Second Session, 42nd Parliament

(2021) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Afternoon Sitting

Issue No. 60

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Orders of the Day

Budget Debate

(continued)

G. Kyllo

M. Babchuk

T. Halford

K. Paddon

B. Stewart

P. Alexis

J. Sims

N. Sharma

R. Russell

M. Starchuk

Hon. M. Dean

Royal Assent to Bills

Bill 3 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2021

Budget Debate

(continued)

Hon. M. Dean

Hon. N. Simons

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021

The House met at 1:32 p.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Orders of the Day

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

Budget Debate

(continued)

G. Kyllo: I’m happy to continue my remarks with respect to Budget 2021. Just

before we broke, I was sharing that one of the roles of the official

opposition is to highlight where we feel that government has maybe

misallocated, I guess, their spending priorities and to hold them largely to

account.

As we look at Budget 2021, there’s a number of areas where I certainly

feel that government has fallen well short of expectations and promises and

commitments that were made to British Columbians, especially prior to and

during the election of last fall. Specifically, we have a look at the

failure to actually implement the $400 renters rebate. That was something

that was announced back in the 2017 election, again in the 2020 election,

yet this budget fails to show evidence of any spending priority to meet that

lofty goal that government had provided to the electorate.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

As we look to the budget, there are a number of significant cuts —

specifically, health authorities. Certainly not lost on any British

Columbian is the significant challenge that we’ve seen on account of the

pandemic and the exemplary work of health care professionals in meeting the

needs of one of the single-largest pandemics and medical health emergencies

we’ve ever seen in our province.

Interesting to see, though, that in spite of the pandemic, health

authorities are going to see a $1.1 billion funding cut. That’s $1,100

million. I’m not quite sure how our government can square that priority with

some of the most significant challenges that our health care system has

incurred in the history of our province, yet a $1.1 billion spending

cut.

School districts are also seeing about a $53 million cut. I know

school district 83, which is largely in the Shuswap riding, has had

significant challenges with trying to maintain their balanced budget, which

is a requirement, largely, for school districts in the province. So seeing a

spending cut at a time when school districts are really challenged is

definitely concerning to myself.

[1:35 p.m.]

Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation is seeing a $5 million

spending cut. The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource

Operations, which is largely responsible for issuing many of the permits —

whether it’s a mining permit or a forest tenure cutting permit — have had a

cut, also, of $41 million.

So definitely very concerning when you have a look at the fact that

we’re incurring a very significant budget deficit this year. The deficit

last year is approximately $5 billion less than initially anticipated. The

funding dollars seem to be there, but there does not seem to be, I guess,

the desire or willingness of government to even maintain services in some of

these very important ministries.

You contrast that with the Premier’s desire to, actually, fund the

Premier’s office. It absolutely astounds me that the Premier’s office has

increased their budget allocation for their office by 36 percent — a 36

percent increase at a time when government revenues are largely on the

decline. And they’re choosing to actually cut many of the other ministries

that provide services that British Columbians rely on.

Just before the break, I commented briefly about one of government’s

biggest commitments in the 2017 election was to improve affordability,

largely around the affordability of housing for British Columbians. Despite

pretty strong commitments by this government, they’ve absolutely failed on

any initiatives that are actually increasing affordability of housing for

British Columbians.

Of the 114,000 residential units that were committed to, by this

government, to be built over ten years — that’s 11,400 units per year —

again, failing miserably. In the last four years, only a small fraction — I

believe it’s only around 4,000 or 5,000 housing units — have actually been

completed. At the current rate of delivery on that promise, it’ll be likely

closer to 100 years before the NDP are able to actually meet that

commitment, which they made to voters across the province.

As we’ve seen, record-high housing prices, again creating significant

challenges for first-time homebuyers or others that might be otherwise

looking to enter the housing market. When we have a look at some of the

significant commitments that government has made, they’ve largely failed in

their ability to deliver that.

Now I just want to take a few minutes, also…. One of my critic

portfolios is Labour. I spent significant time in the House over the last

couple of weeks asking very specific questions of the Minister of Labour

with respect to paid leave. Bill 3, which was just passed unanimously in the

House yesterday, provides a provision for paid leave for employees that are

looking to obtain their vaccination shots.

With respect to the Labour Ministry itself, the piece that I tried to

highlight, and I’ll just share with British Columbians that might be

listening here today, is the fact that, despite the pandemic being upon us

for over 13 months now, the ministry was far from proactive in bringing

forward legislation that would provide that necessary paid leave for workers

that need to take time off in order to get vaccinated.

The bill could have been brought forward last summer. It wasn’t. It

could have been brought forward in a fall legislative session, but

government chose, instead, to throw us into a risky and unnecessary snap

election.

As we advance forward into December, there was two weeks of sitting in

this House in December. Again, the legislation was not brought

forward.

Then we advance to this current, 42nd sitting of the parliament. We

came back to this House on March 1, and again, the Labour Minister was not

proactive and failed to bring forward this very important piece of

legislation until just last Monday, April 19.

The unfortunate piece is that for workers that otherwise would have

obtained their vaccination shot prior to April 19, there’s no funding

available for them. Again, I think this just highlights the fact it’s a

government that seems to be flying by the seat of their pants.

[1:40 p.m.]

They’re far from proactive, waiting till the last minute and then

rolling through a piece of legislation. I canvassed significant questions in

this House, trying to provide an opportunity for the minister to provide

clarity for businesses and for employees across this province.

Unfortunately, those requests were largely ignored.

Earlier today my colleague from Kamloops–South Thompson brought

forward a question in this House, specifically looking to government with

respect to another very significant commitment that was actually made to

British Columbians by the current Premier. This commitment was made,

initially, last spring, and that was a request for paid sick leave for

workers in British Columbia.

I was very happy that the Premier, as well as the Minister of Labour,

did commit and actually agree that any paid sick leave programs would not

further burden employers in the province and that any costs associated with

the provision of paid leave would not fall onto the backs of B.C. employers

that are already struggling, largely, during the pandemic.

Yet despite the Premier making very significant commitments that

regardless of whether the federal government was going to be there, the

province would have a plan B — that should the federal government fail in

providing a nationalized sick pay program, the current government would

actually move forward with that. Yet not only have we not seen any

legislation coming forward, but there’s no funding that’s been established

or set aside in this current budget to give even the smallest of

consideration to a paid sick leave program for Canada.

That’s specific to my critic role, as the critic for Labour, but I

definitely have some significant concerns on the failure and the

shortcomings of this government on actually coming forward and meeting some

of the commitments that they had made, promises that they had made to

British Columbians during the election.

Now, one of the things that I highlighted in my conversations, in

questioning with the minister yesterday, was around the need and necessity

of providing funding for businesses to help backstop any additional cost

burden that may be put on to them. We know that businesses are struggling.

We’ve had the most significant number of business failure rates in recent

history over this last year. With the current travel restrictions, we can

only anticipate that there will be further business closures.

As we look at heading out of the current pandemic and towards economic

recovery, we need to make sure that we have a very competitive business

regime in British Columbia. Businesses need to be able to compete with

businesses not just across the street or maybe down the road but businesses

in neighbouring jurisdictions — Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario —

and other jurisdictions outside of Canada — the United States, as an

example. It’s really important to provide a competitive opportunity for B.C.

businesses to be on a somewhat level playing field in order to be able to

compete with some of these other competing jurisdictions around the

globe.

One particular area, when we talk about tax competitiveness, is the

fact that B.C. has seen a significant amount of additional increased tax

burden being placed on the backs of B.C. businesses.

If we look at the corporate tax rate in B.C., the provincial portion

of the corporate tax in British Columbia is now 12 percent. But what’s

important is that we need to look at how that compares to other

jurisdictions. In our neighbouring province of Alberta, for example, it is

only 8 percent. So the corporate tax rate in British Columbia is now 50

percent higher than it is in the neighbouring province of

Alberta.

The United States’ tax rates are also significantly lower than British

Columbia. So what we’ve seen under this current government is a continual

erosion of the competitiveness of the tax structure in B.C., which puts B.C.

businesses at a distinct disadvantage.

[1:45 p.m.]

The other tax that was brought in by the current government, despite

making promises to British Columbians that the medical services premium was

going to be eliminated…. Well, far from meeting that commitment to British

Columbians, an absolute fail from my perspective, and rather than

eliminating the medical services premium, they simply replaced it with a new

form of taxation called the employer health tax, the EHT, which puts an

additional $1.9 billion annually on the backs of B.C. businesses. Again,

back to the competitiveness piece, our neighbouring jurisdiction of Alberta

does not have an employer health tax.

As we look to recovery, it is very important that government give

consideration to providing not just tax relief and supports through the

pandemic, but also look at the broader picture about competitiveness. In

order for B.C. businesses to thrive and for us to continue to create those

all-important family-supporting jobs, it is crucially important that

government, and our current government, give consideration to the impact of

all of the various new taxes that have been put on the backs of B.C.

businesses.

I was very supportive of the initiative of government with respect to

Bill 3, which is the paid leave for those workers that are obtaining their

vaccination. That’s admirable. I think that is definitely for the public

good. However, saddling businesses with that additional cost…. In all

estimations, I estimate it will be between $200 million and $300 million a

year of additional new costs that will be put on the backs of B.C.

businesses.

Government has the opportunity. They’re sitting on a little over $1

billion — call it their COVID recovery slush fund — that is yet to be

allocated. Government has the funds that are already set aside and

established, as a contingency reserve within this current budget, to provide

that necessary cost relief so that businesses are not further burdened with

additional legislative changes that just continue to put up and add

additional costs onto the backs of B.C. businesses.

If we compare it to the way other jurisdictions around the globe might

be dealing with the idea of paid leave for vaccinations, south of the

border, the U.S. government is actually putting forward a program that will

provide tax credits to offset those additional cost burdens that are going

on to the backs of B.C. businesses.

I’m certainly concerned about our ability as a province to actually

come out and be successful in creating those very important

family-supporting jobs. I certainly would have thought that government also

would want to provide those protections and to support what is the single

largest source of revenue for government: personal income tax. Well, in

order for that personal income tax to actually be generated, you need to

have a job. Those jobs are largely created by the private sector, by moms

and dads and families and entrepreneurs that are willing to take the risk

and to actually provide that employment for British Columbians.

I certainly do hope that, as we continue with the sitting of the 42nd

parliament, government gives some serious and thoughtful consideration

proactively to how they might provide further supports and financial relief

for businesses that are now being burdened with additional cost pressure and

a very uncompetitive tax regime.

You know, it’s certainly not just concerning to myself but to

businesses, even in the Shuswap. I shared the other day in my remarks that I

was speaking to one elderly couple that were running a small business. What

COVID has meant to them…. For this small business, COVID and the pandemic….

They didn’t just lose their business income. They also lost their personal

income.

All of their nest egg for retirement is invested in this business.

They don’t have some big, fancy pension plans to fall back on in retirement.

For them, everything was in their business. They worked hard. They were

diligent. They provided employment. Good employers. But they’ve not just

lost their business income. Their personal income and now their entire

retirement savings, which is invested in the small business, are at

risk.

I think that if those watching from home just thought about that for a

second…. The stress and anguish that that couple are under during the

financial strain of the pandemic, and when they’re looking to government for

relief, to have a government that simply chooses to put additional cost

burden onto their backs…. That, I believe, is offensive. I’m certainly very

concerned with the lack of spending priority in Budget 2021.

[1:50 p.m.]

M. Babchuk: I’d like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of

the Lək̓ʷəŋin̓əŋ-speaking people and the Songhees and Esquimalt First

Nations.

I’d also like to say how remarkably proud I am to be standing here

today representing the people of North Island and how incredibly powerful

and humbling this beautiful building is.

This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a

provincial budget, and I couldn’t be happier to address how it will affect

British Columbians and, especially, the people of the North Island. This is

a budget that, I believe, really connects with the people of the North

Island constituency.

This budget truly speaks to British Columbians like myself. It

supports people and their families through investment in things that make a

difference in our daily lives, like child care, health care, education and

supports for seniors and elders. It also supports those who have been hit

hard in this pandemic, including women, young people and Indigenous

communities, while addressing the needs of industries, like the tourism and

hospitality sectors, that have been hit especially hard over the past

year.

Nowhere have the ramifications of this pandemic been felt more deeply

than on the North Island, a place traditionally reliant on resource-based

industries as the economic driver for our communities, a place that is

focused on economic diversification and has been transitioning to economic

stability for many years now. Historic sectors like forestry, fishing and

mining were impacted long before COVID-19 and have been further exacerbated

by the pandemic.

Growing and thriving tourism and hospitality industries have nearly

been decimated over the past year. With mill closures, a changing forest

industry, a year-long strike, aquaculture in a state of flux, a lack of

affordable housing and rentals, an opioid crisis and a global pandemic, I’m

happy to see this budget, as it provides a beacon of hope for the people and

the communities of the North Island.

Don’t get me wrong. Folks on the North Island are resilient. By

prioritizing health and safety for our citizens; by offering new supports

for people, businesses and communities; and through investments that support

health and well-being of Indigenous peoples and communities, this budget

will not only help the North Island to survive this pandemic but to

flourish.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, our government’s priorities have

been to protect the health and safety of all British Columbians. I’d like to

provide a quick snapshot of what this government has done to demonstrate its

commitment to the people of this province. This government has invested over

$10 billion in COVID-19 relief and recovery measures that have helped

British Columbians with immediate restrictions and safety protocols and were

implemented provincewide.

Pandemic pay was introduced for front-line, health and social service

workers. The B.C. recovery benefit was implemented to provide a boost to

millions of eligible British Columbians affected by COVID-19. Increased

supports were made available for vulnerable populations. The small and

medium-sized business recovery grant program offered some relief to our

communities by making grants from $10,000 to $30,000 available to those

businesses impacted, with extra supports for the tourism sector. And $68

million in relief and recovery measures was invested in the tourism industry

in fall of 2020, with an additional $5 million to help local Indigenous and

tourism businesses.

Our government worked in collaboration with B.C. arts and

entertainment communities to develop a targeted recovery funding plan for

arts organizations and event and entertainment industries that have been

shut down and struggling to survive the pandemic. As part of the fall 2020

StrongerBC economic recovery plan, more than $35 million was invested in the

arts and entertainment industry — over $22 million in funding provided

through Amplify B.C. to support B.C.’s music industry over the next three

years.

Budget 2021 continues the great work of supporting British Columbians

in our recovery by committing $900 million for health-related COVID-19

management, like the vaccine rollout; $1.05 billion for support for people

and businesses; $1.1 billion in reserve to support any unanticipated urgent

health and recovery measures; and $200 million to prepare for economic

recovery.

We know, once again, that tourism and hospitality industries are the

hardest-hit sector in this province. As part of this budget, we will invest

another $100 million to support tourism recovery, along with an additional

$20 million earmarked for community destination development grants, for

communities to prepare for future visitors through tourism infrastructure,

like trails and airport improvements.

[1:55 p.m.]

My plea to British Columbians, though, is to follow the most recent

guidelines and travel restrictions so that we can put this pandemic behind

us, start to remove restrictions and see businesses open, hopefully,

sometime in the summer of 2021.

This government is working hard to get vaccines in the arms of every

British Columbian, with the end goal that people will be vaccinated and we

might be able to return to some kind of normal.

Speaking of vaccines in arms, early on in this pandemic, a year ago to

this day, the ‘Na̠mgis First Nation in

Alert Bay was hit by this pandemic. An Elder contracted COVID-19 and was the

first Indigenous person to pass away from this disease. Shortly after the

Elder’s death, a cluster of COVID-19 cases was discovered on Cormorant

Island, home of the ‘Na̠mgis First

Nations and the small village of Alert Bay. A state of emergency was

declared.

This is a small island with approximately 1,500 people, and the loss

of that Elder was felt by the entire community. For the past year, that

community, like all First Nations communities across this province, has been

taking extra precautions to protect its residents from the risk of corona

entering their tiny communities.

I’m happy to report that all residents on Cormorant Island have been

vaccinated. In recent meetings with Chief Don Svanvik and with Alert Bay

Mayor Dennis Buchanan, I have heard how grateful they are for the support

they received from public health officials and the province of British

Columbia. We know that health risks for Indigenous people are much greater

than non-Indigenous people. I’m proud that this government prioritizes First

Nations communities in its vaccine response.

The North Island constituency is a unique place in this province. It

is anchored by an urban centre with several rural and remote communities. In

fact, according to the B.C. electoral area map, it includes 33 First Nations

bands that have all or some of their territories within the North Island

boundary. For the past 15 years, I’ve worked with local governments on the

Island, establishing and building working relationships with local First

Nations, and I’m proud to be part of a government that has made

reconciliation a priority from the very beginning.

In 2019, we became the first jurisdiction in Canada to pass

legislation implementing the United Nations declaration on

the rights of Indigenous Peoples and to create a path

forward that respects Indigenous rights and title. Over the past three

years, we’ve invested in a number of projects that support that

reconciliation, with North Island Indigenous communities, including support

for community economic emergency plans for Homalco, Quatsino,

Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’-Che:k:tles7et’h’ and Wei Wai Kum First Nations, a community

energy plan for Kwakiutl First Nations and support for projects that harness

the power and arts and culture to build healthy and connected

communities.

Ours was the first provincial government to invest in on-reserve

housing, meeting an unmet need for housing in Indigenous communities. We

built six units of affordable housing for Indigenous Elders and families,

for the Kwakiutl First Nation in Fort Rupert.

With Budget 2021, we are investing in activities that not only support

reconciliation and the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples and

communities but activities that put that declaration act to work. The

Connected Coast project will bring improved connectivity and cellular

services to rural and remote Indigenous communities. This opens up the

ability for our government to provide skills and training initiatives that

will lead to long-term employment and economic growth for these First

Nations communities.

On a personal note, I’m happy to see the $20 million investment or 400

additional seats in the Aboriginal Head Start program, provincewide. I say

this because my grandsons are members of the We Wai Kai Nation and attend

the Head Start program in their community at Quinsam Crossing. I’m not sure

if you’re familiar with this program, but the Head Start program provides

culturally relevant child care and early learning at no cost to Indigenous

families, in partnership with the Aboriginal Head Start Association of

British Columbia and the First Nations Health Authority.

Both of my grandsons have benefited from this experience and were

receiving extra supports. My grandson, Jason, is autistic. He requires

in-class supports as well as speech therapy and often help coping with

sometimes overwhelming stimulated environments.

[2:00 p.m.]

Mostly, they have benefited from being connected to the community and

close to their mother, who is one of only a small group of Wei Wai Kai

members that are speaking their traditional language. She has not only

helped develop language training for children at the Head Start program but

is now being embraced by school district 72 and bringing an Indigenous

language immersion program to all Indigenous learners. This warms my heart.

We, as a family, are very proud of her.

Since last fall, I’ve been hearing from many North Island constituents

who are feeling the weight of this pandemic. The isolation and stress have

impacted people of all ages, affecting both their physical and mental

well-being. Sadly, we’ve seen an increase in suicides among children and

youth, including children from my hometown of Campbell River.

I would like to take this moment to extend my sincere condolences to

the families of those young people who are no longer with us. There’s no

greater pain for a parent than the loss of a child. I want those families to

know that they are in my thoughts and supported by their

community.

We’ve also seen the highest overdose rates since the opioid crisis was

first declared an emergency five years ago this month — a crisis that has

impacted all communities across the province. If nothing else, this pandemic

has highlighted the need for strong health and mental health services and

support for all British Columbians.

The previous Liberal government neglected this sector, and today we

are seeing the impacts of this inaction. That is why we should be applauding

Budget 2021’s investment in health and mental health care, including a $500

million investment to expand mental health and substance use services to

connect people to their culturally safe and better effective care needs, the

largest investment in mental health and addiction services in British

Columbian history.

This government will also invest $97 million in a network of mental

health support for youth through increased mental health funding for

schools, new Foundry centres like the one that’s happening in my riding in

Port Hardy and integrated child and youth support teams for more than 15

school districts; $51 million over three years to improve access to quality

mental health services, including suicide prevention, eating disorder care

and early psychosis intervention; and $14 million for the First Nations

Health Authority to deliver mental health and addiction services to

Indigenous people.

On a personal note, I’m happy to see the $7.8 billion in capital

investments in new health infrastructure, including the Surrey hospital and

the cancer care. I can, once again, reflect on my family’s own experience

with this terrible and tragic disease. I don’t know any British Columbian

who hasn’t either dealt with cancer themselves or a close member of their

family.

Only two months ago my family lost my uncle to cancer. In January of

2020, my younger sister was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colorectal

cancer. She was 49 years old at this time. She is the strongest, most

positive person I know and is fighting this with everything that she has. On

April 13 of this year, she had her 51st birthday, and we continue to put up

a good fight.

As I watch her go through the treatments, I am so grateful that she is

in a community where the level of cancer care is exemplary, but not all

British Columbians have access to this level of care and have to travel long

distances. I am very happy to see the need for more cancer care centres

reflected in this budget.

I want to say to my sister: “I love you so much. I am so proud of you.

We will do whatever it takes, supporting and fighting by your side, as long

as we get the results that we are looking for.”

I’m not just a sister. I’m a mother and a grandmother. I’m proud to

see this government’s commitment to supporting families and investing in

quality, affordable child care. Every investment in child care is an

investment in our community and our economy. We know that when people are

able to participate in the economy, it supports businesses, helps families

and lifts children out of poverty.

[2:05 p.m.]

Since the beginning, this government has continued to make

improvements to child care. In 2018, we introduced a $1 billion child care

plan, the most significant investment in child care in B.C.’s history. This

plan included funding for more licensed child care spaces and the affordable

child care benefit and introduced a $2-an-hour wage increase for early

childhood educators in licensed facilities.

With Budget 2021, the wage enhancement for early childhood educators

will double from $2 to $4 an hour, bringing the median wage to $23 an hour,

and will support approximately 11,000 early childhood educators in licensed

care centres, encouraging better recruitment and retention in this

sector.

Additionally, Budget 2021 will more than double the number of families

getting $10-a-day child care, help almost 2,000 more families access

supported child development and Aboriginal-supported child development

programs, increase the hours of support for children already enrolled,

support thousands of new child care spaces through the Childcare B.C. new

spaces fund and invest an additional $20 million in health and safety grants

to help alleviate the cost of keeping child care centres safe through this

pandemic. Budget 2021 brings total child care funding to nearly $2.3 billion

over this fiscal plan. I can’t ask for much more than that.

From our youngest citizens to our oldest, I believe that I’m not too

much different than many other British Columbians, who are not only

supporting adult children and grandchildren but also elderly parents and

in-laws — truly the sandwich generation. This budget speaks directly to

people who are in this situation and addresses the needs of our seniors

population.

Last week, after a year of no contact, my family was given the ability

to connect with my 94-year-old mother-in-law, who is currently in a care

facility in Nanaimo, a care home that has done a wonderful job of keeping

its residents safe and healthy during this pandemic. I want to thank the

health care workers of Wexford Creek for their perseverance during the

pandemic, their caring nature and their family-like treatment of my

mother-in-law when we couldn’t be there.

We know that to provide the level of service necessary, it has been a

struggle, and we need to do better. Budget 2021 is doing that by providing

thousands of new staff in long-term care facilities so that we can not only

address the fatigue and workload of care providers but also so that we can

guarantee care standards that our seniors deserve. I’m also proud to report

that both of my parents are actively involved in our lives and living

independently in Campbell River. And as they age in place, they are starting

to require assistance in areas that neither myself nor my husband can

provide.

My parents have been married for 57 years on May 16. They have

travelled the world. They have raised children. They have worked and

contributed to our communities their whole lives. And now that they are in

their twilight years, they are looking to the future and concerned that

services they require to continue their independent living may be

limited.

That’s why I’m extremely happy to see that Budget 2021 includes

significant investments to continue to strengthen B.C. health care so people

know that help is there when and where they need it: $585 million to train

and hire up to 3,000 new health care workers, $68 million to increase the

number of care aides and community care providers to deliver quality home

care to seniors in their daily living and $12 million to provide seniors

with complex care needs from the comforts of their home. This speaks

directly to the needs of people in the North Island and their families, mine

included, and gives people like my parents hope that they can live

independently and together for a lot more years.

Talking about seniors, one of the challenges that the North Island is

facing is affordable housing for seniors. In fact, that’s a problem for

everyone. Budget 2021 provides $2 billion in development financing through

the HousingHub for government to work in partnership with communities,

non-profit and private sector stakeholders to facilitate and create new

rental housing and home ownership opportunities for middle-income British

Columbians.

The province continues to build on its historic investments in housing

— $7 billion over ten years, starting with Budget 2019 — and invests to

create more social and affordable housing, providing funding to support the

construction of 114,000 units, including 10,000 new housing units over the

fiscal plan through grant funding to not-for-profit housing providers and

$1.6 billion in capital investments.

[2:10 p.m.]

Currently I’m actively working with the Hardy Bay Seniors to advance

seniors housing in Port Hardy. That has been identified as a priority as

seniors choose to stay close to their families and not move out of these

communities after retiring.

Just to change to a little bit of a different topic, many in this

chamber know that I cut my teeth as a politician when I was elected to the

school district 72 board of education in 2005. I became politically active

over school closures in my area, and I was trying to hold the school board

of the day to account for the processes in which they used.

Later I found out that it was actually the direction of the Liberal

government of the day. For three terms, almost ten years under the previous

Liberal government, I watched and advocated against what I considered to be

a systemic dismantling of our public education system, with phrases like

zero-based budgeting, school closures, funding model revisions and the

removal of any recognition of fixed costs for boards of

education.

Over that time, I can remember sitting in provincial council meetings

and conventions for the British Columbia School Trustees Association,

cringing at the thought of the next message that was coming from the

minister of the day. As most of us knew, it usually meant that we would have

to deliver extra government-mandated services to students, without extra

resources to do so, or losing just a little bit more of our local

decision-making autonomy with an unconsulted change at the ministry

level.

The impact of the government from 2005 to 2014 left a full educational

generation of children without funding levels required to keep special needs

programming and educational assistants at the levels they need to be and

educational programs competing against each other. Worst of all, it

diminished the ability of local boards of education to reflect

community-based priorities and exercise autonomy.

Over the last three years of the NDP government, we’ve seen

significant investments in K-to-12 education, and in our riding alone, we

saw an additional $13 million over and above the regular funding formula.

These included playground equipment, upgrades to mechanical equipment and

the hiring of over 60 new teachers — 51 in school district 72, Campbell

River; ten in school district 84, Vancouver Island West; one in school

district 85, Vancouver Island North.

Over the next three years of the fiscal plan, approximately $3.5

billion will be invested to maintain, replace, renovate and expand K-to-12

facilities. This year the province will invest $1.2 billion, over the length

of the fiscal plan, to support growing numbers of students accessing B.C.’s

K-to-12 education system and support wage increases for teachers and support

staff. Funding will also support growing numbers of special needs students,

The exciting part for me of Budget 2021 is that there is new funding

to address the improved mental health supports in schools, expand early

learning and on-site childcare opportunities and develop a framework to

address racism and reconciliation. This brings the total budget for the

K-to-12 sector to $7.1 billion, a number that I am proud to stand

behind.

When I think about children, and particularly children on the North

Island, I think about the pristine environment that we live in and our

shared responsibility to protect it for our children, grandchildren and

future generations to come. We must all work together to reduce the impact

of climate change, and Budget 2021 provides a framework to continue our

efforts to create a cleaner, stronger economy, with an additional $500

million invested in CleanBC to reduce emissions, create new opportunities

and promote affordability in our communities.

B.C. will be well positioned for a stronger recovery. CleanBC rebates

and low-interest financing are making energy-saving building improvements

more affordable for all British Columbians. This is also working with

industry to reduce emissions with cleaner technology and increased energy

efficiency through the CleanBC program for industry, to which we’re

providing $96 million in new funding for the reduction of emissions and to

expand clean tech sector energy and global competitiveness.

Continued funding of $519 million over the fiscal plan will also help

industries such as forestry and mining operations transition to low-carbon

technology.

[2:15 p.m.]

Through Budget 2021, this government will invest $18 million for

active transportation infrastructures — like bike lanes, sidewalks and

multi-use pathways — and another $10 million to further develop policy to

reduce the carbon intensity of fuel in developing the hydrogen economy in

B.C.

One of the key issues in my constituency is the preservation of wild

salmon. Wild salmon are an iconic species for North Island people and

necessary for the survival of First Nations. Investments in initiatives that

support wild salmon enhancement facilities, whether it’s building new

facilities or expanding on existing facilities, are essential to the

protection of these stocks from their continued decline.

Both the commercial fishing industry and the recreational fishing

industry rely on the sustainability and enhancement of these stocks. It

should come as no surprise that salmon are essential to our way of life on

the North Island. I’m looking forward to working with everyone to increase

wild stocks to the level that they have historically seen.

I consider myself an average British Columbian, and I can see the

priorities of people like myself reflected in this budget. Budget 2021

offers support for everyday issues like better quality and more affordable

childcare, better and more accessible health care, mental health supports in

schools, investment in education and affordable housing, an increase in

income and disability assistance and more supports for people who are most

vulnerable or experience homelessness.

It’s my hope that all British Columbians can see their issues

reflected in this budget and that it will help improve their lives. I want

to extend my thanks to Minister Robinson and her team for all the hard work

they have done, and I look forward to the implementation of all of the

priorities in this budget.

Deputy Speaker: Please pass on my best wishes to your sister for a full

recovery.

Also, a reminder to all members. We do not use MLAs’ names in the

House. So “minister” would be fine. “Minister of Finance” would be

good.

M. Babchuk: My apologies.

Deputy Speaker: No problem.

Surrey–White Rock, please.

T. Halford: I thank the member opposite. Any time that we’re able to bring in

personal stories I think humanizes why we’re all here. I appreciate the

words, specifically, on your sister. I wish her nothing but the best, and

I’m sure you will have many more birthdays to celebrate with her.

I rise to speak on this most anticipated NDP budget. I see the theme

of the budget is “A stronger B.C. for everyone.” Now, I’m not sure I agree

with that. Maybe I can make a suggestion. Some of the words that I’ve used

for this budget are: “Less for more. We will provide British Columbians with

less, but they will give us more.” I think it fits.

Or maybe this one: “Big government. Bigger deficits.” That can work

too. See, because at the end of this, what we always see with NDP

governments — and it’s a pattern, and I think it’s a very unfortunate one —

is, at the end of the day, you run out of other people’s money. That is

something that NDP governments have never learned. I hope maybe this one is

different, but based on this budget, I’m not optimistic.

Now, April 27 is always a special day in my heart, more of a sombre

day. It’s five years ago to the day I lost my grandmother, Mudgie. I’ve

talked about Mudgie in this House before. Mudgie was one of the reasons I

got into political office. But Mudgie was a big, big believer in budgets. In

my family — her name was Beverley — we called them “Budgets with Bev.”

Mudgie always wanted to see what your budget was. How are you going to

accomplish this? How are you going to make that happen? Her motto was: “Do

not overpromise and underdeliver.”

I’m a little bit worried in this budget. On some things, we’ve

overpromised, and on a lot of things, we are underdelivering on. I get that

this was a very, very important budget for this government, as they emerged

from their election in October. I said it was an anticipated budget because

it was a delayed budget. Any time we hear the word “delay,” expectations get

bigger.

[2:20 p.m.]

When a movie gets delayed, you’re thinking: “Oh, that’s going to be a

blockbuster movie because they need more time.” I think people kind of

thought that with this budget: “This budget is going to knock our socks

off.”

We’re on a two-month delay. People are waiting for money. What is the

plan here? I think they were a little bit underwhelmed. I’ve heard in my

community that folks were very underwhelmed. I was underwhelmed.

Now, I get that this Minister of Finance does have a lot going on and

a lot on her plate, with this budget. We as MLAs always take the opportunity

to make sure that we are speaking to our local media, whether we’re in

government or opposition, and that we are discussing the budget.

The Minister of Finance seems to have taken exception to some of the

comments I and my colleague the member for Surrey South have made to our

local media. I just want to go through them, because I’m a little bit

confused. I’m a little bit at a loss. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t think I am,

but I’m just going to take a look, because this has to do with the

budget.

In an

article from April 22 — it appeared in the Peace Arch

News , which is my local paper and the local paper for the MLA for

Surrey South — the member for Surrey South said: “Spending is going up at

record rates, but it’s not coming here.” I agree with that comment. “The

budget has completely abandoned the NDP’s commitments to Surrey. They’ve

abandoned their commitment to eliminate portables. They didn’t meet that

commitment, and now they have eliminated it” from the budget. “It doesn’t

appear anywhere in the document.”

Well, I have three kids in the Surrey school district, two of which

are in portables right now. So that statement seems to make sense and be

accurate.

Here’s another one: “They don’t have money in the budget, except

notionally, for the Surrey hospital that they’ve promised. They planned a

completion for two different dates, which goes to show you how much planning

has gone into it.”

That, again, is a comment from the member for Surrey South. I agree

with that comment. I think it’s an accurate comment. There are two different

completion dates in the budget. Now, that can be confusing to a lot of

people. It’s confusing to me.

Let’s go on to the next one. This is a comment from myself: “One of

the things that I really called for and will continue to call for is

affordable access to counselling and psychiatric services.”

I stand by that quote; I think it’s accurate. I think that we’ve heard

from a lot of families. We’ve heard from the Third Party that people are

tapped out when it comes to affording mental health services. I think that’s

accurate. We talk about wait times and how long it takes a child to get in

to see a counsellor or a psychiatrist. We’ve had a heartbreaking example of

a situation in Langford where a child was on a wait-list for months. When

his family finally got the call to go see a psychiatrist, the call was too

late. I think that’s accurate.

I said: “I know this government likes to pat itself on the back in

terms of investment, but don’t forget that investment is over three years” —

I’m talking about the investment for mental health and addictions — “and

this year is actually one of the lowest-funded years, which is pretty

disappointing.”

Now, we’ve heard from a lot of people, including the Premier and the

Leader of the Opposition, when we talk about last year being the worst year

on record for overdose deaths. Unfortunately, we are seeing it continue

month after month, when we are seeing overdose deaths, so I take exception

to this year being the lowest-funded year for Mental Health and

Addictions.

I appreciate the fact that the minister took the time out of her

schedule, a busy schedule, to phone our local paper and to dispute those

facts. In her words, they were “untruthful.” Now, what did I just read that

was untruthful? I’m confused by the minister’s comments. It’s also fairly

irresponsible, but it is what it is at this point.

[2:25 p.m.]

I will say, when you want to talk about comments that are untruthful,

how many times have British Columbians heard from this government that the

cheque is in the mail? “Hold tight. We know you’ve got to pay your mortgage.

We know you have to pay your rent. We know you have to pay your bills. The

cheque is in the mail.”

Well, there must be a lot of cheques in the mail in my riding, because

every time I do constituency work, it’s usually to do with a grant that’s

been approved or it’s been an economic recovery benefit that a senior is

struggling and struggling to get more information to the government because

they cannot get the money that was promised to them by this Premier during

his election.

At a time when we say “a stronger B.C. for everyone….” You know, in

the words of my grandmother, my Mudgie: “Don’t overpromise and underdeliver.

Do what you say you’re going to do.” If you make a commitment to British

Columbians that they will have this economic recovery benefit by Christmas,

do it. If you have grant applications out for businesses — for restaurants

that are desperately trying to stay alive, meet their payroll, get patio

space set up, purchase heaters — make those commitments. We have to pay our

bills. Pay our bills. Pay your bills. The government has to pay the bills.

“The cheque is in the mail” is not good enough anymore.

The government likes to talk about the number of jobs that it has

created in this pandemic. We’ve got to be honest with British Columbians

that those are government jobs: 60,000 positions in this government. I have

to say that a classic sign of an NDP government is when government gets big

and business gets small. The problem with that is that under an NDP

government, big business becomes small business and small business goes out

of business. We have to step up, we have to break that, and we have to stop

that.

Now, a couple of noted vacancies from the budget. This government

likes to talk a lot about standing up for renters. A twice-made NDP promise

of a $400 renters rebate has magically vanished from this budget. It’s

nowhere to be seen. In question period today, the minister stood up very

proudly and spoke on the government’s expansion of $10-a-day daycare and how

it was doubled. If I say to my wife: “Hey Holly, listen. You know, for this

amount here, our goal is to have $1,000. I’ve only got $100. But listen,

I’ve doubled it to $200. I still haven’t met my goal, but I’ve doubled

it.”

You know, just be honest and be transparent. I think that’s what

British Columbians want. I think that’s what British Columbians deserve. I

get that there is a vulnerability in this House, and I get that there’s an

uneasiness, especially with this Finance Minister, if she’s going to take

the time and call a local paper and say: “My colleagues across the way

aren’t being truthful. I want them to be truthful.” Well, nowhere there were

we untruthful. We were accurate. I’m asking to you do the same.

If you’re saying you’re going to deliver for British Columbians on

$10-a-day daycare, then do it. Don’t just say: “We’re doubling this; we’re

doubling that.” You’re overpromising, and you’re underdelivering. Maybe

that’s going to be the slogan going into the next election, because this one

was kind of like: “Never let a crisis go by without taking advantage of it.”

That, to me, should have been the slogan of the 2020 election, but it didn’t

make it in there.

[2:30 p.m.]

I do want to talk on a file that is very close to my heart — I think

it’s close to all members’ hearts — and that is mental health and

addictions. When we talk about the global pandemic that we’re in and the

world is experiencing, I think it has dramatically altered…. Well, it has

altered everybody’s lives. It has. It has touched every life of every

British Columbian. It has touched every life of every person on this

planet.

We’re in two global pandemics. Well, we’re in two pandemics in British

Columbia. The other pandemic we’ve been in since 2016, and it’s a pandemic

where I’m struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel, because

every month we’re talking about numbers of overdose deaths that are growing

and growing. We’re averaging losing five British Columbians a day to

overdose deaths. That is too many.

I think we can all agree in this House that we need to do more. That’s

something that the Premier said a few weeks ago when we recognized the

sombre anniversary of how long this pandemic has gone on — five years. I

think it’s something, on this side of the House, that we are very much

committed to.

I will tell you this. I always find it distressing when I hear…. And I

get it. We all have a job to do in terms of politics. But this issue

shouldn’t be a political issue. This should be a commonsense issue where we

come together to try and find a solution to save British Columbians who are

dying en record masse — five British Colum­bians a day.

When I hear members from the government side get up and say: “There

was nothing in place. We had to start from scratch….” Well, two things on

that. The first thing: that’s just not accurate. I think that when you look

at the five-year anniversary that we discussed a few weeks ago, at the time,

it was the Minister of Health, Minister Terry Lake, who declared that we

were in a pandemic.

It was at that time that we put in $100 million — immediately deployed

it to help combat this public health emergency. It was at a time where we

established the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, operating hundreds of

additional treatment beds. We set up the Foundry network for

youth.

Now, I get that it’s in everybody’s speaking notes that they had to

start from scratch. That’s just not accurate. But the bigger problem I have

with that is that this is not a new government. It is not a new government.

This is a re-elected government that has had multiple years, five years, to

deal with this issue — four years to deal with this issue. So every time I

hear: “We had to start from scratch. There was nothing in

place….”

Enough. We need a coherent plan from this government that deals with

the overdose crisis. Right now what we’re getting is piecemealing here and

piecemealing there.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

I can say it. I know this government is very proud to say that this is

the biggest investment they’ve made in mental health and addictions. But

let’s look at that for a second, because a couple of things, we need to pay

close attention to.

The Premier states that he is very proud that his government created a

stand-alone Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. I was proud when that

ministry was introduced. But I think we need to be very clear that this

ministry doesn’t stand alone. It doesn’t. This ministry can’t stand on its

own. This Minister of Mental Health and Addictions has a budget

responsibility of $11 million. That is her responsibility in this budget —

$11 million, $4 million less than the Premier’s office.

[2:35 p.m.]

In my riding of White Rock, I have roughly around a population of

20,000. The budget for parks and recreation in White Rock is bigger than the

budget of Mental Health and Addictions for the province of B.C. That tells

me that we have a problem with accountability. At the end of the day, what

is this minister actually accountable for? Something I struggle to try and

define is: what is this minister bringing in terms of value for this

file?

Yesterday we had the unfortunate job to speak on an issue of recovery,

where somebody in Interior Health made the comment that recovery is not

effective. When we look at this budget and we look at where the government

prioritizes recovery…. I’ll speak to that in a second. I, on this side of

the House — and I think all my colleagues — fully disagree with that

comment. Recovery is effective, and it is something we need to take

seriously.

I gave the minister every opportunity to try and speak out against

those comments that were made by a senior member of Interior Health, to no

avail. Maybe that is why the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions has

the responsibility that she does, with just $11 million in her budget. Maybe

it’s comments like that that show this government that the Ministry of

Mental Health and Addictions isn’t up to delivering for British Columbians

when it comes to mental health and addictions.

Now, I did speak, and I mentioned before that even the Third Party….

We spoke about the affordability issue for counselling and psychiatric

services, not only for youth but for all British Columbians. And a lot for

youth.

I have to say we need to do a lot better. This is something that was

not addressed in the budget. It’s something that the minister continues to

evade when the subject comes up. She says she had to start from scratch,

that it was somebody’s else’s file and not her responsibility. Now we

see….

Okay. Looking at your budget lines, I get the lack of responsibility.

That being said, it’s got to be somebody’s responsibility when we are seeing

British Columbians and our youth facing months and months for delayed

services when it comes to mental health. We have to do better than

that.

Part of the challenge is to say: “Okay. We want to do something. We

want to help, and we don’t know what to do.” And what do we get from this

government? We get a bingo card. They put out a bingo card on a Friday

afternoon to say: “Hey, if you’re feeling blue, look at the card and try and

see where you are.” Or we get a website. That was the other one too. We get

a website that you try and navigate through to see if there’s a number that

you can call if you need assistance.

We need support. We need resources. We need actual people that can

help and deliver mental health services for every British

Columbian.

In my riding of White Rock and South Surrey…. A lot of seniors live in

my riding. That was one of the big challenges with the economic recovery

benefit. They would phone, and they’d say: “I don’t have a computer. I don’t

know how to use a computer. I don’t know how to apply for this money that I

was promised during the election. What can you do?”

We would work with them, and we would get them through on the phone

and everything like that. It was a cumbersome process. Again, everything

since the election has been cumbersome. If you fail to plan, then you plan

to fail. That’s exactly what we’ve seen from this government from day

one.

I will say this. When you’re looking at the seniors in my riding…. A

lot of them have phoned and said that they are struggling with their mental

health. What do we say? “Well, have you gone to the mental health website?

Have you tried the website? Have you tried the bingo card?”

[2:40 p.m.]

We need real solutions for real problems. This budget does not address

that. It doesn’t. It falls short in many ways.

I know it’s a sensitive issue, but when we look at the transportation

needs…. We look at the Massey Tunnel replacement. I put out a tweet, and

somebody from the Premier’s office was really quick to jump on it and say:

“It’s not accurate. It’s not accurate. We’re funding it. We’re funding the

Massey replacement. We’re doing this. We’re doing that.”

I had to define the word “notional” and what the word notional means

when it’s next to a line item. It’s means “existing only in theory or as a

suggestion or idea.” So where’s the money, right?

This is something my colleague from Delta has talked about numerous

times. The Massey Tunnel is one of the worst bottlenecks in western Canada,

and there’s nothing that addresses that in this budget. Now, it’s something

that the Minister of Transportation likes to talk about, but there’s not

really much to talk about if you’ve got no money allocated to it. And I get

that.

Actually, in fairness to the Minister of Finance, that’s actually not

one of the things she pointed out in the newspaper article, because I think

she…. That’s a vulnerability there, and I completely understand that, but at

the end of the day, if you’re going to commit to something, commit. If

you’re going to commit to a new hospital in Surrey, commit on the right

date. Don’t give us two dates. Give us one, and give us a realistic

budget.

I really do worry about a few things. Like I said, I am a father of

three. My wife and I do everything we can, just like everybody in this

House, to provide for our family. For a lot of families right now, it is

incredibly tough.

To the beginning of my comments, when I said…. It is a problem with

NDP governments, and it’s one I don’t think an NDP government has ever

learned from. I’ll say it again: “One day — someday, someday soon or someday

in the future — you run out of other people’s money.”

When you pile up the deficit after deficit…. We understand that a lot

of jurisdictions are in deficits right now, but a lot of jurisdictions have

plans for what they’re doing with that money. I don’t see a coherent plan. I

don’t see a plan for transportation in the Lower Mainland. We talk about it.

We talk about SkyTrain extension; we talk about the Massey replacement; we

talk about Highway 10. We talk about all these different things — Highway 1,

where’s that? — but at the end of the day, we don’t have a plan.

To go back to the file that I speak about a lot, in terms of mental

health and addictions, give us a plan. For a minister that doesn’t have the

responsibility — it all exists in the Ministry of Health, so that minister

is actually responsible for executing what’s in the budget — take the time

that you have, and develop a plan.

We are in an overdose crisis right now. We have asked, time after

time, for this government to give us something that we can all unite and get

behind. Instead, we get piecemeal here, piecemeal there. The worst

part is

we get comments made. And the minister doesn’t even have the authority, or I

don’t know, to stand up and discount the comments made when it comes to

people in recovery.

I’m going to end it at that. I’m going to say that I am worried that

this budget will overpromise and underdeliver. I think that’s clear. I’ve

said that numerous times.

[2:45 p.m.]

I hope that this budget is an opportunity for this government to

understand what British Columbians are asking from them, and that is for

transparency and direct accountability. This budget has failed to do both

those things.

K. Paddon: I’m happy to speak in support of Budget 2021.

I’m grateful to be doing so from the unceded traditional territory of

the Stó:lō people.

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude. I have spoken once to

a throne speech, but I need to take a moment.

As a newer MLA, it’s taken me a little bit to understand where my

gratitude should be, sometimes. One of the things that I’m overwhelmed with

is the support of the staff that works so hard for us. I do want to take a

moment to just express my gratitude to my constituency assistant Lawrence,

who works so tirelessly to support and address the needs of the constituents

here in Chilliwack-Kent.

I’m really grateful for the dedicated work of the staff in the

precinct as well, most notably: Cailin Tyrrell, who has found me in the

building when I don’t quite know where I am; Devon Leathwood, who helps me

with my words; Kaylee Szakacs, who makes sure I’m where I need to be,

including here right now; and of course, our hard-working interns, Kala

Bryson, Gabriel Martz, Rachel McMillan, Kate Olivares and Arian Zand. You

all come to work every day, whether in-person or virtually, and give your

all to make sure that we can serve to the best of our ability. So thank

you.

I want to recognize what an honour it is to serve and represent

Chilliwack-Kent. I’m overwhelmed by the trust and the confidence put in me

by all of the communities in our riding. These are Chilliwack and Cultus

Lake, Harrison Hot Springs and Agassiz-Kent, Rosedale and everywhere in

between. It’s a beautiful riding, and I encourage you, once it’s safe, to

come out and check it out, because you won’t regret the trip.

This budget, like any budget, can’t be all things to all people. I

understand that. But this budget does build on our commitment to a stronger

B.C. for everyone. The focus is not to leave anyone behind, so that we can

all move forward together.

There is acknowledgment from the opposition that the Minister of

Finance has “a lot on her plate,” as they characterize this budget as not

blowing anybody’s socks off. It may be generous to understand that the

minister has a lot to consider, but there seems to be a forgetting that all

British Columbians have a lot on their plate, every single one. Everybody in

British Columbia is focused right now on a common goal, although the path

there may look different.

I don’t understand how, even now, the opposition still doesn’t get it.

This isn’t about creating a blockbuster. It’s about taking care of the

people during a pandemic and setting a path to a healthy and successful

recovery for not only people but businesses, which are made up of

people.

As I listened to the budget speech, I could hear the stories of people

who have shared with me over the past months. I could hear the

acknowledgment of where we find ourselves right now — still in the midst of

a pandemic. I could hear the hope of where we’re heading. I heard the

direction and the course that we have set for the future, while

acknowledging that we need to continue to be agile, innovative and

responsive now to the needs of our current dual health crises. We’re

continuing to work through both of those.

This word is overused now, but it’s unprecedented. We have a focus,

but it’s not the same focus as three years ago or, hopefully, three years

from now. The one thing that remains consistent is that the focus has to

serve the people.

I was also reminded of the Speech from the Throne, as I listened to

the budget speech. My favourite sentence, if it’s all right to have just

one: “…building an innovative, sustainable and inclusive economy with an eye

to the post-pandemic world.”

[2:50 p.m.]

Now, it’s my favourite sentence for a lot of reasons, but one of the

reasons is the words “innovative, sustainable and inclusive.” It triggers,

for me, the conversations that I’ve had with students, as they’re looking

forward to their futures, and what I’m reading in some submissions. Students

are submitting applications for an equity and social change scholarship here

in Chilliwack-Kent that I’m supporting. I’m just blown away and completely

awed by how amazing these humans are.

We are living in a time where, for the last year, everything is hard.

Everything is hard, and our buckets aren’t getting filled in the same way

socially, emotionally, developmentally.

I’m reading applications from the graduating class here in

Chilliwack-Kent, and I’m seeing students who are focused on others, who are

focused on raising others up, not maintaining the status quo, not protecting

only themselves and their friends. In this hard time, people are reaching

out to raise others up, understanding that none of us rise unless all of us

do. Those are not my words, and I know it. I’m just not sure who to quote at

the moment. They’re embracing so much change rather than fighting

it.

This is absolutely not to minimize the fact that the struggles and the

stress and the anxiety that they’re living with right now — that everyone is

living with right now — change everything. Yet I’m seeing these students

take on leadership roles in traditional or non-traditional ways. I’m seeing

them speak for each other. I’m seeing them open to conversations about

mental health, to conversations about gender identity and intersectionality

and to understanding their impact on others. Now more than ever, maybe we

can come to a place where we understand our individual impact on others, as

we’re separated in so many ways.

One of the other things that I thought of when the words around

innovation and sustainability and inclusion came up was the arts. We are

living history right now. It is our artists and our performers, our

creators, who are going to be able to capture and speak a language that will

be able to communicate what this looks like, what this feels like into the

future. This is not only a sector — the arts. It’s a way of life, and it’s

an outlet. It’s a way of healing and sustaining, and it’s a way of coming

together.

One local organization here that serves youth, the Chilliwack School

of Performing Arts, has had to completely pivot. They have been responsive

to every health order. They have made adjustments not only based on what Dr.

Bonnie Henry is guiding us to do but also in recognition of the youth that

they serve and what those youths’ needs are. They continue to create, and

they create new ways to create and connect. This is innovation. This is

inclusiveness. You need both of those for anything to be sustainable and

healthy, so I have to shout out to them.

They’re not alone. So many local artists are creating in ways that are

completely original. They’re capturing this time, and they’re giving us an

outlet. So I was incredibly proud of our government when we supported 13

arts and culture organizations here in Chilliwack-Kent, recognizing the

importance of this sector, of this way of life.

With regard to inclusion, there are a lot of pieces of this budget, as

well as the throne speech previous, that touch on this need for inclusion,

this need for that framing. I know that our government has committed to

recognize that there have been lessons hard-learned from COVID — lessons

about inclusion, about old excuses that separate us that were based on

habit. We have learned new ways to be productive. We have learned new ways

to come together and innovate.

[2:55 p.m.]

Work production, work productivity have changed dramatically.

Environments and attitudes that used to exclude, be it because of gender, be

it because of ability level or disability or other intersectional identity

issues…. We don’t ever have to go back there. I think that that’s really

critical, and a lot of the investments made by this government and planned

by this government acknowledge that we have come a long way, and there are

more opportunities now than there were before with respect to how we

approach work and inclusion and acceptance.

I’m excited to be part of a government that won’t fall back into old

habits that were just done that way because it was the way it was always

done. The pandemic has changed the world. It’s changed my world. I don’t

know anybody whose world it hasn’t changed. Let this be a good thing that’s

changed.

Stories of the last 13 months filled my mind as I read through the

budget. The path charted ahead describes the priorities and the work that

will be done here, in response to what we always serve first: the people of

British Columbia. There is still a lot of work to do.

I know in Chilliwack-Kent…. I was going through the list, taking a

look at the work that’s been done here in Chilliwack-Kent, just since the

fall. It was exciting. I have to say, some of the highlights in this

beautiful area…. Our government is partnered with Tzeachten First Nation and

welcomed 23 new affordable rental homes through the Building B.C.: community

housing fund. They’ve supported Indigenous communities and organizations to

end gender-based violence through a project by Seabird Island

Band.

We have the recovery benefit for individuals and families, and I hear

every day from people who have told me: “This made a big difference. I

needed this. It arrived just in time.”

We have improved forest service roads, providing access to different

areas in our constituency. Our government has supported 16 local PACs and

DPACs. We have the business recovery grant, which I’ll talk about in a

moment, because this is a big piece of information from my area in Budget

2021. Capped fees for food delivery. We’ve doubled CleanBC home retrofit

rebates. This is a really big issue. Locally, I’ve heard from several people

who have said that this will make a difference. This helps with

affordability.

Made $10 million investment to help persons with disabilities return

to the workforce. For myself, I previously mentioned inclusion and

can build on that.

The government has invested in 25 new micro-credential programs,

including one here at UFV in Chilliwack-Kent. That’s going to be fantastic.

Not everybody has time to commit to a long degree. Sometimes it’s those

micro-credentials that will give people either a taste of that sector or the

information that they need to get started.

They funded four local projects through B.C. community economic

recovery infrastructure program. They’re investing in three large-scale

school additions. Now, this is massive. Those are three schools where

students will have classrooms instead of portables. That’s

fantastic.

They’ve partnered with Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education

Society to provide 50 additional supportive homes and a 40-bed shelter.

They’ve extended the rent freeze, capped future rent increases, and stopped

illegal renovictions.

These all have a direct impact. All of these things that I’ve

mentioned, I’ve heard from people about how this impacts their

life.

The list goes on, and this is only since the fall. Budget 2021

addresses immediate challenges and builds a foundation for a strong

recovery, with new investments in health and mental health services,

business supports, affordable housing and child care, and helps to keep life

more affordable for families.

[3:00 p.m.]

I’m also very excited about record levels of job creation and

community infrastructure. This budget continues to build on the work and

investments that we have made, and I’m proud to support it.

One way that our government is investing, especially here in

Chilliwack-Kent, as well as across the province, is through the grants

available to businesses impacted by the pandemic. In the Chilliwack and Kent

area, there’s been over $1 million received by businesses. Now, this is

money going to our neighbours, our business owners, that will help pay

employees, that will take a little bit of pressure off the businesses. This

is $1 million that is going directly to people we see in our community.

They’re not faceless. They’re not numbers. That’s an incredible investment

in Chilliwack-Kent.

In addition to this, we have a lot of people from around Chilliwack as

well as Chilliwack-Kent. If you’re not familiar with our ridings, they’re

inextricably linked. I’ll talk about the area generally for a

second.

We have people championing our small and medium-sized businesses, and

seeing the investment that government is willing to make, seeing the

priority that government is making small and medium-sized businesses, has

encouraged our communities to do the same. They’re matching that. They’re

ordering takeout. They’re using patios. They’re shopping and buying and

eating locally.

not just what our government is investing. It’s what people are inspiring,

because we’re recognizing that these are our neighbours and these employees

are our neighbours. These businesses who give us so much as a community need

us now. So it’s our turn to give back.

Now, like the flowers that are popping up — dandelions all over my

backyard — I see newness here as well in Chilliwack-Kent. I see businesses

that have opened up in the midst of COVID at various times, like the Corner

Café in Agassiz, which, when you come to Chilliwack-Kent, is a must-try for

anyone who loves pastries and crepes. Their croque monsieur is…. Well, just

order it. You’ll be happy.

Another business is the brand-new TwoChiefs. According to their web

page — there’s been a lot of attention on it lately — TwoChiefs is 100

percent Indigenous-owned, by Kirkland Douglas. Kirkland is a member of the

Cheam First Nation from the Stó:lô Nation territory. He’s opened this

business. The name “TwoChiefs” is in honour of Kirkland’s dad and

grandfather, who both served as chiefs of their nation. Their teachings, he

says, will guide TwoChiefs as a new brand. This brand features authentic

designs by Indigenous artists, including local Nikki LaRock.

Our government is prioritizing business, and we can see it in the

investments they’re making in our community and across British Columbia. We

know the answer that people are wishing for right now — the answer that it’s

over, that we’re okay now, right now, today…. We can’t provide that in this

budget. But what this budget does do is it protects us as we get there

together. There’s a light as we roll out the largest vaccine campaign ever.

And when we’ve come through this, this budget lays out a plan for recovery.

It sets us up to be able to carry on and to be stronger together.

As I mentioned before, not everybody will see every­thing that

they want. We’re hearing from the opposition that there are big gaps. There

are big things that they’d really like to see. It seems that it took a

pandemic to inspire and hear from so many of the opposition as they rise to

speak about where they see the needs of our most marginalized, our most

vulnerable, the gaps in the areas that they previously didn’t seem concerned

about, as they acclimatize to thinking about our most vulnerable, to

noticing our most vulnerable.

Now that we’re in a situation where everyone is impacted rather than

only the most vulnerable, it’s understandable that they may not completely

understand the intersectionality and complexity of social issues and

constructs that are being magnified by this pandemic.

[3:05 p.m.]

This can’t be fixed by a tax cut to the wealthy or a cash infusion

from ICBC, and any oversimplification or siloing of these issues, making

representations as though they occur in a vacuum, does significant

disservice to British Columbia.

It is understandable that my colleagues across would be overwhelmed

now, as the harsh reality of the pandemic also impacts them, where it’s no

longer an accommodation for somebody else but rather their life as well.

It’s easy to see how they might miss the vision of Budget 2021. This new

world view can be overwhelming and scary — putting people first, protecting

people’s health and livelihoods through this pandemic and into

recovery.

There’s good news. British Columbians have been extremely clear that

the values, ideas and priorities of our government are their values and

priorities. Their voices and needs were heard as they chose B.C.’s most

diverse, most progressive majority government ever. Why? I think it’s

because our government has been focused on all British Columbians the whole

time and has been working and will continue to work, as there is much to do

on supporting British Columbians not only through this pandemic but into a

more inclusive and innovative and sustainable future.

Budget 2021 continues to honour the immediate and future needs of

British Columbians. This is why I support it. Thank you very

much.

B. Stewart: It is an honour to rise in the House, as I know many of my colleagues,

our colleagues, are not able to do that.

First, I want to thank everyone in this chamber for their work in this

province. I think it’s important to reflect on the fact that we’re all here

because we share a love for this province and because we want to make it

better. We’re all here to give British Columbians a better life, though our

ideas to move forward and heal from this pandemic differ greatly.

Unfortunately, it’s this difference that fuels this debate today. I

believe Budget 2021 is a disappointing and lackluster proposal on how we

move the province forward. It’s clear in this budget that the NDP are

letting down British Columbians, as there is a lot of work to do. We all

know that, and you acknowledge it. We are facing an unparalleled crisis, and

this second-term NDP government has, I think, let down British Columbians,

without a clear pathway forward. That’s what British Columbians asked for.

That’s what you told them you were going to do in the October

election.

All I can say is that this budget is about spending money in areas

that, frankly, don’t all need to have the increases that are being proposed.

Frankly, the things about economic recovery, the real substance and backbone

of what creates an economy…. At a time when British Columbians are finally

starting to think about a world on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic,

it’s clear that this government has no plan to secure a bright future.

Instead of big ideas from this government, we’re getting big deficits and

bigger government.

Spending and taxes. Well, there’s some déjà vu in this chamber,

because we have all seen an NDP budget like this before. In the late 1990s —

and perhaps many of the new members weren’t even in business or working yet

— the NDP threw taxpayers’ dollars at problems, hoping it would resolve

complex issues with a blank cheque. It didn’t work. Time and time again, we

see the same thing. The fact that the deficits and the operating deficit

were staggering in 2001, when our government took over and had to make

adjustments — that’s what we don’t want to have to go through

again.

Now after a snap election, which jeopardized the health and the safety

of our society, the NDP are sinking back into their old ways. As my

colleague said, there is spending widely and there is spending well. This

government is not choosing to spend well. By the end of this government’s

second term, the NDP will have added $10,000 of additional debt to every

British Columbian.

[3:10 p.m.]

The total debt-to-GDP. I don’t know how many members know what that

measurement is, but I know that when I arrived in this House, we had a

debt-to-GDP that was around 17 percent. We had the ’08 financial crisis. We

had all sorts of crises on all fronts, with people not knowing where the

economy was. This budget forecasts a debt-to-GDP of 26.9 percent. I’m sure

that the credit-rating agencies are going to have something to say about

that in time.

Provincial debt is now at $103 billion. It doesn’t sound like much

based on what the federal government is talking about, but the economy in

this province is much smaller than the federal economy. The fact is that

this budget in the last four years has grown from under $47.5 billion to

where now we’re nearing $70 billion.

Just think about that. In four years, we’ve had that big an increase.

It’s staggering. The debt is going to rise to $127 billion. Some of that

debt is with…. Twenty-three new and increased taxes is what’s helping defray

that. But for all of this debt, what are British Columbians actually

receiving in terms of job programs, renter rebates, housing advancements,

road improvements? Well, I’m sorry to say not very much. This government

seems intent to spend a lot but give out less to people in need of support —

more costs, less services — which is just a bad deal for B.C.

Now, we know in the last session, or the parliament, the government

criticized about ICBC. We knew that there was a pandemic, and insurance

companies across the country gave rebates because there was less driving

going on. Now British Columbians are just starting to receive their cheques,

the last in Canada, the last to be fully distributed in the country. It’s

still nowhere to be seen for some, not to mention that some regular drivers

are getting cheques just worth the price of the postage. Those who drive

luxury cars are getting far bigger rebates.

To worsen the impact on drivers, the Premier’s long-awaited gas price

relief is yet to be seen. Motorists have been paying higher prices or

immense prices at the pumps for the last two years now.

The new Pattullo Bridge is still a four-lane bridge. Granted, it has

safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, but it’s still a four-lane

bridge. It’s still at an early stage and has the same motor vehicle capacity

over the current bridge. The situation is no better for those commuters in

Tsawwassen and Delta, south of the Fraser, with the Massey Tunnel crossing.

As funding is nowhere in sight, this tunnel will continue to be a headache

for all.

No word on the final phase of BCAA’s worst road in B.C. Jim Edgson,

former regional director and the head of the road improvement committee from

20 years ago, worked hard to get the first three of four phases. We’re still

waiting for that final phase, to the Minister of Transportation. We would

like to see that. Every day there are over 125 school children that drive on

roads that are too narrow, confirmed by the Ministry of Transportation, that

need to be improved.

Jobs. With high unemployment and the only jobs growth focused in on

part-time jobs, the NDP still has no economic recovery or jobs plan. Why is

there no incentive for businesses to try to hire people, to find ways to

innovate? There are bright people out there, but we’ve come to a situation

where we think that giving out money to the workers, etc…. I know that many

of them have been hard hit, but we want them to be able to get back to where

they have jobs and they can take care of themselves and not be on this

treadmill where they’re just receiving loans or grants from the

government.

What about the businesses? There are no new supports in the budget for

people struggling right now that need to get help today. Despite the

Premier’s promise of a made-in-B.C. solution, there’s still no paid sick

leave. During a pandemic, which will be affecting British Columbians for the

foreseeable future, this is unacceptable. There’s no new comprehensive

funding for jobs and economic recovery.

I know we heard earlier today about InBC. I’m looking forward to more

details on that. But I still believe that there’s still $1.1 billion of

recovery funding that’s unallocated. We saw during the last year that we

approved $5 billion on March 23, and then we came back and approved another

$2 billion to add on to that and another $1 billion. Really, a lot of that

money came out during the election, when businesses were shut down and

failing earlier than that. I hope that that’s not what the plan is to do

with that contingency.

[3:15 p.m.]

The only jobs plan seems to be the expansion of government, by 60,000

positions, with more than 40,000 private sector workers remaining

unemployed. You know, if I was paying minimum wage…. I’m pretty certain that

those government jobs are not minimum wage. I’m going to use the cost of

roughly $30 an hour, which is probably more realistic, which is about

$62,500 — 10 percent for benefits, the employer health tax and all the other

things. That roughly works out, at a mere $68,400 per employee, to $4.2

billion per year.

That’s part of our spending plan this year. We’re going to increase

taxpayer-funded employees. Granted, many may be needed, but at the end of

the day, it’s a cost on the taxpayer. No word on how the thousands of jobs

lost in the private sector are going to be recovered and how those workers

will be supported.

It is through meaningful investment in the private sector that we can

see economic stimulation. Invest in the sectors B.C. wants to see grow —

small businesses, green technology. We know we have CleanBC, and the

minister is here.

Tourism. What about that? Today I’m seeing all sorts of reports from

different associations, etc., and an industry that just does not know how

they’re to get through to even the end of May, with this current lockdown —

the cancellations, the road closures and all of those things that we have

heard about in the recent week.

The bottom line is that this is an industry that needs clear help to

get out of this, because they’re losing their businesses. Real people hire

real people. Invest in the private sector now — tourism, restaurants and

small business. Maybe temporary PST relief. Something that is novel, to

incentivize people.

And 85 percent of the construction workers are being told that they

can’t work on B.C. projects if they’re not part of the CBA’s labour hiring

policy. That has been very unconstructive for many of the organizations in

my particular riding. They’ve actually had to terminate relations with other

unions, just so that they can do CBA agreements.

We’ve seen this idea of investments work in previous years by previous

governments, such as the innovative clean energy fund, a $50 million fund

out of the carbon tax that we brought in to government — 2008. This fund was

designed to support the province’s energy and environmental priorities, but

it also was new, clean, innovative technology. We saw all sorts of examples

of that, and the fact is that I think that that’s one area that I’m sure the

minister will be thinking about or has thought about.

Since 2008, the ICE fund has committed more than about $104 million to

support pre-commercial, clean energy technology projects, clean energy

vehicles, research and development, energy efficiency programs. Where are

these type of innovations and creative investments in Budget 2021? Not to be

found.

It’s now more important than ever that the NDP comes up with a jobs

plan to help restore the health of the economy. Not doing so means workers,

families and businesses will continue to pay the price for NDP incompetence.

The B.C. Liberals were calling for a private sector jobs plan — a jobs plan

that included women and youth — and that’s still missing.

Let’s talk a little bit about housing. Many British Columbians, young

and old, are being forced to rent at exorbitant housing prices across this

province. You all know that. The bottom line is every single community in

this province is in crisis, with high rents and higher housing prices. Every

community from Fernie to Lake Country, Victoria to Chilliwack to Prince

George, beyond Dawson Creek, and countless other communities across this

province are feeling the squeeze, as housing continues to be considered a

commodity by this government.

We have heard of the promises of affordability from the NDP’s promised

$400 renters rebate. Well, that really wouldn’t mean very much today,

considering that rents have gone up by $2,500 on average in the city of

Vancouver. I just don’t think that it’s appropriate and responsible to make

promises like that, that have gone unfulfilled. Look at the $500. Look at

how much effort it took to get that out in December, with all of the

promises. It’s difficult to just roll this money out, when you don’t have a

plan.

[3:20 p.m.]

I think that one of the things, to just put a perspective on

affordability…. A yearly three-zone pass at TransLink is now $2,124. These

renters that didn’t get the grant have seen their annual travel budget sink

away into rent increases alone in only four years.

As far as home ownership, this ship has more than sailed for countless

British Columbians. It’s not on our watch. We were blamed — the fact that it

was foreign buyers. We put in a foreign buyers tax in 2015, a tax of 15

percent. The number of foreign buyers last year was a mere 1 percent in

British Columbia. They’re not the problem. The problem is supply. The B.C.

Real Estate Association says that the average B.C. home price is up 20.4

percent, year over year, in March 2021, with no plans from the government on

how we work with municipalities. How do we find those solutions?

I know that there have been announcements made by the minister. But

the situation is: how are we going to get to affordable housing? You can’t

choke off supply with the delays that municipalities are putting in front of

the private sector to actually build real housing and get supply happening

out there.

There is a report I saw yesterday that housing ownership during the

pandemic crisis has grown from a mere 3 percent up to 27 percent. That’s how

many people believe that they want to own. Interest rates are certainly very

attractive, but the housing prices are staggering. In our hottest housing

market, the prospect of home ownership is going to take a mere 34 years to

save for the down payment for a typical Vancouver home. It’s out of reach.

It’s not affordable. Add on to that student loans, transportation costs, an

individual’s and family’s worth of expenses. There’s no hope

there.

There’s no action on the red tape in local housing development.

Unnecessary zoning is forcing people to live further and further on the

outskirts of desirable urban centres. We need to build infrastructure. I

know that there are lots of promises, but we’ve got to get it built. These

skyrocketing costs are spurred, at least in part, by the diminishing supply.

We’ve had this government for nearly four years, and one of the results is

the lowest supply of homes since 2000, a 21-year low, dating back to the

previous NDP government. I wonder if this is a coincidence.

The NDP have introduced $2 billion for the HousingHub to support the

construction of middle-class homes. But without a contingency plan, who can

say whether this is a wise investment for government to be making? Is it

going to help new families finance the new homes, or is it going to become a

boon for government budgets?

For some, the rising cost of housing is compounding with the helpless

situation they face with the ever-increasing strata insurance costs. I know

that we’re going to hear more on that later this year to see if we can get

more competition in the market. The bottom line: this government took power

during a pandemic by promising affordability, yet nearly everyone is paying

more. That’s not just this election; that’s the previous election. The

Premier can question that and stand up and talk about the tolls. But at the

end of the day, it’s costing more to live in British Columbia, not by a

little bit but by a long shot.

What is worse is that all of this unaffordability is actually the

basis of the NDP’s budget. This government is using extreme wealth gathered

through the property purchase tax — a tax that they used to oppose and

scrutinize — to throw money at problems, rather than creating a

comprehensive post-pandemic plan.

Yesterday in this House, we talked a bit about the opioid crisis. Last

year 1,724 people died from drug overdoses. The first two months of this

year were on track, at 320 people in the first two months, to exceed 1,900

British Columbians losing their lives to that.

More has to be done to address the health aspects of drug addiction.

Governments must fund the four pillars of recovery: harm reduction,

prevention, treatment and enforcement. More treatment beds, stepped-up

prevention, early intervention in our schools are the measures we must take

to ensure proper mental health and addiction care in B.C. There must be a

full spectrum of care to ensure effective and accessible treatment in

recovery programs.

[3:25 p.m.]

What’s frustrating in this budget and the overdose prevention funding

is that only $15 million is going to the overdoses. Despite a $500 million,

three-year plan to invest in mental health, the Ministry of Mental Health

and Addictions still has a budget of $13 million, which is still smaller

than the Premier’s increased budget of $15 million.

Yesterday the minister confirmed that 195 new treatment beds are

funded, but that’s not enough. Leading up to the 2017 election, we had

opened 500 mental health and recovery beds. It is a growing problem because

of the opioid crisis, and I understand that there seems to be limitations.

But we have to put a full-court press on this.

This budget’s investment in mental health and addictions is not

enough, and we have contradicting reports from health authorities saying

what’s good and what’s not good. This government isn’t prioritizing this

pressing and timely health issue. We need to do more. Health authorities are

seeing the capital cut from their budgets of $1.1 billion. What does that

signal? What’s the message that health authorities are getting, or where is

that being replaced?

Families are struggling to find family doctors that are taking

patients. Others are scrambling to learn that theirs is retiring. B.C.

trains about 288 physicians per year, and of that, 40 to 50 choose family

practice for their residency, but only about 15 percent choose traditional

family practice. That was just reported in the Times Colonist , and

750,100 people in the province today are without a family doctor. That’s

about 15 percent of B.C.’s population.

Now I’m either privileged or maybe not so privileged to have one of

the new urgent and primary care facilities open up in West Kelowna, but it

has restricted hours. It’s open from four to eight during the weekdays and

on weekends. They’ve been told not to open to compete with doctors, yet

they’re supposed to be there to help with both mental health and these other

things. It’s not working to relieve the pressure at hospitals, like Kelowna

General, and in the other communities where they are.

It’s obvious that there’s a shortage or funding issues with those

urgent and primary care facilities. However, I have heard extremely good

reports of the one that’s located in downtown Kelowna. I hope that they’re

all better funded.

British Columbians are still being left in the dark when it comes to

COVID-19 data, confused even further with this Premier’s shoot-from-the-hip

attitude in terms of shocking travel announcements days before the details

are available. Come on, man.

We all have questions, and our being open with the data is the only

way going forward. It’s a step that government needs to take immediately for

the benefit of all British Columbians — transparency. Invest in health. Stop

cutting health authorities’ funding. Be open and honest with British

Columbians. These are the simple asks that the NDP are incapable or

unwilling to respond to.

Lastly on health, I want to bring up one issue at Okanagan College. I

know a former colleague who served in this House for Kelowna, Cliff Serwa,

asked about a sizeable amount of private money that’s been raised for a

health centre at Okanagan College. The college was divided in 2005 into UBC

Okanagan and Okanagan College. It has been a great success — over 10,000

full-time students that are at Okanagan College and their many

campuses.

[N. Letnick in the chair.]

More importantly, that’s from a base of less than 3,500 in 2005. The

university has eclipsed the numbers by all measurements. It’s been a great

success. But the health care centre is necessary for the health and

well-being of the thousands of students that attend Okanagan College in

Kelowna every day.

We also should be looking at the promise for an additional medical

school — right? — the second medical school. I know we have the distributed

program at UNBC, Victoria and Kelowna, but we need more. We’ve got to make

certain we’re training doctors in communities. We’ve got to do

that.

I want to just conclude on this that budgets require planning and an

understanding of what future effects the spending will have on the province.

This is a road map for businesses, for the population, to know where they’re

going.

[3:30 p.m.]

There’s a lot of money sprinkled around, a lot of big numbers and

stuff like that. But at the end of the day, people are looking for

leadership. They want their government to help bring them along to a

conclusion, where they’ve regained their jobs.

Think about the fact that the tourism sector I mentioned a minute ago,

the special event companies…. They don’t have any idea when the COVID

lockdown that they’ve been under for 14 months now is going to open up so

that they can book a wedding or they can even plan on a wedding, even with a

reduced size.

Now I know that it’s early days, but I think we’ve got to look at when

the full vaccination is complete — according to Dr. Henry, by sometime at

the end of June. We need to be able to give certainty. That’s what this

budget is supposed to be all about: providing certainty. What incentives are

there for businesses which are financially struggling already? I know that

there are the exceptions, but the reality is that businesses, restaurants,

tourism, special event companies, all the activities that people love to

come to British Columbia for, are sitting there closed down until the end of

May. What’s the reopening plan for them?

I mean, I know that the circuit breaker grants have been extended.

That’s not enough for businesses that have hundreds of employees. Look at

the ski hills that were shut down early because of the COVID outbreaks. I

don’t disagree with that, but the bottom line is: how do they reopen? How do

they get ready for that? What about the restaurants that have been

shuttered, for maybe months, because of the fact that they haven’t had the

opportunity to have that?

This is not enough for businesses that have been so impacted. Those

businesses are the ones that raise sales tax revenue on not only food, but

liquor. They create all sorts of an economy — jobs where people pay income

taxes to help pay for the things that we all have come to expect. What about

the employer health tax? How many people do you think are employed in the

tourism and restaurant and hospitality industry? There’s no money coming in

for their wages at the present time. That’s a lot of tax revenue that’s

missing.

The situation is going to get worse unless we get back to business.

How many businesses right here in Victoria are shuttered — closed, for-lease

signs? I’ll bet you that one in three stores downtown are closed. I’ll tell

you what. I don’t know what the future is going to be like for downtown

Victoria. It was a vibrant community. I know that the cruise ship industry

is part of that; not only that, but having people come across.

We need to make certain that there is a return to regular business.

Lots of people have lost their entire life savings on the businesses that

they opened up with the hopes that they were going to be able to create

something that was going to be the best.

I just wanted to make certain we look back at what happened in the

1990s. We can have a budget, and we can spend all this money, but we were in

first place back in 1990. We went to last place by 2001. That’s where we

were economically. We cannot go back there. If the NDP are going to spend

this much, they need a plan to stimulate the economic activity and job

recovery for the private sector. They need to plan to balance the books and

avoid future service cuts.

We were criticized for the service cuts. Everybody liked to think that

we were being mean. They were unattainable in terms of revenue. I think that

we need to make certain we keep that in mind.

Rather than take ownership for their inherent shortcomings in this

budget, their governance, the NDP has blamed everything and everybody but

themselves. They have blamed the third wave of COVID on the millennials,

warning them not to blow it for the rest of us. They have blamed the

previous government how many times? How many times have I heard in this

House? How many years were we here? How many balanced budgets did we have?

What did we turn over in 2017 to this government? Almost $3 billion of

contingencies or money that wasn’t spent.

These excuses only go so far. British Columbians are fed up. They’re

fed up with COVID. They’re fed up with the fact that their tax dollars….

Their grandchildren are the ones that are going to have to pay for some of

these deficits. We’re looking at deficit forecasts of $9.7 billion for 2021,

$5.5 billion for the next year, $4.3 billion…. A quick summation is just

under $20 billion. And $20 billion? That was the budget in 2001 or right

around there. Think about that. That’s in three years.

Accountability is important. Leadership is important. We need that.

That’s what this budget is about.

[3:35 p.m.]

I know the minister is excited by some of the things. I don’t disagree

that she should be excited, but I think that we should be looking at some of

the people that are looking for this. What about people that are quoting, in

terms of recent quotes that have been brought out…?

Canadian Federation of Independent Business: “The B.C. budget provides

little for small businesses hoping to see additional supports to bridge the

economic recovery.” The budget missed the “opportunity to help businesses

through the immediate and current crisis and provide a plan to help them to

recover long term.”

What about the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade? “This budget doesn’t

include a lot around new funding for economic recovery.” Same message. “What

is it going to set us up for, for recovery in the long term, to ensure that

we have a competitive, globally, post-pandemic…? We didn’t see that

vision.”

When we talk about competitiveness…. We cannot be a province where we

think that we can layer on all those costs onto our businesses here and

expect them to compete in a global market. British Columbia is a trading

province. It has resources. It manufactures. It has technology. But it has

to be competitive. You have to look at the competition. So that’s what we’re

looking for.

When it comes to this, I sincerely hope that this government will move

forward with the openness, transparency and accountability for their own

actions that people deserve. After failing to get the COVID relief to

families, botching supports for small businesses, ignoring financial and

COVID data transparency, we don’t have as much hope for that.

At a time when people are looking for optimism and light at the end of

the tunnel, British Columbians deserve so much better than this

disappointing budget.

P. Alexis: I would first like to acknowledge that I come to you from the unceded

and ancestral territory of the Stó:lō people, including the Kwantlen,

Leq’á:mel, Matsqui, Sema:th and Sq’èwlets territories.

It’s my pleasure to rise today to address and wholeheartedly support

the provincial government’s budget for 2021. If the throne speech was the

vision for the future of this province, this budget is the blueprint for not

only its implementation but its success.

I would like to thank my colleagues for their hard work and commitment

in guiding this historic document over the finish line. I would also like to

thank my constituents who have reached out to make their ideas and concerns

heard ahead of the budget’s publication. Finally, I want to acknowledge my

staff for their diligence, support and much-needed camaraderie each and

every day.

As you all know, the world has changed dramatically since the province

released its last budget — which, actually, I had the privilege of being

present for — not least of which, economically. Through the pandemic, B.C.’s

real gross domestic product declined by an estimated 5.3 percent in 2020. As

the recovery continues, B.C.’s real GDP is forecast to grow by 4.4 percent

in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2022, reaching pre-pandemic levels by next

year.

We’ve delivered a budget projecting a deficit of $8.1 billion for the

’20-21 fiscal year. That is far less than previously anticipated, which was

$13.6 billion. A steadily declining deficit is projected over the next three

years, beginning in 2021-2022. To achieve this is a balancing act of

responsibility and ambition, of attention to the needs of the present

without sacrificing the promise of the future. I’m proud to say we have met,

if not exceeded, this standard.

We can’t talk about the future without talking about the pandemic

present. This budget has $3.25 billion in pandemic and recovery

contingencies for the year ahead. That includes $900 million for

health-related COVID-19 management like vaccine distribution, testing and

contact tracing and expanding flu immunization and screening for COVID-19 at

long-term-care homes, which will be crucial for the seniors of

Abbotsford-Mission.

[3:40 p.m.]

Further investments include $1 billion to support people and

businesses, $200 million to prepare for economic recovery and $1.1 billion

in reserve to support any unanticipated and urgent health or recovery

measures.

The government is also spending $585 million to train and hire up to

3,000 people as health care workers, $45 million to address systemic racism

against Indigenous People in the health care system and $500 million over

three years in new funding for mental health and addiction — the largest

investment ever made in this field.

Further, this pandemic has shone a light on the fact that access to

affordable, quality and inclusive child care is not simply good social

policy; it’s vital to B.C.’s economy. We have seen historic investments in

the first three years of Childcare B.C., our ten-year plan to deliver

universal child care to B.C. families. We are continuing to improve access

to child care, which supports our economic recovery by creating more

opportunities for parents, particularly women, to go back to work or school

and gives kids the best possible start.

Over 35,000 children have received child care for $10 a day since its

launch. Further, the child care budget for 2021-2022 has tripled, compared

to just four years ago. Childcare B.C. is getting a $233 million increase

over three years, on top of the base budget. This builds on our

unprecedented level of investments, made since we started our Childcare B.C.

plan.

Budget 2021 doubles the number of $10-a-day child care spaces,

continues to build and expand centres to create more spaces and provides 400

more culturally relevant child care spaces for Indigenous families. We’re

adding 75 more child care centres in the province’s $10-a-day program, which

will increase available spaces to 3,750 over the next three

years.

As well, we’re pleased to introduce wage enhancements for

approximately 11,000 early childhood educators across British Columbia. In

last year’s budget, a $2-per-hour wage boost was announced, bringing the

median wages to almost $23 per hour. This year B.C. is doubling that

enhancement, bringing ECE median wages to almost $25 per hour.

As a former educator, I want to take a moment to recognize our

province’s early childhood educators. What a wonderful service they’ve

provided to Abbotsford and Mission, and how crucial this boost in their pay

will be for them and their families. This year has been beyond tough, and

you worked tirelessly to keep child care centres open and keep our children

safe and secure.

When I was a school board trustee, we were forced to close schools due

to a lack of funding, support or, in some cases, belief in the importance of

public education. What a disaster for those communities, and what a burden

for those children. What a long way we’ve finally come.

Safety and security remain paramount to our duty of care as a

government. So for the first time ever, B.C. is increasing the seniors

supplement, which will support 80,000 residents. Shockingly, this is the

first increase to that supplement since it was introduced in 1987. As well,

income and disability assistance will increase by $175 a month.

Another area of our beautiful province that required much-needed

attention was our parks and tourism industry. Earlier this week the province

announced it would increase funding for parks by $83 million over three

years. This new funding will mean that the capital budget for parks will

increase by 57 percent, while the operating budget will go up an average of

22 percent for each of the three years.

Part of that investment will go to adding 100 new campsites through

the province each year, starting in 2022. As the elected representative for

one of the most beautiful places in a very beautiful province, I’m sure that

my constituents, who love camping, will welcome the opportunity to re-engage

with the outdoors once the time is right.

[3:45 p.m.]

Funding will also be invested into supporting the local tourism

industry as it recovers from the pandemic — and for local

recreation.

In the budget, $30 million has been set aside to support initiatives

in communities marking B.C.’s 150th anniversary of entry into Confederation.

As well, $100 million will be set aside to support tourism recovery,

including $20 million for community destination development grants for local

communities.

Tourism is a crucial business for our province, but it’s certainly not

the only one. We have committed $800 million in both new and currently

ongoing supports to businesses in B.C., to continue our pandemic

recovery.

I’ll list them: $150 million to support the increased employment

incentive tax credit; $35 million to help B.C. farmers keep temporary

foreign workers safe from COVID-19; $10 million over three years to expand

the domestic market for B.C. products; $235 million in PST savings for

businesses to invest in and select equipment and machinery; $195 million in

funding to continue the small and medium-sized business recovery grant

program; over $700 million in commercial property tax reductions for the

2020 calendar year; over $300 million to support child care providers; $70

million for the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program; $60

million in other targeted emergency financial relief, including park

operators, tourism organizations, local sports organizations, the Royal B.C.

Museum and the B.C. Pavilion Corp.; $31 million that will allow liquor

licensees, such as restaurants, bars and tourism operators, to purchase

beer, wine and spirits at reduced wholesale costs.

One industry that I want to recognize is restaurants and hospitality,

which, I know, have been hit hard. I’ve spent many Saturday nights visiting

different spots to eat in Abbotsford-Mission, and I hear the struggles of

the proprietors.

I’m delighted to review the highlights of our support for them here:

supporting 14,000 businesses with more than $50 million through the circuit

breaker grants — of course, we did hear of the program expansion, yesterday,

from the minister; helping restaurants, bars and tourism operators with

liquor licences purchase beer, wine and spirits at wholesale liquor pricing

permanently; issuing a temporary cap on fees charged to restaurants by food

delivery companies to 15 percent, so restaurants can keep operating online,

with more people eating from home; hiring hundreds of tourism and

hospitality staff laid off through the pandemic, to support B.C.’s

immunization plan as non-clinical staff at immunization clinics throughout

the province.

While our businesses have struggled, many of our renters and the

unhoused have also struggled mightily in the face of the crisis. Housing in

the province remains a significant challenge, one that cannot be resolved

overnight, in the face of years of neglect and laissez faire shoulder

shrugs. However, this government is presently on track with our ten-year

plan to build the types of homes people need, while simultaneously working

to stabilize a market that has become a widening playing field of

affordability.

Since 2018, more than 26,000 new housing units are built or are in

progress throughout British Columbia. We’ve improved security for renters by

improving the Residential Tenancy Act. We’ve reduced the maximum annual rent

increase and closed the loophole that landlords used to get around rent

controls. Further to that burden for so many people in British Columbia this

year, the current rent freeze will remain in place until 2022.

We’ve increased the foreign buyers tax to 20 percent. We’ve introduced

the speculation and vacancy tax, which targets empty properties in

high-demand areas and has helped put homes back on the rental market. This

is doing exactly what it was set out to do. We’ve created the land owner

transparency registry to end hidden ownership in real estate. We’ve cracked

down on tax evasion in condo presale assignments.

[3:50 p.m.]

We need to recognize that this pandemic has laid bare many cracks in

our system, for many vulnerable people. In my riding, I’ve spoken to many

people struggling during this pandemic with their mental health, especially

young people. There are no easy solutions, but there’s work that can be done

to correct the neglect that so many felt before.

This budget represents the largest mental health investment in British

Columbia history. We will continue the expansion of mental health and

substance use supports to better connect people to culturally safe and

effective care. As well, we are investing $500 million in new funding over

the fiscal plan to expand mental health and addiction services.

We’re building a better network of mental health supports for youth

through a $97 million investment that will deliver much-needed assistance,

including the mental health in schools program; by expanding the number of

integrated child and youth teams from five to 20 across British Columbia by

2023-2024; and by supporting more school and community-based

multidisciplinary mental health and substance use services and supporting

and expanding the number of Foundry centres. A topic that both the member

for Maple Ridge–Mission and I have heard a lot about from concerned

constituents.

We are expanding the First Nations Health Authority’s ability to

deliver mental health and addiction services to Indigenous Peoples by $14

million. We’re building 195 new substance use treatment and recovery beds

throughout the province to help more people get on a path to recovery. We’re

investing $61 million to improve access and quality of mental health

services, including expanding eating disorder care and better access to

suicide prevention services and early psychosis intervention.

B.C. is growing quickly, and my constituency and the rest of the

Fraser Valley are absolutely booming. Infrastructure investment will,

therefore, be crucial. With a record $26.4 billion capital plan, Budget 2021

is making a historic investment in major infrastructure to deliver the

critical services people count on as communities grow, keeping B.C. a

desirable destination to work, study and to live.

This record capital spending over three years is $3.5 billion higher

than Budget 2020, with infrastructure recovery investments in the areas of

health, education and transportation. Overall, capital investments are

anticipated to create over 85,000 jobs, including direct construction jobs,

as well as indirect jobs, such as off-site employment at

suppliers.

Crucially for my riding, where the trades are a massive source of

employment, the capital investments also include more apprenticeships and

training opportunities in local communities, in particular for Indigenous

Peoples, women, people with disabilities and other traditionally

underrepresented groups who want to build a career in the skilled

trades.

That one speaks to me. As a former mayor of Mission, I created a team

to seek out and engage with women to consider non-traditional sectors of

employment. COVID-19 slowed us, but I’m proud to be part of a government

that wouldn’t let such a goal be stopped. All together, these investments

will allow the province to build back better, create good-paying jobs,

provide economic stimulus and form the foundation of B.C.’s long-term

prosperity for generations to come.

Budget 2021 includes $3.8 billion in total capital spending over the

next three years by post-secondary institutions throughout the province.

Investments in priority projects will build capacity and help meet the

province’s future workforce and economic development needs in key sectors,

including health, science, trades and technology. A significant portion of

this capital investment is funded through other sources, including

foundations, donations, internal sources, revenues generated from services,

and federal funding.

I began this defence of our budget by observing that we, as

government, must perform a balancing act between responsibility and

ambition. But ambition doesn’t always mean building more highways or paying

ECE workers across the province a better wage.

[3:55 p.m.]

The last point I want to reference is a small note from the budget,

one that may get lost in the talk of big plans made and billions spent.

Through this budget, starting in September, youth aged 12 years and under in

the province won’t have to pay to take the bus, SeaBus or SkyTrain. The free

fare includes rides on both TransLink and B.C. Transit systems.

That might seem like a small thing, but we must remember the people

who count on public transport: the families who