►
From YouTube: MARCH 28 2022 Question Period
Description
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
3rd Session
42nd Parliament
A
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker.
Well,
in
two
elections,
the
premier
promised
british
columbians
that
life
would
be
more
affordable
and
we
now
know
that
that
simply
is
not
the
case.
Let's
start
with
gas
prices,
it's
been
four
long
years
since
the
premier
actually
made
another
promise.
He
promised
to
take
action
on
gas
prices.
A
Instead,
we've
basically
had
four
years
of
this
premier
dodging
that
responsibility
and,
in
fact,
making
excuses,
none
of
which
made
any
sense
at
all.
Well,
perhaps
it
was
public
pressure
or
maybe
a
little
bit
of
polling
that
finally
told
the
premier
he
needed
to
do
something
so
two
weeks
ago
he
hinted
that
help
was
on
the
way.
But
what
did
we
find
out
on
friday?
A
C
And
and
it's
little
surprise,
that
a
400
million
dollar
infusion
back
to
policyholders
is
a
little
step
according
to.
C
Of
course,
that's
because
over
the
16
years
that
they
were
in
power.
Honourable
speaker,
you
may
remember
this:
they
did
zero,
nothing,
not
a
thing
to
reduce
gas
prices.
In
fact,
their
current
leader
mocked
people
who
raised
it
as
an
issue
saying
there's
nothing
you
can
do
about
it.
Well
again,
it's
it's
all
easy
for
the
official
opposition
to
say:
we've
done
nothing
about
affordability,
because
it
completely
dismisses
and
discounts
the
fact
that
we
did
away
with
their
tolls
that
they
brought.
C
B
C
C
The
insurance
corporation
of
british
columbia,
when
we
came
into
government,
we
saw
from
2001
to
2017
rates,
go
up
by
50,
that's
5-0,
honorable
speaker,
50,
and
on
our
watch
rates,
have
gone
down,
gone
down
up
to
20
percent
and
there's
not
been
not
been.
One
rebate,
not
two
rebates,
but
three
rebates.
C
C
A
Thanks
very
much
and
we're
continuing
to
wait
for
the
premier
to
make
enough
to
meet
another
promise,
because
he
continues
to
raise
the
new
leader
of
our
party.
How
about
calling
a
by-election
and
then.
A
All
the
bluster
and
clapping
that
the
members
opposite
want
to
do
today
does
not
take
away
from
what's
happening
for
families
in
british
columbia.
The
premier
knows
it's
not
just
gas
prices,
it's
housing,
it's
rent
rebates,
it's
child
care
costs.
The
freeman
knows
that
and
he
can
continue
to
dig
up
the
things
that
he
wants
to
raise
in
this
house.
But
let's
be
clear,
this
issue
is
on
his
watch.
A
Maybe
the
premier
would
like
to
hear
what
billy
burke
had
to
say
he's
actually
quitting
the
trucking
business
after
20
years
because,
as
he
says,
he
had
to
spend
14
000
on
fuel
last
month
alone.
So
perhaps
the
premier
can
answer
this
question.
Why
didn't
he
choose
to
give
targeted
meaningful
help
to
low
and
middle
income
families
and
those
who
simply
cannot
afford
to
keep
managing
the
highest
and
most
expensive
gas
taxes
in
north
america.
C
Premier,
thank
you
one
of
the
speaker
and
again
I
thank
the
leader
of
the
opposition
for
a
question:
werner
outbound,
antweiler,
ubc
economy.
C
Economic,
professor,
had
some
poignant
comments
to
make
last
week
about
the
targeted
funding
that
we
were
able
to
find
for
drivers
policyholders,
and
I
know
this
would
be
a
mystery
to
those
on
the
other
side
of
the
house,
because
they
never
did
anything
like
this.
It's
all
well
and
good
to
say
you
should
have
given
it
to
him
anyway.
Well,
you
had
16
years
to
do
it
once
and
you
didn't
do
it.
C
We
made
a
commitment
to
do
something
about
buy
gas
prices.
We
did
an
investigation
that
investigation
by
an
independent
third
party
discovered
a
13
gap
between
what
the
companies
were
saying
they
had
to
pay
and
what
they
were
doing
at
the
pumps.
So
what
did
we
do
to
respond
to
that?
On
the
speaker,
you
might
remember
you
were
in
the
house,
you
voted
against
it.
We
passed
a
transparency
bill
to
ensure
that
every
company
that
sells
gasoline.
B
C
C
C
D
Thank
you,
mr
speaker
and
I'll.
Maybe
let
the
premier
know
that
right
now
to
fill
up
a
family
vehicle
is
150
and
the
premier's
rebate
won't
even
cut
that
and
ironically,
while
even
ev
drivers
are
getting
the
so-called
fuel
rebate,
the
premier
is
at
the
same
time,
hiking
translink
costs
with
fares
going
up
nearly
four
percent,
so
the
premier
says
british
columbians
can
take
the
bus
if
they
can't
afford
the
gas.
C
Maybe
maybe
the
member,
maybe
the
member,
should
spend
more
time
remember.
He
should
spend
more
time
on
public
transit.
I
want
to
go
back
to
werner
antweiler
because
he
said
the
following
quote:
we
have
seen
a
significant
price
increase
and
to
take
roughly
400
million
dollars,
that's
being
allocated
and
divided
up
by
the
fuel
that
is
being
consumed
all
across
bc.
D
Thank
you,
mr
speaker,
and
maybe
a
news
flash
to
the
premier
everything's
going
up.
Transit
fares
going
up,
gas
prices
have
gone
up,
housing's
gone
up.
Everything
has
gone
up
under
this
premier's
watch
and
while
the
premier's
office
is
apparently
telling
ev
drivers
to
donate
their
rebate
to
charity,
people
who
rely
on
transit
and
get
to
work
at
school
have
no
charity
from
the
ndp.
There
is
no
charity
from
this
government.
It
is
going
to
cost
185
dollars
just
to
get
a
monthly
pass
from
surrey
to
vancouver
for
public
transit.
D
C
Premiere,
thank
you
honorable
speaker,
and
I
give
the
member
full
marks
for
effort.
Well
done
well
done.
Wait
a
try!
What
hasn't
gone
up
in
the
past
five
years,
tolls
on
bridges,
because
they
don't
exist
anymore.
They
don't
exist
anymore.
C
What
has
gone
down
honorable
speaker
year
after
year
after
year,
child
care
costs,
which
was
the
number
one
issue
for
business,
was
to
make
sure
that
we
could
care
for
our
children
bc.
Liberals
don't
want
to
care
for
kids
members
order.
He
wants
to
the
only
people
who
don't
think
child
care
is
transforming
lives.
Are
the
people
who
are
sitting
on
that
side
of
the
house.
C
C
F
F
F
This
is
ultimately
a
policy
failure.
There
are
an
average
of
25
000
vehicles
per
day,
traveling
the
malhat
and
for
the
vast
majority
of
people
this
is
the
only
option
available
to
them
getting
between
the
cbrd
and
the
crd
transit
for
couch
and
valley
residents
is
neither
affordable
nor
accessible
through
you,
honourable
speaker,
to
the
minister
of
transportation
and
infrastructure
we're
in
an
affordability
crisis.
In
one
of
his
responses,
the
premier
told
british
columbians
to
use
bc's
quote
sophisticated
public
transit
systems
if
prices
become
too
unaffordable.
G
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker,
and
thank
you
to
the
member
for
asking
the
question
and,
of
course,
we
value
inner
city
commuter
buses,
we're
expanding
services
this
year
in
communities
around
the
province,
including
the
member's
own
community,
and
I'm
very
pleased
that
this
very
day
we
have
introduced
a
brand
new
inner
community
bus
service
between
duncan
and
nanaimo
in
the
members
constituency.
G
G
And
this
year
we
will
realize
an
expansion
of
120
000
additional
service
hours
in
our
province,
a
combined
total
in
excess
of
2.5
million
at
2.5
million
annual
service
hours
that
provide
innovative
routes,
services,
expansion
of
the
types
of
service
that
the
member
has
raised
here
in
the
house
today.
These
are
good
things
for
the
community.
This
is
a
transit
government
that
is
expanding
transit
service,
expanding
our
investment
in
public
transit
record
investments
in
transit
capital
funding
all
over
the
province.
Mr
speaker,
that's
our
government's
commitment.
F
Thank
you
speaker.
I
I
specifically
asked
about
the
bus
between
cowichan
and
the
crd
got
an
answer
about
the
bus
between
couch
and
nanaimo,
so
I'll,
try
again
for
riders
for
people
who
are
commuting
between
the
couch
and
valley
and
the
capital
regional
district.
There
is
an
almost
zero
chance
for
them
to
be
able
to
properly
use
the
commuter
bus
because
it
is
so
limited
and
for
many
people
out
of
their
cost
range.
F
Last
month's
budget
does
point
out
that
transportation
is
the
province's
largest
single
source
of
greenhouse
gas
emissions.
It
also
pointed
out
in
the
fight
for
climate
change.
We
need
to
quote
ensure
the
people
are
able
to
choose
cleaner,
more
efficient
ways
to
get
around,
including
transit,
but
for
commuters
between
the
couch
and
valley
and
the
crd.
F
G
Minister,
thank
you,
mr
speaker,
and
again
I
think
the
member
for
the
question
and
the
the
fact
of
the
matter
is
just
a
few
short
years
ago
there
was
no
cowagen
commuter
to
the
crd.
There
is
today
we
have
just
been
through
a
pandemic
where
public
transit
ridership
has
been
hammered
in
this
province
and
around
the
globe.
I'm
happy
to
say
that
bc
transit
is
now
reporting
a
67
ridership
recovery
to
date,
which
makes
it
amongst
the
highest.
In
north
america,
we
are
on
our
way
to
rebounding
transit
ridership.
G
We
are
doing
so
with
a
budget
that
increases
funding
by
11
this
year
in
operating
funding,
and
I
have
to
say
that
we
chose
to
do
things
differently
in
bc
when
it
came
to
making
public
transit
reliable
to
people
in
their
time
of
need
during
a
pandemic
and
all
the
uncertainties
that
that
brought
to
their
lives
with
the
latest
partnership
with
ottawa
that
the
finance
minister
and
others
helped
our
government
negotiate.
We
took
the
lead
in
the
confederation
through
the
premier
on
insisting
that
we
needed
more
money
to
help
public
transit
recover.
G
We
will
be
close
to
investing
an
additional
1
billion
dollars
in
transit
recovery
funding
to
the
province
of
british
columbia.
Other
provinces
turned
that
money
down.
They
cut
service,
they
laid
off
staff,
they
slashed
transit
service.
We
built
back
better,
mr
speaker
and
that's
what
we're
going
to
continue
to
do
in
her
community
in
every
community
in
the
province.
H
Thank
you,
honorable
speaker.
Well,
when
it
comes
to
making
life
more
costly,
this
ndp
government
just
keeps
finding
new
ways
to
do
it.
This
time
is
on
the
backs
of
parents,
because
parents
across
the
province
are
going
to
pay
hundreds
of
dollars
more
in
child
care
fees.
This
week,
because
of
government's
incompetence,
providers
have
been
waiting
months
for
subsidy
applications
that
could
cost
families
over
350
dollars
a
month
if
they
aren't
approved
by
april.
H
I
Thank
you
so
much
honourable
speaker.
I
understand
that
parents
in
bc
have
been
struggling
with
high
costs
of
child
care
for
many
many
years
many
parents,
even
they
are
able
to
afford
child
care,
may
not
be
able
to
find
child
care
services
at
all,
and
that
is
why,
since
2018,
we've
started
a
child
care
bc
plan
to
lower
parent
fees,
to
accelerate
the
creation
of
spaces
and
support
early
childhood
educators
and
we've
come
a
long
way
for
the
first
time
in
bcc
street.
Since
we
became
government
parents
are
finding
savings
in
their
child
care
fees.
I
And
the
fee
reduction
program
is
to
make
child
care
more
affordable
for
families
and
from
my
understanding,
my
staff,
the
ministry
are
on
track
to
meet
all
of
our
express
timelines
to
provide
approval
to
providers
all
providers
who
have
submitted
complete
applications,
regardless
of
whether
they
submitted
by
the
priority
cutoff
timeline
will
receive
approvals
by
today,
while
our
side
of
the
house
has
been
working
hard
to
reduce
parent
fees,
the
other
side
of
the
house
has
been
voting
against
our
plan.
Every
step
of
the
way.
H
Well,
that's
good
news
and
if
the
minister
is
correct,
very
positive.
H
H
Amanda
worms
is
a
child
care
operator
who
is
waiting
on
a
subsidy
application
to
be
approved
by
the
minister,
even
though
her
application
was
made
before
the
february
17th
deadline,
she
was,
she
said
she
was
told
less
than
a
week
ago
that
she
would
not
be
approved
for
funding,
including
operating
funding
at
any
of
the
centers.
Before
april
1st,
she
says-
and
I
quote
this
350
dollars
could
mean
my
families
can't
make
their
mortgage
payments
end
quote.
B
I
I
I
We've
been
processing
applications
and,
as
of
today,
all
providers
that
have
submitted
complete
applications
have
received
approvals.
The
only
exception
is
those
providers
who
are
seeking
to
increase
fees
beginning
in
april,
and
they
have
been
contacted
and
offered
a
way
to
grant
temporary
approval
to
provide
certainty
to
parents.
So
parents
can
continue
to
receive
the
free
relief
while
their
applications
are
being
reviewed.
We
are
doing
everything
we
can
to
work
with
providers
to
support
early
childhood
educators
to
support
a
creation
of
spaces.
E
Well,
thank
you,
mr
speaker,
so
we
just
heard
in
the
house
earlier
today
that
the
premier
doesn't
understand
the
affordability
issue,
which
obviously
explains
why
he's
been
sitting
on
his
hands,
doing
nothing
breaking
promises,
while
british
columbia
has
become
the
least
affordable
place
in
north
america,
so
it
seems
to
be
the
manager
of
this
government
make
a
big
promise
fail
to
deliver
and
then
blame
somebody
else
for
their
failure.
E
We
heard
today
whether
it's
gas
prices
going
up
doing
nothing.
Transit
fares
going
up
affecting
people
and
families,
child
care,
all
the
confusion,
that's
happening
around
that
price
is
going
up.
Results
in
british
columbia
continue
to
be
the
same
because
it
cannot
be
more
affordable,
less
affordable
here
in
british
columbia
under
this
government.
I
know
they
have
no
problem
voting
themselves
or
raised,
though,
while
everybody
else
is
struggling
in
the
province
for
two
straight
elections
now
the
ndp
and
this
premier
have
promised
a
400,
renters
rebate.
E
And
finally,
finally,
we
thought
we
heard
something
when
the
attorney
general,
just
before
this
budget
was
presented,
the
attorney
general
stood
up
here
and
said
we're
working
on
it,
giving
maybe
some
false
hope,
because
I
see
nothing
in
this
budget
for
our
400
renters
rebate.
So
I'm
trying
to
figure
out
who's
right
here
because
it's
not
in
the
budget,
but
the
attorney
general
said
they're
working
on
it.
J
Thank
you
very
much,
mr
speaker.
We've
been
addressing
affordability
consistently
since
2017,
mr
speaker,
everything
from
fixing
a
dumpster
fire,
the
child
opportunity
benefit
that's
2600
a
year
for
a
family
with
two
children.
Mr
speaker,
that
is
a
significant
investment
in
families.
That's
money
in
their
pockets,
reducing
childcare
costs
in
this
budget
in
this
budget
cutting
fees
by
50
by
the
end
of
this
year.
J
E
Well,
mr
speaker,
back
to
the
question
we
were
talking
about
a
400
renters
rebate
that
this
government,
this
premier
ministers,
have
promised
that
they
would
deliver
to
help
in
this
affordability,
crisis,
house,
yeah,
twice
half
a
decade
now
of
making
this
promise
the
minister
completely
deflected
away.
So
I'm
trying
to
give
her
another
chance
here,
because
the
minister
sitting
right
to
her
right
said
that
you
were
working
on
it
that
this
government
was
working
on
it.
E
I
know
it
takes
a
long
time
for
the
ndp
to
deliver
on
a
promise
we're
six
years
in
almost
of
trying
to
deliver
on
a
basic
promise
of
what
they
were,
trying
to
say
that
they
were
going
to
give
to
the
people
of
british
columbia.
So
back
to
the
minister,
one
of
the
ministers,
maybe
the
premier,
they
promised
that
they
would
deliver
this.
For
the
people
of
british
columbia,
housing
prices
have
never
been
higher.
Rent
has
never
been
higher.
We've
been
waiting
for
this
promise.
E
J
That's
significant,
mr
speaker,
and
what
are
the
members
on
the
other
side
of
the
house?
They
actually
increased.
They
put
a
two
percent
additional
increase
on
top
of
cpi
increases.
Mr
speaker,
we
got
rid
of
that
we're
continuing
to
save
people
money
here
in
this
province
and
we're
going
to
keep
doing
that
important
work.
K
Well,
thank
you,
mr
speaker.
It's
troubling
to
hear
the
finance
minister
talk
about
the
renter's
rebate.
It's
actually
in
the
finance
minister's
mandate.
Letter
she's
had
that
mandate
letter
through
two
budgets.
Now,
in
fact,
it's
only
meant
in
her
mandate
letter
for
people
that
aren't
already
getting
subsidized
housing
of
some
sort.
So
the
fact
we
don't
see
it
anywhere
in
this
budget
is
very
troubling
very
concerning
which
means
people
have
to
wait
another
year
for
relief.
K
There
they've
waited
four
years
for
the
premier
to
try
to
action
anything
when
it
comes
to
gas
prices
again
the
premier
zone
wars.
This
government
seems
to
never
want
to
take
responsibility
for
their
own
commitments,
their
own
promises,
especially
election
promises,
we've
heard
about
the
bungling
and
the
confusion
in
the
child
care
sector
around
that
and
the
interesting
thing
when
it
comes
to
transit
or
even
child
care.
K
The
only
reason
this
government
has
some
money
for
these
programs
is
because,
like
with
most
things
over
the
last
few
years,
they
wait
for
the
federal
government
to
come
in
with
buckets
of
money
and
save
them
from
it,
because
they
had
no
child
care
plan.
Until
the
federal
government
came
in
with
boat
loads
of
money,.
K
So
again,
mr
speaker,
the
so-called
fuel
rebate,
announced
on
friday,
we'll
see
thirty
dollars
of
that
hundred
and
ten
dollars
go
back
to
this
government
in
the
form
of
taxation,
a
nice
little
clawback
that
they
don't
like
to
talk
about
we're,
seeing
transit
prayers
increase
in
translink
areas.
When
will
this
premier
take
the
affordability
crisis
seriously?
At
least
he
had
a
moment
a
moment
today
where
he
finally
acknowledged
what
we
all
know
that
he
doesn't
understand:
affordability
and
actually
deliver
on
even
one
of
his
campaign.
Promises
as
it
relates
to
affordability
in
his
province.
C
C
You're
different
people,
kevin
falcon
jacked
up
put
tolls
on
the
roads
in
british
columbia.
First
time
in
50
years
he
increased
medical
services
premiums.
He
took
this
so
this
so-called
so-called
revenue
mutual
partners.
He
took
the
carbon
tax
and
gave
it
to
his
developer
friends,
so
they
could
build
housing
that
people
speculated
on
and
for
these
people.