Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Pierre Poilievre was back in his happy place. Mark Carney was back in the prime minister's seat. Between them lay 396 centimetres of green carpet and the future of the country. "Why is it that all of this prime minister's promises of yesterday turn into today's disappointments?" the Conservative leader asked. "We need to be clear about the scale of the crisis we are in," the prime minister responded ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Ottawa: Cathy McLeod, Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, during today’s first Question Period asked the government about their plan to get forestry workers in British Columbia back to work. Mr. Speaker, the B.C. forestry industry is in crisis. Thousands have been laid off and more job loss is expected before the holidays. The Speech from the Throne yesterday failed to mention that the Liberals will not even acknowledge a crisis exists. The government failed to negotiate a softwood lumber agreement, and the Prime Minister's antics at NATO may have destroyed any opportunity to get a deal done. What is their plan to get forestry workers in B.C. back to work? “ The Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) didn’t give the courtesy of a response and left it to the Deputy Prime Minister, who struggled through an answer to my question ,” said McLeod. “ They have proven once again to fail forestry workers. There was no mention of immediate action...

Living around the Salish Sea, we are all too familiar with the plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We remember Tahlequah, the Orca who carried her dead calf for nearly three weeks in August 2018. It sent a message that captured global attention. The W ̱ S Á NE Ć people have a very close relationship with the Orca whales. They have fished the waters of the Georgia Strait alongside one another for generations. Now these magnificent creatures are at risk of extinction and both the Canadian and U.S. governments have listed them as endangered. The Orca is just one of more than 1800 species at risk of extinction in British Columbia. While our province is the most bio-diverse in the country, we are only one of three provinces that does not have species at risk legislation. Unfortunately, as we near the end of 2019, we are no closer to stand-alone legislation to protect the endangered species in the province. While the BC NDP government made the commit...

Last week in Question Period I asked the Honourable Doug Donaldson about the impact of the growing risks of climate change on our forests in British Columbia. Public attention is focusing in recent months on the forest industry that is controlled by multi-national corporations shuttering operations, cutting jobs and putting into question of the future of rural and remote communities in our province. People in those communities are concerned about whose interests those companies are looking out for. There is a growing concern that it is not the local interests. The aspect that I dug into this week is not often discussed. What role do our forests play in a changing climate? How does a changing climate impact our forests? What is our government innovate the forestry sector? These are incredibly important questions we will continue ask. FOREST MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION Adam Olsen: Yesterday my colleague drew the con...

During Question Period last week, MLAs grilled the government on the low-wage redress package offered to some workers in the social care industry. As of April 1, unionized social care workers will receive a bump in their wages beyond the standard 2% increase. This wage increase is welcome because social care workers make low wages for the work they do. Their work is both important and difficult. They are an overworked and under-appreciated sector of our society. The problem with the wage increase is that only unionized workers get it — non-unionized workers do not get the increase, even when they might be doing the same work and work for the same company. Many BC Liberals stood in Question Period and asked why this was so, and tried to get in criticisms of how the government handled the issue. I stood in Question Period and asked for an answer " that doesn't pivot to the last 16 years. I want the Minister of Social Development to please explain why t...

Budget Estimates is an oft-overlooked aspect of our work in the legislature. Once legislators have passed the budget the debate moves to Estimates. This is an opportunity for members of the opposition to ask direct questions to the Minister about their budget. In reality, the questions are wide ranging and rarely stick to just the current budget cycle. This opportunity gives members of the opposition time to dig in and ask about the philosophical approach of the Minister and government. During Estimates the Minister has the full support of their senior staff. The Estimates schedule is up to the government, but the annual budget cycle is not complete until these votes pass for each Ministry. These debates are extremely slow moving. A Member asks a question, the Minister convenes with senior staff, then the Minister answers the question, and a Member asks the next question. Needless to say, it is not as exciting as the theatre of Question Period, so fe...

It was a big week in the legislature. The BC NDP put an income tax amendment act on the table which legislates the tax regime for LNG Canada. It is just one part of a $6 billion expansion of the corporate welfare program first offered by the BC Liberals.   LNG Canada site rendering They are also giving them breaks on PST, cost of electricity and the carbon tax. It's a pretty sweet deal for a brand-new industry that will become the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the province. I, and my BC Green Caucus colleagues Andrew Weaver and Sonia Furstenau, took as much time in second reading debate as we could muster. Each of us proposed amendments to the Bill, and then spoke to the amendments. It's corporate welfare gone crazy! As time wore on, we could see our work was having an impact. But, every time we got to the end of the debate and called a standing vote, only three Greens stood in opposition to this generationa...

There are massive gaps in the Heritage Conservation Act in British Columbia. These gaps were exposed in 2014 on Grace Islet near Salt Spring Island. The land owner proposed to build a family vacation home on top of known archeological and grave sites. Despite the disapproval of Tsartlip First Nation, the former BC Liberal government allowed the project to proceed. The Heritage Conservation Act let Indigenous people down. When they were in opposition, the BC NDP called for the provincial government to update the Act. In addition, First Nations leaders have been working with government for years with little success to date. Now in government, the BC NDP moved this amending legislation. It does not go far enough, fast enough, but it is a good start. More needs to be done, and I will continue to lean on this issue to ensure it is updated to protect Indigenous heritage and burial sites. [Transcript] Well, thank you to the member for Chilliwack-...

A guest commentary from Kamloops North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar ~~ used with permission The NDP governments neglect of the Interior forest industry hit a new low last week, when Premier John Horgan had the audacity to accuse Fraser-Nicola BC Liberal MLA Jackie Tegart of ‘whining’ when she asked tough questions about his lack of action on the softwood lumber file. That kind of remark is appalling. My colleague had every right to demand answers from the man who vowed he would be directly involved in negotiations — especially considering we haven’t seen or heard anything since he made that promise nearly two years ago. His comment also dismisses her constituents’ legitimate concerns for their livelihoods. It was a heartless thing to say, after MLA Tegart noted constituents were coming to her office in tears because of rolling layoffs at the local mill. Unfortunately, the premier didn’t stop at just one questionable remark in last Thursday’s ques...

Since the beginning of the Spring 2019 session, the BC Green Caucus, has been asking government about money laundering in British Columbia. The focus has been largely on the bags of cash dragged into the casinos to be laundered by so-called "whale" gamblers.   But, as we found out with Peter German's report, the problem extends to real estate and luxury cars. Apparently, you can buy a multi-million-dollar house in British Columbia with cash. Few checks and balances and little enforcement. I asked Minister's Eby and James about these troubling issues again today in Question Period. We must go further, and push harder than we are.   Here is a Transcript from Question Period: Adam Olsen: A mind-numbing line of questioning coming from the other side this morning, almost as mind-numbing as the despicable rot that we've been uncovering in British Columbia over the last couple of weeks. Global's reporting last fall esti...