Fourth Session, 41st Parliament

(2019) OFFICIAL REPORT

OF DEBATES

(HANSARD)

Monday, November 18, 2019

Morning Sitting

Issue No. 289

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

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

Business confidence in British Columbia

B. Stewart

J. Brar

The road to reconciliation

D. Routley

D. Ashton

Transportation

P. Milobar

B. D’Eith

Multiculturalism

A. Kang

T. Wat

Private Members’ Motions

Motion 23 — Equal opportunity for workers

J. Martin

J. Routledge

M. Lee

J. Sims

D. Barnett

S. Malcolmson

J. Sturdy

M. Elmore

D. Clovechok

R. Kahlon

S. Thomson

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2019

The House met at 10:04 a.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers.

[10:05 a.m.]

Introductions by Members

S. Cadieux: Throughout this morning, a number of groups of students will be

joining us in the gallery — five groups from Katzie Elementary, five grade 5

classes. The teachers that are accompanying the group are Sarah Hern,

Melissa Salter, Darla Chalmers, James Simmers and Hope Rowsell. I hope that

the House will make them welcome and wave nicely to the children when they

arrive.

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE

IN BRITISH

COLUMBIA

B. Stewart: Well, good morning. It’s an honour to rise in this House today and

be accorded the opportunity to talk about the importance of business

confidence in British Columbia. Before I dive into this topic, let’s

first talk about why it is and why it matters. We hear this term a lot

from financial media and the business community.

Basic economics teaches us that there are four components to

economic output: consumption, investment, government and net exports.

How are these four elements linked to business confidence, you ask? It

measures the amount of confidence companies have in the consumers’

demands for goods and services in the future. It presents an overview of

how businesses perceive the prospect for their companies.

If businesses think that demand will fall for what they provide,

they probably are not very confident in the future. If businesses think

that government policies don’t provide certainty, they probably will

hesitate to invest.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

Simply put, a competitive business environment creates confidence.

It helps get companies to invest. However, under the current government,

small business confidence in British Columbia has sunk to the lowest

level since the financial crisis of 2008. I think many people would

remember those dark days. According to the report from the Canadian

Federation of Independent Business, the monthly Business

Barometer index for British Columbia dropped to 52.8 in

October. The B.C. small business confidence index now sits seven points

below the Canadian average. This is the lowest level on the index since

April of 2009, and that’s unbelievable.

The NDP’s punitive measures to make B.C. no longer a

business-friendly place…. They’ve raised taxes, with 19 new and

increased taxes since coming into power two years ago. The most damaging

to small business is the employer health tax. This year the NDP are

charging businesses both MSP and employer health tax, and that’s

double-dipping. Meanwhile, they have removed the revenue neutrality from

the carbon tax, which was increased twice in the last two

years.

In addition to taxing policies, this government’s lack of an open

and transparent approach regarding caribou recovery in the province is

another example of the indifference to the business sector. Without

proper consultation, neither the forestry nor recreation sector was able

to react to the dramatic change in regulation brought in by this

government. This is what I meant by lack of certainty. It’s much more

difficult to make financial decisions or plan for the future when

businesses are hit by a lack of regulatory certainty.

We need to develop the regulatory system that supports B.C.’s

competitiveness. We need to look at the current situation of disaster

with the forest industry in our province right now. They are facing a

permitting process that now is so onerous and time-consuming on top of

all of the other fees and adverse conditions. Why can’t we streamline

our regulation to give businesses a sense of how long a permit process

should take? We are near the end of 2019, and what’s happening here in

B.C. feels like we’re back in the 1990s.

[10:10 a.m.]

The NDP government, back then, taxed and spent. Doesn’t that sound

familiar?

Deputy Speaker: Member, the statements are supposed to be non-partisan.

B. Stewart: Thank you.

You know, I remember starting a small business back in…. Thirty

years ago this year I started a small winery business, and of course, I

was fortunate to have it grow. But I borrowed and took every last cent

that I could muster together to help start a business. Little did I know

about a new corporate tax, the corporate capital tax that the government

brought in, which forced me into having to pay a tax on the money I

borrowed to buy assets to start the business of a manufacturing

plant.

That’s very unproductive. It doesn’t seem to incent people to want

to open up and have a business here in British Columbia. I think the

lesson is that businesses need to be able to make a reasonable return in

order to reinvest, to purchase more equipment and to hire more employees

for expansion. The government’s tax policies should not hinder business

growth. Tax policies should not penalize productive activities, but

sadly, this is what we are witnessing now.

In the 3½ years that I spent in Asia working to help promote

British Columbia, the opportunities that were here to help increase

trade, which represents about 40 percent of Canada’s trade with Asia….

It was all based around confidence. I can remember sitting in boardrooms

in Tokyo or Beijing, and many of the companies that were already

invested in British Columbia wanted certainty, whether it was LNG,

forest products or other products that we were shipping

overseas.

They wanted to make certain that the business climate wasn’t going

to dramatically change so that they could continue to invest. That led

to further investment in both our port — in terms of companies like

Mitsubishi investing in a new grain terminal that’s under construction —

and other activities.

The bottom line is that those are jobs for people, whether it’s

longshoremen or people that work down on the docks. Those are important

jobs for Canada. The bottom line is that sending the wrong signals to….

These corporations that make investments here in Canada and in British

Columbia need to know that Canada is a place of certainty, not

uncertainty.

Mr. Speaker, I think that probably, at this point, I’ll take my

chair and look forward to the comments back on that.

J. Brar: I’m really pleased to respond to the private member’s statement

made by the member for Kelowna West with regard to the business

confidence in British Columbia.

The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that British Columbia remains the

most attractive place in Canada to do business. Let me tell you why. We

are the only province in the country with a triple-A credit rating, as

of today. We have one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios of all of the

provinces in Canada. As of October 2019, B.C. leads the country with the

lowest unemployment rate in Canada, at 4.7 percent. Businesses in B.C.

have the assurance of a striving economy, a balanced budget and some of

the lowest personal income tax in this country.

These are the key benchmarks of a strong economy and high business

confidence in our province. It is also worth mentioning that the

Economic Forecast Council predicted B.C.’s economy will outperform

Canada’s over the next three years. So business confidence in British

Columbia remains the best in the country. That is a fact.

The respectable member for Kelowna West references Canadian

Federation of Independent Business’s monthly survey. He knows, I know

and people know that the Canadian Federation of Independent Business

survey results can shift substantially from month to month in a positive

or negative direction. I do appreciate the work done by the federation

to support the small businesses.

I agree with the member that small businesses are the heart of

B.C. communities and the backbone of our economy. That’s why our

government cares about the viability and success of our small business

sector. We are committed to supporting it at every stage of the business

cycle.

[10:15 a.m.]

As part of Budget 2019, we announced the small business venture

capital tax credit. By doubling the amount an individual can claim and

businesses can raise through the program, this change will help B.C.’s

early-stage businesses grow.

We also moved the export navigator out of its pilot phase and

expanded the program to offer specialized support for businesses owned

by Indigenous people, women and youth. This means four new advisers, in

addition to the six already helping businesses around the province. To

date, the export navigator has helped more than 300 small businesses and

entrepreneurs at all stages of exporting.

We have also reduced the small business tax rate by 20 percent,

from 2.5 percent to 2 percent — the second-lowest small business tax

rate among the provinces, tied with Alberta and Saskatchewan. On April

1, we eliminated the provincial sales tax on non-residential

electricity, saving businesses more than $150 million

annually.

As a direct result of actions taken by our government, we are

seeing significant investments from private companies into our province,

which shows the confidence that the business community has in B.C.’s

economy. In 2018-19, foreign direct investment into B.C. was $2.7

billion, which represents 50 percent of all foreign direct investment in

Canada. That’s significant. It was an even more successful year for

inbound investment to B.C., if we add on the additional $41 billion LNG

final investment decision announced by Shell Canada last October, which

the previous administration failed to do.

We didn’t stop there. Our government will continue to seek advice

through B.C.’s Small Business Roundtable, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce

and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, to make life easier

for small business owners and to help the sector thrive and create jobs.

This government remains committed to building a sustainable and

innovative economy that benefits all British Columbians. B.C. remains

the best place to do business, and this is the most business-friendly

place in Canada.

B. Stewart: The member opposite talks a lot about things that I know took a

significant amount of effort, in the energy that it took for the former

government being able to achieve those milestones: balanced budgets, a

triple-A credit rating. Those are things that…. Obviously, it’s

interesting hearing the member talk about things that we’re very proud

of. I’m glad that he and the government are proud of it. That’s

great.

I want to turn, on a more positive note, to B.C.’s advantage and

what the government can do to boost business confidence. What makes a

company want to establish and operate in British Columbia? Our beautiful

province has a lot of advantages. We have abundant natural resources,

including forestry, oil and gas, as well as mining, just to name a few —

let alone, on our west coast, easy and fast access to Asia. I know that

one of our big pushes was in the fact that we were talking about how

close British Columbia was, and how much closer Prince Rupert and

Kitimat were, to Asia.

Our world-class education ensures a highly skilled workforce, but

that’s not enough. As part of Budget 2017, the former B.C. Liberal

government initiated a number of tax policy measures for economic

development and competitiveness objectives, including two that the

member just mentioned: phasing out provincial sales tax on electricity

for purchases by businesses and reducing the small business corporate

income tax. Without business certainty, we won’t have the capital from

business to generate future jobs and revenue for the government, and

this will mean a declining amount of taxation coming from

businesses.

[10:20 a.m.]

Successful businesses help to pay the bills. The government looks

for support of all kinds of social programs, whether it’s health care or

it’s others for the less fortunate or it’s the fact of creating new

initiatives and creating an even more world-class situation — again,

which the member opposite speaks of.

This is why I am talking about business confidence today. Not only

is it an indicator gauging the health of the economy, but it drives

growth and creates employment. If we look at the bigger picture, British

Columbia is a province with five million people. We are next door to a

country with a population of over 300 million people. We are competing

against jurisdictions all over the world, and we need to remain

competitive in that light.

However, the current economic state is not as optimistic. For the

second time this year, the Business Council of B.C. has downgraded the

economic outlook of British Columbia from 2 percent GDP down to 1.8

percent.

THE ROAD TO RECONCILIATION

D. Routley: I rise today to speak about the road to reconciliation. I’m very

pleased to be able to speak to this issue. I represent six First Nations

in the constituency I represent, so it’s really important to me, having

grown up in the Cowichan Valley, to be able to make this

statement.

Basically, I’m going to tell you two stories and then read off a

bunch of facts. Those two stories — one is about a sweater, and one is

about my grandpa.

The sweater is the Cowichan sweater or the Siwash sweater, which

was actually a detrimental word, a Chinook word, that was applied to the

sweaters that are made in the Cowichan Valley by Cowichan tribes

members, for the most part. These sweaters use heavy, unprocessed,

handspun wool to create beautiful, heavy, warm sweaters that are now

world-famous because of their marketing around the world. They’ve been

recognized federally, actually, as a historical item. Their importance

to our culture and our communities and our region has been

recognized.

The reason I think it’s an important reconciliation story is that

it was an early, loosely organized partnership between European settlers

who raised sheep in the Cowichan Valley and Cowichan tribes members, who

had been making these sweaters for a long time with mountain goat wool,

which was very hard for them to acquire. This became a very important

element economically and also a link between communities. Almost by

mistake, it became a real vehicle of reconciliation, and I think that’s

important.

Finally, my grandpa. After my grandfather Elmer Routley passed

away, I was given a box of his belongings. In that box were two

notebooks. Handwritten in those notebooks were hundreds of Coast Salish

words — Hul’qumi’num words — and they were defined. I learned that my

grandpa did this while he sat drinking coffee with Ernie and Ed Elliott,

Cowichan tribes members who he golfed with. I was really struck when I

found his handwriting and all these words and how it meant, to me, that

something really important had had happened so long ago.

I’d say that what links those two things and makes them part of

the road to reconciliation is their authenticity. First Nations have

waited for an authentic effort at reconciliation. I would give credit to

previous Premier Gordon Campbell for pushing forward on work that had

begun in the 1990s with the Nisg̱a’a

treaty. This work is being continued by the government we represent

here.

I’m just going to read off a few things that our government has

done along this path to reconciliation. These investments are also

something that is authentic because without action, words are merely

gestures. But they become authentic through action.

What we have done is make reconciliation a mandate, a priority,

across all ministries. All ministers are tasked with implementing and

adopting the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous

peoples. We introduced legislation, the first in Canada, to make this

recognition.

[10:25 a.m.]

We made an historic agreement to share gaming revenue with B.C.

First Nations, starting this coming year, to ensure that Indigenous

people have the funding they need in their communities.

That’s working out to $3 billion over a ten-year period: a $50

million grant to the First Peoples Culture Council to support the

revitalization and preservation of Indigenous languages, like notebooks

with handwritten words; dedicated funding to Aboriginal friendship

centres, which for the first time, ensures the continuity of critical

services for urban Indigenous peoples; $550 million over ten years to

support the construction of 1,750 affordable housing units on and off

reserve — on reserve, the first time a province has made such an

investment; $40 million to build and renovate culturally safe, First

Nations–run mental health and addictions treatment centres in

B.C.

There’s much more — many more gestures, not always investments.

Some are to do with the care of children currently in care of the

province. There’s much more to be done. It’s a long road. But we’ve

passed that fork in the road, as a province, where we were forced to

choose continued conflict over authentic partnership. Now that choice

has clearly been made. Not only has it been made in the words that are

said in this House. But through all of these actions, they are made

authentic.

D. Ashton: First of all, I’d like to thank the member for Nanaimo–North

Cowichan for speaking on this subject this morning.

I want to start by saying that, as elected officials, we represent

the entire variety of people, perspectives and personalities that shape

this beautiful province. We share the love of community and the

connection to place, whether it be the regions we hail from or the

ridings that we represent. We are all committed to building a future

that’s full of opportunity and perspective for everyone in British

Columbia. Every British Columbian deserves the opportunity to meet their

full potential. That, of course, includes First Nations. It is clear

that this is a goal shared by all sides of government. We have all had a

part in this process and in the direction the province is moving

towards.

As we look at the implementation of UNDRIP legislation and the

road to reconciliation, it is important not only to look forward to how

this will affect and honour First Nations but also the steps that

precede this. Actions by a previous government that laid the foundation

for this road should be part of the discussion.

In fact, by 2017, we had signed more than 500 agreements with

First Nations across this great province, 345 of which were

revenue-sharing agreements with 242 different First Nations. British

Columbia was the first province in the country to share revenue from

mining, forestry and other resources with First Nations. The agreements

mentioned were signed with nearly all of more than 200 First Nations in

British Columbia. They were designed to ensure an understanding and to

recognize the needs and the values of each community. The foundations to

each of these agreements are the principles of dignity and mutual

respect.

As part of the B.C. jobs plan, the B.C. Liberal government created

a new Aboriginal Business and Investment Council to work more closely

with First Nations to foster wealth, creating partnerships. Between 2001

and 2015, the first citizens fund provided nearly $51 million for 1,737

business loans to Aboriginal businesses. In 2015, our government

launched an Aboriginal skills-training development program to invest $30

million over three years to fill the training gaps for First Nations

wanting to participate in the LNG sector. From 2008 till March 2016, the

Industrial Training Authority and Aboriginal trades and training

initiatives program helped over 3,000 Aboriginal people to receive

training skills.

First Nations’ schools completion rates have continued to climb,

as efforts towards reconciliation and Indigenous studies provide a

welcome space for students and a chance to share their culture and their

knowledge in the ways that have, unfortunately, not always been the

norm.

This is now the responsibility of government, as it is an

expectation for all British Columbians. If we can build on the two

decades of progress in the efforts to help support Indigenous

communities to improve their prosperity, the reward will be a true and

lasting opportunity for everybody in British Columbia. We need to be

open. We need to be transparent. We need to take action and be mindful

of the challenges that are lying ahead.

[10:30 a.m.]

This means that we can realize our dreams in British Columbia. As

we move forward, we must do it in the spirit of unity. And we must also

do it provided by the guidance of the principles that everybody in this

province must feel a sense of belonging, that B.C. is our home, that

we’ll be respected here, that we’ll have a full sense of citizenship and

that we’ll be treated with respect and dignity each and every

day.

This is the standard we owe every British Columbian. That’s why

I’m incredibly proud to stand here in the Legislature and welcome the

opportunity for real and continued discussion on how we can achieve a

higher level of reconciliation with the Indigenous people here in the

province.

D. Routley: I’d like to thank the member for Penticton for his thoughtful

contribution to this conversation.

I think it’s really important, as we consider the metaphor of road

to reconciliation, to extend that metaphor. I attempted earlier to talk

about the fork that we’d already passed, as a province, between a

continued path of conflict, which we’ve left behind…. We’re moving to

authentic partnership.

This is, to perhaps overextend that metaphor, the highway to a

future for British Columbia that is one of prosperity for all

communities and all peoples in this province, one where people can

thrive and people can experience their lives fully, with full rights and

privileges of citizenship. I think that hasn’t been the case in so many

ways for our First Nations friends. Now we’re on a path where I think

we’ve gone from transactional agreements and an approach that led to,

certainly, better consequences over the past years, but now into a phase

of transformative transition, where the lives of people, their families

and their communities are impacted at a very high level in terms of the

rights of individuals, the recognition of communities, support for

communities, and we know that they will thrive.

I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, that when I was first elected, the

Cowichan people were 70 percent 26 years and under. There are some

extraordinary young leaders coming forward across the province, but in

the region I represent, Snuneymuxw, they all have young, professional

councillors who are incredible assets to their communities. I think

we’re looking at a really bright future.

This is like the dawn of a new time, those people and us, in these

roles at a pivotal time. We should never undervalue that, because this

is a historic moment of change, and we have taken a different path, all

of us in this House — including the member for Penticton, who I, again,

would thank for his contribution.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity.

TRANSPORTATION

P. Milobar: Five weekends to Christmas. There are five weekends till

Christmas, which, by anyone’s standard, would mean we are in the holiday

season.

The last I checked, for the last two, three holiday seasons now,

the Premier has promised British Columbians that we would have

ride-hailing. The holiday season has started, and we do not have

ride-hailing anywhere near on the horizon in British

Columbia.

I say that because my topic today is around transportation. It’s

important that we remember that there are many different transportation

opportunities for people around the world. There’s one glaring exception

within British Columbia. If we’re not willing to embrace technological

advances as it relates to transportation — technological advancements

that the public are actually demanding for transportation — we will

always be behind.

I say that under the context of what we see within a transit

system itself. Ride-hailing is one piece of that overall system for the

travelling public. I think it’s important that we remember that this is

about people wanting to get themselves around their communities they

live in, in a manner that they feel is most effective for themselves to

get around.

When you look at transit, when you look at the technological

advances that transit systems have adopted over time, from trip planners

that you can get on your phone…. You can punch in where you want to

start, where you want to go, and it will tell you the exact stops to go

to. It will tell you when you’re going to arrive. It will tell you when

the bus is going to get there. It will tell you, in the case of

Vancouver, if the bus is running late. We know, right now, that buses

are running late due to the transit strike and the disruption that we’re

seeing there.

[10:35 a.m.]

That is likely to continue, by the way the two sides are at right

now, through the holiday season, through those five weekends, those five

weekends that people are going to be out, trying to celebrate with

friends, family, co-workers and not have every possible transportation

option at their disposal to get themselves home safely, to be able to

enjoy their evening out and get themselves home safely.

In Kamloops, where I’m from, we have a very successful Operation

Red Nose. Some make the joke: “What does that mean?” I think it means

that we have a very responsible citizenry. We actually have more rides

in a year with Operation Red Nose than Surrey does, year after year

after year, and we’re a tenth of the population. People take it very

seriously. They take that option very seriously.

The irony is that Operation Red Nose, which runs very successfully

and is a great fundraiser — in Kamloops’s case, for PacificSport — is

operated by volunteers — volunteers with a class 5 driver’s licence who

are deemed to be safe drivers on icy, snowy roads to come pick you up

wherever you’re out celebrating and get into your vehicle to drive it —

a vehicle they’ve never driven before — in dark, slippery conditions and

get you home safely.

Yet what we see is the government refusing to acknowledge that

that could still happen with ride-hailing. As a result, we’re seeing

delay after delay after delay. Five weeks till Christmas. Five weekends.

Still no ride-hailing. Five weekends to Christmas and still no approvals

for ride-hailing anywhere. Yet somehow we’re expected to believe that

within those five weekends, not only will companies be approved; they

will actually have drivers on the road.

Now, no one on this side of the House is suggesting that people

should not have criminal record checks. No one on this side of the House

is suggesting that vehicles should not have to go through safety

inspections. We have still not heard how, in those five weekends,

companies are going to be approved; the drivers will have had their

criminal record checks; and, more importantly, their vehicles will have

passed a mechanical safety check.

But in those five weekends, you can phone Operation Red Nose and

have that volunteer come and drive your car that hasn’t had a mechanical

safety check. So maybe the volunteer is putting themselves in peril or

not. We’re not sure. You can have that volunteer get into a vehicle on a

dark night, a snowy night, an icy-road night, and drive you home in your

car, and you are deemed to be safe.

There are all sorts of transportation options out there for

people. Unfortunately, we’re not going to see them for this holiday

season. Magnify that to what we’re seeing in the Metro area of

Vancouver, with the rotating transit strikes and disruption to service

over those same five weekends to Christmas, and one can only imagine how

difficult it’s going to be for people to safely get around in

Vancouver.

What impact that has to the overall economy in the hospitality

side of the industry, when people and businesses and catering companies

and restaurants and bars and all of those types of services rely on a

busy Christmas season, a busy holiday season, a holiday season we were

promised this type of transportation option for British Columbians…. In

fact, we were promised it for 2017. We were promised it for 2018. Now we

were promised it for 2019. Yet we’re standing here with five weekends to

go, which means the simple math is that by this time next weekend, if I

did this same speech, it would be four weekends to go, and still no

ride-hailing. So it will go on and go on.

Now, I know the House will end in two weeks, and that’s probably a

relief to the Premier and the government that they will not have to

answer questions around this broken promise around having ride-hailing

in time for the holiday season. But the holiday season is here. The

times for delays are over. Unfortunately, I guess the only answer we

could see is that we will get an answer that it will be here for the

holiday season in 2020. Because with five weekends to go….

Make no mistake. I grew up in the hotel industry, and I know when

the holiday season starts, when it relates to caterers and banquets and

staff parties…. Arguably, it started last weekend, but we’ll give the

Premier the benefit of the doubt. It most certainly starts this weekend.

That is the holiday season. The commitment was not by New Year’s Eve.

The commitment was the holiday season.

The holiday season is here. British Columbians have less

transportation options now, especially with the rotating transit strikes

that the government does not want to try to intercede with. We will see

this play out, unfortunately, to the detriment of the travelling public.

Again, ultimately it’s the travelling public that is demanding these.

It’s the public that wants the options. It’s the public that wants to be

able to try to move around.

[10:40 a.m.]

In fact, the government’s own all-party committee made several

recommendations that have been ignored, regardless of the fact that they

were unanimous decisions. Class 4 and class 5 weren’t unanimous, but it

was certainly a majority.

B. D’Eith: Thanks to the member for Kamloops–North Thompson for bringing up

this important topic of transportation. I appreciate the comments re

transit. I couldn’t start this without thinking about the fact that it’s

Indigenous disability week and, in fact, the previous government cut bus

passes to people with disabilities. We brought that back. If we want to

talk about transportation, especially during this week, I’d like to

remind the member of that.

But let’s talk about some things around transportation that are

important to my community. When I was door-knocking before I got

elected, there were some really important issues that were facing my

community, in Maple Ridge and Mission, particularly around

affordability, around the services that people count on and the fact

that while we had this great economy, they were living from paycheque to

paycheque. Actually, transportation plays such a huge

part in all of

these things.

One of the things, for example — and one of the first things —

that this government did was to cut the tolls for the Port Mann and

Golden Ears bridges. Now, this was huge, huge savings for my people in

Maple Ridge and Mission. We’re talking about $1,500 a year for people. I

mean, it’s an important amount of money. In fact, there are a few

businesses….

There’s one business that I know. They’re on the Maple Ridge side,

and all their business was in Langley and Surrey. They were going back

and forth over the Golden Ears Bridge three, four, five times a day.

That adds up. In fact, it was so much that…. It was around $5,000 a

month for this company. Now with the tolls removed, that was actually

enough money to hire a new person. That’s the kind of transformative

change this made to that business.

Not only that, but I’ve talked to so many people in my community

who benefited from this. They have family on the Langley side or the

Surrey side. They have people in hospitals or in hospice. This has

actually changed the lives of people. In addition to that, the Golden

Ears Bridge…. You used to be able to have road hockey tournaments on

that bridge because people didn’t use it because of the tolls. Well, now

people are using that bridge, which is fantastic. That’s just one part

of the huge benefit of that one thing.

The other thing that’s really important to recognize in my

community, especially from Pitt Meadows right to Mission, through Maple

Ridge, is that we have one of the fastest-growing communities because of

the affordability crisis in housing. The previous government could have

seen this coming and done the work that we needed to upgrade the

infrastructure. But that’s being done now. In fact, there are a few

things. We had the Minister of Transportation out to tour some of the

projects that are underway. We have the Haney Bypass that’s being fixed

up right now. We have Highway 7 widening to four lanes in Mission.

That’s happening right now.

On Laity Street, on Highway 7 and 220th, we had a number of really

unfortunate accidents with pedestrians. One woman was killed, for

example. So we recently finished a project where we’ve lit that entire

corridor, making transportation more safe for pedestrians, cyclists and

drivers, which is really important.

I’m so excited that, in fact, we recently announced that the last

bit of four-laning of Highway 7 will be put in between 266th and 287th

streets. This is something that has been called for, for — I don’t even

know how long — you know, 20 years. This is the hardest part. This is

the most difficult part. Of course, the most difficult part has been

left to this government, and that has been approved to move ahead. Right

now we’re in the final piece of work for that four-laning. These are the

sorts of things that are important to keep people moving.

But to deal briefly with ride-hailing, the previous government had

five years to deal with this, from 2012 to 2017. They did nothing. Now,

the government right now spent the time to consult with law enforcement,

with municipalities, with industry associations and stakeholders to get

it right.

[10:45 a.m.]

So ride-hailing 2.0 is what we have. We’re able to deal with some

of the challenges that other jurisdictions had so that we can get it

right. And the class 4 licence — it’s about safety. Now, perhaps the

members on the other side want to talk about making it easier. But to

me, it’s about safety.

P. Milobar: I’m glad the member for Maple Ridge–Mission is appreciative of

several of the capital projects in his riding started by the B.C.

Liberals, as he mentioned them there.

I would point out that the committee did do an extensive review of

the differential between class 4 and class 5 and actually asked ICBC for

further documentation, a further study around the safety impacts and the

crash rates around class 4 and class 5. In fact, there was no

discernible difference between the two, which is why the recommendation

was made by the all-party committee.

Touching on other transportation options that are out there, when

you look at what’s going on across the Lower Mainland — not just

focusing on one single riding, as we’ve heard from the member opposite

recently before me here…. When you look at the whole Lower Mainland and

when you look at the whole province, as this Legislature is supposed to

do, it gets very concerning. You look at things like the delays on the

Massey Tunnel replacement, which would be halfway done right now and

about $900 million under budget if it had not been delayed, stalled and

cancelled by the government for strictly ideological reasons. It would

have people moving. It would have people being able to flow.

The transit strike and the lack of action or worry shown by this

government, frankly, is concerning. Then all the cost overruns we’re

seeing with the community benefits agreements. Again, the dollars that

are being spent on transportation could actually go that much farther.

There could be that many more transportation projects approved in this

province if they were not tied up with cost overruns with these CBAs,

which do not actually create value for the taxpaying public.

If they didn’t want to do any further transportation

up­grades, think of all the schools that could fund. Think of all

the portables in Surrey that were promised to be disappeared by this

time that could actually be funded, instead of those cost overruns

happening on these highway projects — strictly, again, as an ideological

way of looking at spending the taxpayers’ dollars instead of looking at

it as a way to try to get maximum value for the taxpayer, to make sure

that their transportation options are full, robust and well-funded and

to make sure that it’s not just going simply to benefit agreements that

benefit a very few and not the masses of the province of British

Columbia.

Hopefully, we’ll see transportation taken a little more seriously

moving forward, we’ll see better options for the travelling public, and

we’ll see technology better embraced by the government as we move

forward with transportation. We’ve already seen the transit authorities

embrace technology. It’s time for the government to actually embrace

that technology as well.

That’s why you’ve seen agencies like B.C. Transit or agencies like

TransLink make sure that they’ve made those technological investments

for the travelling public when it relates to mass transit. But not every

part of the province has the same level of mass transit service as the

Broadway corridor. That’s why it’s important we take transportation

seriously.

Deputy Speaker: Members, again, a caution that Monday morning statements are

supposed to be non-partisan. Both sides tried to push the line today. Be

careful, please.

MULTICULTURALISM

A. Kang: Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today as

Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism on the work that the

government has been doing and continues to do in protecting and

strengthening the diversity of our province.

Diversity and inclusivity have always been an essential part of

our identity as British Columbians. We are so proud of this identity and

also this heritage.

As British Columbians, we learn from each other, building

understanding and creatively solving problems that affect each and every

single one of us every day. That’s how our diversity strengthens our

community ties.

Make no mistake. The diversity of our beautiful province was not

given or bestowed upon us. It is a fundamental value that our

predecessors fought long and hard for. Sometimes these tremendous

sacrifices may seem like distant memories. We must constantly be

reminded that we should not take our diversity and multiculturalism for

granted.

Diversity is not a one-way street, and our progress must sometimes

be undone in the blink of an eye.

[10:50 a.m.]

We must remain vigilant, diligent and persistent in continuing the

work of the generations before us and for the generations that come

after us.

The sad reality is that incidents of racism and discrimination are

increasing, both in Canada and around the world. According to the 2017

Juristat report on hate crimes, there were 2,073 reported

incidents of hate crimes nationally in 2017, which reflects a 47 percent

increase.

Far too often opportunists have used racism as a tool for

political gain and seek to benefit from divisive rhetorics. Not only do

these rhetorics defy our values as British Columbians, but they also

often lead to acts of violence that revert our progress in building

trust and understanding. The more that these factors and forces attempt

to divide us, the more we must stand together against those who are

sowing fear and hate in our communities.

In light of the racist incidents in both Richmond and in my own

community, in Burnaby, I would like to highlight some of the work that

this government has done and continues to do in standing up for equality

and justice. Alongside community leaders, the government is honouring

our cultural diversity and acknowledging the contribution of peoples of

all backgrounds. Different ministries are working together in advancing

the same objectives.

Here are some actions that this government is taking. One major

action that this government has taken is the reestablishment of the

Human Rights Commission for B.C., which was abolished by the previous

government in 2003. Just a few weeks ago our government introduced

legislation to implement the United Nations declaration on the rights of

Indigenous people, UNDRIP, here in B.C. We are the first across

Canada.

The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General also launched

a five-year countering radicalization to violence pilot program to

promote community safety and prevent racialization to violence across

the province. The Ministry of Education leads the ERASE program, which

works to ensure that our schools are safe, respectful and inclusive. The

Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is introducing

B.C.’s first poverty reduction strategy, TogetherBC, which seeks to

reduce overall poverty in the province by 25 percent and cut child

poverty in half over the next five years by bringing together

investments across the government. By reducing poverty, we are bringing

our communities closer together.

The gender equity office is working across government to ensure

that the needs of the priorities of women, especially Indigenous and

racialized women, are taken into account in all programs and policies.

The legislation welcomes British Columbians to celebrate key events such

as Diwali, Nowruz and Vaisakhi. As part of Vaisakhi, we hosted a

dialogue with members of the Sikh Youth of Victoria. Just a few weeks

ago we also celebrated Islamic Heritage Month in the Hall of Honour at

the Legislature for the very first time.

There’s also a two-year provincial nominee program — PNP —

entrepreneur immigration regional pilot that will help attract

entrepreneurs around the world who are seeking and looking to establish

a business and begin a new life here in B.C.’s smaller

communities.

Underpinning everything we do as government is a fundamental

commitment to achieving true and lasting reconciliation with Indigenous

peoples, while also welcoming newcomers that will become an integral

part of our collective future. This commitment is embedded into the

daily work of our government and foundational to all decisions that we

make here.

Everyone deserves to feel a sense of belonging here in B.C., to

live free from fear of oppression and to fully express one’s cultural

diversity. We’re incredibly lucky to live in this inclusive,

multicultural province. Our lives and communities are enriched every day

by the diverse cultures that make up British Columbia. Our diversity

also makes our economy stronger, to create opportunities for us to

strengthen relationships with people from all around the world. These

factors give us all the reasons to protect our values. As we celebrate

diversity and honour the cultural traditions we share, we must continue

to stand together against racism, against prejudice and those who seek

to divide us.

Our government will always stand up for diversity, inclusion and

mutual respect. Together we can work to build a better future for

everyone — every person in every community.

[10:55 a.m.]

T. Wat: I rise today to talk about multiculturalism. As the most

ethnic-diverse province in Canada, multiculturalism remains key to our

political and social landscape and must be promoted if we are to

continue our economic growth and prosperity. Our previous government

took great strides to do exactly that.

In 2017 alone, our former government provided $300,000 in

multiculturalism grants to non-profit societies and community-based

organizations throughout the province to help celebrate cultural

identity, promote diversity and challenge racism. Between 2016 and 2017,

we directed nearly $1.6 million in funding towards partnerships and

projects aimed at eliminating racism, including promotion and support

for community-led antiracism programs such as Organizing Against Racism

and Hate.

We developed many public education programs that helped update

B.C.’s education curriculum to include historical wrongs against Chinese

Canadians as well as specific incidents like the Komagata Maru and the

internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and

included an on-line tool called Unlearn Racism to help students

understand and challenge racism.

Tolerance, inclusion and reconciliation cannot just be taught

through school curriculum. It is important that we teach the next

generation through example. We, as a government, made great strides to

establish reconciliation with British Columbia’s many cultural groups,

including Premier Christy Clark’s formal apology on behalf of the entire

Legislative Assembly for historical wrongs imposed on them by past

provincial governments.

When I was the Minister for Multiculturalism, I assisted the B.C.

Liberal government with establishing the Legacy Initiatives Advisory

Council in September of 2014 to advise the government on how to ensure

community engagement and successful implementation of B.C.’s Chinese

legacy initiative projects. Our government recognized that the promotion

of multiculturalism not only benefited Canada socially but economically

as well.

As Minister for Multiculturalism and International Trade, I

organized various meetings with different ethnic business groups,

including Filipino, Iranian, Punjabi, Korean and Chinese, to discuss how

multiculturalism can attract business and economic opportunity to

British Columbia. It is my belief that multiculturalism should always be

promoted and pursued in a non-partisan way, as it a goal that is shared

by all members of this House. I’m hoping that this current government

will include members of the opposition, such as myself, in future

projects and ceremonies.

This sort of action will ensure that this current government can

continue the legacy that our past administration worked so hard to

build. Actions like commemorating B.C. historical sites with plaques in

Kelowna, Cumberland, Ashcroft, Kamloops, Barkerville, Victoria, Lytton

and Yale are great initiatives to protect our history of immigration and

multiculturalism here in B.C. These eight plaques were included in the

legacy project initiated by our previous government. These plaques have

ensured that the legacy of our communities, built through the hard work

of people from all cultures and backgrounds, will be remembered for

generations to come.

Our previous government also allocated funding for an additional

historic plaque to be installed in Vancouver’s Chinatown. We certainly

hope that next year we’ll proudly see the plaque in Vancouver’s

Chinatown to showcase and commemorate the rich history of this historic

site. It is key that we look to the ideas of British Columbians from

across our province, and not just those that occupy this Legislature, to

properly uphold our legacy of diversity and prosperity.

Over the past weekend, I visited a Chinese-language school in my

riding of Richmond North Centre and talked to over 100 students about

the Chinese-Canadian history in B.C. I’m very encouraged to see the

students have an immense interest in the history of our province and

also very proud to see that they have the ability to speak another

language. Having this language ability widens their horizon and builds

strength for them.

Diversity and prosperity have always gone hand in hand in B.C.

politics. Our province was built by men and women of all cultures,

creeds and backgrounds, and it is a responsibility of both sides of this

House to find the greatest path forward that creates opportunity for all

of B.C.

[11:00 a.m.]

A. Kang: I want to thank the member for Richmond North Centre for her

passion and her advocacy for multiculturalism. It’s great that we could

have this conversation that is bipartisan and an issue that matters to

both sides of the House.

British Columbia is the most diverse province in Canada, and as

British Columbians, we can trace our origins to more than 200 countries

and regions. Adding to our diversity, we welcome nearly 40,000 new

immigrants every year to B.C.

B.C. is home to 203 First Nations and urban Indigenous and Métis

communities. With different origins come different languages. The many

languages that are spoken in B.C. present more challenges in

trust-building — but nevertheless, more rewarding. What we ultimately

understand, after connecting with people who speak different languages,

is the fact that behind every spoken language beats the same heart that

wants nothing more than the opportunity of a better life that our

beautiful B.C. has to offer.

[J. Isaacs in the chair.]

In Canada and around the globe, extremist violence and hate are on

the rise, fuelled by those who use prejudice and racism as tools for

political gain. As we mourn the lives lost to acts of terrorism, we are

committed to standing together against hatred and violence in all forms.

Everyone deserves to feel safe in one’s community, home and place of

worship.

The government has been taking action in building a more

inclusive, multicultural province and will continue to improve the lives

of the people living here. In addition to all the actions taken by our

government that I have already highlighted, the Minister of Tourism,

Arts and Culture has honoured five people this year for their work to

end racism. We have also supported 76 community groups through $300,000

in multiculturalism grants. Furthermore, 36 communities across B.C.

received a total of $280,000 in delivering the Organizing Against Racism

and Hate program.

The ministry also continues to engage the community leaders and

organizations on local emerging issues related to racist and hate

incidents through a community dialogue across the province. Today and

every day, our government will defend the values of diversity, equality

and mutual respect. As we sow seeds of trust here in B.C., we also hope

that flowers of love will bloom across the peaceful world.

The metaphor of our society as a tapestry best describes the

importance of multiculturalism in B.C. Each of us is a thread of

different size and colour that weaves around each other. The more

diversity of the thread, the more beautiful our canvas becomes. The

tighter we weave together, the stronger our tapestry becomes. By

building trust and understanding, connecting different cultures, the

better B.C. becomes.

Hon. B. Ralston: I’d ask that the House consider proceeding with Motion 23 standing

in the name of the member for Chilliwack.

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

proceed with Motion 23 without disturbing the priorities of the motions

preceding it on the order paper.

Leave granted.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 23 — EQUAL

OPPORTUNITY FOR

WORKERS

J. Martin: Welcome back to all of my colleagues after our little break from

the sitting session. Good to be here. I’m pleased to be in the House

today and move the following motion:

[Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all

workers in British Columbia.]

B.C. is full of hard-working individuals who power our economy by

providing the goods and services that we all need and use each and every

day. From construction workers to those in the hospitality industry,

from forestry workers to educators, from engineers to social workers,

this province has millions of people who work hard each and every day to

do the vital jobs that help B.C. prosper and provide British Columbians

and their families with a steady income.

It should be a given that all of these workers have equal

opportunity in their respective fields of employment — that they are

given equal access to work on projects that enable them to provide for

their families; that they are paid an equal wage to those doing the same

or similar work, with no fear of favouritism or discrimination on any

level whatsoever, let alone from the government of the day.

It’s disappointing that this is no longer the reality in our

province when it comes to compensation and the opportunity to take

part

in public projects. This is made no clearer than through the community

benefits agreements, CBAs. These have been touted as an exemplary

program for investing in B.C.’s workers — very noble. But since their

introduction, the framework has continually proved to limit the

opportunity for the majority of the province’s workers.

[11:05 a.m.]

When you strip back the layers of rhetoric surrounding CBAs, it

becomes clear that they have been designed with the simple purpose of

benefiting a select group of 19 unions handpicked by the government.

Meanwhile, a majority of B.C. workers are excluded. This means that

these union benefit agreements will lock out 85 percent of construction

workers in this province — 85 percent, a staggering number.

All British Columbians should be given a chance to apply to work

on public infrastructure projects, yet under the CBA framework, workers

who want to work on such projects are forced to join and pay dues to one

of the 19 unions that have been pre-approved. This is a serious problem,

and it’s a discriminatory policy that will limit opportunity for

non-unionized workers, as well as for workers in those unions that have

not made it onto the government’s approved list. In effect, CBAs will

serve to be a form of forced unionization of the province’s labour

force.

Even those who live in communities where these projects are taking

place will not be given the same opportunity as approved union workers.

This carries with it a particularly cruel irony, given the name

“community benefit agreements.”

Of course, this is to say nothing of the massive additional costs

of projects conducted under the CBA framework. All of the projects

currently taking place under CBAs are running significantly over budget.

Projects in Kicking Horse Canyon, the Pattullo Bridge and others, for

example, are cost­ing taxpayers millions more than they would have

with­out CBAs in place. Independent analysis estimates that

adopting CBAs could add as much as $4.8 billion more in labour costs to

public infrastructure projects, which works out to a nearly $4,000 share

for each and every family in British Columbia.

At the end of the day, CBAs are simply not designed to benefit

communities, despite what their name suggests. They cost millions more

than they provide, and they provide fewer opportunities for B.C.

workers. They are an example of the government looking out for friends

first, while the rest of British Columbians are forced to look for

opportunity elsewhere. British Columbia belongs to all of us. No one is

better than anybody else. All workers should be treated equally. All

workers should be granted equal access to assist in the building of the

infrastructure in this beautiful province. The CBAs run counter to

that.

J. Routledge: Thank you to the member for Chilliwack for introducing the motion,

“Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity for all

workers in British Columbia.”

I welcome the chance to talk about equal opportunity — or what

we’ve more accurately come today to refer to as employment equity. It’s

a topic that’s very close to my heart. Today we have legislation that

mandates employment equity in federally regulated workplaces, but it

took us a long time to get here, and we learned some hard lessons along

the way.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission was established in 1977. In

the early days, I worked closely with commission staff. I worked with

them to document evidence of discrimination — particularly, systemic

discrimination that was baked into the systems. We identified specific

barriers. We developed measures to remove and to remediate barriers. We

worked hard to make workplace culture welcoming to newcomers, but

mistakes were made.

An example from the 1980s actually still haunts me. Women were

recruited to apply for jobs in federal prisons. That was a good idea.

What was a bad idea was assigning one woman per shift. What was a bad

idea was springing them on what was a dangerous work environment that

still viewed women as too weak and emotional to have their backs. What

was a bad idea was to do this before harassment policies were in place

and before there was a commitment to enforce those harassment

policies.

[11:10 a.m.]

I spent a lot of time in my career with the Public Service

Alliance helping union locals, activists and staff put good employment

equity plans in place. I also spent a lot of my time cleaning up the

messes that were created when ill-conceived employment equity was

imposed on workplaces.

Sound bites do not create equality of opportunity.

De­nouncing discrimination does not put an end to it. What moves

us forward towards equality in the workplace is having a plan and then

committing to implementing it. Employment equity, employment

opportunity, is a process, and community benefits agreements are an

important part of that process. It’s a process that opens the door to

good, well-paying jobs to those groups who have been shut out in the

past.

Now, earlier this morning, the member for Kamloops–​North

Thompson referred to community benefits agreements as having no value.

Community benefits agreements are not discrimination. Community benefits

agreements are one solution to discrimination, and the members opposite

should know that. The members opposite have had 16 years to familiarize

themselves with how employment equity works, 16 years to create

employment equity for workers in B.C. Instead, they squandered their

power that they had to do that. In fact, they used their power to create

even more barriers. Other speakers today will be giving some specific

examples of that.

I want to concentrate on the implications of having undermined

union power. It is a fact. There is evidence that unionized workplaces

tend to be more equitable workplaces. But what was one of the first

things the former government did? They gutted three pieces of

legislation. It made it harder for workers to join unions, harder to get

justice when they were the victims of favouritism at work, harder to get

compensation if they were disabled at work. Yet they come here today to

try to school us about what is equal and what is not equal.

Equal opportunities for working people are hard work. It takes

courage, and it takes an investment in people. It’s about ensuring that

every working family can live their best lives regardless of skin

colour, gender or disability. Employment opportunity is not a rhetorical

football to be kicked around in a game of political

partisanship.

M. Lee: I am pleased to rise today to speak in strong support of the

motion that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in

British Columbia.

When a key piece of public infrastructure is being replaced, like

the Pattullo Bridge, or highways being widened, like the Trans-Canada,

local workers and contractors should be given a fair chance to work on

that project. However, this current NDP government, under their

community benefits agreement framework, have excluded most of the

province’s workforce from the public construction projects and cost

taxpayers billions of dollars in additional costs.

The CBA discriminates against workers, forcing them to join and

pay dues to a select group of unions handpicked by the NDP. If they

choose not to join one of these select unions, they’re simply not

allowed to work on the project. This is a serious infringement of the

rights of workers and is a forced unionization of workers. The CBA

breaks the continuity of pension plans, benefit plans and any

apprenticeship training programs for those workers who are forced to

join those unions.

[11:15 a.m.]

Because of this blatant discrimination, the Independent

Contractors and Business Association of British Columbia, the ICBA, has

taken the government to court, claiming that the community benefits

agreement framework clearly violates the rights of workers to choose

whether or not they wish to be part of a union while they work on public

construction projects. While the government argued that that case should

be heard by the Labour Relations Board, the B.C. Supreme Court has

agreed to hear the case, considering factors including allegations of

improper purpose and the impact on the rights and interests of workers

and contractors.

Other important challenges raised by the B.C. Supreme Court

include that the CBA violates the right to freedom of association under

the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that the province does not have

the authority under law to impose their building-trades-only requirement

on public infrastructure projects. Furthermore, the imposition of the

building-trades-only requirement undermines the freedom of expression,

freedom of association and political equality rights of construction

workers, who are forced by this NDP government’s tendering requirements

to join, contribute to and support unions favoured by this government.

This is simply wrong in so many ways.

It is vital that we level the playing field for workers in our

province. If we truly want to benefit the communities of B.C., we need

to ensure that we make decisions and agreements that increase

opportunity in our communities, rather than excluding 85 percent of our

workers.

This government puts forward amendments to the Election Act. As

they do so, in this House, we should consider how much money is being

funneled through the community benefits agreement framework to unions

that support the NDP. The related project labour agreement, under the

CBA, requires 32 cents per person per hour to go to unions, including 25

cents per hour for union administration through the new Allied

Infrastructure and Related Construction Council of B.C. These unions

have been significant political and financial supporters of the NDP —

the 19 unions.

Under the 2018 Election Act amendments, unions can no longer be

financial supporters to their NDP allies, but unions can be political

supporters, both through third-party advertising efforts and

organization of volunteers. This is where these taxpayer dollars are

going. The Premier boasted about getting big money out of B.C. politics

back in 2018. Little did we know that his real plan, with the Attorney

General’s acquiesce, was to build a backdoor loophole into his NDP union

engine room, entirely funded by B.C. taxpayer dollars.

Funding trade unions that support the NDP with tax dollars is a

clear abuse of fairness rules for administrating B.C. electoral

activities, to the detriment of the other political parties in B.C.

These funds will certainly be used by big unions to support the NDP’s

future political activities, and when paired with the huge inflow of

foreign funds into our political process, we will continue to see the

undermining of democratic rights for British Columbians.

The CBA is not about workers and giving them opportunity. These

agreements are about funneling taxpayer dollars to unions that support

the NDP. It should not take the courts of our province to stop this

government from discriminating against workers in our province and

undermining our democratic rights. We need a government that will stop

this shameful and unfair CBA arrangement. We need a government to

respect the rule of law for all British Columbians while providing equal

opportunity for all workers in our province.

J. Sims: It’s my pleasure today to rise and speak on the motion put on by

my colleagues: “Be it resolved that this House support equal opportunity

for all workers in British Columbia.”

First of all, let me tell you how heartwarming it was for me, as a

lifelong teacher, to have somebody from the opposition side put forward

a motion that talks about equal opportunity for all workers in British

Columbia. It is something that many of us have been dedicated to for

most of our lives.

I’ve heard a lot today about equality, and I think it is, without

any doubt, that every one of us in this room agrees that equity and

equality have been missing in the workplace and in many of our

institutions as well. When I look at employment, there are many barriers

in employment and in the workplace for many people, whether it’s based

on the colour of their skin, the language they speak, their ethnicity,

their gender, their sexual orientation — and, yes, even if they want to

join a union. I know some people have been asked that question at an

interview, and if they say they are interested in joining a union, they

don’t always get the job that they have gone to apply for.

[11:20 a.m.]

I think it behooves all of us to stop for a second today and think

about equality versus equity.

As a mother and as a lifelong teacher, one thing I realized, as my

kids were growing up…. Of course I loved them both, but their needs were

very, very different. So I couldn’t be equal with them all the time. I

had to be equitable with them. I know, for example, that my son needed a

little bit of extra attention when it came to going out to his sports —

so he got more of that —

whereas my daughter needed more attention when

it came to her piano lessons. So she got that.

I think one of the big things we’ve seen over the last couple of

decades is a recognition that it’s time we started to talk about equity,

because it is equity that will lead to a redress of the unfair treatment

faced by so many people in British Columbia and around the

world.

I also am very, very interested in the comments made by colleagues

about the labour movement and about unions. It’s almost as if unions are

an anathema and should be avoided at all costs. Let me remind all of us,

from a historical perspective, that unions were formed out of necessity.

They were formed because workers were dying on the job — high death

rate, high injury rate. The employer had all the power, and the workers,

individually, didn’t really have anything to bargain with.

It was at that time in England that the union movement was born.

Workers got together and said: “Enough is enough. Too many of us are

dying on the job. Too many of us have we had to bury. So let us go

together and form a grouping.” That’s where the word union comes

from.

We also have to recognize that it’s the labour movement, the

unions, that has given us so much. It gave us our five-day week, which

isn’t a five-day week anymore. It also led to things like maternity

leave. It led to employment equity in many, many workplaces. It led to

addressing racism in a very serious way. It led to negotiations around

equal pay for equal work. Unions have played a critical role in the

social movements throughout the world, and they play a role that is

absolutely a necessity.

You know, I heard my colleague across the way talking about how

non-unionized people can’t apply for jobs. Of course they can bid on the

jobs. It’s just that within 13 days of having got the job, they will

join a collective, and they will get all the rights of the collective.

Once they leave that job, they’re no longer a member. So it is a choice

— whether you apply or not.

Years and years ago I can remember meeting a young teacher, saying

to me: “If I come to teach in B.C., will I be a member of a union?” I

said: “Absolutely. In B.C., public school teachers are members of a

union.”

D. Barnett: Equal opportunity is a fundamental right of anyone who wants to

live and work in British Columbia. No one should be denied the

opportunity to work based on gender, cultural background or professional

status. We have legislation in place to regulate the private sector, and

one would expect this of the public sector.

As elected representatives, our first responsibility is to ensure

that taxpayers get the best value for their money. It is a burden of

trust that comes with the job of being a public official. Mishandle the

public purse, and a career in politics will come to an abrupt end when

the next election comes around. I have always observed the principles of

openness and transparency, whether on city council or here at the

provincial Legislature. While there may be several different levels of

government, it should be remembered that there is only one taxpayer. So

when it comes to the use of public money, we have an obligation to

observe the highest degree of integrity, fairness and

transparency.

[11:25 a.m.]

Unfortunately, the NDP’s community benefits agreement fails

taxpayers on all accounts. It is misleading, it is discriminatory, and

it does not observe a principle of fairness. Any public infrastructure

project that goes to tender should be open to any company in British

Columbia that wishes to submit a bid. The community benefits agreement

only rewards a select number of government-friendly unions with public

sector contracts.

For example, Mainline Roofing, a Williams Lake business owned and

operated by Niki and Chris Lyons and Matt Kosolofski, had previously

worked on major public projects. These include work at Thompson Rivers

University in Williams Lake and Northwest Community College in Smithers.

As a consequence of the government’s decision to exclude 85 percent of

the provincial workforce, Mainline Roofing and its 20 employees are

excluded from contracts financed by taxpayers. Niki Lyons says job

opportunities should be reduced by as much as 40 to 60 percent for their

company.

This is fundamentally unfair. All the while, the government claims

this is somehow increasing opportunities for women and First Nations.

The so-called community benefits agreement is nothing more than a

political slush fund at taxpayers’ expense.

To add insult to injury, the implementation of the CBA came about

with no public consultation — surprise. Niki and Chris Lyons say none of

their peers were ever consulted on the agreement. In his own words,

Chris Lyons had this message about the so-called community benefits

agreement: “If I could say one thing to the Premier, it would be to come

up here to the north and talk to us before you create a policy that

doesn’t work.”

In truth, the community benefits agreement doesn’t benefit

communities at all, certainly not in Williams Lake or anywhere else in

the province. As a matter of fact, the community benefits agreement is

inflating the cost of public infrastructure everywhere.

For example, the Highway 1 expansion has already seen costs

skyrocket 47 percent since becoming a CBA project. The $22.3 million

cost overrun could have funded over 200 units of affordable housing. We

are seeing the same inflated costs for projects all across B.C.,

including the SkyTrain expansion. How about the four-lane expansion of

the Kicking Horse Canyon stretch of highway near Golden? That’s costing

B.C. taxpayers an extra $150 million, just to pay off the government’s

friend.

The question is: how is this so-called community benefits

agreement making British Columbians’ lives more affordable?

S. Malcolmson: We know that discrimination exists in the workplace and that

barriers to employment continue for equity-seeking groups, particularly

women, Indigenous people, racialized people.

For women, especially, this can be a double whammy and a vicious

cycle. If you have the burden of child care and elder care on you and

there is no affordable child care available to you, you are more likely

to fall into part-time, precarious work. You are less likely to build

the supports and the pension, to be able to even have a job with

benefits that gets you into a pension. You are likely, over time, to

fall further and further behind.

In this day and age, we cannot afford not to have anybody at the

table. We need our workplaces to reflect the diversity of our province.

We want to have….

Interjections.

S. Malcolmson: Could I just ask my colleagues not to talk. Sorry, it’s

distracting.

We are working to remove those barriers. That’s something that our

government is very much committed to.

[11:30 a.m.]

It’s interesting that we have this debate today. The B.C. Liberals

have invited us to talk about equal opportunity for all workers in B.C.,

which we support absolutely, but it’s not what they did when they had 16

years to actually enact those great ideas.

Here are some of the things they did. They repealed pay equity,

paying men and women equally for equal work. They introduced a two-tier

minimum wage that especially hurt immigrant women. The minimum wage was

capped at $8 for ten years. Who can raise a family on $8 an hour? They

rolled back the wages of B.C.’s lowest-paid health care workers. They

scrapped universal child care.

They dismantled B.C.’s skills-training and apprenticeship system.

They legislated child labour. How is that fair or safe, if it ever was

at any time, for this to happen under that government’s watch? They

eliminated the B.C. student grant program. They cut funding to the adult

represent barriers to the workplace and equal opportunity and access to

the jobs that are there. It was a shameful record. That they’ve got the

bravery to come and bring a motion like this today is

breathtaking.

They didn’t say that they were going to talk about the community

benefits agreement. If they had, I would have all kinds of stats on

that. I know on Vancouver Island when it was used, with the B.C.

government that was previously in power, the contractor said: “No way.

We could never build the Island Highway with a requirement to have a

certain number of women and a certain number of Indigenous people.” They

said the project would never be built. It was built very well, and it

created space and jobs for women that had never had access to those very

high-paying jobs. So I’m glad that it went ahead.

For my community in Nanaimo, the worst thing that I saw, that we

felt, under the B.C. Liberal era was the terrible impact of Bills 29 and

94. It paved the way for privatization in the health care system,

contracting out, relentless layoffs, 8,000 or 9,000 mostly women laid

off in the province — the single biggest layoff of female workers in the

province. That was not equal work. That was not equal pay. It

destabilized health care delivery and caused massive disruption for

thousands of workers.

Nanaimo care homes suffered. I’ve met with UFCW and HEU workers

who say still they’ve never made up the ground financially that they

lost during the time that the B.C. Liberals were sacking and burning the

system. It’s left some of our seniors care homes in crisis. Island

Health has had to come in and help support some of them. But I just want

to say so clearly that we know how much the workers care for those

elders in need, and they are trying to do their very best in very tough

circumstances.

Our government is doing things completely differently from the

previous government. We’re working very hard to make life better for

working people. We’re ensuring more people can get into the workplace,

have a safe workplace, have access to affordable child care that lets

them stay in place. We created new nurse practitioner positions at

Vancouver Island University. We’ve created space for nursing degree

programs. If I had another five minutes, I’d give you the rest of the

list.

There’s so much more to be done. I want students to know we’re

grateful that they’re coming forward to be trained in this field. We

want the workers that have held the system together for so long while

the former government was destabilising it…. We are sending in

reinforcement. Help is close at hand.

J. Sturdy: I wish I could say that I was pleased to rise to speak to this

proposition put forward by my colleague from Chilliwack: “Be it resolved

that this House support equal opportunity for all workers in British

Columbia.” But I do understand why the member has put this up for

debate, because the right to free association, frankly, is under attack

by this government.

Honestly, does anybody really believe that opportunity to access

for work should not be equal? Will anybody in this chamber actually

argue that, to paraphrase George Orwell, all workers are created equal

but some are more equal than others?

I don’t believe this could be true or should be accepted,

especially after we’ve just come back from Remembrance Day celebrations

in our ridings. I have many communities in West Vancouver–Sea to Sky.

This year, I was on Bowen Island at a simply spectacular celebration.

Bowen is a small community of about 3,500 people, swelling to 5,000 in

the summer. But I’d say half that population was in attendance on

Remembrance Day, honouring the people that have gone to war, in part,

for just the reasons stated in this proposition — that the workers and

the people of this province should have equal opportunity.

[11:35 a.m.]

Now I think it’s fair to say that there are areas for improvement

in access to equality and that there remains much work to do, as society

attention to income and housing and access to services is improved in

areas in parts of our population and parts of our province.

While this is not all up to government, we, as legislators, do

have an important part to play. But a most fundamental

part is that we

don’t entrench in government policy a bias, a prejudice, an inherent

unfairness that mandates that all workers don’t have the same rights of

access to work. This is exactly what is being created by the union

benefit agreements that this government has been trying to

enact.

This policy denies all workers an equal chance to access work and

public infrastructure projects. The union benefits agreements deny 85

percent of the construction industry access to work on major public

projects in British Columbia if the worker is not a member of one of

government’s favoured unions — 85 percent of workers denied access. How

can that be right?

We’ll hear the government say: “Oh, just join our union, and

you’ll be able to work. Pay our dues. Conform to our rules, and you can

work. Don’t join our approved unions, and too bad for you. You don’t

have a job.”

Does this seem wrong? Is it immoral? Should it be prohibited? Of

course it should. Workers should have free access to associate with the

organization of their choice. They should be allowed to work for

whatever firm they want to work for. But this government has denied them

this basic right. They must join an approved union within 30 days or

lose their job.

Beyond this outrage, employers don’t get the chance to choose

their own workers. In fact, employers will only notionally have their

own workers. Most will work for government and be dispatched out of a

hiring hall to work for an employer that they may not even have any

relationship with.

The workers can’t associate with the labour organization that they

want. The employer can’t choose the workers that they want in order to

do the job that they’ve been contracted to do. This is a big government

policy that implies, if not expressly states, that government knows

better than you who you should work for, who you should associate with

and what you need to do to stay in their good graces, because they are

big government, and they know best.

In public infrastructure projects, you can’t work for who you want

to work for. You can’t belong to the union that you want to and may have

belonged to for years or decades if you want to work. You can’t work

with your own team, a team that you may have been part of for years or

decades, a team that you know, that you trust, that you believe in and

you support. Your team is disbanded because the government will dictate

through a hiring hall who you will work for and who you will work with

and how you’ll do your job.

All this will come at a cost to taxpayers of somewhere between 10

and 30 percent more per project or, alternatively, which has been the

history, a commensurate reduction in the scope of work. As taxpayers, we

get less for more. In the case of the community benefits agreements, as

per government policy, some unions are more equal than

others.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to rise and speak to the motion moved by the

member for Chilliwack: “Be it resolved that this House support equal

opportunity for all workers in British Columbia.”

When we talk about opportunity for workers, that includes workers

rights that are enshrined in legislation, access to education and the

opportunity to gain the skills to have access to good-quality and

well-paying jobs in British Columbia.

When we look at what the current situation is, I know my colleague

the member for Nanaimo recently outlined the challenges in terms of

inheriting the legacy of the previous government’s 16 years and their

record on undermining workers rights.

We know that in 2002 the Campbell government passed three pieces

of legislation, basically bringing sweeping changes to the labour

relations code, the Employment Standards Act and the Workers

Compensation Act. These changes really gave the balance of power to

employers.

[11:40 a.m.]

A couple of pieces I want to point out with respect to the

Employment Standards Act were very important. They shifted the

complaints to a self-help complaints process which put the burden of

proof on workers around disputes that arose in the workplace. It was

mentioned that British Columbia became known as having the worst record

on child labour, not only in our province but around the world in

industrialized countries. Shocking.

It also lowered the floor in terms of the basic rights that

workers had access to. Previously, employment standards were the basis,

and unionized workers were able to negotiate on top of that. These

changes allowed employers to negotiate under the floor. That’s the

record. The changes to Workers Compensation — basically reducing

benefits to injured workers, ending rehabilitation programs and closing

WCB offices — all contributed to undermining support and opportunity and

rights of workers. That’s around rights.

Our government — what is our government doing? We are supporting

the rights of workers, strengthening employment standards, raising the

minimum wage, making sure that there’s a basic minimum floor that all

workers have access to and looking at supporting and reviewing the

changes that are needed around support for injured workers. That’s on

workers’ rights.

In terms of access to education, the previous government had a

record of bringing in the highest interest on student loans in Canada as

well as cutting funding and bringing in very high tuition for adult

is committed to ensuring that workers have access to education. We have

made a commitment for skilled workers. It is brought together around our

community benefits agreement framework, with the premise that B.C.

projects should benefit B.C. workers, families and communities and that

our public infrastructure projects should deliver good-paying jobs and

increased opportunities for British Columbians, particularly those who

face additional barriers, such as Indigenous people, women, young people

and racialized workers.

It also means that we are providing apprenticeship and training

opportunities for better access to jobs for B.C. residents and

opportunities for apprenticeships to build our next generation of

construction workers. We are concretely funding, in addition to that,

27,000 more apprenticeship and foundation training seats. We are

investing to support graduate degree scholarships, which were neglected

previously. And we’re looking at 2,900 new tech-related seats as well,

to meet the needs of our economy and to ensure that British Columbians

have that opportunity. As well, we have, for the first time, created the

first nursing degree program in the northeast to provide opportunities

for students close to home and really meet those demands that are

needed.

Our government is committed to ensuring that we respect workers’

rights, that we enshrine that in law, that we support needed reviews

around labour relations to bring that balance, that workers who are

injured on their jobs are supported, that British Columbians have access

to training and opportunities and that our public dollars are invested

in our infrastructure and projects benefit British Columbians. I’m very

proud of the record of our government.

D. Clovechok: I’m very pleased to rise today to speak about the importance of

the opportunity of workers in British Columbia — for all workers. This

province thrives when every worker is equal and has equal opportunity

for employment. To move or restrict that in any way should be seen as

discriminatory and simply not in the best interests of British

Columbians. Yet this minority government claims it’s proud of one such

initiative, an initiative that picks winners and losers and turns

friends into rivals.

[11:45 a.m.]

Of course, I speak about their community benefits agreement, which

actually has nothing to do with community or, really, nothing to do with

workers for equal opportunity. Despite the friendly name — community

benefits agreements — they serve to only benefit a small group of

handpicked unions while putting pressure on the private sector

construction companies, contractors and, frankly, my constituents. It’s

a blatant example of a defined payback to those building trade unions

that were selected who have donated millions of dollars to this minority

government since 2005 — a payback using British Columbian tax

dollars.

However, CBAs are more than just discriminatory. The true cost of

this scheme is becoming increasingly apparent as multiple delayed

projects grapple with overrides — projects which are actually happening

in my riding. First, the Illecillewaet River four-laning

highway-widening project near Revelstoke that was first announced in

2015. Initially, it was budgeted to cost $35 million. At that time, the

scope was a 2½ kilometre four-lane highway stretch.

Now, a few years later, under this minority government, in

February 2019, the project was reannounced with a reduced scope and an

increased cost to the taxpayers of $22.3 million. The latest cost

projection, however, after receiving only five bids, is a cost overrun

of a staggering 143 percent higher. Welcome to the expensive world of

CBAs.

So not only are my constituents settling for a project of smaller

scope than they were promised. They and other British Columbia taxpayers

are having to pay — I again say — 143 percent more than initially

promised.

The other critical transportation project in my riding is the

Kicking Horse Canyon project, which includes the widening of about 4.8

kilometres of Highway 1 near Golden. This project has suffered and

continues to suffer through many delays despite being of critical

importance to my constituents. I now understand, recently, that the

project’s RFQs have now been pushed into December, which means that

nothing on the RFP side will happen until the new year — delay after

delay.

Yet again, the CBA framework has pushed costs associated with this

project to over $150 million more than our previous government

originally announced in 2017. Taxpayers are being burdened with costs

that occurred simply to the Premier’s “friends and family” CBA

scheme.

What makes this most unfair and unjust for my constituents is that

they’re forced to join a government-approved union in order to work on

one of these projects, and that’s just simply wrong. For my

constituents, it’s wrong. Delay after delay after delay and crippling,

rising costs to, as my colleague across the way said, achieve the

benefits of the collective. I’m not sure what country I’m in when I hear

that.

British Columbians from across this province have come to the

understanding that on so many levels, this minority government is not

the solution to problems. It is the problem. They continue to refuse to

see the light of their error of the CBA job-discriminating ways. It’s

high time that they felt the heat.

R. Kahlon: I want to thank the member for Chilliwack for bringing the motion

today. Today we are talking about supporting equal opportunity for all

workers.

I want to preface my comments by saying that as a society, we’ve

come a long way, but we still have much more to do. I was having a

conversation with my dad over the weekend. We were talking about the

racism he faced when he first came to Canada in the early ’70s. How it

was so much in your face, straight in your face, and it wasn’t as hidden

as perhaps it is now.

But we have some considerable challenges to ensure there is equal

opportunity for all workers — in particular, new immigrants. New

immigrants are struggling to see these equal opportunities the same as

everyone else. There are a few things. During the human rights

consultations that we did throughout the province to bring in the Human

Rights Commission, we heard three things in particular that affected

equal opportunity for new immigrants.

The first was around discrimination in hiring. Recently there was

a study done out of the U.S., which has been repli­cated here in

Canada, where they had 1,000 resumes submitted for job applications.

Five hundred had Anglo names, and 500 had names from people from various

countries, from Greece to India to Pakistan. What they found was that

you had a 70 percent higher chance of getting a callback for an

interview if you had an Anglo name. The study that came out basically

highlighted some real challenges that we have in some of our hiring

practices in the province and in the country.

[11:50 a.m.]

I remember, over the weekend, we saw a tweet from a reporter from

News 1130, Tarnjit Parmar, who spoke about how when she first wanted to

become a journalist, she was recommended to change her name because it

may be too complicated for people to pronounce, and it would make it

harder for her to become a journalist. These are the challenges that

people are still facing every day. It’s one of the recommendations that

I made in the human rights consultation report for the new Human Rights

Commissioner.

A second piece is this idea of Canadian experience. Employers are

using Canadian experience as an opportunity for when they’re hiring

people, but what it’s doing is basically creating a barrier for new

immigrants to get opportunities in their choice of employment. I know

the Ontario Human Rights Commissioner wrote about this two years ago —

about how this is a discriminatory practice and that employers should

not be using it. I also made this recommendation for our new Human

Rights Commissioner to review this practice here in B.C. to ensure that

these things are not happening here.

[Mr. Speaker in the chair.]

A third piece is around new immigrants who come here who can’t get

their accreditation recognized. We talk about supporting equal

opportunity for all workers. There are a lot of new immigrants who come

here. There are doctors. They are engineers. There are lawyers. But

their education is not recognized when they come here. We have many

things to address. Again, that was a piece that was recommended to the

Human Rights Commissioner.

We’ve taken some steps to start to address these things. I think

the single biggest piece is bringing back the Human Rights Commissioner,

an independent body, the only independent Human Rights Commission in

North America that can look at these critical issues. In my report to

the Human Rights Commission, there was a recommendation that they look

at these things. Whether they do or not, it’s probably up to them, but I

know it’s critically important that we address that.

There are other things we can do and that we are doing. One of

those is ensuring there’s diversity on boards. Board appointments that

happen within the province of B.C. — that we have diversity on those

boards so that critical lens is there. When conversations around

accreditation and new immigrants are happening, that we have people from

diverse views that can be at that table to say: “Hey, have you

considered this? Have you thought about this?”

The last piece, I think, which I’m very proud of is diversity in

hiring in government. It’s one thing to have boards, but to also have

the new immigrant populations reflected in government…. It’s great to

see now that we have that here reflected in this chamber, but we need to

ensure that it’s reflected across the board.

With that, I want to thank the member for Chilliwack for bringing

this motion. It was my pleasure to talk about supporting equal

opportunity for all workers.

S. Thomson: I’m pleased to rise today as well to talk about the motion of

supporting equal opportunity for all workers in British Columbia brought

forward by the member for Chilliwack. As he so clearly articulated in

his opening comments, it is a fundamental principle for all workers in

British Columbia and for all British Columbians to have this equal

opportunity. That’s why it’s important to talk about this, this

morning.

I’m surprised that the member for Nanaimo said she was surprised

that in this context, we were going to talk about the community benefits

agreement. This is something that so clearly works against that

principle of equal opportunity for all, and the fact that she’s

surprised that we’re talking about this, as I said, surprises me as

well.

What we have is, unfortunately, the government pursuing and

promoting an approach that is anything but equal opportunity for workers

and for all British Columbians. Instead, they’re prioritizing payouts

and benefits for their supporters that give them a competitive edge over

hard-working British Columbians who have made the decision to uphold

their own political beliefs, their own rights of association, their own

work practices.

British Columbians expect to get the best deal for the taxpayer.

Instead, the government’s support of their friends through the union

benefits agreement is curtailing economic growth, raising the cost of

basic projects and programs across British Columbia and stretching

provincial resources to the limit.

[11:55 a.m.]

We’ve seen it before — it has been pointed out by other speakers —

on projects such as the Island Highway project and current examples with

the Kicking Horse Canyon, the Illecillewaet four-laning project and the

Pattullo Bridge projects. They’re all looking at significant cost

overruns as a result of the community benefits agreement.

In fact, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent

Business, CBAs are going to add up to $4.8 billion in additional labour

costs to the provincial capital budget, the $25.6 billion capital

budget. That’s an additional $4,000 per family, $4,000 that families

could have used to help pay tuition fees, to help with hydro bills, to

help pay their car insurance premiums — which, as we know, are going up,

through this current government’s approach to ICBC rates — all of which

have seen a dramatic rise in costs under this government.

The CBA was negotiated behind closed doors with the building

trades unions and was given to the public in the 336-page project labour

agreement, which mandates all sorts of additional costs. The irony of

this is not lost on us, in terms of these agreements — they call them

community benefits agreements — when families are going to have to fork

over those additional dollars in order to support the union benefits

agreement and the select group that are part of this union benefits

agreement — 19 select unions. Now, 85 percent of workers in British

Columbia have been disenfranchised by this approach. Clearly, it is not

providing equal opportunity for all.

The principles that are so fundamental around providing this equal

opportunity have really been compromised through this agreement. As long

as this government maintains those processes over those economic

practices, we’re going to see that unequal opportunity for workers in

British Columbia.

I’m pleased to have been able to provide brief comments today in

support of the motion brought forward by the mem­ber for

Chilliwack.

S. Thomson moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. B. Ralston moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Mr. Speaker: This House stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 11:57 a.m.

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