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From YouTube: JULY 20 2020 Question Period
Description
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
5th Session
41st Parliament
A
B
We
all
know
that
addiction
comes
from
a
place
of
pain
and
trauma.
We
all
know
that
people
who
have
addictions
are
not
criminals,
they
need
to
be
treated
as
patients
and
given
the
care
that
they
need
and
that's
why
I'm
writing
to
the
prime
minister
today
to
reinforce
the
conversation
I
had
with
the
deputy
prime
minister
last
week
to
support
the
national
police
chief's
call
to
decriminalize
possession
of
opioids,
so
we
can
stop
stigmatizing
people
who
have
addictions
and
start
helping
them
again.
A
A
B
Premier,
thank
you,
honorable
speaker,
and
just
by
declaring
that
it's
a
politicized
response,
politicizes
the
question
honourable
member
and-
and
I
expected
better
from
you,
based
on
what
you
just
said
about
having
someone's
life
in
your
hand
in
your
former
profession.
All
of
us
in
this
place
care
deeply
about
an
unacceptable
increase
in
overdose
deaths.
We
were
making
progress.
B
B
A
B
Speaker,
I
never
believed
addiction
was
a
choice.
The
question
came
to
me
as
a
comparison
between
covet
19
and
the
opioid
deaths
from
last
week.
If
the
member
took
two
seconds
to
look
at
the
context
or
spent
one
second
giving
me
a
call,
he
would
have
known
that
I
absolutely
understand
where
addictions
come
from.
You
don't
have
a
hierarchy
of
morality
on
this
question.
Nor
do
I
all
of
us
need
to
stand
together.
Stop
stigmatizing
people
treat
them
as
we
need
to
as
patients
and
help
them
don't
stigmatize
them.
C
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker.
While
we
do
know
that,
despite
the
overdose
deaths
going
down
before
covet
that
now
have
skyrocketed,
the
total
number
of
non-fatal
overdoses
continue
to
rise
under
this
government.
That
means
we
do
not
have
a
comprehensive
mental
health
and
addiction
system
to
actually
get
people
well
in
this
province.
C
Now
that
the
premier
admits
it's
his
mistake,
it
is
time
for
this
government
to
admit
that
they
are
not
doing
enough
for
mental
health
and
addictions
in
this
province.
This
is
what
the
mayor
of
vancouver
said:
the
ndp
mayor
of
vancouver
on
the
overdose
crisis.
There
is
no
mention
of
new
support
for
opioids
overdoses
or
safe
supply
in
today's
budget.
This
was
this
budget
this
year.
So
my
question
is
to
the
minister
of
mental
health
and
addictions.
D
Thank
you,
honorable
speaker,
and
thank
you
to
the
member
opposite
for
the
question,
and
we
did
canvass
this
extensively
in
estimates
last
week,
but
I'm
happy
to
speak
about
it
further
from
day
one.
Our
government
has
made
massive
investments
in
the
overdose
response
and
in
building
a
better
system
for
mental
health
and
addictions.
Honorable
speaker,
when
we
first
took
office
in
september
of
2017,
we
announced
an
an
investment
of
322
million
dollars
over
three
years,
which
subsequently
subsequently
was
expanded.
D
Further
on
into
our
mandate,
an
honorable
speaker,
even
the
very
first
year
of
that
of
that
commitment
was
three
times
what
the
previous
government
was
spending
on
the
overdose
response,
so
we've
continued
to
invest
more
resources
in
the
overdose
response
and
to
build
that
better
system
for
mental
health
and
addictions
care.
But
I
think
we
need
to
be
clear.
D
Honorable
speaker,
we
were
left
with
a
system
that
was
in
chaos
that
had
enormous
gaps
and
we
are
working
overtime
to
try
and
fill
those
gaps,
and
I
want
to
speak
about
the
issue
of
prevention,
for
example,
our
investment
in
foundry,
for
example,
which
is
very
much
about
building
that
continuum
of
care
is
five
times
what
the
previous
government's
investment
was
in
foundry.
We
are
also
expanding
the
number
of
beds.
I
made
an
announcement
last
week
about
13.5
million
dollars,
increased
in
investment
in
addiction,
treatment
beds
and
supportive
recovery
beds.
D
We've
also
announced
just
last
week
a
major
investment
in
the
substance,
use
integrated
teams,
honorable
speaker
and
those
are
so
important,
because
we
know
from
the
coroner
that
that
four
out
of
five
people
who
died
of
overdose
were
connected
to
the
health
care
system
in
the
previous
year.
We
need
to
keep
that
connection.
We
need
to
keep
them
connected
to
to
care.
We
need
to
get
them
connected
to
treatment
and
recovery,
and
we
also
need
to
do
outreach
so
that
we
go
into
communities.
We
go
into
housing.
D
C
Thank
you,
mr
speaker.
This
government
has
had
a
separate
ministry
devoted
to
mental
health
and
addictions
now
for
three
years,
and
the
overdoses
continue
to
go
up
and
she,
the
minister,
continues
to
brag
about
foundry,
but
we
do
know
where
foundry
came
from.
It
was
our
government's
investment
that
started
foundry.
C
D
Honorable
speaker,
we
are
working
across
the
continuum
of
care
in
order
to
build
that
better
system
of
mental
health
and
addictions,
and
I
think
it's
really
important,
perhaps
to
re-emphasize
that
our
approach
to
this
overdose
response,
our
approach
to
treatment
and
recovery
has
has
several
pillars.
Honorable
speaker,
it
includes
prevention,
which
I
have
spoken
about.
It
includes
harm
reduction
and
it
includes
treatment
and
recovery,
and
I
know
that
the
member
opposite
is
fond
of
saying.
Well,
we
started
foundry,
but
that's
a
little
bit
like
saying
somebody.
D
D
We
did
the
first
for
the
very
first
time,
honorable
speaker,
first
time
in
10
years,
rather
increased
funding
for
per
diem,
first
increase
in
10
years
and
brought
in
tough
new
regulations
so
that
the
recovery
sector
would
no
longer
be
the
wild
wild
west
in
british
columbia,
which
was
frankly
a
travesty
and
resulted
in
a
number
of
tragedies
over
many
years.
Is
there
a
lot
of
work
to
do?
There?
E
Thank
you,
mr
speaker.
It's
three
years
into
this
government's
mandate
and
we
await
the
release
of
the
old
growth
panel
report
on
the
government's
long-awaited
old
growth
strategy
to
promise
to
be
guided
by
the
panel's
report.
British
colombians
want
their
government
to
protect
these
ancient
endangered
ecosystems
and
stop
the
devastation
that
we're
seeing
in
our
forests.
E
E
Unfortunately,
the
rarest
and
most
productive
forests
are
going
first.
We
need
an
immediate
pause
in
these
critical
areas
home
to
some
of
the
last
remaining
productive,
unprotected
old
growth
on
earth.
While
a
strategy
for
science-based
old
growth
management
across
bc
is
developed,
we
can't
wait
any
longer.
My
question
through
you,
honourable
speakers,
to
the
minister
of
forests,
lands,
natural
resource
operations
and
rural
development.
Will
he
pause,
harvesting
and
old
growth
ecosystems
at
the
highest
risk
and
provide
supports
to
affected
workers
while
he
works
on
the
promised
old
growth
strategy.
F
Thank
you,
honourable
speaker,
and
thank
you
to
the
member
I'm
happy
to
for
the
opportunity
to
discuss
our
old
forest
plans
for
the
province.
F
We
undertook
the
old
growth
strategic
review
because
of
a
lack
of
action
on
this
topic
by
the
previous
government.
There
is
a
need
for
stronger
steps
to
protect
biodiversity
and
to
support
workers
and
communities
dependent
on
the
forest
resource.
F
E
Yeah,
thank
you
and
the
request
was
simply
to
pause
the
harvesting
while
the
while
that
plan
was
in
place.
It's
it's
it's
difficult
for
for
people
to
see
the
trees
continue
to
pass
through
their
communities,
noting
that
that
this
pro
this
panel
has
been
has
been
doing
their
consultation.
E
Mr
speaker,
the
debate
about
old,
protecting
old
growth
is
often
framed
as
a
choice
between
protecting
old
trees
and
protecting
jobs.
However,
that's
not
the
choice
before
us.
The
choice
is
between
a
managed
transition
today
and
a
sudden
abrupt
transition.
When
we've
cut
down
the
last
stand
of
productive
old
growth,
let
me
be
clear:
we're
not
talking
about
sustainable
jobs
that
will
continue
to
exist
for
the
next
generation
or
two.
We
know
from
a
recent
analysis
published
by
independent
scientists
that
the
transition
from
old
forest
harvest
is
imminent.
E
We
also
know
that,
as
the
high
productivity
old
growth
on
the
land-based
is
harvested,
communities
will
experience,
a
fall-down
effect
in
jobs
will
disappear
as
the
volume
goes
down
and
the
industry
logs
smaller
and
smaller
second
growth.
We
urgently
need
a
plan
to
transition
forestry
workers
and
communities
dependent
on
this
non-renewable
resource.
My
question
through
you,
honourable
speakers
again
to
the
minister
of
forest
lands,
natural
resource
operations
and
rural
development.
The
time
for
transition
is
now.
F
Thank
you
honorable
speaker.
Well,
I
want
to
assure
the
member
that
we've
begun
transition,
work
already
for
forest
dependent
communities
and
workers
to
diversify
the
local
economy
and
really
that's
at
the
basis
of
his
question.
F
A
couple
of
examples
of
that
are
our
recent
community
grants
that
we
announced
port
hardy,
for
instance,
received
sixty
thousand
dollars
for
boat
yard,
haul,
out
feasibility
study,
port
alice
received
80
thousand
dollars
for
an
interpretive
sign
project
and
first
nations
received
over
92
thousand
dollars
of
first
nations
consortium
to
expand
a
cold
storage
and
freezing
of
local
seafoods
to
fulfill
local
market.
F
I
also
want
to
make
sure
that
members
know
that
workers
who
are
already
displaced
from
the
poor
sector
on
the
coast
are
able
to
access
through
the
ministry
of
labor
the
offices
we
opened
last
year
for
retraining
purposes
and
for
getting
support
services
for
themselves
to
look
to
the
future
and
and
other
employment.
F
We
also
have
focused
on
re,
reducing
log
exports
and
bringing
more
fiber,
in
other
words,
less
waste
left
behind
in
cut
blocks
and
an
example
of
that
is
funding.
We
supplied
to
forest
enhancement,
society
bc
for
19
000
cubic
meters
of
fiber,
around
port
mcneil
that
otherwise
would
have
been
left
in
the
in
the
forest.
A
quarter
over
a
quarter
of
a
million
dollar
grant.
F
Mr
speaker,
we
are
committed
to
implement
a
new
and
up-to-date,
comprehensive
old
forest
management
strategy
in
consultation
with
first
nations
that
will
address
important
biodiversity
concerns
and
support
workers
and
communities
which
will
include
a
further
transition
as
needed,
and
the
member
knows
that
we
will
be
putting
forth
our
recovery
plans
as
far
as
the
economic
recovery
very
soon
in
the
coming
months.
That
will
include
measures
to
assist
forest
defending
communities
as
well.
G
Thank
you,
mr
speaker.
The
the
premier's
lack
of
help
for
those
suffering
from
addictions
is
having
a
profoundly
negative
impact
across
our
province
without
proper
supports
for
those
in
need.
The
government
is
simply
warehousing
people
in
neighborhoods
throughout
british
columbia.
Aleister
kent
in
victoria
writes
this,
and
I
quote
simply
moving
issues
into
another.
Vulnerable
neighborhood
is
unacceptable
and
the
lack
of
consultation
is
an
insult
end
quote.
So
my
question
is
to
the
minister
of
housing,
and
it
is
this
for
a
government
that
has
made
literally
an
art
form
of
consultations.
H
You
very
much,
mr
speaker,
let's
be
really
clear
here.
We
inherited
a
crisis
that
was
years
in
the
making,
and
we
also
then
were
faced
with
a
covet
emergency,
a
coveted
crisis,
and
we
needed
to
move
quickly
to
get
people
indoors.
We
had
to
thin
shelters
in
order
to
make
sure
that
people
stayed
healthy.
G
Well,
thank
you,
mr
speaker.
Bottom
line
is
this:
the
government
has
made
a
choice
to
not
properly
fund
the
number
of
beds
and
the
required
wraparound
supports
for
those
in
need.
Last
week,
the
government,
with
great
fanfare,
made
a
housing
announcement
in
nanaimo
problem.
Is
the
government
news
release
neglected
to
mention
one
key
detail?
Nanaimo
is
actually
getting
a
net
gain
of
zero
beds,
and
that
means
by
simply
moving
people
around
the
community,
hundreds
of
homeless
and
at
risk
individuals
will
remain
without
a
roof
over
their
heads
or
the
supports
that
they
need.
G
Meanwhile,
the
negative
impacts
of
the
minister's
approach
on
the
broader
community
and
on
small
businesses
will
continue
to
worsen
so
to
the
minister
of
housing.
My
question
is
this:
when
will
the
minister
build
the
supportive
housing
units
with
the
wraparound
supports
that
are
so
desperately
needed
in
the
city
of
nanaimo?.
H
You
very
much,
mr
speaker.
Well
in
just
over
two
years
more
than
2
000
people
have
a
home
that
they
didn't
have
before,
because
the
people
on
the
other
side
of
the
house
didn't
take
action.
And,
mr
speaker,
they
have
supports
honourable
speaker.
They
all
come
with
24
7
on-site
supports
and
help
for
residents
to
access
additional
specialized
care
in
the
community.
Mr
speaker,
we
are
seeing
tremendous
progress
here.
We
have
people
who
are
who
are
telling
us
about
how
their
lives
have
changed.
H
In
fact,
mr
speaker,
I
just
want
to
speak
the
member
mentioned
nanaimo
when
we
move
people
into
supportive
housing
in
the
memo,
and
it
was
temporary
on
mr
speaker.
It
was
temporary
because
members
may
have
forgotten
because
they
seem
to
forget
their
16
years,
so
they
may
not
remember
two
years,
but
that
there
was
a
tent
city,
mr
speaker,
and
we
moved
people
an
emergency
basis
into
housing
with
supports,
and
you
know
what
happened,
mr
speaker,
those
people
needed
to
go
and
get
new
government
id,
because
no
one
recognized
them
anymore.
H
I
Remember:
richmond
queensborough!
Thank
you,
mr
speaker.
The
minister
talks,
but
those
who
need
help
aren't
getting
it.
That's
the
homeless,
that's
the
residence
to
see
the
government
warehousing
people
and
that
small
business
left
to
deal
with
the
consequences.
Yolanda
owns
java
joe's
in
victoria.
She
told
ctv
news
recently
that
since
the
province
purchased
the
comfort
inn,
she
has
been
threatened
and
is
worried
about
her
own
safety.
She
says:
quote:
I've
been
threatened
a
few
times
in
the
past
month
alone.
End
quote
to
the
minister
of
housing.
I
H
You
very
much,
mr
speaker.
We
know
that
people
and
communities
have
been
struggling
with
homelessness.
Homeless.
People
have
been
there
for
a
long
time.
It's
been
years
of
neglect
where
provincial
governments
and
federal
governments
have
not
invested
in
affordable
housing.
Mr
speaker-
and
this
is
what
happens
when
you
do
not
invest
in
people,
they
wind
up
becoming
homeless.
Mr
speaker,
they
fall
out
of
the
bottom
of
the
housing
continuum,
and
that
is
what's
happened.
H
Mr
speaker,
we
are
investing
in
housing,
six
billion
dollars
in
housing,
making
sure
that
not
only
once
there's
people
are
stable
and
and
are
have
their
health
back
and
are
able
to
make
decisions.
They
can
move
into
affordable
housing.
We
are
building
the
entire
continuing,
mr
speaker,
because
it
has
been
lacking
for.
I
On
a
supplement,
thank
you,
mr
speaker.
I
mean
this.
The
reason
businesses
are
speaking
out
is
because
they
haven't
been
consulted
with
here's
another
heart
in
business.
Yet
another
story,
this
one
is
dodd's
furniture
company.
President
love
dodd,
says
the
amount
of
crime
and
harassment
has
skyrocketed.
Recently
quote
they're
on
the
streets.
There
is
drug
use
right
in
front
of
us.
There's
drug
dealing
right
in
front
of
us
they're
screaming
at
us,
they're
sleeping
in
our
parking
lots.
End
quote
these
local
businesses
are
now
being
forced
to
hire
extra
security.
I
H
You
very
much,
mr
speaker,
these
vulnerable
people
are
already
a
part
of
our
communities
and
we
can
choose
to
house
them
with
supports
or
we
can
leave
them,
like.
The
other
folks
did
on
the
other
side
of
the
house.
Without
anything,
I
prefer-
and
I
know
that
british
columbians
prefer
to
house
people
and
to
support
them.
We
also,
mr
speaker,
with
every
single
one
of
our
our
projects.
H
We
set
up
a
community
advisory
committee
and
we
have
business
representatives
on
those
committees
to
make
sure
that
we
are
continuing
to
engage
the
community
and
continuing
to
make
sure
that
we
are
getting
the
feedback
from
the
community
so
that
the
operators
understand
what
more
they
need
to
do.
But
the
other
thing
I
have
to
say,
honorable
speaker,
when
I
listen
to
the
members,
engage
in
in
such
a
manner.
H
I
see
them
pitting
people
against
each
other.
I
see
them
suggesting
somehow
that
those
who
are
most
vulnerable
are
not
worthy
of
support,
not
worthy
of
of
housing,
and
I
find
that
very
frustrating,
mr
speaker,
because
I
have
seen
them
on
the
other
side
around
covet.
I've
seen
their
response
around
being
in
this
together
and
I
would
invite
them
to
work
together
with
us
to
house
people
to
support
people
to
wrap
our
arms
around
them
rather
than
using
them
as
political
pawns.
J
The
howard
johnson's
hotel
is
the
new
norm.
British
columbians
are
seeing
the
lack
of
on-site
support
at
facilities
across
the
province
as
the
government
warehouses,
people
jacqueline
semple,
writes,
quote
my
parents,
ages,
88
and
89
have
lived
in
the
west
inn
for
over
65
years.
I
am
concerned
for
their
safety.
Now
offering
accommodations
in
hotels
is
certainly
not
going
to
solve
the
problem.
J
H
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker,
and
we've
certainly
canvassed
this
question
before
in
the
house
around
how
we
do
provide
supports
for
people.
In
fact,
I
will
remind
everybody
about
how
it's
7
p.m.
We
all
cheered
for
those
very
support
workers
who
are
keeping
people
safe,
who
work
with
them
to
provide
them
some
support.
H
So
let
me
read
into
the
record
from
for
the
member
opposite:
this
is
a
a
job,
just
another
job
description
for
a
support
worker
in
one
of
these
facilities,
so
they
participate
in
case
planning
with
clients
and
our
healthcare
providers
by
performing
duties
like
interviewing
clients
to
identify
problems
and
needs
obtaining
required
information
from
a
variety
of
sources,
including
their
care
providers,
providers
documenting
client
needs
and
wants,
and
assisting
them
to
determine
appropriate
programs
for
their
care,
advocating
for
clients
by
problem
solving
around
financial
assistance,
assessing
accessing
community
resources
obtaining
volunteer
or
work
placements.
H
They're
also
required
to
observe
clients,
identify
and
assess
potential
emergency
situations,
develop
short-term
strategies
to
deal
with
such
situations,
including
de-escalating
challenging
behaviors
they're
to
do
reports
to
medical,
behavior
and
other
and
other
problems,
as
required.
They're
to
provide
feedback
about
clients
needs
their
performance,
their
progress.
Honorable
speaker,
all
of
these
are
supports
that
people
need.
We
make
sure
that
they
get
access
to
the
medical
supports
that
they
need
as
well
and
that's
what
is
available.
24
7
on
site
for
these
residents.
J
Thank
you,
mr
speaker,
and
I
think
that's
the
fifth
time
that
we've
heard
a
job
description
for
support
a
supportive
housing
staff.
So
thank
you
for
bringing
that
forward
again,
but
look.
There
are
more
than
a
hundred
people
living
at
howard,
johnson's
hotel
over
90
of
them
have
addictions
and
mental
health
issues,
clinical
workers,
doctors
and
addiction,
specialists,
rotate
and
they're
on
site
once
or
twice
a
week.
H
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker.
Well,
I
have
to
say
when
we
talk
about
24
7
supports
I
and
more
than
five
minutes
a
day.
I
have
no
idea
what
she's
talking
about.
I
have
visited
a
number
of
those
and
there's
lots
of
opportunity
for
for
for
group
counseling
for
one-on-one.
There's
lots
of
opportunity
to
work
together
to
develop
case
case
management.
Do
we
have
more
to
do?
Mr
speaker?
Absolutely
there
is
absolutely
more
to
do.
H
I
am
very,
very
proud
of
the
fact
that
we
have
brought
in
2
000
units
of
housing
for
those
very
people
in
just
two
years
just
two
years
and
I
look
forward
to
another
10
years
we
can
bring
in
thousands
and
thousands
of
more
housing
for
these
folks.
I
think
that,
as
a
government
we
have
absolutely
more
to
do.
There
are
certainly
still
more
more
homeless
people
in
communities
around
this
province
because
it
was
ignored
for
so
long.