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BC Government Announces Plans to Invest Excess Billions in Enhancing Public Services
The BC government is committed to continuing to work on housing, healthcare, public safety, climate change and other priorities, Lt. Gov. Janet Austin delivered today.
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Written in Prime Minister David Eby’s office, the speech set out the government’s agenda under the new Prime Minister, who took office in November.
The 26-page speech comes in a year when the province has a projected surplus of $5 billion, a reversal of the deficit of the same amount projected last February.
It said the government would use “this year’s surplus to help the people – to support them now and in the long term”.
“By lowering costs for families and helping companies attract the talent they need. By increasing our healthcare workforce to reduce wait times and give more people access to a GP.”
The government will use the money to build more homes people can afford, support fast-growing cities and regions, and fight climate change by building a cleaner economy, it said.
It pledged to introduce previously promised pay transparency legislation to close the gender pay gap and tackle systemic discrimination.
There have been promises to increase housing and services near public transportation hubs, introduce a “renewed” housing strategy, expand drug use treatment and recovery services, and introduce legislation to crack down on gangs and money laundering.
“As part of its plan of action for safer communities, your government is deploying new response teams to track, arrest and incarcerate repeat offenders,” it said. “These teams are made up of police officers, dedicated prosecutors and probation officers.”
The government will introduce a Future Ready skills plan aimed at making education and training more accessible, affordable and relevant.
And it pledged that in the coming months, “your government will act with heightened urgency to ensure BC meets its ambitious climate goals.” There will be laws strengthening the ability to ensure polluters pay to clean up abandoned sites, as well as a new law improving access to EV charging stations in condominiums.
The government plans to partner with First Nations to protect more old-growth forests and has pledged to accelerate that work.
The speech recognized that many people are uncertain about the future. “We are opening this session of the legislature at a time when people are facing real challenges,” she acknowledged. “Global inflation is squeezing household budgets. Food prices go up. It’s hard to find a doctor.”
The province continues to face mental health and addiction problems, housing costs continue to rise and people feel like they’re stuck despite working harder than ever, it said.
“Some say we should respond to a downturn by withdrawing, reducing benefits, or letting people pay for healthcare out of pocket,” the speech reads. “But that would compound many of our biggest challenges and pass on the costs at a time when people can least afford it.”
Hours before Austin delivered the throne speech in the legislative session, BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon told reporters that he had low expectations for the speech and the government.
“This is now the sixth year that they will discuss all of the reasons why health care is a priority, why housing affordability is a priority, why overall affordability is a priority and why public safety appears to be a priority.” said Falcon .
“Here’s the problem,” he said. “Results really matter and at the end of the day I recognize that this administration is great at putting out press releases and great at making announcements. The problem is they are terrible at getting results.”
Falcon said wait times at walk-in clinics are nearly the worst in Canada, a million British Columbians are not independent of a family doctor, deaths from toxic drugs are at record highs and public safety is worse than ever.
Speech from the throne promises action on environment, drug crisis, pandemic recovery
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“At some point, the government will have to be held accountable for the results,” he said. “If this were the private sector and you were doing worse every year than the year before and you were demonstrably worse every year, you would be fired from your job.”
Before the speech, Sonia Furstenau, leader of the BC Green Party and MLA for Cowichan Valley, said she hoped there would be more emphasis on the government’s vision for the province and how it would measure success.
“I think what we’ve seen from the NDP government, especially since 2020, is a lot of announcements, a lot of ‘we’re going to put money here and there’ statements, but no indication of how we’ll know if it succeeds.”
Fürstenau gave the example of the drug poisoning crisis, where, despite increased spending, the number of dying people had not decreased. Similarly, she said, despite a new agreement with the province’s doctors, there is no clear way that everyone in the province has access to primary care.
“We will focus on bringing solutions to this government,” she said, including investing in community health centers and supporting social and cooperative housing models.
The next state election is scheduled for October 19, 2024.
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