Fourth Session, 42nd Parliament

(2023) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Monday, March 6, 2023

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 282

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

Private Members’ Statements

Men as allies for gender equity

B. D’Eith

G. Kyllo

Access to health care on the North Shore

K. Kirkpatrick

S. Chant

Supporting reproductive rights

K. Paddon

R. Merrifield

Investing in our future

T. Halford

R. Russell

Private Members’ Motions

Motion 3 — COVID-19 response and protests (continued)

R. Merrifield

M. Elmore

T. Shypitka

H. Yao

L. Doerkson

R. Glumac

D. Clovechok

K. Greene

E. Sturko

A. Singh

MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2023

The House met at 10:02 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: D. Coulter.

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

MEN AS ALLIES FOR GENDER EQUITY

B. D’Eith: March 8 is International Women’s Day, and we honour women, girls,

two-spirit, transgender and non-binary people in our province. Today,

I’m going to speak about how men can be allies in the fight for gender

equity in our society.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

Now before I start, I wanted to point out while gender equality is

focused on providing men and women with the same equal opportunities,

gender equity works to correct the historical wrongs that have left

women behind. We only have to look so far as our own Legislature to see

these historic barriers. These barriers have been slow to come

down.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that Rosemary Brown was the first

elected Black woman in the British Columbia Legislature. In 2016, the

MLA for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant was the first Indigenous woman in

British Columbia to be in cabinet. It took until 2011 for the MLA for

Prince George–Valemount to be the first female Attorney General. Now, of

course, we’re very honoured to have the MLA for Vancouver-Hastings to be

the first woman of colour to become the Attorney General of British

Columbia. [Applause.]

Thank you. Absolutely.

It is quite incredible that our Legislature, for the first time,

saw an equal number of women in caucus and in cabinet in 2017. It took

that long. This only happened because our party made a deliberate effort

to create policies to ensure that our caucus represents all of the

people in our communities.

[10:05 a.m.]

Being an ally means recognizing that there’s a problem and

supporting actions that lead to moving the dial to making these systemic

changes. It means being willing to listen and learn.

A great example of this was in my first term as MLA. As a

self-professed champion for women’s rights, I was the first to jump up

and defend women in caucus after the presentation of an important gender

equity policy. The member for Burnaby North, who was sitting next to me,

put her hand politely on my arm and said: “The whole point of this is to

allow women the chance to lead. So don’t jump to our rescue. Let us

lead, and support us.”

That, folks, was a very valuable lesson learned. To be a true

ally, men have to aid in the empowerment of women to lead on gender

equity issues and then support them. Be their ally. It’s about learning,

not always leading.

This couldn’t have been more important to me personally as the

father of a transgender child. My daughter Violet is an incredibly

courageous person who’s had to deal with prejudice, bigotry, shaming and

attacks. She was forced to quit her computer game programming job. The

trauma that she encountered has made it hard to work in the tech

industry again.

My job as a father is to support her, love her and to provide a

safe place for her. Her siblings and other family members are all part

of this circle of care. It’s nothing easy to find your true self and try

to express that to the world, especially with the number of folks who

have antiquated and bigoted world views.

Another personal story is my daughter Amy, who is now a career

firefighter in Maple Ridge. Firefighting is a perfect example of a

traditionally male-dominated profession that is opening its doors to

women. But there’s a long way to go. Only 3 percent of firefighters in

Canada are women. What I can say with Amy is that she was encouraged to

become a POC, and once she was in, she thrived in that

environment.

I’m incredibly proud of her, but I am equally proud of her chiefs,

captains and co-workers, who are shifting the culture of firefighting in

our community to allow women and people of diverse backgrounds in. That

is what is being an ally is about.

Now, men in our government caucus have learned a great deal as

allies. Women are seven times more likely to experience sexual assault.

Indigenous women are 3.5 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to

experience violence and seven times more likely to be murdered. LGBT2QS+

individuals are two times more likely to be a victim of violence, and

nearly half of transgender people have been sexually assaulted in their

lifetime.

One in three women experience gender-based violence in their

lifetime, and over half of women in B.C. have experienced physical or

sexual violence since the age of 16. That’s more than one million people

in this province. Domestic violence is not just about physical abuse. It

includes sexual, emotional, financial and psychological abuse, including

threats.

Now these are all things that I’ve learned and we’ve learned as

men in our caucus. In our first term, I was Chair of the Finance

Committee. At first, the Minister of MCFD, the former Parliamentary

Secretary for Gender Equity, had to remind all of us to look at the

myriad of issues in the province through a gender equity lens. Then over

time, I began to actually apply that lens myself every time and also

apply the lens of environment and Indigenous rights and other key

lenses. You know what? A whole new world of possibilities opened. This

changed everything and opened up the possibilities for

change.

I want to say that it is so important, when we look at gender

equity and being allies, that we work together, that we listen, that we

learn and that we allow the people fighting for gender equity to lead.

That’s so important, and as allies, we can be support to

that.

I’m a proud ally of gender equity, and I will allow my colleague

on the other side a chance to respond.

G. Kyllo: It’s truly an honour to stand to speak in response to the

statement on men as allies for gender equity. I want to thank the member

opposite for the opportunity to speak this incredibly important

topic.

International Women’s Day certainly provides us with the

opportunity to reflect on how we can better support women and achieve

equity. But quite honestly, it’s something that we should be thinking

about each and every day, especially when women continue to tell us that

change is desperately needed. Perhaps we should feel a bit troubled that

they need to tell us.

[10:10 a.m.]

Sometimes men are surprised when a woman shares negative or unsafe

experiences, whether it’s in the workplace, in the home or in the

community. But just because we as men have never experienced certain

situations or behaviours, it doesn’t make them any less real for the

women who do.

One way we can be allies is to listen earnestly and to avoid going

to the defensive when these feelings are shared with us. Instead of

making their words as a personal attack, we can see them as an

opportunity for growth, because things will never get better in the

boardrooms, the offices, the neighbourhoods or homes that we share with

women if we can’t speak freely about their experiences and if we can’t

look inward and reflect on how we can make things just a little bit

better.

We often celebrate the increasing number of women in political

life, in senior management roles and in traditionally male-dominated

industries, as we should. We also need to think about how we treat women

once they get there. Do they feel safe to openly express themselves?

When they do express themselves, do we truly listen and value their

perspectives? Do we acknowledge their experiences, even if we’ve never

faced them? Are we inclusive? Are women invited to the table, rather

than discouraged, overtly or not, from showing up?

Do we speak up when we hear of a woman being harassed or treated

unfairly? Are we willing to change our own behaviours if they are a

barrier to women feeling included and safe in the workplace, even when

they are unintentional? Do we give them credit for their ideas? Do we

amplify their voices, promote their skills and talents and compensate

them equitably?

In the home, even if we have split household duties and split

physical work, is it distributed fairly? Do we offer to help reduce the

burden of the tremendous emotional and mental load that in most cases is

carried by women? This is the thinking work, remembering and keeping

track of where everyone in the household needs to be and when and with

what and with whom. Do we value that work? Can we try to take more of it

on for ourselves?

If we’re not doing any of these things, I think we need to ask

ourselves why not, because achieving equality is not just a woman’s job.

Men need to put in the work as well. That work might feel difficult and

uncomfortable at times, but it is necessary.

As a parent and a grandparent, I want a bright future for my loved

ones. I have four amazingly talented and kind daughters, and people

often remark how I’m also outnumbered by so many females in my life. My

wonderful wife, Georgina, and eight granddaughters bring a lot of joy to

my life. When I imagine the future for my granddaughters — for Maya, for

Eve, Kylie, Siddhalee, Nova, Hannah, Journey and Adison — and for other

girls, I don’t want them to ever feel less than or treated that way by

anyone.

I’ll note that I do have four grandsons as well — Nolan, Harvey,

Sawyer and Noah. I want to thank them, and I want them to grow up as

allies for gender equity as well. I think it’s important that kids are

taught at a young age that a woman is equal to a man and that she

deserves the same rights, that everyone deserves respect and dignity, no

matter their sexual identity.

Let’s all be good to each other and model this for future

generations as well. We have certainly supported pay equity for women. I

think it’s something that is definitely long overdue in this province,

and I do know that there’s wide support for that for all members of this

House.

B. D’Eith: Thanks to the member for his comments on this issue.

As an ally for gender equity, I’m really proud of the work that

our government has done in this area. For example, starting on April 1,

British Columbia will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to make

prescription birth control free to its residents.

Interjections.

B. D’Eith: Yeah, absolutely. Including oral contracep­tives, IUDs and

plan B pills. Of course, male vasectomies were available for years. Go

figure. It was wonderful to see our entire caucus and the women of the

opposition cheer this announcement when it was made in the House. At a

time when women’s reproductive rights are being challenged to the south

and by certain Canadian parties, this move is a clear indication by our

government that we support a woman’s right to control her own

reproductive rights.

[10:15 a.m.]

Since launching the Childcare B.C. plan in the budget in 2018, the

government has invested over $2.4 billion to build affordable,

accessible, high-quality child care to ensure that families, especially

women, can participate in the work force. More women than ever are

entering or returning to the workforce because of this child care

program, and the province is also supporting survivors of sexual assault

by providing core funding to more than 50 sexual assault services,

undoing cuts that were made to these critical services in 2002. Our

government is putting people and survivors of violence first.

We’ve invested $3.2 billion to improve health care services that

people rely on, including by improving wages, working conditions, job

security and stability for thousands of support service workers being

repatriated into our public health services, the majority of whom are

racialized women.

We’ve done work to make more period products available for free,

building housing and supports for women fleeing violence, increasing the

B.C. family benefit, and expanding food programs in our schools. And

since 2018, we’ve used a gender-based alliance lens on budgets to make

sure that gender inequities are taken into account when we’re looking at

programs, services and funding.

Now these are just some examples of the tremendous strides being

made by our government to promote gender equity in our province. I’m

proud to be an ally for the incredible leaders that we have in our

caucus for women’s rights, including our ministers and former

Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity and the other women in caucus

who have taken the lead on these important issues for women in our

society.

I’m also very proud of the men in our government caucus who are

allies — listening, learning and supporting these transformative changes

in our government and our society.

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

ON THE NORTH

SHORE

K. Kirkpatrick: Today I rise in the House to speak on an issue of growing concern

in British Columbia and one, I’m sure, that all of those in the House

can agree upon.

As a Canadian and as a British Columbian, I’ve always been very

proud of having a medical system that I, my family and my community

could have timely access to life-saving medical treatments, but that

system has fallen apart. Emergency rooms in rural communities have been

forced to close, wait times for emergency and specialized care continue

to climb, and a lack of paramedics has severe and sometimes fatal

consequences.

Especially in my community, residents are continuing to struggle

just to even get on a wait-list and maybe to see a doctor. And we all

know that if you don’t have a doctor, you can’t have referrals,

prescriptions, diagnostics. A family doctor is your entry level into the

medical system and life-saving medical treatment.

Our health care system is failing British Columbians. Hospital

closures, doctor shortages, concerningly high wait-lists at walk-in

clinics are becoming the norm across the province. Our communities are

suffering, and people are feeling like there’s just simply not enough

being done to address all of these issues.

North Vancouver, my community, is at the centre of the health care

crisis. According to the 2022 Medimap walk-in clinic wait time index,

North Vancouver has the longest wait times in all of Canada — not simply

British Columbia, but all of Canada, with an average of 160 minutes per

visit. The longest wait times in the entire country are in fact

occurring in our province. Four of ten cities with the longest wait

times are here in British Columbia. The average wait time in B.C.

walk-in clinics has increased significantly in the past few years, going

from 58 minutes in 2019 to 79 minutes in 2022.

Now it’s important to note that other provinces have these

challenges, but British Columbia is more than triple the average time in

Ontario. That is significant, and that is a B.C.-grown issue. These

growing wait times are evidence that our health care system is

struggling to provide basic access to care to residents across the

province. And while it’s devastating to see this happening in my own

community, I was, unfortunately, not surprised by these statistics. I

consistently hear from residents who are concerned about their access to

primary care and lack of a family doctor.

The number of calls my office receives has not been slow­ing

down. Access to health care in B.C. is not improving.

[10:20 a.m.]

This is not only a problem in my constituency of West

Vancouver–Capilano, but I also hear from other residents across all of

the North Shore in my nearby constituencies who are desperate for access

to all forms of health care and are not receiving the help they

need.

As of July 2022, there are officially 287 general physicians

working on the North Shore, and that includes those who are working at

Lions Gate Hospital and the UPCC, and those who work in specialized

services or on a part-time basis.

However, the North Shore is currently seeing a growing number of

family doctors retiring, with no new doctors there to take their place.

This has left thousands stranded, with no access to a primary care

provider. At present, over one million people, or one in five British

Columbians, as we know, do not have a family doctor. Many of those are

in my constituency. We know that there are at least 7,600 patients on

the North Shore who are on a centralized wait-list for a family

doctor.

Now, this list continues to grow every month, and it only includes

those that are actually registered on a wait-list. The actual number of

those who are without a family doctor is significantly larger, as 20

percent of respondents to a North Shore News poll said they do

not have a family doctor. Without a family doctor, people are forced to

go to walk-in clinics for anything from referrals to diagnostic testing.

This is adding to the strain on our walk-in clinics, which can’t handle

the increased capacity of patients.

At our clinics on the North Shore, you can no longer simply walk

in for care, as they have now turned into “two-hour wait-outside

clinics” or “require appointments to be booked in advance” clinics. In

many cases, people must call the walk-in clinic as soon as it opens, at

7 a.m., to book an appointment for that day. In worst cases, residents

will arrive to book an appointment in the morning, only to find the

clinic already fully booked for the day.

There are often people who are neglecting their own health care

because they simply cannot afford a seven-hour wait in order to seek

urgent care. Many patients, single parents, don’t have the option to

leave their kids alone for seven hours while they get the care they

need.

There have been a number of cases where elderly patients simply

cannot walk in and sit down in a clinic. So their families choose to

call an ambulance to take them to the hospital emergency room instead.

They’re even being told by 811 nurses to call an ambulance rather than

try and go to a walk-in clinic on the North Shore.

These issues are not exclusive to the North Shore. Across the

province, we see communities, both rural and urban, struggling to get

basic access to primary health care. Our health care system is broken

and has continued to get worse over the past six years. The increased

wait times and lack of family doctors are a huge concern for any

community, particularly an aging community like we have on the North

Shore.

When a family doctor retires, there’s no guarantee that their

patients will be able to find a new family doctor. The doctors are

extending their careers and not retiring, for fear of their patients

being stranded.

It should be a priority of this government to start delivering on

their commitment to improve access to health care on the North Shore and

across British Columbia.

S. Chant: Thank you for the opportunity to rise and respond to the motion

expressed by my colleague and neighbour from West

Van–Capilano.

To begin, I acknowledge that I’m speaking on the lands of the

Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking,

specifically those of the Songhees and Esquimalt people.

I also acknowledge the unceded territory of the Squamish and

Tsleil-Waututh Nations, where my home and riding are situated. It is

indeed a privilege to work, learn and live on these territories that

have been and continue to be stewarded for so long and so

well.

It must be difficult to be on the opposition in any political

realm, as it seems that, as opposition, all debates are in the negative.

You don’t get the chance to extol the positive things….

Deputy Speaker: Of course, this is private members’ time, so it’s not opposition

versus government. Thank you.

S. Chant: My apologies, Mr. Speaker. I do take that back; I

apologize.

I get the chance to extol the positive things that go on in our

communities, our ridings and our province. Let’s start with the $1

billion that was distributed last week amongst all of the communities

and regional districts throughout the province. It translated to just

about $30 million across the North Shore municipalities, for municipal

projects that might not have otherwise been afforded.

[10:25 a.m.]

Let’s talk about the strategies that have been actioned over the

past couple of years to remediate the gutting of the health care system

that took place in the early 2000s. I was there then, and me and my

teams continued to try to provide effective and community-based client

care over the next 16 years, in spite of the cuts and in spite of the

empty promises that community health would get increased funding to keep

clients closer to home.

Now we can look to actions that have been implemented to support

our health care providers, which, in turn, support our patients —

600-plus new training positions for nurses in B.C., funding for

internationally trained nurses towards getting their education and

skills recognized in a timely fashion so that they can join our nursing

workforce much sooner than in the past.

I was recently in the skills lab in Kwantlen College where

internationally trained applicants are able to demon­strate their

expertise so they can be signed off as ready or work on areas that need

improvement.

Recent changes in payment and fee structures were accepted by both

family physicians and resident physicians. Additionally, some

specialists, such as those working towards cancer diagnosis and

treatment, were also getting their funding increased.

A new medical school is opening at Simon Fraser University so that

more medical students can be trained in our province. The number of

residencies has also increased, and we have the opportunities for

associate physicians, who are internationally trained, to work with the

oversight of local doctors while getting accredited towards working

independently.

Around 2017, we were able to see a difference in the community

setting. My case management team was comprised of nurses and social

workers who carried a caseload of approximately 100 to 120 clients each.

These were clients that had conditions that could result in

long-term-care placement. However, we were supporting them to stay at

home.

We also supported the caregivers. We initiated and managed home

support, arranged for respite in or out of the home, attached clients to

public or non-profit resources and helped transition them home from

hospitalizations, as well as moving them on to a higher level of care if

they could no longer be managed in the home.

Imagine how much more we were able to do for our clients when were

able to add three licensed practical nurses and two community liaison

workers to our team. Not only were we able to have more clients on our

caseloads, but we were able to provide a broader range of services, such

as wound and catheter care or helping eligible clients to apply for

benefits that they had not known about or accessed. Finally, in 2018, we

were getting the help in community that had been promised for

years.

There is no denying that there is more work to be done in

rebuilding, maintaining and supporting our health care system. I am

continually grateful for the ongoing valuable and exceptional work that

all of our health care clinicians have been providing and continue to

provide to the people of British Columbia.

Thank you to nurses, doctors, community health workers and care

aides, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, dieticians,

first responders and all of the health care providers that are part of

our complex, caring and strengthening health care system.

I am so proud to be part of a government that continues to value

all of their work.

K. Kirkpatrick: I’d like to thank the member opposite for their thoughts on this

issue, and I would like to express my appreciation to her for the time

that she spent as a nurse and a health care practitioner during her

career. I would like to remind the member for North Van–Seymour,

however, that the amount of criticism is only equal to the size of the

health care crisis.

I think we can all agree that this health care crisis is an urgent

matter. It should be discussed in this House more frequently, and it

needs to be addressed. It genuinely is now a matter of life and death

for people. Results are desperately needed. The health care system is

collapsing, with record-high wait times at walk-in clinics and

consistent emergency room closures.

I recently received a letter from a local doctor in my

constituency who has been practising on the North Shore for 31 years.

She’s part of a three-doctor family practice and has, on her own, 2,500

active patients. One of her partners is planning on retiring after

having delayed that retirement and is terrified that this will lose more

than 2,000 patients without a health care practitioner on the North

Shore.

Dr. Simon Bicknell, who specializes in diagnostic and

interventional radiology, says that if the problem is cancer, if you put

off getting that assessed by your primary practitioner or a specialist,

that can change a stage, just by letting it sit and wait for months. The

lack of doctors and the length of wait-lists is having a devastating

impact on the North Shore and all of British Columbia.

[10:30 a.m.]

Residents are worried about not having access to a family doctor.

We have the longest wait-time clinics in all of Canada. People should

not have to routinely wait two hours at a walk-in clinic just to get

basic primary care.

It is not just the health care system on the North Shore that

needs more support. There are few plans of any sort for investing in

resources in this community for the long term. No plans for the SkyTrain

line to the North Shore. Additionally, no mention of a new bridge

connecting the North Shore…

Deputy Speaker: Member, private members’ statements are to be kept to one

statement area.

K. Kirkpatrick: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is also connected to a lack of doctors. We have doctors and

other professionals who simply can’t afford housing on the North Shore.

But with traffic congestion so significant and the time it takes to

commute, they’re choosing clinics closer to home.

It’s time to step up and support the residents on the North Shore

by lowering the highest walk-in clinic times in Canada. Seventy-six

hundred patients on the North Shore and 287 general doctors — those

numbers speak for themselves.

SUPPORTING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

K. Paddon: As we know, later this week we will be marking International

Women’s Day. This day is to honour the many women, girls, two-spirit

people and non-binary people in our province who are so often the

cornerstones of our family, neighborhoods and communities.

B.C. has a long history of incredible people who are making change

in our society — people who fight sexism, gender-based discrimination,

harassment and violence every day. From well-known public figures to

ordinary people working quietly behind the scenes, these trailblazers

are breaking barriers, standing up for change and fighting for the

rights of all people.

I’m proud to be working with so many women and girls who make an

impact every day towards making life better in our province. With this

in mind, it would be difficult to discuss equity and access for women,

girls, two-spirit and non-binary people without acknowledging the need

to support bodily autonomy. Today I rise to discuss reproductive rights

specifically.

It has been less than a year since the conversation about

reproductive rights was changed by the reversing of Roe v. Wade

in the United States, a case where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973

that the U.S. constitution protects the liberty to choose to have an

abortion for its people. Now I know that we are in Canada, of course,

and that we are in British Columbia specifically, where Roe v.

Wade was not the case that set our foundation. But it is

undeniable that our news, conversations, parts of our culture and even

sometimes our understanding of the world around us and issues here in

Canada are heavily impacted, if not influenced, by media, politics and

issues from the United States.

Here in Canada, we have R. v. Morgentaler from 1988. In

the case of Morgentaler, the Supreme Court of Canada held that abortion

provisions in the Criminal Code were unconstitutional, because they

violated women’s rights under

section 7 of the Canadian Charter of

Rights and Freedoms to security of person. Since this ruling, there have

been no criminal laws on abortion in Canada. The decision sounds a

little familiar, right? This was 35 years ago in Canada, even longer

than that in the U.S., but the conversation and the fight for bodily

autonomy and making medical decisions is still front and centre. We see

and hear it every single day.

Abortion is health care. It is health care for those who could be

pregnant, whose bodies are at the centre of the decision. We are

watching, since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, different states

making laws or tabling bills that would criminalize women for abortions,

criminalize medical practitioners for offering medical care and jailing

and threatening those who would choose to exercise their bodily

autonomy.

Now, there has always been a question of different levels of

Canada are watching in horror.

I have had the privilege to hear from many people in my community

and in our province about the experiences with choice, with access and

even the decision to access abortion care. I have heard fear and

sadness. I’ve heard hope and frustration. I’ve heard about being made to

feel shame, embarrassment and loneliness. I have heard about where it

has saved lives, where it has saved families and where there was support

and love. Each story is different. Each story is individual. Each choice

belongs to no one but the person who is making it.

We are all in this chamber, and we have many roles. Here, we are

representatives for our community, but that’s not all we are. For

myself, I am the MLA for Chilliwack-Kent but also a daughter, a mother

and a partner. Those things are linked to everything I do.

I bring this up because as a woman whose right to reproductive

decision sometimes feels like it’s up for public debate in our current

climate, one of the moments as a member of this Legislature that I

continue to think about happened less than a year ago, right here. The

cognitive dissonance still impacts my thinking. I know others who walked

these halls might be familiar with this as well.

[10:35 a.m.]

Last May, there was a protest on the front lawn. An anti-abortion

group was here, and as was their right, they were protesting to draw

attention to the issue of abortion. Their message was that abortion

should not be allowed, should be illegal, and, as a woman, a person who

could be pregnant, that I couldn’t be trusted. It should be governments

or courts who decide, not the person who is pregnant.

It was not the first time I’ve seen this or heard this. I don’t

live under a rock. But this time it was different, and I’ll try to

describe why.

That day I walked in this building. I sat in this chamber where we

debate and vote on the laws of British Columbia. As an MLA, I am elected

and entrusted, empowered by a community, to use my vote to make

decisions that will impact my neighbours, my community and my province,

where my vote on issues to our collective future is meant to be equal to

all the other votes in this room.

Still, at the same time, on the front lawn, as a woman, as someone

who could be pregnant, I felt reduced to a uterus and not to be trusted

to make decisions about my body. I am not to be allowed, if the beliefs

of the protesting group were to be entertained.

What continues to loop in my mind is that if this experience can

have such a lasting impact for myself, who has access and support and is

so privileged to be in this room with so much information, what impact

must the rhetoric, the stories, the debate over reproductive rights be

having on another who may be feeling isolated, terrified and alone? This

is why we must support reproductive rights so that information, support

options and treatment can be open and accessible.

Here in B.C., abortion is health care, and I’d like to share some

information with everyone. The majority of abortions are medical

abortions. This means a medication, Mifegymiso, is used to produce

abortion. Since 2016-17, the number of abortions accessed has increased

by 39 percent, while the dependence on surgical abortions has decreased

by almost 50 percent. The medication is available by telehealth and

dispensed by community pharmacies throughout the province. Anyone

seeking a medical abortion with this medication should call 811 to find

out the best way to access it.

Emergency abortions are performed at hospitals in every region of

our province. However, for those who want or need to

schedule a routine

surgical abortion, there are approximately 30 sites providing abortion

services in B.C. These sites are not all disclosed to protect the

privacy and safety of health care staff and patients. Let’s just take a

minute on that. No matter where you live, there is support available

from the province to ensure you can access abortion.

We can’t be silent. We must be clear in our support for

reproductive rights. I hope that we can all speak together in one voice

on this topic today. Access to contraceptives is a right. Abortion is

health care.

R. Merrifield: Today I rise to speak about the importance of supporting

reproductive rights. I’m going to focus my comments not on the federal

jurisdiction but rather, what we as a province and as provincial

legislatures can do. Because when preparing my remarks, I was almost

overwhelmed with the love towards and the thoughts of the angst of

people who desperately want children, who are maybe feeling torn between

children, career, focusing on whether or not to start a family or the

angst of an unwanted pregnancy. It’s not easy to find a balance today in

society with all of the barriers that are there.

Reproductive rights are fundamental human rights that empower

individuals to make informed choices about their bodies, sexuality and

reproduction. Reproductive rights include the right to access

contraception and the right to comprehensive reproductive health

care.

Access to reproductive health care is an important and critical

component of public health. It enables people to plan their families,

prevent unintended pregnancies and protect themselves from sexually

transmitted infections. It is also essential to reducing maternal and

infant mortality rates, improving maternal and child health and

promoting gender equality.

[10:40 a.m.]

Access to reproductive health care is often limited by legal,

financial and social barriers, and these barriers disproportionately

affect marginalized communities, including women, people of colour,

Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ2+ individuals and people with disabilities.

They can also have serious consequences — including unintended

pregnancies, unsafe abortions, childless families and poor health

outcomes — sometimes with generational impact.

With free contraception being announced in the last budget, all

British Columbians will now have access that continues gender equity

promise. This was something that all three parties agreed on and

something that we have been fiercely advocating for a while. Why is it

so impor“This disproportionately happens amongst women who are quite

young, so those that are 15 to 24 years of age, those who live in rural

and remote communities in Canada, who belong to Indigenous communities,

or are newcomers to Canada. This is the group that has the most

difficulty in accessing contraception at large, but in particular, are

long-acting reversible contraceptives, which are the most effective form

of contraception.”tant? Equity. Contraception is expensive. The types of

contraception that typically have less side effects are usually the ones

that cost more.

Many people can’t afford contraception, which leads to unwanted

pregnancies. It is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of pregnancies in

Canada are unintentional, according to Dr. Vivian Tam, a family

emergency physician based in Ottawa. I quote:

“This disproportionately happens amongst women who are quite young,

so those that are 15 to 24 years of age, those who live in rural and

remote communities in Canada, who belong to Indigenous communities, or

are newcomers to Canada. This is the group that has the most difficulty

in accessing contraception at large, but in particular, are long-acting

reversible contraceptives, which are the most effective form of

contraception.”

Having free contraception allows those from marginalized

communities, whether rural, remote or lower socioeconomic backgrounds,

an equal footing when it comes to family planning. Access to medical

personnel is difficult, so having reliable and long-term contraception

is important.

Free contraception also decreases the disparity between those with

additional medical coverage or the means to afford different forms of

birth control. Free contraception is another small blow to the cycle of

poverty. Additionally, contraception allows a greater degree of choice

and is a form of gender equality. The need is true now more than

ever.

While this government has made huge strides to equality by making

contraception free, there’s lots more to do. We can’t afford to be

waiting six more years for any of the rest of it. Not only do we need

publicly supported contraception; we also need fertility treatments

supported by MSP and covered.

I was diagnosed as infertile when I was 14 years old. My medical

issues continue, and I was able to have children through a medical study

in Alberta, combined with divine intervention. I understand that grief

and angst of not being able to afford the treatments necessary to have a

family.

Currently, with the exorbitant cost of fertility treatments,

couples are having to choose between a family or a home. This

socioeconomic differentiator needs to be eliminated to fully support

reproductive rights in B.C. Furthermore, it is crucial that we support

reproductive rights and work to remove these barriers. It also means

addressing systemic inequalities that impact reproductive health

outcomes, such as poverty, racism and ableism. However, without timely

and results-based government action, we just won’t get there.

Hon. Speaker, legislators, we have a responsibility to ensure that

all individuals have access to the reproductive health care they

need.

K. Paddon: Thank you to the member for their comments.

We celebrated the great news last week, with the introduction of

Budget 2023, which included free contraception starting April 1 for

British Columbians. As a mom with a teen daughter, I know this is huge.

To outline the impact for individuals, for a person who pays $25 a month

for birth control pills, that’s $300 in savings every year. For us as

British Columbians as a whole, we have research that shows an estimated

net cost savings to B.C.’s health system of $5.4 million after just

three years and more in the years to follow.

The universal coverage extends to over 60 prescription

contraceptives, including most oral hormone pills, injections, copper

and hormonal IUDs, implants and the morning-after pill. All of these

will be 100 percent covered, reducing out-of-pocket costs for people to

zero. These savings could mean as much as $10,000 in a person’s

lifetime.

[10:45 a.m.]

Everyone should be able to make their own choices about their

reproductive health without being limited or burdened by cost. No one

should have to choose between their health and being able to make ends

meet. It’s a right, not a luxury. And making prescription contraceptives

free for everyone means that people will face fewer obstacles in taking

charge of their reproductive health.

Improving access isn’t just about cost. To help those who do not

have a primary care provider to seamlessly access the contraceptives

they need and want, pharmacists will soon be able to prescribe

contraceptives to patients. This will make a big difference for people

and is good news for the entire province — no-cost, accessible choice

for British Columbians.

I know that the member for Kelowna-Mission clapped as hard as I

did when this announcement was made last week, and the support was

evident. It’s critical to acknowledge that the support, however, is not

universal across our communities, province or country. When the good

news was shared, I saw and heard comments saying, “This isn’t necessary.

Women need to take responsibility for their behaviour,” and even old

tropes about promiscuity, using defamatory feminine slurs.

I hear from people in my community that the politics of the

child-bearing body in the neighbouring jurisdictions is

anxiety-provoking. I feel it too, not only because it reduces a human

down to the utility of their uterus but because it is too

close.

Although we have come so far, the fight for equity for bodily

autonomy and medical decisions is not over. I will say it as plainly as

I know how.

As we talk about this today, and any day, and recognize

International Women’s Day this week, we cannot afford to have any

ambiguity about where our leaders stand on a person’s right to their

body, including their right to make their own reproductive

choices.

INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE

T. Halford: I rise in this House today to speak to the important issue of

investing in the future.

Somewhat on the future and before I do that, I see that my

daughter — she’s going to be really mad now — Alexandra Halford is here

today, along with her aunt Marnie Bailey. They will be joined by Shaun

Bailey and their daughter Bella Bailey, who are constituents, I believe,

of the Speaker. So I want to welcome them to the House today.

This is a place that Alexandra is very familiar with. I think the

last conversation was very important, and I’m glad that my daughter was

here to see this, because what was just spoken about is…. I know I’m

eating up time when I’m speaking about something else, but every

opportunity we should be talking about what was just talked about, and I

am so grateful that she was there to hear that today.

But on that note, when we talk about investing in the future,

investing in our children, we talk about rapid growth in this province.

The resources are already stretched to their limit, and increased

demands for new infrastructure projects grow daily. It’s key that we see

major capital projects launched to help make life better for

people.

Now, many British Columbians were looking to this government’s

budget for some relief, whether it was from student overcrowding, which

I’ll get to in a second, or hospitals bursting at the seams, which I’ll

also talk about, or roadways clogged with traffic. Being a resident of

the Lower Mainland, that’s near and dear to my heart.

Looking back, we see that 21 projects are delayed or over budget

or both, and we only have a finite amount of tax dollars to invest in

for British Columbia. As the MLA for Surrey–White Rock, I have to say

that in terms of schools, hospitals and transportation, we do feel that

we continue to come up short over the last six years.

Now, Surrey schools have been facing classroom shortages for

years, and many students — I’ll point out Alexandra as one — are in

portables. That has not changed, and I think it’s disheartening to see

that after years and years of promises to eliminate portables, we’ve

actually seen portables continue to increase.

In fact, as of 2022, there are now more than 300 portables just in

the Surrey school district alone. I think when we talk about the future,

we have to acknowledge that that lack of progress is beyond

unfortunate.

Laurie Larsen, the chair of the Surrey school board of education,

reports they currently have more than 40 building projects and school

site acquisitions that are seeking funding. So choosing not to invest in

these projects is choosing not to invest in the future.

[10:50 a.m.]

Furthermore, we talk about the SFU Surrey medical school. I know

that there have been recent announcements there, but there’s also been

delay after delay there.

When we talk about the need to invest, we need to talk about the

need to invest in making sure that we not only train doctors in British

Columbia but we retain doctors in British Columbia. I think many lessons

can be learned from those delayed announcements. When we think about the

primary care crisis we’re in now, we would ensure swift action to see

students in those spaces as soon as possible, yet that continues not to

be the case. Expanding education access for the medical field is just

one solution to the crisis, but it must be made a priority.

We only have to look at the fact that when we talk about…. This

government talks a lot about the second hospital in Surrey, but we need

to remind ourselves that when we talk about planning for the future and

how important that is, there’s no intensive care unit. There’s no

maternity ward there.

When we looked at the situation we saw at Peace Arch Hospital just

last year, when I stood outside with my colleague from Surrey South and

other members of the community, when that maternity ward was looking at

a closure and parents were being diverted at the last minute…. Whether

it was to Langley or Royal Columbian or Surrey Memorial, those hospitals

were coming to us and saying: “Please advocate for us, because we’re

bursting at the seams as well.”

We say: “How do we plan for the future?” When we’re talking about

an additional hospital in Surrey, I think many people are surprised, and

then they become frustrated, that we’re not talking about a maternity

ward, an intensive care unit.

We see that in other areas. I will talk a minute about

transportation and the need to invest there as well, that we look at….

Quite often I get stuck through the Massey Tunnel, whether it’s going

south or northbound. I’m sure a number of members in this House face the

same dilemma.

We’re talking about a bridge crossing that should be open by now

that we should be able to access. Now that’s investing in the future.

Taking $100 million of taxpayers’ money and scrubbing it to replace a

tunnel with a tunnel…. I think some would argue, I would argue, that’s

not investing in the future. That’s shortsighted. Not only are we

delaying the project a decade, but we’re shortchanging commuters. We’re

shortchanging the commercial traffic that utilizes that corridor every

day. That is one of the worst bottlenecks in western Canada.

When we talk about the future, we talk about the need to invest

adequately. The need to invest so if we are going to build a bridge, the

Massey crossing, that bridge would have been designed for rapid transit

— perhaps, to south Surrey. Now that is investing in the

future.

Interjection.

T. Halford: Exactly.

When we talk about other areas, whether it’s Kamloops or Nanaimo,

both areas where they were promised cancer centres, we see slow progress

there as well. That is one area where we can’t afford to wait. We’ve

talked about education. We’ve talked about transportation. We’ve talked

about health care. With health care, we talk about cancer care. We talk

about the fact that when we delay these investments, we are

shortchanging our future.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I look

forward to the next speaker.

With that, I will take my seat.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Of course, to remind everyone, this is private members’

time.

R. Russell: Thank you to the member for Surrey–White Rock for having the

opportunity to speak to this topic, investing in our future. I struggled

a little bit originally thinking what to talk about, because I feel like

this really is everything we do in this place and, I think, is what our

government’s intention is. It’s to deliver on just that. How do we best

invest in our future?

I think the vision we have is investing in the potential of

people. Investing in the potential of our communities can help us build

an economy that is rooted in both advancing our goals for climate action

as well as enhancing social well-being. I think that is really the

challenge at hand.

[10:55 a.m.]

I’ll go through some examples. One that is quite literally close

to home for me. The community that I live in is a few thousand people.

We have a branch campus of Selkirk College. Adult basic education, a

handful of years ago, was on the chopping block. It was something that

the government at the time had decided they would not

support.

Changes that were made by the subsequent government brought that

potential back into our community, that opportunity for adults to live

up to their own dreams in terms of what they wanted to be. Those are

examples to me of investing in people that work well for all of us and

invest in our future.

The member mentioned health care, for example. A health human

resource strategy that has been delivered by government is exactly that.

It’s saying: how do we best invest in fixing the broken parts of this

system so it works well for people. Team-based health care or bringing

care closer to people in rural communities or reducing the barriers

people have accessing that care remotely — those are investments,

financial and human resource investments, in our future.

I look to the natural resource economy. I look to the

electrification of the Copper Mountain mine in my riding outside of

Princeton. Those are the kinds of investments that help make those

enterprises, those industries, competitive on a global market at the

same time as advancing our climate commitments. These are the

opportunities, in my mind, to invest in our future.

Modernizing a forest sector that has become challenging in a place

of incremental change over decades…. We’ve taken on the hard work in

government of figuring out how we modernize this so it works well for

people and provides jobs for decades to come. That’s the goal. How do we

secure more value out of our forests, as opposed to managing them simply

for volume?

As a matriarch on Haida Gwaii said to me: “I’m tired of economic

development meaning people taking things away from us.” This is the

sentiment of how we have to change how we’re investing in our

future.

Connectivity. The work the government is doing to deliver

connectivity to all communities across this province is remarkable. The

case study that was done in the southeast of B.C. demonstrates that the

return on investment for that government investment is five times,

immediately, in terms of the economic return, and 14 times. So for every

dollar invested in connectivity in those rural communities, 14 times the

return in terms of local economic activity over the medium and long

term. Those are the investments in our entrepreneurs and in our local

communities that help bring youth back to those places and help advance

social determinants of health.

This morning’s announcement, around $100 million for watershed

security. Minister Cullen mentioned in this announcement an hour ago

that the watershed sector in 2019 delivered 48,000 jobs into the B.C.

economy and $5 billion. We can quibble about numbers, but that is

equivalent or on par with some of our enormously important sectors like

mining, like agriculture. These things matter. These are investments in

jobs that will be around forever for us.

What about other jurisdictions? As we have heard, we have some

things we certainly don’t want to learn from the United States, but

there are other opportunities, like the passing of the Inflation

Reduction Act in the U.S., which allocated $369 billion to invest in

developing their clean economy and transitional economy. These are

opportunities that we’re set to learn significantly from.

The opportunity exists for us here to seize this confluence of

traditional low-carbon economy, advancing our climate targets and

catalyzing innovation in our economy — in other words, delivering a

vibrant, economic future that delivers environmental successes and

ad­vances social health.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

Of course, members are reminded we don’t use names in this

House.

T. Halford: I want to thank my colleague for his remarks previous. When we’re

talking about investments in the future, I think it’s important…. I know

that the minister, actually…. I was heartened to hear the minister

actually highlight some of the private sector investments.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

I will note that it is a little bit…. I wouldn’t say strange, but

it is somewhat noticeable that when we have here in B.C. the largest

private sector investment in Canadian history. That’s through the LNG

Canada project. The member doesn’t mention that at all.

[11:00 a.m.]

When we talk about building for the future, we should be talking

about LNG, whether it’s LNG Canada, the project up there in Kitimat, or

whether it’s potentially Cedar LNG, which I know is something that

everybody here is anticipating, waiting for the minister to make a

decision.

But when we talk about investing in the future, I will say…. I had

the opportunity last week, with my colleague from Surrey South, where

she and I hosted International Women’s Day at the Kwantlen Polytechnic

University campus in Newton. It was an absolutely fantastic day. It was

great, because we were surrounded by women who were driven to enhance

other women.

There was one particular case where…. It was two female

electricians now that are actually teaching at that campus. They had

gone through, and they told their story. In a lot of ways, it was a

very, very personal story, about the trials and tribulations that they

faced going through in the work sector and then in the private sector,

how they’ve now come back and how they’re giving back to that campus,

giving back to that profession.

I want to take my remaining time here and just say that those two

individuals that spoke…. That is about investing in the future. That is

about investing in a workforce that we need more of. We need to see more

women in the trades.

We’ve got to be proud of that, and we’ve got to make sure that we

are not just having those conversations at the university level. We’ve

got to make sure that we’re having them at the high school level. We’ve

got to make sure that we’re having them at the elementary school level,

to make sure that women know that there is nothing that they cannot do,

whether it’s electrician, whether it’s fitting. It does not matter, and

they are doing it.

When they are doing it, we need to make sure that that is being

seen, that we are shining the spotlight on that, because that is

important. That was such a great experience.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

T. Halford: I want to thank the member for that, and I want to thank the

Speaker for noting that my time is up.

Hon. M. Dean: I ask that the House consider proceeding with Motion 22,

standing in the name of the member for Nechako Lakes.

Deputy Speaker: Members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed to

Motion 22 without disturbing the priorities of the motions preceding it

on the order paper. If any member is opposed to the request for leave,

please indicate now.

Leave not granted.

Deputy Speaker: Leave has not been granted. In accordance with Standing Order 25,

we will resume debate on Motion 3 on the order paper.

M. Babchuk: I ask for a five-minute recess, as this was not the process or the

motion that was agreed to, just so that the members in government can get

themselves ready.

Deputy Speaker: I do believe there are members prepared to speak. I will give a two-minute

recess.

The House recessed from 11:04 a.m. to 11:06 a.m.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 3 — COVID-19 RESPONSE

AND

PROTESTS

(continued)

R. Merrifield: I rise in response to the motion before us.

First, I want to just take this opportunity to get some things off

my chest. Recently, some deeply offensive and disparaging comments were

made about me and other fellow members in this House by certain members

of the government in response to this motion, especially from the member

for Parksville-Qualicum. I want to give that member an opportunity to

check the media, my Twitter account, my public statements and withdraw

his statements, with apology, for misrepresenting me and my actions

before I pursue my point of privilege officially.

This is just another example of how this debate has been turned

into misleading comments about a female member, the government’s use of

divisive tactics to politicize events from a year ago to this day and

their tendency to create false narratives — simply throw something at a

female member, see what sticks — and hammer through an us-versus-them

mentality.

We can all agree that this government, if anything, has done one

thing, and that is fail to stand up and support the people of British

Columbia. The government bringing up such a baseless motion based on

events from more than a year ago is appalling, and if anything, the

exact opposite of standing in support of the people of B.C.

If this government truly wants to debate issues of importance,

something that actually means something to people, let’s talk about how

today alone an average of six people are going to die from a toxic

overdose. Let’s talk about how, today, multiple people from Vancouver to

Kelowna to here on the Island to north will be subject to a random

violent stranger attack under the Premier’s catch-and-release justice

system.

Today one million British Columbians can’t get access to a family

doctor. One million more British Columbians are actually waiting to see

a specialist, yet this government is focused on this.

They’re so focused on yesterday, except the promise to build

114,000 affordable homes was completely missing from the unveiled Budget

2023. If we’re so desperate to be talking about issues from the past….

Well, after six years of delays and broken promises by the Premier, the

renters rebate has been turned into a tax credit with multiple problems,

not to mention it’s a yearly tax credit that won’t even cover a single

half-month’s increase.

Housing has never been worse, and it’s all under this inefficient

and disappointing leadership. In Kelowna, rents are $1,944 per month for

a one bedroom. And a two bedroom? Well rents cost $2,486 per month. This

is broken politics and out-of-touch governance.

In my riding of Kelowna, people aren’t as concerned about our

debates on protests that happened a year ago because, clearly, affording

this month’s rent is a much bigger problem. Walking down a street in our

cities…. It’s scary when, from 2020 to 2021, the violent crime severity

index in B.C. increased by almost 5 percent. In cities like Kelowna, we

increased by 14 percent, and Victoria — 12 percent. We’ve seen

double-digit increases in violent crime severity.

[11:10 a.m.]

Government can try and distract from the very real concerns all

they want, but the fact is the opposition has been holding this

government to account, and the Premier and his caucus just can’t seem to

handle it. I don’t understand why we have to waste our time and energy

discussing matters that people have, frankly, moved on from.

Check the records. We worked together to fight COVID. We also

support the right of all Canadians to express their views in a lawful,

peaceful and safe way. It’s disappointing to see this government resort

to divisive motions like this for political gain when British Columbians

would much rather their elected officials discuss matters of importance

today.

We, together with all members of this House, supported and

respected compliance with public health orders and joined the entire

country in our fight against the virus and not each other. Our society

was in an immense crisis, and we stepped up appropriately. If there is

one party in this House that didn’t…. There was not much good faith when

the snap election of 2020 was called.

Today there are crises in housing, in affordability, in health

care, in child care, in public safety. People want results. The

opposition has given constructive ideas on changing B.C.’s approach and

getting those results, but this government just can’t seem to step up to

the task.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to rise and speak to the motion before us in the

House, in favour of the motion moved by my colleague: “Be it resolved

that one year after the anti-vaccine protests in Ottawa and communities

including Victoria, South Surrey, Kelowna and Cranbrook, this House

denounces the freedom convoy protests and affirms that public health

orders, including vaccine requirements, have been an essential tool in

B.C.’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

I want to reference the comments, as well, that we heard just

recently from my colleague across the way here and really affirm…. I

think we know that British Columbia came through the pandemic — an

unprecedented time, a challenge globally, very challenging, difficult. A

lot of hardship, sacrifices and difficulties encountered in British

Columbia, but because we came together and supported the public health

officer in terms of agreeing on how to unite and move forward, B.C.

emerged, really, across Canada and around the world, in protecting

citizens, keeping our economy open and keeping kids in schools. We’re

seeing the benefits of that.

We’re coming through the pandemic. But the importance to

reference…. I want to bring my perspective, as well, in terms of the

importance, not only in our agreement in unifying and backing the

provincial health officer, supporting science-based claims on

vaccinations and really coming together as a community. One of the

biggest challenges that I saw in Vancouver-Kensington, and that persists

today…. This is why it’s important to continue the conversation. In

British Columbia, we continue to support the leadership of our

provincial health officer and also our provincial health authorities in

upholding science-based claims around the importance of vaccination

mandates.

That is a point of contention with some — certainly, with freedom

of expression, to hear that — but it’s clear in terms of our government.

I would hope that all members of the House continue to support the

science-based direction of our provincial health officer and our medical

profession in terms of the importance of upholding those vaccine

mandates.

Now, the motion references what we saw across Canada in the

context of the pandemic, and certainly, a response around the

anti-vaccine protests in Ottawa, and the impact. Why are we discussing

it here? What’s the importance, what’s the relevance, and what’s the

significance? I will say to you that these issues, the COVID-19 pandemic

— we’re seeing our way through. The repercussions continue

now.

[11:15 a.m.]

I’ll share with members of the House what I have previously in

terms of the impact on communities, a disproportionate impact on

racialized communities, and what we saw in anti-Asian and racist attacks

in the context of the pandemic. We’re still dealing with these and

wrestling with these realities today.

The importance of affirming in this House that we support our

public health officers, that we support science-based policy and that we

stand against the type of anti-Asian hate that we saw in British

Columbia, across Canada, and reflected, as well, in some of these

protests…. That’s a reality that is with us today in our community and

in communities that I represent and am connected with — racialized

communities.

This is a reality, and we are still grappling with this. We

continue to need to take a stand against that. Unfortunately, we saw, in

terms of what’s referenced here in our motion, the impact of — and not

across the board, but some individuals and leaderships in terms of the

convoy and these anti-vaccine protests — some of those components. So

that’s why we’re saying….

I stand here in firm support of this motion and a commitment I ask

from all members of the House: commit to ensuring that British Columbia

respects human rights.

T. Shypitka: I’m happy to stand and speak to this motion and clear the air, so

to speak.

When we spoke to this motion three weeks ago, there were not only

extremely disparaging remarks made to me, which were spiteful, but there

were also remarks that were made towards my constituents, both

completely uncalled for. I found it insulting. So do the people I

represent, who look up to politicians as figures that they hope

represent all British Columbians. I hope the members across the floor

realize their words carry weight, and the things they say in this

chamber can cause harm to others. I will not be more specific than that,

because it will only play into what this motion is all about.

Divide et impera . For those that speak Latin, they’ll

to refer to it as “divide and conquer.” The definition for divide and

conquer is “the policy of maintaining control over one’s subordinates or

opponents by encouraging dissent between them, thereby preventing them

from uniting in opposition.” This strategy goes back to the ancient

Babylonians in some 1200 BC. It has also been attributed to Philip II of

Macedon back in 338 BC. It was also utilized by Julius Caesar in 49 BC

and the French Emperor Napoleon in the early 1800s.

But divide and conquer is still key to warring strategies in the

21st century, it appears, but not on the battlefields. This division of

right and left political systems is splitting British Columbians as

effectively as Caesar’s war plans. We see this with all false choices we

are given — rural versus urban, government versus government,

environment versus economy — and now, today, in this chamber, in this

motion.

There is only one purpose for this motion. It is clear to every

member of this chamber. This government is clearly okay with spending

time discussing events from over a year ago, with the intent to further

divide and inflame conflict within this chamber and, ultimately, with

the people of British Columbia. This government is intentionally

politicizing this event, and it’s frankly disappointing. It is

disheartening that we have to stand here and talk about events from so

long ago instead of what we should really be debating.

We have so much to do in this province. Yet here we are talking

about this motion that does absolutely nothing to solve the challenges

by British Columbians. The government’s failure to address the real

issues has resulted in a loss of trust in their leadership. British

Columbians have legitimate concerns about the increasing costs of

living, including rising prices for housing, fuel and groceries. Many

people are struggling financially and are living paycheque to paycheque,

leaving them worried about their ability to cover their bills and pay

their debts.

Many continue to struggle with rent, while the thought of

purchasing a home is no longer even on their minds anymore. Today

British Columbians are faced with the reality that there are no signs

that housing and rental prices will be coming down anytime soon, and

they have yet to be provided with much help from the government to

combat these rising costs.

[11:20 a.m.]

B.C.’s health care system continues to deteriorate with regular

hospital emergency room closures, crisis-level wait times in all kinds

of treatment and nearly one million British Columbians without access to

a family doctor. It happens that rural communities are bearing the brunt

of this crisis. We’re isolated, and we feel forgotten by this

government.

Our communities continue to suffer, with residents feeling as

though nothing is being done to address the situation. Rural hospitals

are particularly vulnerable to shortages, as just one staff member

calling in sick is enough to shut down an emergency room. In the

Kootenays, the Elkford hospital has been officially closed now for 523

days. That’s a full year and a half. That is just plain

unbelievable.

There’s a growing sense of frustration among people in British

Columbia. They’re also increasingly worried about public safety and the

survival of their businesses. Throughout the province, business owners

are in search of relief from rampant vandalism and property crime that

is plaguing British Columbia. Communities are feeling increasingly

concerned and fearful, and businesses are feeling the economic impact.

This needs to be addressed immediately to keep people safe and to ensure

that our cities and towns are places where businesses can thrive and

families can live without fear.

Unfortunately, we’re still losing close to seven people a day to

an opioid crisis. This government needs to focus their efforts on

improving life for British Columbians. We should be spending our time

debating serious issues that people in B.C. are facing every day. I hope

this government can be responsible moving forward and work with all

members in this House to help our communities, as they need to be our

priority.

I eagerly look forward to the member’s rebuttal to this

irresponsible motion.

H. Yao: I stand here to respond to this: “Be it resolved that one year

after anti-vaccine protests in Ottawa and communities including

Victoria, South Surrey, Kelowna and Cranbrook, this House denounces the

freedom convoy protests and affirms that public health orders, including

vaccine requirements, have been an essential tool in B.C.’s response to

the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As I’m about to continue, I do want to make sure that we actually

have some clarification, because the member opposite continuously

emphasized that we are all having this conversation. I know that the

member from Nechako Lakes actually expressed interest in having a

discussion about electrification of the economy. That’s actually one of

the topics we would love to have a discussion about right now. I do want

to remind the members opposite that they’re the ones who brought us back

to this discussion.

As the member for Richmond South Centre, I want to emphasize that

as Chinese-Canadian communities, we face many, many challenges,

especially when it comes to anti-Asian racism. When COVID-19 first

struck our community, Chinese Canadians and Asian Canadians were the

first ones to put face masks on. Chinese Canadians and Asian Canadians

were the first ones to do social distancing. Chinese and Asian Canadians

were the first ones sharing with their neighbours and talking about how

we can better protect one another, when the global community was still

struggling with the challenge at that moment. Yet it is the Chinese

Canadians and Asian Canadians who get the blunt end of racial and racism

attacks. The challenges that we have to face continue through our time,

even until today.

We believe in democracy. Our government believes in democracy. We

believe that people have a right to express themselves. We have a right

to protest, but not in a way that disrupts people’s livelihood, creating

noise that disrupts people’s peace of mind and actually setting fires in

people’s hotel rooms, just so they can get their way.

Protest is a way to foster dialogue, not to force one person’s

opinion upon another. The reality is that B.C. is doing so much better

than so many Canadian jurisdictions because we followed Dr. Bonnie

Henry’s guidance. Our government actually chose to not play politic with

COVID-19.

Minister Adrian Dix took a step back to allow Dr. Bonnie Henry to

lead our province in the charge…

Interjections.

H. Yao: I beg your pardon?

All I’m going to say is that very clearly, Dr. Bonnie Henry led us

in the health care charge as a way of addressing it. And you know what?

We actually are recovering. B.C., Richmond South Centre, many of our

constituencies fully support how Dr. Bonnie Henry has led us here today.

We actually have a strong, healthy economic recovery. We can see other

jurisdictions around the world struggling because they chose to play

politic. Even some Canadian jurisdictions chose to play politic with the

COVID-19 response.

[11:25 a.m.]

Let’s be clear. We are having this discussion today because

members opposite chose not to cooperate and to break the agreements. Let

us be clear. Today we could have been spending our time discussing how

electrifying our economy plays a vital role in our economic development.

The member for Nechako Lakes had prepared a motion for us to have a

good, healthy discussion about our future. It is the members opposite

who chose not to cooperate and who brought us back to the topic

again.

All we’re saying here right now is that we are ready to try to

solve British Columbia’s challenges in a cooperative manner, reflecting

what we had discussed in our own Health Committee, where we’d been

discussing these various issues in a cooperative manner.

One of the things I want to take pride in is just to mention, as

our Premier mentioned very clearly, that good ideas come from

everywhere. We want to have a good discussion, but we have to also be

clear. Don’t confuse British Columbians by playing word games or playing

some kind of word and logic gymnastics.

We have seen this happen in the past, when you guys utilized

language barriers to create confusion among people. That is unacceptable

behaviour. Now we’re talking about various kind of challenges where

you’re playing politics. All I’m asking right now is that we could have

good, healthy discussions.

In representing Richmond South Centre, we truly believe in what

our government has been doing for our health care, for our COVID-19

response, and the importance of working in a conversation, a dialogue,

instead of putting up with protesters who deny conversation and proper

communications.

L. Doerkson: I would like to inform the member previous that the reason that

you’re receiving push-back this morning is because of a complete lack of

respect for the House time in this building and for the process that is

happening in this building.

Usually, Madam Speaker, I would say it’s a pleasure to rise to

respond to a motion, but it’s hard to say that today. This motion

represents this government….

Interjection.

Deputy Speaker: Carry on.

L. Doerkson: This motion represents this government at its absolute worst,

trying to sow division among people rather than working to create a

better future for all British Columbians. The members opposite could

have chosen to use this time to debate something constructive. They

could have used it to echo sentiments from their budget, which they

should be proud of, but again, they chose to make intentional decisions

to divide members of this House. Because of that, we’re back here again,

having the same conversation that we had a few weeks ago.

It’s more important than ever that this place spend its time to

work on the issues that matter most to British Columbians, the

challenges that they deal with every day, rather than to focus on things

that needlessly — dare I say intentionally? — inspire conflict. There

are so many challenges facing British Columbians right now.

There are pressing issues, like public safety, impacting nearly

every community in this province. We have an average of four people a

day being randomly assaulted on our streets. Violent prolific offenders

are wreaking havoc. Even in my communities of Cariboo-Chilcotin, we’ve

seen residential property crime increase, as well as businesses which

are left to deal with broken windows, graffiti and thefts — all while

little is done by this government to prevent these crimes, to bring

these perpetrators to justice or to support the people and businesses

that are being impacted.

There’s the affordability crisis, which has made it more difficult

than ever for people to make ends meet. B.C. has the highest gas prices

in North America, the most expensive housing and rents in the country,

and last year alone we have seen the price of groceries increase by over

10 percent. Nearly half of British Columbians are just $200 away from

insolvency at the end of each month. Seniors have begun a letter-writing

campaign in my riding, because they too are feeling the impact of the

affordability crisis.

People are desperate for this government to honour its

six-year-old promise to make life more affordable, and when we talk

about broken promises, it’s worth focusing in on housing in more detail.

Rents have increased astronomically under this government, and housing

prices have literally broken nationwide records, yet this government has

just abandoned its promise to build 114,000 homes over ten years.

Instead, they have essentially said: “We’re going to take a mulligan,

and we’ll be back in the fall with a new program.”

[11:30 a.m.]

The renters rebate, first mentioned in the 2017 election over six

years ago, was just announced, but it was the worst possible version of

what this NDP government has promised the people of British Columbia.

Thousands of renters in need of support will simply not be eligible for

it, and they won’t even see any of the supposed support for another

year.

Meanwhile, our health care crisis rages on, with people literally

dying while waiting for care, whether in hospitals or while waiting on

diagnostic testing. Ensuring that British Columbians have access to the

care they need to survive should be the government’s top priority, not

motions like this that are meant to score cheap political points. As

elected officials, we should be focusing our time and energy on moving

forward together.

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing….

Point of Order

B. D’Eith: A point of order. The member is not speaking to the motion. I’m saying

to the Speaker, please…. He’s absolutely not speaking to the motion, Madam

Speaker. I’d like a ruling on that.

Deputy Speaker: Members are aware that there must be relevance to the motion, and I

would encourage members to bring their comments back to the motion on a

regular basis.

Debate Continued

L. Doerkson: Thank you very much for your helpful guidance, Madam

Speaker.

In closing, I wanted to say that as elected officials, we should

be focusing our time and energy on moving forward, working together, as

we did during the pandemic, to improve the lives of all British

Columbians. We should be rolling up our sleeves and getting down to the

work that truly makes people’s lives better.

The challenges facing our province, the affordability crisis, the

collapse of our health care system, people feeling unsafe in their

neighborhoods…. These problems are not going to go away until the

government steps up and does the work required to deliver real, tangible

results for the people of British Columbia.

R. Glumac: Apparently, today we are debating a motion that denounces the

freedom convoy and anti-vaccine protests and affirms our public health

orders. At the root of this motion is the belief in science. We as MLAs

need to stand in this House, and we need to stand up for our experts, in

this area and in many other areas, and embrace science. The B.C. Liberal

government had issues with science, I think, and I believe that the

Leader of the Opposition needs to denounce their repeated anti-science

comments from this caucus.

The MLA for Kootenay East went to Kelowna for a convoy protest,

and he referred to the protesters as great Canadians, strong Canadians —

in this House. What about standing up for science?

We have to remember that not long ago…. Today in the House we have

a member of the B.C. Conservatives, but that member was a B.C. Liberal.

He said something where he questioned science. He questioned climate

change.

In response to this, the B.C. Liberal leader said that the member

started “tweeting out things that were in denial of climate change as a

reality. I said to him, ‘If you’ve changed your position, that’s fine.

We can have that debate and discuss that in caucus, which we’re always

willing to do, but you’re not going to be out there publicly doing

that.’”

Then the leader of the B.C. Liberals booted him from the

party.

Their leader says it’s okay for MLAs to deny climate

science.

Interjections.

[11:35 a.m.]

Deputy Speaker: I am giving the speaker leeway, but I would remind you to bring it

back to the motion.

R. Glumac: The motion today, Madam Speaker, is about denouncing anti-science,

anti-vaccine protest. That’s what the motion is about. We need to stand

here today and embrace science.

Deputy Speaker: Recognizing the member for Cariboo-​Chilcotin.

L. Doerkson: Just on a point of order, I don’t think that what the member just

introduced is the motion.

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: The member has the floor. Please continue.

R. Glumac: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Members of the opposition have been speaking about everything

except the motion, and then they call on me, where I’m trying to bring

relevance to this motion and talk about what this motion is about. It’s

about embracing science. That’s what this motion is about — not to go to

Freedom Convoy protests where people are denouncing science. What

about…?

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Members.

R. Glumac: How many other members of the B.C. Liberal caucus denounce

science? What about the member for Skeena? He attended a pro-oil

documentary in Alberta a few years ago called Over a Barrel .

Afterwards he was interviewed in a panel discussion. He said: “There was

a question raised about global warming and climate change. You know

what? Even the scientists and experts can’t agree on what’s going on.”

The scientists and the experts can’t agree, similar to, I guess, the

Freedom Convoy. There’s some disagreement there about

science.

The scientists and the experts can’t agree. Actually, when this

documentary was released, there was a study published by James Powell, a

scientist that reviewed the latest 11,602 peer-reviewed articles on

climate change and global warming and found that 100 percent of them

concluded that climate change is real and caused by humans — 100

percent.

So where are these scientists that don’t agree — Fox News? The

documentary that questions global warming is not science. The

scientists, the real ones, are telling us that in order to avoid a

catastrophic 1½-degree increase in global temperatures, we have to

reduce emissions.

Deputy Speaker: Excuse me, speaker.

Recognizing the member for Vancouver-Langara.

Point of Order

M. Lee: I would join my colleague, the member for Cariboo-Chilcotin, once

again to rise in this House to ask the Speaker here to rule on the relevance

of this member’s speech, as it continues to vary into Fox News. If he wants

to start quoting Fox News in here, let’s talk about what’s important to

British Columbians.

Our concern is the waste of time that this government continues to do

to Monday morning statements.

Interjections.

Deputy Speaker: Excuse me, Member. Thank you. I have heard your point of

order.

To the member who is on the floor, I have asked members to bring their

comments back to the motion to show relevance. I would remind members that

that will be expected.

I’ve been pretty lenient. I would ask that you remember that there is

a motion on the floor, and that’s what we’re speaking to.

Debate Continued

R. Glumac: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I look forward to the enforcement of

that during the next speech.

Deputy Speaker: Are you challenging the Chair?

R. Glumac: No, no. I’m just saying that I support what you’re saying, 100

percent.

Deputy Speaker: Thank you.

R. Glumac: I would like to conclude that, as elected MLAs, we all come

together to embrace science. The time to question climate change is

over. The time for action is now.

D. Clovechok: Just that last, whatever we just heard, demonstrates the reason

why, I think, we’re here. That member doesn’t have a clue of what he’s

talking about. You know, here we are. We’re standing here today

listening to a bunch of folks that don’t have a clue of what they’re

doing.

[11:40 a.m.]

They brought a motion to this floor that was a housekeeping

motion, which we’ll talk about a little bit later on, while so many

other things are going on in this province.

Just the other week when the NDP government tabled this motion,

they were rightly condemned and called out for their crass and divisive

politics from journalists to pundits and, most importantly, to everyday

British Columbians. People were quick to point out the clear and petty

and disappointing intent of what the NDP were trying to do with the

wording of this motion.

That should have been it, but oh no. Here we are again playing

trickery and an inability to run this House….

Deputy Speaker: Member, I would remind you that we have a motion on the floor. I

would ask that your comments be relevant, or I will call you out of

order.

D. Clovechok: Okay. So the motion speaks to bringing this all together in the

way that…. Here we are debating a motion that is irresponsible. It

requires the lack of a mature mindset and no professionalism. It’s a

housekeeping motion when British Columbians are facing some of the

hardest times they’ve ever faced — skyrocketing costs, health care in

crisis. The past Premier actually said it was crumbling.

We see a government that wants to play partisan games with this

motion rather than debate what’s going on. I find this debacle, which

these fine folks across the aisle continue to bring to the stage,

disappointing and egregious.

Under this government, gone are the days of trying to give people

something to vote for. Instead, they figure they can sit back on their

laurels and devote resources to villainizing others. That’s part of what

this motion is all about. The discussion of this motion here on this

floor should never have been brought forward in the first place, when we

have so many….

Interjections.

D. Clovechok: Madam Speaker, continually we hear from them over there talking

about the things like this motion.

Interjection.

D. Clovechok: You brought it here.

So no, hon. Speaker, it’s entirely about us versus them, as we

saw, firsthand, in the NDP message guide, which leaked in 2020. It’s

divisive politics. But the theme continues — putting politics before

people.

While these hard-working folks continue to contact our offices,

they don’t want to hear about the convoys. They don’t want to hear about

what these guys are talking about when there’s 46 percent of our

province $200 a month away from insolvency. They ask the government to

do something about the fact that we have the highest rents in

Canada.

In Columbia River–Revelstoke, how about some public transportation

instead of this? How about some rural transportation or wildlife

management or provincial health care services in Alberta? They ask to

stop filibustering their own bills. Across the international border,

which these members wouldn’t have a clue about, health is incredibly

important to the people where I live.

I’m going to continue using my time, which is almost over, to

represent my people, represent British Columbians, because that’s what

they deserve. They deserve better than this that was presented here a

couple of weeks ago.

No more games, NDP. It’s time you actually got to work and show

some results. Do your damn jobs.

Deputy Speaker: I would ask the member to withdraw that obscenity.

D. Clovechok: Withdrawn, Madam Speaker.

K. Greene: I’m very pleased to be speaking today to Motion 3. It seems like

there’s some confusion over what the motion is, so I’m just going to

read it in full so that everybody has the opportunity to hear the full

wording.

[11:45 a.m.]

“Be it resolved that one year after the anti-vaccine protests in

Ottawa and communities including Victoria, South Surrey, Kelowna and

Cranbrook, this House denounces the freedom convoy protests and affirms

that public health orders, including vaccine requirements, have been an

essential tool in B.C.’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

I do find some of the comments on this motion to be a little bit

confusing. It’s been categorized as irresponsible. Categorized, also, as

a waste of time, and that this time could have been spent

constructively. I find that very interesting, because this is the second

time that we’re speaking about this at the choice of the official

opposition.

I’m delighted to speak to this motion. Thank you so kindly for

bringing it back so that we can talk about how these convoy protests

blocked access to emergency services, hassled and terrorized health care

workers, prevented people from getting the services that they needed

and, quite frankly, scared a lot of people that just wanted to be safe

in a time when it was unsafe.

We have been going through a pandemic. We needed all the tools in

the toolbox, and some people took that as an opportunity to use their

outsized voice to exert their will on society. I have heard a lot of

bluster and outrage, and I have not heard any denouncement of the

Freedom Convoy.

I am here to very firmly say that I am denouncing the anti-vaccine

protests and Freedom Convoy people who are exerting their will to tell

people what they can and cannot do and making communities unsafe. I have

heard bluster and outrage, repeatedly, and I have not heard

denouncement.

Protesters were described by the RCMP as a hostile mob. Isn’t that

worthy of denouncement? We have had a member stand in this House and

call the convoy protesters great Canadians, strong Canadians. It’s very,

very difficult to call somebody a strong Canadian when they’re a

strong-arm Canadian. I have not heard denouncement.

I would also like to say that while I’m speaking to Motion 3, I

heard a lot of responses that sounded like responses to the budget. I’m

happy to speak to Motion 3. I do offer my congratulations for your

creativity in having additional time to respond to the

budget.

I really want to say that as MLAs, as people that uphold the law

and look after the well-being of every person in this province, I would

expect that there would be denouncement of people who are actively

trying to undermine public health orders, actively trying to keep people

from getting vaccinated, actively trying to influence and intimidate and

harass people into choosing something that they want. It’s not fair, and

it’s not right.

I’d love to hear something that didn’t sound like bluster and

outrage, and I’d love to hear something that didn’t sound like a

response to the budget speech. I’m waiting. We’re all waiting. We’re all

waiting for you to respond in favour of the motion — that you are

denouncing these activities of the Freedom Convoy and anti-vaccine

protesters.

With that, I will conclude my remarks.

[11:50 a.m.]

E. Sturko: I’ve heard members today talking about the racism, a lot of the

hate that was expressed by some people that were participating in

protests — Freedom Convoy, anti-vaccine protests. Of course, I have to

say, especially as a member of the LGBT community, that I was

disheartened to see that kind of rhetoric in our communities.

It hurts. It hurts all of us, regardless of what party we’re in. I

have spoken a lot to my colleagues about what it was like for me to be

on the front line of those protests as a police officer. Of course, we

denounce all forms of hate and discrimination in all its forms. But our

actions have to speak louder than our words. I was

disappointed.

I’m going to mention something about the budget, because not once

did victims of crime come up in our budget, particularly when hate

crimes are up 45 percent in British Columbia. It’s disappointing. My

comms team has helped me, actually, to prepare a statement, because they

know it’s difficult for me to speak about my time on the convoy protest

because it was such a tinderbox of emotion.

Interjection.

E. Sturko: The member from Kensington may have not heard, but I denounced the

racism that took place at the Freedom Convoy. But I would

not….

Interjection.

Deputy Speaker: Member, I would remind you who has the floor. You have already

spoken.

E. Sturko: But I, myself, faced numerous calls of homophobic slurs. I think

people on both sides of this House are familiar…. I was called a Nazi

because of my Ukrainian heritage. I saw many people spouting

anti-scientific rhetoric. That is true.

Some people said very hateful things, but I would not ever

denounce a person’s right to their freedom of expression. I do denounce

hate, and freedom of expression does have its limits. We all know. But

we still, in this province, must, regardless of sometimes how hurtful

and horrible things are that people say, recognize their right to

protest.

My team had helped me write a very nice speech. But instead, I’ll

use my last couple of minutes here to talk about my experience as a

police officer at the Freedom Convoy. It is actually difficult for me. I

am a person with PTSD, and I’m affected by my policing career. It’s as

difficult for me today as it was when I was on the front

line.

I have to say that one of the things that really was hurtful was

to see how much division there was in our province, particularly knowing

that this House actually wasn’t divided during the pandemic. We worked

together. In 2020, the House unanimously passed more than $5 billion in

emergency spending to ensure that British Columbians were supported,

from small businesses to the tourism sector to purchasing PPE for

schools so that they could reopen.

There was a lot of good done in this House. We can’t forget that.

And there were a lot of people that were acting hateful. I experienced

that firsthand in policing, but I also talked to hundreds of people who

were there. Many of them also felt divided and felt that they hadn’t

been heard. Even our former Premier had used divisive language, telling

people that they should get a hobby.

None of it is helpful. It’s not helpful from this side, not

helpful from that side. We need to recognize that we were together. We

stood united, and we need to continue to work together.

While I speak to this motion, I was extremely disappointed even to

see it appear in the first instance. There was a lot of rhetoric coming

about who is anti-scientific, who has got these ideas, who has that. But

the reality of the work that was done in this place during the COVID-19

response is that we work together.

Of course we denounce hate. Of course we denounce racism and

discrimination in all their forms. But we have to recognize people’s

right to freedom of expression as well.

Thank you for your time.

[11:55 a.m.]

A. Singh: Again, I rise in favour of this motion. I’ll read it, as my friend

from Richmond-Steveston did.

“Be it resolved that one year after the anti-vaccine protests in

Ottawa and communities including Victoria, South Surrey, Kelowna and

Cranbrook, this House denounces the freedom convoy protests and affirms

that public health orders, including vaccine requirements, have been an

essential tool in B.C.’s response to the COVID 19 pandemic.”

Thank you to the member for Surrey South for almost getting there,

for denouncing hate and racism and bigotry, but not getting there fully.

There is nothing incompatible with denouncing hate and freedom of

expression. Those can happen at the same time — absolutely free to go

and express themselves, nothing wrong with denouncing it.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

When the convoys were happening, when they were coming down into

Vancouver, I was driving with my wife and my child, and we drove past a

swastika. You saw those images not only here in British Columbia; you

saw those images everywhere. They were an integral part of the

convoy.

If you’re at a party with fascist signs, you’re probably at a

fascist party, right? No one in the truck…. No one there condemned

those. They allowed those to be there. Again, nothing incompatible with

denouncing hatred, nothing incompatible with denouncing the truck convoy

and freedom of expression. We’re not saying to go down there and not let

people express themselves. We’re just asking you to denounce

this.

As my friends have said before, I did not hear one member from the

other side denounce this.

Interjection.

A. Singh: No. I heard her denounce hatred and bigotry, not the whole truck

convoy. Again, you can’t denounce one part of it. As I said earlier, if

you’re at a party and there are fascists there, you’re probably at a

fascist party. Denounce the whole thing. And I didn’t hear

that.

I heard a lot about wastage of time. We spent one hour talking

about a motion that we brought originally but that you brought back. I

just find the hypocrisy just palatable. It’s phenomenal.

You know, the wasting of time — this is coming from a side, on

that side, that cancelled the whole fall sitting a few years ago. Okay,

maybe I’m going back a few years.

They keep on saying…. The other side keeps on saying that this is

baseless, that there’s no point going back a year to talk about this. I

disagree wholeheartedly. If you don’t know where you’re coming from, you

have no idea where you’re going to. It’s very important — I’ve got to

quote Bob Marley there — to not let things slide.

My father is sitting in a long-term-care home. The reason it’s

important to look at all of this and how it’s relevant today is because

you hear, repeatedly, calls from the other side about unvaccinated

health professionals and letting them back into the health

industry.

My father is sitting in a long-term-care home. He’s 80-something

years old. He’s vulnerable. Do I want someone who is not vaccinated

taking care of him? No. There is solid science behind this. Follow

behind the science. If you’re a health official, if you’re a health

professional, follow the science. I don’t want someone taking care of my

father who is not vaccinated, who could possibly infect him. I want him

to be around. There’s nothing unreasonable there, and for them to be

talking about that….

There’s nothing baseless about this, because this all stems from

these protests. This whole anti-science, anti-vaccine movement…. This

whole thought stems from that.

Noting the hour, Mr. Speaker, I call for adjournment of the

debate.

A. Singh moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Dean moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

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

The House adjourned at 11:59 a.m.

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