Throne Speech 2018: Saanich North and the Islands is ready!

Throne Speech 2018: We are ready!

Today I responded to Throne Speech 2018. I am happy with the direction our government is taking. I support the approach. Despite the speech being light on details, I outlined several opportunities in Saanich North and the Islands where we can work with government on many of the initiatives that they outlined in the Throne Speech. We are doing the ground work and we have invested the in the relationships. In short, we are ready!

[Transcript]

You’ve all been there. Whether you have a summer home on one of our Saanich relatives — Mayne, Pender, Saltspring, Galiano or Saturna — or you’ve passed through to catch a flight or a ferry back home, you’ve all been to Saanich North and the Islands. It is really an incredible place. Saanich has always been a social, economic and environmental unit. The Saanich Peninsula and southern Gulf Islands have worked together for centuries. My roots tap deep into the soil there. For countless generations, the land and the ocean have produced great wealth in Saanich — a rich culture, abundant watersheds and forests, bays and inlets teeming with wild Pacific salmon, sophisticated trade networks creating prosperity.

This is still the case for Saanich North and the Islands. My S¸ELW̱ÁÁN, my ancestors, believed that Saanich was the centre of the universe, and I tend to agree. Today it has not diminished in importance. It is home to both the highest-quality agricultural and industrial land in the region, and world-class attractions and trade networks connecting Vancouver Island by air and sea to the Lower Mainland and, indeed, the rest of the world. We are home to innovative entrepreneurs who employ thousands of people from across greater Victoria, diverse communities of artists and musicians who push to the edges of their craft. A mild climate, great schools, quality hospitals, and the list goes on and on.

Perhaps I’m a little biased, or a lot biased. There are 86 other representatives in this chamber who, I’m sure, can express equal love for their constituencies. That said, I believe Saanich North and the Islands plays a key hole in the health and well-being of our region and our province.

In the few brief months that I’ve had the honour of representing Saanich in this House, I’ve been able to see below the shiny facade. I’ve seen and heard what we are doing well, and I have heard and seen what we could be doing better. We’ve had hundreds of meetings, numerous town halls, community dialogue sessions and dozens of site visits. The list of people we’ve connected with is impressive. Our community outreach and public engagement program is called the public circle. It has been a powerful exercise in participatory democracy, and it’s helped us deeply understand the needs of our riding.

Last spring, I ran on a hopeful vision for the future of my riding and our province, a vision where the provincial government works with our communities to improve the quality of life of people. Founded on the belief that well-supported people build a strong economy and make better choices to protect and enhance the life-sustaining ecosystems that we live in and strengthen our society, I made the commitment to my constituents to be bold, courageous and forward-thinking, and to make decisions that not only improved our lives today but did not mortgage our future.

I think of the famous quote: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. Rather, we borrow it from our children.”

This throne speech is heading in the right direction. I support the approach of this government. My main criticism of this throne speech and, indeed, many of the critiques I have heard from the public, has been that it’s heavy on rhetoric and light on details. Many of the words in this throne speech outline an encouraging direction, but these words alone do not provide us enough detail on what the government is going to do. It is the action that counts. Much of what is said in this throne speech highlights the gaps that my constituents have brought to our attention in our office. But what is needed urgently is the action on these fronts.

I will interpret this throne speech through the lens of my riding. In a number of ways, Saanich North and the Islands mirrors the challenges faced more broadly across British Columbia. I will be focused here on what I’ve heard from my constituents in the past number of months since becoming their MLA. Government has made transformative commitments to improve Indigenous relations. We are at a critical moment in time. Bold commitments have been made across government. Every minister has been tasked with renewing their relationship with Indigenous people. We heard yesterday that some in this House don’t think it can be done, that implementation is going to be too hard, so we should throw our hands up in the air and give up. We heard from one former chief’s view — a narrow view —offering easy solutions to complex problems. That is a dangerous mix.

In Saanich North and the Islands, we have chiefs that have a different perspective. Perhaps, this is the best indication of the complexity that we face. I’ve met with them, and they’re ready to work with a government who is willing to respect their treaty and come to the table in good faith. They were ignored by the federal government and told they were outside the national interest when the Prime Minister approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline. As interveners, they were concerned about the impact of diluted bitumen on their resource-harvesting areas. They were told it’s all good, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Where was the former government when they could be standing up for the resource that made this province and my people so wealthy? Nowhere. Perhaps it is not wise to stand in this House and offer simple solutions for complex problems. I’m thrilled to see this government’s commitment on Indigenous language learning. We are ready in Saanich North and the Islands. The W̱SÁNEĆ School in my home community Tsartlip is growing a SENĆOŦEN immersion program. Saanich kids can learn entirely in SENĆOŦEN to grade 4. We have skilled educators developing appropriate curriculum. It is exciting.

It’s beautiful to see our children speaking in their language, their parents becoming educators and a language that was once on the endangered list reborn. It’s not just W̱SÁNEĆ. School district 63 has also embraced SENĆOŦEN learning. Indigenous and non-Indigenous students are choosing to learn SENĆOŦEN at the local elementary, middle and secondary schools. They’re under-resourced, and they’re doing it on a shoestring budget. This commitment in the throne speech is exactly what Saanich and the school district 63 need to turn this into a powerful example of reconciliation.

Saanich North and the Islands is more than ready to pilot, test, learn and refine this so that other languages can be saved and children all across this province can benefit from learning from the beautiful world view that is unlocked through Indigenous languages in our province.

On housing, government made commitments to build affordable units. In Saanich North and the Islands, we’ve identified the gaps. We know the need for housing solutions for workers, low-income families and seniors. We have housing non-profits and developers ready with innovative solutions to help build non-market affordable housing. We are ready to take advantage of the investment in housing in this throne speech.

I look forward to the long-awaited announcements in the budget next week, on how government is going to address the speculative forces inflating our real estate market and putting housing out of reach for British Columbians just trying to get by.

On transportation, government, through this throne speech, has made a commitment to the Lower Mainland. No doubt it was needed. But I’m disappointed not to see more focus on the needs of the capital region. We have the Transit Future Plan. It is seven years old now. We need leadership from this government to bring the local governments together so that we can improve transit in this region and in my riding and on the Saanich Peninsula.

On health care, government has made a commitment to interdisciplinary team-based care. A year and a half ago, a non-profit society opened a clinic on the Saanich Peninsula. We needed to address a gap in primary care. We needed to attract new doctors. Well, we are ready to go. The society and the clinic have been successful and now need this government to align the policy, deal with the complexity of how multiple disciplines are remunerated through a single office. Saltspring is now getting going and will be in a position soon to also have a similar clinic.

We are creating and refining a model that can be replicated across the province, and we look forward to working with the minister and the ministry on this important service for all 87 constituencies in this province.

The throne speech addresses mental health and addictions. Service providers are desperate for help tackling this crisis on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands. We are ready to work with this government. Mental health workers on the Gulf Islands are crying out for more resources and help. They know the problems and need the support of our government.

In Sidney, a youth mental health clinic was operating one evening per week and had to close its doors because of the challenges navigating the funding to pay their professional people. These services should not be volunteer. It broke their hearts and the hearts of our youth that they could no longer offer the service.

Our youth deserve better, and when we fail to provide a stable and reliable service for vulnerable youth, it sends the message that they’re not worth it. Again, Saanich North and the Islands is ready to help address the mental health challenges in the riding that this government inherited.

This throne speech made remarkable commitments on child care. Young families in my riding need support right now. It is important that we create a sustainable program that will provide families support over the long term. I understand that this cannot happen overnight — that we cannot train a workforce or create spaces out of thin air. I get it. But as I have said all along, we should not have such a narrow view on this.

I was a work-from-home dad. What is missing from this throne speech, the support for parents who choose to stay at home. We must be part of the equation. This is a step that government could take right now to support families while the rest of the program is being developed, spaces created and people trained.

Finally, I believe we are better served if this program is administered through the Ministry of Education, not Children and Families. Child care should be a part of a continuum of lifelong learning.

As was just mentioned by the minister of the civil service, high-speed Internet is absolutely necessary on the Gulf Islands. We lack the connection. It’s hampering real estate, and it’s hurting the Gulf Island communities. We will continue to work with the government to provide high-speed Internet service in the remote communities in my riding on the Gulf Islands.

Frankly, I’m saddened by the lack of urgency on the wild Pacific salmon. We’re seeing a collapse of wild stocks, and yet, I feel there’s a laissez faire attitude towards this. What we need is more desperation from all levels of government. For all the ranting and raving of the official opposition about economic development, I am utterly disappointed that when you were supposed to be the stewards of this critical coastal industry, you now ignore it like it never existed.

The pacific salmon are one of the most valuable renewable resources that we have in this province. The federal government has been derelict in their responsibility to protect this resource, and our government has to do a lot more to enhance the habitat of the wild Pacific salmon. Wild salmon are not in this throne speech, and they should be.

This throne speech provides an encouraging outline in many respects — in fact, in most respects. It is founded on the principle of supporting people. We have seen what happens when a government abandoned its people. We inherited it — housing, transportation, health, mental health and so many other areas. Costs increase, life becomes unsustainable, society decays, the environment is ravaged, and the strong economy is built on fancy words.

So I’m happy about this throne speech. I will be supporting it because I believe we are turning the corner. My message to this government is: we are prepared in Saanich North and the Islands. We have done the groundwork. My office is investing in building the relationship so that we can be in a position to connect the important government initiatives outlined in this throne speech to the amazing people working hard to make our communities even better than the incredible place I described earlier.

To this end, I am reminded of that famous quote: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. Rather, we borrow it from our children.” Thank you. HÍSW̱ḴE