Third Session, 42nd Parliament

(2022) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 223

ISSN 1499-2175

The HTML transcript is provided for informational purposes only.

The PDF transcript remains the official digital version.

CONTENTS

Routine Business

Introductions by Members

Introduction and First Reading of Bills

Bill 29 — Mortgage Services Act

Hon. S. Robinson

Bill 30 — Cannabis Control and Licensing Amendment Act, 2022

Hon. M. Farnworth

Statements (Standing Order 25B)

Women’s History Month and accomplishments by women

R. Merrifield

Foster families and care givers

K. Paddon

Stanley Cup champions from Kootenay East

T. Shypitka

Collaboration by government officials in Maple Ridge–Mission

B. D’Eith

Role of police officers

E. Sturko

Preservation of ecosystems in Parksville-Qualicum area

A. Walker

Oral Questions

Crime in communities and government response to report on

repeat offenders

K. Falcon

Hon. M. Rankin

Attacks by repeat offenders and handling of cases by justice system

E. Sturko

Hon. M. Rankin

Action on climate change and use of wood pellets

A. Olsen

Hon. K. Conroy

Drax operations in B.C. and production of wood pellets

A. Olsen

Hon. K. Conroy

Crime in communities and government response to report on

repeat offenders

M. de Jong

Hon. M. Rankin

Crime in Terrace and handling of cases by justice system

E. Ross

Hon. M. Rankin

Motions Without Notice

Ratification of membership of select standing committees

Hon. M. Farnworth

A. Olsen

Membership change to Finance Committee

Hon. M. Farnworth

Membership change to Aboriginal Affairs Committee

Hon. M. Farnworth

Ministerial Statements

National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People

Hon. M. Rankin

M. Lee

A. Olsen

Tabling Documents

B.C. Arts Council, annual report, 2021-22

Orders of the Day

Second Reading of Bills

Bill 28 — Municipal Affairs Statutes (Property Taxation) Amendment Act, 2022

Hon. S. Robinson

P. Milobar

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022

The House met at 10:04 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers and reflections: R. Russell.

[10:05 a.m.]

Introductions by Members

Hon. B. Ralston: Joining us in the members’ gallery this morning is His Excellency

Patrick Van Gheel, the ambassador of Belgium to Canada. He’s joined by Ms.

Monique Poncelet, the honourary consul of Belgium in Vancouver. The Minister

of State for Trade and I met with him this morning. Later today he will meet

with you, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Advanced Education and the Minister

of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship.

I would ask the House to make him feel very welcome.

T. Halford: Fourteen years ago today Nicolas Alexander Halford was born just down

the street in Victoria. He’s actually watching today, which is surprising.

But Nicolas — I am so proud of him. The fact I know that a lot of members

are unable to be present for a lot of loved ones’ birthdays…. Today is one

of those cases for Nicolas, but that being said, he’s got a dad over here

that is very proud of him.

I know that he’s got a day filled with his Nona and his mom and his

sister and brother.

I want to say happy birthday, Nic. I will see you shortly. Love you,

buddy.

Hon. H. Bains: In the house today is Chris Wasilenchuk, president of Construction

Maintenance and Allied Workers of Canada; Blair Rawlings,

secretary-treasurer; and Ron Harry, director of business development and

external relations of Construction Maintenance and Allied Workers Canada.

They’re currently in Victoria at their ninth biannual convention.

I ask the

House to please join with me and make them most welcome.

Also, I want to say this. At the end of the spring sitting of the

Legislature, my office said farewell to my administrative coordinator, Kate

Duncan. I said farewell, not goodbye. On August 7, Kate gave birth to baby

Charlotte, adding to her already very busy family, I say.

Today Kate is in the House and brought Charlotte to introduce her to

all of us.

Joining Kate and Charlotte is Kate’s mother, Laura West. Just for the

icing on the cake, it was Kate’s birthday on Sunday.

Kate, when you talk about the term “well-oiled ma­chine,” I

think it applies to my office.

Thank you so much to Kate, because she actually made my office so

smooth and makes us look good.

I just want to say to all of you, please join with me and say to Kate

happy birthday and welcome back.

Hon. M. Rankin: Today it’s my honour to stand and welcome the whole Declaration Act

secretariat team to the House: Lisa Gibbs; Lauren Mathieson; Si Sityaawks,

Jessica Wood; and Anna Ratzlaff.

Anna Ratzlaff is an Indigenous youth intern. She’s with the team in

the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. Anna is of Serbian,

in Gitxsan territory.

Anna has received her Indigenous law stewardship certificate from the

Native Education College and obtained her business technology certificate

from the University of the Fraser Valley.

Anna has been part of the international Aboriginal youth internships

and Bold Eagle program. She is dedicated to her work as an Indigenous youth

intern and to her community.

Would the House please join me in welcoming her to the gallery

today.

[10:10 a.m.]

M. Starchuk: Joining us in the House today are the parents of Hank. Hank is a white

cat, so they would feel very at home here today. Who we have are Lennon

Starchuk and Andrea Starchuk. Ryan Starchuk could not be here, because he’s

at the conference down the street.

Would the House please make the loud

Lennon and lovely Andrea welcome in the House today.

S. Chandra Herbert: Hon. Speaker, I must admit that I was a little worried yesterday when

you introduced Macey Hansard to the House, I thought you were throwing your

lot in with the cats. Instead, you’ve shown yourself to be a true man of the

little people, the mice.

Mr. Squeaker and others in this House, thank you

for your forbearance and introducing a cat stuffy as opposed to a living

cat.

G. Kyllo: There’s a wonderful lady in my hometown of Sicamous who turns 80

today. Georgie Miller is an amazing individual, very involved with the

Legion Auxiliary — formerly was a member of, I think, the CCF party and

formerly NDP, but she has seen the light, Mr. Speaker. I’m quite happy to

say that she has been a very diehard supporter of me, and I just want to

wish her a very, very happy 80th birthday today.

Introduction and

First Reading of Bills

BILL 29 — MORTGAGE SERVICES ACT

Hon. S. Robinson presented a message from Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Mortgage Services Act.

Hon. S. Robinson: I move that Bill 29 be introduced and read a first time

now.

I’m pleased to introduce the Mortgage Services Act. The purpose of

this bill is to replace the Mortgage Brokers Act with modern legislation

that will regulate all those in the business of providing mortgage

services here in British Columbia.

The bill will improve the regulation of mortgage brokers, lenders

and administrators in the province. The bill also incorporates

recommendations from the Cullen commission final report, including

authority to address the role private lenders play in money laundering

in the real estate sector. The bill authorizes the B.C. Financial

Services Authority to appoint a superintendent of mortgage

services.

The Mortgage Services Act will improve consumer protection for

borrowers and investors, will promote provincial harmonization and

responsible business practices. The Mortgage Services Act framework

leverages the Real Estate Services Act licensing and discipline

processes and procedures. This will increase efficiency and transparency

of the B.C. Financial Services Authority as the sole regulator of the

real estate sector.

Mr. Speaker: Members, the question is the first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. S. Robinson: I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second

reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill 29, Mortgage Services Act, introduced, read a first time and

ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next

sitting of the House after today.

BILL 30 — CANNABIS CONTROL AND

LICENSING AMENDMENT ACT,

Hon. M. Farnworth presented a message from Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Cannabis Control and Licensing

Amendment Act, 2022.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time

now.

I’m pleased to introduce Bill 30, the Cannabis Control and

Licensing Amendment Act, 2022. The bill amends the Cannabis Control and

Licensing Act to address gaps and clarify authorities in legislation as

relates to the scope and nature of enforcement powers for the community

safety unit.

The amendments are primarily technical in nature and will ensure

the community safety unit can conduct en­force­ment against

illicit cannabis activities in an efficient and effective

manner.

Mr. Speaker: The question is the first reading of the bill.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second

reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill 30, Cannabis Control and Licensing Amendment Act, 2022,

introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day

for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Statements

(Standing Order 25B)

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY

WOMEN

R. Merrifield: “She did, so now I can.” This is the theme of this year’s Women’s

History Month, as we take the month of October to remember, celebrate

and advance the achievements of women and girls throughout our

history.

[10:15 a.m.]

Whether it’s Jeanne Mance, who founded Canada’s first hospital in

1645; Viola Desmond, who challenged segregation practices; B.C.’s own

Emily Carr, whose legacy continues to inspire artists across this

country; or Mary Ellen Smith, the first woman elected to serve in this

Legislative Assembly in 1918, the sacrifices, passion and determination

of these women — amongst many, many others in history — have allowed

generations of women like me to accomplish what would have otherwise

been considered impossible.

I wear a ring that I inherited from my grandmother, with pride. In

her lifetime, she saw her granddaughters become school principals,

businesswomen, hockey players, engineers and politicians. She lived on a

farm, but went against the stigma by choosing to work in town also so

that she could provide a better life for her kids. She was a great

example of ingenuity, tenacity, hard work and truly left a

legacy.

What’s remarkable about each of the women that I’ve just mentioned

is not what they thought about, but what they did — their work, their

action on making the world better for all women. This month is a time to

reflect on what more needs to be done. From equal pay to free

contraception, women have long been promised significant steps towards

equality but have yet to see those results.

Women from vulnerable groups need even more support and are

counting on each of us in the House to make it happen. I’m so thankful

for the women that have worked so hard, fought the status quo and

contributed so much to this province and her people.

Let’s celebrate and honour these women who have left behind a

better world for all women — better than the one that they were

given.

FOSTER FAMILIES AND CARE GIVERS

K. Paddon: This October marks the 32nd year celebrating foster care givers

for Foster Family Month. It’s a time to recognize and celebrate the

extraordinary dedication of Indigenous and non-Indigenous foster

caregivers across our province who provide safe, warm, supportive homes

for more than 5,000 children and youth in care.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development is providing

greater supports to keep families together when it is safe to do so,

resulting in fewer children coming into care. However, there is still a

need for skilled caregivers to care for children who cannot safely live

with their parents and to give them a much-needed sense of belonging.

Each day, B.C.’s almost 2,000 foster care givers make a difference in

the lives of children who need it most by opening their homes and their

hearts to children and youth who may be hurting, feeling alone or

vulnerable and ensuring they are providing compassion, stability, safety

and support.

Foster families can and do change lives. I’ve been fortunate to

learn from friends who were youth in care as well as those who have been

devoted foster care givers. For my friend, my classmate, her foster

family saved her life. They loved and accepted her, and they taught her,

most of all, to love and accept herself. Our community and our province

benefit every day from the work my friend does.

I’ve learned, as well, from foster families in my community. I’ve

listened to struggles, the heartache and the joys. I’ve heard how

fostering enriches and completes a family. I’ve heard that same

description from families of all shapes and sizes, which is maybe why

the B.C. Foster Parent Association describes that over 40 percent of all

adoptions in British Columbia are foster parents adopting the children

in their care, providing much-needed permanency.

This month we honour the commitment of these caregivers who

improve the lives of vulnerable children and youth and encourage others

to embrace the rewards of fostering.

I offer my most sincere thank-you to all of B.C.’s amazing foster

care givers for everything you do for the children, youth and families

in our communities.

STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

FROM KOOTENAY

EAST

T. Shypitka: There’s something in the water in Cranbrook, B.C. On June 26,

2022, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 6 of

the Stanley Cup final, thus winning the 106th installment of this

prestigious trophy. Part of that winning team was rookie defenceman

Bowen Byram, who, at the age of 21, brought Lord Stanley home on August

16 this past summer to his hometown of Cranbrook, B.C., which happens to

be inside the riding of Kootenay East.

To have the cup visit a small community like Cranbrook would seem

to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but I’m here to put on the record that

that is not the case. Cranbrook has not been blessed once, twice or

three times, but is home to six Stanley Cup champions, winning 12

Stanley Cups.

[10:20 a.m.]

As a matter of fact, there was a Cranbrook connection a straight

ten years in a row, from 1995 to 2004 with the likes of Scott

Niedermayer, three times with New Jersey; Jon Klemm, two times with

Colorado; Steve Yzerman, three times with Detroit; and Brad Lukowich,

once with Dallas and once with Tampa Bay. The Stanley Cup took a year

off from Cranbrook in 2006, and Rob and Scott Niedermayer won it with

the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.

There’s not enough time in a two-minute statement to highlight all

the great NHL players from Kootenay East, but a shortlist of some great

names: like Donny “Murder” Murdoch and his brother Bob; the Spring

family, with Danny, Frank and Corey; Ron “Spike” Huston; Jason Marshall;

Jason Wiemer; Ray Allison; Glen Cochrane; and newcomer Dryden Hunt, who

currently plays for the New York Rangers and narrowly missed the Stanley

Cup final last year against Colorado, which would have showcased an

all-Cranbrook final.

There are many more names that I know that I’m missing, and maybe

that can be

part 2 of Cranbrook hockey history. There is something in

the water in Kootenay East indeed.

Congratulations to Bowen Byram, along with his father, Shawn;

mother, Stacey; and sister, Jamie, on being the latest legacy of Stanley

Cup champions in Kootenay East.

COLLABORATION BY GOVERNMENT

OFFICIALS IN MAPLE

RIDGE–MISSION

B. D’Eith: Partnerships and collaboration are essential to all of our success

as MLAs. It’s when we work together with all levels of government,

prioritizing local communities, that great things can happen.

I’ve had the honour to work with our local Katzie and Kwantlen

First Nations. The province, right now, for example, is partnering with

Katzie on on-reserve housing for Indigenous youth, elders and families.

This supportive living model helps with housing challenges but also

moves towards healing and reconciliation.

This spirit of partnership and cooperation crosses party lines as

well. In 2015, I lost the federal election to the former MP Dan Ruimy,

and then I was elected as MLA in 2017, and I got to work very closely

with him. Together, we were able to work on a number of projects,

including fighting for the final four-laning of Highway 7 in Maple

Ridge, a very dangerous stretch of highway. Well, I’m happy to say that

construction starts this fall.

Recently, it was wonderful to meet municipal leaders at UBCM and

show solidarity with local officials who attended meetings with

ministers. For example, I had a half-dozen meetings with ministers in

the city of Mission. In fact, I’ve worked very closely with the Mission

city council, currently with Mayor Paul Horn, and work has included

Mission’s sewer and wastewater improvement project, benefiting

communities all over the Fraser River.

In addition, during UBCM, the province, working with both

Abbotsford, with retiring Mayor Braun, and Mission, announced funding

for a very important new well and water treatment system that will

benefit Abbotsford, Mission and Matsqui First Nation residents, ensuring

that the water systems remain reliable in the event of climate

disasters.

By working together, we can drive progress for all residents of

B.C. I’m looking forward to all the great work we can do, continuing

through partnerships and collaborations with all levels of government in

our community.

ROLE OF POLICE OFFICERS

E. Sturko: Each day, police officers make thousands of decisions that impact

the well-being of people across the province. They take on tremendous

responsibility for our safety and security, and they carry out the duty

of enforcing the laws, statutes and regulations set out for our

province. It is police officers who meet our community members in their

most vulnerable times. Not only do they respond to our calls for

service, but they also work proactively to prevent crime, mishaps and

disorder.

Over the years, as more complex social issues have emerged in our

province, so too has the role of police become increasingly complex.

Police are increasingly called in response to violent incidents

involving untreated mental health issues or people suffering from

drug-induced psychosis or dying from drug toxicity. Like other first

responders in British Columbia, they’ve become our social safety net,

there for those who have fallen through the cracks of inadequate health

care and social services.

[10:25 a.m.]

I know from firsthand experience that policing is a difficult job.

You rarely know what set of circumstances you will encounter every day,

and the impact can have a massive toll on the mental well-being of those

serving on the front lines.

As issues faced by police are increasingly more dynamic in nature,

it’s essential that we work together to relieve police and first

responders from the growing problem of dealing with untreated health

issues, and we can and we must provide those that currently suffer with

the compassionate care and dignity which they deserve.

I’ll simply conclude my remarks today by saying thank you to all

police and first responders in British Columbia.

Thank you for your service.

PRESERVATION OF ECOSYSTEMS IN

PARKSVILLE-QUALICUM

AREA

A. Walker: The people of Parksville-Qualicum are fortunate to live in a

community with an abundance of natural beauty. In the rain shadow of

Mount Arrowsmith, we live in a temperate climate, a rare coastal Douglas

fir ecosystem.

This biogeoclimatic zone is the smallest and most at-risk zone in

British Columbia. It is home to our highest number of species at risk,

and it is unique not just provincially, but it is recognized around the

world as a special place.

The secret is out. More and more folks are starting to call our

community home, and with more new neighbours, the preservation of

valuable natural space is more important than ever.

We have several times in this chamber celebrated some of the

champions in my community who have, for generations, fought to preserve

these important ecosystems for the future. But what we have seen over

the last few months is truly worthy of special recognition

today.

Last year nearly to this day, the Wilson 5 Foundation, founded by

Chip Wilson, made a $6 million donation to purchase and renaturalize the

In April, we saw over $5 million of investments, including $1

million from Dax Dasilva and his non-profit Age of Union Alliance to

protect the unique estuary and eagle preserve at French

Creek.

Just last week the Emil Anderson Group donated nearly 30 hectares

These investments are the result of the land trust and the B.C.

Parks Foundation, working with countless local champions like MVIHESand

streamkeepers and Save Estuary Land Society and the Friends of French

Creek Conservation Society and our local government representative,

Lehann Wallace, and so many others working together to do what is right

for future generations.

Would the House please join with me in celebrating and recognizing

these incredible works and the accomplishments that they’ve made in our

community.

Oral Questions

CRIME IN COMMUNITIES AND

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO REPORT

ON REPEAT OFFENDERS

K. Falcon: For over five years, the soft-on-crime former Attorney General

personally oversaw the worst explosion in random attacks and social

chaos in the history of this province. Under repeated questioning by

this opposition in the spring, after first denying and minimizing the

rise in violent attacks, the then Attorney General hired consultants to

tell him how to do his job.

Now the NDP’s latest move was to hide this consultant’s report by

releasing it on a Saturday morning of a long weekend, hoping that no one

was going to pay attention to the damning conclusions in that failed

catch-and-release program the former Attorney General was

operating.

Look at what’s happening in communities every day in this

province. We’ve got young women with strollers being chased and having

bottles thrown at them. We’ve got a young man in Yaletown stabbed to

death by a random stranger. We’ve got violent assaults taking place just

outside of these legislative buildings, and that doesn’t include the

thousands and thousands of cases that go unreported every week in this

province.

This is what the probation officer said on page 76 of that

consultant’s report. People are being “released into community on bail

that definitely pose a significant public safety risk…I am talking about

machete attacks, attempted murders…these people are being

released.”

My question to the Attorney General is: how many more innocent

people have to be assaulted before the NDP abandon the former Attorney

General’s catch-and-release program?

Hon. M. Rankin: I would thank the hon. Leader of

the Opposition for this important question.

In her remarks earlier today, the member for Surrey South properly

acknowledged the complexity of policing in a modern society, for which

I’m grateful.

[10:30 a.m.]

The member said that somehow we have hidden, to use his term, the

consultant’s report. Let me review what happened. We released the report

on October 1, having promised to do so by the end of the month. But we

gave the early acknowledgment of the recommendations and the

summary of

the report’s 28 recommendations in advance of that so people could be

prepared to address those.

We have already indicated that we will be adopting three of those

recommendations. Of course, since there are 28, we have a lot more work

to do.

This is a serious problem, but I think to use clichés such as

catch and release is simply not doing justice to the complexity and the

severity of the problem. That is not the case, and the member should

know better.

Under the federal…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: …Criminal Code and under the Charter of Rights, bail is a

constitutional right, and the Criminal Code is, of course, passed by the

federal order of government in our country. We have increased the

budget, under our watch, of the Crown counsel’s office by almost a

third,

whereas in the last year of the last government’s budget, they

increased the budget of Crown counsel by less than 1 percent.

We get it. We want to fix it, and we’re going to work harder with

our partners at the local government to make it right.

Mr. Speaker: Leader of the Official Opposition, supplemental.

K. Falcon: There you have it. Just as in health care, first, blame the

federal government. Second, talk about how much more money they’re

spending. And third, don’t talk about the results that people are seeing

in communities every single day.

The fact of the matter is that after five years of the former

Attorney General’s catch-and-release program, we’ve got chaos in

communities from Abbotsford to Terrace.

In Vancouver alone, 40 individuals responsible for 6,385 police

files in one year alone. The Downtown Eastside described in that very

consultant’s report as “completely lawless.” Criminals emboldened by the

lack of enforcement of this government. And four violent random attacks

in Vancouver every single day — most recently, a young woman in

Vancouver followed into her apartment, thrown on the ground and

assaulted by a young man just the other day.

So the comments of the Attorney General are not very comforting

for the people that are experiencing this every single day. The

Vancouver police said they recommended that that man that assaulted that

young woman just the other day be held in custody, but instead, he was

released again, with conditions, and if he violates those conditions, he

faces no consequences. So typical.

When will this Attorney General and this NDP stop ignoring victims

of crime and acknowledge that the former Attorney General’s

catch-and-release program is not working for communities in every part

of this province?

Hon. M. Rankin: Let me begin by expressing our condolences and our empathy for the

victims of this horrific crime to which the member refers.

There are many more, as I know he will advise this House, and we

are aware that we need to do more. That is why we commissioned the

LePard-Butler report — to give us that very advice. It’s a complicated

report. It’s a thoughtful report, and we, of course, want to do justice

to it.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition referred to the former deputy

chief of the Vancouver police department, Doug LePard, as a so-called

expert. That kind of derogation is really not, I think, appropriate. He

is a person…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: …who knows the streets of Vancouver better than probably any

police officer.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members, order.

Hon. M. Rankin: I would suggest that we do a disservice to the work that was done

by simply castigating it in highly personal terms.

Now, to suggest that we are merely blaming the federal government

is simply not right. We need to partner with the federal

government.

[10:35 a.m.]

Perhaps the hon. Leader of the Opposition could consult with the

member for Abbotsford West. He might be reminded that the Criminal Code,

Bill C-75, is a federal law that our police and our Crown counsel are

administering every single day.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: The right to bail, which I gather is catch and release, is somehow

some.…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Shhh. Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: It is a Charter right in our country. Perhaps the member for

Abbotsford West might advise the hon. member of that reality as

well.

I intend to go next week to meet my federal counterpart, the Hon.

David Lametti, Minister of Justice, bring the report to him, talk about

concrete ways we can ensure that the Criminal Code and the bail

provisions work in our province. And that is exactly what I will

do.

Finally, I would remind the member that we did this work in

partnership with the Urban Mayors Caucus. I have the following to say

from the mayor of Kelowna, Colin Basran: “Today’s announcement of the

LePard-Butler report is a path towards action and results for improved

public safety, crime reduction and increased support for those most

vulnerable in our communities.” Mayor Helps of Victoria made similar

comments.

We know we have to work in partnership with local

government…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: …and we know we have to work in partnership with the federal

government. That’s exactly what we’re doing.

ATTACKS BY REPEAT OFFENDERS AND

HANDLING OF CASES BY

JUSTICE SYSTEM

E. Sturko: First, I want to remind our Attorney General that Bill C-75

doesn’t preclude the Crown from asking or making sure that the judge is

seized with evidence that an individual should be held in custody when

it is appropriate to do so.

And I’d like to tell you that last week a prolific offender named

Jarred Whitham attacked a gas station clerk in Abbotsford with a large

sword and that it wasn’t his first offence. In fact, last year he was

convicted of breaking and entering, which resulted in just probation and

zero jail time.

Three months ago he was found guilty of theft and served only one

day in jail. In May, he faced multiple charges, including resisting

police, breaching his conditions of release, but those charges were

stayed by Crown counsel. Just last month he breached his bail conditions

for charges related to theft, and those charges were again stayed by the

Crown. And just one week before the sword attack, he received probation

only and one day in jail for theft.

As Sgt. Paul Walker of the Abbotsford police said: “Many of these

incidents are repeat offenders being continuously released back into our

community.”

When will the NDP end the catch-and-release justice system of the

soft-on-crime former Attorney General?

Hon. M. Rankin: I would honour the new member and welcome her to the House for her

first question in this place.

The former government chose to abolish a very successful program

called the repeat offender management pilot program. I raise that

because over the weekend….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Attorney General will continue.

Hon. M. Rankin: The repeat offender program, as it was then called, was proven to

reduce reoffending by 40 percent in its first year. Over the last

weekend, I had the opportunity to speak with the chief of police in my

community, Chief Del Manak, who told me that that program had been

enormously successful in his community, and he, therefore, welcomes our

decision to be…. Among the 28 recommendations, one of the first being to

bring that program back, which the opposition saw fit to cut.

There are many other things that need to be done. And in a

constructive way, I would have hoped the opposition would have flagged

some of those.

[10:40 a.m.]

Peer-assisted care teams that are rolling out in Victoria and New

Westminster, and expanded teams on the North Shore. The root problems

involving complex care housing to provide a higher level of care for

people who need it. Community transition teams. There are so many things

that we need to do if we’re going to get to the root causes of

this.

I do not think that the people of British Columbia believe that

arresting and enforcing the law, as the members would seem to suggest,

is the way to go, is a sufficient….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: It’s a necessary but not sufficient response to a problem that the

member herself acknowledged is extraordinarily complex.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members will come to order.

Hon. M. Rankin: There are a variety of measures we are taking with our partners at

the local level. I intend to raise this issue with the federal

government to ensure that we can get their assistance with this problem

as well, and we will make sure that our Crown counsel do their job, as

they are doing every single day.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Surrey South, supplemental.

E. Sturko: I’m disheartened, very disheartened. It feels to me like our

Attorney General’s comments are quite detached from the reality of the

suffering that is brought on by attacks….

As a former police officer, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impacts

on victims of violent attacks, victims who were traumatized, victims who

often face long and arduous emotional and physical recoveries — many

victims suffering for years following violent incidents.

If the NDP actually cared about the victims of prolific offenders,

they would give prosecutors and police the tools to do their jobs, tools

like being able to enforce release conditions on prolific offenders and

to stop them from committing future crimes. But the report says: “Crown

counsel are resistant to approving breach of bail conditions on charges,

and it’s resulting in an emboldening effect.”

Prolific offenders continue to commit violent attacks because they

know, under the former Attorney General’s catch-and-release justice

system, there aren’t conse­quences.

Why won’t the NDP end the catch-and-release justice system of

their soft-on-crime former Attorney General?

Hon. M. Rankin: The hon. member suggests that somehow, in her words, we don’t

care. That’s obviously wrong. We care deeply. That is why we work with

our municipal partners to set up….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members, you don’t have to editorialize every time

somebody makes a statement. Please.

Continue.

Hon. M. Rankin: That is why we worked with our municipal colleagues to ensure we

understood what was going on in Kelowna, in Victoria, in Vancouver, in

Terrace, in other communities. That is why we are doing the work

necessary to understand the reality on the ground to which the member

refers.

I think that we have a number of things that are going to occur in

light of our decision to reinstate the prolific offenders program that

the government before us cut. For example, we’re creating more situation

tables in communities — this cross-agency collaboration with the police,

with the Crown, with health services and with community service

providers — so we can make sure that we have abilities to work before

incidents of the kind she refers to actually occur.

We’re making historic investments to expand access to mental

health and addiction services in communities across our province. We

have committed….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: We have committed to ending the cycle of reoffending and keeping

people from becoming offenders in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, I will end with where I started. The hon. member

herself referred to the complexity of this problem. Simply arresting

people out of the situation we know is going to be futile. We need to do

so much more, and that is what we’re doing.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members will come to order.

ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

AND USE OF WOOD

PELLETS

A. Olsen: To the Minister of Forests, does she believe that in 2022, in a

worsening climate crisis, burning wood pellets is clean, green

energy?

[10:45 a.m.]

Hon. K. Conroy: I thank the member for this question, because there’s been quite a

bit in the media about pellets lately, and I think it’s good to be able

to have this discussion.

I think pellets are a low-value product in our industry. I know

that people are saying that pellets are creating more GHG, but in fact,

they’re not. We are selling pellets to countries that are using pellets

to lower their usage of coal.

It’s a product that is used worldwide. It’s a product that is made

from waste, waste in the forest. I think I need to make sure I say that

because people are saying it is made of whole logs. It is not made of

whole logs. If someone was going to sell a whole log to a pellet

factory, they would be losing money, because logs that are going into

saw…. Sawlogs are getting about $100 a cubic metre,

whereas waste that

is going into pellets averages about $25 a cubic metre. So nobody that

is involved in the sawmill industry is going to be selling whole logs to

go into pellets.

I know that’s probably the next question the member is going to

ask, but I believe that the pellet industry is one that we need in this

province. It is using up…. It’s reducing waste in the forest industry,

which is an important thing, and it’s moving forward. We know that it is

a part of the forest industry that is working.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Saanich North and the Islands, supplemental.

DRAX OPERATIONS IN B.C.

AND PRODUCTION OF WOOD

PELLETS

A. Olsen: Here are some facts. Drax is a massive company in the U.K. They’ve

been quietly consolidating the wood pellet operations in British

Columbia, controlling almost two-thirds of that industry.

To correct the minister, burning wood pellets is actually more

carbon-intensive than burning coal. Drax regularly lobbies this

government. It’s subsidized by both the U.K. and the B.C. government’s

clean energy funds. They burn millions of tonnes of wood pellets from

British Columbia in their energy plant in Yorkshire, England. Evidence

turned up by investigative journalists in Canada and the U.K. shows that

they have acquired tenure, that they are logging, grinding and burning

B.C. old-growth forests.

Last year the former B.C. chief forester, Diane Nicholls, abruptly

left her post next to the Minister of Forests to immediately take a job

with this company, Drax, as their VP for corporate sustainability. The

revolving door between the Ministry of Forests and the forest industry

continues to turn in this province.

I’m going to ask a very specific question of the Minister of

Forests. Will the minister commit in this assembly and to the people of

British Columbia that wood pellet companies are not using whole trees to

turn into pellets?

Hon. K. Conroy: Yeah, I can answer that.

Companies are not using whole trees that would be used as sawlogs.

If they’re using a whole tree, it’s been burnt; it’s been damaged by

beetle kill. It wouldn’t work as a sawlog. So yes, companies might use a

whole tree for a pellet factory, but it’s a tree that wouldn’t be used

in a sawmill.

I just wanted to refer to Diane Nicholls, a woman who had many

successes throughout her tenure and did not leave abruptly. She did not

leave abruptly. Not only was she B.C’s. first female chief forester; she

was also the first woman in Canada.

You know, her expertise and enthusiastic approach to what she did

is going to be difficult to replace. She was instrumental in ushering in

a new era of forest management in this province and also very successful

in developing low-carbon economy programs for the forest industry. She

did a lot of work.

I just want to clarify for the record in this Legislature. There

is not old growth being cut down to utilize in Drax’s mills across this

province. So I just want to make that clear and put that on the record

and correct the member for what he misspoke.

CRIME IN COMMUNITIES AND

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO REPORT

ON REPEAT OFFENDERS

M. de Jong: One of the fundamental responsibilities of governing is to keep

people safe, and regrettably, the former Attorney General and this

government have failed that responsibility.

People don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe in Abbotsford. They

don’t feel safe in Terrace. They don’t feel safe in Kelowna. They don’t

feel safe in Victoria. They don’t feel safe across British Columbia.

They don’t feel safe because of this catch-and-release justice system

that the previous Attorney General created. He now wants to lead the

entire government.

[10:50 a.m.]

The previous AG was great at making excuses and pointing the

finger at others: the federal government, the courts. There wasn’t

anything he could do, he said. But the government’s own report makes it

clear that that is not so. The government’s own report says the Attorney

General could issue specific policy directives designed to keep prolific

offenders off the street, designed to detain prolific offenders who show

no regard whatsoever for the safety of British Columbia’s

citizens.

My question to the Attorney General: is he finally, after five

years of neglect by his predecessor, prepared to issue those policy

directives?

Hon. M. Rankin: I thank the hon. member for Abbotsford West for his question. I

agree with him entirely. People in our communities, all around the

province, urban and rural, deserve to feel safe in their communities.

That is the government’s responsibility. The member’s right on that

point, for sure. We accept that entirely. That is the responsibility of

our police services, our Crown, our courts — all of our administration

of criminal justice is required to do that. We, of course, accept that

responsibility.

We’re investing in services. That is, I think, the key point.

There were enormous services cuts that occurred in the past that we are

now trying to re-implement — services in mental health and support for

people with addictions, which is the cause, of course…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: …of some of the violence that is occurring, the violence to which

other members across the way have referred. Complex care for housing is

also required.

We need, however, to accept that people need to accept

consequences for their actions. If there’s criminal behaviour that’s

been proven in a court of law, then of course people should go to jail.

Of course there should be consequences for that behaviour. There are a

variety of tools, one of which the member referred to, in terms of

directives, that we will examine. We’re looking at all opportunities to

make a difference, to keep people safe, because we accept the

responsibility that the member referred to.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Abbotsford West, supplemental.

M. de Jong: This government has had five years — five years — to consider

approaches, a specific one that falls exclusively within the authority

of the Attorney General. His predecessor refused to exercise that

authority. My question to this Attorney General is: will he finally do

so?

The government and his predecessor constantly excuse and attempt

to excuse this criminal behaviour as the by-product of mental illness.

There is an element of that, but there are people out there who are bad

people, who perpetrate crime, who assault people, who steal because they

want to take a shortcut and they don’t want to get a job.

One of the options available to this government and to the

Attorney General is to issue specific directives — a specific directive

to prosecutors across British Columbia how to request and demand from

the courts the detention of those people who purposely perpetrate

criminal behaviour.

The question to the Attorney General today…. The recommendation

contained in his report…. He has been on the job now for some months.

Will he assure the House today that he will act on that recommendation

and issue the directives necessary to begin the process of making people

feel safe in British Columbia?

Hon. M. Rankin: Yes, I accept that there are people for whom jail is the only

answer. I also accept that there are people for whom mental health

facilities are required. There are a variety of responses to deal with

this complex problem, but if the member is asking if we seek to excuse

criminal behaviour, of course we don’t. That is why we have….

The member is asking a very specific question. Under the Crown

Counsel Act, the Attorney General has the ability to issue directives.

He’s asking me today if we’re going to do that.

[10:55 a.m.]

My answer remains, as I said in the last intervention, I will

examine that and all opportunities to see if that would make a

difference…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: …because that is our commitment: to make a difference and — yes,

I’ll say it again — to work with all of our partners in the criminal

justice system and municipalities to make sure we get it

right.

CRIME IN TERRACE AND

HANDLING OF CASES BY JUSTICE

SYSTEM

E. Ross: I think we can see a pattern developing here. In fact, I think the

Attorney General is going to continue the catch-and-release program that

was actually started by the previous Attorney General. I mean, he said

it. Arresting people is futile. He just said it just a little while

ago.

Over six months ago in this very House, I asked the former

Attorney General why prolific offenders in Terrace continue to be put

back in streets to cause more damage and fear. He laughed it off and

dismissed the question. This is what the mayor and council of Terrace,

B.C. said: “The stats don’t tell the truth. Crime isn’t going down. It’s

the worst it’s ever been. People aren’t reporting because there’s no

point because they’re out so fast. We had a stabbing last year, and the

person was released within 24 hours.”

It’s not us that are bringing these concerns to this House. It’s

the mayor and councils. It’s the police. It’s our citizens. It’s our

business owners that are getting attacked on a daily basis.

Here’s a statistic for you. In Terrace alone, one individual was

arrested over 400 times last year — 400 times.

My question to the Attorney General: when will the NDP start

caring about the victims of crime and end the catch-and-release justice

system of their soft-on-crime former Attorney General?

Hon. M. Rankin: I must begin by saying we care deeply about the victims of crime,

and to suggest otherwise is very unfortunate.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Rankin: Of course we do.

What I intended to say is that you cannot simply arrest your way

out of this problem. I said that it is a necessary but not sufficient

condition to address this complicated problem. I stand by that

assertion.

We need to take a variety of measures. We need to deal with the

root causes of the crime. In the member’s community of

Terrace….

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Attorney General, just take your seat. Just wait.

Members. Members, order.

Attorney General, please continue.

Hon. M. Rankin: At the Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting, I had the opportunity

to meet with members of the Terrace council — the mayor-elect and others

— and had an opportunity to understand some of the issues that the

member for Skeena has brought to the attention of this House. There are

a lot of people who are hurting in that community for a variety of

reasons. We care deeply about the victims of the crime, and we need to

find solutions that are lasting.

To suggest that we can simply arrest our way out of the problem is

not going to be a sufficient solution. It’s a necessary part of the

solution, but if the members opposite think that is the way we’re going

to address this complex problem, they’re wrong.

[End of question period.]

Mr. Speaker: Members, we’re going to have a minis­terial

statement.

Interjections.

[11:00 a.m.]

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members.

Member for Nanaimo–North Cowichan and member for Kamloops–South

Thompson, take it easy.

Motions Without Notice

RATIFICATION OF MEMBERSHIP

OF SELECT STANDING

COMMITTEES

Hon. M. Farnworth: I seek leave to move a motion ratifying membership changes on the

select standing committees, as agreed to by all House Leaders this

summer.

Leave granted.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I move:

[That the written agreement between the Government House Leader, the

Official Opposition House Leader, and the Third Party House Leader,

dated June 22, 2022, be ratified, confirming the following membership

changes effective June 27, 2022:

Andrew Mercier , MLA replace Jinny Sims , MLA as a

Member of the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth for the

Third Session of the 42nd Parliament;

Roly Russell , MLA replace Jinny Sims , MLA as a

Member of the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fish and Food

for the Third Session of the 42nd Parliament;

Rachna Singh , MLA replace Jinny Sims , MLA as a

Member of the Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs for the

Third Session of the 42nd Parliament;

Janet Routledge , MLA replace Jinny Sims , MLA as a

Member of the Select Standing Committee on Parliamentary Reform, Ethical

Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills for the Third Session of the

42nd Parliament; and

Janet Routledge , MLA replace Jinny Sims , MLA as a

Member of the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives for

the remainder of the 42nd Parliament.]

Mr. Speaker: Members, the question is the adoption of the motion.

Member for Saanich North and the Islands.

A. Olsen: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today not because I disagree with

populating these committees but rather to raise a point with respect to

the Aboriginal Affairs Committee, a committee that my name has been on

since 2017, my election.

I rise because at a time when we are so deeply engaged with

Indigenous people across this province, I find it remarkable that this

committee has yet to be actually convened to sit and to be a part of the

discussion that’s going on in this province.

My experience as an Indigenous person in this province is that the

Crown governments, the federal and provincial governments, continue to

construct conversations with themselves. We rarely engage Indigenous

people directly. We talk to their leadership. The minister talks to the

leadership. Successive ministers have talked to the Indigenous

leadership.

Rarely have we taken the opportunity to use the mechanisms of this

House, this chamber, this Legislative Assembly, to engage all the

members that have been dutifully appointed to this committee. It’s never

been convened. We have never elected a Chair, since 2003. The last time

this committee was used…. It was used appropriately by the former

government to go around the province and to gauge the impact of the

referendum that was going to have such a large impact on British

Columbians and Indigenous peoples.

I rise today to simply make a point. We can continue to go through

the motions in this House and appoint members and change members when

they leave or when they take a leave of absence. Yet we never use the

mechanisms to actually deliver the collaborative government that

continues to be talked about in this place.

I just wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on this fact. We

have an opportunity, as we are naming new members to the Aboriginal

Affairs Committee, to, for the first time in decades in this province,

engage more than just a conversation with, in essence,

ourselves.

[11:05 a.m.]

We’ve yet to understand clearly in this institution how Indigenous

people want to be engaged. We continue to only engage them on our terms.

I find that offensive and inappropriate.

When we are populating these committees, it is my hope that it is

the intention of the government to use them. They are effective. They

can bring, to the top, good public policy that can inform the decisions

that are being made. Otherwise, what goes on in this chamber is simply a

performance, Mr. Speaker.

HÍSW̱ḴE SIÁM.

Mr. Speaker: Members, the question is the adoption of the motion.

Motion approved.

MEMBERSHIP CHANGE

TO FINANCE

COMMITTEE

Hon. M. Farnworth: I request that leave be granted to make another committee

membership change.

Leave granted.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I move:

[That Tom Shypitka , MLA replace Karin Kirkpatrick ,

MLA as a Member of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and

Government Services.]

Mr. Speaker: I’m just looking, if anybody wants to speak on it.

The question is adoption of the motion.

Motion approved.

MEMBERSHIP CHANGE

TO ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS

COMMITTEE

Hon. M. Farnworth: I seek leave to move a motion to make a change to the membership

of the Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs.

Leave granted.

Hon. M. Farnworth: I move:

[That Elenore Sturko , MLA be added as a Member of the

Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs.]

Mr. Speaker: The question is adoption of the motion.

Motion approved.

Ministerial Statements

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR

MISSING AND MURDERED

INDIGENOUS

WOMEN, GIRLS AND TWO-SPIRIT PEOPLE

Hon. M. Rankin: I’d like to draw the House’s attention to a very important

day.

Today, October 4, is the National Day of Action for Missing and

Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People in Canada. This

is a day to remember and honour the lives of Indigenous women, girls,

two-spirit and gender-diverse people who have been murdered or gone

missing as part of what the three-year national inquiry determined to be

genocide.

Today Sisters in Spirit vigils are being held across our country

to remember the people whom we’ve lost to violence — matriarchs,

leaders, grandmothers, mothers, aunties, daughters, sisters, cousins and

friends — to remember the families and communities from whom they were

taken and to reflect on the truths that families and survivors have

provided.

The recent deaths of five Indigenous women and girls in our

province are tragic and disturbing. They were Chelsea Poorman of the

Kawacatoose First Nation, Noelle O’Soup from the Key First Nation and

the Saulteau First Nation, Kwemcxenalqs Manuel-Gottfriedson from Syilx

territory, Cynthia Martin from the Gitxsan Nation and Tatyanna Harrison,

who was Cree and Métis.

I think of their loved ones who live in the grief of this

heartbreaking loss and who face its devastation every single

day.

I read their names into the House’s record so they will not be

forgotten. We must remember their names. We must say their names out

loud for all to hear. We must demand action and commitment to end the

violence.

Three years ago, after the Final Report of the National

Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

was released, we know that violence towards Indigenous women and girls,

two-spirit and gender-diverse people remains an urgent issue not only in

British Columbia but across our country. From Vancouver to Fort Nelson,

from Port Alberni to Prince Rupert, from Tofino to Elk Valley,

Indigenous women continue to be taken from their families and

communities. Every one of them was loved and cherished.

The national inquiry called upon every non-Indigenous Canadian to

acknowledge our role and to become actors in decolonizing Canada. It

implored us to recognize that the crisis of violence against Indigenous

women and girls has been centuries in the making. Its root cause is

colonialism, evidenced by structures such as the Indian Act, residential

schools, the Sixties Scoop, and breaches of the human rights of

Indigenous people, all of which have led directly to the current

increased rates of violence, death and suicide in Indigenous

communities.

There is much more to do. The work ahead must build on the calls

to justice and address systemic issues of racism, colonialism and

discrimination as the root causes of gender-based violence.

[11:10 a.m.]

This evening the ceremonial entrance of the Legislature will be

lit in red in honour of the Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and

gender-diverse peoples who have been stolen. In honour of those who are

survivors, we must pursue action to end gender-based

violence.

There is a crying need for more love and compassion in our world.

We must do better.

M. Lee: I rise today in a good and humble way to acknowledge the National

Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,

two-spirit and LGBTQ2+ people. Across our province, Indigenous women,

girls, two-spirit and LGBTQ2+ people experience an extreme and

disproportionate amount of violence and systemic racism. They are our

most vulnerable peoples who bear the brunt of systemic injustices and

inequities that exist within our society.

Four days ago we marked the second National Day for Truth and

Reconciliation as well as Orange Shirt Day, another reminder of the

intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples in this country have

endured because of the residential school system. This, along with the

Sixties Scoop, millennial scoop and other government pol­icies,

has directly led to Indigenous women and girls being disproportionately

impacted by gender-based violence.

B.C. has one of the highest number of cases of murdered or missing

Indigenous women in Canada, particularly in the Downtown Eastside

community and the Highway of Tears. Over 2,000 people — the families and

survivors as well as knowledge-keepers — have shared their stories with

the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and

girls 3½. years ago After its conclusion, families are still

experiencing heartbreaking loss and are waiting for meaningful

action.

There are concrete actions that we can take towards protecting

Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, and we expect this

government to do so in a measurable way, beyond their initial

commitments in A Path Forward: Priorities and Early Strategies for

B.C. For far too long, the intersection of institutionalized

racism and gender-based violence has disproportionately affected

Indigenous women. Our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters,

aunties, nieces and cousins are precious to us. Now is the time to

ensure that all Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people are

treated with dignity and respect.

As elected members of this House, it falls upon us to build a

better future for all our children and grandchildren. We must work hard

to forge stronger relationships with Indigenous peoples, built on the

foundation of truth and reconciliation. As the MLA for

Vancouver-Langara, I have the responsibility of standing with you, all

my colleagues in this House, to create real and meaningful change. That

real change is supported by those relationships that we have with

Indigenous leaders, elders and knowledge-keepers.

We have the opportunity to work with Indigenous peoples in British

Columbia to restore trust and build a better future for all of us

together. I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to sit with and

learn from Indigenous leaders, elders and knowledge-keepers around the

province in my critic role and humbled by the kindness, the honesty and

the generosity I’ve received.

There is so much in front of us to be addressed, and how we

address this intergenerational challenge must be from a place of respect

and open dialogue. As members of this Legislative Assembly, we have a

responsibility to use our voices to bring meaningful systemic change,

provide resources to communities to end the cycles of trauma and

violence, create healing and bring justice to families and

communities.

We have a duty to educate ourselves on the dark history of our

country, the appalling acts committed in residential schools, the

Sixties Scoop, the millennial scoop and the continued intergenerational

trauma experienced by Indigenous communities today.

[11:15 a.m.]

We need a community-centred and community-led approach when

dealing with the complicated and intersectional issues of

intergenerational trauma. Government inaction and lack of understanding

have led to more and more tragedies within Indigenous communities. We

must change our thinking when addressing these issues and look to those

who have lived experiences for solutions.

We must also acknowledge the lives saved by community leaders and

front-line service organizations, which are often understaffed and

under-resourced. We must work together in harmony with them, in a

meaningful way, to create the systemic change that’s needed to keep our

most vulnerable safe.

Finally, during Women’s History Month, let us celebrate the

incredible work of Matriarchs and Indigenous women who have contributed

so much to the fabric of our communities and our province. We raise our

hands to you.

Oh sea em, Hiy hiy, Miigwech.

A. Olsen: Mr. Speaker, first I would just like to acknowledge both of the

speakers that spoke before me and their thoughtful words here

today.

I stand here, again, with a heavy heart — a heaviness that has

become all too familiar, a burden that unfortunately has not been

relieved from repeat performances in this chamber.

Today is October 4. It’s the National Day of Action for Missing

and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples. One of the

reasons why I took a few minutes to disrupt what normally is just a

process that happens in this place with no questions was because I knew

that in a few minutes, I was going to be standing up and talking about

this national day of action in recognition of the fact that this is one

of those opportunities.

This is one of those subject matters that could benefit very well

from having an all-party approach to addressing the more than 200 calls

to action from this report and the many other reports that have

instructed Crown governments on how to act, going forward. As we hear in

this place today, all-party support for action. Yet what is missing are

the tables for all parties to come together and to do the

work.

I don’t stand to raise that as a way to put a mark on any one

government. I simply stand to raise it to say that if we are going to

work together, then it needs to be more than just in the words that we

say, the words that we put on Hansard . It needs to be in the

actions of our work. So it’s an invitation to put us around the table

together so we can do meaningful work, working away on the many

actions.

It’s not the burden that needs to be carried by our Minister of

Indigenous Relations. It’s not the burden that need only be carried by

the current Premier. This, as my mother continues to remind me, is 170

years plus in the making in this province, and it is going to take many

years into our future, many Premiers, many Ministers of Indigenous

Relations.

What Indigenous people need to see, I believe, my opinion, is this

Legislative Assembly truly working together so that the politics of this

place do not and need not disrupt the work that we necessarily do on

behalf of all British Columbians.

I stood last year and brought a critique to what I felt was a

rather tepid response from this province with respect to the action plan

that was announced.

[11:20 a.m.]

The $5.5 million for an issue that, as has been pointed out,

impacts communities right across our province to address the safety of

our Matriarchs, of our grandmothers, of our mothers, aunties, sisters,

daughters, cousins and nieces is not good enough.

This is not a small problem, as we’ve heard, that we’re facing.

There are hundreds, thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women

and girls, so our response needs to match the size of the problem that

we face. Unfortunately, this institution has shown Indigenous people,

and for the entire history — the work that we’ve done is but a very

small history here — that the lives of Indigenous women and girls mean

less. It’s a terrible thing to say that they are worth less.

When we address the people that the Minister of Indigenous

Relations has highlighted…. I came here prepared today to talk about

Chelsea Poorman. She was reported missing on September 7, 2020, yet it

took the Vancouver police department ten days after her parents noted

her missing to make a public notice — ten days. I have to ask the

question: if Chelsea was anybody else, would the authorities have been

so slow to act? That’s the feeling that we have in our communities, the

terrible reality.

Her body was found this past April in the backyard of a mansion in

Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood. Two weeks later Chelsea’s next of

kin were notified. At the time of publication, the Vancouver police

spokesperson spoke about all the aspects of the case that they did not

know about, including the cause of death, yet they were able to boldly

pronounce that in Chelsea’s death, the circumstances surrounding it were

not suspicious.

They knew nothing really about what happened, except they did know

that what happened wasn’t suspicious, the circumstances surrounding it.

However, it gets worse than this because even though they determined

that there was no foul play, despite not knowing how Chelsea died, the

police continued to investigate.

But how are we supposed to have confidence? How are Chelsea’s

family and Indigenous communities across this province supposed to have

any confidence that even if they found information that was contrary to

their public announcements, that information would see the light of day?

That police department was already invested in the fact that there was

nothing suspicious about this situation, nothing suspicious about the

remains of a disabled Indigenous woman found in the backyard of one of

Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.

This brings me to another person that I want to talk about,

another Indigenous woman, Noelle O’Soup. I have children who are the

same age as this young Indigenous woman. I have nieces and cousins the

same age as Noelle, 14 years old when she passed away. It’s hard to

comprehend how our child welfare system can continue to fail Indigenous

children, my relatives and our babies, as they have.

Noelle ran away from a provincial group home when she was 13 years

old, and her body was found in a tiny apartment in the Downtown

Eastside, Vancouver. In February, officials removed the remains of the

tenant, Van Chung Pham, a man found to be a threat to the public and

particularly to vulnerable women. It wasn’t until two months later that

officials returned and found the remains of Noelle and another

woman.

[11:25 a.m.]

After seeing pictures of Pham’s apartment, it is mind-boggling to

imagine that there were remains of two other human beings in that space

that were not seen or found at that initial investigation.

Chelsea and Noelle were not failed years ago. This all happened in

the last year, since the last time I stood to talk about the national

day of action. The most recent information regarding Noelle’s case was

published yesterday. We wear orange shirts. We display red dresses. We

deliver eloquent performances to signal our support, yet our

institutions continue to fail the virtues that we claim to

uphold.

So here we are, on this national day of action, pleading for more

than a performance, pleading for this assembly, from our police services

and all our institutions, to treat this situation with the urgency that

you would if this was your matriarch, if this was your grandmother,

mother, auntie, sister, daughter, cousin and niece.

HÍSW̱ḴE SIÁM .

Tabling Documents

Hon. L. Beare: I rise to table the 2021-2022 B.C. Arts Council Annual

Report .

Orders of the Day

Hon. M. Farnworth: I call second reading, Bill 28.

[J. Tegart in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 28 — MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

STATUTES (PROPERTY

TAXATION)

AMENDMENT ACT, 2022

Hon. S. Robinson: I move that Bill 28 be read a second time now.

These amendments to the Community Charter and the Vancouver

Charter will provide municipalities with an important property tax

relief tool. This new tax relief measure can be voluntarily implemented

by communities to help support commercial tenants and owner-occupiers

disproportionately impacted by high property taxes re­lated to

development potential.

When we introduced the interim business property tax relief

legislation in 2020, we made a commitment to find a long-term solution

to high commercial property taxes that would work for communities right

across British Columbia. We launched the property assessment strategic

review, known as PASR, in 2021, and consulted extensively with local

governments, the business community and other stakeholders on potential

solutions.

The amendments we are proposing are the result of this

collaborative effort, and I want to take a moment to thank everyone who

collaborated with government and with our team in order to address the

effects of an unprecedented real estate market, the need to add density

to communities where demand for new units far outweighs supply and where

speculation has commodified property.

These and other factors have contributed to escalating values and

associated property taxes of many commercial properties, particularly

where properties have been identified for future development by changes

to the official community plan, a development plan, zoning or merely in

the anticipation of these potential changes.

While additional density is an important way to meet the needs of

growing populations, we also need to support our existing businesses

that make our communities unique and vibrant. Not every property that is

valued based on development potential will enter into the development

process immediately.

[11:30 a.m.]

This tool will help municipalities identify commercial properties

paying disproportionately high property taxes, taxes levied on a market

value that far exceeds the value of the current use and provide

temporary relief to the businesses that occupy these

properties.

Now, the proposed legislation would enable municipalities, through

an annual property tax bylaw, to tax the land value of certain light

industrial and commercial properties at a lower tax rate than the

standard tax rate for the property class. Municipalities would be able

to determine the extent of the tax rate reduction and the percentage of

the commercial land value that would be subject to the reduced rate. The

relief measure is optional for municipalities, ensuring that they are in

the position to make the best decisions in their communities. It’s based

on the needs of their community, and they know it best.

The property would have to meet all eligibility criteria in the

legislation to qualify for this relief. Eligible properties must,

firstly, have land and improvements in class 5, which is light industry,

and/or 6, which is business or other. Eligible properties must also

demonstrate that the improvement must be occupied as of October 31 of

the previous tax year and have a combined class 5/6 land value that is a

minimum of 95 percent of the total class 5/6 assessed value. The

eligibility criteria ensures that relief is targeting properties with

development potential that are occupied by a tenant or

owner-occupier.

A property is ineligible if more than four years have passed since

it first received the relief, because a property can only qualify for

five consecutive years; any portion is in property class 2, 3, 4, 7, 8

or 9; the property can only be split with class 1; if it is a

restricted-use property or has a prescribed value; any portion is

already exempt from municipal taxation, unless otherwise specified by

regulation; or if the land value is subject to assessment averaging or

phasing. Most of these exclusions are related to properties that already

receive preferential treatment for assessment and taxation purposes and

ensures that a property would not receive a double benefit.

For eligible property, a municipality may specify a different

percentage of the land to be taxed at the lower rate for different

areas, properties or kinds of properties. The proposed legislation

provides a new property tax relief mechanism that differs from the

interim business property tax relief legislation and other permissive

exemptions.

The proposed legislation targets and provides a direct mechanism

to address development potential by allowing a lower tax rate to apply

to a portion of the land value of the property. It has simple

eligibility criteria. It provides maximum flexibility for municipalities

to create additional criteria, meaning municipalities will be able to

easily determine which properties qualify for relief. It will be simpler

for municipalities to utilize and administer, as B.C. Assessment will

provide the required data and the relief can be integrated into an

existing property tax bylaw.

This new tax rate flexibility would also allow for communities to

decide at the local level which commercial properties they want to

target relief to. If implemented, this precedent-setting authority could

have an immediate and significant impact on designated commercial

entities starting in the 2023 tax year.

Before I take my seat, I also want to express my gratitude to the

various business organizations that worked with us, the UBCM and the

number of municipal governments that worked with us hand in hand to make

sure that this would work for local governments. I’m very pleased that

we were able to do that important work and bring this legislation

forward right now to the House. I look forward to seeing it passed here

in the Legislature.

Deputy Speaker: Member for Kamloops–North Thomp­son.

P. Milobar: Thank you — for the time being, anyways. We’ll see what happens

with the electoral boundaries. But thank you, Madam Chair.

I rise today on Bill 28. I’ll have a few comments, and we have a

few speakers to speak to this. I’m sure it won’t surprise the minister,

given that the member for Kamloops–South Thompson had introduced a

similar bill, I believe five times now or four times over the last four

years. It’s good to see something finally come forward, but there are a

lot of questions around this. There are a lot of contradictions in what

the Minister has said.

[11:35 a.m.]

On the one hand, previously the Minister said that our private

member’s bill was too broad, would not work. This is supposedly a bill

that’s meant to give flexibility to municipalities, yet, at the same

time, it’s tying their hands in several different ways as to how they

can actually implement what’s best for them in their own communities. So

as we get into committee stage, we’ll certainly flesh that out more with

the minister.

The minister had said in the past: “The member opposite suggests

that everyone is in agreement. Well, I have to tell him — he wasn’t

paying attention at the UBCM — it passed, but barely. Forty-six percent

of local government said: ‘No, not a good idea. Won’t work for us.’”

That’s what the minister said in this House on October 30, in

Well, 46 percent still means that 54 percent thought our private

member’s bill was a good idea, and we’ve waited for years now. The

temporary measure that the minister mentions that they brought in….

We’ve had zero municipalities action her temporary measure. For a few

years, we could have had at least 54 percent of municipalities having a

tool that they were willing to work with and wanted to work with.

Instead, the government insisted to have zero percent of municipalities

take any action to provide relief for businesses in the

communities.

The minister talked at length about the consultation that they’ve

had and thanked, at the very end, the consultation with municipalities

and those that they reached out to. The problem we have with that…. And

we think consultation is a good thing. When we were at our briefing with

staff yesterday, however, when we asked about the consultation, the

response back — and I guess not surprising given that this is the

government that has been awarded the most secretive government in Canada

— was that they could not talk about the contents of the consultation

because that’s confidential.

Again, we’ll have a lot of questions for the minister as we get to

committee stage. It’s pretty hard to gauge what municipalities, on a

day’s notice…. We all only saw this bill yesterday. The municipalities

would have only seen the bill yesterday. To try to get a gauge from

mayors and councillors in the middle of a municipal election, which is

going to happen in the next nine days, and to ask them to take time away

from their campaigning — when most councils have finished sitting for

the municipal election — on what they think of this piece of legislation

that has taken, frankly, years to get here is questionable at

best.

To hear the minister’s staff then turn around and say that talking

about that consultation is not possible, because it’s confidential,

leads one to wonder what municipalities truly thought about the

direction, moving forward, and whether or not this would actually fit

the bill.

I can tell you as a former mayor for nine years and doing a lot of

work with heavy industry and other rate classes in Kamloops — moving

around rates and mill rates and adjusting and the impacts that can have

on other rate classes — it gets very complicated very quickly.

Certainly, the good people that work in municipal finance within each of

the municipalities and the mayors and councils always have a good handle

on that. But it’s not quite as simple as the minister is leading us to

believe.

The threshold that really binds the hands of local government in

this bill is the fact that it has to be 95 percent of the overall

assessed value of the property. So 95 percent of it has to be in land

for this to qualify. Now, that will reduce down, dramatically, a lot of

the areas where businesses would be feeling this impact, because they

simply might only be at 80 percent. One could argue that that still is a

very big, onerous burden on that business.

But the local governments won’t be allowed to still enact the type

of tax relief for those businesses simply because their building might

be in slightly better repair than the building next door, which is much

more run down and the land is worth a little bit more. Suddenly that

business would actually qualify for the tax exemption, but the

well-maintained small corner grocery store suddenly does not qualify

simply because the operators of that business have taken pride in their

business over the years and made sure that they have a nice, viable

building to work out of, and that does not meet the 95 percent of the

land value being land. So that is a big concern we have.

[11:40 a.m.]

There’s another glaring omission in this bill that’s quite

shocking, actually. When I look back and I read through various quotes

from the minister, again, we have on October 30, 2019, the minister

saying that in fact, Cariboo regional district…. They argued that a new

existing commercial subclass would create challenges for them around

fairness.

I must admit, I’ve always been surprised that…. This is why it

stuck in my head when I heard it. She has referenced it a couple of

other times, on other occasions. March 31, 2022 — in fact, the Cariboo

regional district. She has referenced it again on March 2, 2020 — the

Cariboo regional district. So the minister was very alive to the fact

that regional districts are a form of government in our province and, in

fact, was using that as an excuse to not move forward with our private

members’ bills.

Two things about that, though, that struck me was that…. And no

disrespect to the great people of the Cariboo — I have a member from the

Cariboo that sits right beside me, and he’s here right now — but I am

unaware that this is a massive problem of airspace valuations in the

Cariboo regional district on the broad scale of how land values are

impacting small business owners, within a regional district setting

especially.

Why this is a problem, though, is that this bill does not allow

for regional districts to actually implement any of these changes. So

this bill amends the Community Charter, which municipalities operate

under. It amends the Vancouver Charter, which Vancouver operates under.

It does not amend the Local Government Act, which regional districts

operate under.

Now, again, the viewers at home might think that, well, I just

made the case for why it’s not really a big deal with the Cariboo

regional district and other regional districts, especially in my part of

the world. In and around Kamloops, the Thompson-Nicola regional

district, this would not be a huge issue. It might be right on the

periphery of Kamloops, but not likely. However, regional districts exist

across the whole land mass of British Columbia.

It’s interesting when you consider that areas around UBC, in

Vancouver, are in an electoral area. They are actually governed by Metro

Vancouver regional district. But those business owners on those lands

will not be able to access the same tax provisions through their local

government that governs their land use like the city of Vancouver will

be able to do directly next door.

Cultus Lake is another area. Again, areas bordering on

municipalities in the Okanagan and the Shuswap, the Kamloops area, the

Thompson area, the Prince George area — those all actually do have the

potential, because they’re close to those urban centres, of actually

having some impacts. But this minister — despite repeatedly, over the

course of three years’ worth of quotes referencing regional districts as

a reason for delay — saw fit not to amend the Local Government Act in

this bill, which is what regional districts need to operate under. So

that’s another concern that we will bring forward and have, moving

forward.

Again, when you look at the action that has been taken over the

last while, it’s just not quick enough. It’s not actually going to

likely result in the uptake the minister would like to see. We’ve seen

that when they try addressing spiking prices and affordability issues

throughout this province, over the last 5½ years that they’ve been

government.

Now, the Minister of Finance was the former Housing Minister. We

had a recent change in the Housing Minister again. Over the last two

years, it’s been the former Attorney General. We certainly have not seen

affordability issues be tackled around housing with any meaningful heft

whatsoever from this government, and a lot of that drives around the

redevelopment of these properties that these businesses are located on

and the value of the airspace above them.

You have the want, I guess, to try to accelerate development of

these areas, but you have no provincial push behind the scenes to try to

empower municipalities to move things along quickly with those

redevelopments. You have no provincial push behind to try to help the

development community to get their paperwork through municipalities in a

timely fashion.

[11:45 a.m.]

Again, as we saw with the temporary measure that was brought in —

and not action by municipalities whatsoever — the worry is that this

piece of legislation will be something that the government will be able

to point to as if they have taken some form of action. But the reality

is that there are enough clauses in this, as short of a bill as it is,

that will actually, in practice, result in very little uptake from

municipalities across British Columbia, if any — and not just the number

of municipalities but the number of properties within that municipality

that might actually be actioned.

We have a piece of legislation that on the one hand is giving

municipalities the ability to literally pick and choose which properties

would qualify. Even if you meet the criteria…. And our two properties —

my friend from the Cariboo and myself — are next door to each other or

front on different streets but share an alley. A municipality, under

this, would have the ability to say one qualifies, one doesn’t qualify,

and one property in a different part of a town could qualify for a

higher subsidy than the other side of town.

They’ve given that flexibility. They say: “We trust you

municipalities to figure that out on your own, but we’re going to put in

a cap that the only properties you can even remotely consider have to

have 95 percent of their overall assessed value tied up in the land

value.” They’ve immediately then walked back in and said: “Well, we

don’t really trust municipalities to manage their own affairs within

their own city boundaries, so we’re going to put in a clause that starts

to make it very difficult for anyone to even qualify.”

I guess what I’ll wrap up with for today is that we certainly have

some issues around this. We’ll certainly have many questions around

this. We will certainly want to get a better understanding of what was

actually said in the consultation, who was consulted, how they were

consulted. What was the depth of the consultation?

Is the minister prepared to provide any sense of documentation of

what was actually captured in those consultations so that we don’t just,

frankly, take the most secretive government in Canada at their word that

this legislation actually reflects what they heard in

consultation?

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Not when you get told, less than 24 hours ago, that the

consultation was confidential and won’t be talked about. That’s a big

red flag for any opposition anywhere in Canada of any political stripe,

I would suggest.

There are other things that we do like. Obviously, we like that

there is the ability for municipalities to have that flexibility. We

have had that in our private member’s bill from Kamloops–South Thompson

as well. But then there are those contradictory pieces that we need to

flesh out more with the minister, because we’ve not seen the data set

that justifies the 95 percent land value ratio. We need to see that in

conjunction with the consultation outcomes to get a better sense of

where this bill actually lands.

Again, the other thing we have an issue with…. I recognize that

the only way to have this in place in time for the next municipal tax

cycle would be this sitting in the Legislature. But to bring it forward,

after everyone has been waiting for years…. I read out three years of

quotes from the minister — years waiting for this. To bring it out eight

days before a municipal election across this province and think that we

as an opposition could remotely try to reach out to mayors and

councillors to get their better understanding of whether or not this is

something that’s workable….

Let alone how many aren’t running again and people don’t know who

will become mayor. Kamloops has five people running for mayor. I

couldn’t tell you, as I stand here, who will be the mayor. Surrey,

Vancouver…. Victoria is having a new mayor. I mean, this is happening

across the province. It is simply an impossible time to try to get a

good gauge from municipalities what they feel is going to be happening

in their sphere. Yet here we are.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will close my comments out. I look

forward to committee stage of having a more fulsome discussion with the

minister directly and drilling into some of these issues that we’ve

identified as we read through the bill.

Noting the hour, I will move adjournment of the debate.

P. Milobar moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. J. Whiteside moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 p.m.

The House adjourned at 11:50 a.m.

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