachers have to do in their own time.

[10:35 a.m.]

I look at how much the job of a counsellor has changed. They tell

me now that they don’t even have time to do too much counselling, per

se, because they’re dealing with emergency interventions due to many

factors outside of their control.

I want to think about all the athletics, ultimate frisbee,

kabaddi, rugby, badminton, floor hockey, girls’ soccer, cricket, golf,

track and field. I’m sure I’ve left out something — lacrosse. Everything

else that is being supported by teachers who work in classrooms but also

by parents who go into our schools and volunteer.

Let us today put aside our partisanship and celebrate the amazing

spaces we call schools. Schools are the heart of our community. Let

every one of us push for investments into those schools to make them the

very best they can be for every single child.

COST PRESSURES FOR FARMERS

I. Paton: Farmers, like all British Columbians, are facing rising costs

everywhere they turn, and these pressures are impacting their operations

in big ways. We all know people are feeling pain at the pumps. With gas

prices that have gone well past the $2.30-a-litre mark, it hurts to fill

up the family sedan. It hurts to fill up the work truck. And if you’re a

farmer, it really, really hurts to fill up your vehicles and your farm

equipment.

I’ve raised the case of Felix Farms, in Delta, where Peter Guichon

runs a 1,200-acre operation of mostly potatoes, grain crops, pumpkins,

etc. His machinery and equipment run on both diesel and gas — mostly

diesel. In 2021, total costs for both were more than $263,000. This year

Mr. Guichon is predicting as much as an 80 percent increase compared to

last year. If do you the math, that could put him at close to half a

million dollars in fuel costs alone this coming summer.

That is not the only thing weighing heavily on this farmer’s mind.

It’s just one of the three Fs — fuel, feed and fertilizer — which are

hurting farmers tremendously all over the world. Mr. Guichon expects his

annual fertilizer bill to be up about 66 percent this year compared to

We hear the same story across the country. Ontario farmer Terry

Byrne told the Toronto Star that starter dry fertilizer cost

him $117 an acre for this growing season, nearly double what he paid

last year. He’s also seeing a 250 percent increase for anhydrous ammonia

fertilizer. Last year it was $63 an acre; this year it’s $221 an

acre.

These skyrocketing costs are due in part to global supply chain

issues, weather, high demand and rising natural gas prices, but they

also have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the

uncertainty around crude oil supply. A farmer can’t even get fertilizer,

because there is a low supply all over the world this year. B.C. Stats

reports that Canada’s number one import from Russia last year were

mineral, chemical and nitrogen-based fertilizers, and the lack of usual

shipments is indeed affecting farmers here in British

Columbia.

Then we get to the third F, feed. The cost of feeding animals has

gone up thanks to rising grain prices due to droughts in the Prairies,

as well as the devastating heat dome and floods that hit our province

last year.

Here’s a little side note that just happened last week. Vanderhoof

auction market, in May, usually gets about 500 head a week to the

auction sale date. Last week 2,300 head of cattle showed up in trucks

and cattle liners and trailers to go through the auction, because

farmers in this province cannot afford to feed their cattle through this

summer or find feed to feed their cattle. Suddenly you go from 500 head

going through an auction market in Vanderhoof to 2,300 head in one

week.

The conflict in Ukraine is also leading to higher costs, as the

usual exports of supplies like wheat, barley and corn that are milled

into feed are no longer leaving the countries of Russia and Ukraine. We

know that Ukraine is one of the most important grain exporters in the

world.

Meanwhile, farmers are also reporting a challenge to get hay. When

they can find some, they’re having to pay 20 to 40 percent more for hay

in this province. I’m sure all members of this House also know that many

farmers and ranchers lost their hay stocks to last November’s floods. I

was proud of our local farm community in Delta: farmers, truckers,

volunteers of all types who rallied together to make donations to

operations in need in the Interior of this province. But many farmers

and ranchers have had to scrounge hay from various sources over the last

several months.

[10:40 a.m.]

Farmer Julia Smith near Merritt told the Vancouver Sun

back in March: “Some people can’t find hay, and they are thinking, ‘Can

I find $500-a-tonne hay until turnout in May and, if so, what’s that

going to do to my bottom line?’” She noted that in the past, hay cost

about $210 a tonne as opposed to the current $500 a tonne for

hay.

Meanwhile, Abbotsford dairy farmer Casey Pruim, who also serves as

a director for the B.C. Dairy Association, also told the Vancouver

Sun that the cost of grains had shot up about 30 percent due to

the prairie drought. Last summer’s heat dome also dried up a lot of his

supply. He also noted how many farmers lost not only livestock and

equipment due to the floods but cold crops and blueberry crops, as

floodwaters covered their fields and then froze this winter.

All of these factors, along with inflation, which is the highest

it’s been in three decades, are making it harder and harder for farmers

to succeed. The challenges and rising costs they face are indeed

impacting consumers as the price of food continues to rise. More and

more people are choosing to visit restaurants less often, switching to

cheaper brands at the grocery store and cutting back on meat and fresh

produce. We also see more people experiencing food

insecurity.

Earlier this month the Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s chief

operating officer, Cynthia Boulter, told CBC: “We’ve seen 800 to 900 new

clients sign up for support with us each month. That’s easily double

what we were seeing last year. It’s quite alarming, honestly.” She’s

right. It’s incredibly alarming.

With all this in mind, it’s imperative that the government find

ways to support B.C. farmers and ranchers and provide them with some

relief to ease many of these pressures. After the devastating year of

fires, floods, the heat dome and other factors that I’ve just outlined,

they need our help more than ever.

Consumers can do their part, as well, where they’re able, because

they’re under financial stress as well. But trying to buy local and

supporting B.C.’s farm families is always a good practice. It’s a

win-win for all of us.

R. Leonard: The member for Delta South has raised the matter of the challenges

of cost pressures for farmers. I would respond first by paying homage to

those who choose the hard work and risk-taking of farming. People who

choose to work on the land are a strong lot, not only physically but

strong of spirit, as they face the myriad risks and uncertainties that

come with farming.

We’re all keenly aware of the devastation of November’s floods in

the Fraser Valley and, in Merritt and Princeton, the wildfires of the

past few years and the heat dome last year. In the case of the

unprecedented flooding, the announcement of $228 million in

federal-provincial flood recovery funding got the nod, across the board,

from those representing agriculture, dairy, cattlemen and the chicken

industries. The program reduces eligibility barriers, increases

compensation rates and alleviates the headache of those heavy

administrative burdens for farmers to access funds.

It’s not just cost relief from the public purse. Farmers and

neighbours have banded together, with extraordinary generosity, to

support those who have been burdened by this catastrophe. In a free

market system, competition may be part of agriculture, but in good times

and in bad, helping each other is a part of the way of life in farming

communities everywhere.

Our Minister of Agriculture has highlighted how farmers are faring

in the long, ongoing recovery mode, long after the storm has passed. She

notes that, yes, they are stronger, but they’re also tired. The best way

you and I can show support to our farmers is to buy B.C. products today

and into the future.

Turning to pestilence, crop qualities and yields, there are

helpful agricultural advances. But they come with added costs, and our

government has been there to support farmers. Started in 2018, the

hazelnut renewal program has stimulated the tripling of this crop with

the planting of blight-resistant nut trees, even on Vancouver Island.

Their association had a field day earlier this month at our Coastal

Black Estate Winery. The fruit tree replant program is another success

story, as more and more orchards are increasing their yields, and the

raspberry replant program is revitalizing that industry.

We don’t have agriculture if we don’t have farmers. One cost

pressure for new and young farmers is the cost of land. Sarah Wilson of

Pendleton Farm became the 200th new farmer to gain secure access to

farmland in Merville for her vegetable market garden, through the

support of our government’s land matching program. It’s seen farmland

from 0.4 hectares to thousands of hectares coming into production by

well-supported new farmers.

[10:45 a.m.]

There’s no question that global inflation is resulting in the cost

of farm operations going up, as is the price of groceries for all people

in B.C. In large part, it’s caused by the supply chain constraints first

brought on by the pandemic, then by war. The cost of feed for livestock

is up, and the cost of fertilizer is up. The cost of energy is

up.

Our government is committed to bolstering food security for

British Columbians as we provide more opportunities for farmers,

ranchers and producers through our programs — Grow B.C., Feed B.C. and

Buy B.C. — to expand food production and increase access to local food,

particularly in our public institutions. Strong local food production

means a secure food supply, which helps insulate us against global and

market inflation. One advantage of growing for local markets is easy to

see, because lowering transportation times means lowering the expense of

getting products to market.

Then there’s this one: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Exporting only, without developing local markets, can really hurt. The

pandemic saw borders shut down, along with the movement of

foodstuffs.

B.C. hazelnuts are marketed in B.C., with growing local demand.

This helped create price stability for our nut farmers, compared to

other jurisdictions that rely on global markets where they saw price

reductions.

Farmers and ranchers are resilient. There are a lot of pressures

outside their control, but they have proven they can flex with changing

conditions and are open to moving forward in new ways, with a government

that supports them and is intent on food security. Everyone is a winner

when we grow B.C., feed B.C. and buy B.C. We can be positive and

constructive, or we can fill the air with negativity and

finger-pointing. But long-term success needs

the perseverance that farmers show us every day.

Thank you to the farmers of British Columbia.

I. Paton: Thank you to the hon. member, and thank you to the member opposite

for her thoughtful response.

It’s an exciting week here for our final week of the spring

session at the Legislature. We have the B.C. Dairy Association here

tonight and tomorrow, and we have the B.C. Cattlemen’s here, on

Thursday, for Beef Day. We’re all going to get baron of beef on a bun at

lunchtime on Thursday.

I think every member of this House does acknowledge and appreciate

the vital work of B.C. farmers and ranchers and everyone involved in the

food production process. Food is an essential part of our lives. We need

it to survive. It’s social. It’s celebratory. It brings us all

together.

We continue to find ourselves in challenging times right now.

We’re trying our best to move on from this pandemic. But high inflation

is stressing us out every time we look at the grocery bill or the gas

gauge or our bank account. World conflicts and events create tension and

worry. Sometimes it’s that special meal on the table, prepared and

shared with the ones we care about, that gives us reassurance that

things will be okay.

The very farmers and ranchers who are experiencing some of those

same worries and concerns as the rest of us continue to put in long

hours day after day to put that food on our tables and to give us that

sense of comfort and relief. We owe them a debt of gratitude in these

particularly challenging times.

Many say that this will be the most expensive year in Canadian

history for farming. I often remark that farmers are very resilient

people. They are. But they also need our support. I continue to advocate

for financial incentives and tax relief for farmers, such as carbon tax

rebates, tax credits for those transitioning to electric farm equipment

and the expansion of the food donation tax credit. These types of steps

would help make life more affordable for farmers in the future and help

those finding it difficult to turn a profit.

Input costs for farming — related to transportation, supply

chains, labour costs and labour shortages — are skyrocketing. When it

comes to feed, fuel and fertilizer, everything has doubled in the past

year, because farming has become increasingly unaffordable.

Unfortunately, that’s due to some measures at the federal and provincial

level, including the introduction of an employers health tax, increased

carbon taxes without revenue neutrality and the high insurance

premiums.

Even routine increases to the minimum wage are a factor. Farmers

appreciate their workers and know they deserve a good wage, when they

know their business can handle the cost increase. However, the

government has increased costs and taxation fees and the like, which is

impacting the bottom line to the point that we have fewer farmers in our

province today. British Columbia reported fewer farms in last year’s

census on agriculture, with losses outpacing the national average. The

province was home to 15,000 farms last year, a decline of 10

percent.

[10:50 a.m.]

I’ve always said that it’s not farmland without farmers. We must

do more to support our valued farmers and ranchers to keep them in

business and to keep British Columbia food secure.

ACCESSABILITY WEEK

D. Coulter: I’m happy to be here this morning to recognize and celebrate

celebrated AccessAbility Week here in B.C. but the first since we’ve had

our own Accessible B.C. Act in place.

As my colleagues know, over 20 years ago, I suffered a spinal cord

injury in the workplace. It was life-changing. Since then, I have become

very aware of how our world is designed for able-bodied people. Before

my injury, I had no idea about the barriers that I would face on a daily

basis. I didn’t realize all of the places that I wouldn’t be able to

access.

The former member for Surrey South once said that she could only

visit about 10 percent of her friends in their homes. I found it to be

the same for myself. This limits wheelchair users’ social lives and

their full participation in their communities. This is but one way that

I have come up against barriers because of my spinal cord

injury.

Like I had no idea of the barriers that I would face before, I

don’t fully understand the barriers that folks with different

disabilities face. That’s why it’s so important to have people with

disabilities at the centre of this work. There are over 926,000 people

in British Columbia living with some kind of disability. We owe it to

them to make our province more accessible and inclusive.

As part of promoting a more accessible and inclusive British

Columbia, last year we introduced the Accessible British Columbia Act.

The act establishes the framework to identify, prevent and remove

overcome. As a wheelchair user, I have experienced the challenges faced

by the lack of curb cuts, or so-called accessible parking spaces, not

allowing enough room to safely manoeuvre in and out of my car. But

barriers aren’t only physical. Barriers also include attitudes and the

mistaken belief that people with disabilities might not be up to the

challenge.

standards. That’s the Minister of Social Development and Poverty

Reduction. The majority of members on that committee have some sort of

disability. It is a requirement under the act that at least half of the

committee members have a disability or represent a disability-serving

organization. This is because of one of the overarching principles in

implementing the Accessible British Columbia Act: “Nothing about us,

without us.”

Our committee members have a range of disabilities. At our last

meeting, members shared innovations that removed barriers for them and

helped level the playing field. For example, being able to attend a

meeting virtually instead of in-person meant not wasting 45 minutes

finding an accessible parking space. Or using virtual technology for

meetings so that long-distance travel isn’t required. Or using an app on

a smartphone to make reading restaurant menus easier. Or including more

subheadings to make it easier for a blind person to navigate a long

document with a screen reader. As a sighted person, I appreciate

subheads in long documents myself.

It’s something simple that we can all do to make communication

features built into them that we need to start using as a matter of

it to become second nature and built into everything we do.

year, our government introduced StrongerBC, our economic plan. Building

an inclusive economy that works for everyone is one of the pillars of

that plan. Our economy can’t work for everyone if there are barriers to

participation. The Accessible British Columbia Act is meant to create a

[10:55 a.m.]

Over the last year, we have made steady progress in implementing

proud to be co-chair of was appointed in December. In April, the

Accessible B.C. regulation was introduced.

Under this regulation, over 750 public sector organizations will

have until September 2023 to meet core requirements of the act. They

concerns from the public they provide services to, as well as from their

own employees.

The Accessible B.C. Act also provides a short list of potential

delivery of services, the built environment, information and

communications, transportation, health, education and procurement. This

is not an exhaustive list.

What could a standard look like? If we look at employment, it

might mean modifying workstations, having flexible hours or even how a

committee will start to work on the first two standards. They’ll be

supported by technical committees, which will include people with

disabilities, as well as experts in the standards being

developed.

Core to the standards development, as with all aspects of the

legislation, is, again, the principle of “nothing about us, without us.”

Consultation will occur as standards are developed. Once finished, they

will become regulations under the act. When the Accessible British

Columbia Act received royal assent last year, we noted that it was the

start of a journey. One year later, that journey is well

underway.

I look forward to my colleague’s remarks.

Deputy Speaker: Just a reminder to members that phones are not used in the chamber

for taking of photographs.

M. Bernier: I’m pleased to rise today in recognition of National AccessAbility

Week. This is an opportunity for all of us to be celebrating the

invaluable contributions of British Columbians with disabilities, and

also reflect on what it means to build a more accessible and

disability-inclusive province.

I want to thank the member who spoke before me, who brought this

forward today. The member for Chilliwack obviously comes from a

perspective that understands the challenges and the barriers that we

face in day-to-day life that, I will say, people like myself maybe take

for granted. We need to bring awareness to some of the challenges that

people face.

Over 20 percent of the people in British Columbia live with some

sort of disability. That’s one in five people that are facing barriers

daily here in the province. Whether it’s in the built environment, or in

our own biases or attitudes, this is stuff we need to work on. We cannot

afford to leave any British Columbian behind. Remember that

This year’s theme is “Inclusive from the start.” It asks for us to

go beyond just accommodating people with disabilities and, instead, be

disability-inclusive right from the start. I think a lot of us think of

talking about, maybe, entering a business, an organization or a home.

That’s not how we should be looking at this. That is not how it should

be approached.

I look at the housing unaffordability crisis facing our province

right now, but we need to remember there’s a second crisis, as well,

when it comes to housing, and that’s the lack of accessible housing that

we have in the province. It’s hard enough to find a place to live or to

rent. Now imagine trying to find a place that’s accessible to be able to

rent or to live.

When we talk about the theme being inclusive from the start, we

need to be thinking about that in everything we do. How we’re building

our infrastructure, how we’re designing our businesses and even our own

culture of how we’re accepting people with disabilities.

We also need to remember, as our province is aging, the aging

population. We need to look at our housing, our design, our

infrastructure, and make sure that we do everything we can to allow

people to age in their own homes, because that will help society. It

will help the people themselves, which is what we’re trying to

do.

[11:00 a.m.]

Again, if there is 20 percent of the people in our province who

are dealing with some form of disability, we need to be doing what we

can to ensure that that part of our population is not left behind. Our

housing should not be designed to exclude anyone, by design, because

everybody is entitled to a place to call home. We need to be thinking of

that all the time.

This week is not only about recognizing the achievements of

British Columbians with disabilities. It’s also a time for the rest of

us to think about that and to commit to change. People with disabilities

demonstrate remarkable resilience every single day as they overcome

barriers and challenges. What if we work towards creating a society that

did not necessitate resilience just for survival?

As members of this Legislative Assembly, we can work together in

tackling these barriers to full participation. This means working with

our counterparts federally and municipally but also facing our own

biases and educating ourselves on how we can best support British

Columbians with disabilities.

If it’s not accessible, then it’s not acceptable. We all have a

responsibility to shape a more accessible and disability-inclusive

British Columbia, working together.

D. Coulter: I’d like to thank the member for Peace River South for his

comments. I do feel a lot of support for the work in this House from all

sides.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

On this AccessAbility Week, I want to thank and recognize all the

advocates and organizations that serve people with disabilities. And I

want to thank all the people living with disabilities and sharing their

experiences for their patience as we work to make our province more

inclusive. We have to acknowledge and celebrate their hard work and

introduced last year.

During AccessAbility Week, this is even more important. People

with disabilities have diverse interests, talents and experiences that

contribute richly to our society, culture and economy. We all benefit

when their voices are heard and listened to. We’re forging a new way

forward that breaks down barriers, promotes fairness and equity and

creates cultures and spaces that embrace inclusion.

This AccessAbility Week I ask you to learn about the disability

community and the barriers people with disabilities face. I ask you to

learn more about what you can do to help remove those barriers, and I

ask you to recognize and celebrate their achievements.

I ask you, tomorrow, over the lunch hour, to join us in the Hall

of Honour so that we can celebrate AccessAbility Week. I invite all

members of this House to do that. We’ll be announcing something

committee will be there, and it’ll be a great chance to meet some

amazing people from across the province.

By working together, I’m confident that we can achieve a

barrier-free B.C.

Hon. M. Dean: I ask that the House consider proceeding with Motion 13,

standing in the name of the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin.

Deputy Speaker: Prior to calling upon the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin, unanimous

consent is required to proceed with Motion 13 without disturbing the

priorities of other items on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 13 — MUSEUM

REPLACEMENT

PROJECT

L. Doerkson: I’d like to move the motion.

[Be it resolved that this House does not support the plan to rebuild

the Royal British Columbia Museum for 789 million dollars.]

I, like so many British Columbians, was shocked two weeks ago when

this NDP government announced their plan to demolish and rebuild the

Royal B.C. Museum for nearly a billion dollars. I was stunned that,

seemingly out of the blue, the government decided a complete rebuild was

necessary, that they plan to close the museum for nearly eight years

and, most of all, that the government wants to spend such an

extraordinary amount of money on the project at a time like

this.

[11:05 a.m.]

B.C. is in the middle of an affordability crisis.

Every­thing from food to housing to gas is more expensive than

ever before. Nearly half of British Columbians are only $200 away from

insolvency, and they’re having to choose between groceries and gas for

their vehicle. One in five people do not have a doctor. Our walk-in

clinics have the longest wait times in the entire country, and our

hospitals are reaching the breaking point.

In every corner of the province, people are crying out to the

government for help. They’re asking for much-needed relief and feeling

utterly abandoned by a government who promised them repeatedly that they

would “make life more affordable.”

It’s clear that the NDP government has not kept their promise. In

fact, by nearly every single metric, life has become dramatically less

affordable in the last five years. Against the backdrop of all of these

critical issues, problems that are impacting people every single day,

our out-of-touch NDP government, the members on the other side of this

House, have decided that they would spend a billion taxpayer dollars on

a museum project that no one asked for.

The anger, the frustration and the hurt in my constituency about

this news is raw, and it’s real. People who were already feeling

forgotten by the NDP feel completely betrayed by this announcement. It’s

not because they dislike museums. It’s because they can now clearly see

this government’s priority on display. The museum project decidedly

proves that people, particularly those in rural British Columbia, are

not as valuable to this government as building a monument to their

legacy.

Nearly a billion dollars is so much money. It’s money that could

be used to do so much good in our communities. It could help to lower

the cost of gas, which would, in turn, lower groceries and other goods

dramatically and make them cheaper. It could fund more nursing and

medical school spaces to train people to staff our hospitals.

In my constituency alone, there are so many infrastructure

projects that could use this funding. It could help finish the upgrades

to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, which have been

promised time and time again by this government. It could repair Canim

Lake Road and Horse Lake Road or the highway west of Tatla, east of

Tatla. It could repair Dog Creek Road and the slide area that has been

forgotten. It could be used to provide relief to many tourism operators

in the region who have had an incredibly difficult two years and have

been looking to this government for support.

Instead of addressing these many needs, our government, without

any meaningful public consultation, has chosen to spend the money on a

project in Victoria that no one wanted, and it won’t be completed for

eight years.

People deserve so much better from this government, especially one

that promised so much. There is no shortage of clear needs in this

province right now, problems that people are facing every single day and

they want addressed, only to realize that the NDP doesn’t care enough to

truly make it a priority. As an MLA who works every single day to try to

get government to invest in my community, it is beyond frustrating to

watch.

As members on the other side of this House have pointed out

numerous times over the last few weeks, government is about making

choices. I hope that it is clear to them by now, with respect to

spending almost a billion dollars to rebuild the Royal B.C. Museum, that

they understand they have made the wrong decision.

B. D’Eith: Hon. Speaker, I can’t support this motion. It’s based on the

premise that we can’t protect our shared and collective history while

also providing much-needed services to our community.

I do agree with the mover of the motion. Our government did

promise a lot, and we are delivering on those promises.

As a government, we choose to strengthen the economy while

introducing universal child care. As a government, we choose to build

new highways and bridges while supporting the arts and culture during

the pandemic. As a government, we choose to build new schools while

increasing income assistance and disability rates. Yes, as a government,

we choose to build a new provincial museum while hiring new doctors and

nurses. We can do both, and we will.

[11:10 a.m.]

Now at this point, we need to recognize that we have to support

the multiplicity of needs in our society while showing fiscal

responsibility, and we’ve done just that over the past five

years.

For 16 interminable years the members opposite always had an

excuse as to why they couldn’t pay teachers more money or why they had

to close 250 schools or why they had to cut funding to arts and culture.

I actually remember sitting in my office at Music B.C., and a minister

came into my office and said: “You know what? We have a huge health care

budget, and we have a huge education budget. Sorry, arts, you can’t get

anything. And if you say anything, you’ll never see another dollar.”

That’s exactly what happened. It happened in my office. Austerity was

the rule. It was about giving tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting

much-needed services to the public.

Instead of making ICBC better, they used it as a piggy bank to

prop up their budgets, to the detriment of insurance holders. Instead of

making life more affordable, they tolled bridges, like my bridge, and

doubled MSP premiums. Instead of protecting our heritage, they chose to

ignore the risk, and they punted the Royal B.C. Museum seismic upgrades

down the road.

Now, the Royal B.C. Museum has been in its current location since

1967. It has not been substantially renovated for 50 years. In 2010,

during the opposition’s rule, testing indicated that the Royal B.C.

Museum is at a seismic risk, putting the building and collections below

sea level at catastrophic risk should a seismic event occur.

Now, these issues came to the B.C. Liberal cabinet many times

since 2006, and finally their Finance Minister, in 2017, said: “Well,

maybe we should have a capital plan.”

Well, when we took government, that’s exactly what we did. Over

the last five years, we have developed a plan through consultation and

working with stakeholders and First Nations. The result became patently

clear. We couldn’t upgrade the building or move it to a new site for….

It was more money to do that than just to rebuild on the site. That’s

why that decision was made.

There are over seven million artifacts in the Royal B.C. Museum,

27 kilometres of archival records, and this new 23,000-square-metre

museum is focused on making the Royal B.C. Museum a world-leading museum

and gathering place.

Modernization will use mass timber to support our CleanBC

initiatives, and the museum will be designed with energy targets to

drive energy efficiency. The museum will address engagement and

importantly, there’ll be a new alignment with the United Nation

declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples so that we can reset the

relationship with Indigenous people and repatriate significant

Indigenous artifacts.

This will be done while committing less than 1 percent of the

provincial capital budget — less than 1 percent. We do have the largest

capital budget in B.C. history. Prior to the pandemic, the Royal B.C.

Museum hosted more than 880,000 visitors to the museum precinct each

year and 35,000 children. It’s an international tourist attraction, and

the new building will be a magnet for people from all over the world. We

must protect our shared history.

The old government — it was either-or. Our government — it’s

and-and. We can do these things. It’s about choices, and we choose to

put the needs of people first. We choose that over, basically, only

giving benefits to wealthy and well-connected people.

For these reasons and many, many more, I will not be supporting

this motion. I would love to hear what the opposition has to

say.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Before I recognize the next speaker, I would remind everyone who

has an opportunity to speak today that it is the motion, and I’d

appreciate you bringing your comments back towards the motion as you

share your thoughts.

Member for Vancouver-Langara.

M. Lee: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you very much for the

reminder.

[11:15 a.m.]

This is about a $1 billion decision by this government. This

government is making the choice in the face of British Columbians…. One

in five British Columbians is not getting access to family physicians —

and the highest gas prices in North America.

There’s an affordability challenge here in this province under

this government’s watch, yet this government, at this time, coming out

of this COVID-19 pandemic, is putting a billion dollars into a museum

that no one wanted and no one asked for. I know that as we continue to

walk with First Peoples on the path towards healing and reconciliation,

we all need to recognize that reshaping our public institutions is a

critical part of this journey.

Over the past few years, a dark light has been cast on the

fundamental changes that are needed for the Royal B.C. Museum — one of

the central institutions responsible for sharing our history, our

culture, our story and identity with the world. But British Columbians

expect that their government would undertake this crucial work in the

spirit of collaboration, both with Indigenous peoples and with all

British Columbians, so we can map out the best future for the Royal B.C.

Museum.

Like many British Columbians, I was certainly shocked by the

announcement that took place on May 13, because outside of a handful of

consultations, much of the celebration took place behind closed doors,

out of the purview of the public. British Columbians were surprised with

the announcement that a plan was now in place, one that would cost B.C.

taxpayers an incredible $789 million. If the changes of this museum are

to truly move forward reconciliation, these changes should be done in

consultation and with the support of the many diverse Indigenous

communities of our province.

The member for Maple Ridge–Mission just talked about the

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. We know what

standard the Indigenous communities expect this government and all

members of this House to be meeting. But we are not seeing that all

First Nations support or agree with this billion-dollar

project.

In a May 18 statement, the Tŝilhqot’in Nation voiced their

frustration with the current provincial government’s plans, with Chief

Alphonse saying: “Our nation has to fight for every dollar we receive to

improve the lives of our people, and it is a slap in the face to see

such an astronomical amount of spending on something as frivolous as the

Royal B.C. Museum.”

All of this raises critical questions. Is this truly the most

cost-effective way to reshape the museum? Is this the most effective way

to spend what will most likely amount to a billion dollars? It’s a

matter of priorities for this government, which are grossly misplaced.

There are countless initiatives and investments in each of our

communities that could improve the lives of our citizens today that

should take precedence over such an expensive project.

In my Vancouver-Langara constituency, seniors and their families

are in desperate need of the Sunset seniors centre. This area of

Vancouver has the highest population of seniors, and their needs are

outpacing the services available to them. The Sunset seniors centre will

provide much-needed space for health and wellness, nutritional support

and activities in the neighbourhood in which seniors have raised their

children and have their friends.

This is a project that I’ve been advocating for since I was

elected in 2017, through three successive Ministers of Municipal

Affairs. Both the municipal and federal governments have pledged their

share of funding, but the province has not provided the $4.5 million

required for this centre. The government has chosen to pursue other

alternatives in the face of this federal and city of Vancouver

partnership.

Government has defended this billion-dollar boondoggle, saying

that it is necessary to address the seismic concerns presented in the

museum. But they have failed to highlight the hundreds of schools and

institutions in dire need of similar upgrades.

Another example of a critical need in Vancouver-Langara is Langara

College, which has been waiting for years for provincial funding to help

them undertake seismic upgrades, particularly in the original building A

on 49th Avenue, as part of their master campus plan. They are in dire

need of this funding, support for upgrades that would cost a fraction of

this billion-dollar museum.

Langara College is surrounded by a massive rebuild of Vancouver as

a second town centre at Oakridge, along the Canada Line. It is a pathway

for so many students attending SFU and UBC as well as other

post-secondary institutions.

There are countless other examples that I’m sure my colleagues

could highlight, but I’ll certainly tell you that there are millions of

British Columbians who would rather see this NDP government use this

money to address more pressing and urgent needs than using a billion

dollars for this museum.

[11:20 a.m.]

A. Walker: I want to thank the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin for creating this

space for us to celebrate the history of our province, to recognize the

need for renewal and investment to the Royal B.C. Museum, and to share

with this House the importance that a cultural institution like this one

plays for inspiring our youth and for supporting the vibrant arts and

tourism sectors.

I asked my young daughters what their fondest memory was from the

museum. They haven’t been there since the pandemic, and they remembered

the woolly mammoth, not for the scale of the animal. They’d put their

hands on the ice, and it took them to the ice age. They remembered the

sea exhibit, and the sounds and the smell took them to the ocean. What

was most interesting to me was that they talked about the First Peoples

language exhibit and the Indigenous artifacts that were in that space,

and it opened their eyes to a history in this province that existed for

thousands of years before we called it British Columbia.

We need to make sure, we have a duty and responsibility to ensure

that the one million or so visitors that walk through the doors over

there are able to do so entering into a space that is fully accessible,

that is free from asbestos and other harmful carcinogens and is safe in

the event of an earthquake — not just for the 7 million artifacts that

exist in that space, but because we know there’s a good chance the

building will be full of people.

The B.C. Liberals in 2006 received a report that highlighted the

seismic liability of that building. They received two other similar

reports during the 16 years they were in power, and they did nothing

about it. In 2018, when our government was elected, we put forward, in

our 2019 throne speech, our intentions to modernize the museum. We

launched, in the summer of 2019, a massive engagement session that

brought the public together with First Nations to have a voice for what

they wanted to see on this site, and we continued this important work

all the way through the pandemic.

We know from the business case — it’s a publicly accessible

document — that we have five options to consider. We can do nothing at

all, notably not addressing the seismic issues, not addressing the

asbestos, and we know that that has a price tag of $89 million. We can

rebuild a new, modern museum for $790 million, or we can repair and

abate the existing museum for $1.043 billion. Let us remember that we

will have to address the seismic and carcinogenic risks at some point in

the future, and every year that we put this off adds hundreds of

millions of dollars in additional costs.

It makes me wonder, if this had been addressed in 2006, when the

B.C. Liberals were in charge, how many hundreds of millions of dollars

we could have saved the taxpayers of this province. This is another

example of the B.C. Liberal legacy of under-investing in the people of

our province, and it is a stark contrast to the government of

today.

The previous government did not invest enough in training medical

professionals, and our current government is building a new medical

school in Surrey. It has doubled the number of nurse training seats

because we know that we’re in a health care crisis. The previous

government didn’t prioritize the construction of affordable housing, and

our government is committed to 114,000 new units of affordable

housing.

There is a cost to doing nothing. It is a burden, and it is a

legacy that gets passed on to future generations when we look not past

election cycles. Even in my own constituency of Parksville-Qualicum, for

the people of Nanaimo, we have two schools undergoing significant

seismic renovations right now. We have two other schools that are being

expanded significantly to get kids out of classrooms into a safe

environment, because kids deserve to be in a safe learning environment.

It’s because it wasn’t done when the B.C. Liberals were in

charge.

In 2013, there was an assessment done on the intensive care unit

at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Its assessment of the

50-year-old plant was that it was one of the worst in the country and

that it was putting the lives of patients at risk. It wasn’t until our

government took power that we moved that project forward. I am proud to

say that it will soon be serving the people of central Vancouver

Island.

This museum is one small piece of the largest capital investment

plan that this province has ever seen, $100 billion over eight years.

This museum represents less than 1 per cent of that. That’s $100 billion

for hospitals, for schools, for roads, for transit and for arts and

culture, because we know we need to make the lives of British

Columbians, now and in the future for generations to come,

better.

I want to take my last few moments here to thank the staff at the

museum — the curators, the archivists, the tour guides and everyone else

that makes this experience a truly world-class experience, something

that we can all be proud of. I want to take my last few seconds to thank

the Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport for her passion and

for her commitment to making the lives of everyday British Columbians

better every single day.

[11:25 a.m.]

B. Banman: I rise today to speak on the motion: “Be it resolved that this

House does not support the plan to rebuild the Royal British Columbia

Museum for 789 million dollars.”

It has now been more than two weeks since this government

announced its grandiose, pie-in-the-sky plan for the new Royal B.C.

Museum. Ever since the monumental price tag and timeline for this

project were announced, a question has been circling in my mind, and

this has probably been on the minds of millions of British Columbians:

what else could we do with a billion dollars?

A billion dollars is truly a mind-boggling amount of money. We

could bring a lot of positive change to our communities with that kind

of money. There’s certainly no shortage of challenges which our province

is currently facing, including an ongoing shortage of doctors, nurses

and other health care workers; an affordability crisis, impacting people

in every single corner of British Columbia; and the highest gas prices

in North America — all while our communities are still trying to recover

from the wildfires, the floods and the heat dome of last

year.

Six months after flooding devastated farmlands, homes and

neighbourhoods throughout Abbotsford and the Sumas Prairie, among other

regions in British Columbia, countless farmers and residents are still

waiting for their promised financial relief, like the disaster financial

assistance arrangements, so that they can recover their losses. With the

ongoing supply chain issues, as the prices of goods and foods in grocery

stores continue to skyrocket, we’re entering one of the most crucial

planting and harvest seasons to date. While many of our farmers are

trying to get their operations back to full capacity, they’re facing the

impending dangers of this year’s spring freshet and the growing warnings

that we could be in floods again.

A billion dollars would go a long way to support our farmers

during this crucial time, but this government has decided that its top

priority is not securing our food supply. It’s a grandiose,

pie-in-the-sky, billion-dollar vanity project museum. Many members

opposite will cite that this was the most cost-effective option. We’ve

heard that. But with little to no public disclosure or consultation

taking place before the May 13 announcement, it’s just hard to

believe.

I call it a billion-dollar project because, although the members

opposite promise that this will be on time and on budget, we’ve heard

that before. There are so many examples of project budgets and timelines

being grossly inflated under this government’s watch. No one would be

surprised if we don’t see this museum completed until well past 2030 and

with a price tag that could approach or pass a billion

dollars.

Take, for example, the RBCM collections and research building,

which was originally slated at $177 million. That project’s budget has

already grown to a whopping $224 million, a 27 percent increase, in a

year. Now, imagine if we saw that kind of cost escalation on a project

already slated at nearly $800 million. There are pressing issues at the

Royal B.C. Museum that need to be addressed, but for government to

assert that the cheapest and most effective solution, while hiding

behind closed doors without public consultation, is a billion-dollar

rebuild, quite frankly, is nothing short of laughable.

Think of how many doctors we could support with a billion dollars,

or how many schools we could build and how many we could seismically

upgrade. What this government is saying is that the safety of our

children is less important than a museum. Think of how a billion dollars

could help the people of Lytton rebuild their homes and lives and help

our communities prepare for, and protect themselves from, future climate

disasters.

No, we don’t want to spend it on improving the dikes to secure our

food supply….

[11:30 a.m.]

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

G. Lore: I do not support this motion. What I support is a safe, modern,

accessible, functioning museum — a museum that tells the story of

British Columbia and of the people who have made it what it is, a museum

that is seismically safe and where the artifacts, art and history that

it holds are not below sea level and are not at risk.

This is B.C.’s museum, but it is also Victoria’s museum, here in

the heart of my constituency. The other side — they knew the risks. They

knew it was not safe, that it was not functioning. The knew that the

people in it and the history it holds were not safe. They did nothing.

They did not do the right thing.

The action we’re taking is a step on our reconciliation journey.

There are totem poles across the street that cannot be returned because

we would have to take down the walls and lift off the roof to do so. The

Douglas treaty, wrapped in cedar, is somewhere in that building out of

view.

A treaty where nations agreed to share their land and signed a

blank document, a treaty where words were written in afterwards that

said the nations had sold their land to the Crown, forever tucked away

in a building with storage below sea level and that is seismically at

risk — how can we learn, and how can we possibly move forward

together?

I participated in the events two weeks ago. I participated in a

blanketing ceremony, where myself, the Ministers for Tourism, Arts and

Culture, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, and Agriculture —

along with the Chiefs from the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations, the new

CEO of the museum and other museum staff — were blanketed and blessed in

the 1910 Indian Shaker tradition,

an act of respect and

appreciation.

I heard the chiefs, Chief Thomas, saying that finally, it felt

like government was listening. I spoke with the newest members of the

repatriation team, young Indigenous leaders. The new museum will have

space for repatriation, a chance to do the right and necessary thing and

return to nations what belongs to them. For nations who want their

history and culture shared, the museum will have space for true learning

and connection.

Where are we now? A third floor that points B.C. history one way

and First Nations another, toward a gallery where you would think that

the people whose land we are on are gone, as if we are not part of the

same story. But we are, and that story needs to be told.

The new museum will be the first government project that partners

with local nations on the project team, participating in development and

history and culture, past and present.

I know that the next bit will be, for many, a challenge in my

community. I know my kids and many others will miss visits to the

mammoth and to the IMAX. I know the tourism sector here needs support.

It needs us to elevate and invest in the other incredible attractions

that are here. We have been working with Destination Greater Victoria

and are committed to continuing to do so.

More to the point, and unlike the other side, they, our partners

in tourism and business, know how important this plan is and how the

capital investment in the heart of our capital city in the inner harbour

will “elevate the Royal B.C. Museum to be globally competitive.”

Globally competitive, mass timber, safe and designed to meet CleanBC

goals.

For my constituents and my kids who will miss visits to the ocean

station, we are turning the museum inside out. We’re making more content

available to more British Columbians. Parts of the orca exhibit have

been found at the Bay Centre. Right now you can walk over to Fan Tan

Alley and see some of the exhibits that are now part of the museum

capturing local Chinese-Canadian history. Whale models might find their

new home down at the breakwater.

During the announcement, I had a chance to see some of the

travelling and satellite exhibits. I talked to the experts who are so

passionate about sharing some of the 27 kilometres worth of artifacts

with British Columbians in every corner of our province, and I am so

excited for people all over the province to have a chance to see and

participate in some of our shared history.

[11:35 a.m.]

A new museum is long overdue — for the safety of its visitors, for

barriers to be removed for access and to keep our incredible collections

and shared history safe and visible.

R. Merrifield: I’m proud to stand and take my place to debate the motion: “Be it

resolved that this House does not support the plan to rebuild the Royal

British Columbia Museum for 789 million dollars.”

The title of this speech should really be: “If I Had a Billion

Dollars.” While I’m going to save the House from any singing, you can

imagine the premise. You see, the song “If I Had a Million Dollars” is

really about what one would buy, a house, and what one would not buy, a

green dress — or a vanity museum — because that’s cruel.

At this point in time, with B.C.’s deficit and debt under this NDP

government the highest it has ever been, I could spend my time arguing

that we actually don’t have a billion dollars to spend. But if I were to

suspend reality and pretend that for a moment we do, I’ll tell you what

I would spend if I had a billion dollars.

Many of my colleagues have used their time to aptly outline the

unfathomable price tag this government has stuck on its almost-plan to

address the structural and cultural issues plaguing the Royal B.C.

Museum, so I’m not going to repeat those. I’m not going to argue whether

it’s important to have a museum, because as the flagship museum of our

province, the museum has always had the daunting task of protecting and

presenting our province’s shared history, especially the history of

B.C.’s Indigenous peoples.

Shocking revelations that have come to light over the past few

years have shown a need for a fundamental change in how we are sharing

our history and narrative, but why is this going to take a billion

dollars to accomplish, and why until 2030 to build?

Think about it. An entire generation of school children will not

get to experience the museum. There will be a financial cost to the city

of Victoria’s many tourism businesses as well. In committing to a

complete rebuild, who knows the impact on the small and independent

businesses in the area for the next half-decade when this major

attraction isn’t opened.

It’s not just the plan for the museum itself that has upset and

infuriated countless British Columbians, but how this government has

once again chosen to conduct and carry out its planning behind closed

doors. British Columbians were completely blindsided by this

announcement. It’s unacceptable that the business case, informed by zero

public consultation, doesn’t disclose vital information such as — oh, I

don’t know — the value for money analysis, construction cost breakdowns

or even the project’s risk matrix.

Before construction has even begun, this $1 billion museum is

already another example of the lack of transparency we’ve seen from this

government throughout their administration. If this was a project that

came across my desk as a CEO, there is no way it would get

approved.

If B.C. has a billion dollars, this is not how its residents want

us to spend it. British Columbians want money spent on getting family

physicians and reforming primary care, instead of the implosion they are

experiencing in the health care system. British Columbians want complex

care facilities for all who need them, including the facility, not just

scattered, random care. They want housing affordability. They want new

and improved transit and transportation throughout B.C. How about a

bypass in Kelowna?

They also want lower gas taxes so that 40 percent of their

paycheques aren’t going to fill up their tank, and so that their kids

can go to dance and soccer and they can get to work. They want better

affordability and lower cost of living.

They want new schools, like Glenmore secondary or Rutland Middle

School, so that their kids are out of portables or, wait, just in safe

schools. They want seismic upgrades to the schools that already exist.

They want daycare they can afford that is close to where they live and

work and during the hours that they require.

[11:40 a.m.]

It’s time for this government to rethink its approach and,

hopefully, find one that won’t cost a billion dollars, because if I had

a billion dollars, I would buy B.C. a house, or at least make it less

expensive to get one.

M. Starchuk: The Royal British Columbia Museum is at the end of its useful

life. It’s not seismically safe and doesn’t meet today’s building codes

risk.

We are building a new museum to protect our shared history.

Museums are at the heart of a just and knowledgable society. They

educate. They inspire. They house our culture and our history. They

create a sense of community and belonging. They allow us to better

understand our past, our present and shape our future.

Just for the record, there are some timelines, so I want to make

sure that we’re all clear on how much has been done.

In 2006, the first building assessment, which identified the need

for major seismic and structural improvements, was provided to the B.C.

Liberal government. In 2010, the museum brought forward a report asking

the B.C. Liberal government to invest in a new capital asset. In 2014,

the second seismic report was completed and delivered to the B.C.

Liberal government, which identified that major structural improvements

were still required.

The third seismic report was delivered in 2015, which again

identified that major structural improvements were required. This was

now nine years of the B.C. Liberal government’s inaction.

In 2017, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture was mandated to

work on the museum modernization. Project planning was initiated in

2018. In October of 2018, the government received a concept plan, as

required under the province’s capital asset management framework for

capital projects of over $50 million.

In December of 2018, government approved the concept plan,

prompting the development of a formal business case for the replacement

of the museum on the Victoria downtown site.

In February of 2019, the Speech from the Throne announced the

intention to modernize the museum, and in the summer of 2019, Indigenous

and public consultations were undertaken. Later in October, the

government and the museum released what we heard — a report of input

collected from engagement with the public, including Indigenous

communities throughout the province.

In February 2020, a commitment to modernize the museum was

reiterated in the throne speech, and in the spring, the government

received a preliminary business case and approved the development of the

collections and research building in Colwood and requested further

analysis related to the downtown museum.

In December of 2021, the business case was finalized by

Infrastructure B.C. with the input of the museum, the Ministry of

Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport and the Transportation Investment

Corp.

In February of this year, the commitment to modernize the museum

was again reiterated in the throne speech. In March, the government

approved the final business case for the downtown museum, and this

month, the government has announced the project timelines and business

case.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with a few constituents

of mine about the museum announcement. The first person I spoke with had

mobility issues. We spoke at great length as to the barriers that he

would face if he decided, today, to attempt access to the building and

its exhibits in today’s circumstances. He’s looking forward to the new

museum and its access to history that will be displayed in this

building.

can attain this for all British Columbians and visitors to the museum.

as the exhibitions and program development. The new museum, its

building, its exhibits and programs will be designed to accommodate a

broad range of abilities and needs so no one is left out.

Another constituent that I spoke to last week was interested in

the property of Indigenous belongings that were stolen from their lands.

They know that returning ancestral remains and cultural belongings is

essential for true and lasting reconciliation. The museum has been

repatriating Indigenous collections and ancestral remains for decades

and sees the museum project as an opportunity to advance this

work.

[11:45 a.m.]

We heard in the House a few weeks ago that there are some nations

that want their belongings returned. Some nations would like their

belongings to stay in the museum in some manner. We are working and

consulting with the nations to determine where these items will end

up.

To be clear, I do not support the motion from the member for

Cariboo-Chilcotin. Thanks to the MLA for Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows and

the MLA for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant for their work on this project. A

new museum is long overdue for the safety of all visitors, to remove

barriers so everyone can access it and to keep our irreplaceable

collections safe.

M. Bernier: Look, nobody is arguing the importance of supporting museums —

museums right across British Columbia. What this side of the House is

against is the NDP’s billion-dollar vanity museum project in the middle

of an affordability crisis.

For me, it seems like right now we are in A Tale of Two

Cities . So far, I think, the only number of people that we’ve

been able to find that support this vanity project…. The number is 57.

That seems to be all of the NDP MLAs. That seems to be the only people

that seem to be supporting this project at this time. Every single poll

that I have seen — 90 percent to 95 percent of the people in the

province of British Columbia have said that this is the wrong thing to

do at the wrong time.

When I’m sitting here listening to this today…. I can hear the

support, obviously, from 57 people in B.C., because every single one of

them have been told, and I say that respectfully, to support this

project. I can’t imagine that every single NDP MLA — that their office

is being inundated right now with phone calls and emails saying: “Thank

God you’re spending a billion dollars. This is the most important thing

to be doing right now in the province of British Columbia.”

I know this side of the House isn’t hearing that. I know we’re not

hearing that. I hear chuckles and laughter from the NDP, but I assume,

maybe, that’s what they’re hearing — that this is the most important

thing for their constituents. Wow.

Now, here’s the thing. If this NDP government does go ahead with

this vanity project, they’d better make sure that they go ahead and

still have a

section to celebrate things that have gone extinct in the

province of British Columbia, like the mammoth, like the dinosaurs and

like the NDP party. Because, truly, that’s what’s going to happen if

they continue to support this.

I can’t imagine members in the Fraser Valley right now — that

their constituents are saying: “Thank God you are spending a billion

dollars in Victoria on this new museum. Because I can’t afford to get

into my house right now. I can’t afford British Columbia right now, but

good on you.”

The member before me talked about the throne speech. Well, guess

what else was in the throne speech, twice: a $400 renters rebate. Is

that here? No. The NDP promised that they’d lower cell bills. Has that

happened? No. They said they’d lower gas prices. Has that happened? No.

They said they’d make life more affordable for the people of British

Columbia if they got elected. Has that happened? No, it’s only gotten

worse. But guess what. Let’s spend a billion dollars, in the middle of

an affordability crisis, on this vanity project to highlight the

Premier, to highlight this NDP government — something that nobody wants

in the first place.

Last week they tried to tout: “Oh, don’t worry. We’ve put out the

business case. Here’s the plan. But, by the way, we have to redact

almost a half of it because we really don’t want you to know what’s

going on.” Yet they try to tout and celebrate in this House that they’re

being open and transparent. Yet they’re doing nothing around that at

all.

Now, look. Every single one of us can talk about the importance

and projects that we have in our riding and where a billion dollars

could go. I look in my riding. First of all, we’ve got the dinosaur

museum in Tumbler Ridge. All the paleontological finds in the province

of British Columbia, for the most part, in that museum. A

state-of-the-art museum, I would say, done in an old school, done by

volunteers, done by local government donations. Why? Because, time and

time again, we have tried to get this government to invest in this

provincial museum, but because it’s not in downtown Victoria, they’ve

gotten zero. They get nothing. Yet we can spend a billion dollars on

this one down here.

We’re trying to get the Taylor Bridge replaced. The lifeline for

the North on the other side of the Rockies that connects all of

industry, all of our communities — is there a dollar for that? No. But

we can invest a billion dollars on a museum that nobody is asking for to

be replaced at this time.

[11:50 a.m.]

Look, it’s all about priorities. Government gets elected;

government gets to make priorities. This NDP government has a majority.

They can push this through. This obviously is the number one priority

for this NDP government.

I’m looking forward to…. Aside from just speaking notes, it’s

going to be interesting when they go back after the session rises to

continue to support and endorse this Premier’s project in their ridings

as the number one thing that their constituents want to see, which I

pretty well doubt is the case.

A. Mercier: I’ve been sitting here listening to the debate on this motion, and

I can say that I’ve heard a lot of overblown rhetoric about priorities

from the opposition. I think it’s a little rich to be lectured about

affordability for renters from a group of people who voted against a

rent freeze just recently.

Since we’ve come in, we have been focused on affordability. What

this motion is really about here today is this project, the

modernization of the Royal B.C. Museum — this priority and whether or

not we ought to be spending 1 percent of our capital budget prioritizing

and modernizing an important capital asset in downtown Victoria and the

jewel of our collective history.

Honestly, I’m not surprised by the take from the opposition. We’ve

heard from past opposition Premiers that Victoria is a sick place with a

sick culture. It is a place that they ignored when they were in

government for 16 years. It’s a feeling that I understand because I come

from an area that was ignored by the B.C. Liberal government, which is

Langley.

I spent the past three days, over the weekend and on Friday,

door-knocking in my constituency and talking to folks. I can tell you.

The priorities that are being brought up by the opposition here are not

the priorities that are on my constituents’ minds. The priority that is

on my constituents’ minds is the work that we are doing in the

community.

It’s important to put this into context. We have a $27 billion

capital plan. We’re building 17 new and expanded hospitals. We’re

building $1.2 million of seismic upgrades in B.C. schools and

transportation across the board: SkyTrain, the Broadway corridor,

Massey, the Pattullo. We’re working on workforce development. We’ve

announced $168 million in a new trades campus at BCIT.

This is significant and going to make a huge difference, but it’s

important that we also manage our other priorities as well. And when you

look at the Royal B.C. Museum, this modernization is badly needed and is

cost-effective. And it’s also going to create a whole slew of jobs in

the Victoria area.

Now, I know that when they were in government, they weren’t a

party that was focused on job creation. But we are creating so many jobs

right now that workforce development, ensuring that we have a trained

workforce, is a significant priority. This project will create 1,950

direct construction jobs in Victoria and over 1,000 indirect jobs in

manufacturing and engineering — in a whole bunch of different industries

related to the construction process.

That is going to create an opportunity for a generation of skilled

workers to get their apprenticeships over the lifetime of that project.

You can go in knowing nothing about construction, and you could leave as

a red seal carpenter or electrician. There is so much opportunity

here.

I guess the question that I have is: why wouldn’t the opposition

prioritize Victoria? Why wouldn’t they make capital assets in Victoria a

priority? The only answer I can come to is because they don’t think

capital infrastructure is a priority.

That’s not surprising, given that the old government closed over

250 schools in British Columbia. I mean, we had a good cataloguing of

the complete state of disrepair that they left the province in from the

member for Maple Ridge–Mission, which I think was very apt, and with the

attitude that was brought to government.

They had an opportunity, in 2006, to address this project, to

address the modernization of the B.C. Museum, and they chose not to. The

result of that is that it is now more expensive to do it than it was

previously. They chose not to act, because they don’t care about

Victoria. That’s clear from their actions. The subsequent Premier said

that it’s a sick culture and a sick place.

[11:55 a.m.]

But the fact is this is the most cost-effective way to deal with

the problems in the museum. There’s asbestos. There’s a need for space.

There’s the need to address the seismic risk in an institution that is

functionally one of the largest elementary schools in the province on

any given day, with busloads of kids going in there.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Addressing this is a real priority. It’s a priority for me. I

think it’s a priority for folks in Victoria, and it doesn’t take away

from the other work that we’re doing — from the investment in trades

seats, from the investment in making sure that there are doctors and

nurses, the 602 nursing seats we’ve announced across the

province.

I’m proud to speak to this, and I do think that we can afford to

have 1 percent of our capital budget address this important

issue.

T. Halford: I rise in support of this motion put forward by my colleague. I

would challenge the speaker previous, and I do this in good faith. Give

that speech to your local chamber of commerce and see what the reaction

is. I can guarantee you that reaction will…. It may surprise him, and if

it does, I’d be shocked.

Victoria to attend the Royal B.C. Museum…. For a family of four, it’s

going to cost probably over 400 bucks by the time you gas up the

minivan, round trip to the ferry. You haven’t fed anybody yet. You

haven’t bought your tickets.

In my riding here and, I would suggest in some of the neighbouring

Surrey ridings, $400 is quite a bit of money right now. In some

families, it’s not even covering the cost at Costco or Safeway. And

$400, and you think of that number. That was previously pointed out. The

previous speaker spoke about all the things that are being done for

renters, but the renters rebate: promised twice, not

delivered.

When we talk about a billion dollars to this museum…. We talk

about the priorities of this government, and we talk about the fact that

this government has prioritized a vanity project in the Premier’s

backyard at a time when we have hundreds of doctors protesting on our

front lawn, and we think it’s okay to trot out and announce a billion

dollars — no business case, no plan. It’s kind of like a blank cheque

with an open canvas. And then there was a bit of a surprise at the

negative reaction.

Now, I do find that I’ve had constituents that have come to me,

whether they were in meetings or approached me on the street, and said:

“What are they thinking?” Who had this brilliant idea to go out, when we

are in the midst of an affordability crisis, when one in five British

Columbians — almost one million British Columbians — don’t have access

to a doctor? Housing is at an all-time high. Gas prices are at an

all-time high. And we think it’s high time that British Columbians get

behind a billion-dollar museum? We’re going to go there, and we’re going

to defend it?

I have some sympathy for a lot of the NDP members that were

required to come in here today and speak against the motion. I know the

Premier pointed out that not everybody in caucus supported it, and maybe

that has changed. We saw that there was a lot of reference to the caucus

chair’s statement put out. If that’s the glowing endorsement of the NDP

support for the billion-dollar spend at the Royal B.C. Museum, “Whatever

he said, I’ll support,” I think you’ve got to be a little bit more

picky. Stand for something.

Even the energy in this room, when the members were speaking

today…. It’s like they’re going through the list, and you can tell. And

I get it. Maybe you’re hedging for 2024, when people will start to

challenge you on…. The fact is that this thing is sitting closed, empty,

fenced for two years.

[12:00 p.m.]

My daughter will not be able to go…. If the museum is on time,

she’ll be in there when she’s in grade 11. Grade 11. And that’s the

priority of this government? It’s a wonder.

We have challenges every single day, and this government

campaigned on making life more affordable. I’ll tell you that it is

astonishing that they challenge, every single day, British Columbians’

patience on a decision like this — a billion dollars. A billion

dollars.

We’re going to cut individualized funding for autism, but we’re

going to spend a billion dollars on a museum. That’s this government’s

priority. We’re not going to deliver on free contraception, but we’re

going to deliver a billion-dollar museum eight years from now. That’s

this government’s priority, time and time again.

T. Halford moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Dean moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 12:01 p.m.

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