Fifth Session, 41st Parliament

(2020) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Monday, July 20, 2020

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 342

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

The new normal

B. Ma

P. Milobar

Economic recovery plan

J. Sturdy

S. Malcolmson

Youth, skills development and jobs

D. Routley

E. Ross

Mental health and addictions

J. Thornthwaite

R. Singh

Private Members’ Motions

Motion 9 — Health and economic recovery

J. Routledge

N. Letnick

J. Brar

J. Yap

R. Leonard

T. Redies

N. Simons

T. Shypitka

B. D’Eith

S. Cadieux

M. Elmore

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

The House met at 10:03 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: T. Wat.

[10:05 a.m.]

[S. Gibson in the chair.]

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

THE NEW NORMAL

B. Ma: It’s been just four months since the state of emergency was

declared in British Columbia due to COVID-19. For many of us, it already

feels like a lifetime ago.

The pandemic has been incredibly difficult for all of us in B.C.

and North Vancouver. It has changed all of our lives. It has amplified a

lot of problems we were already facing, like poverty, precarious work,

addictions and the overdose crisis, as well as systemic racism and

inequality.

For people who were already struggling with these things,

navigating the pandemic has been even more difficult, but the pandemic

has also magnified the importance of community values like equity,

sustainability, reconciliation and caring for our neighbours and

everyone around us. It is these values that have helped us flatten the

curve, and these are the same values that we need to carry with us into

our economic recovery and into the future.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, people wondered when things

would be returning to normal, but over time, people started to realize

normal wasn’t actually what they really wanted. They wanted better than

normal. The phrase “the new normal” is becoming, well, normal in our

day-to-day discussions.

We usually interpret it to mean that the changes to the way we

live our lives on a daily basis are likely here to stay for a long time

— you know, washing your hands a lot, not touching your face, staying

two metres away from each other, keeping our social groups small, having

fewer faces and larger spaces and wearing a mask when we’re on transit

or are walking around in a store. We wonder if we’ll ever go back to

using those handshakes we all grew up practising to perfect or if

huggers can go back to hugging everyone in sight, if speed dating will

ever be a thing again and if the plastic barriers that have been

installed everywhere are here to stay.

When I compare where we are today to where we were before the

pandemic, I also see how much our society has grown as a result of the

experience. Now, don’t misunderstand me. COVID-19 has absolutely been

devastating, and the loss of life around the world is staggering. While

we in British Columbia have been fortunate to avoid the worst kinds of

impacts that we see elsewhere as a result of this virus, we, too, have

families mourning losses related to COVID-19, both of loved ones who

have succumbed to the virus or those who have lost lives struggling with

matters that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, such as those who

have died of overdose.

The impact to households as a result of the economic downturn is

very real, and families are wondering if they’ll ever be able to hold

their loved ones in long-term care again.

There are many aspects of this pandemic that I hope will soon be

over for good, yet we have grown as a society and in ways that I don’t

think we want to lose. For example, we’ve learned who the truly

essential workers of our society are. They weren’t the wealthy stock

traders, high-priced corporate lawyers or Lamborghini-driving executives

in expensive suits.

They were regular people doing regular, underappreciated

front-line jobs, many of whom are paid some of the lowest wages in our

province. They were the medical professionals for sure, but they were

also the grocery store clerks, the delivery drivers, the janitorial

staff and care aides. They were the early childhood educators and the

teachers, the folks who maintain our utilities so that we can get

electricity. They were emergency responders, the plumbers and tradesfolk

who keep our buildings running. They were the cooks in your

grandmother’s long-term care home. They were the factory workers at

meat-processing plants and migrant workers at our farms.

We’ve learned as a society how important it is that we value them

and care for them with things like higher wages, protective equipment,

safe working spaces, paid leave for those impacted by domestic violence

and paid sick leave, because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t.

Together we’ve learned to appreciate the value of a strong social safety

net and public services. There is more appetite than ever for us to

invest collectively into what it will take to make sure that our most

vulnerable people are cared for — our seniors; our people with

disabilities; people experiencing homelessness or who are struggling

with substance use; Black, Indigenous, people of colour.

[10:10 a.m.]

We’ve also learned about our capacity to change our lives and our

economy to save the world, something we’ll need to continue because of

the urgent need to also tackle climate change. People have demonstrated

how quickly they can adapt when it’s needed. Commuters and families are

discovering the joys of embracing active transportation like walking and

cycling. Local governments are transforming their cities to prioritize

people in their streets. People are learning to say hello, thank you and

goodbye in new ways.

With how much we’ve grown and learned, how much we’ve come

together as a community and adapted and how much we’ve opened our eyes

to a new normal, it will be an opportunity for us not only to simply

recover and go back to the way things were before but to build British

Columbia — and, indeed, all of Canada — back even better than

before.

P. Milobar: It gives me pleasure to rise to speak to the new normal.

Certainly, as the member before me put out there, it is definitely

different now than it was four months ago. That is to the good on some

aspects, but certainly the circumstances that have brought us here is

not. We don’t want to ever lose sight of the fact of how diligent

everyone has been for these first four months to get us to the place

where we are somewhat the envy of the world.

That new normal in British Columbia, unfortunately, is not the new

normal in other jurisdictions, and we’ve seen that very clearly. Dr.

Bonnie Henry should be commended, not for saying what she has said,

because the advice she has given us in British Columbia is very similar

to what public health officials across the world have actually said.

However, her tone, her delivery and her logic behind it has created the

buy-in by the public to actually accept those recommendations

wholeheartedly in British Columbia.

I think that one of the true strengths that Bonnie Henry has shown

is her ability to get buy-in by the public, because anything we do that

requires such fast change within our general civilization always creates

pushback. We’re seeing that around the world; we’re not seeing that to

the same levels in British Columbia.

The innovation, the entrepreneurial spirit we have seen from our

business community is second to none. They have truly tried to do what

they can do to make sure that they can survive — they can survive to

keep their businesses operational; they can survive to keep employment

there for their employees.

In small businesses, employers have a very close relationship with

many of their employees, and they really do become one big family.

Although they can sometimes be painted as these rich and elite, and

because the phrase “business owner” somehow is seen as if you must be a

millionaire, the reality is most of these small business owners have

their houses leveraged to try to keep their business and their dream

going. They view their employees very much as that family, and they want

to ensure that those extended family members are looked after and well

taken care of as well.

As we move forward under — as the member before me said — the new

normal, it’s important that we recognize that things will not go back

100 percent to the way they were. Some of that will be because of

innovation. Some of that will be because efficiencies will be found. We

will have to find ways, as a government and as a society, to make sure

that we are moving forward in a way that actually encourages growth and

innovation to happen, because if we see a contraction in the job market

because of other factors, that will still have a very real

impact.

That is why I think the new normal…. We need to understand what

direction we will be headed as a society moving forward over the next

three, four, five months, recognizing that after those three, four, five

months are up, we’ll probably have to recalibrate yet again. It’s going

to be an evolving target, a moving target, but there needs to be those

road maps so people understand what the new normal and the here and the

now actually is, moving forward.

[10:15 a.m.]

Programs and assistance to people as well as businesses are

critical so that people understand in advance so they can plan. They can

make sure that they are ready to adapt and adopt what the rules will be,

what the game plan moving forward is, and to continue to have that

buy-in with Dr. Henry’s advice. Because as I say, governments and

agencies can come up with all sorts of rules for people. If people don’t

buy into those rules, they do not change their habits. They do not

change their behaviours.

That is what we need to continue making our new normal in British

Columbia — that buy-in by the broader public, the buy-in by the business

community, a business community that is struggling and on its knees

right now and desperately needs that direction and that understanding of

what their operational new normal will be over the next six months so

that they can have some certainty and they can provide those critical

jobs.

We cannot have a society where it is strictly the government

providing for people. We need to have a strong, healthy economy that is

also providing for people as well, those that want to go out and work

and those that are able to without putting their families’ health at

risk to be able to go out.

I thank you for this time to talk about the new normal, and I look

forward to hearing what the closing comments are.

B. Ma: I really want to express my gratitude to the member opposite for

reminding us of where we are, what it took to get here and what it will

take for us to continue to move forward in a good way, because of how

easily it could have been for British Columbia to be in a very different

place today, where we aren’t in the privileged position to actually look

forward to recovery. It’s because of the efforts of British Columbians

that we have opportunities ahead of us that we need to seize.

You may have heard the term “a green and just recovery.” It’s a

recovery that does not settle for merely going back to the way things

were but that strives to build a more sustainable, just and equitable

community for everyone. That includes making sure that people have good

jobs, a living wage, affordable housing, quality and affordable child

care, accessible post-secondary education and skills training, and, of

course, high-quality health care and care for our seniors.

A future of greater economic equality. That is within our grasp,

where people are paid fairly for their labour, where quality of life is

about more than personal profit and where the economy works for

everyone, not just the very wealthy few; where workers can be protected

and guaranteed safe working environments and small businesses aren’t

left to the whims of their powerful commercial landlords. We can have a

future where housing security is more of a right than it is a privilege,

where renting doesn’t mean perpetual instability and precariousness and

where homelessness is a thing of the past.

People are ready. They are ready to invest in and have strong

public institutions that are responsive to the needs of the people.

They’re ready to work together, to contribute what they can and

compassionately care for one another according to each individual’s

needs.

We must create a diverse and sustainable economy that isn’t overly

reliant on the extraction of non-renewable resources. I envision a

province that sees its sustainably renewable forests bring high-quality

jobs and economic value far exceeding a simple measure of board feet.

People want to invest in industries that don’t contribute to climate

change, that prioritize by diversity and produce an earth that we are

proud to leave for our children and grandchildren. We need to think long

term and to make sure that we are prepared for the challenges of the

future.

We can do this. We can all do this together. We can do this all

and more. There is no better time for us to do this than now and no

better circumstances within which we can accomplish this as we move

forward together to a new normal that builds British Columbia back

better than ever before.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN

J. Sturdy: I am pleased, if somewhat concerned, to speak today about our

province’s economic challenges and potential for recovery. The

coronavirus has clearly taken an enormous human and economic toll

globally, here in Canada and, of course, in British Columbia. B.C. is

very fortunate, directed by coordinated efforts of our health officials

and the cooperation of British Columbians, to have been, to date,

successful in slowing the spread of the virus. However, while the human

toll has been moderate in comparison with other jurisdictions, the

economic consequences for the British Columbia economy have been

devastating.

[10:20 a.m.]

Last week’s budget update began to unveil the severity of the

breakdown. British Columbia is facing the biggest economic collapse in

decades, perhaps ever, with a projected $12.5 billion deficit for this

fiscal and hundreds of thousands of jobless people. British Columbia’s

unemployment rate skyrocketed from 5 percent in February to 13.4 percent

in June. That’s almost a quarter of a million fewer jobs. We went from

having Canada’s lowest unemployment rate to now being in the top four

unemployment rates of the provinces in Canada.

While B.C. has done better than other provinces in combating

COVID-19, our economic situation and recovery are more dire, and

recovery is slower than other jurisdictions. As we dig into these

numbers, we see that B.C. has fared far worse than the rest of Canada

over the last four months, with unemployment in British Columbia

increasing 50 percent more than the rest of Canada.

What’s very troubling is that women and youth have been

particularly hard hit. Youth unemployment in British Columbia is twice

as bad as the rest of Canada. While youth unemployment was up 114

percent across the country, in B.C. the rate is up a staggering 266

percent since January — 266 percent, and no relief in sight. The

recovery is also slower for women. Female unemployment is up 115 percent

across Canada, while in B.C., unemployment for women is up 152 percent.

During this difficult time, it’s imperative the provincial government

recognize the importance of investing in women and youth to give them

the supports that they need.

Many in these two demographics work in the hospitality and service

sector, which is heavily affected due to the pandemic. In order to get

people back to work, we first have to make sure there are jobs for them

to go back to. It means that we have to help businesses break down the

barriers to opening, to give employers the incentives to safely bring

back their employees.

Hospitality is on its heels. Nearly one in ten restaurants have

closed their doors permanently, and it’s expected another 18 percent

will likely close for good. Polling suggests that 75 percent of

restaurant operators are extremely worried about their current level of

debt, with half of independent restaurants not expecting to

survive.

Beyond a significant contribution to the restaurant and

hospitality sector, women also make up a large proportion of the tourism

sector, a traditionally major job creator in British Columbia but a

sector that’s expected to lose as many as 130,000 jobs as businesses are

starved into closure. The federal government has announced a $45 million

investment for tourism, but only in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. What

about British Columbia, where tourism has been a major economic driver?

Where is the provincial government’s voice in advocating for and

investing in British Columbia?

The opposition has held town halls across the province with the

tourism sector. We’ve written to the Premier, calling for support for a

reopening of the industry. That’s on top of our call for economic

actions, including tax breaks such as temporary PST relief, MRDT

backstopping and funding for businesses to secure personal protective

equipment.

These people need our help, and they need it now. This coming

September thousands of businesses are facing huge COVID-19-related,

tax-deferred bills. People need to prepare for the fall. We can’t wait,

as many businesses are already on the verge of closing.

After four months of dithering on the economy, all we’ve got so

far is a survey and the appearance of analysis paralysis. The opposition

has sent the NDP government 12 policy letters with more than 60

suggestions to get B.C.’s economy back on track, but because they are

opposition ideas, they’ve been fundamentally ignored. This is a

government that appears driven by ideology, a government that rejects

ideas on principle.

It’s no wonder our economy is in limbo. Even before the pandemic,

in February’s budget, this government slashed $4 million from the budget

of the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness. Is

this a direction…?

Deputy Speaker: Hon. Member, excuse me. This section…. Your remarks should be

non-partisan, please.

J. Sturdy: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’ve written, over the last four years…. We need to see an

articulated jobs plan.

[10:25 a.m.]

We’ve been supported by solid foundations of previous governments,

and we’ve been relying on sectors that are existing, but we need to have

a plan going forward. Government should be taking the lead to align

efforts to give businesses the confidence they need. Sadly, however, the

latest survey of businesses in British Columbia shows that few have the

confidence that they will succeed, let alone thrive.

More than 1,400 members, businesses from groups including the

British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Vancouver Board of

Trade and Business Council of British Columbia are calling for a bold

and long-term recovery plan, yet almost half of these businesses are not

confident in any restart plan. Among them, one in ten expect temporary

or permanent closure, 27 percent anticipate layoffs, and 32 percent

expect to cut workers’ hours.

Val Litwin of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce is urging policy-makers

to stay sensitive to the vulnerability of the business sector. She

said: “A bold economic recovery plan that

helps businesses compete is non-negotiable for a prosperous British

Columbia, and when small businesses thrive, so do communities and

people.”

S. Malcolmson: I agree with some of what my colleague across the way has said.

Absolutely, British Columbians are worried about their health and about

their livelihoods. The pandemic has hit them very hard. The impact of

the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy…. In my own region, Nanaimo, with a

particular focus on service and tourism, we are hurting. There is no

question.

We have a huge number of health care workers. We have a huge

number of elders and residents in long-term care, a significant

retirement community. We’ve been, everybody, feeling anxious about the

threat of COVID — its effect and its threat to health, protecting our

front-line and essential workers — but then also seeing the economic

fallout of adopting the measures that Dr. Bonnie Henry has urged us to

take.

While we are breathing a sigh of relief that so far, touch wood,

the pandemic has not hit us from a health point of view the way that we

had feared, the economic fallout is deep and extreme. But on the part of

our government, the combined action is vital. We will not have a strong

economy if we do not take strong action on health.

This was a premise of our Premier and our government’s work before

the pandemic. If you invest in people, you have a strong economy. It’s

the foundation. This is revealed even more to be so now.

For the member, who has just expressed a great deal of alarm about

B.C.’s economic position…. I mean, we all agree, all parties…. Thanks to

the two opposition parties for the very strong partnership. Partly why

we are so far ahead of the rest of the country is because all three

parties have worked together on the health side of things. But

absolutely, we’re leaning fully into economic recovery, investing in

people and in business in an unprecedented way.

The member may have missed some of the credit that’s being given

to British Columbia on the economic side from some heavy hitters. The

chief economist for Deloitte Canada said: “The B.C. economy will be the

outperformer, posting the mildest downturn and returning to pre-COVID

levels the quickest.” That’s Craig Alexander.

TD Canada, one of the largest banks in Canada, said: “B.C.’s

progress in tackling the pandemic positions it well to perform better

than the others this year. Its fiscal position remains the envy of the

other provinces.”

Then the regional president of RBC, Royal Bank of Canada, said:

“The B.C. economy is opening step by step. I think it’s prudent, it’s

responsible, and it’s working. The four phases of the province’s plan

are quite clear. They’re working.”

Our commitment as a government, our Premier’s commitment,

continues to be on a dual approach: investing in people, investing in

workers so that they can look after elders and keep us safe; but

absolutely, investing over $6 billion to date in COVID-19 supports, $5

billion in supplementary spending for our action plan for COVID

supports, $1.25 billion in tax and relief measures.

[10:30 a.m.]

Almost every day a new announcement about support that’s come

directly from the chambers of commerce, their ideas, whether it’s

relaxing the ability for restaurants to be able to serve on patios,

liquor sales, waiving taxes, full reductions in taxes as well as tax

deferrals.

I’m feeling empathetic, also, to the member. We both represent

coastal communities. We both came from local government. It must have

been very hard for him to have 7,000 sailings cut by B.C. Ferries under

his leadership. He’d been specifically assigned by the previous

government to look into, with local governments, reforms and actions and

the impact of fare hikes on ferry fares for coastal communities. We all

met together. I was in regional government at the time. He brought to

this House petitions from his own people asking not to cut service

levels and not to hike fares so high on Bowen Island.

What we’ve been able to invest in just the last three years to

build back up coastal communities, to build back up investment in

people, to build back up investment in health care and economy has put

us exactly in the position where British Columbia has the best chance to

weather the health storm with the strongest economy and our communities

fully intact and working better together than ever before.

J. Sturdy: Thank you to the member opposite for her comments. However,

relying on previous investments, relying on liquified natural gas and

large public sector spending projects, including Site C — all of which

had the foundations built under the previous government — is something

of a plan, I suppose. But the future of B.C.’s economy cannot be left

exclusively with the public purse, serendipity and the work of those

that have come before.

British Columbians deserve to be informed. They deserve to have a

plan for our future, for the short and the long term, laid out for the

citizens to see, not left to speculation and conjecture. It’s time to

look at the big picture of employment. This is a time for innovation,

for rebuilding to a new economy that, while embracing our traditional

resources, also looks beyond to expand our strengths of clean energy

combined with knowledge and our incredible human capital.

The pandemic has forced everyone in every industry, from

independent restaurants to multinational corporations, to evolve. People

are teleconferencing from home, businesses have gone online and a

delivery economy is transforming the retail status quo in a reality that

is speeding up the adoption of technologies.

B.C. has a highly skilled workforce, an abundance of natural

resources and an economy that is, fortunately, diverse. Over time, we

have developed a vibrant technology community. Why don’t we take this

time to fully cultivate this opportunity, to work with tech companies

and post-secondary leaders and supporting organizations to further our

advantage.

We’ve heard stories of companies repurposing their factories to

make hand sanitizers and face shields, and ambitious projects of

designers and engineers looking to make ventilators work for more than

one patient. The biotech sector is growing. Companies like AbCellera are

innovating and even thriving here in B.C., with a potential for global

impact.

Innovation is key to job creation, especially now. It plays an

important role in providing opportunity for future generations. Yet

these companies are growing in spite of the challenges placed on them by

an increasing regulatory and taxation burden. Employer health tax,

increased WorkSafe premiums and obligations, income tax increases,

corporate tax increases, school tax, property tax, transfer tax, etc.,

don’t encourage investment and a desire to build businesses and

employment, which sees us through a declining level of confidence in our

economy and a reduced willingness to invest in this province.

[10:35 a.m.]

We need to pull together under a vision for the future, and we

need to think about how our companies can navigate the current ecosystem

in a different way. We need to engage and assess how we can support the

new needs of British Columbians in a very different world.

YOUTH, SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND JOBS

D. Routley: It’s a real pleasure to participate in this unique session of

parliament and to have an opportunity to talk about what’s next for

British Columbia. I’m speaking to what’s next for British Columbia in

the context of youth, skills development and jobs. Most of what has been

said here today, as far as I can tell, calls on us to imagine next steps

and look forward. Definitely, our current situation is something that

preoccupies us, but I’m impressed by all of the members’ commitment to

looking forward.

I think, as we examine what we’re facing, we can see that COVID,

this pandemic, has shown us all the costs of inequality — the costs not

only to those who are vulnerable but the costs to all of us if our

society doesn’t function well or we aren’t able to be resilient enough

to adapt to the challenges we face. I would suggest that equity is the

key to resiliency for a community and for an economy. In order to build

resiliency, people need to thrive. Communities must thrive, and people

need to succeed. A key to communities thriving and people succeeding is

the education, the skills development, of youth and the jobs they are

going to acquire in the future.

Much of the question might be: are you thriving, and are you

succeeding? People’s minds are in the immediate when you ask that

question. But the real question is: will we thrive? Will our communities

thrive, will the people of B.C. be successful, and what do we mean by

that?

Young people often express the frustration that they don’t hear

their concerns addressed. Or when they do hear them addressed at

election time, they’re not materialized by policy that actually improves

and impacts their lives. The history can bear them correct. They saw

their wages cut in the past by 25 percent. They had a training wage that

was discriminatory. There were education cuts that deeply affected their

education careers and are still obstacles to their success. We saw chaos

in the apprenticeship system for a number of years. We even saw

12-year-olds legally put to work. Those are criticisms I would have of

the past.

One compliment I would give to the previous government when it

comes to youth training and employment is that they established a credit

system for high school–aged children to acquire apprenticeships. I think

that was a move that really greatly increased the link between high

schools and the skills training sector. So I will give credit

there.

Predominantly, young people have seen their concerns spoken to at

election time, but the policies work against them. Tax cuts that have

been beneficial to people at the top have been given with the remote

hope that they would somehow affect the employment of young people. But

they have not seen the kind of investments they need to feel that they

are a key and number one consideration for our approach to a resilient

future.

Skip ahead, and we see a minimum wage increased from $8 to $14.60

an hour over a three-year period and a corresponding 20 percent

reduction in small business tax to support businesses in that change.

There are no 12-year-olds working legally in British Columbia, except

with extreme exceptions. There have been massive investments in

education. There is no training wage. There is no discriminatory server

wage that exposed, predominantly, women to discriminatory and

potentially abusive workplace circumstances.

We want to see communities thrive. We want to see people succeed.

We want to see B.C. become resilient. We are answering that with real

policy and real investments in people, particularly young

people.

I have a list here, with two minutes and 40 seconds left, that is

62 items long. It is the significant investments made by this government

in young people. I’ll just read a few of the highlights.

[10:40 a.m.]

Tuition-free basic adult education. We launched a provincial

tuition waiver program for children who have been in care of the

province. This has invested over $2 million a year, with 806 former

youth in care now benefiting.

We created 2,900 additional tech spaces. We announced $450 million

in new, affordable on-campus student housing, answering one of the basic

needs and basic obstacles to access to post-secondary education for

people with any kind of income challenge.

We’ve invested in more open textbooks with a total of $3.5 million

going towards textbooks that level the playing field for students who

don’t have resources. We have created early childhood education training

spaces, 182 of them, in a number of different institutions around the

province: Vanderhoof, Vancouver, Castlegar, Victoria, Burns Lake and

Prince George.

We’ve also addressed Indigenous youth with putting Indigenous

governance on every public post-secondary institution board, answering

one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations. We

created Canada’s first Indigenous law program, also answering Truth and

Reconciliation Commission recommendations.

We eliminated interest on B.C. government student loans. We funded

over 27,000 apprenticeship and foundation skills spaces. We’ve opened

seven new trades training facilities.

These investments continue on, and we are all proud of these

investments. We know that the dividends won’t be paid immediately, but

they are on a short horizon, as we face an economy and communities that

are adapting, changing and showing the resiliency that is necessary to

provide equity. Because the key to a successful future will be equity,

equity for people in economic justice. Building equity in the people of

British Columbia is the key to a resilient future.

E. Ross: My band is a successful band, mainly because we got away from the

politics of class division. We stopped talking about big, bad government

and big, bad Caucasians and the big, bad elitists and the big, bad rich

people, and we got down to facts.

Building a future for the next generation was part of my previous

life, not just for youth, but all residents in Skeena as a whole. In

fact, my band purchased a private post-secondary facility to prepare

Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals alike for the proposed projects in

Kitimat.

Youth training is a great cause. But we had learned some expensive

and tough lessons, like how difficult it is to get youth into training

programs if they can’t see the goal. This was told to me personally by

some of our members that completed our training programs, at our

insistence, but became angry when they discovered that there was not a

potential job waiting for them.

This was after my band, even though we had no money, supplied

transportation, meals and clothes for our members to get into training.

We even tried to bring training to our reserves. That was how hard it

was for us to fill those seats, because they could not see a job. They

couldn’t see anything waiting at the end of the training, and it was

discouraging.

This is what helped shift my thinking towards developing an

economy. Because we have no economies on our northern reserves. We have

no shopping malls, no car dealerships or grocery stores. So our

alternative was to look at proposed projects, like the RT modernization

project or the LNG opportunity, which at one time was 19 projects in

B.C.

It’s the reason why my band and other First Nations reached out to

LNG and asked that our young people, local people, Aboriginals,

non-Aboriginals and women be included in the LNG initiative. As a

result, more than $2 billion in contracts were awarded to Indigenous and

local contractors by LNG Canada since 2014. Twenty-five percent of the

workforce consists of local workers, with 10 percent being Indigenous. A

$6 million community investment in a workforce development program was

established to make sure job opportunities were available once people

were out of the classroom.

The LNG Canada Connect program and Gear Up fund ensured that 64

percent of graduates were Indigenous, and 20 percent were women from

Terrace and Kitimat. The outland youth employment program, sponsored by

LNG Canada, gave local youth hands-on experience to develop lifelong

work skills.

[10:45 a.m.]

Today is a completely different story because of the opportunities

projects provide. For a band like mine with no resources, these are

opportunities that would never have come without active engagement by

elected band councils like my own.

Youth in Skeena can now see that training not only provides an

opportunity for a great future but also one that gives them the choice

to work and raise their families where they themselves were

raised.

This is why I still can’t understand when I heard and saw all of

the negative statements about LNG from political parties and advocacy

groups that worked hard to stall or to kill projects in B.C. Not once

did these groups consider what First Nations leaders were trying to

achieve for their members — youth and non-youth alike, Aboriginal and

non-Aboriginal alike — nor did they care.

In that same vein, for all their rhetoric and anti-LNG statements,

I also haven’t heard an apology, either on the lack of conversation of

what industrial development could do for all youth in our region or B.C.

We still hear the rhetoric today. We still hear the politics of class

division, trying to pit one society against another one all in the name

of political ideology.

I agree with the member on what he said. This only comes out at

election times. I agree. But even in non-election times, I even hear it

in this House, talking about the rhetoric of class division. There’s got

to be an enemy, so therefore, let’s tax the rich. They’re the

enemy.

If we’re going to build B.C. into a stronger province and a

stronger society, we’ve got to understand the difference between

building a strong province versus politics, because we’re not doing

anybody favours, especially our youth, if we stick to our political

rhetoric. There is a way to make amends, especially when we’re talking

about the youth. Basically what we’re trying to do here is build a

future.

The groups that opposed LNG and all these other projects without

even considering the youth or Aboriginals: you can make amends. You can

support the proposed projects that are on the table today. Like

Woodfibre LNG — support it publicly. Olefins out at McLeod Lake,

BitCrude out of Prince Rupert, Cedar LNG and KM LNG under Chevron —

these are all proposed projects. They’re doing a great job. They, more

than anyone, can provide a future for all the citizens of B.C. — youth

and non-youth alike.

D. Routley: Thank you to the member for his response.

I’d like to help the member. When he says that people identify the

rich as bad, I think he’s misinterpreting what people are in fact

saying. What they are in fact saying is that there’s always attention as

to who pays for what services in our society. What we are hoping is that

an equitable approach to this will yield the fruit of a revitalized and

resilient economy and society. We recognize, now more than ever, as we

experience this pandemic, that investing in youth and supporting their

successful adaptation to a changing future is really job number one for

a government.

In order for communities to thrive and people to succeed, we need

each other, and government is the biggest expression of each other. We

are making the investments that are benefiting the people who need them

most. I think that is a distinguishing characteristic between this

government and the previous — that we are, in fact, putting as job

number one, investing in the human equity of this province by creating

equitable circumstances for people to give them the best

chance.

Exactly what the member seems to be calling for, we are doing. We

know that our approach of investing in people works. Our supports and

investments position B.C. well to deal with the current crisis and

recover from it. That’s proof in the immediate term of the resiliency

acquired through social investments in housing, in education, in health.

These are the key investments in an economy that a government can make,

a government being one of the largest players in any economy. These are

not separate things.

We have to recognize our role in the economy, leverage it for the

people of B.C. and make the investments that…. In the long term, one can

only imagine the dividends that will be paid. We know that these

investments have positioned us well.

[10:50 a.m.]

We know that the diversity of our economy and the diversity of our

people and the resiliency of those people is the key to the thriving of

our communities. Our communities deserve to thrive, and our people

deserve to succeed. That builds resiliency in British Columbia. That is

supported by the investments we’ve been making. The proof is in the

pudding right now, and we will see a multiplication of the benefits of

those investments for years and years to come.

MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS

J. Thornthwaite: For most of us, the past few months have been the most challenging

and unsettling in living memory. Our world has changed in so many ways

since the beginning of the COVID global pandemic. Physical distancing

can have a significant impact on our mental health. Not only are we

facing isolation from friends and families; we are anxious about our

kids’ schooling, impacts on elderly relatives, losing our jobs and, for

those who own businesses, the possibility of closures and losing our

livelihoods in the months ahead.

I have heard from so many small business owners who are worried

about rent relief for their businesses because their landlord refuses to

even apply for the federal programs that are available. They have been

required to pay rent even when they were forced to close. They could

potentially lose their homes because of it.

However, those who already live with mental health or addiction

issues have struggled more than most as support systems or services

disappeared in the month of isolation. Calls to B.C.’s 1-800 suicide

line were up 76 percent this past April compared to last year. April

also saw a record number of calls to 310-Mental Health for support, up

nearly 40 percent compared to 2019.

A new survey by the Canadian Mental Health Association and UBC

found that COVID-19 has significantly increased the suicide risk among

Canadians with pre-existing mental health challenges. Of those surveyed,

6 percent said they experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings during

the outbreak, but that number rises to 18 percent for people with

pre-existing mental health challenges, along with 16 percent of

Indigenous people and 15 percent of those with a disability.

Tragically, since March, we have seen a steady rise in illicit

drug overdose deaths. The latest illicit drug overdose reports from the

coroner demonstrate that no region in B.C. is unaffected, as deaths in

each of the six B.C. health authorities are either at or near the

highest monthly total ever recorded. In March, there were 113 deaths;

April, 118; 170 in May; 175 in June. There was a 97 percent increase in

deaths from May 2019 to May 2020, the highest recorded in this province

ever.

However, it is notable that the total number of non-fatal

overdoses has continued to rise for years. Paramedics reported on June

26 that 131 people were revived from overdoses provincewide that day

alone. These overdoses, of course, do not show up in the coroner’s

report, because they survived. But we still must count them. We still

must care about them.

Clearly, this addiction crisis is not getting better, and it’s not

all because of COVID. Harm reduction measures like increased

availability of naloxone kits and overdose prevention sites do save

lives, but those people who were saved are not included in any stats,

and we should never forget those near misses.

This all means, of course, that we have done very little on

curbing the overdose crisis, and I believe it is disingenuous to brag

about a decrease in deaths when, in fact, more people are overdosing

more than ever. The fact is that we are experiencing an unprecedented

rise in non-fatal overdoses consistently over the years. This is because

we have failed as a province to implement a comprehensive addiction

strategy to curb addictions, to get to the root of the addiction — pain,

both physical and mental, and mental illness and trauma. Until a system

is in place so that people can easily access services, the overdoses

will continue, and the deaths will continue to rise.

Shockingly, the Premier remarked last week, in answer to a

reporter’s question as to why the province wasn’t devoting the same

enthusiasm to curb the overdose public health emergency that was

declared in 2016 as they are with the COVID public health emergency….

The overdose deaths in June, that month alone, are approximately the

same as the total COVID deaths over four months, except the overdose

deaths in June amounted to almost six deaths per day.

[10:55 a.m.]

The Premier answered: “These are two separate things. We have an

insidious virus that affects anyone at any time, and we have an opioid

crisis that involves people using drugs. Those are choices initially,

and then they become dependencies.”

Although the Premier has since admitted he mischaracterized

addiction and regretted he said it, it is one of the more upsetting

comments I’ve heard since beginning my role as critic for Mental Health

and Addictions. When I asked the Minister of Mental Health and

Addictions, she did not acknowledge his remarks. At least the Premier

reflected and was circumspect in his remarks. Why didn’t the minister do

the same?

Did the construction worker who was injured on the job, who was

prescribed opioids for pain, then had his prescription cut off, had to

access the illicit market to ease his pain and then overdosed, have a

choice? No. People do not wake up day after day and say: “Hey, I want to

be addicted. I want to be a slave to my addiction. I want to think and

breathe and seek out my addiction every minute of my day.” Is that a

choice? I don’t think so.

Since the crisis was first declared, there have been over 5,000

deaths. Not enough is being done, and we need to do more to treat those

with mental illness and provide help to those suffering from addictions,

just like we would for any other chronic illness. As the critic for

Mental Health and Addictions, I’ve long advocated for the need for a

full spectrum of care, a mental health system that would serve youth and

adults equally, that would focus on early intervention and would help

those dealing with addiction into treatment and then into

recovery.

Every person who wants to access treatment and recovery should

have the opportunity, but so many are limited because of the cost.

Currently you have to be either very rich or very poor before you can

access a publicly funded bed. The sad

part is that there are recovery

beds available right now. Last week my office did random calls to nine

residential addiction facilities, and there were 125 beds sitting empty

that day. This is unacceptable.

The announcement on July 10 of funding for an additional 50 to 70

beds is therefore inadequate. How many people died of an overdose in

June? One hundred and seventy-five.

Not only are families struggling with the lack of resources, but

so too are municipalities. I sympathize with the mayors, the residents

and the businesses who have raised concerns over compassion fatigue in

their communities throughout British Columbia.

The overdose crisis has not just impacted people in major cities

but all around the province, saddling municipalities with rising costs

to clean up discarded needles in school parks, human waste, break-ins,

home invasion, business vandalism, thefts, assault and sexual violence.

We’ve heard from people in Maple Ridge, Nanaimo and, most recently,

Yaletown, downtown Victoria and Parksville that what is currently

happening in their communities is not working. Warehousing people with

addictions without the proper clinical wraparound supports isn’t a

solution, and it’s not safe or fair to anyone impacted by these

decisions.

R. Singh: It’s my pleasure to speak on this issue, which is very, very close

to my heart. Having worked in the addictions field for a number of

years, I’ve had firsthand experience of how this system works,

especially in British Columbia. I can say that one thing I agree on with

the member for North Vancouver–Seymour is that COVID-19 has affected our

lives, impacted our lives, in different ways. Mental health is one area

where we see the impact — a really huge impact.

What I can say from my experience is that in the last few years

since we formed the government, we are seeing a continuum of care for

addictions. It’s prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery.

While I was working as an alcohol and drug counsellor, a number of times

I would hear from the clients and from the family members that there

were not enough resources. So it is really good to see, in the last few

years, those important investments that have been made for treatment,

for prevention and also for recovery.

[11:00 a.m.]

As the member has already mentioned, there has been an increase in

beds. There’s funding for 50 to 70 new treatment and recovery beds.

There’s also going to be a launch of seven new and expanded substance

use teams that will help people stay connected to treatment. There are

more beds coming this summer, a new youth treatment centre in Chilliwack

and a new mental health and substance use centre at Royal Columbian.

Investment is also happening in two new urban and six new rural healing

and wellness centres.

There’s an expansion in access to low- or no-cost mental health

and addictions counselling at 29 organizations. It is very important

that it is in all the different parts of B.C. Also, keeping COVID in

mind, where a lot of things are happening virtually, there are virtual

supports. A total of 20 organizations are providing those supports.

Recently the ministry announced eight new locations for Foundry centres,

which brings the total up to 90. Also, the introduction of safe

prescription medication alternatives to the poisoned drug

supply.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

Here I would really like to talk about the overdose crisis that

our province is dealing with. We know that for a number of years, we

have dealt with it. I can say that it’s very unfortunate what’s happened

with the overdose crisis. One thing I really want to bring up is that

deaths were down 36 percent before COVID-19 caused a massive spike in

drug toxicity across Canada. That was the first time that deaths were

down since 2012 and since the opioid crisis started.

All these efforts that the government is putting in…. I can say

that the old government failed to protect the most vulnerable people in

recovery rooms and to get them good care.

More tough new regulations to improve care and protect people on

their recovery journey. For the first time ever, a per-diem boost in ten

years. This was what we were hearing in my community from the recovery

homes — that there was no increase in per diems.

Also, I’m really glad, talking about Surrey…. I’m very proud that

we opened B.C.’s first mental health and substance use urgent response

centre in Surrey, and also, we expanded the hours and services at

Surrey’s Roshni Clinic to cut wait times and get up to 100 more people

culturally safe.

We are providing housing and mental health and addictions care for

over 2,000 more people who had been experiencing homelessness, and we

are working to address poverty and supporting youth in care.

Now we have rapid access to addictions care clinics in all health

regions. We are integrating mental health supports in schools. We are

piloting integrated child and youth mental health clinics in five school

districts across B.C., the launch of a new mental health help line for

post-secondary students throughout….

Deputy Speaker: Thank you, Member.

R. Singh: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

J. Thornthwaite: The Alberta government was elected just over a year ago, in April

of 2019. They have made the following funding commitments: $100 million

increase for mental health and addictions, $40 million to combat the

opioid crisis, $25 million to funding mental health and addictions

infrastructure, an additional $53 million for COVID-related mental

health and addictions recovery.

They committed to fully fund or create 4,000 addiction recovery

treatment spaces and expect to reach that goal very soon. They are also

piloting recovery coaches in emergency rooms and just last week

announced $25 million for the infrastructure to build five therapeutic

communities, along with operating funding. This is all in a province

with half the deaths of British Columbia.

In contrast, this government announced, on July 10, $13.5 million

over three years for between 50 to 70 publicly funded treatment beds. I

note that is about a third of the people who died from an overdose last

month. We know that the current 30 PHSA specialized addiction treatment

beds, which cost about $350 a day, would be close to about $128,000 a

year. At 70 beds a year over three years, that would equal $27 million,

which is double what the minister has announced. So the money the

ministry and the government has committed is actually half of what is

needed today.

[11:05 a.m.]

We need a full spectrum of care. Until British Columbians get to

the point of having programs available that are easily accessible and

affordable provincewide and that offer a complete continuum of care from

detox to treatment to recovery…. Until we actually address the root of

the addiction, we are never going to be able to turn the tide on this

public health emergency.

I want to leave this House, Mr. Speaker, with an image in your

mind. Last September I attended the Recovery Day festival in the

minister’s own riding of New Westminster. Scattered around the crowd

were volunteers and organizers, all wearing T-shirts with the word

“evidence” on them. What was the evidence? Them. They are living,

breathing proof that recovery is possible.

We just need the political will in this province to make it

happen.

Hon. H. Bains: I ask that the House now consider proceeding with Motion 9,

standing in the name of the member for Burnaby North.

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

proceed with Motion 9 without disturbing the priorities of the motions

preceding it on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 9 — HEALTH AND

ECONOMIC

RECOVERY

J. Routledge: I rise to speak to my motion.

[Be it resolved that this House agree that the health of British

Columbians is paramount during this pandemic and part of our economic

recovery and resiliency.]

One would be forgiven for thinking that such a motion states the

obvious, but it was in this very chamber that the Leader of the

Opposition rose to state: “We hear the Premier talking consistently

about public health measures, which actually don’t have anything to do

with economic recovery.” Hard to believe, but that’s what he

said.

This morning we on this side of the House will endeavour to

explain to him and his colleagues how public health and economic

recovery are inextricably linked.

Let me start by recalling the exchange that took place Monday,

June 22, during question period. The Premier stated:

“In order to build confidence for consumers to go back into retail,

into hospitality and other sectors that require that type of activity,

we’re going to have to do a couple of things. We’re going to have to

make sure that the workplace is safe. WorkSafeBC has been working with

the public health officers to make sure that we put in place guidelines

so that customers can be comfortable when they go into an establishment

that they’re going to be safe and so that the workers in there are safe

as well.”

The Leader of the Opposition dismissed that as having

nothing to do with economic recovery.

Now, that’s a curious thing to hear from the leader of the

self-styled free enterprise party. Isn’t his the party that believes

supply and demand should drive the economy? Yet he doesn’t seem to be

making the connection that without consumer confidence, there is no

demand, and right now consumer confidence is all about feeling

safe.

Every day British Columbians see the evidence on their screens of

what can happen when consuming is ranked to be more important than

health. In May, American states were already getting ready to reopen

their economies. Their president was pressuring them to move quickly. He

told the American people: “You have to get back to work.” By early June,

he was praising Florida specifically. He said: “They are doing

tremendous business, and this is what the numbers are all

about.”

By July, the numbers were about something else. Last Thursday the

U.S. reported a record number of new cases in one day, and so did

Florida. The number of hospitalizations are up steeply, and the COVID-19

death rate is starting to climb again.

British Columbians can’t help but be worried by the news south of

the border. Many of us continue to think twice about going out for a

meal, booking a holiday, meeting friends in a bar, getting a pedicure or

all the other purchases we would be making this summer. Not a day goes

by when that agony of indecision doesn’t come up in idle

conversation.

[11:10 a.m.]

Here’s another topic that comes up every day: how thank­ful

we are to be living in British Columbia. Here we flattened the curve.

How? Because we are fortunate enough to have an independent public

health officer who has extensive experience and expertise in pandemics —

Dr. Henry has taken a thoughtful, evidence-based approach, and British

Columbians trust her and are willing to follow her guidelines and orders

— and because our government has chosen not to compete with her for

attention, has chosen not to politicize a global health

crisis.

We know that it’s not our job to make medical decisions but to

make decisions about the services and supports people need in order to

keep each other safe.

We have reason to expect that the members on the other side are

going to try to make this debate about taxes. Cutting taxes seems to be

their knee-jerk answer to every­thing. Let’s not forget it was

their tax cuts that concentrated our shared wealth in the hands of the

few, that drained the public coffers, which led to regulatory bodies

like employment standards branch being defunded and public services like

long-term-care facilities being privatized.

There is a direct line between the decisions made by the previous

government and some of the COVID-19 outbreaks that ended up shutting

down our economy. Right now, more than ever, British Columbians need to

trust that both their health and their livelihoods are in good hands,

and that starts by understanding the connection between the

two.

With that, I will take my seat and turn the floor over to others

to elaborate further.

N. Letnick: I rise in the House today to speak on the motion: “Be it resolved

that this House agree that the health of British Columbians is paramount

during this pandemic and part of our economic recovery and

resiliency.”

First and foremost, I think it is important to extend our deepest

thanks to our regional health authorities as well as all medical staff

and front-line workers whose tireless work and sacrifice keep our

communities as safe as possible in the face of the greatest challenge

ever to our health care system. Of course, we cannot go without

recognizing the ongoing efforts of our provincial health officer, Dr.

Bonnie Henry, and her team, for being at the helm to provide the most

current advice and information to all British Columbians.

At the end of the day, the success of our province will always be

attributed to the actions of each and every one of us. For the most

part, British Columbians have excelled in their duty to adhere to

provincial guidelines, which has not come without great sacrifice by

many. We have been separated from friends, families and loved ones. For

many, this pandemic has cost us our jobs, closed the doors of

businesses, and sadly, it has taken many lives.

Unfortunately, my home of Kelowna has made recent headlines and

highlighted the tragic outcome when a few selected individuals ignore

these guidelines and sacrifices of others. The spike in cases due to the

lapse in judgment over a handful of social gatherings has also shown

that our fight against COVID-19 is far from over.

As we speak, several countries are set to tighten measures aimed

at controlling the virus, including Hong Kong, the U.K. and South

Africa. Worldwide a weekend ago saw the most cases in a single day, at

almost a quarter million. Indeed, given what we’re seeing, especially

south of the border, and in light of our experience during the last

pandemic, the great pandemic, now is not the time to let our guard

down.

In 1918, the Spanish flu spread across the globe in three waves:

first in the spring, next in the fall and third in the winter. The first

phase was responsible for a few deaths, but the virus mutated during the

summer and killed 100 million people in the fall during phase 2, when it

tended to kill young, otherwise healthy adults.

As a virus sweeps around the world, it often attacks in waves,

sometimes circling the globe several times for years before it

outcompetes other strains to become the dominant virus. Pandemics end

when the human population gains immunity to the new strain.

following message:

“Are you thinking about partying this summer? I’m asking you to act

responsibly. Your actions may not directly impact you, but it may stop

the dad who wants to visit his baby in hospital, born prematurely;

family who wants to visit their mother after major surgery; a small

business that is struggling to stay afloat, hoping the authorities won’t

shut them down again, because if they do, they’ll lose their home; and

the employees who will lose their work if the businesses shut

down.

“So let’s enjoy our summer, but let’s do it responsibly by following

the proper safety protocols and not spread COVID-19. You already know

what they are. There’s no ticket, no cop, no parent looking over your

shoulder. Your character will be determined by your actions when no one

is watching. So be of good character and do what’s right to protect

yourself and especially those you will never know.

“Think clearly and act accordingly.”

[11:15 a.m.]

We are now facing both a health crisis and an economic crisis in

this province which we have never seen before. British Columbians are

turning to this government for the appropriate guidelines and supports

to assist them in both their health and economic recovery. Government

has a duty to provide both of these, just as much as British Columbians

have a duty to abide by our COVID measures.

Other provinces have announced economic recovery plans, started

enacting those plans and have begun seeing results. In B.C., mostly what

we’ve seen are public opinion surveys and vague announcements that “help

is on the way.” Teachers and parents are looking to this government for

a safe and flexible back-to-school plan like we’ve seen in other

provinces months ago. Our tourism industry, a staple of our economy and

one of the hardest hit sectors, has seen hundreds of thousands of jobs

lost and is still waiting on a viable recovery plan from this

government.

British Columbians are still anxious to see how this government

intends to spend the $1.5 billion economic recovery fund announced

months ago. The longer this government refuses to act, the more

uncertainty and risk British Columbians are left with. Just as the

actions of every British Columbian are responsible for the health of our

province, they will be responsible for its economic recovery.

It is now a duty of this Legislature to provide them with these

guidelines and supports so that we can give our province every

opportunity to keep businesses open and return people to the workforce

without infringing on the health and safety of British

Columbians.

J. Brar: I’m really pleased to support the motion introduced by the hon.

member for Burnaby North, asking the members of this House to agree that

the health of British Columbians is paramount during this pandemic and

part of our economic recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us. We know many British

Columbians are worried about their health and about their livelihoods.

People continue to struggle and are uncertain about their future. The

good news in B.C. is that we have made good progress flattening the

curve because of our commitment to supporting each other and coming

together as a community to respond. We understand that there would be no

discussion today in this House about economic recovery without

flattening the curve, and that’s very important to

understand.

Therefore, flattening the curve and public health are the main

pillars of our economic recovery plan, and the B.C. Liberals have to

understand that. But it’s really, really shocking to hear the B.C.

Liberals incorrectly claiming that public health measures taken by this

government don’t have anything to do with economic recovery. “We hear

the Premier talking consistently about public health measures, which

actually don’t have anything to do with economic recovery,” said by the

Leader of the Official Opposition on June 22 during question

period.

This is shocking, unbelievable and full of dirty politics. This is

not the time to play politics with the people of British

Columbia.

People remember when the B.C. Liberals were there in power. They

created an economy on the backs of regular people, and that economy only

worked for their donors and wealthy families. Clearly the economy,

during those 16 years, was not working for everyone, and that was a big

problem. Now is the time to invest in people, not cut services like the

B.C. Liberals did for 16 years, and build an economy that works for

everyone — all British Columbians.

We have the best economic recovery plan moving forward. Our safe

restart plan is working to keep British Columbians healthy and, at the

same time, build an economic recovery that puts people first.

I would like to underline that flattening the curve and public

health remain the main pillars of our economic recovery plan because we

understand that there would be no discussion today in this House about

economic recovery without flattening the curve. Our government acted

very quickly to protect seniors and people at risk to ensure our health

care system would respond to COVID-19.

[11:20 a.m.]

Secondly, we successfully managed to keep many sectors of our

economy open during COVID-19, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs for

the people of British Columbia. For example, unlike in some other

provinces, B.C. was able to keep the construction industry

open.

Thirdly, B.C. has made extraordinary investments in people and

business during this difficult time, and that approach, the $5 billion

in supplemental spending, will provide immediate relief to people and

businesses such as the workers benefit, rental supplement, income and

disability assistance programs, and the economic recovery

funding.

Our safe restart plan is working to keep British Columbians

healthy and build an economy that puts people first. We are supporting

Innovate B.C. and developing industry and jobs in all parts of the

province that anticipate growing global demand for new clean products

and services.

I would like to conclude by saying that it is completely unwise

and wrong for B.C. Liberals to claim that flattening the curve has

nothing to do with our economic recovery. The people of British Columbia

believe that flattening the curve and public health are the main pillars

of our economic recovery, and that’s the foundation. That’s the

springboard from where we can launch the economic recovery as fast as we

can.

Therefore, I support this motion and thank the member for Burnaby

North for introducing this motion in this House.

J. Yap: Let me be clear from the outset that I would like to recognize the

collaborative work under the leadership of provincial health officer Dr.

Henry and her team, which to date, has kept our COVID infection curve

flat and under control here in B.C. compared to other jurisdictions. Her

leadership has been exceptional, balancing the challenges of conveying

necessary and, at times, difficult information to the general

public.

From the start, our caucus has also rallied behind her direction

100 percent, with members like my colleague from Kelowna–Lake Country

actively taking

part in discussions about the province’s public health

response. We have seen numbers remain relatively low even as we have

begun to reopen parts of the province, which is great, but it is also

imperative that those numbers stay low if we are going to effectively

restart the economy. That does not take away from the reality, however,

that the pandemic has had unprecedented impacts beyond the public health

response and the lives we have unfortunately lost as a

result.

Given that, and to answer the point put forward by the motion,

yes, the health of British Columbians is critical to our success. Nobody

is arguing that fact. But that does not diminish the rampant job losses,

businesses thrust into bankruptcy and the spectre of an unknown future

hanging over every sector. Now, as things are opening up in phase 3,

there need to be supports in place for business to recover, regain their

footing and be able to thrive, and it starts with a plan.

What was clearly displayed last week during the prov­ince’s

budget update is that the NDP has no apparent plan to support

businesses. Our caucus has put forward bold ideas for the economic

recovery that have been supported by private sector industries. Ideas

such as tax holidays on EHT and PST, a short-term rental relief program

for small business and a concerted effort to provide our struggling

tourism industry with the means to stay afloat are needed, as suggested

by the 13 policy letters with over 60 suggestions and ideas that were

sent to the Premier and cabinet by our members and our

leader.

We have also continuously asked for action on these issues in this

House over the past few weeks and have been met with a concerted level

of resistance from the government, which seems to be so set in their

ways that they simply brush aside ideas that will truly help the people

of this province, simply out of ideology and spite. I find that

shameful. My worry now is that this government will continue forward

with its pre-pandemic mandate, not taking into account, given the

reality of the current provincial economy, that that is simply

unsustainable.

[11:25 a.m.]

A plan is needed to support all industries and make sure that our

province doesn’t fall into a domino effect of further job losses and

business closures. We need to ensure that the support is there for

British Columbians as they need it. This should have already been sorted

out and ready to implement, yet here we are, halfway through the summer,

with a government that does not care to provide the province with an

idea of where we will all be in the fall.

I hope everyone understands what I mean when I say that the health

of a recovery plan is just as paramount to this province as the health

of its residents.

R. Leonard: I speak in support of the motion that this House recognizes that

the health of British Columbians is paramount during this pandemic and

that our health is part of our economic recovery and

resiliency.

Our government invests in people. Without people, there is no

economy. This COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this clearly. Investing

in people’s health and safety is investing in economic

recovery.

The novel coronavirus landed in our midst earlier this year, and

the people of B.C. were, naturally, frightened of this infectious,

deadly and unknown enemy. They were also worried about the economic

impact — what would happen to their jobs, their businesses.

People in some other jurisdictions are living with distinctly

partisan leadership and an equally distinct lack of clear,

evidence-based leadership, and they are experiencing daily

record-breaking surges of COVID-19. Instead of reopening, they are

retreating to shutdown, and they’re terrified.

In comparison, we in B.C. have been more than fortunate to have

the soothing expertise of our provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie

Henry. She has inspired trust and confidence in her health and safety

measures as she continues to guide us through a pandemic the likes of

which no one alive has ever experienced.

Our Premier and all his cabinet have been quick to respond to the

guidance of Dr. Henry and her incredible team to keep people safe, to

safeguard our health care system and to support people, organizations

and businesses through the challenges and uncertainties of the COVID-19

pandemic.

They have parked partisanship, and they opened the door to work

across party lines to instil the words for us to live by — that we are

all in this together. Their leadership modelled the behaviour we all

needed to embrace right from the start, and it is the behaviour we need

to continue to embrace as this pandemic perseveres with no treatment or

resting.

I’ve witnessed how the people of Courtenay-Comox cooperated, and

it’s been true across the province. Life as we knew it came to a

grinding halt. Heroically, people closed the doors to their shops, and

families stayed close to the hearth, often juggling child care, their

kids’ education and working from home, if they kept their jobs at all.

People started to practise the safety measures of safe distancing,

washing their hands. They accepted that we couldn’t gather together.

Today we all still need to practise being heroes.

As of Friday, sadly, 189 souls exposed to COVID-19 are no longer

with us. But people’s sacrifices haven’t all been in vain. We’ve been

successful in flattening the curve, keeping the number of confirmed

cases per million below the rest of Canada and most other countries, and

we have been slowly and cautiously opening the province to more

activity. Our public health measures have kept people safe and inspired

confidence to innovate, to open the doors of business, to work beyond

the confines of our homes, to explore our province and support our B.C.

businesses and services.

The Leader of the Opposition made the statement a month ago, in

this House, that the public health measures “actually don’t have

anything to do with economic recovery.” Well, those words reveal a lack

of regard for the people who fuel this economy, and it confirms that it

continues with the previous government’s priority to build an economy

that benefits the few at the top, leaving the rest of the people in the

dust.

[11:30 a.m.]

I am impressed by the vast array of groundbreaking responses our

government has been taking to support people through this difficult

health emergency. The monumental transformation of our long-term-care

system to protect the health of workers and seniors is a first in

Canada, and it’s only one of many firsts. British Columbians have been

reassured that their government is there for them, and they have felt

supported to do their best in following the health and safety directions

of our provincial health officer.

It may be the emergency worker benefit or rent relief, or it may

be the cut to commercial property taxes or initiatives to provide

desperately-needed cash flow to the [audio interrupted]. We are working

with the people of B.C. to weather the storm and restart the economy in

this time of COVID. Success starts with confidence, and we’ve built a

solid foundation.

We can work to build B.C. back stronger because we’ve put the

health and safety of British Columbians first.

T. Redies: The health of British Columbians should be paramount, a sentiment

that is shared by all members of the House without question. I’m

thankful to Dr. Bonnie Henry and all the front-line essential workers

who kept British Columbians safe over the last five months.

The health of British Columbians is also inextricably linked to

economic recovery, because we know in poor economic times, people suffer

from stress and other illnesses. Just relying on making sure people are

safe is not going to be enough to generate economic recovery, although I

agree it is a vital first step. Billions of dollars of private sector

capital has been wiped out by this virus. It’s not going to be there to

rehire people or rebuild inventories or rebuild businesses. I worry that

the ongoing, severe challenges being faced in most industries will

continue to negatively affect both the economic and medical health of

our people.

That’s why government needs the dynamic, bold, and aggressive plan

to get the economy back on its feet, but more importantly, to instill

confidence in the business sector so they can invest and create jobs.

But there is no plan in sight with this government. B.C.’s

competitiveness was already tanking before COVID-19 by the decisions and

lack of economic vision of this government. Businesses have had to bear

the brunt of the NDP’s 23 new and increased taxes, made worse now

because of the serious reduction in available private capital for

reinvestment.

This is not just an issue of attracting investment from other

jurisdictions, but simply keeping businesses afloat. What’s going to

happen when the federal CERB and other supports run out? How and where

is this government going to step up to avert further economic hardship?

Currently, there is no answer. Economic stimulus spending should help

individuals and businesses get back on their feet, but we know that it’s

not sustainable over the longer term, given the already staggering

deficits we are seeing at the federal and provincial levels.

A vibrant private sector is ultimately the sustainable engine that

creates good-paying, sustainable jobs for British Columbians. Getting to

work on job creation needs to be an immediate priority. We currently

have the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country, and women and

youth have been particularly hard hit. Youth unemployment in B.C. is up

266 percent since January, but only up 114 percent in the rest of

Canada. That means B.C. has done more than twice as badly as the rest of

Canada in retaining jobs for young people. We know adult female

unemployment has worsened by 37 percent more in B.C. since January than

the rest of Canada.

If combatting COVID-19 for the NDP is only about growing the

public sector permanently, then we have a serious problem on our hands.

If that’s the NDP government’s plans, in the absence of any plan to

address business competitiveness and taxation in this province, well

then, I’m deeply worried for both the economy and the health of British

Columbians going forward in the coming months.

N. Simons: It gives me pleasure to add my voice to the motion put forward

this morning: “Be it resolved that this House agree that the health of

British Columbians is paramount during this pandemic and part of our

economic recovery and resiliency.”

I find it interesting, and perhaps predictable, that the

opposition will find its usual tropes and bring them out and repeat

them. Kind of shocking in a way, at times, when a government that’s

being praised for its handling of a crisis is suddenly spiteful and

suddenly basing their decisions purely on ideology. The member for

Richmond-Steveston was over the top.

[11:35 a.m.]

We have a government and a public health system that are working

together. Public servants, the ministry workers, are all actively

working on making sure that our economy recovers as we as a society

protect ourselves.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ve done well in terms of

flattening the curve. I’m sure that we’re going to have to continue and

redouble our efforts. We don’t know what next month will bring in terms

of public health. I think that government has shown itself to be

adaptable on its feet to the dynamically changing needs of our

communities.

To suggest that, as the opposition does…. Suddenly, they’re all

interested in what they’re calling a plan. Well, we were asking for a

plan to reduce poverty for — I don’t know — 12 years that I sat in

opposition. “We don’t need a plan. We don’t need a plan.” Well, we’re

dealing with a dynamic situation now that is changing every day. We need

to be able to adapt. We’re already doing things to ensure that people,

who are at the core of every small business, who are at the core of

every industry, who are at the core of our tourism sector and our

transportation sector…. If it were not for government ensuring that

people are looked after, we wouldn’t be talking about recovery

yet.

We’ve done amazing things, I think, in the Ministry of Agriculture

to ensure that our fruit-growing industry is sustained with careful

public health measures to ensure that the workers required are

adequately cared for and their health is being monitored. That’s part of

our government’s perspective on ensuring that people are looked after,

and consequently that the businesses that they’re associated with are

being looked after as well.

I think maybe the Leader of the Opposition misspoke or said

something he didn’t quite mean. Everybody so far, that I’ve heard,

agrees that public health, ensuring that the public is protected, is the

best way to ensure that we recover strongly, that we recover with the

ability to maintain that recovery. Without the decisions and the choices

that we’ve made as a government — and I think, in most cases, with

agreement from members of the opposition — to support small businesses

and to support individuals and families as we all deal with this

situation….

Just to talk about, for example…. The member for Kelowna–Lake

Country, I think it was, said people are anxious to have a plan. Well,

we’re all anxious, and part of addressing that anxiety is being a

participant in making that plan. The government was clear that $1.5

billion would be allocated to address certain specific needs of

communities, and that’s why our government continues to accept input

from all the public in order to make sure that we have a good plan as we

continue to deal with the changing realities of the pandemic.

T. Shypitka: On behalf of my constituents of the Kootenay East, I would like to

add the perspective of my region to the following motion, that

be it

resolved that this House agree that the health of British Columbians is

paramount during this pandemic and part of our economic recovery and

resiliency.

To date, the pandemic has unfortunately claimed the lives of 189

British Columbians and thousands more have been affected. To the friends

and family of those we have lost, I offer my sincerest condolences.

Contrary to what the member for Powell River–Sunshine Coast just said on

government being praised for the recovery effort, I would like to

respond by saying: if not for the work of Dr. Bonnie Henry and her team

at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, many more would have lost their

lives or been exposed to the virus.

[11:40 a.m.]

There’s also one other unsung hero in this success of our personal

health during this pandemic, and that is our business community, and in

particular, our small businesses that have had to shut down from the

start of the outbreak. In short, the economical sacrifices that small

business owners have had to endure from the onset of this pandemic

ensured that all of us in B.C. could enjoy the flattening of the curve

to the point where B.C. is one of the most successful jurisdictions on

the planet.

The tourism sector is the hardest hit, and even though British

Columbians are doing their part, with many now exploring this beautiful

province exclusively, we can’t replace the number of visitors we are

normally used to. That’s what I would like to focus on — economic

recovery for small business.

Most of our provincial economy is comprised of small and

medium-sized businesses. Last week the Minister of Finance made a little

history in our province and probably not for something she would like to

be remembered for. The current government delivered the largest budget

deficit in provincial history, estimated to be $12.5 billion at present.

It is likely to balloon even more.

This is not unlike what many governments are experiencing around

the world, but it should be recognized that we are not talking about

$12.5 billion in additional spending. We are talking about a $6.3

billion drop in government revenues. That is a substantial amount of

money.

The Finance Minister also projects that British Columbians will

lose a quarter-million jobs. That’s about 13.4 percent of the B.C.

workforce. The provincial economy will shrink by 7 percent. Retail sales

will drop 16 percent. Housing starts will drop as much as 40 percent,

and salary and wages will be reduced by a collective $1

billion.

Whatever was contained in Budget 2020 last February is now

officially null and void. That’s why MLAs on this side of the House are

asking questions and providing the government with constructive policy

initiatives that will contribute to economic recovery. Yet, after four

months, we still don’t have an economic recovery plan.

In my region, the great Elk Valley, we are known as a holiday

destination. Four seasons of skiing, golfing, camping, hiking, fishing

and boating, and the list is endless. However, there is no more

important season than what is happening right now — the high summer

season. Business owners right now will know in the next month or two

whether they have a business or they don’t.

Instead of taking direct and bold action on a business plan, the

government has launched a questionnaire for the public to fill out.

That’s not good enough. This is happening right now. This is not a dress

rehearsal. It is do or die for many small business owners.

As the Leader of the Opposition has repeatedly suggested, small

business cannot afford to take a major hit in COVID tax arrears come

this September. Most small businesses are running on fumes and have few

resources to meet obligations to pay back taxes such as the employer

health tax, provincial sales tax, carbon tax and a host of other taxes

yet somehow hire back employees at the same time.

Our small business and medium-sized business sectors need help,

and they need help now. We are calling for temporary tax relief — not

tax deferral — to give small business the time it needs to get back on

its feet.

Winston Churchill once said: “Healthy citizens are the greatest

asset a country can have.” However, Henry Ford once stated: “Economy has

frequently nothing whatever to do with the amount of money being spent,

but with the wisdom used in spending it.”

British Columbians need a bold economic recovery plan now or those

employees living of government.

B. D’Eith: Today, I rise in support of the member for Burnaby North’s

resolution. It’s critically important that we understand how our health

underpins our economy. Of course, we are living in uncertain times, and

there are two things at the top of the mind of the public and for this

government: the health and livelihoods of British Columbians.

Now, the Leader of the Opposition claimed in question period that

public health measures “actually don’t have anything to do with economic

recovery.” That’s patently absurd. COVID has actually taught us that the

health of the economy depends on the health of our people. The leader

opposite that day also described the reopening as a “public health

declaration unrelated to economic response.”

[11:45 a.m.]

What the opposition’s leader’s logic fails to consider is that

public anxiety over the pandemic would’ve left businesses without

customers even longer if we hadn’t acted. We only have to look south of

the border to see what happens to businesses when public health is

ignored.

We can’t thank Dr. Henry, the Minister of Health and our public

health teams enough. They managed this pandemic incredibly well.

Together with the British Columbia public, we flattened the curve, and

British Columbians are now — because of that — confident that a safe

reopening is possible.

Where it mattered, this government, like the public, took drastic

action at great personal and financial cost, for the public good. Entire

sectors closed overnight. It was devastating, but people knew it was the

right thing to do.

Likewise, our government did not flinch to provide drastic

economic supports to British Columbians, throughout the pandemic,

through the B.C. COVID-19 action plan. Through this plan, we’ve provided

over $5 billion in supports, and we’ve earmarked another $1.5 billion

for announcements this fall.

That’s 600,000 British Columbians who’ve received a one-time,

tax-free, $1,000 B.C. emergency benefit for workers. That’s over 200,000

people who have benefited from the income and disability and assistance

crisis supplements, and more than 81,000 applications have been approved

for the temporary rental relief supplement to date.

We moved to enhance the federal commercial rent relief program,

which provides 75 percent reduction in rent for hard hit businesses by

preventing evictions of commercial tenants that would qualify — an

important thing for the province to do. More than 80 percent of B.C.

families received an enhanced climate action tax credit in July, helping

families with an additional $450, doubling the annual amount.

I could go on and on. Well, I will go on. We brought a

job-protected leave for people unable to work, for COVID-19, and we got

the federal government to commit to a two-week paid sick leave, because

we do not need to have people coming to work sick. We need them to stay

at home if they’re sick.

What exactly would the opposition have us do? Perhaps they are

suggesting that it’s a time for austerity, which they were so famous for

while they were in government.

Well, I think not. In fact, today the CBC reported a poll that

found that a majority of British Columbians approve of the province’s

COVID-19 response but also support a transition towards a more equitable

and sustainable post-pandemic economy. That’s why taking a moment to

consult with British Columbians is so important in how to spend this

recovery money.

Now, what about leadership? At the beginning of the pandemic in

April, the leader went on a podcast, This Is Vancolour , and

repeatedly criticized the Premier for not putting his face in front of

the media — presumably something that the Leader of the Opposition would

have done.

Well, in fact, the Premier put science up front. Dr. Bonnie Henry

and the Minister of Health led the media announcements. In B.C., we put

politics and egos aside, and we turned the floor over to our medical

experts. That freed up time for the Premier to focus on important

national and international issues with the federal government, such as

closing the borders to non-essential traffic and ensuring that the

federal programs worked for everyone in British Columbia.

Senior economic analysts from Deloitte and TD conclude that B.C.

continues to be the economic envy of the country, mainly due to our

relatively strong position in terms of the pandemic, our public health.

Again, the hon. Leader of the Opposition maintained that reopening

measures were exclusively the domain of public health and “had

absolutely nothing to do with economic performance.”

Now, top economists get what the Leader of the Opposition clearly

doesn’t. The health of our economy completely depends on the confidence

of our consumers and our public and on the health and safety of our

workers. That’s why I wholeheartedly support this motion, and I

encourage the opposition to do the same.

S. Cadieux: I was happy to have the opportunity to speak to this motion today,

because I believe it’s one that no member of the House would have

reservations about supporting. The health of British Columbians is of

course a major concern to all of us, and one which we take very

seriously.

While I respect the member for Burnaby North, I am troubled that

she chose to insinuate that the previous government was somehow to blame

for some of the COVID challenges that we’ve had in British Columbia.

It’s distasteful, and it’s desperate.

I’ll inform the member that I lost a family member, an extended

family member, to COVID-19 in another country, in long-term

care.

[11:50 a.m.]

The deaths here have been tragic. Families are hurting. Families

are still hurting because they cannot visit their family in long-term

care and provide them with the comfort and support that they normally

do.

Member, we are all in this together. For the government members to

be placing blame on a previous government that hasn’t been in power for

more than three years and putting so much emphasis on a leader of an

opposition party, during a crisis that they and their government need to

manage, is pathetic and offensive. Let’s remember, Members, that all of

us fully supported the efforts of Dr. Henry and the health team

throughout this pandemic and continue to. It wasn’t the time for

disagreement. It was a time for elected officials to come together and

demonstrate the importance of following Dr. Henry’s advice.

In-person meetings were replaced by Zoom calls, dinners with

friends replaced by FaceTime and commutes to work by strolls around

neighbourhoods. By following guidelines, staying home and socially

distancing, the people of B.C. helped flatten the curve and bring us to

the place where we’re able to cautiously reopen the economy

together.

However, as the very wording of this motion suggests, health is a

part of our economic recovery. It is not and will not be the entirety of

it. Health is the foundation of a recovery, but we can’t sit back over

the coming months and say, “Well, health protection measures are the

only concern, and we can just keep operating the same way, and the

economy will recover on its own,” because frankly, that’s false. It’s

not a reasonable course of action.

Health measures must — and I stress must — underpin everything we

do going forward, but we need a real plan for economic

recovery.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

The Finance Minister announced last week that we’re looking at a

$12½ billion deficit, the largest in the province’s history. The

unemployment rate sits above 13 percent, and it’s higher amongst women

and youth. The business council estimates our economy will shrink by 7.8

percent. CERB is ending soon, and deferred taxes will come due at the

end of September.

The province is looking at a fall that will be full of unknowns.

The Premier has promised to match federal recovery dollars for the

province and to go deeper into deficit to do so. That’s misleading,

then, for government to imply that these things won’t have an impact on

people. These things will have a devastating impact on many people if

the government doesn’t have a real plan for economic recovery, one that

looks at every facet of our economy, one to prompt growth and create

jobs — a plan that will truly lead to recovery.

Sending out a survey four months into a pandemic does not suggest

that government has any semblance of a plan to address the economic

needs of British Columbians. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted our

priorities, I think, for many people personally, for households, and it

must as a province. We’ve had to focus our entirety on the health

response — and of course we want to do that — but now, we can’t pretend

that from a full-scale health response, we can simply turn the dial down

and get back to normal. We have to turn the dial up on economic

recovery.

We have to be purposeful about it. It doesn’t mean, nor have any

of us ever suggested, that health measures don’t remain essential. They

just aren’t an economic plan. We need a government with a plan, a

government committed to seeing the people of B.C. through the entirety

of this crisis, not just the very-needed health response but the

critical economic response that needs to follow.

We can’t look at it as a choice between one or the other.

Rebuilding the economy does not need to happen at the expense of our

province’s health, but it instead should be informed by it, taking

needed steps forward as a part of a real and comprehensive plan for

recovery.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to speak in favour of the motion moved by the

member for Burnaby North: “Be it resolved that this House agree that the

health of British Columbians is paramount during this pandemic and part

of our economic recovery and resiliency.”

British Columbians are worried about their health, understandably,

and their livelihoods, and this pandemic has impacted all of us. We have

made progress flattening the curve because of our commitment to

supporting each other and coming together as a community to respond. We

have listened to and followed the expertise of our provincial health

officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, and

we know what happens when jurisdictions don’t do that. We don’t have to

look far.

[11:55 a.m.]

South of the border highlights how U.S. leaders have taken a

different approach, and their federal government and some states have

not followed public health advice of Dr. Fauci. Last week the U.S.

reported a record high of new cases. Here in British Columbia, John

Horgan and our safe Restart Plan are working to keep British Columbians

safe and build our economic recovery plan that puts people

first.

The motion today is to emphasize the importance of the connection

between the health of British Columbians and our economic recovery,

because we know that that is not the case held by the opposition. We

know that the opposition leader, the member for Vancouver-Quilchena,

incorrectly claimed that public health measures don’t have anything to

do with economic recovery.

There is a quote, from June 22, where the Leader of the Official

Opposition was quoted saying that: “We hear the Premier talking

consistently about public health measures, which actually don’t have

anything to do with economic recovery.” That’s the quote, Mr. Speaker,

so that’s why we want to make the case that the two are connected: the

health of British Columbians and our economic recovery — and that

economic recovery must benefit all British Columbians.

We should remember, however, that even before COVID-19, our

economy was not working for everyone. When the B.C. Liberals were in

government, they created an economy that was balanced on the backs of

regular people and worked for their donors and the wealthy few. Now is

the time to invest in people and not cut services like the B.C. Liberals

did for 16 years.

Our government has invested over $6 billion in people and in

businesses to provide support through this pandemic. We’ve put in place

a safe restart plan so we could build confidence for people to go out,

to have confidence to go businesses, go to restaurants and make sure

that it was all being done safely.

We have taken a number of measures. I want to remind members

opposite of some of them. Significantly, 600,000 British Columbians have

received a one-time tax free B.C. emergency benefit for

workers.

We also have over 200,000 people who have benefited from

disability and income assistance supports. We have over 80,000

applications approved for the temporary rent relief supplement, as well

as temporary pandemic pay for over a quarter of a million workers, Mr.

Speaker.

In addition, we’ve taken measures to address homelessness. Over

3,000 spaces have been created.

Recognizing that there’s been an increase in domestic violence

against women, we have taken the initiative to provide safe hotel rooms

for women and children leaving violent relationships.

We’ve put in place, as well, recognizing the tremendous pressure

that businesses have been under…. Cutting property tax bills by 25

percent, providing $700 million in immediate relief…. We are also

looking to protect small businesses, to ensure that if they have been

forced to close, they have their hydro bills forgiven for three months,

and also provided a rent relief program and prevented evictions.

Additional supports towards tourism. We’ll have a more comprehensive

plan coming forward.

Together, we can work to build B.C. back stronger and create a

safe and secure future for all British Columbians, not just the wealthy

few, recognizing the connection and the importance of the health of

British Columbians and our economic recovery.

M. Elmore moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. H. Bains moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 12 noon.

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Telephone: 250-387-3681

Email: hansardservices@leg.bc.ca

Published by Hansard Services under the authority

of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.