Fourth Session, 42nd Parliament

(2023) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Afternoon Sitting

Issue No. 259

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Orders of the Day

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

D. Routley

E. Sturko

Hon. S. Robinson

K. Kirkpatrick

K. Paddon

E. Ross

A. Singh

P. Milobar

H. Yao

Hon. S. Malcolmson

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2023

The House met at 1:32 p.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Orders of the Day

Hon. S. Robinson: I call response to the Speech from the Throne.

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

D. Routley: It is indeed my pleasure to rise to second the motion that “We, His

Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of

British Columbia in session assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for

the gracious speech which Your Honour has addressed to us at the opening of

the present session.”

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

It is my pleasure indeed to speak in this House, and it always is.

It’s an honour to second this motion. It’s the first time I’ve done this in

the 18 years that I’ve been here, and I’m very thankful for that honour. I’m

very thankful to Her Honour for delivering this speech and giving the

acknowledgments that she did — and her particular acknowledgment to the

Indigenous peoples that we represent.

In my case, I’d like to acknowledge that the constituency I represent

encompasses the traditional territories of the Cowichan, the Penelakut, the

Halalt, the Snuneymuxw, the Stz’uminus and the Lyackson First Nations. It is

indeed an honour and always a privilege to operate in their territory, to

live and build a life, as all my constituents do.

I’d also like to thank my sweetheart, Leanne, for her endearing

support and her enduring support.

[1:35 p.m.]

We all know the challenges that we face in this job. They’re not

always just in terms of time. It’s a stressful place to exist. We do hope

for better things for our constituents, but I think our constituents hope

for a better tone from their leadership. I think this House endeavours to

deliver that, and I will do that myself today.

I’d also like to give special thanks to the member for Langford–Juan

de Fuca for his service as the Premier of British Columbia. My friend — if I

may, John Horgan — has been a long and deep influence in my life. His

friendship has been so important to me. Watching him take on the role of

Premier and become so enduringly attached to the people of the province, to

my constituents, was something remarkable to witness.

I look forward to the same sort of experience with the new Premier,

and I thank him for his appointment of myself in the Parliamentary Secretary

for Forests role to continue that important work. With thanks, I acknowledge

that.

The throne speech is about hope. It’s about vision. It’s about what

the plan might be. It’s about new realities, and there are so many new

realities that we face since the pandemic. The challenges in the world that

we live in are also so great and so enormous.

I think of my constituents and the services they give to each other —

the dedication of constituents that we represent — to our communities. I

think of some of those who have been recognized this past year from my

constituency — or indeed, some who have passed.

One of those people who has been recognized is Nanaimo singer Lauren

Spencer-Smith, who was recently nominated twice for Juno Awards.

Douglas White III, who is the former chief of the Snuneymuxw First

Nation and is now an adviser in the Premier’s office, for his excellent work

with the First Nations Justice Council.

I’d like to recognize Carlow Rush from Cowichan and Jacksun Fryer from

Nanaimo. They together make up Funkanometry, a dance duo who were

semi-finalists in America’s Got Talent . If anybody wants to see

some amazing movement, you just have to google Funkanometry.

I’d like to thank my friend Joel Alan Canfield and his partner,

Melissa Griswold, who every day traverse the streets of Nanaimo, encouraging

not only good ambassa­dorship but good citizenship as they pick up and

clean up the city, an effort that is completely generated and directed by

themselves.

I’d like to honour Mayor Al Siebring, who retired this year and did

not run in the past election. He and I have very different views

politically, but I have an enormous sense of respect for Al. He was always

dedicated to his constituents. He represented his council without fail, in

the tone and way that he needed to as a leader. He was a wonderful person to

work with. I love Al, and I’ll miss him dearly, as he has moved back to

Alberta to be closer to family.

I’d like to recognize Larry Mattin, the director of instruction for

Cowichan school district. He was a finalist in the Premier’s Award for

Excellence in Education. Larry is someone who was an excellent teacher and a

leader, particularly working with kids who were struggling, when I became a

school trustee. You can imagine how long ago that was, since this is my 18th

year in this House.

Then sadly, I’d like to recognize my dear friend Maureen Young, who

was a regional director in Nanaimo, who passed away this year. Maureen had a

grace and a beauty that was unparalleled in the world, let alone in

politics. She was so modest and so honest and generous to her community,

from a multigenerational family from South Wellington, a coal-mining family.

She was a real leader by example and an absolutely wonderful person — a

great loss to the community.

[1:40 p.m.]

I’d like to recognize Craig Evans, an activist in food security who is

struggling with health now at this time, and to let him know that my love

goes out to him, The community appreciates so deeply the contributions that

he has made for many years.

I’d like to recognize Sandra Zuccolini-Larocque and Mike Larocque who,

together with several other people, pioneered and championed the restoration

of the Morden Colliery Historic Park, which is an important recognition of

the history of Vancouver Island, both its difficult colonial history and its

important place in the labour history of the province, and its contextual

foundation stone of what it is to be a mid-islander.

I’d like to thank the other mayors that I have the pleasure of working

with: Mayor Aaron Stone of Ladysmith, Mayor Rob Douglas of North Cowichan,

Mayor Leonard Krog of Nanaimo. They all know how I feel about them. I have

great respect for each one of them.

We have different roles. As MLAs, we represent our community. We seek

to bring benefit. We seek to represent challenges in this House. Then, in

our caucuses, we have different roles. In government, in opposition, we have

different roles.

Particularly mine, in the government, is as Parliamentary Secretary

for Forests. The Premier has appointed me to that role and asked me to chair

the Forestry Worker Supports and Community Resiliency Council, which is

taking, essentially, $85 million worth of programming and shaping it —

helping, we hope — in ways that will make it more relevant, efficient and

have a greater positive effect in our communities throughout the

province.

As we know, the challenges in different communities, even when it

comes to the same issue, are quite different. Whether the community is close

to retraining opportunities and colleges or universities, or whether they’re

remote and depend on each other more than institutions, we have to make sure

that our impact in all of those communities is seeking an equitable outcome

for the constituents we all represent.

I think, really, we were asked, in question period, some questions.

One of them contained a statement. The statement was that doing things over

and over and expecting change is illogical. It was the Leader of the

Opposition who supposed that, and I agree with him. I agree with him. That

is why this government is not doing things the way they were done before.

That is why, when it comes to housing, we are not letting development run

amok without any check, without any effort to have outcomes for those who

are more vulnerable match, in any remote way, the outcomes for those who

have wealth. Those are the important things that we know our constituents

need us to pay attention to.

The Leader of the Opposition also suggested that government just get

out of the way. I think there are moments when government certainly can find

a way to allow things to happen as they might. But I believe that most of

our constituents expect government to be a partner, to collaborate with

community, to collaborate with them in reaching the best outcomes possible.

It would be naive and, in fact, reckless for us to consider that this place

has no effective role in our economy, our society and our

communities.

Just look at the purchasing power of government. Just look at the

annual activity of every function of government and how that has such a deep

impact — how it is, in fact, something that this province must and should

lever to the advantage of the people that we represent. It’s only through

collaboration and it’s only through a government being involved in people’s

lives in a way that suits their needs that those things can happen. I think

the last thing that people would want government to adopt as a general

philosophy would be simply vacating the stage — exit stage right.

We’ve had that. We’ve had that. Not doing things the same, doing them

differently, means no more tax cuts paid by service cuts. No more tax cuts

for the wealthy paid by service cuts to the rest of us. That’s what it means

to be active. That’s what it means to do things differently.

[1:45 p.m.]

It means that we give credit where credit is due. It means that we

recognize that the incredible performance of the British Columbia economy,

the recovery in our schools, the recovery in institutions is not because of

government. It is because of the people of B.C., empowered by a government

that, in fact, is their backstop and, in fact, is supporting what

communities want, desire and demand. That, I think, is doing things

differently than what we’ve become used to in this province.

Doing things differently is an authentic commitment to reconciliation,

and I’m not making a partisan stab at a difference there. I acknowledge

previous Premier Campbell’s efforts at reconciliation. I think that was the

best aspect of that previous government. We are continuing that and trying

to build on that in ways that have been described here, supporting housing

in First Nations communities, the delegation of child and family protection

to service agencies in Indigenous communities — so many efforts — and

Indigenous leadership in forestry policy planning and development, and

implementation.

There are so many examples of how reconciliation continues to be the

north star of our government, but also, I think, the purpose of this

province, the central purpose, is to correct what has happened and build on

the partnership that stands before us.

I look to the Cowichan First Nation. When I was elected — and that’s a

long time ago, so the ages might have changed a bit — 70 percent of Cowichan

First Nations were under 25 years old. There’s this enormous capacity that’s

in these communities that is just waiting for a partnership that is truly

ready to empower this development, and that’s exciting. It means that this

province is on the cusp of a new time, not a past time, not rooted in the

past but centered on what is the indelible and unavoidable future of this

province.

The future of this province lies through reconciliation. The future

access to the land lies through reconciliation. The future access to work

and economy in this province lies through reconciliation. Most importantly,

our future commitment to justice, equity and peace lies through

reconciliation, and I commend all British Columbians who have collectively

embraced that value and principle as the guiding energy of our province

right now. With that as our engine, we cannot avoid but be successful as a

province.

I’m encouraged as I look around the constituency I represent. I see

efforts to build a new reality. When I grew up in the Cowichan Valley,

practically every day we could smell the pulp mill in Crofton some 20

kilometres away. I know the industry has so much more it needs to do to

become, in any true way, sustainable, but so much has been done since those

days.

Now I don’t think I’ve smelled the pulp mill in at least 15 years.

When I was elected, the now Catalyst pulp mill was bragging that they were

somewhere around 70 percent less water-use-intensive than they had been in

the past. Now that’s above 90 percent. The scrubbing of the emissions has

come to the point where they’re taking machines built in 1957 and bringing

them to today’s standards in terms of their footprint.

Yes, there’s so much more to do, and there is a legacy that we have to

deal with. There are polluted beaches with shellfish that can’t be harvested

by neighbouring First Nations. There are scars on the landscape from land

use decisions that were poorly thought-out or really not considered in any

way, certainly not in terms of their cumulative impact.

[1:50 p.m.]

We have to point and give credit where credit is due — credit to

ourselves as a province for the commitments we’ve made to change the way we

do business, the way we govern ourselves, the way we work together. This

province is leading this country in so many ways, and those are the ways

that match up with the principles of the people that, I believe, I

represent. I feel very, very confident about that and very

reassured.

I’m also looking to the throne speech. One of the first sentences

noted “your government’s plans to tackle big challenges and build a

stronger, more secure future for everyone who calls this beautiful province

home.”

We live in divisive times. We live in times where, surely…. Some of

our neighbours are pointing to other neighbours and saying, “Well, it’s

their fault,” pointing to people who were their neighbours but now struggle

and live on the street and calling it their fault.

These are not the paths to solution. This province, in order to dig

ourselves out of those challenges, will need to exercise the greatest depth

of empathy we can all muster to support each other through these crises that

challenge our hospitals, our legal systems, our housing. All of these things

can only be solved if we work in collaboration with one another, as the

Premier so often points out.

I turn now to point out some of the things that have been done in my

own constituency over the past year or several years.

Right now that same Crofton mill is undergoing some intensive

renovations so that they will, after they’re complete, use less fibre, use

less natural gas to heat their boilers, thereby reducing their emissions and

reducing their demand on the fibre base of our forests. They will turn to

cardboard recycling as a source of fibre, combined with their own pulp and

some wood fibre from the industry by-products, to create food packaging and

other forms of recyclable packaging.

This is an answer to demand. This is done in collaboration. This is

done in response to demands by our very constituents, who say: “We don’t

want to use single-use plastic. We want a solution.” This is a way for us to

rebuild the social contract for the industry in this province but also

answer some of the demands that the world is placing on us and that we must

rise to.

I can point to investments in my constituency in housing. We have,

Nanaimo to the Cowichan Valley, 1,500 units of affordable housing and at

least 260 more that are in the planning stages. In Nanaimo, there have been

1,317 units of new affordable housing for seniors, families and people

experiencing homelessness. This has been an enormous addition to our

communities, and it has had a big impact. In the Cowichan Valley, there have

been 233 units of affordable and supportive housing built.

In Nanaimo, over $50 million has been invested in improving health

care services. That includes major electrical upgrades to Nanaimo Regional

General Hospital, new MRI equipment, a new intensive care unit for Nanaimo

Regional General Hospital, a new urgent care clinic for Nanaimo, a new nurse

practitioner clinic, a new and upgraded heart health clinic and a new

wellness and recovery centre. This is all in Nanaimo. In Cowichan, we’ve

invested over $10 million into improving health care services.

When it comes to homelessness and street disorder, the challenges that

our communities face…. This is a very hot topic, obviously.

When I first became an MLA, I was the Housing critic. I remember

thinking about the homelessness problem. We had a growing issue in the

Cowichan Valley.

[1:55 p.m.]

The essential answer was to encourage our community to be empathetic

and to see how many of us, indeed, are just a few paycheques away from

homelessness ourselves, or a head injury away or the loss of a relationship

or any number of reasons people end up on the street. It was by encouraging

constituents to see that these are our neighbours, these are our brothers,

these are our sisters, these are the people we love that we were able to

address the problem, I think, before it became entrenched. Thankfully, at

that time, there was a little less blaming of the people who were on the

sidewalks.

I encourage every British Columbian and every person that I represent

to reach deeply into themselves to find the most empathetic response they

can to people who struggle.

I had an experience at the Legislature here in 2006, where a gentlemen

collapsed on the ground. He was obviously struggling. He was homeless,

bearded and not clean. He required CPR. He survived but, a week later,

died.

I heard from that man’s family afterwards. I actually received a

picture of him with his niece. He was in a Montreal Canadiens sweater, and

he was clean shaven. He was an IT professional making a six-figure salary.

He was essentially the surrogate father to his niece. Well, not surrogate.

He was the uncle who was there. But then he wasn’t there. It was because of

the loss of a relationship. He had a tragedy in his life. He ended up

separated from his family, sitting on the curb outside this building, and

they didn’t know where he was.

When I pulled his shirt open, he had tattoos of Looney Tunes figures

on his chest, like Tweety Bird and Sylvester the cat, all of them. It really

struck me, the innocence or gentleness of that, and then to find out that he

had been separated from his family. He was loved, but he was sitting on the

curb, dirty and unshaven and lost.

I encourage everyone to see that in every case, with people who

struggle in our communities, there’s a story. It usually is a story of

trauma, of loss, of some kind of challenge that has broken someone’s

capacity. Not to point a finger and not to say that that person is a

problem. That person has a problem, but they are not a problem. They are a

citizen of British Columbia, and they deserve every respect that this

chamber could possibly offer them, perhaps more than any British

Columbian.

I believe that the efforts that our government is making to support

people, to invest in people, to show people that when they stand up, there’s

someone standing beside them and ready to walk forward with them in

collaboration…. That’s the spirit of the government that I feel I’m

representing.

I also think, and this is not part of my notes, that we’ve had so much

division when it comes to the management of our resources and our land base

and how we deal with the challenges of the industries that operate on our

land base versus other values. The best examples have been those of

collaboration.

[2:00 p.m.]

Again, to echo the Premier’s constant reminder to all of us in our

caucus, the path forward is through collaboration and consensus-building.

It’s unfortunate that we’ve come to the place we have, but I think that the

policies that we’re attempting to implement, led by First Nations in this

province, will, in the end, rebuild a sense amongst British Columbians — one

that I’ve had all my life — who felt that this province was so graced with

so many incredible assets and they have been poorly managed. The fish, the

air, the land, the water, the trees….

Complex rules of international trade and various policies have grown

around all of these entangled issues, and to make fundamental or substantive

change becomes an incredibly complex and difficult thing to manage. It takes

creative policy-making.

I look towards bills that this government passed that restored the

ability of the Forests Minister to act in the public interest. That seems an

obvious requirement, yet it required legislation in order to achieve that

and in order to restore that so that, indeed, the management of tree farm

licences and the exchange of those could be done with the public interest

being a component of that decision. That’s a really important

shift.

I look to my own constituency for the fundamental issues of

reconciliation and Indigenous relations. I know that there have been two

historic agreements with the Snuneymuxw, including the transfer of 3,000

hectares of Crown land. We also recently signed an agreement with Cowichan

First Nations, which includes Cowichan Tribes, Halalt First Nation, Lyackson

First Nation, Penelakut Tribe and Snuneymuxw First Nation. These are

agreements that are empowering those communities to work in partnership with

others in the region to establish economy, services and relationships. Those

are what are the foundations of a strong and healthy community.

In forests just in my own constituency, this government has invested

$23 million to help transition mills and the pulp and paper industry, as I

indicated before. That’s the Crofton project that I spoke of.

The government has invested over $10 million to expand protected parks

in our community. They funded close to $3 million in watershed and wetlands

restoration projects in the constituency I represent. The government has

provided $3 million to expand composting facilities in the Nanaimo region.

The government has provided $1.4 million for restoration work at the Morden

Colliery Historic Provincial Park I mentioned in my credit to my friends

from Nanaimo, Sandra Zuccolini-Larocque and Mike Larocque.

In education since forming government, this government, in

Nanaimo–North Cowichan alone, has invested over $150 million in our schools.

That includes $31 million in maintenance, upgrades and classroom expansions;

$34.7 million in seismic upgrades; $79.9 million for the new Cowichan high

school, which is well underway and looks to be a fantastic building; $10.9

million in COVID and restart funding. Five new accessible playgrounds have

been built in Nanaimo–North Cowichan. Three new electric school busses. And

that is just the tip of the iceberg.

In child care alone in Nanaimo–North Cowichan, we’ve invested $35

million so that families have access to affordable, quality child care when

they need it. This has put over $15 million back into the pockets of

Nanaimo–North Cowichan parents. That’s through reduced fees and

benefits.

Since forming government, we’ve funded the creation of 681 new

licensed care spaces in Nanaimo–North Cowichan. We now have 695 universal

child care spaces in Nanaimo–North Cowichan, meaning families are paying $10

a day or less for those spots. And all parents in the constituency just

received at least a $550 subsidy for each child in child care.

[2:05 p.m.]

These are life-changing changes for parents, for families. In

combination with the single-largest middle-class tax break in the history of

this province, which got rid of the MSP premium, those are changes that are

in the order of $20,000 for some of the families I represent.

When we’d go to these child care space openings, there were parents in

tears. Some absolutely couldn’t even believe how much this was going to

impact their lives, how many things their children would be experiencing

that they would not otherwise be able to experience.

In post-secondary education, we’ve invested over $124 million into

Vancouver Island University. That has doubled the amount of student housing

on campus. That has replaced the health and science centre. It has expanded

the Nanaimo automotive and trades complex. It has increased seats for health

care training and mental health care training, and it has added 1,400 new

seats for on-demand trades.

Now, these are changes that dwarf anything, with respect, that was

done in the 16 years of the previous government in the region that I

represent. It is simply an enormous investment in the people of the

mid-Island region.

As I started this speech, I said that credit needs to go where credit

is due — that is, to the people of B.C. I know that these investments…. Once

the people of my own constituency and this province fully embrace and engage

in these opportunities, these will answer so much of the demands of our

economy and our society at the present time. The skilled labour shortage,

health care workers shortage — these are the important elements that the

Premier has targeted right out of the gate.

I think it goes to really frame and characterize exactly the nature of

this government, and that is one of collaboration, partnership and working

in conjunction with communities. It is an overwhelming focus on getting

things done that people need to see done in their communities.

Even the challenges of COVID. How were the challenges of COVID

addressed? Well, yes, by funding, but not without thought. It wasn’t simply:

“We’ll give a tax break to someone and hope that they jump in there and do

something.” These were targeted investments.

In the case of Nanaimo–North Cowichan, you can look across the water

from Nanaimo…. You could practically swim across the water to Gabriola

Island, where you have at least…. I’m not sure if this is a current

statistic or one that goes back a few years, because I go back a few years.

It was the community with the most professional artists. It’s called the

isle of the arts.

What did the government invest in on Gabriola in order to recover from

the effects of COVID? Well, in large measure, in the arts. Individual

artists received funding. Arts groups received funding. Theatre groups

received funding. They are still operating and thriving today because of

those investments.

I know that throne speeches are promises. Throne speeches are in a

context. The context includes the past, but the promises are going forward.

In about a week’s time, we will hear about a budget that will detail how

those promises will be met. I do know that the constituents I represent have

so far seen a government that is committed to them, is committed to change,

is real and committed to investing in the people of the province of British

Columbia to build equity in the province of British Columbia.

[2:10 p.m.]

This is something that should be assumed by everyone, but it needs to

be stated, and I state it here: this government is one that’s committed to

collaboration, partnership, community-building, equity, fairness, inclusion

and a sustainable future for all of us.

This throne speech, the detail, lays out the path forward. I’m excited

to be on that path, with my colleagues on the government side and my

colleagues on the opposition side, as we work together in the interests of

our constituents and in the interests — as the throne speech pointed out —

of everyone who calls this beautiful province home.

E. Sturko: Well, today I rise in response to yesterday’s throne speech. The

throne speech introduces the government’s direction and goals. It outlines

how it will work to achieve them, and it speaks to the government’s good

intentions, but British Columbians deserve more than good intentions. They

need results. This government has now made six consecutive throne speeches

filled with commitments to fix health care, affordability, public safety,

housing and the deadly opioid crisis, yet British Columbians are still

waiting for results.

Regardless of the fanfare, the tradition or the pageantry, speeches

and announcements are nothing more than hollow words, without positive

results. It’s the results that matter; outcomes matter. What outcomes are

those that this government has achieved? After two terms of this government,

six throne speeches and billions in announcements, British Columbia is more

unaffordable than ever, especially when it comes to finding a place to

live.

An RBC report released earlier this year says that Vancouver is

“setting a new…record” and that “owning a home has never been so

unaffordable anywhere in Canada ever.” In 2021, a homebuyer needed to earn

$200,000 to afford a Vancouver home, but with our current Premier at the

helm, the qualifying income shot up to $268,000 by the end of 2022, three

times B.C.’s median household income. This is the highest affordability

barrier in the country and represents a 34 percent increase in a single

year. The RBC report clearly shows that despite the NDP’s many promises,

affordability in B.C. is only getting worse.

It’s not just homeowners who are facing skyrocketing costs. Renters

all across B.C. are paying thousands of dollars more in rent every single

day while waiting for the NDP to finally deliver on their promise of

affordability.

Despite all the NDP’s promises of affordability, rents are up: in

Surrey, up $225 a month, or $2,700 a year; Maple Ridge, $222 a month, or up

$2,664 a year. The list goes on: Courtenay up $271 a month; Campbell River,

$234 a month; and Kamloops, $205 per month, $2,460 per year.

The NDP has spent years patting themselves on the back, while taking

no real action on housing affordability. The Premier twice promised voters a

$400 annual renters rebate, first in 2017 and again in 2020, but it’s still

nowhere to be found. Today that same rebate wouldn’t even cover the massive

rent hikes we’ve seen under this government.

In January of this year, accounting firm MNP Ltd. released a report

which reported that two in five B.C. respondents said they were $200 or less

away from insolvency; 15 percent said that they were using their credit

cards to pay their bills, the report found. I see nothing in the throne

speech that makes me think that things will get more affordable under this

government.

In her interview with Global News British Columbia, Linda

Paul, a senior vice-president and licensed insolvency trustee with MNP,

said: “A lot of British Columbians are living paycheque to paycheque today,

and I think it’s just a result of the cost of living going up so

high.”

[2:15 p.m.]

British Columbians are finding it difficult to cope with the high

costs of housing, of food, of fuel and even of the basic necessities. We

know that young people are disproportionately affected. It was particularly

disappointing that the throne speech failed to lay out a plan with a

commitment to relieve the growing financial pressures that young people

face. Particularly as this government acknowledges the labour shortage in

our province, it’s time that they stand up to address the concerns of

struggling post-secondary students and finally do something to help

them.

British Columbians are continuing to fight for their well-being, their

health. In some cases, they’re fighting for their very lives, trying to cope

also with a health care system in our province that’s failing. Every single

part of our health care system is in crisis — one in five people in our

province still unable to secure a family doctor, one million people waiting

currently to see a specialist.

Last year B.C. had the worst walk-in clinic wait times in the entire

country. We’ve managed to somehow claw our way to being second-worst in the

country this year, going from an average of 58 to 79 minutes average wait

time in 2022. Before you celebrate, keep in mind that these numbers

represent a 92 percent increase since 2019.

Hundreds of thousands of people are unable to get timely imaging, and

radiologists are warning of a possible tsunami of cancer cases. Our

hospitals are in chaos. ERs are repeatedly closed all across the province.

Urgent and primary care centres are chronically understaffed. People are

dying in hospital waiting rooms. They’re dying, waiting for ambulances.

Health care workers, who are doing their best to care for British

Columbians, are suffering from stress, fatigue and PTSD under the tremendous

pressure that’s compounded by the delays and inaction of this

government.

It has been heart-wrenching for me, as a brand-new member of the

Legislative Assembly, to have both patients and health care workers come to

my constituency office, desperate for help. Again, there was nothing in this

throne speech that leads me to believe that we’ll see any improvements any

time soon.

It’s not only the health of British Columbians that has been put at

risk by this government’s inaction over the past five years, but also our

safety. People are feeling less safe, in communities throughout the

province, as rates of violent crime increase. This government is failing in

their fundamental duty to ensure that communities are safe for our

residents. The combination of random attacks, social disorder and the

Premier’s catch-and-release program for prolific offenders has resulted in

unprecedented fear and anxiety, in virtually every community in the

province.

Despite months of pleas and submissions regarding chronic offenders

wreaking havoc across the province, hundreds of people victimized in random

violent attacks, this government failed to take any direct action for

months. Instead, they dismissed the concerns of victims. They dismissed the

concerns of the police and mayors across British Columbia. The former

Attorney General dismissed the problem as “anecdotal rhetoric” and

characterized random-stranger attacks as a fact of life, insisting, as they

did many times in yesterday’s throne speech, that the problem is the fault

of someone else. In this case, the finger pointed at the federal

government.

In March of 2022, the critic for the Attorney General gave a draft

directive to the now Premier to be given to the B.C. Prosecution Service. It

was to seek stricter bail conditions for chronic repeat offenders. However,

not only was this suggestion not implemented, but the government insisted it

couldn’t be done, that it was not lawful.

Lo and behold, nine months later the Premier did exactly that. He

issued a directive to the B.C. Prosecution Service, and now — with no

acknowledgment of the suffering caused by the Premier’s delays on that

directive — the government chooses to pat itself on the back, as that

directive, which was once illegal and couldn’t be done, made its way into

yesterday’s throne speech.

It’s not the first time that this government has made a quick

about-turn to save face politically. In the fall session, this government

was asked why they didn’t fund psychiatric nurses in Burnaby and other

jurisdictions that wanted to create or enhance police and mental health

outreach teams to better serve people experiencing a mental health crisis.

This government made it clear that those programs weren’t a

priority.

[2:20 p.m.]

Understanding the value that these teams have, the city of Vancouver

decided it would go ahead and pay for its own psychiatric nurses, and

understanding the value of a photo op, the Premier and his team were in

Vancouver at the press conference this last weekend, touting the value of

police and mental health outreach teams and taking credit for the city’s

plan.

Let’s be clear. Even though they’re sitting on billions of dollars in

surplus, this government is making Vancouver’s taxpayers foot the bill in

the form of a $2.8 million grant to Vancouver Coastal Health. In the throne

speech, this government repeatedly stated that they’re in your corner, but

this latest example in Vancouver just goes to show that when British

Columbians want results, in order to move beyond announcements, they have to

take matters into their own hands.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment about the throne speech is what is

missing. As the critic for mental health, addiction and recovery, I was

looking forward to hearing about the government’s plan to accelerate B.C.’s

response to the illicit drug toxicity crisis, as was specifically stated in

the minister’s mandate letter.

The coroner’s latest report confirmed once again the enormously tragic

impact that the overdose crisis is having on thousands in B.C., as 2,272

lives were lost to a toxic drug overdose in 2022, bringing the loss of life

in our province to more than 11,000 people since the public health emergency

was declared.

In the last two years, the number of young people under the age of 19

who died from drug overdoses has doubled, showing that the status quo is not

working. Almost a year has passed since the B.C. Coroners Service death

review panel report was published, which outlined the urgency of this crisis

in our province and included a 30/60/90-day action plan. To this day, the

NDP government has ignored the urgent timetable and has failed to take

meaningful steps to address serious gaps in the system of care.

On January 31 of this year, B.C.’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said:

“There are people who are dying while they’re waiting for treatment and

recovery services.” They’re dying waiting for this government to help

them.

COVID-19 was mentioned a lot in yesterday’s speech. Indeed, the

pandemic had a big impact on all of us. When the COVID-19 public health

emergency was declared, the government moved quickly, with a sense of

urgency, to save lives.

I have to ask: where is the urgency in this government’s response to

the toxic drug crisis, to the public health emergency that was declared

seven years ago? Where’s the substance use system-of-care framework? Where

is the framework to increase the access to safer supply? There was no

mention of further increases to access to complex care and no new promises

for children or youth mental health.

People suffering from addiction must be able to immediately access the

services they need when they need them. While an average of six people die

of a toxic drug overdose in B.C. every day, this government is failing to

deliver the resources needed to save lives.

When confronted with the reality of their failure to address drug

toxicity deaths, this government will point to what they call a historic

investment in funding — $500 million. That’s a significant sum, but remember

that this is a government that was prepared to spend $1 billion on an

upgrade to the Royal B.C. Museum that no one was asking for, while thousands

of British Columbians were pleading for help for their friends and their

loved ones suffering from addiction and mental health issues.

The throne speech also failed to mention anything about the shift to

the decriminalization of the personal possession of illicit drugs in British

Columbia. Nothing about the implementation. Nothing about the monitoring or

anything else related to decriminalization.

Just one week ago the pilot project to decriminalize the possession of

small amounts of opioids, cocaine, meth­amphetamine and MDMA for

personal use came into effect, and there has still been a conspicuous lack

of clarity from this government on what steps it’s taking to increase

supports for those suffering.

[2:25 p.m.]

Again, where is the substance use system-of-care framework? Where is

the framework to increase access to safer supply?

The agreement to move forward with a pilot project to decriminalize

the possession of small amounts of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and

MDMA for personal use came with several conditions from the federal

government that this province has not met — ensuring the readiness and

capacity of health and social systems, expanding the capacity of accessible

treatment.

The letter of requirements also says that this government was to meet

the unique needs of people living in rural communities. Yet daily MLAs like

the MLA for Prince George–Valemount are hearing from families that are

desperate and at their wit’s end because of no treatment and no

services.

Over 40 years, successive B.C. governments closed a rightly criticized

institutional approach to mental health without ensuring adequate systems of

support were available for former patients in communities. This process

began under the Social Credit Party, and it wasn’t halted during the next

decade of NDP government. Finally, the process did continue into the

previous Liberal government.

As the Leader of the Opposition has said, it’s never the wrong time to

do the right thing. However, this government did not learn from the mistakes

it made during its last tenure in power. It’s not taking advantage of its

opportunity to do the right thing now.

This government was also required to conduct greater engagement with

key stakeholders and Indigenous partners to increase public education and

communications. It’s clear that this government’s lack of proper public and

stakeholder engagement has left many communities feeling like, once again,

they have to take matters into their own hands, as we saw in the community

of Campbell River, where they passed a bylaw to give bylaw officers

enforcement tools to address open drug use in public areas.

Harm reduction efforts like decriminalization only form part of a

comprehensive approach that’s needed to help put an end to this crisis that

continues to take six lives a day. I’m disappointed because I heard so

little in yesterday’s throne speech on implementation, funding of recovery

and treatment programs. Unfortunately, the government is continuing down the

same path it’s been on for two terms, six throne speeches and nearly six

years in government — doubling down on the same strategies, looking for new

outcomes.

We can’t continue to take the same failed approach repeatedly and

expect different results. More of the same is simply

unacceptable.

I noted a common theme in yesterday’s throne speech. It was blame.

This government loves to point fingers. After nearly six years in power,

they’re still trying to pin their shortcomings on the previous government.

When they can’t do that, they blame cheaters. When will this government look

inward and take responsibility for its lack of results, for its failed

promises, for the terrible outcomes that they are responsible

for?

Of course, every government inherits the legacy of the one before it,

but true leadership is measured by the ability of the new government to take

responsibility for the outcomes that they generate and for the care, safety

and comfort they provide for those they govern. It’s well past time for this

government to take responsibility. Unfortunately, the government is

continuing down the same path it has been on for two terms, six throne

speeches, nearly six years in government — doubling down on those same

strategies and looking for new outcomes. It’s simply

unacceptable.

Before concluding my remarks, I’m going to take a moment to thank my

team. Thank you to my legislative assistant, Luella Barnetson, and my

constituency assistants, Samantha Schaap and Gail Miller, for their

outstanding work to support me in my work as an MLA.

Thank you to my beautiful family — Melissa, Henry, Marin and Bill —

and to my friends and colleagues.

To the residents of Surrey South, I thank you so much for giving me

the opportunity to represent you and to serve you and our beautiful

province.

[2:30 p.m.]

Hon. S. Robinson: It is certainly a pleasure to rise in this House and respond to the

throne speech. It was interesting to hear the member opposite.

I will counter some of what she said, given that I don’t agree with, I

would say, most of what she said.

I will start my remarks as she ended her remarks, by thanking the

people who helped to get us here, certainly my constituents. Also, I think

we all know in this place how our families sacrifice for all of us to be

here. So I do want to thank my husband, Dan; my kids, Aaron and Leya; their

partners, Kyle and Omar; for just putting up with Mom being away a lot and

Mom being busy a lot and Mom not being able to attend things a lot because

of the nature of this work.

I also want to thank my CAs, Iti Kalsi and Natasa Arezina. They keep,

I’ll say, the home fires burning in our constituency offices, dealing with

the concerns of constituents and making sure that there’s a presence when we

cannot be present, that they are representing us. They do a fabulous job,

helping people navigate the system of that is government.

Here I want to thank some staff members as well: my chief of staff,

Eric Peters; my MA, Josipa Stojkovic; my EA, Kaitlyn Gorman; and the two

lovely women, my AC and my AA, who just keep me fed and watered and coffee’d

up or tea’d up or whatever it is that I need.

My calendar is well managed by Christine White and Lori Larson, and I

really am truly grateful for all of their support. In fact, Madam Chair, you

might appreciate this. There are times when they make my husband look really

bad, and he needs to remind me that he is not part of my ministerial

supportive team, and I have to get my own coffee or tea.

So with that, I want to speak to the throne speech more specifically.

Really, this is about a speech that speaks to how government has been

listening to people as the world continues to evolve and change, and the

experiences that we’ve all had — certainly, I’ve had. It’s coming on nine

years since I started here in this place.

The world has changed incredibly. It’s not the same world it was nine

years ago. It has evolved. I will say that certainly, these past two years,

in the COVID context, things have really turned upside down in ways that

none of us in this chamber could ever have predicted.

Seeing that we have found our way through, working across the aisle,

working with all orders of government, working with the private sector, the

not-for-profit sector, we have come through something that none of us could

have anticipated. Our responsiveness and our commitments to our community,

to the five million British Columbians that we represent, I think, speaks

volumes to who their representatives are. I think that British Columbians

can be proud of all of us here in this chamber for how we pull

together.

We don’t always agree on the same things, on how to go, on which way

to go around particular issues. But I will say that we do have, right now, a

sense of uncertainty. We had uncertainty during COVID, during the height of

the pandemic. I acknowledge that COVID is still here. We are responding to

it differently, but it is still here. There are other issues that are still

here. There is a drug crisis. Housing affordability. Cost of living. There

are challenges, for sure, that British Columbians are dealing with and that

we are seeing not just here in British Columbia.

I think we need to remember that. It’s not unique to British Columbia

that we have cost-of-living challenges or that we have a toxic drug crisis.

This is happening everywhere. It is a global issue. That requires that we

stay focused on the task at hand and recognize that government has people’s

backs. We’ve had people’s backs since we formed government. We’ve had

people’s backs as we navigated through COVID, and we certainly continue to

have people’s backs.

The issues that this throne speech addresses are about paying

attention to the needs of British Columbians. That’s reducing costs, growing

a health care workforce, building more homes for people, supports to cities

and regions that are experiencing the impacts of growth as well as the

impacts of climate change, making our communities safer. All of this, all of

this, is in partnership with First Nations.

[2:35 p.m.]

I think it’s important to remind everybody around helping British

Columbians address increasing costs and affordability in general. We’ve been

doing that since we formed government nearly six years ago. The biggest tax

cut in B.C.’s history: getting rid of the MSP. I know the members don’t like

when we remind them that we did that, but that was the biggest tax cut.

Addressing car insurance. Hundreds of dollars every year, saved by British

Columbians, because we fixed what was a dumpster fire.

Child care savings. I have, in my community, a lovely young woman

named Kate, who is just coming off of her mat leave with her second baby.

When she heard that she was going to save well over $550 a month, she was

reduced to tears. She just couldn’t believe it. She actually had to call

home to her mom and say: “Is this true?” It was her mom who actually told me

the story, because she couldn’t believe what that was going to mean for her

in terms of their affordability and being able to pay the bills.

Again, this is about making sure that people can afford to feed their

families and have a good quality of life. That’s the work that we’re doing

and that we’re going to continue to do, because we know that before-and

after-school care is also a burden for families, and there’s going to be

more coming on that file as well.

I know that the members opposite like to say: “Well, that’s not yours.

That’s from the federal government.” Yes, part of that is from the federal

government, because that’s what it means to work in partnership. We’re all

about partnership, believing that….

Interjection.

Hon. S. Robinson: The member might scoff across the way, but that was a lot of hard work

between two orders of government to deliver for people here, and we did and

we are. It’s making a difference, and that’s what matters. That’s what we’re

going to keep doing, because that’s how you take care of people — through

partnership.

I want to move along to the housing file. I was Minister of Housing,

which feels like a million years ago but really was only three years ago.

The COVID years were like a decade, I think. But I’m really proud of what we

heard in this throne speech about some of the next steps on the housing

file. Continuing to deliver on our $7 billion, ten-year plan that we started

a few years ago is this $500 million rental protection fund and work around

transit hubs that needs to happen.

I’m going to speak to the transit hubs first. It’s always made me

crazy to see low density around transit hubs in Metro Vancouver. It’s made

me crazy. How is it that any government has permitted any other order of

government to not densify around transit hubs? There should be thousands of

people living in those areas, walking to the transit that’s going to take

them to wherever it is that they need to go. I think about Commercial and

Broadway, for example, and it’s like the beginnings of our transit system,

and there hasn’t been that kind of density that we need, that we should

have.

We’re doing the work. Our government is doing the work to make sure

that we are delivering housing around those transit hubs. That’s the work

that needed to happen. I’m really proud of the work that the Minister of

Transportation is doing to make that happen for all of us.

The other thing that is coming: more homes for middle-income families.

Around the permitting…. Actually, before I get on to the permitting

strategy, let me go back to the $500 million rental protection fund, because

Jill Atkey said something that I thought was really helpful. Jill Atkey is

the CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association. They’ve been tremendous

partners and tremendous advocates and allies in our work around the housing

file.

This is what Jill Atkey had to say about this fund. She said: “The

province of B.C. is leading the way in addressing a critical gap in housing

policy: the erosion of affordability in the private rental market. With this

investment into the rental protection fund, non-profits will be able to

purchase existing rental homes and lock in their affordability forever” —

forever — “providing much needed relief for existing residents and the

generations that follow.”

This is what forward-thinking governments do. They plan not just for

today, but for tomorrow, for generations, making sure that we can protect

our housing stock. The affordable housing stock that we need absolutely

today, but we’re going to need it for generations. People come to this

province because it’s a fabulous place.

[2:40 p.m.]

We need to make sure that there’s affordable housing for the people

who call B.C. home so that they can age in place, so they can care for their

families. It means that we need to protect this rental housing stock. That’s

taking action.

Another piece on the housing file is the permitting strategy for

housing, making sure that we have a system for moving that system quickly.

Because the system, of course — I’m sure Madam Chair is familiar — can get

bogged down, so we need to move more quickly on that system.

This is what Rick Ilich had to say. He is the CEO of Townline Homes.

This is what he had to say on the new permitting strategy for housing. He

said: “The province’s permitting solutions strategy is a step in the right

direction and will have benefits throughout the province. Today’s

announcement is proof that our provincial government is showing leadership

by looking inward at their own structure and policy. I hope our civic

politicians find inspiration in that.” We know that there’s work to be done

around addressing that.

I do think it’s important to acknowledge how we got here. Well, I do

believe it was the Leader of the Opposition…. When he made severe cuts to

government, they got rid of all their planning people and their permitting

people — 25 percent cuts — and decimated our ability to move these through

quickly. Well, we’re fixing that. Just as we fixed ICBC, we’re fixing that

too. There’s certainly more to do around that, and we’re really eager to get

to work on that.

I want to talk a little bit more about what we’ve done to date on

housing and what more we do need to do. We committed to deliver 114,000

homes over ten years. To date, we have 20,000 plus just from the spec tax

alone, another 30,000 plus either open or underway. We have this $500

million rental protection fund to preserve existing stock.

As well, we’re making sure that we are building housing on and off

reserve with Indigenous partners. We continue to be the only province that

builds on reserve. I really want to invite the other provinces to join us in

that and certainly invite the federal government to do more in that realm as

well.

I also want to highlight how we’re doing on student housing, because I

think that’s really critical. I do have the file responsible for

post-secondary education. We committed five years ago that we would build

8,000 homes for students over ten years. We’re five years in. We already

have 7,700. We have accelerated that program, and we have students who are

moving in on campus, finding affordable places to live.

What’s more, we’re getting them out of the private rental market. That

opens up 7,700 homes in the private sector for those who are not students.

That is a significant amount of housing, and that makes a significant

difference to those who want to live on campus and have a campus

experience.

In my role as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills,

I’ve been touring and engaging with students over the last few weeks. They

have said that student housing is making a difference, but they’ve also said

that the access grant, $4,000 a year, the first grant for students in 15

years, is making a difference. They are saying: “You are helping me pay for

the things I need to pay for in order to get skilled up so that I can

properly participate in the workforce.” That makes a difference. We also

have zero-cost textbooks. That has saved students about $31 million a

year.

I want to say, just in terms of the grant — the first one in 15 years,

the access grant — 55,000 students have been making use of that grant,

making their lives easier. We’ve also eliminated tuition fees for former

youth in care, including trades training. That’s 1,600 students who have

benefited from that.

learning free again…. It used to be free. I remember being on that side and

learning that the folks on this side of the House we’re going to start

charging people for it. I remember just about losing my mind about it. Who

does that?

[2:45 p.m.]

Who does that to people who are trying to better themselves, get their

grade 12 education, get the language skills that help them to participate in

the economy? “We’re now going to charge you for that.” Well, I have to say,

that is free under our government, under our leadership, under our

recognition about what people need in order to participate. That’s 60,000

people who have been benefiting from that — 60,000 people. That makes a

difference.

As we move forward, we need to recognize that there continue to be

challenges, for sure. No one is saying that we’re done. There are new global

economic challenges, for sure. We continue to be an economic leader here in

Canada. Our unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Canada, at 4.2

percent. It’s just about an all-time low. We gained 63,000 jobs last year,

driven by full-time jobs, private sector and self-employed jobs and women’s

employment.

Why women’s employment? Because there’s child care. Child care allows

women to participate in the workforce, and it’s child care that is being

delivered in every corner of this province. It’s affordable child care, and

that makes such a huge difference.

We have 121,000 more people that are working today in British Columbia

than before the pandemic. Since 2017, we have led the country in small

business job growth, because British Columbia is a place where people want

to be. We have one of the strongest private sector job recovery rates in the

country. We have just over 60,000 more people working in the private sector

than before the pandemic, and in 2021, we had the highest real GDP growth of

all major provinces, at 6.2 percent.

We have the highest credit rating amongst all provinces in Canada. A

New Democrat government. Go figure. Who knew? We also supported people

through the pandemic so that our economy could bounce back quickly, and now

is not the time to pull back. Now is the time to continue investing in

people and to address the challenges that lay ahead.

One of the number one challenges that I’ve been hearing — and I’d been

hearing it while I was B.C.’s Minister of Finance — is that we need people

in the labour force. We need more people in the labour force. We have people

coming here. It’s the highest in 60 years in terms of migration and

immigration. Expanding training and breaking down barriers is absolutely

critical, because we need everybody working, and we need everybody skilled

up so that they can do the jobs of today and the jobs of

tomorrow.

We have 30,000 new training seats since 2017. That’s about preparing

people to participate in the economy. We have a new trades and tech campus

at BCIT for 12,000 students. We have 2,900 new tech seats and 1,150 new

early childhood education seats, because we know that that’s what’s going to

drive the economy. It’s people.

It’s people being skilled up. It’s people being able to re-skill, get

additional skills and have the opportunity to have reduced barriers. That

gives them the access they need in order to take care of their families — a

good job, a meaningful job, one that allows them to have a full life, a good

job that pays the bills and gives them a future and gives them a career and

something they can be proud of.

You may have heard recently that the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade

and the B.C. Chamber of Commerce have been identifying, as well, the labour

gap and the challenge that they’re seeing. We’ve been seeing this as a

government for quite some time, and I’m very proud that the Premier has

asked me to take on this file, given how critical it is to our

economy.

There’s more than training people up that’s critical to our economy,

and it’s why we have high-speed Internet for everyone by 2027. I remember

how well we all pivoted to electronic engagement and what that meant — and

what that meant, really, for people from remote and isolated communities in

rural British Columbia, what it meant for Indigenous communities. It opens

up doors in ways that I don’t think five years ago any of us could have

anticipated. So accelerating that program….

I see the Minister of Citizens’ Services is here with a big grin

because she’s busy working, delivering on that, making sure that we can get

high-speed Internet to every community, because that’s what it means to

respond to the needs of a labour force. That’s what it means to be able to

access school. That’s what it means to be able to access education. That’s

what it means to be able to access the world. We’re accelerating that,

because we know how important that is.

[2:50 p.m.]

As well, it’s reducing child care fees. That helps people get into the

labour force. It helps that young woman, Kate, go back to her job, knowing

that her children are well cared for and that she could go to her job every

day, knowing that paying for child care isn’t going to break her bank. She

doesn’t have to think about: “Is it worth it? With what I’m getting paid and

what I’m paying for child care, it might not be worth it.”

We’re also expanding employment opportunities to as many people as we

can, using as many tools as we can. Now, I want to say, I think it’s

important we recognize that one of the areas where we are challenged with

employment is health care. I want to spend a little bit of time talking

about what we’re doing to address some of the health care challenges. We all

know that it’s important that health care be there for people when they need

it. I can’t imagine anyone in this chamber thinking that that wasn’t the

case. We need more doctors. We know that.

Members opposite have known that as well. That’s why they did A GP for

Me. They recognized that. It wasn’t very successful. I appreciate that they

tried something. It didn’t work. That’s why we’re continuing to build on

that. That’s why we’re continuing to make sure that we have the doctors, the

nurses, the lab techs. It’s why we’ve invested in 602 nursing training

seats. That’s why we’re breaking down barriers for internationally trained

doctors and nurses. They’re here; they’re trained. We need to make sure that

we can get them into the workforce. There is more to come on

that.

We are prioritizing health and child care workers through the

provincial nominee program and calling on Ottawa to increase the number of

people who come here for that program. We know how critical that is. That’s

why we continue to engage with a post-secondary institution. That’s why

we’re going to be building a second medical school at SFU. That’s why we’ve

already started funding it, to make sure that they get the business case.

That’s why we already have people in place building out the curriculum,

because we are committed to training more health care

professionals.

Just last week, I had the opportunity at Camosun to announce a new

program, where students are getting trained in sonography, the CT folks.

Sorry, not CT.

Interjection.

Hon. S. Robinson: The ultrasound folks. Thank you. Remember, you know, they have the

wand.

It’s a new model. There’s a clinic now at Camosun where the public can

come and students, under supervision, can do the scans. They’re working,

learning and serving all at the same time. That’s creative and innovative,

and we have tremendous partners in all of our 25 post-secondary

institutions.

I want to finish off some of my remarks on a little bit more of a

personal tone around how important it is that we have a health care system

that works for us. In the throne speech, there was talk about, as our

population increases, the need for cancer care. This is what the throne

speech said:

“As our population increases and ages, there is a growing demand for all

health services and, in particular, for cancer care. Close to 90 people

every day” — every day — “are diagnosed with cancer in British Columbia, and

that number will only increase.

“After a cancer diagnosis, nobody should be stuck waiting for treatment

they urgently need. That’s why your government will continue its work to

build our health care workforce and fight cancer with new investments to

enhance access to screening and early detection, diagnostic imaging and

treatments.”

Members of this House might know that I’m a cancer survivor. I was

diagnosed in 2006 with a rare gastrointes­tinal stromal tumor. It’s a

rare kind of cancer. It’s the same one that Tamara Taggart has — and another

friend of mine, Tanya Louis. They’re my GISTer sisters. What we have is a

GIST, and we get together to celebrate the fact that we’re still here. We

were diagnosed at a young age.

I know that there are other members of this House…. The members for

West Vancouver–Capilano, Richmond-​Queensborough, Langford–Juan de

Fuca, Port Moody–​Coquitlam and Burnaby North are all cancer

survivors.

A year and a half ago I had the privilege of going to see my

oncologist, who said: “You can go off your medication. I don’t think you

have cancer after 15 years.” Needless to say — I’m sure the Speaker can

appreciate — there were tears all around and tremendous

gratitude.

[2:55 p.m.]

This last January 27 I went for my scan, and I got the unfortunate

news that cancer is back. It’s heartbreaking. I’m fine. I’m back on my

chemotherapy and disappointed. It’s hard to tell my dad and my children that

their mother has cancer again.

I’m using my throne speech to talk about how great a system we have,

because I got to go to Royal Columbian Hospital thinking I was fine, knowing

I was fine, and six days later have the system tell me: “You’re back in the

system, and we will take care of you.” I have every confidence that that

system will be there for me, as it will be there for every British Columbian

who gets a cancer diagnosis.

So I want to urge all members of the House — this is my own plug — to

join me on the Tour de Cure. I’ve been doing it for what feels like 15

years. It’s not that long, but maybe 12 years. If you’re not going to join

me on the cure, you’re all going to donate to my ride. I am here because the

research that the B.C. Cancer Foundation does and the research the B.C.

Cancer Agency does is to discover more treatments.

The treatment I am on is a first-line treatment. There are now five

other treatments, if this one doesn’t work, which have been discovered in

the last 15 years. I am confident I will be fine, but we need to do more

research. I’m counting on all of you: tourdecure.ca, put in my name and

contribute to my ride.

Those of you who are interested in riding, let me know. We have a fun

team. We’re called Team Way Hey Hey! because we ride for an “Ordinary Day,”

which is a song from Great Big Sea, my favourite band. I want to invite you

all to join me. There is no partisanship on the ride. You are all welcome to

join me.

M. de Jong: We’ll all pedal in the same direction on this.

Hon. S. Robinson: We will all pedal in the same direction, and I might even pull you

along if you like. You know, I’m not a big windbreak, but….

M. de Jong: Well, I am.

Hon. S. Robinson: Then you’re in front.

With that, I just want to finish off my remarks by saying that some

people might want to start talking about what my future looks like here in

this place. I am not going anywhere.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member. I’m sure we’ll be reminded many times where the

dollars go and how best to donate.

K. Kirkpatrick: It’s my honour to rise in the House today and respond to the Speech

from the Throne. The throne is meant to lay out the goals and the priorities

of government and ensure that British Columbia are confident that their

government is working in their best interests. I do look forward to sharing

my thoughts.

I would like to pause for a moment and just thank — and my best wishes

to — the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

Coming into this House and sharing that is difficult, but it’s so

important for other people to hear. Your commitment to continuing and

staying is very inspirational. I will go on, and I will donate. I wish

you….

Interjection.

K. Kirkpatrick: Well, I’m not that that healthy or enthusiastic, but best of luck and

thank you for sharing that with the House.

I would like to acknowledge the

Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ peoples, the Songhees

and the Esquimalt Nations, upon whose territories we gather here

today.

I would also like to thank the Lieutenant-Governor for the role she

plays in our parliamentary democracy, which is a very important kind of

democracy that we are so very lucky to have here in Canada and in British

Columbia. I do acknowledge, with sympathy, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II

this past year and do extend my best wishes for Charles III as he begins his

reign and as the head of a parliamentary democracy.

[3:00 p.m.]

I’m honoured to represent the beautiful riding of West

Vancouver–Capilano.

It is located on the traditional territories of the Squamish, Musqueam

and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

My riding stretches across the district of West Vancouver and the

district of North Vancouver. Unlike some of my colleagues here who take ten

hours to drive from one side of their riding to the other, it takes me ten

minutes, and I actually go in and out of another riding on my way there. It

is an absolutely beautiful place to be from, and I’m just so very honoured

to represent it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my constituency

assistant, who is watching and absolutely hates when I recognize her. Tracy

Dobell is just wonderful. Her experience and enthusiasm have made my

transition to my role as an MLA that much easier. She is unrelenting when

we’ve got an issue with a constituent. She just does such great work. She

always knows who to call. She makes me look good, and I thank her for

that.

It goes without saying, but I will say it. I would also like to thank

my legislative assistant, Wendy King. She is also invaluable in helping me

navigate my time here in the Legislature and making sure I am where I’m

supposed to be when I’m supposed to be there.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I also thank all the great stakeholder groups that I have met and that

have supported me these last two years, initially as the shadow minister for

MCFD and then, more recently, as the shadow minister for Housing and Child

Care. I’ve had a lot of community support.

Finally, in terms of thanks, my appreciation to my family. All MLAs in

this House spend an inordinate amount of time away from home, and our

families have to pick up a lot of the responsibilities in our absence. So I

do thank my family and my mom, because I know you are watching

today.

Turning to the Speech from the Throne. These are extraordinary times

that we’re in. We have multiple and overlapping crises that continue to

worsen under this government. We have a health care crisis, a mental health

and addictions crisis and an affordability crisis.

Now, I feel like I can just repeat everything that my hon. colleague

from Surrey South has said, but I will say much of it in my own words

here.

What I heard in the Speech from the Throne is that this government

wants us to judge them by how much money they spend rather than by what

those results are. Touting government’s ability to spend more money than

previous governments or more money than the previous year doesn’t actually

demonstrate the delivery of solutions and outcomes. It only demonstrates the

ability to spend taxpayers’ money, where British Columbians want to actually

see results.

Now I want to talk about the word “vision” for a moment. This throne

speech, reading the media and looking at Twitter after the throne speech

yesterday, has been described as “oddly dour and uneventful” and “hit

snooze.”

I want to talk about vision. Vision is the ability to make people see

what the future is and to be excited about what the future is. Any time you

take a leadership course, any time you want to inspire people and connect

with people, you have to set a vision. It’s not a shopping list of things

that need to be done that we already know need to be done. It’s: where are

we going to be, as British Columbians, in five years from now, in ten years

from now?

I want to be inspired as a British Columbian. I do not see vision. I

do not get excited by this throne speech, and I didn’t see vision and get

excited by last year’s throne speech. We’re not filling out a shopping list.

We should be innovative and trying to show the future to British Columbians,

and that future should be bright.

Government is supposed to deliver for people, and this NDP government

is failing on every count. There is nothing in this Speech from the Throne

that gives me reason to believe any differently. This NDP government has

given us the Pathway to Hope document, but we can’t plan a whole system on

hope. That pathway needs to lead somewhere better.

[3:05 p.m.]

There has been a 26 percent increase in illicit drug fatalities this

year over 2020, about seven deaths per day, as recorded in November and

December. Youth workers, police, emergency room workers, parents are having

to do multiple naloxone resuscitations, often on the same person on the same

day. The work that the front-line staff are doing themselves…. They are

suffering from PTSD and mental health because they’re on the front lines of

what is really a war.

What happens with mental health and addictions in this province? Where

do people go? We have created in British Columbia, under this government, a

two-tier mental health system: those who can pay and those who cannot. The

wait times for public recovery beds are so long that it is, in essence, the

same as not having any recovery beds at all.

Now, I’m proud to be part of the B.C. Liberals, who introduced a

relentless commitment to treatment and recovery last week, with a roadmap

that shows how to get there. The NDP hasn’t been able to criticize it

because they know it’s the right thing to do. Instead, the NDP government

reaches back in time to all of the shortcomings of the previous government.

They’re blaming all of their shortcomings on that, but they have had six

years to put their own policies and plans in place.

It’s time to look at their own record. They should look forward to

setting real goals and real ideas that will help British Columbians. It is

actually embarrassing to the point of being a government for six years and

still having to yell “squirrel” and point the other way when they’re being

asked to be held to account for the six years of policies that have failed

British Columbians.

I’m also proud of the B.C. Liberal government’s record on mental

health and addictions. So $100 million was immediately deployed when the

B.C. Liberal government declared a public health emergency in 2016. They

established the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, added hundreds of additional

treatment beds, mass distribution of naloxone and substitution therapies

such as Suboxone and set up the Foundry network for youth, which the current

government touts as being a model of support for young people in

crisis.

And $2.2 billion annually was spent on mental health and addiction

services under our government. We invested in the 105-bed Red Fish Healing

Centre for severely addicted and mentally ill patients at the Riverview

lands.

Five hundred additional treatment and intervention substance use beds

were opened through B.C. This was in addition to 12,000 community mental

health beds and nearly 2,800 community substance use beds. The number of

adult community mental health beds increased 148 percent, with 7,334

additional new beds.

When the current government talks about the patchwork and what they

inherited, it is simply not borne by facts.

Ideas evolve over time to adjust to the current realities of life. For

decades, governments have made decisions based on the reality of what was

happening at the time. Successive governments have made both good and bad

decisions and good and bad policies, and it sometimes takes hindsight to

know which is which.

A B.C. Liberal government would be prepared to recognize the good and

the bad and to make solid and strategic plans for today’s mental health and

addictions landscape. That’s what leadership is. It’s not doing the same

thing over and over and hoping for a new result. It’s taking responsibility

for decisions that were made in the past, and it’s making the right

decisions to move forward for today.

In yesterday’s throne speech, this government said: “That’s why your

government will build on historic investments in saving lives with future

expansion of treatment and recovery services so more people can access

care.” Well, I’d like to know where these NDP historic investments have

gone. Wherever it is, it’s not working. And let’s not forget again. This is

a two-term government.

Opioid deaths in British Columbia were the highest ever recorded in

the first nine months of 2022. This is unacceptable.

We’ll also talk about…. This is going to make its way on B.C. out of

context or whatever it is. Thank you very much. I’m so excited that I’m

crying.

[3:10 p.m.]

When we think about health care and what this government has done with

health care…. In the paper today, my own North Shore was reported as being

the worst in terms of wait times in medical clinics there, the worst in

British Columbia, the worst in Canada.

We’ve talked before with the B.C. Radiological Society. My friend

across the way…. We know how important it is to have quick access, timely

access, to MRIs and CT scans and diagnostics so that people can have their

cancer treatments get started. They can have whatever other surgeries they

need in order to be able to increase the quality of their life.

But the B. C. Radiological Society said that because of the

unacceptable wait-lists for diagnostics in British Columbia, we are going to

expect, in this next year, to have a tsunami of cancer diagnoses, and that’s

just not acceptable.

We know that under this government, one in five British Columbians

does not have a doctor. If you don’t have a doctor, you’re going to the

clinics. If the wait times are too long and you can’t have access there, you

can’t get referrals to specialists. The whole system gets gummed up, and

it’s very stressful for people, and it can result in bad health

outcomes.

Let’s talk about affordability and housing and the commitments made in

the throne speech. Under this two-term NDP government, a flurry of taxes and

housing policies have been introduced, and we’re hearing that there will be

more of the same in this throne speech. Have these worked? Well, let’s look

at some of the results.

To start with, while the Premier was Minister of Housing, he made a

commitment to build 114,000 affordable housing units. It was a commitment to

build 114,000 affordable housing units, not convert other things to housing

units. In six years, only 10 percent of those units have been completed, and

let me quote from the throne speech: “And your government started making

urgently needed investments in affordable housing of every kind.”

Well, I have to ask: how urgent can these investments be, based on 10

percent of the original promise of 114,000 units six years ago actually

being met? That doesn’t sound particularly urgent to me. British Columbia is

the most expensive place for a renter in the country, according to new

federal data. B.C. renters are simply worse off under the NDP, now paying an

average of $4,332 more every year for their rent since the NDP came

in.

Vancouver, of course, we all know has the least affordable rental

markets in the country, and Victoria and Kelowna are now ranked No. 3 and

No. 4. The vacancy rate is still at one of the lowest levels ever,

historically, at 1.3 percent for the province.

Average provincial rents — and these are for purpose-built rentals —

have risen $361 a month under this NDP government. A recent report shows

clearly that despite the NDP’s many promises, B.C. not only has the least

affordable housing market in the country, by far, but that it’s getting

worse under this Premier, day by day.

RBC economists say that Vancouver is “setting a new grim record,” as

owning a home has never been less affordable. It would require 96 percent of

the median income of a British Columbian to afford the average home in

Vancouver. This is the worst rate in the country.

If you look at a reason to be doubtful of the promises in the throne

speech, look no further than that $400 renters rebate promised by this NDP

government for two consecutive elections, and it still has not been

delivered by government. The former Minister of Housing, in question period,

said: “It’s coming.” Yes, when we asked about that $400 rebate: “Oh, it’s

coming; there’s going to be an announcement.” But crickets — nothing has

happened there. So they have truly failed to make renters a

priority.

This past November, the government introduced an amendment to the

Strata Property Act, removing rental restrictions across the board. Now,

government was a bit unclear. They weren’t really sure how many rental units

that was actually going to release into the market, but they thought it

sounded like a good idea. The lack of consultation with the community was

shocking, but let me give you a taste of what is only the beginning of the

damage that this policy has done.

[3:15 p.m.]

In the first eight weeks since that legislation was introduced, over

160 stratas have applied to change their status to 55 plus, which is their

right to do.

The Minister of Housing, at the time, said he did not think that that

was going to be a big issue and that most stratas would not do that. Well,

we have a lot of stratas doing that.

What does this mean? It means that 160 strata buildings in British

Columbia…. Young people, families, young professionals — they not only can’t

rent in those buildings anymore, they can’t buy in those buildings anymore.

So this ill-conceived policy has actually caused a lot more damage than it

has good. If you look at even, you know…. Maybe there are 50 units in those

260 stratas. That’s taking 8,000 units out of the market for families and

young people. So despite all their promises to the contrary in throne speech

after throne speech after throne speech, housing affordability has worsened

under this NDP government.

Here are some additional quotes from yesterday’s speech. When speaking

about safety and housing for British Columbians, the blame game continues.

In fact, we heard this in question period today. When the opposition asked

government a very fair and serious question, the minister wouldn’t answer

the question, so the House Leader stood up and threw mud.

Now, here’s the quote: “It’s the product of more than a decade of cuts

to supports and services in B.C. and chronic underinvestment in housing.”

Again, this is the blame game. Does government realize that they’ve actually

been government for six years of the last decade?

“It’s a consequence of changes to federal laws and subsequent Supreme

Court decisions. It’s the product of a toxic drug supply that hurts even

more people than it kills….” Well, I’d say it’s all the product of bad

policies and outcomes from this government and that they should stop

blaming.

Does it sound familiar? A throne speech meant to provide a roadmap for

British Columbians is actually full of excuses and blame rather than taking

responsibility for government’s own shortcomings.

Now, we know families desperately need child care. After almost six

years, this Premier and the NDP have not been able to deliver on their

commitment, over two elections, to implement a truly universal $10-a-day

child care plan, with many parents having still had to pay the full fees for

the last several years, four or five years, while some parents were

receiving $10-a-day child care.

Most offensive is that this government had the money, and they weren’t

able to get it out the door and actually had to return money to the federal

government that could have gone into the pockets of parents who are dealing

with high inflation and costs. But no, they were not able to get it out to

those parents, and still today many people don’t have $10-a-day child

care.

If you look at how this government has managed the rollout of the

$10-a-day child care, they have looked at the child care providers, really,

as the villains for fees in this province. So rather than actually using the

federal funds to give true reductions to those child care providers, they

actually imposed all kinds of caps and fee freezes and things on these child

care providers to the point where they are able to be reimbursed by

government less than it actually costs them to run the child care centre. No

wonder you’ve got child care providers leaving.

We just heard about, in Kelowna, parents upset. They have a child care

provider. They got a $550 discount, a reduction, 50 percent off, and they’re

now being charged $700 a month on top of their child care, in additional

fees, so that child care providers can pay their extra hours and can pay for

food and can pay for their rent and all of the other things that this

government doesn’t understand organizations actually have to pay.

The NDP says that nearly 200,000 spaces are needed to meet child care

demands for families, but the NDP have only added 10,500 net new spaces.

Think about those numbers — pretty significant.

Results are what matter. The Premier is more focused on flashy

announcements: going out to child care centres, setting up the podium and

making an announcement for all the spaces that will be there. But I’ll tell

you, $10-a-day child care is, I would say, irrelevant if there’s no child

care. Parents would rather have child care than no child care that was only

$10 a day. So there are a lot of issues that are happening with the rollout

of this program.

[3:20 p.m.]

In November 2022, a report by ECEBC, Evaluation of Early Care and

Learning Recruitment and Retention Strategy , also found that 45

percent of child care providers that there are, are having more trouble.

They’re losing more staff than they can actually hire, and this is forcing

additional child care centres to close, or to close for one or two days a

week. That’s very, very difficult for parents to manage.

I’ve long been an advocate for a national daycare program, a universal

daycare program, and I’m very happy that the federal government stepped in,

but I am really disappointed with how this program has been rolled out in

British Columbia. What it’s doing — I guess, unintentionally — is creating a

two-tier child care system. So here we’ve got a two-tier mental health

system. Now we’re going to have a two-tier child care system.

When child care providers can no longer afford to participate in these

government programs…. Incidentally, some of those child care providers have

still not been paid by government in order to offset the reduced fees

they’re charging the parents. This is just a real issue in trying to figure

out how to get money out the door. It’s going to be a two-tier system, where

providers are just going to be so frustrated. They’re going to put their

hands up and step out of the system, so parents will pay because they don’t

have child care. They’re going to pay full fees again to work with those

child care providers.

Why hasn’t this government figured this out yet? There has to be a

situation that’s efficient, where money gets out to support both parents and

child care providers, and it’s done collaboratively and it’s done in

consultation with both parents and child care providers.

I’m going to tell you all the child care good things that the B.C.

Liberals did, but I’m running out of time and space here. We did create, on

average, 3,330 spaces per year, and 22,000 families already paid less than

$10 a day because of government subsidies under the previous government. In

the last election, there was a true and real commitment to universal

$10-a-day child care, funded by a $1.1 billion investment that would be in

place now today.

For the past 20 years, B.C. had a system for supporting families with

children with autism that was seen as progressive through the rest of

Canada. We’d been asking government to build on this system to provide these

supports to other children — children with FASD, Down syndrome, dyslexia and

other neurodiverse needs. Curious that yesterday’s throne speech made no

reference to children with support needs at all. Actually, the word “child”

was twice in the throne speech, but shockingly, the word “youth” was not

even in the throne speech. It didn’t reference youth anywhere.

With respect to the autism funding last year, following widespread

backlash, the Premier, in December 2022, reversed the autism funding

clawback and committed to working collaboratively with all partners. But as

it turns out, the chaos has not stopped, as providers who were not part of

this NDP’s new pilot projects, and four communities, have been put in

challenging situations, as we witnessed recently with Starbright Children’s

Development Centre in Kelowna. It was only after outcries from families that

MCFD scrambled last weekend to extend the funding, but it remains an

inadequate and short-term commitment.

Now we can only imagine what is happening to non-profits in the other

three regions with these pilot sites. Heaven help us, what is going to

happen to all these long serving, fabulous non-profits that have been

helping children and CDCs and communities across British Columbia for years

if the NDP decides it’s going to roll out these FCCs in all parts of British

Columbia.

The MCFD did not anticipate the destruction that these hubs were going

to cause in community until it actually happened in Kelowna, and I’m hoping

that with the commitment — although not in the throne speech — to children

and youth with special needs, that this will be done more effectively and

efficiently and collaboratively than it’s been done so far.

[3:25 p.m.]

This NDP never truly engaged with families with children with autism.

They’re certainly not engaging with all of the parents of all of these

neurodiverse youth right now, who are now in the same place that we were a

year ago, being concerned and not understanding what’s going to happen to

their child.

I heard no commitments to support youth in care and youth aging out of

care. The process of aging out is in crisis. There are many things that were

left out of this throne speech.

What I heard in this throne speech was more of the same platitudes and

promises that I’ve been hearing for the last six years. In fact, I could

have just read my response to last year’s throne speech, because it’s wash,

rinse, repeat with this government. It’s the same thing.

Where is the vision? Where is the excitement of the potential of what

this wonderful province could actually be? Where are the clear commitments

to what will come in the next budget? What is the plan to get things

done?

There needs to be a plan. There has to be metrics, performance

measures, attached to it so we can know, as British Columbians, if our

government is doing a good job. I want to know if my government is doing a

good job, and heaven help us if the government doesn’t want to know it’s

doing a good job.

The Speech from the Throne was nothing if not light, and a restatement

of all of the issues that British Columbians already know are problems. At

the most critical juncture facing this province in generations, we were

given nothing to hang our hats on. We were given the same old, same old. In

a crisis, you need leadership that can point the way and help people see

that there will be a better tomorrow.

I love this province. I was not born here. I came for the promise and

the vision of life that British Columbia could help me build. I want us all

to be successful and healthy, and that all starts with decisions that are

made in this building.

What I heard yesterday does not meet the needs of what British

Columbians need now. It’s full of more promises and rhetoric and especially

blame. British Columbians deserve so much better than what they’re getting.

It’s another year of unkept commitments and broken promises from this NDP

government. It did sound like a setup, though, for a bonanza giveaway budget

on the 28th of February.

I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Speech from the

Throne. It is an absolute honour to be part of the process of holding

government to account.

K. Paddon: It is an honour to rise and speak to the Speech from the Throne. I

appreciate hearing what others have been saying, whether I was watching

earlier or just now, and it has definitely inspired me. I’ll be speaking not

only to the Speech from the Throne, but to the responses to the Speech from

the Throne, because I feel like there’s a lot that needs to be canvassed

here. So I’m going to try to fit it all in.

So that I don’t miss it, I do want to take just a moment and speak

about the riding of Chilliwack-Kent, which I have the very distinct honour

of representing. For those who are not sure, it covers everything: Cultus

Lake; the Sardis side of Chilliwack, most of it; Agassiz, which is the

district of Kent; Harrison Hot Springs; Harrison Mills; Popkum and

everything in between.

It’s a really diverse riding, so I have the distinct pleasure of

hearing from a diverse group of constituents, rural as well as those who

would consider themselves definitely not rural. Maybe they don’t know how to

define it, but it’s not rural. We have an amazing hospital, Chilliwack

General Hospital. We have several clinics. We have hard-working doctors. We

have some amazing schools — the University of the Fraser Valley.

There was a lot I heard in this throne speech that I’m excited to

canvass with constituents, with folks back in Chilliwack-Kent. But I think

the best thing I heard, the overwhelming feeling that I have received, that

I had, from the throne speech was that it acknowledged what British

Columbians already know. The previous speaker mentioned there were no

surprises. British Columbians already knew everything that was spoken about

in the throne speech. Good, because that’s what is important to British

Columbians. That is what is on their minds right now. I know that in

Chilliwack-Kent, that’s what I’m hearing from people.

[3:30 p.m.]

I thought it good that there were no huge surprises, because we need

to be doing the work. Our government needs to be doing the work on the

things that are most important to British Columbians. So that’s what we

heard in the throne speech.

I want to take just a minute, because I was a little bit taken aback

by some of the comments made about how it wasn’t an exciting throne speech.

I understand the intent was not…. You know, this is not entertainment. We

know that. This is the important work and action that our government is

committed to getting done — so not entertainment.

It has to be a reflection of what is most important and what is needed

by British Columbians, what we’re hearing every day in our offices, from our

neighbours, from our friends. It wasn’t, as I think the comment was, a

laundry list, but it was a list. There’s a lot of need right now.

One of the things that makes me so confident when I speak with people,

one of the things that makes it so easy to hear the good and the bad, the

struggle and the celebration, is that this government is unafraid of the

challenges, to tackle them.

We understand things are harder than ever right now for people. We

understand that we need to help people with costs, and the throne speech

addressed that. We understand how critical it is to tackle the enormous

issue of the housing crisis, the enormous, heartbreaking issue around toxic

drugs and the opioid crisis. We understand how important it is to make our

communities safer, because these are communities that we live in and that we

love.

I don’t think any member of this House, no matter where their seat is,

doesn’t love their community. This is big work; this is hard work. We do it

because we love our communities. We’re fighting climate change and building

an economy that works for everyone, an economy that doesn’t leave anybody

out. We know that there have been dramatic changes. In our partnerships with

Indigenous peoples, we’re making sure that we are doing the work and taking

the next steps in reconciliation and that things are not being overlooked,

things aren’t being left out.

This is a list. Within that list, there were other lists. There are a

lot of different actions that are required, and the throne speech took the

time to be more specific. Was it exciting? Did it blow people’s socks

off?

I read the same Twitter that everybody else did. I saw the articles. I

followed the thread, because we all do. I didn’t read the comments. That was

the first piece of advice I got after winning this seat, and I try to follow

it.

I saw that some people’s opinion was that it was underwhelming. I

understand that we might, as human beings, want things to be exciting,

because things are hard. They are hard, and the throne speech was serious

because there is serious business to get down to.

One of the things that helps me in this job…. It has helped me in

previous roles. Previously, Mr. Speaker — I don’t know if you know this — I

was a community advo­cate. I had the distinct benefit, pleasure and

privilege of working with self-advocates and individuals with intellectual

disabilities. I also had the distinct honour of supporting victims of crime.

So part of my role there was actually being there on the worst day of

people’s lives. It was not an easy role.

The other part of my job was incredibly rewarding, because I was able

to teach, learn from and support people in accessing community and accessing

the things they need. A very key part of both of those roles was trying to

explain and teach complexity in a way that could be taken in, in bite-size

pieces of information.

This actually helped me as a parent as well. I’m also now a parent of

teenagers. I became a parent 17 years and 11 months ago, so I’m almost the

parent of one adult. It was a while ago and things were very

hard.

[3:35 p.m.]

I’ve also learned how to break it down for my kids. They’re asking

questions now, because one is approaching voting age. The other one is maybe

a little bit jealous that they’re not at this point yet, but they’re

prepping. They’re making decisions about their future, and part of those

decisions are where they are going to live and what the priorities are of

the leaders that they’re watching. Those might be official leaders that are

elected or appointed, or maybe unofficial leaders in their peer groups, but

leaders, nonetheless.

One of the hardest things, before I took this position and since, has

been explaining why the adults are saying the things that they’re saying,

why we can stand in a room where two people will say opposite things. One

will say it’s great, and one will say it’s not. That’s a hard thing to teach

young kids.

When I talk about our work here, I understand that there are different

perspectives because there are different ideas. It’s like I said a minute

ago. I don’t doubt, regardless of any of the comments made so far about the

speech or to be made, that everybody here wants to take care of their

communities. It’s what that looks like, what that needs to look like — and

those differences. I think that the throne speech — in particular because it

was specific, maybe not exciting — really speaks to the multifaceted way

that we have to address the things that are most critical to British

Columbians right now.

One example that was given was around the uncertainty…. We know

economists are predicting a global slowdown, so what are we doing? How are

we going to be — this was a line from the throne speech I really liked —

“stable, secure, stronger and more sustainable”? How are we going to achieve

that? Well, we’re not going to achieve that by cutting critical core

services. We’re not going to do that by doing something exciting that might

have made a nice headline yesterday, rather than it not being exciting, in

some people’s view. What we’re talking about here is the real work, the hard

work, that our government has committed to.

That is a continuation, in many cases, of the work that we’ve already

done: when we talk about things like health care; when we talk about

bringing people back so they receive good pay — mostly women — so they know

what they can count on, so they know they’re valued as much as they are;

when we talk about making sure we have a pathway so people who have training

to be health care practitioners in our system have a pathway to get there

quicker, because they want to work in health care in British Columbia; when

we talk about the investments we’re making in primary care centres; when we

talk about a new model for paying family doctors; when we talk about all of

the things we’ve learned during COVID, all of the things we’ve learned even

since we’ve last called the people to have their voices heard about who sits

in this room.

We have learned so much about how things can be done. We’ve learned so

much about what’s possible. I think, at least when I listen to my

constituents, the priorities, even since then, have changed so much. Every

time this government learns more from the people about what’s happening in

real time, it’s reflected in the work that we’re doing.

There are changes, but we’re not reinventing anything. British

Columbians, of course, are telling us that they need help with costs, that

housing is an issue, that we need to strengthen public health care, that we

need to make our communities safer. They’re telling us that climate change

is important, that reconciliation is important. These are not new themes,

because these continue to be the values and the things that are important to

the British Columbians who elected us and who put us here.

The fact that our government continues to be focused on these things,

albeit with additional consultation and with the directions and investments

and new ideas — which might be different, not necessarily — should not be a

surprise. I’m sorry that it’s not exciting. It’s exciting to me. It’s

exciting to me because the work is continuing. I feel very privileged to be

part of continuing work.

[3:40 p.m.]

There is mention in here about additional ways where we’re going to be

addressing, for example, gender equity. I became a mother during a time

where…. I don’t even know. I was too busy being a brand-new mother, having

just created a human, I suppose, to read. I was not reading the news. I was

not watching question period. There was no conversation about child care.

There just wasn’t any. I made very significant choices about my

career.

In this throne speech, when we talk about continuing the work, when we

talk about acknowledging how far we’ve come while also saying we still have

so much further to go…. What would be more exciting, if we pretended like we

were there? This is not a quick fix. It was not a quick cause.

For example, child care. I’m not going to say “16 long years” in any

other way than to say it took hundreds of years. It took human history,

depending on your culture, to get us to the position where…. I don’t now,

but ideally, my daughter, with the work we’re doing right now, should she

choose to be a parent, and my son, should they choose to be a parent, will

not have to choose between taking care of their child or working. This is

the work we’re continuing. I think that’s exciting. That’s a different

choice than I had.

I am incredibly privileged and will recognize that right now, because

I had people around me who could support. But it was still a choice, and

there was still sacrifice. So continuing the work on the topics that British

Columbians tell us are important to them and are critical to them — that is

exciting. I don’t know. I can say it in a different tone that sounds more

exciting, but the work itself is what’s happening.

I also want to acknowledge that it’s important to understand the tone.

We are not celebrating that we have vanquished COVID, that we have

vanquished any issues around climate change. There’s no celebration about

what’s happening on our streets. For myself in Chilliwack-Kent, the opioid

crisis is often quite hidden. It’s happening in basements and dens, when

people get home from work, alone, while their families might be sleeping

down the hall. There’s no excitement there. There’s a lot of work to do.

It’s happening when youth are struggling. It’s happening when the stigma

around it is a barrier.

That’s where we’re doing the work: reduce the stigma, get the

information out, all of the pillars, all of the facets that we can attack

this together. Nobody needs more fear. Nobody needs to be told that this

thing that we have heard and learned from our community and those who have

lived experience, these things that our Premier is committed to, that he’s

taking action on immediately — nobody needs to hear that “You know what?

That probably, maybe, in my opinion, wouldn’t work.”

That’s not helpful to this fight. It will not get us to that place

where we can look back and say: “Okay. We’re going to be okay.” So many

people have been lost. I’m sorry it’s not exciting, but there’s a lot of

work that’s been done. There are lives that have been saved, but there’s so

much work left to do. This acknowledges that.

We’re seeing increased activity around climate. In Chilliwack-Kent…. I

know we talked about, in the Fraser Valley, the floods and the heartbreak

and the loss and all of the work and the incredible community that rallied

and took care of each other. The pictures, even thinking about them, give me

chills.

In Chilliwack-Kent, a large part of that was actually land movement

rather than the flooding, where the hillsides or the land moved in such a

way that it challenged or compromised or even devastated. We know near

Seabird Island, in the district of Kent, there was a landslide that trapped

people overnight. The military had to come in with helicopters and pluck

them off the roofs of their cars.

[3:45 p.m.]

I know that in the Chilliwack River Valley, there was land movement.

In Columbia Valley, there was land movement. In district of Kent, there was

land movement. Near Harrison Hot Springs, there was land movement. It’s

changed people’s lives.

That was a climate — you know, an atmospheric river.

We talk about these things becoming more frequent. We can’t celebrate

that either, which that would have been exciting, but we can acknowledge the

work that has been done so far and the continued commitment to something

that is a long-term problem, which is exactly what the throne speech

did.

Helping people with costs. We did. It was listed in the throne speech,

some of the ways we’ve helped people with costs. Because of my connection

and community, because of the range of people I have the honour of having in

my life to keep me aware and informed of a variety of things from a variety

of perspectives and because I’ve been really, really lucky to have a lot of

different kinds of people in my life, I’ve seen people who have done great

who are now struggling but who, up until now — they were going to the

grocery store recently — were okay. They weren’t necessarily worried if they

could make it. That has changed.

We know that we’re helping people with these costs. We’re helping

post about something to do with costs, what I get is a question: “Well, what

about…?” You know, I might say: “Here’s something for families. Families

will receive this, and 85 percent of British Columbians will benefit.” Then

I hear: “I see. What about seniors?”

Well, one of the really fantastic things…. We talk about helping

people with costs in the throne speech, but there’s already been a lot of

work done. We have a webpage that shows people what they qualify for, what

might be available for them, all about eligibility if it wasn’t

automatically deposited into their bank account, because a lot of that

happened.

But we need to continue. You don’t solve it with one time, with one

solution. This wasn’t an issue with keeping money in people’s pockets for

one day. This is a commitment from our government, from our Premier, to take

action, to continue taking action to help people with the cost of living,

with affordability, keeping money in their pockets in a continuous way so

that tomorrow, next month is less of a worry than yesterday.

When we talk about the housing crisis, I hear a lot about how things

aren’t solved yet, and that makes sense, because if it was solved, we

wouldn’t be talking about the housing crisis. We would be talking about

something else. The work being done as more and more people, as record

numbers of people, actually — they’re British Columbians now — come to

British Columbia…. They come to British Columbia because it is an amazing

place to live, because it does have supports for people, because there are

opportunities here.

Our unemployment rate shows you how much opportunity there is here. As

we build more, as we build our public health care system, as we build our

roads, as we build our transportation, as we have committed to and invested

in infrastructure, there are jobs here, family-supporting jobs.

So as we have more and more British Columbians that will make our

province just that much stronger, it is critical — and I feel like the

throne speech addresses it — to understand that we may be moving into…. Like

I said, economists are predicting a global slowdown, so we need to make sure

that we don’t have short-term thinking. That is what this throne speech is

outlining. Exciting? Exciting enough for Twitter to say, “Wow, that was

exciting”? No. But it’s because it’s long-term issues and long-term

thinking.

[3:50 p.m.]

We can make a list of things that the throne speech doesn’t include,

and I’m sure that will happen. The things it does include talk about how we

build a stronger tomorrow. It’s not a victory lap, because there are still

things that we need to be working on that are very significant. They’re

changing, I think, our identity.

I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said to me: “I don’t

know how to talk to people in person anymore.” They were having a

disagreement — probably no more serious than a regular disagreement. It was

about politics. It was actually, I think, around COVID and housing, which

was an interesting combination.

They said: “I don’t know how to talk to people in person anymore

because it’s been so long since I’ve had to.” They described how they were

in a group situation. People were talking over each other, and it was just

too much. They said: “I was never like that before. I don’t know what

happened. I don’t know how to get used to it again.” Things have changed.

Who they are when they show up in the world has changed, and what that world

looks like has changed.

This throne speech acknowledges that where we were five years ago, six

years ago, is different than where we are today. Our world has changed. I am

actually hearing from human beings that they don’t know how to speak to

other human beings sometimes anymore. I think that that’s kind of valid. I

watched the kids go back to school, and I saw how that social situation had

changed.

The thing I hope doesn’t change and the thing that is really required,

if we truly want to have the best ideas and the best work as we continue the

actions necessary to address these important issues that British Columbians

have told us are top of mind…. We will need ideas to come together. We will

need to be able to speak to each other in person or directly. We will need

to understand how to socialize.

I think that there have been a lot of inputs into our society that are

outside of our control. They impact the issues that we even addressed in the

throne speech. I think that there are issues from other jurisdictions

politically that trickle in. I think that there are attitudes or permissions

that trickle in.

I think that one of the worst things that’s trickled in, one of the

worst things…. It won’t interrupt our government getting this work done for

British Columbians, but it’s not going to make it easier. It’s this fear.

Not the fear that comes with the issues but the fear that comes with the

“what if?” extrapolated 15 times down the road and then followed up by:

“That will never work.”

This throne speech may not be exciting, but what it was, was a

demonstration, an outline, I suppose, of how we will continue the work and

the goal. The goal is what is important here. The goal is stable, secure,

stronger and more sustainable. That is a big goal.

I’ve canvassed a little bit. There are a lot of topics that we can

address, but the goal is the same in all those topics. When it comes to

helping people with costs, it’s stable, secure, stronger, sustainable. When

it comes to tackling the housing crisis, regardless of income bracket,

regardless of age, it’s stable, secure, stronger, sustainable. When it comes

to strengthening our public health care system…. When we know that it is not

outside of conversations happening around this country, sometimes around

this neighbourhood, about privatization…. What we need in our public health

care is stable, secure, stronger and sustainable.

[3:55 p.m.]

Making our communities safer. This throne speech did outline actions

not only that have been taken but that would be stable, secure, stronger,

sustainable.

Fighting climate change and building an economy that includes everyone

and that supports the vision of where we need to be. Stable, secure,

stronger and sustainable.

In our partnerships with Indigenous peoples, I was so…. I can’t talk

about this morning. Stable, secure, stronger and more sustainable. In my

last two minutes, I’m just going to highlight a couple of things in

Chilliwack-Kent around this last point, this partnerships with Indigenous

people.

I was honoured to be part of a celebration with the Tzeachten First

Nation in Chilliwack-Kent. This government partnered to build 23 homes on

reserve with the Tzeachten First Nation. What that meant, according to the

Chief…. People are coming home, and these communities are able to, again,

have multiple generations, all of that support.

I’ve also, to this last point, in my last minute and 33 seconds, been

able to celebrate with the Sts’ailes First Nation. There was an amazing and

historic agreement made. The goals and the vision of that community are

inspiring. I can’t wait. There are going to be more celebrations with them.

In that community as well, people are coming home. That’s how it was

described to me by Chief Leon. People are coming home. That’s

fantastic.

With one minute left…. What the throne speech does address is exactly

the things that British Columbians have been telling us, and that’s why it’s

not a surprise, nor should it be. What it’s talking about is how we are

going to continue addressing those issues that are most important, how our

government and our Premier are going to continue taking action with the goal

of stable, secure, stronger and sustainable.

E. Ross: As always, it’s an honour to get up and speak on behalf of Skeena in

response to the throne speech of 2023.

I just want to say hi to two people that I know for sure are watching:

my wife, Tracey Ross, back in Kitimat, and Glenn Martin.

To the millions of others that are watching all across B.C.,

hello.

Since 2017….

Interjections.

E. Ross: That’s my own party heckling me.

Since 2017, I’ve listened to vague statements in the House regarding

reconciliation and undefined UNDRIP legislation. Over five years, the only

thing I’ve really noticed that has changed is that the B.C. NDP government

now makes the rules, and Aboriginals have to follow these rules.

That’s a complete change from what happened in 2004 when the Haida

court case came down and said the honour of the Crown matters. The Crown has

to go above and beyond to address Aboriginal rights and title. It wasn’t

meant to give government control over First Nations’ futures. It wasn’t

meant to do that. The Haida court case also solidified the idea that there’s

an economic component to rights and title that has to be

addressed.

That is why we saw so much success in B.C. from 2004 to 2017. Whether

we’re talking about forestry, mining or LNG, so much success. In fact, a lot

of these projects were projects that were brought to this Legislature by

First Nations themselves, including LNG Canada, including Chevron’s KLNG

project and including Cedar LNG, which is a project from the Haisla

Nation.

There was something that was mentioned, a term in the throne speech

made by the Premier, along the lines of “following the rules.” Well, as

Haisla chief councillor from 2011 to 2017, I refused to follow the

rules.

[4:00 p.m.]

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

I believe economic reconciliation would make B.C. stronger. I also

have seen how economic development could help resolve poverty, unemployment,

suicide, children going into government care — the same issues that I lived

with as a young person and that I still live with today. Yet I find all

those issues that we talked about at my Chief and council table from 2003 to

2017 are the same issues we’re talking about here in the B.C. Legislature —

substance abuse, homelessness, the economy. We’re talking about the same

issues.

The result of not following rules on behalf of my people, the Haisla

people, brought LNG Canada to B.C. — the largest private investment in

Canadian history — and proved my point of resolving so many social issues.

The jobs that came with forestry and with mining also helped not only my

people, the Haisla people, but many First Nations all across British

Columbia, and non-First Nations. It was the idea of inclusion that made it

all possible.

It’s surprising to me now that we’re hearing members of government get

up and talk about economies, but they’re really talking about economies

based on government jobs. That’s not an economy, because without an economy,

your only device to bring in revenues is taxes.