This story originally appeared in the Victoria Times Colonist.
B.C.’s Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon delivered a throne speech with few surprises Friday and written with confidence that the government can deliver on it.
The speech, which sets the direction of the government for the coming legislative session, stuck close to the priorities identified in the New Democrats’ agreement with the Green Party and its campaign promises.
“British Columbians deserve a government that is working for people,” Guichon said.
The speech came just hours after Liberal MLA Darryl Plecas was revealed as Speaker, which will give the government more power to pass its legislation. With Plecas as Speaker, the NDP-Green Alliance will have 44 votes to 41 for the Liberals.
Priorities outlined in the speech include:
• Closing fixed-term loopholes on leases to end unfair rent increases and increasing the stock of affordable housing. The government will also increase support to the Residential Tenancy Branch.
• Bringing back the annual bus pass for people with disabilities as of Jan. 1. Social Development Minister Shane Simpson said in July that the government was looking at ways to fulfil its promise to restore the bus pass program for people with disabilities. The former B.C. Liberal government came under fire last year for introducing a new $52-a-month fee for a bus pass that previously cost $45 a year. “We’re just determining now what the options are,” Simpson said in July.
• Delivery of a universal child-care program, beginning with more child-care spaces and training for early childhood educators, plus consultation with families providers this fall.
• Set up an Innovation Commission, an initiative of the Green Party caucus, to encourage investment in B.C.’s technology sector.
• More resources to fight the wildfire crisis and opioid crisis. More than 1,200 fires have burned 1.1 million hectares of land, an area one-third the size of Vancouver Island. Meanwhile, 876 British Columbians have died from overdoses in the first seven months of this year.
• Full implementation of class-size and composition requirements.
• A commitment to embrace the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and promise to address all of the Calls to Action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools. “We cannot continue to push these actions further down the road to a day that never comes,” Guichon said.
• Reforming campaign finance laws to eliminate corporate and union donations, put strict limits on individual contributions and make sure that only people living in B.C. can contribute to political parties.
• Moving B.C.’s fixed election date to the fall of 2021, and every four years thereafter.
• Setting the terms for a referendum on proportional representation to take place no later than November 2018.
• Adding new lobbying restrictions to make sure former public office-holders do not improperly benefit from their experience serving the public.
• First reducing, then eliminating Medical Services Plan premiums.
• Building new hospitals and urgent-care centres, increasing access to family doctors and reducing surgical wait list times.
• Making B.C. a leader in engineered wood products and getting a fair deal on softwood lumber.
“The road ahead won’t be easy. It will take time for the better choices this government is making to take hold — transforming people’s lives, revitalizing our communities and bringing all of us together,” Guichon said.
“It will happen, starting with the work that takes place here in this legislature. That work must start and end with the people we are here to serve.”
The speech also highlighted priorities that the government has already begun to act on, including a $100 increase to monthly income assistance and disability rates, removal of tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges and eliminating tuition fees for adult basic education and English-language learning.
One notable absence in the speech was mention of the Site C dam, which the government has referred to the B.C. Utilities Commission for expedited review, while its commitment to introduce a $15 minimum wage came with no promised deadline.
