This week, I spoke to Bill 15, the Vital Statistics Amendment Act. Bill 15 will remove the requirement for sex to be on a birth certificate and allow people over 12 to receive care without needing confirmation from a psychologist or a doctor. While there is more work to be done, these are important steps forward that...
Last Tuesday, I spoke to Bill 13, the Pay Transparency Act. While this Bill makes moderate steps forward, pay transparency alone does little to change the discrimination women and other marginalized people face at work. What we need in BC is pay equity. The cost of not addressing pay inequity is borne by women. They...
In Members' Statements I offered a few words to mark the passing of my friend, community advocate, and environmental activist Denis Coupland who passed away on February 18, 2023. [Transcript] Mr. Speaker, I was elected in November 2008. That night I received a phone call from Denis Coupland. Now I was a...
In Budget 2023, the BC NDP announced a new output-based pricing system (OBPS) for large industrial emitters, which would exempt those who pollute the most from paying the carbon tax up-front. After surpassing a to-be-determined emissions threshold, industrial facilities would be forced to pay a fixed rate on their...
On Wednesday, I introduced private member’s Bill M218, the North-Island Coast Development Initiative Trust Amendment Act. If passed, this Bill would get rid of the $60-million cap on funding for development trusts, and allow the government to provide the North Island Coast Development Initiative Trust the $150 million...
Last Monday, I stood up in the Legislature to provide my perspective on Motion 29, which would amend the Tsawwassen First Nation's treaty to allow them to benefit from tax exemptions. This was an important step forward for the Tsawwassen First Nation in exercising their right to self-determination, and I was thrilled...
The Montney Play in northeast BC is Canada’s largest potential source of greenhouse gas emissions and the sixth largest in the world. By approving new LNG projects in this area, the BC NDP has locked BC into the fossil fuel economy for decades. While industry propaganda promotes LNG as clean energy, we can’t escape...
This week, I rose to speak about Bill 11, the Elections Amendment Act. This Bill provides necessary updates to our electoral legislation, bringing our laws in closer alignment with how modern elections operate. Bill 11 will ensure protections against deliberate disinformation, broader recognition of the use of online...
The Community Industry Response Group (C-IRG) is an RCMP unit that's been accused of unlawful use of force, arrests, detentions, & assaults. They are facing several lawsuits and an internal investigation for misconduct. And still the BC NDP is allocating them $36M. C-IRG was created in 2017 to support the...
Yesterday, my colleagues and I debated Bill 14, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, which removes outdated, gendered language from more than 200 pieces of legislation. For far too long, our province's laws have been written, debated, and passed without the diversity of British Columbians in mind. This Bill makes...
Today, I asked Premier Eby to provide British Columbians with his definition of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. He chose not to answer. Instead, Minister Heyman showcased a fundamental misunderstanding of what scientists have been saying for years. When Premier Eby took his oath he said “we cannot continue to...
Last week, the IPCC released a report delivering a final warning, stating rapid and drastic action are required to keep global warming below the threshold of irreversible damage. The week before, the BC NDP gave another LNG project the greenlight to move forward. This government approved Cedar LNG, claiming the...
It appears the BC NDP are prepared to abandon rural Vancouver Island and coastal communities. Despite spending more than $2.5 billion of so-called surplus money from Budget 2022 on provincial priorities (which I supported), it is unfathomable that the BC NDP has chosen to not re-capitalize the Island Coastal Economic...
Currently, the only regional economic development tool available to rural communities to financially support their local priorities is the Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICE-T). As it stands, in the coming months the doors will be closed, and the lights will be off. It is inexplicable. All but two of the ridings in the region are represented by...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for week five of the 2023 Spring legislative sitting for March 6 - March 10, 2023. The pace of the legislative work began to pick up in the final week before the two-week Spring Break. The BC NDP finally started to put legislation on the agenda to be debated when we return at the end of March....
In the 30 minutes I had in Budget Estimates 2023 with new Minister Hon. Lana Popham, I asked about support for the tourism industry, museum storage of sacred Indigenous cultural items, support for music festivals, and involvement in the Belleville terminal upgrade in Victoria's Inner Harbour. [Transcript] A. Olsen:...
I met with Eric Falkenberg-Poetz, Frances Pugh and Daniel Kenway from the Saanich Inlet Protection Society at the legislature. They gave me a petition to present to the British Columbia Legislature. The petition had over 700 hand-signed signatures, collected by volunteers in a few short weeks. Petitioners are asking...
Simply, Budget 2023 feels more like an update to Budget 2022 than the transformative legacy that Premier David Eby could have delivered. Along with the multi-billion dollar surplus that the BC NDP government is rushing to spend by the end of this fiscal year, and the new budget starting on April 1st, Premier Eby had a...
Since they formed government the BC NDP has consistently misconstrued promises as actions. They promised for five years to address wage inequity and to deliver free contraception. They finally delivered on the contraception promise but instead of pay equity, British Columbians get pay transparency which is not good...
And, the BC NDP year-end spending spree continues. In a contrast to the billion dollars of one-time funding for local governments, Hon. Nathan Cullen, Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship Minister is using the funds allocated to his Ministry to create a legacy. The Watershed Security Fund, to be managed in a...
The BC NDP continues to furiously spend the multi-billion dollar surplus before March 31st. In supplementary budget estimates I had a few minutes to ask questions about the decision of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to distribute $1 billion to the Growing Communities Fund to support the priorities of the188 local...
On Friday March 3, 2023, Hon. Mike Farnworth, British Columbia Solicitor General and Public Safety Minister, visited Salt Spring Island with me. We met with the local RCMP detachment and Salt Spring Fire to learn more about the challenges they face maintaining public safety in the community. In addition, we attended...
ÍY SȻÁĆEL (Good Day), Welcome to my weekly update for week four of the 2023 Spring legislative sitting for February 27 - March 3, 2023. It was finally budget week in British Columbia. Like every budget before, the government immediately frames it as the best budget that has ever been written, elevating the items they want in the headlines. The...
I keep a pulse on the local business community through regular meetings with business leaders. At the end of British Columbia Chamber of Commerce Week in February, I invited the chambers in Saanich North and the Islands to a video call to hear how I can better advocate for them with the provincial government. Our riding is diverse, as are the...
Last week the BC NDP government announced an investment of $500 million as an interim measure to keeping ferry fares affordable for BC Ferries users. This will greatly assist my constituents of Saanich North and the Islands who live, work, and recreate on the Saanich Peninsula and Southern Gulf Islands! I have heard...
With billions of dollars being invested in addictions treatment and recovery, and the BC Liberals proposing the privatization of the industry, it is clear that at the very least the BC NDP should make sure we are collecting data so we understand the scale and scope of the problem and needed response. In addition, we...