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From YouTube: JUNE 1 2022 Question Period
Description
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
3rd Session
42nd Parliament
C
C
Now,
a
year
ago,
after
the
ndp
government's
complete
failure
to
respond
adequately
to
the
heat
wave,
the
ndp
did
what
they
typically
do.
They
made
another
announcement,
but
it's
proven
once
again
to
be
all
rhetoric,
no
results,
and
that's
not
me
saying
that
that's
in
accordance
according
to
troy,
clifford,
the
president
of
the
ambulance,
paramedics,
who
said-
and
I
quote
the
other
day
in
the
whole,
lower
mainland
42
of
the
ambulances
that
are
supposed
to
be
on
the
road
were
stopped
end
of
quote
so.
C
D
I
thank
the
leader
of
the
opposition
for
his
question
and
I
do
acknowledge
that
as
we're
coming
out
of
a
global
pandemic
that
has
gripped
us
for
the
past
two
years.
There
are
significant
challenges,
particularly
when
it
comes
to
delivery
of
the
number
one
program,
not
just
here
in
british
columbia
but
across
the
country
that
program
that
identifies
us
as
distinct
from
our
southern
neighbors,
and
that's
our
publicly
funded
health
care
system.
D
I
had
the
opportunity
last
week
to
be
with
western
premiers
in
regina,
the
birthplace
of
public
health
care
and
the
challenges
that
we're
facing
in
british
columbia
are
duplicated
right
across
the
country,
and
I
know
the
member
knows
this.
He's
a
former
health
minister
he's
a
former
finance
minister.
D
He
appreciates
the
challenge
of
meeting
competing
interests
with
limited
resources,
and
that's
why
not
just
this
province
but
provinces
from
coast
to
coast
to
coast
have
been
focused
on
encouraging
the
federal
government
to
wake
up
to
the
challenges
that
we're
facing
here
in
bc
and
in
every
other
province
and
territory,
by
putting
more
money
into
the
canada
health
transfer,
which
is
not
an
accounting
process.
This
is
about
funding
adequately
the
services
that
people
expect
to
receive
the
global
pandemic
transformed
how
we
looked
at
our
healthcare
system.
D
It
enabled
us
to
celebrate
the
workers
that
were
in
it
that
went
to
work
each
and
every
day,
sometimes
for
double
shifts
to
protect
their
neighbors,
their
friends
and
their
colleagues.
We
want
to
ensure
that
we
have
the
resources
to
get
there
to
help
them
and
hold
them
where
they
are
so
that
we
can
get
the
services
we
need
to
do
that.
We
need
the
federal
government
to
come
to
the
table,
that's
what
the
premier's
have
been
asking
for,
and
I
know
that
I
have
the
support
on
this
side
of
the
house.
C
Well,
thank
you,
mr
speaker.
Well
actually,
mr
premier,
I
think,
what's
important
are
results.
Now,
it's
easy
to
point
fingers
and
to
you
know,
try
and
blame
everyone
else
for
all
the
crisis
that
we're
seeing
in
the
health
care
system,
but
at
the
end
of
the
day,
you're
in
the
second
term
of
your
government
and
people
expect
results
not
excuses.
C
But
once
again
the
head
of
the
ambulance,
paramedic
says,
and
I
quote
since
last
summer:
it
has
not
translated
because
we're
no
better
off
today
than
we
were
then
end
of
quote
and,
as
we
often
so
often
hear
in
this
place,
the
ndp
government
premier
confuses
announcements
with
action,
but
they're,
not
they're,
just
announcements
and
what
the
public
sees
are
terrible
results
when
they
want
action.
So
my
question
again
to
the
premier
a
direct
answer.
Please,
why
is
going
forward
with
your
billion
dollar
vanity
museum
project
more
important
than
getting
people
the
ambulance
service?
D
Premier,
thank
you,
honourable
speaker,
and
the
member
would
know
he.
I
wasn't
he
wasn't
in
this
place,
but
I'm
sure
he
was
reading
the
papers.
He
would
know
that
there
have
been
the
singer's
largest
investment
in
rebuild
rehabilitating
our
ambulance
service
was
during
the
global
pandemic,
66
million
dollars
in
rural
and
remote
for
many,
virtually
all
of
the
members
on
that
side
of
the
house.
We're
going
to
be
able
to
benefit
from
that
because
of
the
isolation
that
their
families
and
their
communities
live
in.
D
We
put
more
more
boots
on
the
ground
in
rural
communities
than
were
done
over
16
years
by
the
former
group,
and
we've
invested
in
our
urban
centers
as
well
working
with
firefighters,
working
with
paramedics
to
ensure
that
the
first
people
to
get
to
a
scene
can
help
those
individuals.
We
have
challenges.
Honorable
speaker,
it
would
be
ridiculous
to
say
otherwise,
but
we
are
not.
We
are
not
in
the
dire
crisis
that
the
member
suggests,
because
of
something
that's
happened
in
the
past
two
years.
E
Well,
thank
you
very
much,
and
we
certainly
know
that
what's
happening
in
our
province
is
much
more
than
simply
a
challenge,
as
the
premier
would
describe
it.
We
are
talking
about
life
or
death
and
in
fact
we
saw
in
this
province
much
to
our
horror,
600
vulnerable
people,
mostly
frail
elderly
british
colombians,
lose
their
life
during
the
heat
wave
last
summer.
E
Many
of
them
called
9-1-1
begging
for
help
and
because
the
system
was
overwhelmed
that
help
didn't
come.
Here's
what
troy
clifford
had
to
say-
and
I
quote
again
after
another
announcement
from
this
government.
The
minister
made
some
significant
announcements
last
july
and
in
december
that
we
really
haven't
seen
come
to
fruition.
End
quote
those
are
in
the
words
of
front
line
health
care
workers.
E
Instead
of
fixing
the
problem.
What
the
premier
decided
his
number
one
priority
was:
was
a
billion
dollar
vanity
museum
project.
Instead
of
delivering
on
his
commitment
to
british
columbians
that
when
they
dial
911,
an
ambulance
will
show
up
so
will
he
today
do
the
right
thing,
shelve
his
billion
dollar
vanity
project
and
put
the
money
where
it
belongs
into
the
health
care
system?.
F
Thank
you,
honorable
speaker.
It
is
essential
in
bc
that
when
people
need
ambulance
service
and
they
call
9-1-1,
they
get
ambulance
service
and
that's
why
we've
been
making
fundamental
changes
in
that
ambulance
service
and
let
me
detail
some
of
them:
we've
taken
the
budget
of
the
ambulance
service,
the
largest
increase
of
any
part
of
health
care
in
the
period
from
424
million
dollars
to
559
million
dollars.
In
three
years.
Honorable
speaker
last
summer
we
announced
new
full-time
positions
in
urban
areas.
They've
all
been
filled.
F
We
announced
new
part-time
and
full-time
positions
in
rural
and
remote
communities.
They've
all
been
filled
honorable
speaker,
so
that's
the
action
that's
required
and
we've
also
transformed
that
system.
People
may
find
this
hard
to
believe,
but
in
2017
honorable
speakers,
67
of
ambulance
paramedics
were
casual
in
dc.
This
is
not
consistent
with
what's
required
of
a
modern
ambulance
service,
so
we
have
gone
about
changing
that
and
now,
honorable
speaker,
55
of
ambulance
paramedics,
are
permanent,
a
transformative
change
that
needs
to
continue.
E
E
F
B
F
Health
workers,
bureaucrats
and
I
don't
think
he
meant
it
in
a
complementary
way
on
monday.
Honorable
speaker
is
already
interrupting.
This
is
a
very
significant
issue.
The
investment
in
rural
ambulance
services
in
particular
has
been
significant,
for
example,
on
april
29th,
24
rural
ambulance
stations,
honorable
speaker,
converted
to
full-time
24-hour
paramedic
staffing,
as
was
advocated
in
some
of
those
cases
by
members
of
the
opposition.
I
met
with
members
of
the
opposition
and
we
added
to
that
list,
because
our
priority
is
ensuring
that
when
you
call
911.
G
Mr
speaker,
over
the
last
few
weeks,
this
bc
ndp
government's
failed
to
convince
british
colombians
that
the
museum
project
is
the
noble
venture
that
they
claim
it
to
be.
We
know
that
those
who
control
the
information
control
the
storytelling
control,
the
narratives
residential
and
day
schools
and
museums
were
all
tools
used
by
crown
governments
to
dominate
and
subordinate
indigenous
people.
G
Mr
speaker,
fast
forward
today
and
all
the
mlas
in
this
chamber
received
a
desperate
letter
from
the
gosala
nakuda
council
they're,
moving
forward
under
the
federal
legislation
to
take
back
control
and
jurisdiction
over
their
children
and
families
based
on
their
own
cultural
laws.
They've
outlined
horrific
abuses
at
the
hands
of
the
ministry
of
children
and
family
development.
G
Our
relatives
have
asked
for
access
to
their
files.
They
have
stated
clearly
that
these
are
their
files
about
their
children
and
families.
Their
cultural
laws
require
them
to
carefully
research,
their
history
of
each
member
to
do
namings
and
other
cultural
ceremonies,
and
now
the
ministry
has
important
parts
of
these
histories
that
they
will
not
share
with
them.
G
They
also
need
the
files
to
prepare
their
costing
models
and
develop
their
programs
and
services
in
a
culturally
based
way
and
to
address
past
gaps
and
problems.
How
can
anyone
build
better
programs
without
access
to
past
files
and
data?
My
question
is
to
the
premier
positions
himself
as
a
warrior
of
reconciliation,
so
why
is
he
allowing
his
government
to
continue
with
this
data
colonialism.
H
Thank
you,
honorable
speaker.
I
do
want
to
acknowledge
that
for
far
too
long,
the
system
of
government
in
british
columbia
has
been
over-involved
in
the
lives
of
indigenous
children
and
youth
and
families
and
indigenous
children
youth
and
have
been
over-represented
in
the
child
welfare
system.
Our
government
is
committed
to
reconciliation
and
in
my
ministry
we
are
absolutely
committed
to
changing
that.
We
know
the
harm
that
that
has
caused
for
indigenous
children,
youth
and
families
for
generations.
H
G
The
exchange
of
letters
between
the
nation
and
this
bc
ndp
government
are
painful,
they're
painful,
to
read
the
stories
of
terrible
abuses
at
the
hands
of
that
ministry.
They're
difficult
to
comprehend.
Mr
speaker,
the
nation
was
told
by
that
quote.
The
deputy
director
of
children
of
child
welfare
has
communicated
his
decision
to
not
disclose
complete
records.
G
The
minister
made
a
commitment,
and
the
minister's
deputy
minister
alison
bond
also
made
a
commitment
directly
in
contravening
their
own
commitments
to
this
nation.
The
mcfd
and
this
bc
ndp
government
have
a
culture
of
withholding
mr
speaker
read.
The
news
today
see
another
story
of
where
miss
mcfd
is
withholding
money
from
an
indigenous
family.
Looking
after
their
grandchild,
children,
they
withhold
children
until
they
determine
whether
the
indigenous
mother
is
capable
based
on
their
own
standards.
G
G
This
is
not
a
legal
or
privacy
issue
that
I'm
talking
about
today,
mr
speaker,
the
current
legislation
allows
provincial
directors
to
provide
information
to
first
nations.
This
can't
be
a
privacy
issue,
because
this
is
about
returning
information
about
first
nations
back
to
first
nations.
Mr
speaker,
my
question
is
again
to
the
premier
and
I
hope
you
will
stand
up
and
respond.
Is
he
just
going
to
stand
by
and
allow
his
government
to
continue
to
withhold
vital
information
from
indigenous
nations
who
are
rightfully
taking
back
jurisdiction
over
their
child
welfare.
B
D
D
It's
been
going
on,
since
the
expansion
of
europe
and
colonization
came
to
this
great
province
that
we
call
home
and
we
share
with
indigenous
peoples
204
indigenous
distinct
nations.
As
the
member
fro
langara
said
in
his
statement
today,
I
appreciate
the
passion
of
the
member
I'm
happy
to
sit
down
with
him
and
look
into
the
details
that
he's
raised
in
the
house
today.
D
But
let's
leave
the
public
with
a
sense
that
they
can
have
comfort
that
all
of
the
people
in
this
house
87
members
are
committed
to
redressing
the
wrongs
of
the
past
and
we
do
that
by
taking
steps
forward.
Will
we
stumble?
Will
we
make
mistakes?
Yes,
we
will,
but
we
should
be
doing
it
together
in
a
spirit
of
cooperation
and
collaboration.
If
we
can't
cooperate
and
collaborate
here,
it's
little
wonder
that
indigenous
peoples
don't
support
us
as
we
go
into
their
communities.
I
Thank
you
so
much
honorable
speaker,
it's
time
it's
time
for
this
premier
and
this
minister
to
admit
that
we
are
in
a
healthcare
crisis,
thank
goodness
for
our
healthcare
workers
and
thank
goodness
that
they
actually
admit
the
crisis
and
are
here
they're
speaking
out.
Dr
jeffrey
eppler
is
an
emergency
physician
at
kelowna
general
hospital.
I
F
Thank
you
very
much,
honourable
chair
and,
as
the
member
knows,
the
health
care
system
and
the
extraordinary
health
care
workers
around
british
columbia
have
responded.
I
think
in
a
remarkable
way
to
two
public
health
emergencies
and
all
the
challenges
facing
health
care,
and
they
have,
I
think,
on
behalf
of
people
in
bc,
achieved
an
enormous
amount.
F
Last
week
there
was
between
15
and
16
000
people
who
missed
at
least
one
day,
and
I
think
it
is
remarkable
that
in
that
week,
a
week
where
healthcare
workers
face
such
incredible
challenges
that
they
delivered
such
a
very
high
level
of
service.
I
hear
and
speak
to
health
care
workers
every
single
day.
It's
why
we've
added
32
000
health
care
workers
in
the
last
two
years
and
why
we're
going
to
continue
to
add
resources
to
support
our
health
care
workers.
Who've
done
a
remarkable
job
in
difficult
times.
I
Dr
epler
said
yesterday
that
he
is
angry
about
what
he
called
the
government's
false
narrative
and
the
untruth
being
spread,
and
he
says
I-
and
I
quote-
I
don't
know
a
single
practicing
emergency
physician
that
really
feels
that
upcc's
are
the
solution
to
present
it
as
a
solution
to
our
health
care.
Ills
is
simplistic
and
actually
dishonest
on
the
part
of
the
government,
and
quote
so
only
in
ndp
land
is
everything.
Okay
with
our
health
care
system.
F
Health,
honorable
speaker,
members
of
the
house,
will
know
this
because
they
may
be
more
familiar
with
this
period
than
I
am
from
2003
to
2017.
The
number
of
people
without
a
family
practice
doctor
in
bc
doubled
in
that
period
that
a
promise
was
made
in
2010
to
provide
everybody
with
a
family
practice
doctor,
as
it
turns
out
by
the
leader
of
the
opposition.
When
he
was
minister
of
health.
That
plan
was
abandoned
in
three
years.
F
We
are
taking
significant
action
to
support
primary
care
across
bc
in
the
core
of
that
action
in
kelowna,
our
primary
care
networks,
which
were
developed
in
concert
with
divisions
of
family
practice
in,
in
other
words
with
family
physicians,
52,
full-time
staff.
Honorable
speaker,
the
member
refers
to
upcc's
vulnerable
speaker,
we've
gone
through
a
period
in
the
pandemic,
where
the
majority
of
visits
to
family
physicians
were
in
person
to
a
period
where
the
vast
majority
were
virtual.
F
J
Thank
you,
mr
speaker.
Even
even
the
minister's
own
team
isn't
buying
it
anymore.
I
mean
the
reality.
Is
the
minister
is
refusing
to
listen
to
health
care
workers
of
what's
really
going
on
and
upcc's
are
a
great
example,
mr
speaker,
because
if
you
actually
talk
to
health
care
workers,
he'd
know
that
within
the
health
care
system
right
now,
they're
called
oopsies
because
they're
not
working,
that's
what
the
health
care
workers
are
calling
and
up
until
two
weeks
ago.
J
J
This
is
what
one
nurse
says,
and
I
quote
our
hospital
is
on
fire.
The
staffing
shortage
downplayed
by
administration
is
in
full
crisis.
End
quote:
the
minister
needs
to
start
actually
listening.
The
premier
needs
to
start
acknowledging
and
listening
to
what
the
internal
workers
the
front
care
health
workers
they
profess
to
care
about,
and
honor
are
actually
saying,
not
regurgitate
speaking
points.
F
Honorable
speaker,
I
think
our
healthcare
teams
in
kamloops
our
healthcare
teams
at
royal
mainland
hospital,
have
been
through
the
most
difficult
year
that
healthcare
has
ever
seen.
We
had
the
covet
19
pandemic,
which
profoundly
affects
kamloops
and
continues
to
profoundly
affect
kamloops.
Honourable
speaker,
they
had
the
impact
of
the
heat
tome
of
wildfires
of
floods
and
healthcare
workers
literally
moved
hundreds
of
seniors
from
one
community
to
other
communities
in
long-term
care.
This
has
been
an
exceptional
and
difficult
time.
In
the
2021
year,
200
nurses
were
hired
at
royal
inline
hospital.
F
Significant
number
more
have
been
hired
this
year.
We
have
a
dedicated
team
to
to
address
staffing
issues
at
that
hospital
and
we
are
hiring
regularly,
as
the
new
tower
opens.
Honorable
speaker
and
it's
completed
on
time,
honorable
speaker,
that
new
hospital
will
be
adding
new
nursing
staff
to
that
hospital,
and,
yes,
we've
added
staff
to
all
the
long-term
care
homes,
all
of
which
were
below
standard.
A
Here
all
we
hear
in
this
chamber
is
a
a
self-congratulatory
pat
on
the
back
for
its
extraordinary
results
that
the
minister
seems
to
be
under
this,
this
illusion
or
the
delusion
that
is
actually
happening
in
the
province.
Nothing
could
be
further
from
the
truth
now
what's
happening
in
hospitals
across
bc,
whether
whether
you
look
at
northern
health,
whether
you
look
here
on
vancouver
island,
whether
you
look
in
the
lower
mainland
what's
happening
is
dire
and
it's
inexcusable.
A
A
There's
an
overflowing
emergency
room,
there's
frequent
diversions
of
patients
to
other
hospitals,
there's
a
temporary
closure
of
the
pediatrics
unit,
the
permanent
closure
of
the
coronary
care
unit,
a
lack
of
operating
room
time,
which
is
resulting
in
increase
in
increasing
number
of
surgeries
being
done
by
kamloops
surgeons
on
camlus
patients
at
kelowna,
general
hospital,
and
all
of
this
has
resulted
in
a
toxic
work.
Environment
communities
right
across
the
province
like
chetwendt,
have
watched
as
patient
diversions
have
become
more
and
more
common.
A
A
So
the
question
is
this:
when
will
the
premier
listen
to
these
healthcare
workers
when
we
put
an
end
to
the
rhetoric,
and
when
will
he
direct
his
health
minister
to
take
the
urgent
action?
That's
required
to
fix
the
crisis
in
health
care,
so
british
columbians
can
get
the
care
that
they
need
when
they
need.
F
Of
health
well,
thank
you,
honorable
speaker
and
I
I
would
say
to
the
the
member
that,
for
all
of
my
time
as
minister
of
health
we've
been
working
on
behalf
of
patients
and
healthcare
workers,
and
we've
made
some
fundamental
changes
and
we
faced
some
extraordinary
challenges.
The
members
know
this.
They
know
it
in
kamloops
and
every
time
I
speak
of
the
situation
at
royal
inline
hospital,
the
challenges
faced
by
doctors
and
nurses
and
health
sciences,
professionals
and
health
care
workers
there.
F
F
Well,
honorable
speaker,
the
member,
the
leader
of
the
opposition,
may
oppose
that
I'll
be
interested
to
see
what
he
proposes.
Honourable
speaker,
we've
added
nursing
spaces
at
royal
inland
hospital
we've,
a
dedicated
team
for
recruitment,
we've
had
200
nurses
in
in
2021
added
to
royal
inland
hospital,
but
I
will
tell
you
that
no
hospital
in
canada
has
faced
the
pressure
royal
inland
hospital.
We
have
currently
in
interior
health,
a
rate
of
absence
because
of
covet
19
of
approximately
11
11
of
staff
missed
at
least
one
day
last
week.
F
That
ordinarily
would
be
six
percent
and
that
presents
real
challenges
on
the
ground
and
I'm
proud
of
our
teams
and
the
care
that
they've
provided
to
people
around
british
columbia.
In
this
time,
I'm
proud
of
our
healthcare
workers
and
it's
why
we've
always
given
them
priority
and
we'll
continue
to
give
them
priority
as
they
provide
care
to
be
patients
across
british
columbia.