Protecting what makes us so special
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to go to communities and meet with people in every part of B.C. The sheer scale of this province is incredible. It’s almost as the size of Germany and France combined.
Yet there is something very powerful that holds us together: our pride in British Columbia. We believe in the potential of everyone who lives here, and we are determined to protect what makes this place so special.
From Surrey, to Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Smithers, to North Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Revelstoke, Fort St. James, Kelowna, Penticton and Comox, people in B.C. are working hard to build a better life for themselves and their families.
A $40-billion investment by LNG Canada was announced last week. The investment in northern B.C. demonstrates that it’s possible to balance economic opportunity and job creation, while pursuing successful partnerships with Indigenous people, and forward-looking environmental action.
The way I see it, our job as government is to make sure people have the opportunities they need to succeed in the communities they call home. We also need to live up to our responsibilities to meet our climate action goals, and protect B.C.’s clean air, land and water for future generations. And we need to make sure people can afford to live here.
That’s why we’re tackling the housing crisis and investing in people and infrastructure.
We’re making big investments in education, from K12 to trades training. We’re delivering better, faster health care, revitalizing the forest industry, standing strong on trade disagreements with the United States, and pursuing meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. And we’re meeting B.C.’s climate targets while working across all sectors to make the transition to a low-carbon economy.
We have a lot of work on our agenda for the fall legislative session, to make life better for people and to build a strong, sustainable economy in every part of B.C. Because the economy is not just about bottom lines and profit margins, it’s about people and the communities we live in. B.C. is powered by mining, gas and timber. It’s also powered by quantum computing, film, tourism, manufacturing, trade and innovation. It’s not resources or technology. It’s resources and technology, together.
Over the past year, we’ve also shown that we can do politics differently. This fall we will have a referendum, where British Columbians will tell us if they want an electoral system that encourages cooperation, or more of the same-old.
I believe we get better results when we focus on what unites us. If we want to fix problems and build a better B.C., we have to work together.
We’re going to keep working hard to get results for people, and make life better, with more opportunities for everyone in B.C.
John Horgan is the premier of British Columbia